This is my favoiurite album so far, it's even outdone GUILTY and R'nRC to me.

Wake me up, Song 4 u, Missing, snowy kiss & Sweet scar - nothing to say, superb.
Melody & Ivy I liked much from the beginning.
task'n'bass & glasses - never awaited much from the interludes, but c'mon, they're really fine. Found their place in my playlist.
SAKURA - man, it's such an epic and grand ballad!
Bye-bye darling - already told my opinion about this song, it still makes me crazy.
petal & Gloria don't bring me to chills as SAKURA does, but I enjoy them nevertheless.
untitled for her...story 2 - awesome, but it has nothing to do with entertainment, it's the very personal and private message which I totally understand.
You&Me - though it's my least favourite track from the whole album (especially in comparison to other songs), I never skip it.

The only thing that upsets me about this release are PVs - I totally love only Song 4 u and Sweet scar, others are boring to death imo (well, Melody PV is nice, but it still lacks a piece of dinamics).

This is the first ayu album (really, the FIRST and only one) I listen to without skipping a single track.

After reading your posts, guys, I became happy that I don't have any music education and that I'm totally musically deaf - thanks to that I can listen to music with my heart and not with my mind. Thanks to that I'm able to feel the full spectre of emotions without expertising (what for r you doing that?) the musical quality of every released song.

LOVE again is a masterpiece for me.

It's definitely my favourite album since "Love songs", yet there are no songs that are outstanding or make me say: "Wow, I'll listen to this song for a week straight!"

But yeah, the new album is A LOT better than "Party Queen", but the songs don't touch me in the way Ayu's older songs do.

It's the first album she's ever released, on which not a single track has received a 5-star rating in my Itunes library. I think it's nor good or bad, with not one track that I simply can't listen to, but neither anything I can't stop listening to. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by how upbeat the album actually is - the tracks may all have a ballad-y feel to them, but quite a few of the songs are upbeat and in fact, very catchy. Catchy doesn't neccassarily equal good, but there are a few tracks I feel stand out: Missing and snowy kiss, and also Bye-bye Darling (that really has a feel to it of old school, beat-up Ayu to it)

I far from dislike it, but it's nowhere near on my top Ayu albums either. It would have been a solid release, had not many of these songs been previously released on a mini-album. 5/10.

i think we have the same taste HAHAHA! the only albums i compared this to were GUILTY and RnRC too. :yes

I do not understand Japanese, so the main draw for me to listen to Ayu, as well as any other foreign artist, is the sound. If I'm in the car and want to listen to a song, I'm not going to recall specific lyrical translations and think "well I don't know exactly where she's saying it but in general I know she's speaking of in this song so I'll listen to it." I listen to the music, and treat her voice as an instrument. For example, take Sending mail... there is HEAVY emotion in that song. The way the music is composed and arranged during certain parts of the song, I knew the emotions she was trying to convey prior to reading the lyrics, and after reading the lyrics, it just increased my love for the song.

Ittai itsu made ittai doko made
Tsuyosa o mote tara

Anata no soba de tada anata no soba ni ite
Waratte irareru yurusareru nee
Sonna hi ga kuru no?

This part is full of hope. It's a depressing kind of hope, where you can feel she is in pain, but still holds onto the hope that one day, things will change.

Tsukiakari ga yasashiku tsutsumu
Konna yoru demo samishisa kakuse nai

Then this part, immediately after the chorus, is filled with hopelessness. The way the music is constructed makes you feel as if everything is lost. That no matter how hard she tries, she cannot "hide her loneliness".

So if a song is poorly constructed, and just a bore to listen to, but has amazing lyrics that I can not connect with WHILE listening to the song due to language barriers, why the Hell would I choose to listen to that song just because I know the lyrical translation is very good?

You are saying I am small minded because I am focused on the music, but sounds to me you are just as small minded focusing on the lyrics. Lyrics can enhance a track, but they certainly do not make one. Honestly, you are out of line calling me 'small-minded', as when I go about listening to Ayu's music, specifically her more intricate songs, I literally feel as if my mind is expanding while I try and pick apart the layers and focus on different instrumentations in the music each and every time I listen.

I love that this is a very cohesive album with strong single mini-album tracks, and flows very well.

My favourite section is from task'n'bass to glasses. While I do appreciate the other new ballads (SAKURA, Gloria, untitled), her voice is a bit too screechy on the iiii or ahhh notes in those tracks. However, I do love the slight variation of how she starts the last chorus in SAKURA (~3:14) on the ahhh. Small detail, but so effective.

Still love Ivy.

Melody is still a bore.

Blech You&Me.

Wake me up to Missing is awesome, but I've over-listened these tracks so they're not as fresh at the moment.

I'm happy with this album. :yes

My 5th favorite album from her, behind Love songs, Party Queen, (miss)understood and RAINBOW. ^^

That would be my ranking of all her studio albums:

1. Rainbow
2. My Story
3. I am...
4. (miss)understood
5. Secret
6. Party Queen
7. LOVE again
8. Duty
9. GUILTY
10. Love songs
11. Next Level
12. Loveppears
13. Rock'n'roll Circus
14. a song for XX

A lot of people compare it to Love songs. I feel that the production in Party queen, FIVE and LOVE again is better than Love songs.

true, i always skip crossroad, moon, like a doll, and blossom whenever i listen to love songs. its just not as good as LOVE again

6 out of 10 stars...

First listen of the album, impressions are not good. There's nothing wrong with the songs themselves, I love most of the mini-album tracks, but in the context of an album it just doesn't work. I struggled to get through my first listen, and that has NEVER happened with any of her albums before.

She's played it too safe here. I'm all for nostalgia songs to celebrate her anniversary but not 13 of them. It's grating to listen to song after song of the same boring pop/rock arrangements. There's so little variety - she fails to push the envelope even a little. The interludes are actually the most exciting tracks on here.

Hopefully this will grow on me with more listens. But wow, I have never had such a negative first reaction to an Ayu album before. It's pretty scary.

The singles on the album are almost flawless, still think Melody, Sweet scar are boring. The BEST song have to be Wake me up, Song 4 u, Missing, snowy kiss, Ivy, both interlude are Amazing ♥ task'n'bass & glasses ♥. All the new tracks are boring; I can't even remember how each song goes. You & Me is alright, I'll listen to it when summer comes, lol. Overall I'll give the album 6/10.

Few more listens, I'm loving bye-bye darling. Matches the quality of the mini-album tracks. But the other new full songs still aren't doing anything for me. petal is so disappointing, after reading the comments here I was expecting another Marionette or something. It had potential, but the arrangement stinks.

Untitled for her story 2 is nice, but has absolutely nothing on the original.

I think I'd be a lot more impressed with this release if the songs were all new like Party Queen. I hope she releases albums with entire new material in the future, so much better that way.

I agree with the people that says the best songs come from the mini's, overall i like the new tracks but they come off as not memorable to me. The same situation i had with the Party Queen album tracks.

Bye Bye Darling is the only song that grabs me, and the interludes are killer! The best she's had since Next Level, i would've been all over Task 'n' Bass had it been a full song. That beat is SO HOT!

I do like Untitled and Sakura, there pretty. But i don't see myself listening to them repeatedly or often. I'm usually all over Ayu's album's when there released but i feel like i don't really have interest in this one sadly.

However, i'm still in love with all the songs from the mini's (maybe except for Ivy, but i like Melody now) and they still, together make a very strong release. And that's one of the things i said when the album was annouced, that i wouldn't mind if the new songs were mediocre cause i was very pleased with that we got so far. Song 4 U ranks up as one of my favourite songs already.

If i had to give it a score, and rank it altogether. I'd give it a solid 6/10, which is a little better than Party Queen. But i hope her next album will be as great as the one's before, and hopefully it won't be as mellow.

Tracks i love
Song 4 U
Missing
Snowy Kiss
Sweet Scar
Wake Me Up
Task'n'Bass

Like
Untitled... Story 2
SAKURA
Melody
Bye Bye Darling
Ivy

Meh
Petal
Glasses
Gloria

I put my ramblings in...there...
um. 7/10. It's not bad. Probably a nice fit for Japan and whatever...is happening in her life and whatever. Good for her. Being all...uplifted and all. It does feel really heartfelt and warm, and I'm happy for that. I think people will like it a lot for that.

I won't be listening to any of it much though. I do think it's cohesive. Somehow, idk.

And they need some new ******* ****ing arrangers. So basic and generic at times.

Composition people owned this album. I just don't understand why it's so hard for them to get a nice balance as they used to. It seems like a lot of her recent albums it's like, you either get one or the other, and they just don't...mesh. It just makes the songs that much more boring and they're already medium tempo...

tasuku > Yuta though. You need to go home son.

So whatever. Best songs were Wake Me Up and Snowy Kiss for me. And the interludes. Which kinda means that it's a giant meh for me for the album.

At least it's not completely awful, which I do dread. And you guys are right. As much as I can appreciate Love Songs, the production was ****. It's much, much better here, even if I don't care for it.

Basically I find this album quite average. I have none of the new songs on constant repeat which is kinda a shame, there's usually at least ~one~ new song from her albums I have on heavy rotation. Like what emi said I do like that it at least feels heartfelt and warm. Had again not been released it probably would have ranked higher, I'm just really disappointed with the new songs.

It falls into the lower tier of my album ranks

These albums belong in a museum :luv2
- Duty
-LOVEppears
- I am...
- (miss)understood

Amazing
- Rainbow
- Secret
- Memorial Address

Good
- ASFXX
- NEXT LEVEL

ummm
- LOVE again
- GUILTY
- Party queen
- Love songs
- MY STORY

stop
- FIVE
- RnR Circus

I never said that I'm completely focused on the lyrics. That really would be small-minded of me. I just got the sense that you don't care about the lyrics, which I think are just as important as the music, not just the forefront as you yourself put it. I think it's great that you get so much enjoyment out of the music, but it seems to me that you're using your lack of understanding for Japanese to sort of dismiss the lyrics. But whatever. I'm trying not to judge you anymore as we obviously can't see eye-to-eye on this, lol.

I definitely do like the album.

First 3 mini album (single?) tracks are amazing, then SAKURA and Melody come in, and they are less amazing but very nice to listen to nevertheless. Then follows my favorite part of the album with task'n'bass, Bye-bye darling and snowy kiss. I loved the fact that all these 3 track were together because they just work so well. petal I do like. It's a better track than SAKURA, Melody, untitled for her 2, You & Me and even Ivy. glasses is too amazing for words. untitled for her 2 is ok but a bit boring, same goes for Gloria (which is a tad better) and Ivy. You & Me shouldn't even exist in her discography, even though I do admit the classical version sounds a bit nice.

It's nothing special or extraordinary, this album. However it is a pleasant listen, even though I'm not still sure where would I place it in my favorite - worst list of her albums.

Solid effort.

I get a meh feeling with this album. I found the new songs as a whole disappointing and prefer the mini album tracks by far (though I can't stand Melody at all).

For the new songs, the only songs I really like is Bye-bye darling and glasses (and petal to a lesser extent). I was sorta excited for gloria but found the song disappointing, I only really like the chorus. Task 'n' bass I don't care for either, but then again I don't care for tasuku interludes to begin with (I think the only one I like is taskinillusion).

SAKURA and untitled 2 are just awful. They make Melody sound amazing.

So yeah...not all too impressed with this album. Then again, I like it a lot more than Party Queen.

This falls near the bottom of my personal album ranking (like everything else she's put out after NEXT LEVEL):

-RAINBOW
-GUILTY
-Memorial address
-Secret
-NEXT LEVEL
-MY STORY
-I am...
-(miss)understood
-Duty
-FIVE
-Love songs
-LOVE again
-LOVEppeears
-Rock 'n' Roll Circus
-Party Queen
-A Song for xx

I really don't know why people in general, have such a bad concept of ballads. Everyone loves a few, but if an album has 4 or more ballads (any artist) they are called boring or dull. However, if the album is made up of only upbeat tracks, everyone thinks it's the best thing ever. I understand everyone has a preference, but it seems people have maligned ballads to an extreme. I love ballads, so an album full of them can only be wonderful if the quality is high.

That said, I don't think LOVE again is that boring, I see plenty of diversity. After that horrible period where I lost faith in Ayu (GUILTY through Love songs) I am so happy that since FIVEm she has been making so much good music. This album is no exception.

SAKURA, Gloria and untitled for her... story 2 are brilliant! And adding Melody to SAKURA, those are my top 2 favorites from the album. Snowy kiss is also brilliant. The whole album is so good!