AND is indeed her most mainstream release since Bon Voyage (if you take out W Face ~Inside~). She definitely began transitioning her sound and challenging her audience with HOTEL, which remains an oddball of a song.

I took out W FACE inside, cause it was a ballad heavy album and compared to AND, AND is much more suitable for radio play and mainstream with its pop tunes.

I really cant get into this album all that much. WHO is kinda a bob as with the other midtempo pop song which I cant even remember its title...

sigh kuu

I like HOTEL.

HOTEL isn't bad, but as a song it's just a bit odd in terms of structure and composition. It definitely set a tone going into WALK OF MY LIFE, which is a challenging body of work.

I had the chance to watch the full JAPONESQUE videography again and the whole album project remains so impressive. I miss the days when avex would really invest in their artists.

^ Don't even get me started on JAPONESQUE ): I'm still sad there was no +BR version of it even tho some of the PVs are out there in HD on YouTube

^I was always surprised Rhythm Zone didn't reissue the album as a CD+Blu-Ray combo in 2013. A wasted opportunity, but Rhythm Zone was a little slow on the Blu-Ray front.

what surprises me the most is the Japaneses using more DVDs rather than Blu-ray's EVEN NOW. it drives me nuts

In JAPONESQUE's case, not all the PVs were filmed in full HD, like the videos from 4 TIMES, so the blu-ray would end up looking a mess with the resolution. The first release which all the PVs were recorded in full HD was Color the Cover.

^ Really? I have HDTV rips of both PLC and VIP o-o I don't think they'd shoot two PVs in HD and not the others

Well, I mean, it makes sense considering these were on singles leading up to JAPONESQUE. If they were all filmed at the time of JAPONESQUE's release, it wouldn't make sense to have varying quality. But if it became more profitable to move to HD PVs for Koda, the transition would have to happen at *some* point. And I doubt the Rhythmzone is going to deliberately put it off until the first post-album single so everything on the next album (being released a year later) is all similar. They'd be losing out on that shmoney TODAY. And we all know how well business would do with the marshmallow test...

@Gustavopc It's not much of a matter having a HDTV rip of a PV, because we do have that for TAKE BACK, Trust Your Love and many others, and it doesn't mean that they are in HD, just upscaled.

I think no one reported but AND was #44 this week, selling 1,196 copies. So far the sales are 15,734.

There is little difference between the numbers reported by Oricon and Billboard (maybe the FC version?):

Oricon
#6 14,538/14,538
#44 1,196/15,734

Billboard:
#5 14,859/14,859
#39 1,270/16,129

Sneak peek for the tour goods coming with the tickets.
The dog tag with different customizable plates:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/ddKGV6.png

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/E11Ldy.png

The 2nd one is an empty bottle you can fill with perfume or water or anything else (with a separating plate in the middle you can remove);

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/4H1lCC.png

Queen of functional and customisable goods.

OK... so when's the next album coming out?? :P

I love Kuu's Instagram posts of her doing her hair. Somehow I just love her for using good ol' Manic Panic. I prefer Olia Bold, myself :P

They added another date to the FC tour:

May 18 - Club Cocoa in Hakodate

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/JK5YnK.png

http://rhythmzone.net/koda/news/detail.php?id=1059624

Its website:
http://www.clubcocoa.jp/index.html

It was chosen from the entries of the "Where do you want Kuu to come to" FC campaign (if you guys remember).
It's the smallest venue of them all for a very intimate performance.
Ticket round starts March 23rd.

From her website:
Lol.

----------------------

There's an interview included in the FC edition of AND.
Haven't read all of it yet, but here are some interesting things (plus info from the last FC magazine):

- While AND has it's meaning because of celebrating the people and things bringing her to the place in life she is now, DNA is going to be an album built on the sound of the current Koda Kumi - J-POP / Club / Hip Hop.
- She first wanted to make an FC only album this year.
- For Kuu NEVER ENOUGH is close to Damn real.
- She recorded SWEETEST TABOO 3 years ago, but it didn't fit WOML album back then.
- BRIDGET SONG was in the top 3 of songs in the W FACE TOUR questionnaire. As she also really enjoyed singing such a positive life song, ALL RIGHT was created (remember, BRIDGET SONG was also written by her husband).
- Kuu really likes OUTTA MY HEAD. It channels her high register and wasn't easy, but she wants to become a more skillful singer now.
- The lime green outfit for the LIT PV was speficially created for it.

I'm loving her Instagram! Very personal and good content :)

It's great to see Kuu is still adding more dates for her upcoming fanclub tour

A Baidu user wrote on http://tieba.baidu.com/p/5604622427 that Hakodate's Club Cocoa can only accommodate 200 fans which doesn't get anymore closer to Kuu than this

Those who are able to ballot & score tickets for this easily has super duper good luck