Numero TOKYO N° 97 (2016 June) preview
 

2016.04.27 「Numero TOKYO」

http://i.imgur.com/G6wN5sEm.png http://i.imgur.com/0T5AbLTm.png http://i.imgur.com/iJhKV8wm.png http://i.imgur.com/gI4Q1FEm.png http://i.imgur.com/avsJQbom.png

photos from ayu twitter
http://i.imgur.com/pEvW2Znm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/5wPKwT7m.jpg http://i.imgur.com/TIfx8zbm.jpg

wow...can't wait to see inside..

Numéro Tokyo never failed. I can't wait to see it.

Preview pic looks so good!

Thanks for posting. Looking forward to it. Hopefully it'll include a long interview again~

The picture is too small to say anything

I am more ansious cause of her past works with Numéro TOKYO than the preview pic itself but still ansious <3

And it just came to my mind, did she have any shoots with Numéro before the one she used for LOVE?

Nothing until the LOVE shoot. Then she got a bunch after.

Not a fan of the simple concept again, but excited to see what we get.

A slightly larger picture

https://pp.vk.me/c628830/v628830152/...TalPHDcgsY.jpg

"see the real me" ... oh boy.

Kazutaka Nakamura did photos?

HELLO GORGEOUS

Then I'm not forgetting any shoot, great lol Her Numéro shoots are always gorgeous, wish she had more of them

What are the chances these are for the new album booklet?

°3° fish lips? XD she look so young, I understand all ayu photoshoots are retouched with photoshop but she looks very beautiful anyway.

She looks good

I think I'm still getting used to the haircut

maybe lingerie again?
I expect be different of la perla photoshoot!

Leave it to ayu to take such a simple, yet absolutely fierce, picture. :luv2 I love that preview pic! Plus, I'm in love with her hairstyle, as well. :heart Excited to see the whole photoshoot!

How many times can Ayu show us "the real me"? Every other shoot is promised as such. Wish she would just go put on some ridiculous big dresses and massive blonde wigs again for old times sake.

i hope this shoot is not for the next release :no

Yeah... the 'real me' was shown for LOVE and then for sixxxxxx and now this new shoot. I wonder if we're going to get something like sixxxxxx/A ONE for the album since they seem to be going for the 'real Ayu' angle.

also "ayu" book was with "real ayu"


http://i.imgur.com/fT2LVpfl.jpg

I'm dead right now. She's SOO PRETTY here! :love:love:love

I'm so sick of real Ayu. It's boring. They've been running with this "concept" (if you can even call it that) for far too long. It's basically an excuse to be lazy and avoid creativity. There's no passion behind this.

I miss the fierce, gorgeous and superficial Ayu, even if it's apain in the a** to admit it.
I really liked the "real Ayu" concept all over the years (LOVE (again), A ONE, sixxxxxx) but I would like to see something else... Like CoLOURS booklet for example, or Harper's Bazaar photoshoot.

To me this "real ayu" shit seems way more superficial. Especially after the iconic, untouchable, fierce megastar image she was rocking during her 10th anniversary. To me, that demanded respect. It marketed her as the spectacle that she is. Now, trying to market this real ayu image seems so unrealistic to me, and fake.

her boobs looks HUGE

What bothers me most about "real Ayu" is that she's always still wearing tons of make-up. There is nothing natural about just not wearing heavy eye shadow and lipstick. Not to mention the amount of photoshop.
And I so can't stand how "real Ayu" most of the time also means "Ayu who looks like a teenage girl". She looked more like an adult when she was at the beginning of her twenties.

I think Ayu is really misunderstanding when/if people around her say that she was most successful when she was "relatable" and she's interpreting it to think we want THIS. We don't - we want a crazy big awesome image, but we want those crazy big awesome looks that SHE chose because they were visual representations of how she felt, or how she wanted to look, or what she felt more confident dressed as, or whatever.

I think it would be more Ayu - and it would be more appealing to people - if Ayu went with all the makeup & costumes. Looking so done-up and theatrical but with such personal, emotional songs, that stuff always made me feel like "I could be awesome like that too someday, cuz she's scared like me but she faces those fears and puts herself out there", you know? Even as big as that stuff was, it didn't seem like she was showing off.

THIS kinda makes it look like she's saying "Even without makeup, look how pretty I am" to all those types of insecure, anxious people who identified with her back in the day. She looks absolutely lovely, but I think this "real ayu" concept is not the right way to go. i think it's really unintentionally sending the wrong message.

Yea, I noticed that, way out of proportion to her body.

She's cute but THIS.IS.BORING.
Same concept, again and again and again.
It seems Ayu is lacking of creativity in her photoshoot AND music.
I'm afraid for the new album. I miss the fierce Ayu, her pop/rock songs, and her albums with more dark concept.

Maybe that's how she feels now. She wants to looks younger. Who doesn't? She's more comfortable with eyelash extensions and full makeup? Let it be. Real doesn't mean nude.

This this this and this. If real Ayu actually gets fish-lipped in her very real personal life, I'd rather see staged Ayu X)

Sometimes I think simple photoshootings work, like A ONE which I found pretty decent, but to be honest the last time I've been excited about a cover was probably the CD only NEXT LEVEL... Quite a while back!

I don't think we can blame the use of Photoshop because she clearly doesn't have control over that. Every single magazine edits the pictures before they publish them, so there's nothing we should be complaining about, really. No one is ever going to publish a picture of a famous person with absolute no makeup and no Photoshop; that doesn't seem magazines. Also, not even we publish our pictures online without doing some effort to look better.

Anyway, I don't mind the "real" and "natural" Ayu as long as they don't use such concept for her next album. LOVE again and A ONE were enough.

i mean this is nice and all but Numero can do better. Isn't it supposed to be a high fashion magazine? Why are her photoshoots so boringly pretty? I mean i like them. I liked the one we got with LOVE & again era. They were somewhat grown up. But why can't they go 100% for once and make it ACTUALLY high fashion?

Harper's Bazzar is probably the only magazine that ever did something really powerful with her. It's going to be forever my favourite photoshoot.

I can enjoy the "natural" AYu once in a while, but this has been going on for a bit too long now. It's time to move on.

Maybe she's waiting until the 20th anniversary is looming closer to vomit out things that are a bit less safe?

There was a period though that she was "natural / nude" Ayu nearly every other cover and now it's kind of spilled into her albums now too minus Colours.

I feel like the last time she had the glorious, powerful image of hers was either Baazar (bazaar??) magazine or her Colours booklet. I understand why people miss that look, it does send off the image that she's a little tired, bored, or worn out.

I see this as a relax period for her, so I'm not too concerned. She did so much stuff last year, I have no qualms with this lighter stuff.

I think it was okay for the first two things in the "rebirth of Ayumi Hamasaki" period in 2015, but now that it's 2016, I hope we're moving on from it.

That said, I wonder if this is where her image will stay from now on. She still loves shoes and she still loves fashion, so I don't get why we can't see that in her work.

The music is still amazing IMO and PVs are becoming way better than Colours era but the way it's been packaged and presented hasn't been the best or most interesting.

This. Real is different from natural. A woman can use makeup to show what she is. Especially if she like makeup. Using makeup and retouching doesn't mean she's fake or superficial.
However I don't think that she want to look younger because she is young.
She doesn't need to change her behaviour because of her age or to fit in with people's opinion.

Didn't she said in an interview few years ago like 2013 or 2014 something like she don't feel the need anymore to hide herself with fancy stuff ? I'm pretty sure I've read something along this line !

My opinion is that Ayu fell into her own trap ... she has put a lot of emphasis on image throughout her career and since some years she seems to not be as interested by the image in her works as before, causing a misunderstanding for fans (yet I'm pretty sure japanese fans are perfectly fine with this direction).

I'm fine with it too she tried nearly everything since the beginning of her career ... I would not be against something more fierce but it's just image after all yeah it's superficial it will not make her songs sound better or worse XD

Nothing says the "real ayu" thing is about the image maybe it's about the content of the interview ?

http://i.imgur.com/G6wN5sEl.png http://i.imgur.com/0T5AbLTl.png http://i.imgur.com/iJhKV8wl.png http://i.imgur.com/gI4Q1FEl.png http://i.imgur.com/avsJQbol.png

She looks absolutely stunning. I love it.

wow nice shot. and what is she talking 'bout?

the shots in black and white, and the one with the grape are awesome.
the rest is "dejavu"...

Gorgeous shots, but hm...

Feels very familiar.

Grapes giving me Free & Easy vibes. I wonder if it's because she's kind of in "RAINBOW" mode now.

Same thoughts here. Was expecting a bit more tbh

i like these but again they are very safe.
I do REALLY love the grape one, the b&w and the one where she's smiling in the black "night dress" one. The title page photo doesn't even look like her lol But i kind of like it too ahah.

I wish there was more of them.

That grape image imo is so Ayu circa 2002. So many iconic images from that era.

Outfits are very 1999-2000 Ayu with the simple dresses, but on an Ayu ready for them.

love the shots with her just smiling and closing her eyes

The number of complains about "real ayu" pictures shocks me.

This is a gorgeous shoot.
I look forward to Ayu potentially changing her hair colour again someday though, her brunette just doesn't scream 'queen' like her blonde does.

Eh? It's just a little expected. I like these photos, but damn, Ayu, you did this for the last few albums and shoots!

I love these photos as well... Creativity-wise, ayu has been lacking that in her works these recent years so I'm not expecting something dramatic or iconic. Feels kind of meh toward this simple concept she's been using for a while, so what I tell myself is that, it's just a magazine photoshoot after all. WHATEVER :)

Hm..

With the news of the album being in the issue, I think this is a preview for the album booklet.

She looks stunning. I've always liked the fresh and simple look.

I won't be translating the entire interview (too busy), so if someone else wants to have a go, feel free.

I did translate a snippet about the tour:
Already posted this in 3 places lol. Last time I swear.

Sounds promising :)

Can't wait to see the song choices!

Oh god just look at just how pretty the photo is and stop over-analyzing her photoshoots. She looks pretty here! And tht's good enough for me!

God ya'll be talking about how much ya'll missed the "superficial"/"diva" ayu but ya'll dragged her the last time she went to HK and that was definitely "diva" ayu.

I missed her gold-weave and huge dresses tho haha

I need this NT *.*

:yes:yes:yes:yes:yes

I like it too, but she has really done this quite a bit. The deja vu is STRONG here.

like this

http://i.imgur.com/ZMK4jG1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6mziUipm.png http://i.imgur.com/010yPSNm.png

Yeah it is a bit deja vu but they are freaking beautiful so I'm happy. There's a bit of ASFXX vibes about them too which I like.

I don't care about deja vu. She simply looks gorgeous.

Speechless <3

I dont have anything against simple photos, but they are mostly the same. Glad she have this haircut now, she looks stunning and 10 years younger again.

But I do miss crazy fashion photos :(

The pictures are so beautiful...I immediately change my desktop wallpaper to this picture series...

she looks great.

even if its nothing new, it still feels fresh

Lol especially the black and white photos... Super identitcal to her last Numero issue tbh haha

LOVEEEEE. Thanks for sharing!

looks like photos from the same shoot

http://i.imgur.com/pEvW2Znl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/5wPKwT7l.jpg

She looks fantastic here. Love the way her lips look! :luv2

She looks gorgeous but I am kinda done now with this shoot.

So does this mean it won't be the booklet then?

This shoot is so simple and beautiful, I love everything about it :heart

how is that? Its the latets thing.

This is literally A ONE. She has a shot like this in almost every recent photoshot. Arm bent, eyes closed, casually laughing to herself in mind. What is so special about this frickin' pose? Ayus elbow join must give off an intoxicating aroma.

http://i.imgur.com/DpkjIV1.jpg

maybe her elbow keep telling jokes to her

Oh nooo xD

be grateful at least it's not in peach colors )

I'll be honest, that alone is saving these photo shoots for me. Dark hair, normal lighting. Yay for contrast and actual color! :D

Lol I'm dying

Does anyone know if the Ayufan will put the scans?

^ They already did :) http://ayufan.com/blog/?p=13708

Ayu throwing her head back and laughing = the new "fish/duck" lips. And IMO I like it more.

The best Ayu laughing at nothing shot is this one:


"Look at this invisible salad!"

*()* THK U :luv2

I like the pics a lot, but the newest pic really is LITERALLY A ONE. Crazy. Don't mean to beat a dead horse, just a bit shocking.

thanks a lot
so beautiful

If you take a look at the making-of pages of A ONE and sixxxxxxx on TA mag then come here it feels like one giant shoot taken in three days

I remember there was a time when literally EVERYONE of her photoshoot came with this super exaggerated fishlips.:no They were awful! This pics are repetitive and the have been done before but at least she looks gorgeous. Let thank God for that.

That salad picture is perfect lolol

Hmmmmm not a fans of fish lips... :shakehead

Anybody knows how to download the HQ pics? right click is disabled :(

Tried dragging them into the Folder you want to save them in? It works for me (Google Chrome)

I usually drag the image out to a new tab and then save it that way.

oh so simple, so effective! :)
it works!
thank you

It's been a nice discover for me as well :yes
You're welcome.

I used the DownThemAll! plugin extension for the Firefox to download them (as well as the "blog check" pictures that I extract just about every day)...

You can also click the thumbnails with the wheel of your mouse in Google Chrome (it opens the link in a new tab)

Does anyone the brand of these shoes? They're beautiful :luv2