Well, I don't think it's good to use still shots from media that is supposed to be viewed at 25fps, especially not if you want to use them for comparisons to other images etc. Actually watching the entire videos and comparing them to each other would be more fair.
Unfortunately we have an extremely limited amount of unedited or 'normal' photographs of Ayumi, namely zero, I'd say. What if we had one without makeup. I can imagine the scream of terror from 99% of Ayumi's fans if some high quality picture like that would actually leak. I know I'd be surprised myself.
But yeah, 60 posts in this thread and I think everyone agree on that her looks has changed in one way or the other, it's being brought up every half year or so and it always turns into a mess of fat or ugly OMG's being thrown here and there and other people trying to soothe it. That's AHS for you
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A lot of her looks also depends on her hairstyle - her face changes something crazy by switching hairstyle, what kind of makeup she's wearing and, most of all, the light setting. That's why still pictures are so unfair towards someone, because it's very easy to look extremely different, ugly or older in one shot and the opposite in another.
But yup, looks like she put on some weight like that other time she went to LA. I wouldn't say that makes her look bad, that's solely the bad picture's own fault. I can imagine how extremely easy it is for a person like her to put on visible weight, due to her height and extremely fit body.