I prefer to think that part of it was lipped and the rest was live. It sounded pretty live to me anyway.
theme of a-nation '03 always garners a lot of "OH MY GOD THAT WAS SUCH AN AWESOME SONG" when it comes up, so.. I wouldn't say it's underrated. It's a hidden gem, sure.. but underrated? Maybe not. God, I hate that theme of a-nation '03 is only on &. -searches for it- (Edit: Get it
here if you haven't heard it. ) It's rather awesome that I kind of came back into liking Ayu at that time [look at my join date!] and I really loved every single song on &. She needs to make B/U/@/*/E/RBYG RIGHT NOW. Ugh.
theme of a-nation '03 in terms of "feeling" is totally like an Asian arrangement of Life. Drums, flutes, and very Japanese-y sounding instruments.. so soothing and "We are the world"-ish.