[isthisLOL?]

About the soprano stuff: Ayumi would never ever be a light soprano, her natural range is too low, Ayumi would probably be Mezzo, for some pieces she may be used as a type of either Soprano or Alto when the ranges permit it but she's generally a Mezzo.

@ xLitax
Have you watched PoM(or better: listened to the mp3 rip, since the horrid quality of the video rip makes her voice seem bad)? She started using much more correct vocal technique, her breathing has greatly improved and she seems to not use her throat as much. Her vibrato has also gotten closer to true vibrato over the last years from what I can tell. 2008 and 2009 had her mouth moving like crazy but by now it seems to come at least partly from her vocal chords.

While some of the points raised by people on this thread are correct. Singing from your throat DOES hurt your voice for example, it is also fact that singing from your throat is considered a vocal ideal in some genres and parts of the world. Not the same idealsyou got in classical music, not the same you got in Jazz, not the same you got in usual pop and not a healthy one at all, but it's an ideal some people strive for and, as long as the person knows the effect it has on their voice(and I'm sure Ayumi knows that much), should be respected as such. I am glad she is changing her vocal style because of the hurting aspect, of course, but I also respect her singing from her throat because I honestly doubt she did that because she didn't know any better. It's what you learn in your very first vocal lesson usually and Ayumi had at least 4 periods of vocal training to my knowledge.
Growling is much worse in harming vocal chords and it's a big vocal ideal in Metal and something that cannot be created any other way for example. Yet I praise great growlers because it's their decision to use that vocal style and creates a sound that otherwise cannot be created.