[News] 44th single: Days/GREEN & GREEN/Days (12/17 Release)

[MissElin_]

^Amen to that one!

[tiamat4eva]

wow that's a while away >w<
yey 10th anni versions!

[Melrose]

Somehow I think it will be like SEASONS.

[Kazeyomi]

No please. NO MORE ROCKISH SONG.

I'm a little tired of her rockish songs, lol. They're really nice, but stop it Ayu!
I want an experimental and gorgeous song like Mirrorcle World.

[Delirium-Zer0]

I can not BELIEVE some of the stuff being said on page 25 regarding PV comparisons. O_O!!!!

Yea, I agree. E.g. SURREAL is seen as a classic PV (..I think), and I agree it has some artistic concepts, but it's basically a toned down version of BLUE BIRD with Ayu standing at random locations. =3

Uh, no, BLUE BIRD has no plot.
A big thing for ayu back in the day was the idea of facing herself (something that seems to have stopped with the RAINBOW video, which was also wonderful). It was scary to her and it was more like an adventure than something normal that she thought about. So when ayu dreams about climbing up the mountain and facing the cat version of herself, that's actually something thought-through and important. The the-plant-isn't-really-there special effects are really well done & interesting looking too.
What's BLUE BIRD? Yay let's have fun at the beach. It's exactly the definition of no planning that seems to go into ayu's videos. "Let's have fun & be silly & stick my dancers in the video cuz they're my friends!!" was as much thought as probably went into that one.

Like evolution is nothing but an upbeat version of flyhigh.
Without the audience.
And only one ayumi.

WTF is wrong with you? Have you SEEN evolution?? Like, the whole way through? And paid attention? The idea of Ayu as a pop star as a holographic projection, whose image is carefully controlled, is actually a really interesting one. And it's a great metaphor for what a pop star really is. Given ayu's status as the biggest thing in japan when the PV was released, the video is far more interesting than "just another Fly high." (which, btw, was a fairly interesting PV about self-examination, but I don't think they took the concept far enough.)

It's not bad, but I think it's not fair to say that her pvs in the past were so godlike, and then now so bad.
It sounds so confucian to say it like that. ahaha.

Actually I've hated her videos' editing since the beginning of time, and the art direction is often not so great. But more thought about the plot, message, visual metaphors, and references went into them before; that's hard to deny.

Like, to me, Dearest, Rainbow, Momentum, JEWEL, evolution, SURREAL, they were all about glamourous, star images.
They had storylines of course, but you know like, they also had that glamour glamour sort of feel.
To me, at least.

They not only had storylines (aside from JEWEL, which is nothing but sparklies), but they had good, well-executed, intelligent storylines with meaning. Most of her new PVs have wimpy storylines without much effort - they DEPEND on the glamour, where older videos depended on the message. Ayu's not even IN "Endless sorrow", for example (on the home video version she shows up at the end, but the original TV version of that video, which we saw for MONTHS before A Clips volume 2 came out, doesn't have ayu in it at all). You can't say that's a video that doesn't depend on its story & message. Mirrorcle World, however, depends solely on ayu's pretty dresses & cool boots.

Like, Boys & Girls, to me, was her first glamour pv.
All it was was her. In the yellow rooms.
That's it.

QFT, just to show I'm not one of those "ayu's older PVs are automatically better because they're older" types of people.
However, ayu's first real story PV was "WHATEVER", and it is still one of my absolute favorites to this day. I mean that's a really sad & beautiful video.

Modern Ayu videos that have planning & thought, I have respect for, but they're still executed very poorly most of the time. "glitter/fated" was really not scripted well enough... if you're going to do a short film, put more time into ironing out the shoddy script. If you can't do that, don't do the short film.

"alterna" was the last ayu video that made me go "oh wow, this is really really good!" It had a great plot about being manipulated by a record company, coupled with great imagery & fabulous "old movie" stylings. That video had her best art direction EVER.

I'll acknowledge that some modern videos like "Marionette", "(don't) Leave me alone", "Together When..." kinda, and "part of me" (actually those are the only 3 or 4 I can think of) had a little bit of a plot, but like "Fly high", it just wasn't executed very well; the plot wasn't very fleshed out, or there weren't enough metaphors, or the art direction was shoddy.

I have my hopes high for GREEN though, based on the pictures. It DOES look like planning has gone into this one, and I'm hoping there's a better put-together story than "kyoai" had, and I'm hoping the colors have low saturation (the old-timey theme would lend itself to that look) and I'm hoping there's war involved (the time it's supposed to take place would lend itself to that) and I hope any special effects used don't suck like the fake glass in "glitter" did.

I keep on hoping for a video that wows me, but it's been a few years, so. We'll see what happens I guess.

[Max_ZZZ]

lol one thing i hated about old up beat ayu songs and their pvs
is theyd play a song thats supposed to be upbeat and nothing would happen
ex) boys & girls, the chorus starts and ayu is sitting there, just staring, singing it with no emotion
LOL its sort of like... ayu why arn't you dancing? moving? smiling? LOL

[Evolution7/4]

A PV can fit a song but not be great or it can be good but not fit the song, so a PV can be "bad" for several reasons. Overall I really like Ayu's PVs, except some of the earlier ones.

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by Max_ZZZ

lol one thing i hated about old up beat ayu songs and their pvs
is theyd play a song thats supposed to be upbeat and nothing would happen
ex) boys & girls, the chorus starts and ayu is sitting there, just staring, singing it with no emotion
LOL its sort of like... ayu why arn't you dancing? moving? smiling? LOL

Yeah! Another reason I can't stand Boys & Girls xD; I mean it's great all her old PVs had meaning and a concept, but it's hard to really appreciate that when it seems like she's doing nothing... Like in SURREAL, Ayu's dreaming, on a beach doing not much of anything, slowly climbing a mountain, finds a cat version of herself yet they barely interact... It's just all one big YAWN to me >_<;;; It's suppose to be upbeat (and one of my favorite songs)! She doesn't have to pull tricks out of her butt, but I would rather it be something that keeps my interest. So even though BLUE BIRD had no concept except for Ayu and peeps having fun, they were moving around, dancing, having fun on a yacht, eating.... I didn't feel bored watching it. It made me wish I could do it as well. This is just my personal opinion.... I feel no matter the deeper message or meaning, if there's not much going on... what's the point D:

Originally Posted by Evolution7/4

A PV can fit a song but not be great or it can be good but not fit the song, so a PV can be "bad" for several reasons. Overall I really like Ayu's PVs, except some of the earlier ones.

I agree , I think no matter what she comes out with, someone's going to find something wrong with it

[Melrose]

@Del: Eeeh, lol? It doesn't take much thought or artistic skills to come up with a semi disappearing plant. SURREAL = BLUE BIRD with some special effects. Standing at random locations in SURREAL = standing at random locations in BLUE BIRD, but different. (Though it can hardly be called a storyline. More like a concept.) And evolution and Fly high are basically the same thing but with a different idea. It's just her performing again and nothing special. If the song for the PV would have been It was, I doubt the PV would be praised so much. And actually BLUE BIRD does have a 'plot' which is having fun at the beach. That IS a plot. It's just a different plot from SURREAL's "nothing is what it seems!" or w/e. A plot doesn't need to be something psychological.

I prefer PVs that really match the song, which SURREAL and BLUE BIRD both do, so I don't see SURREAL as OMGSUPERIOR to BLUE BIRD.

[v3lun420]

IMO SUrreal > Blue Bird

I don;t think you have to dance in every up beat song. If u won;t give the 'real dance' in a pv, u just shouldn't (For example Kuu's BUT or UNDER, IMO UNDER was not a 'real' dance, pv). And plus, Ayu is not really that strong in dance, at least she admit it and don't over push it (Like she did t2m, IMO tho the concept is good, but overall it was bad)

[Melrose]

^

Omg what lol. BUT and Under PVs are awesome. o___o

But yea, I just watched all PVs again and for me it's SURREAL > BLUE BIRD because I don't like her dancers that much and don't like LOLHAPPY PVs. But from an objective point of view it's not SURREAL >>>>>>>> BLUE BIRD. ^^

[*Petit*]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

They not only had storylines (aside from JEWEL, which is nothing but sparklies), but they had good, well-executed, intelligent storylines with meaning. Most of her new PVs have wimpy storylines without much effort - they DEPEND on the glamour, where older videos depended on the message. Ayu's not even IN "Endless sorrow", for example (on the home video version she shows up at the end, but the original TV version of that video, which we saw for MONTHS before A Clips volume 2 came out, doesn't have ayu in it at all). You can't say that's a video that doesn't depend on its story & message. Mirrorcle World, however, depends solely on ayu's pretty dresses & cool boots.
.

Delirium-Zer0,
apart from the pretty disrespectful and ill written ways of putting it your post do have some points, however putting MW in there is very big mistake as it touches the theme that apparently holds a special place in your heart, judging from the post of yours, is it the "glamour" that gets in the way of its story? MW was a horrible example of something with no meaning / only visuals, if that is what you miss, or the more easy going feel good PV of f.ex. BLUE BIRD that also seems to be not to your liking.

Did you ever read the interpretations of MW? If you did it's pretty obious that it hints at much more than just showing off pretty dresses. Along with the lyrics (and even if you don't understand them, the guradsmen should be a hint) it's quite apparent that it treats the subject of the existance of human being, what is real and not. I can't believe you can write these things of this particular PV when you apparently haven't even bothered looking into it. It's allright that you don't like it, but please try to find the interpretations and read the lyrics you will see there's a lot more to the PV than Louboutins and a big red dress. Maybe the references that went into them before were easier for you to spot than the ones that are in the current because they are certainly there.

Anyways, what happened to the OT of this thread?

[Melrose]

^

THANK YOU!

[SunshineSlayer]

Thank you Delirium_Zero. Thank you. I agree with everything you said, except I would extend Ayu's last really great PV by a couple of months and say that when Ladies Night/Rainy Day came out, those were the last truly great ones.

Petit: I don't know if Delirium_Zero read the analysis of MW or not, but I did and I must say that I thought it was mainly people over analyzing and maybe looking for a meaning that wasn't necessarily there. Someone could do that same thing to say, Boys and Girls, and manage to find meaning - doesn't mean there actually is one though.

[Melrose]

^

o_o

alterna was pretty awesome.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Melrose

^

o_o

alterna was pretty awesome.

Oh alterna definitely is one of my favorites, but Ladies Night and Rainy Day came out the same day a few months later and those PVs were certainly great as well.

[AMANDABYNES]

Ayu's videos are nice because you can interpret them however you wish. There is no right interpretation of a video unless she stated what the video stands for in an interview or something.

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by *Petit*

Did you ever read the interpretations of MW? If you did it's pretty obious that it hints at much more than just showing off pretty dresses. Along with the lyrics (and even if you don't understand them, the guradsmen should be a hint) it's quite apparent that it treats the subject of the existance of human being, what is real and not. I can't believe you can write these things of this particular PV when you apparently haven't even bothered looking into it. It's allright that you don't like it, but please try to find the interpretations and read the lyrics you will see there's a lot more to the PV than Louboutins and a big red dress. Maybe the references that went into them before were easier for you to spot than the ones that are in the current because they are certainly there.

Anyways, what happened to the OT of this thread?

Yes I believe most of us have read that interpretation and we know that actually there is a plot in MW. However, it's very poorly executed and I wanna ask, if that person didn't post his analysis at all, do you think you would understand the pv at all? Yes you can say that I'm probly too stupid to analyze the pv behind, but if you create a video that is too hard for people to see what's behind, then what's the point of making it?

I 100% agree with what Delirium has said. Basically this is what I feel about ayu's old pvs vs. new pvs now.

And also, I dun even know how BLUE BIRD and SURREAL can be compared... Is it just because ayu standing on the top of the cliff again?? That's pretty nonsense to me. Yes BLUE BIRD's story is about having fun and I admit that it really fits the song. Instead, it's the song that makes the whole thing meh. If she didn't release 3 covers, making a glamorous pv, or putting lots of promotion for this single, I doubt it would be able to sell over 160K on the first week. Overall the song is pretty normal according to ayu's standard.

And yes, SURREAL's pv could be a bit boring (let's be honest, I like the pv, but sometimes watching her walking back and forth around the hills and land is quite boring), but the song itself is really good and the plot in the pv executed excellently. This is what I want from ayu's pvs. She has always made really really really good pvs with trendiness and a successful execution of plots. Nowadays her pvs have either some or no plot at all, covered by just glamorous styles (or, really diva-ish such as talkin' 2 myself). She doesn't need to be glamorous or a diva in her pv all the time, and she doesn't need to put her dancers inside 80% of the time.

And I dunno about Delirium, but me as fan since LOVEppears, I feel like ayu is getting too far away from what she used to be. I'm not saying it's bad, since ayu should be a person who always love changing her style (that's what I got attracted in the first place). What she is doing rite now is trying to make everything as beautiful as possible. But sometimes not-so-beautiful is good (e.g., Daybreak), and she doesn't need to use glamorous image everytime. She can just wear a tee and jeans in the pv, and if the pv is executed well, she will look pretty anywayz.

And yeah... sorry for getting too off topic LOL. I just can't stop the debate (not that I hate you, I'm just express my opinions hehe. Don't take it too hard cuz I assume everyone has one's own taste ).

[Melon Panda]

(I might be in the minority here, but I love debates, even if I have nothing to contribute. It'd be so boring if everyone agreed on everything all the time, in my opinion.)

That said, I love all of Ayumi's PVs. Some are less exciting to me than others, and as an admittedly shallow video watcher, I tend to go for the more glamorous, more action-based PVs. In the end, though, I like all of her videos, from SURREAL to BLUE BIRD. It'll be interesting to see what she comes up with in the future.

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by Melon Panda

(I might be in the minority here, but I love debates, even if I have nothing to contribute. It'd be so boring if everyone agreed on everything all the time, in my opinion.)

That said, I love all of Ayumi's PVs. Some are less exciting to me than others, and as an admittedly shallow video watcher, I tend to go for the more glamorous, more action-based PVs. In the end, though, I like all of her videos, from SURREAL to BLUE BIRD. It'll be interesting to see what she comes up with in the future.

YAY for shallow video watchers! hahaha