A few questions about Ayu's staff.

orbitalaspect · #1 4th December 2015, 12:35 AM

1. Has Ayu ever fired someone on her staff? If so, what were the details? I'm curious because I've recently been surprised to learn how common American artists fire people in their band and daily staff. It seems unlikely with Ayu, but I imagine she's had a few issues with staff throughout her career.

2. On the Cirque de Minuet ARENA TOUR, who was the guy singing Diary? I feel like I've seen him mentioned as a relative of Ayu? Whoever he is, I was enamored by him and loved his inclusion in Ayu's performance. I felt he is the first collaboration I actually wanted to see and hear more.

3.Does Ayu still collaborate with Tim, or is he only part of her live band? Do they do anything else? Tim's mic was turned down for most of Cirque de Minuet, and he had no costume changes like in previous tours. I read before that he had released some of his own songs, but I haven't heard much since.

4. What was LICO's story? I know LICO was a former dancer, transitioned, then returned, but I'm curious if LICO has ever talked publicly about her experience. LICO is extremely shy outside of performance, so I'm curious whether the public has been supportive, dismissive, or antagonistic regarding LICO's presence.

Also, as a side question to this, are some of Ayu's male dancers uncomfortable around LICO? During the encore of Cirque de Minuet, LICO touched one of the other dancers and made a seductive face, and he grimaced and almost pushed her away. I can try to make a *.gif of the shot if you're not sure what I'm referring to.

visionfactory · #2 4th December 2015, 01:06 AM

1. She fired Leslie Kee (now she works with Alvin Goh) and MARO (I think you know why)

melissalove · #3 4th December 2015, 01:27 AM

I could tell that some dancers do sometimes feel uncomfortable with lico. Specially, during this years tour.

ExodusUK · #4 4th December 2015, 01:31 AM

Keep reaching, if there was a hint of discrimination or uncomfortable feeling against Lico..they would be out of the door. Lico is one of Ayu's special children alongside Timmy and Shu-Ya.

Lico had a whole documentary special on Japanese TV about her transition in Thailand. The special had scenes with her family and herself talking about it.

douggn · #5 4th December 2015, 02:34 AM

Ayu calls close friends family

LONJJONG · #6 4th December 2015, 04:48 AM

Not sure if she's fired by Ayu but her chief manager since debut, Yuka Kikuchi/Magu is no longer working with Ayu. I remember reading somewhere that they got into quarreling or something.

NintendoHTF1242 · #7 4th December 2015, 05:20 AM

Why did she fire Leslie Kee? Was it after the whole "SUPER MANNIE" incident? lol

Bigtop · #8 4th December 2015, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

Why did she fire Leslie Kee? Was it after the whole "SUPER MANNIE" incident? lol

Yeah, I'm quite curious why Leslie Kee (the guy who photographed "Secret" album

) got kicked out of Ayu's roster...

YukiUsagi · #9 4th December 2015, 06:02 AM

What's "SUPER MANNIE" incident?

NintendoHTF1242 · #10 4th December 2015, 07:37 AM

Not SUPER MANNIE, my mistake. It's titled as SUPER MANUAL. It's when Ayu's then-husband did a pretty risque photobook with Leslie. Some people speculate that's why Ayu divorced him lol

kinix · #11 4th December 2015, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

Not SUPER MANNIE, my mistake. It's titled as SUPER MANUAL. It's when Ayu's then-husband did a pretty risque photobook with Leslie. Some people speculate that's why Ayu divorced him lol

Ayu didn't cut off ties with leslie due to super Manuel. (Though she most likely did cut off ties with Mannie bcos of that book) The issue with leslie was the 15th anniversary book titled Super Love. If our guess wasn't wrong, leslie told ayu's staffs that he was doing a Birthday special for ayu and had them took naked (artistic) photos but these photos ended up in his book. A YouTube video had feature some of the dancers and we're removed after ayu made a post on twitter saying that either she or the dancers felt betrayed by leslie (indirectly without naming)

Ryusei · #12 4th December 2015, 11:09 AM

She may have cut ties with leslie business-wise but he still comments on her facebook pictures lol (the few that are publicly available)

Uknow! · #13 4th December 2015, 11:38 AM

2. On the Cirque de Minuit ARENA TOUR, who was the guy singing Diary?
Is miccie, the same person who sang End Roll. I read he is Ayu's cousin, but I'm not sure.
3.Does Ayu still collaborate with Tim, or is he only part of her live band?
Are you talking about Timmy? I don't understand well the question because if you are talking about Timmy, he is doing the same he did with Ayu. He had composed for her and I think he gave Ayu vocal lessons. If Timmy sang less in Cirque De Minuit is due to the type of performances. He is a male vocal, so is normal he sang less.

About LICO I like her a lot, Ayu made me love Lico. And about the "phobia" it's possible.

kinix · #14 4th December 2015, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryusei

She may have cut ties with leslie business-wise but he still comments on her facebook pictures lol (the few that are publicly available)

If I'm not wrong, ayu/avex/max did saved/helped leslie when he was arrested by the police for releasing obscene material in Japan (Super series) which was after the Super Love book.

Machiko · #15 4th December 2015, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExodusUK

Keep reaching, if there was a hint of discrimination or uncomfortable feeling against Lico..they would be out of the door. Lico is one of Ayu's special children alongside Timmy and Shu-Ya.

Protect Lico at all costs

I would like to see that gif though, I don't remember paying any attention to a dancer pushing her away

NintendoHTF1242 · #16 4th December 2015, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinix

Ayu didn't cut off ties with leslie due to super Manuel. (Though she most likely did cut off ties with Mannie bcos of that book) The issue with leslie was the 15th anniversary book titled Super Love. If our guess wasn't wrong, leslie told ayu's staffs that he was doing a Birthday special for ayu and had them took naked (artistic) photos but these photos ended up in his book. A YouTube video had feature some of the dancers and we're removed after ayu made a post on twitter saying that either she or the dancers felt betrayed by leslie (indirectly without naming)

Oh I see. Thanks for the clarification!

orbitalaspect · #17 6th December 2015, 01:34 AM

Thanks for all the answers!

I'm surprised I forgot all about MARO being fired. I had no clue Leslie Kee was let go, nor about the nude photographs.

Thank you for clarifying it was miccie. I found his twitter. He looked much better on the tour than he does with the long hair he has right now. It doesn't look all that great with his face. But he is super pretty!

I'm glad Timmy is still there. (Tim/Timmy... same dif'.) I've just noticed he has been less and less a part of Ayu's shows and career since they worked on BRILLANTE and PQ.

The *.gif is hard to find right now. It's during the encore, and early on in the encore. I can't remember which song exactly, but I'll have to watch it all over again to find it and I'm not super interested in doing that right now. I was honestly surprised to see what looked like one of the male dancers grimacing at LICO, which spawned my first question because I couldn't imagine that being OK AT ALL with Ayu. But I had to ask because a) Japan's culture is still broadly unaccepting of LGBT, and b) LICO receives very lukewarm responses from the audience when she appears on stage during the encore, almost as if only a few people were all that interested in seeing her joke around. It just didn't fit the way the audience responded to others, even though LICO has been more in the spotlight since XOXO than other dancers. If I muster up the interest to re-watch I'll try to spot it. Maybe tomorrow.