About Ayu's PVs
Fair warning: Most of this page is me rambling on about Ayu's PVs. You can skip ahead to the informational parts using the mini-nav below.
rambling/thoughts on Ayu's PVs · where to find them · list of Ayu's PVs by year
Rambling/Thoughts on Ayu's PVs
First, let's get the most important bit straight: a PV is a promotional video, and is the same thing as a music video. I'm actually not sure where the term comes from, but I see it used in reference to Japanese music videos, so I use it.
Moving along. Ayumi Hamasaki's first single, poker face, was released in 1998, and the PV probably came out around the same time. (I'm really not quite sure, but it makes sense.) Ayu has made over seventy PVs since then, and the range of subjects and themes they cover is vast. Though there are some similiarities between particular PVs, for the most part they are unique and often thought-provoking.
(Before I go any further, let's get one thing straight: I really do not know much about how Ayu makes her PVs, or how much is her own creation rather than the director's. However, Ayu is the name and the face that I personally associate with her PVs, considering she's featured in most of them, and so I mainly talk about her.)
There is a clear distinction between her early PVs and her more recent ones, and the same is true with the music associated with them. I've always felt that her early works are quite different from those released a few years after her debut. A more accurate time period might be all of her singles prior to the release of A BEST with the exclusion of M. M is what I consider to be "older" Ayu — it was released about two years after her initial debut, and is her first release as a composer (under the name CREA).
You could say that her PVs made between the release of A BEST and A BEST 2 are the next "period" of PVs, but I don't really see much of a difference, myself. Since A BEST 2's release in February 2007, Ayu has made eight PVs, none of which are vastly different from her previous PVs. I personally connect her PVs to the albums the songs are associated with (for the ones that are on albums, at least). To me, PVs like Free & Easy and Real me are the RAINBOW period, while STEP you and HEAVEN are the (miss)understood period.
What Ayu does have are different "genres" of PVs, at least to me. There are the winter ballads, like No way to say, momentum, rainy day, and Together When..., which all make me think of the others. She also has summer songs, like fairyland and BLUE BIRD, and the PVs reflect that. There are fun PVs that don't have much in the way of meaningful imagery, like Beautiful Fighters, Bold & Delicious, Mirrorcle World, and (don't) Leave me alone. And there are the thought-provoking or emotional ones, like Endless sorrow, Free & Easy, is this LOVE?, and HANABI ~episode II~. Some tell a story, like alterna, Dearest, and Voyage.
And then there are the ones that, in general, freak me out. I love the song ourselves, but the PV is, uh, kinda creepy. The PV for ANGEL'S SONG, in which Ayu turns into a werewolf, made me go "WTF?!?!" about a dozen times. ever free never fails to thoroughly disturb me, and Real me along with it. Connected reminds me of about half a dozen sci-fi movies. Mainly, her sci-fi ones weird me out, though not all of them (like Endless sorrow and alterna; the latter really just has elements of sci-fi, but they are there). An example of a non-sci-fi one that weirds me out is RAINBOW which just left me saying "wait, what?!" walking proud freaked me out too, for that matter... Ladies Night has freaky elements, but I love that PV, partially because I love the song.
And now I'm just rambling outright. Hm.
Miscellaneous facts about Ayu's PVs:
- The PVs for JEWEL, my name's WOMEN, and fairyland are all on the top 25 list of Most expensive music videos ever made.
- There are two PVs Ayu does not appear in: Connected, which is animated, and the original version of Endless sorrow. Ayu appears in the form of advertisements for the song in the PV, but she only appears as a person in the DVD version, which has her at the end.
- decision is the first PV to feature her entire tour band.
- Some of her PVs were made after the song was first released, such as the PVs for kanariya and Fly high, which were released as singles after they appeared on LOVEppears. The PV for my name's WOMEN was only released on the STEP you/is this LOVE? single's DVD. (And maybe A BEST 2, though I'm not sure.)
where to find them
Well, you certainly won't find them on MTV. Not in America, at least, and probably not many places outside of Japan and East Asia. While iTunes has a great deal of Ayu's music, there's a noticeable lack of videos. This leaves two options for fans: importing DVDs or acquiring them through less legal means. I'm sure a quick YouTube search for Ayu would yield some of her PVs, and a Google search will lead you straight to sites where you can download them.
For those who like seeing things legally, there's importing. This actually isn't so bad. The best way to see her PVs are to get a CD+DVD release, which she's had for every single since Moments (er, I think it was Moments), and every album since Memorial address. Perhaps the best way would be to get one of the A BEST 2 CD+DVDs, since they have quite a few PVs between them. Other than that, you'd have to buy individual singles or albums. My top recommendations would be her (miss)understood and/or Memorial address albums, and the rest later on.
Where can you get them? I've had no trouble ordering from YesAsia (although it took my copy of GUILTY three weeks to get to me DX) and I've heard good things about CDJapan but have not used them personally. You can also try Amazon, and their Japanese site (which can display some things in English). Generally, the "Overseas" version will be cheaper and basically identical to the Japan version, so go for that if it's an option.
Perhaps the most important question is — how do you watch it? DVDs have region codes, which means you can only watch them with DVD players from specific places, or use a DVD player that can read all regions, or watch a region-free disc. There is one other option, though — watching it on a computer. These days, I think a DVD player comes standard with computers, and when you insert a disc from another region, it usually asks you to change your player to that region (and tells you that you can only change it a certain number of times, so you can't use it indefinitely). A way around this is the (free!) VLC player. Somehow or another, it can read any DVD, so you can watch your lovely imported DVD through that. (If you have any other video players to recommend, do contact me.)
list of Ayu's PVs by year
Really, this list is just for reference — for anyone who thinks they might have missed seeing one or two, or if someone's not sure what order they go in chronologically. If you want to know more details about the PVs, Vogue has a guide with more technical information.
For albums released on the first day of the year, the year given for the PV is the year of the album's release, even if the PV had been aired before then.
1998
- poker face
- YOU
- Trust
- For My Dear...
- Depend on you
1999
- WHATEVER
- LOVE ~destiny~
- TO BE
- Boys & Girls
- appears
- kanariya
2000
- Fly high
- vogue/Far away/SEASONS
- SURREAL
- M
2001
- evolution
- NEVER EVER
- Endless sorrow
- Dearest
- Dearest (acoustic piano)
2002
- Daybreak
- Free & Easy
- Voyage
2003
- Real me
- RAINBOW
- ourselves
- Greatful days
- HANABI ~episode II~
- forgiveness
- No way to say
- ANGEL'S SONG
- Because of You
2004
- Moments
- INSPIRE
- GAME
- CAROLS
- About You
- walking proud
- Humming 7/4
2005
- my name's WOMEN
- STEP you
- is this LOVE?
- fairyland
- alterna
- HEAVEN
- Bold & Delicious
- Pride
- rainy day
- Ladies Night
2006
- Startin'
- Born to Be...
- BLUE BIRD
- Beautiful Fighters
- 1 LOVE
- JEWEL
- momentum
2007
- part of Me
- glitter
- fated
- talkin' 2 myself
- decision
- Together When...
2008
- (don't) Leave me alone
- Marionette
- Mirrorcle World