from here to here

Note: This week has nine days :-)
But I wanted to end the year with this review. Some comments from next year have also found their way in here, but they did fit the occasion and rounded the topics up.

Nights4Saturn wrote what probably every Aya fan hopes for in the new year: The GAM FC DVD looks pretty awesome! I gotta say, even though I prefer solo Aya, I'm really starting to miss GAM. Hopefully 2008 will hold their return. And a few new solo singles. And another album. A new photobook could be nice as well.

First images were the Meringue caps from the day before

As a special Xmas surprise Thunderbolt3000 presented The World's Cutest X-mas Elf! which Matt captured as an avi and which received Ninja-Man's seal of approval . ChobiMM3 correctly remarked that Santa is a lucky guy having Ayaya as his helper

Matt found a few scans from Aya's next Xmas dinner shows. Luckily most of the remaining shows found their way into the archives Btw that's a consommé with Aya written on it. Btw an honorable mention to lovemusic for posting the dinner shows to the thread as well :-)

And a wonderful Xmas present shows up inthis official: Chobi gave a hint: Lord, this scarf is love. Thanks for the HQ pic Matt! I ordered it last night from Ohta's store. If anyone wants to buy it, I suggest stalking the store every hour or so to see if it's added; the scarves are going really fast. Luckily both Chobi, shug and Matt were able to secure them :-)

Wanderer-V2 not only preseented his new desktop but also a very nice TV news report about the making of the Deep Purple Glico Pretz commercial

The GAM FC DVD from last week finally made it onto the tracker, and dohhhup had a nice video from the Double Rainbow First Press acoustic event.

Matt then reported some bad news: I'm afraid Aya has suffered a fashion hell relapse. How else can you explain this.....fluffy neon blue shower cap atrocity on her head... She's performing "Egao" with Yumi Tanimura (the composer, on a News24 special on the making of Aya's single and the station's theme song. First there was just a preview, later on the whole show).
usagi no kami commented: LOL! Why is she even wearing a hat... it in no way goes with the other wise very nice dress she's got on! matadesuyo8 tried to explain: Perhaps she read a recent issue of 'Vogue' magazine, took a liking to the 'rich celeb'-look of a mink hat. But Upfront told her she had to wear a fake blue one because they were afraid of all the hate mail they'd get from the animal-rights activists. Hmmm... so she does have some decent-looking fur hats instead of that fake blue one. Matt agreed: That fur hat is indeed okay. Still can't get over whatever possessed her. They must have a fashion supervisor at HP. But then again, maybe that's the problem. To calm the shocked members he then posted a few nicer officials:

Esepcially the last one produced even more yearning for a new PB with Alienpyon...

Then it was time for Matt to become jealous: Boy, I hate Ishibashi. That should be me in his place That's from the 2004-02-05 Utaban which I hopefully will get to upload to the archives today matadesuyo8 thought that Ayaya's darn cute in aprons, huh? There's something about a cute girl in aprons All we need now are some pics of Ayaya in a french maids outfit. Now that would be really hot. Matt agreed: And Aya in a French maid's outfit? Man, it's time for another photobook.....Aya cosplay.... And while soup thought that she should do more PBs than silly commercials Matt reflected: It's not her decision whether or not to make a new PB but the management's. And she has made both silly commercials AND photobooks in the past. Aside from that she'll get a HELLUVA lot more money from commercials than from photobooks. And the PBs are all licensed by UFA whereas the commercials are her own things. At least that's how it's usually done. And N4S even went on: I like her commercials myself. They're usually pretty fun to watch. She is quite the saleswoman. She can even sell the commercials themselves...

White waiting for that some other cosplay, caps from June 2001 Hello Morning episodes with 3nin Matsuri:

. Plus some brandnew official pictures, the4 second row from her Double Rainbow tour:

kelsey had made a nice "Sukeban Deka" montage that she kindly shared with us:

And then....Chobi brought us overwhelming news: And now for some great news...drumroll please.....
NEW AYAYA SINGLE BEING RELEASED ON FEBURARY 20TH!!!!!!
The Single V will be released March 5th by the way.

That certainly came as a surprise to everyone, and the opinions came like bellybuttons :-))
Azagrath: This better be anything except another ballad... Double Rainbow to me seemed very rushed due to the whole Miki incident and GAM being put on hiatus. Like "crap, we need to release something to keep Aya busy", which meant album + tour in a hurry. I guess that may explain the lack of singles beforehand. Looks like she may be back on track now though. New single... hopefully an upbeat and mature, yet lighthearted and catchy track.
ChobiMM3: My thoughts exactly. Even though Aya is the queen of ballads, they get boring after a while. I wouldn't mind if this new release was along the lines of Ne~e? or Momoiro Kataomoi
mangomalte: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! i'm also hoping for a bit more up-beat. Egao was just amazing (as was its b-side), but variety is good and Aya is great at singing anything. can't wait for the previews! *runs of to write in the forum calendar* edit: dang, she'll be up against Utada Hikaru and BoA to name a couple.
Matt actually was wrong BIG time for once when he assumed that this would come from the Double Rainbow Album, scaring some folks :-) I hope it's either "Happy to Go", "Onna Day by Day" or "Double Rainbow".
It's in the Stars explained: Japanese artist tend to release singles before releasing albums, and that is the trend of H!P as well. So if the new single is a song from the Double Rainbow album, I will be very surprised. It'll be a new song, but I won't get my hopes of it not being a ballad. That way if it isn't, I'll be pleasantly surprised and if it is a ballad, I won't feel disappointed. But then again, Ayaya does a great job with ballads.
Matt corrected himself: Yup. You're right. In the past it has always been singles first, then the album. A pity that they didn't do it this time as there were several potential singles on the album. But a new one is something I certainly won't complain about
jabigjabig: No problem at all with new ballad.
laurie333361: I hope it will be a upbeat song. She definitly need a little boost on her sales so I hope the song will be really good and the PV not cheap and boring... just like the last single from Gatas... Anyway, it will surely be good, since it´s Ayaya we´re talking about
Nights4Saturn: THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! Its so close to her last release! This is so great! She hasn't released 2 singles so close together since '04! If this is any indication, 2008 may be a very good year!
And silenceglaive overlooked the great news :-) That's what happens if you are too caught up in the whole holiday things .. you miss all the important news. YAY for a new Single

Matt then presented his own scans of the very pretty First Date Tour Pamphlet which to this editor's knowledge has not appeared anywhere before. These scans are resized, the real ones can be found in the archives. Everyone feel free to distribute them, but please use the big ones:

The "Bang Bang" picture made shug feel: That's how I want to go.A couple of quick shots from Aya. While the other double-sided one prompted mangomalte to romanticize: i think i'll keep looking at this pic for a while to assure happy dreams tonight... Plus he was kind enough to translate Aya's letter (tried to translate it a bit more freely than i usually do. probably some wrongs in there... as usual):
Thank you for today!! Did you have fun??
Well, I... had a great time
Did you notice my heart beating???
The time we spent together reeeeally went by in the blink of an eye, didn't it?
We definitely have to meet again
Today was my first date and it has become one of my important memories.
Truly, thank you. See you
From AYA

mangomalte also proudly presented his new possessions: i won these (and 10 Risa photocard and a MM t-shirt) from the Christmas giveaway games. Himalia is a great dude. it's two "photocard albums" which holds 28 cards (each, i hope, but i think he meant together)! i can't wait!
I think we all can agree on his assessment on one of the nicest and most unselfish guys on this board :-) Oh, and mangomalte has promised scans for us!!! :-)

Next came a new batch of Hawaiian Musume (making Chobi hope that their hiatus is not far from being over!

Plus the new Meringue caps:

Next week will be tough.....no Meringue. Next episode (an on-the-road special in Okinawa) will be on January 12.

And Nights4Saturn finally came to terms with Matt's assessment of Aya's haircolor from last week: Okay, I agree with you now Matt. Jet black hair really doesn't look all that great... And Matt elaborated: It looks so artificial on Aya. 14 year-old girls wear this to make a point and go to death metal concerts. Even I did have that hair color during puberty (in other words: till about 25...) Btw no offense to 14-year old girls. Which met Chobi's opinion as well: I couldn't agree more. That's why I hated Morning Musume during their 'We have to dye everuone's hair black!' phase. It looked like they all fell into a pit of tar and didn't wash their hair. Chobi also thought that the first one of a new set of officials was a WIN!:

Cassandra posted a very funny gif of cute Aya which was sort of a prelude of things to come.....

On the livetaiwan website Aya gave an interview about the V Power concert from a year ago.
So far so good....
The interview was taped right before one of Xmas dinner shows.
So far so good...
We have heard audio rips of these shows before, but have never seen pictures from it.
So far so good...
Little did we know that Aya decided to wear a dress that brought this thread's level of conversation and thought down to hitherto unread and unsuspected low depths....
So brace yourself and send the children out of the room...

Cassandra was the first to hint: oic..the boobs are too ....... ^^" Tuhis followed: Mmm.. boobs. Ayaya sure was lucky when God handed out genes. A beautiful face, body hot like napalm and singing voice like it was taken from an angel (or a demon trying to tempt me into selling my soul).
shug let Homer Simpson talk: Mmmmmn Boobs. Chobi was shocked: *looks at Ayaya* Woah, when did that happen?! Poor Aya... (though this editor is still wondering why poor..... :-)

Chobi, shattered by the men's shallowness asked: Just out of curiousity, is it just the sex appeal that attracts male fans or do you guys actually like her music too?
In his answer Matt was the first one to really hit below the bel:
I'm only interested in Aya's mind!
and was immediately confronted by Chobi: ^ Ecchi! *slaps Matt on behalf of Ayaya* which was somehow misinterpreted by Ninja-Man: *slaps Aya on Matt's behalf* Wait, that wasn't right ... Can I try that again? jabigjabig was equally shocked: ^ Hmm.. Matt, that just.. Tuhis subtitled the image: "Yes, I deeply care about you as a person." Matt tried to ensure: The devil made me do that. I swear! Though N4S came to his rescue: And that cleavage, wow... That was very intentional...

Cassandra and usagi posted some more (and wider) pics: ILoveMico enquired: About the last events, I only have a question...Which are the measures of AYA?? (I don't believe than she have 85-55-85 ) which was answered by Matt this way: Well, she certainly wouldn't pass a Russ Meyer casting. usagi mused: Perhaps it'll even inspire a new take on Fumi's familiar saying: "Opinions are like cleavage.. some are better than others!" which was of course picked up by Fumi: "Motivation is like cleavage, some is deeper than others." LOL! Wow, she is really full figure!

Coming back to Chobi's question about the attraction of Aya was answered in a grand and beautiful way by none other than Ninja-Man:
I'm going to leave my perv suit in the closet for this, kay?
Aya is super cute.
Cute as a button doesn't even begin to cover it.
Kittens and puppies hang their heads in shame as she passes for they know they have been beaten at their own game.
And she doesn't even try.
And yes I enjoy her voice as well.
I haven't found an Aya song, or PV, that I haven't loved and listened to until I had to stop for fear of losing my sanity.
Even her early ones where she would "dork out" at random moments and make you go "Eh? What the hell is she doing/wearing/saying now?"
But sadly Aya, like most of the other girls in the H!P, does not have much sex appeal to me.
I can count on one hand the number of girls I honestly find sexy in the UFA as a whole.
Aya is beyond cute, and with the proper accessories and attitude can do beautiful like few others.
But cute and beautiful aren't sexy.
Sorry if this doesn't make sense.
The all ages nature of this forum is hamstringing me at the moment.
I do have more PVs then MP3s.
But in Aya-chan's case, I'm watching because she is so damn cute.
A counter-balance if you will to my otherwise grubby existence
Chobi replied: Yep, Ayaya is the queen of cute, which is another reason why I never understood her high male fanbase. And not just Ayaya, but H!P artists in general. I just never could understand what was up with the huge legion of male fans when ironically H!P aims their music toward pretween girls. Thanks for answering my question, and don't worry, I understood what you meant ^^ But I find it hillarious whenever I'm watching a concert and you get a good shot of the audience: All guys!
usagi no kami said: For me it was the music that drew me into H!P fandom.. the fact that it's sung by pretty girls is just a plus!
And Matt felt that after what he had done hw had to give a serious reply as well: First off Aya is the best singer (maybe even the only real one in HP). The music is kinda nice too, though if it hadn't been for Aya I doubt that I would have stayed for the ride because of that). As for her sex appeal I agree that there is none in a conventional way. She is rather geeky at times (need I say DJ Ozma? lol) but quite frankly I have never cared for the so-called sex sxmbols. The Jennifer Lopezesses do nothing for me whatsoever. I like pretty faces and not anything that's sexed up. I've never cared much for that GAM eroticism coz it was flat false for both of them. Yes, I admit: I find cute sexy :-))
Well....she didn't put that dress on to play the happy housemaker... You show cleavage like that you play the game. But know what....it ain't her (see above)
Chobi took up on the GAM issue: I never understood what Tsunku was trying to get at with GAM. I just want to scream in that man's ear, "'Gam' is not English slang for attractive legs!'". Seriously, where the hell that came from I don't know....
soup joked: What music? I thought H!P is a bikini model agency
And Vermillion philosophized: I'm a fan of Aya Matsuura because she has it all: she has a beautiful voice, a beautiful face and body, has acting talent, and she's cute and dorky in a lovable way. The most of the other HP girls have just one of these attributes (example: Koharu looks cute but can't sing worth beans; Miki is very pretty, but I don't find her cute or lovable.) I was initially attracted to Aya because of her looks (there's something so striking about her eyes) and I thought she was just an actress, but when I found out she was a singer I found I really liked her music too. Her early songs were fun to listen to and had really cute PVs. As I listened to her voice, I found her to be one the best singers I have ever heard. I only understand a few Japanese words, but I listen to the way she sings and how she hits notes so perfectly-- its beautiful. The version of "Happiness" from her 2006 concert dvd(Thanks Matt for the MP3 of that song from your torrent, btw) where she is accompanied by just an acoustic guitar and a tambourine is so heartfelt and beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes sometimes. The HP girls with less singing talent can hide it when they are singing in a large group and with studio vocal processing, but I notice that Aya's voice actually sounds better most of the time when she is singing in concert (if shes not dancing or jumping around while singing )

Tuhis then explained what a lof people were wondering about all along: Where and when did Gam mean legs????
About GAM: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gams
1. gams - A nice, long pair of female legs. - Ashley has a stately pair of gams.
So Tsunku was almost right, and considering the average english skills in Japan, it's a quite good effort.
And Ninja-Man added: You've never heard the expression "You have nice gams."? Admittedly it's not used by today's pop culture. But Tsunku heard right. Still not sure how he can get a old slang saying translated for him and yet the kids run about in shirts that say "Rock like Fuck". Or Yossie wearing gloves in a PB that say "Fuck Off!" Boggles the mind it does.
Which made Chobi say: Nope, can't say I have; but it's nice to know that Tsunku wasn't just using it as an excuse to dress Aya and Miki in the shortest outfits possible. (but then again maybe he was just the same :-)

Chobi was also wondering if Ayaya has ever found this thread :-)) which made Ninja-Man comntemplate: Hmm, tough one ... The wota in me would love if Aya came and noticed my fandom for her. The rational being capable of higher thinking would be embarrassed to hell if she saw half of my online antics. And it reminded Matt: Remember, we're talking about a person who believed that computer viruses are contageous. A moment which was fondly remembered by Chobi: When I saw that clip I thought that was the cutest thing on the planet.

Coming back to kawaii Ayaya for a change: Matt posted a few caps from the Making of Bishoujo Nikki 1 (and no, I don't have those DVDs...just this small clip - in the archives already)

which I guess is a nice way to end the year.

And end the first full year of the Aya Thread Review. A vague idea that I started exactly a year ago. And which I hope has brought some joy to some people :-))

It has been a pleasure (and will continue I'm sure) meeting you all. Thanks to everyone who has participated in Aya's thread. It's the members who make a board and a thread, and our thread is well-behaved, spam-free and entertaining.

I wish you all the best for 2008. M;ay all you hope for will come true. And bring us lots of new Aya singles, videos, DVDs and photobooks!!

Cya next year :-))

Mattthecat
-Chief Editor-