Review by GeeketteGal

The vinyl re-releases are all wonderful and this is no exception. MY STORY is amazing on vinyl. There's sooo many awesome bangers, beautiful ballads and even the fun semi-cute "HONEY" on this album that it's hard to choose just one possible favorite. The sound is fantastic and I can honestly hear some details in the music that I couldn't hear as clear on the original CD release. The packaging recreates the original CD jewel case design in many ways. The front and back are identical. When folded open the long middle is recreating the first page of the lyrics booklet showing the image of her in the bath covered by bubbles and surrounded by flowers with the tracklisting and album logo to the side. The center of each vinyl has the label designed identical to the original CD, and it comes with a folded slip inside the first slot. The front and back of it are identical to the lyrics booklet. When folded open the lyrics and credits to every track are listed across nicely with a row featuring several photos from the original lyrics booklet. They're absolutely gorgeous. I very highly recommend grabbing this before it's too late!!

Ayu's Duty is yet another one of her top early masterpieces FINALLY now available on the vinyl format. The packaging goes a great deal to recreate the original CD release's details in its design and layout. One slight difference though, which was interesting, is on the original cover along the left side it only read her name in the gold font. For this release they added the album title as well, so it reads "ayumi hamasaki Duty". It was unnecessary I think, but they did manage to make it blend in well without looking out of place. The center label on each side of the LPs themselves features the leopard print design. It's all stunningly gorgeous throughout. The sound is immersive, and I can hear details in the music better than on the original CD release. There's just so many amazing classics on this album to want to hear in this audio, like the title song "Duty", "vogue", "SEASONS", "SURREAL", the sweet beautiful "teddy bear" and the super underrated "SCAR" and "End of the World". My only criticism for this release is that none of the songs are super long. I have other LPs with many more songs on one side and I truly think Duty could've easily been released on just 1LP. Otherwise this is an absolutely fantastic release. Definitely recommended!!

RAINBOW was originally released back in December 2002, but it's an absolute masterpiece, one that's often underrated by other great albums like "I am..." or "Duty". Its opening intro track "everlasting dream" begins with Ayu telling the listener that she's giving us "a box of dreams", which lyrics continue this theme throughout the album. The album explores themes of identity with Real me, while delving into numerous others like ones of hope and love through many great mixes of different unique, beautiful and fun tracks. None are skippable for me whatsoever. It'd be very difficult for me to choose some personal favorites. The audio quality on this release is absolutely exceptional!! Even the cover and artwork inside and out is beautiful. The package itself and paper insert are done in the silky glossy feel that recreates the packaging of the original CD release from more than 2 decades ago. The slip insert itself features the album cover and when flipped open includes the lyrics and credits printed as they were in the original booklet recreating the backside of it as well. The vinyls themselves aren't colored ones sadly. They're the regular black. However, the label image in the middle on each side recreates the design and color of the original CD disk, which is just gorgeous. The inner fold recreates the first page of the lyrics booklet with a photo of Ayu with her hair tied back, and her head and neck in a rainbow of different colored feathers to the left and the album name and tracklist on the right. Highly recommend picking this up and adding it to your collection!!

This is a very cute CD release. All the songs are great and Ariana sings them beautifully. I absolutely love putting this EP on during the December holidays, and often enough even throughout the rest of the winter months. It comes with some built in greeting cards and a booklet containing the lyrics written in both Japanese & English. A fantastic addition to my music collection!!

This is a perfect little collectible for any Ayu fan. Honestly, the sound is excellent; the best way to listen to this lovely song, and the packaging is simple yet beautiful. It includes an inner slip with the song lyrics and the vinyl itself is an absolutely gorgeous sunny clear yellow. The outer package includes a clear plastic sleeve to further store it reducing it from damage over time as well. Definitely highly recommended!!

This is honestly my favorite album from DOUBLE, a fantastic R&B artist who I love even more than most artists of this genre from my own side of the world. She makes fantastic music, and this album shows off her greatest skills with a large number of unforgettable tracks including the title song "Reflex", "Spring Love", "This close" along with the ballad "Winter Love Song" and more. None are skippable by any means. Even the guest artists on a few of the album's tracks do well adding flavor to the release as well. Plus, some songs are fully in English. The entire album flows perfectly from one track to the next, and the packaging is just as stunningly beautiful. Very highly recommended!!

Koshiro (Izzy) Izumi is my favorite human character from Digimon Adventure. This little stand of him asleep beside his digimon partner is so well made and absolutely adorable sat on my bedroom desk. The colors are vibrant and well detailed. Very nice simple little collectible. Definitely recommended!!

This was my introductory album to Kana Nishino at about the same time as its release. It started my love of her and with good reason. She's talented and has many great songs, some of which are on this album, like "Watashitachi", "FANTASY", "GO FOR IT!!", "Be Strong" and many more. I adore this album through and through. Even the design of the case and included booklet is gorgeous. Love all the pictures and even the text on the pages is done nicely as well. It's definitely a great addition to any music collection!!

This is a fantastic album from Kana. Has so many fun and beautiful catchy songs which are all memorable in their own way. My few top favorites from this album are "Esperanza", "Every Boy Every Girl" and "if", but there's not a single song I ever skip. Even enjoy the usual Prologue and Epilogue style tracks she uses on every studio album. They open and close each album so perfectly. The enclosed booklet is quite nice and has the themed orange throughout with some very pictures of the singer and the lyrics and credits laid out beautifully. Fantastic addition to my music collection!!

Kana's MTV UNPLUGGED is a very unique concert. It's a simple yet close and intimate chance to watch Kana without all the bells and whistles of large stage sets, props, costumes etc, and just enjoy her raw talent as a lovely vocalist. It's a joy to watch and listen to her just perform raw and true to her capabilities. Despite the simplicity of the show she still shows some vibrant energy, and the band playing with her is lovely as well. The bonus acoustic sessions are also an absolute joy as well. Very highly recommended!!

This tour is fantastic. She showcases a lot of energy and her vocals are perfectly on key throughout. Plus the dancing, outfits and few effects are excellent as well. Daichi Miura makes a guest appearance for the performance of "Possibility" and the two artists just compliment each other's skills so well throughout the entire song. They have wonderful on stage chemistry together. Only tiny disappointment was there was no guest appearance from Verbal (m-flo) for the "BUMP! BUMP!" performance, but BoA tackles the performance with ease even without him present. She really knows how to get the crowd pumped and excited. Very very highly recommended!!

I already had this album on CD, but was super excited when I saw it was getting a release on vinyl, and I wasn't left disappointed!! The sound quality is absolutely incredible!! I love absolutely every track from start to finish. Also, the LP itself is a lovely white with the BoA album logo on either side in black with yellow text on Side A and reversed on Side B. The booklet and posters aren't all the same images from the CD release either. She's got some different photos for both the booklet and posters. I actually like these ones far more than the ones released on the other format. They're also printed using exceptional thick quality paper. Extremely highly recommended!!

Go ahead and ignore the horribly ugly cover to this DVD. Despite that, this is a fantastic concert. She doesn't even wear that outfit on the cover during the actual concert. She's got an overall pretty nice set of costumes during this concert. Her stage presence is awesome. The effects, props, dancers and band are also fantastic. She really brings her A-Game as well. Her performances in dancing, energy and vocals is fantastic. Even her personality is warm, fun and inviting from start to finish! I absolutely LOVE this tour!! The only minor detail that I wasn't fond of is some editing during the performance of Everything Needs Love that is a tad distracting. Highly recommended!!

I've honestly never been a huge fan of blues style music, so when I first heard this album I was surprised just how much I truly enjoyed it. I love this band and am more used to the classic rock sounds they tend to do. This still has some of that sound mixed in with the blues and it really brings out more enjoyment and flavor. It's honestly one of my favorite albums of theirs to date. There isn't one song I ever skip. Plus, the 2CD release makes it even more enjoyable. The packaging is quite nice too. Love the theme and pictures throughout. Highly recommended!!

This is an exceptional set of LArcenCiel's studio albums. Well most of them. For some unknown reason they omitted their very first album Dune from this set. It's not my favorite album, but still, it's a good album, and I do think it odd that it wasn't included. The remastering on all of these are exceptional. I usually find I can't hear remastering much with most music releases, but I can definitely hear a difference in the sound here, especially on the older albums originally released in the 90s and early 2000s. The colored cases are neat too. Really liked how this was done. The book included has A TON of cool pictures of stuff related to the different albums and the band over the years. Plus, the goods are these little key ring clips associated with the artwork of each album cover, which are cute. Attached a few to a bag of mine. Highly recommended!!

This is probably Ken's most underrated album. For me, it's one of my absolute favorites that he's ever done. It's fun, unique, energetic and playful. It dabbles in a wider variety of songs with new sounds to his discography. The first track on this album is also my initial reason for checking it out. I adore the song POP STAR. I feel like he's playfully teasing Japan's teen pop idols with this song and also in its MV. However, it also has many great songs. I never skip a single song on here. The included booklet has all lyrics and credits laid out very nicely. Plus, the pages has a fun paint splatter design of different colors and some fantastic photos of Hirai himself. Very highly recommended!!

BoA's Xmas Lives are always fantastic and this one is no different. It's both fun and sweet. Her vocals are exceptional on each and every performance. The Christmas classics she covers during this concert she does in a mix of both Japanese and English flawlessly. The crowd is a great addition to the overall atmosphere of the show too. Plus she has some great outfits as well. Definitely recommended!!

Cutie Honey is such a classic track from Kumi Koda and it sounds even better on vinyl. Love this as a fun collectible. Only small disappointment is that the other b-side tracks from the original LOVE & HONEY single release weren't included on this LP. Otherwise it's a fun addition to my collection.

This is a beautiful collection of 20 of Namie's best songs done with the instrumental music box sound. They're fantastic and something wonderfully relaxing to enjoy. Even good for days when I'm suffering from a headache or not feeling well. The packaging isn't too complex and there's no pictures of the singer, but the gold ribbon design is done front and back with some sprinkled throughout. Definitely recommended for Namie fans or even for anyone just wanting something to lounge and relax to.

This album is actually quite good and like everything else MC's released over the years her vocals are fantastic. She's got some great songs here, but also a couple that don't live up to her being her best work as well. Still, there's only one song on this album I skip EVERY SINGLE TIME. The inside packaging is nice and there's some nice pictures of her inside as well. I do recommend giving it an overall listen for sure, but she's had better albums in her discography.