Review by Christina

This is honestly my favorite Ayu classical themed album that she's ever released. While it's sadly the shortest, it also flows perfectly. Each song incorporates pieces of classical works from some of the most well-known classical composers including Vivaldi, Bach and Chopin among others, which further brings every song to a new life. There's not many pictures inside, but the entire packaging is quite lovely. To anyone who enjoys Ayumi Hamasaki and has a true love and appreciation for classical music, this is definitely highly recommended!!

The UNIVERSE album is honestly among my favorites. It has a good mix of great singles like the rock "Can We Go Back", the sexy songs "Physical thing" and "ECSTACY" and the cute "Lick me". There's many other great tracks on here too. One personal favorite, "You're So Beautiful" is a classic up-tempo ballad that I often enjoy repeating a couple times before allowing the album to move onto the next track. The MVs are also fantastic as well. Only down point with them is simply that the MV for the song "Alive" wasn't included. The booklets are lovely as well. Many great pictures of Kumi and the lyrics are all laid out well. The only reason for not giving this release 5 Stars is simply the BEST album included. It's got some great songs, but it's forgettable as a disk of its own. It was unnecessary to include it packaged together with the UNIVERSE studio album. Definitely do recommend checking out Kumi Koda's UNIVERSE and even just her entire discography. An absolute amazing artist and performer.

This calendar is gorgeous. Has some lovely original animation shots of the characters in different situations, which are all too sweet. All the art is vibrant and well detailed. Plus, the paper it's printed on is very high quality, thick and super glossy allowing you to re-use these as posters even after 2024 is over. Very highly recommended to all fans of the series.

Absolutely gorgeous 2LP Set soundtrack to an equally amazing classic film!! The packaging is absolutely stunning with so much detailed scenes and artwork from the film. There's even a pull out piece in the #1 LP slot with a bunch of info (in Japanese) about the background and such about the composition etc. The LPs themselves have lovely artwork from the film in the center on each side. Then the music itself sounds even better on this format. You can really hear such precise details you can't hear on the CD counterpart. Joe Hisaishi was a genius composing something of this brilliance for Mononoke Hime. Also just to mention CDJapan was quick at delivery and packaged it extremely well so it arrived in pristine perfect condition. Extremely Highly Recommended!!

I bought this AGES ago when it first released. I've seen it soooo many times that I almost know this concert by heart. It starts with an opening movie showing random speeding clips of the outside of the venue, people being let inside etc before going to a video clip of Kuu stepping inside a HUGE old fashioned building that looks like some oversized old style library to open up the "FANTASIA" book. Honestly, the way this is presented is pretty cool and opens things up quite cool. The opening song is Butterfly and she "flies" over the crowd from one end of the dome to the main stage. She has a ton of props and incredible costumes and dances with great energy throughout the show. Her and her sister misono even makes a really cool entrance and performance for "It's all love!". Plus at one point you'll spot David King who was one of her chorus backup vocal people earlier in 2010 and came back in 2015 attending the FANTASIA show with his kid. From start to finish, this concert is over 3 hours long, and was a great way to end her 10th Anniversary. The only thing that I had mixed feelings over when I first saw the concert is her outfit from "Koi no Tsubomi" to "Lick me". It's cutesy overload. I do kinda like it a little more now, but if you're not into her looking like a big piece of fluffy candy floss you might not like the outfit. Regardless though, she does give some great performances in it. Just... she could've definitely done without the hat.

Honestly, I guiltily admit that I sometimes like to listen to a couple very specific songs by this singer. Those particular ones are kinda fun and catchy. Sadly though, I never understood her super popularity for all the time she was active. Some people have said to me that they dislike the change of direction with her music by this point. I truly don't see any change. All her albums I find to be the same kawaii pop music one after the other.

I originally bought the CD of this album back when it was first released 2 decades ago, and I was hesitant but decided to purchase it along with Utada's other albums on Vinyl, and soooo glad I did. Deep River is one of my absolute favorite albums from the singer, and the LP brings out so much clarity you don't hear on the CD or on a digital streaming service. All these are great songs made even better by the remastering and quality of this format. Very highly recommend you to purchase the LPs before they're gone for good.

First of all, I bought the mu-mo/FC edition which comes with much more than just this specific concert, but I'll concentrate on specifically what's on this particular disk; Ayu's 24th Anniversary show. The concert itself is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC from start to finish. The costumes, stage props, dancers, band etc are all superb. Even her vocals are top notch during this show. Ayu's on her top game here. Plus, the special guest appearance for the performance of "One Night Carnival" was a lot of fun too. My only small complaint is that there's some performances throughout the show where the editor at avex decided to go a little crazy with some special editing effects which gets kinda weird to watch. It reminds me of how Kumi Koda's "Dirty Ballroom ~One Night Show~" was edited for her "TRICK" album release back in 2009. This editing is sometimes just nothing short of just distracting, while the editing during "Party Queen" for example was mostly just fun the majority of the time.

After having grown up surrounded by many types of music, mostly due to my own personal exploration over the years, I grew into loving and appreciating soooo many different genres of music, including classical, something too many these days seem to overlook. MY STORY Classical is gorgeous!! I love the alternate classical arrangements of every song on here. It truly does them all some beautiful justice, some sounding even more gorgeous than the pop originals. I also adore the instrumental classical bonus track version of "A Song is born". It makes me wish more of my favorite artists including Kumi Koda, Hikaru Utada, BoA, Jolin Tsai and the now retired Namie Amuro had of, or would in the future release a classical compilation of their own songs as well. This is a fantastic album and I VERY HIGHLY recommend giving it a full listen through at least a few times.

Kuu's TRICK Tour is fantastic. She brings her A-Game with every single last performance. Even her entrance onto stage is great and so unexpected after how things appear to be behind the curtain before it drops. Won't spoil anything, but it's really cool. She does a number of magic illusions and such in this tour, hence the tour's title. She also opens up just after the introduction with my favorite song from TRICK and one of my top favorites in her entire discography, TABOO. Plus I absolutely love that this is the only concert I can think of where she performs the cute Christmas song, Winter Bell. The only reason I gave this tour 4-Stars instead of 5 is that the TRICK album had her as a clown on the cover (Limited CD/2DVD edition), so of course she uses a clown for the overall theme and in the interlude movies. What bugs me is the clown itself during these interludes. Rather than have it actually speak, she has it make the most annoying squeaking sounds with a subtitle (Japanese only) underneath the squeaking to convey what the clown is supposed to be saying. I often mute the interlude videos so I don't need to listen to the clown's squeaking. As for the rest, the second disk includes some behind-the-scenes footage plus the stops of the tour where each of the special guests were that aren't in the main concert on the first disk. Fergie makes a stop in for her performance with Kuu of That Ain't Cool, a song I personally love, but Kuu FAR outshines her easily. AK-69 isn't on stage for the entire song of Bling Bling Bling but still gives a good performance with KK. Lastly, Misono is cute on stage with Kumi. You can really feel the sisterly love and connection between the two women. Overall, great show and very highly recommended!!

"stay with me" is a gorgeous winter ballad, and while I have the TRICK album, which this song was later included on, I still wanted to own this CD. Besides the beautiful "stay with me" it also includes the adorable Christmas song "Winter Bell". Plus the Orgel (Music Box) Version of the title song is just so soft and lovely to listen too. The instrumentals of both songs are also just delightful. The MVs are both fantastic. However, I do prefer the original over the alternate one. The inside packaging of the CD is also just lovely and has some very nice photos of Kumi as well. Not to mention it's printed on very high quality paper. The entire single is a definite treat, even more so for the end of the year holiday season. Very highly recommended.

Love Me Back is a great song, but after buying the Japonesque album itself I don't need the single for this particular song. However, even if you have the aforementioned album there's still 4 big reasons to own this single. Firstly is the b-side, Say Her Name. This song is one of my absolute favorite b-sides she's ever released. It's a great song, but quite sadly doesn't get much love or attention like it should imo. The remix of Love Me Back is the next reason to have this. It's a really fun remix. Then the other 2 reasons are on the DVD. The making-ofs for all MVs were not included on Japonesque meaning having this single is the only way to see the Making-Of of the LMB MV and believe me, it's worth it. The MV was so much fun and watching the making is just as fun. So much going on behind the scenes of this video. Lastly, Kuu's the Queen of Live and this includes some live performances from a-nation (a JPOP summer music festival) that year, which are all incredible from start to finish. Super highly recommended!!

I've been an Ayu fan since 1999 when Boys & Girls released so when I heard this album was getting a remastered 20th Anniversary release I was excited and it certainly didn't disappoint. The remasters of every track make the album just sound all that much more amazing than their original release from over 2 decades ago. Plus the additional disk of mostly "appears" remixes are great too. Just wish there was more assortment of songs that were remixed. The packaging and booklet is essentially the same as the 1999 original so you won't see any new photos etc. Still, a phenomenal release and here's to hoping she'll remaster other classic albums such as "A Song for xx", "Duty" and "I am..." in the future.

Been a fan of Daichi Miura for a few years now. Absolutely love his music. The title song Backwards itself is fun, new and refreshing. It's a great song and so is the MV. However the 3 b-sides even after multiple listens just don't catch my attention as much. They're ok but nothing fantastic. The video included for About You however is quite well done. He's had a number of singles since his last album so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next release will be the new studio album and these b-sides will be excluded from the tracklist.

KODA KUMI!! And throughout this show she won't let you forget it! Throughout this past year and still now in early 2021 COVID19 has made life hard for everyone in the world. However Kuu still put on a great concert to celebrate her 20th Anniversary with all the rules & protocols in place. She's still got some wonderful costumes and dance routines. Plus so much energy and charisma all the way throughout the show. Her vocals are also at their best during this show. I also love the large treadmills on stage during the performance of "puff". The bonus footage was fun too. She really has given us something special to cheer us up during these difficult times and I couldn't be more grateful to her for this concert, the people who helped her make this happen and to CDJAPAN who delivered my copy to me in spectacular timing and amazingly perfect condition!! Very highly recommended!!

Smile is not Katy's absolute best album, but it is much better than some people have been giving it credit for. It has some wonderful catchy songs and relatable lyrics to many of its tracks which really helps bring you out of the depression many of us have been experiencing this year. I absolutely love songs like Daisies, What Makes A Woman, Small Talk, Never Really Over and Cry About It Later the most but I do love most tracks. Resilient however is probably the weakest song mostly cause of the sound of the song. I guess it just doesn't appeal to me as much as the others. However I do really like the lyrics and overall theme of the song itself. I personally decided to buy this edition from CDJAPAN when I saw that it includes the deluxe edition and T-Store bonus track plus an additional remix of Daisies all together on one disk which also comes in a regular jewel case instead of the cheap cardboard slip which my country was using that also didn't include the T-Store bonus song and Daisies remix. The lyrics booklet is also very pretty and I love the design and pictures of KP inside. I'd also lastly mention that CDJAPAN shipped it extremely well in a small box wrapped in bubble wrap and green packing paper so it wouldn't get the slightest amount of damage. It arrived in superb condition. Even better than most retail shops in my country keep their CDs on the shelves. Highly recommend both the album and CDJAPAN.

This is honestly one of my top favorite concerts of Namie's from around this era and even on the whole, and honestly for a good reason. I love every performance from start to finish, but the reason I LOVE IT EVEN SO MUCH MORE is she performs SO MANY GREAT b-sides and album tracks like STROBE, the SPEED STAR, exist for you, Fish, Drive etc which are rarely (or never) performed during her other tours. To top it off her vocals are always on point and I love all her costumes as well. Plus the choreography and dance routines are excellent too. Very super highly recommended to any and all Namie Amuro and JPOP fans!!

I honestly purchased this edition more than anything for the included pouch, and I must say it's just awesome! The detail and quality is fantastic. It also has nice carry handles and some pockets inside for better organization of whatever you decide to carry in it. Plus it zippers shut. I've begun using it as a travel cosmetics bag. The CD itself is nice. I LOVE the song Love Me Back. It's one of my favorite Kuu songs EVER. My one and ONLY reason for not giving this 5 stars is that the CD doesn't include the b-side Say Her Name and the Love Me Back (Andy Price Remix) tracks included on the other two editions of this single. The remix is very cool and Say Her Name is an amazingly underappreciated cool b-side amongst Kuu's discography. I do recommend purchasing one of the other editions as well to get those tracks. Still this edition comes in gorgeous packaging and CDJAPAN packaged and shipped it exceptionally well. Plus it arrived quite quickly considering my chosen shipping method and the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Alive is such a gorgeous classical ballad. It's so beautiful and unique from all her others she's released over the years yet is sadly terribly underrated. I don't think it's even been performed live at any of her concerts. Physical thing is completely different. It's a fast paced sexy song that's a great naughty jam. The DVD includes the MVs for both tracks yet the UNIVERSE album, which these two songs were included on, didn't include the gorgeous MV for the song Alive, which is probably the biggest reason to own this single aside from the beautiful cover and cool additional instrumentals. Highly Recommended!!

Kumi's re(LIVE) Black Cherry is absolutely amazing from start to finish. While the first parts have some similarities to the original 2007 BC Tour she makes this show truly all its own with some new twists and surprises that you wouldn't have seen in the previous BC tour from 13 years ago. And after Twinkle the rest of the concert is completely 100% different. The vocals, dancing, special effects, aerobatics, costumes and even the energy are all just perfection from start to finish. I'd also like to thank CDJAPAN for the speedy and perfectly packaged delivery of this bluray. It arrived in only 3 business days from Japan to Canada and was perfectly packaged so absolutely no damage would come to it along its journey. Highly recommended!!