The PVs

　I'd like to divide her PVs from the time of her debut to the present into three groups as follows.
　　The early days -- from "poker face" to "Depend on you"
　　The trial days -- form "WHATEVER" to "The Trilogy"
　　The marvelous days -- from "SURREAL" to "RAINBOW"
　Though it's nothing but the same division as of the videos.
　And as the marked characteristics of her PVs, the three points below.
　　1. The narrativity
　　2. The expression of the mental state by images
　　3. The theme setting apart from the song
　1 is the idea often seen in the PVs of many other singers, too. But there are few who have taken the idea of 2 into their PVs. And 3 can be said to be quite a unique trial which no one but her would do. (As far as I know, there are no similar examples.) Let's see, picking up the principal PVs.

　"poker face" -- Fresh leaves in spring. Sunflowers and a spray of water in summer. A sunset glow and dead leaves in autumn. The snow in winter. Though the scene in which many screens are fixed to the branches of a big tree is a little bizzare, the beautiful pictures of the Japanese four seasons are shown there quite unpretentiously. It must have been unclear at that time that her sense of beauty has its roots completely in Japanese tradition, as it became clear later. But it's as if this PV had shown it in advance. The best PV of all in the early days. As she seems to have something personal against this song, I think it was lucky of her to make a debut with this excellent song and PV.
　"For My Dear..." -- I once saw someone's writing in a fansite of his own that she began to be concerned positively with the creation of a PV from around that time. As I didn't know her then, I have no way of making sure of it. But I think it was likely, because this PV is quite amteurish. It's hard to call this with a dark atmosphere a success. But the theme it's conveying is understood well. When she goes out after finishing singing in the last scene, a neon sign reading "RING" gleams in the darkness.
　"WHATEVER" -- She must have already been concerned with the decision of the content of a PV around that time. "For My Dear..." had been the first PV having narrativity, while it's notable that "WHATEVER" was her first PV with the technique of expressing the mental state by images. She is singing in a blank look, dressed all in white. An angel attempts to pick up a flower outside a wire netting and dies. And in the last scene, she herself is in a big cage with the angel wings. She is expressing her feelings of being shut in winter and almost freezing, sung in the song, by these images.
　"LOVE〜Destiny" -- At first sight, this appears to be the PV which is describing her every day life as a singer just plainly, but it's not. Because she is cherishing time. The time she is writing a lyrics in a make-up room. The time she is gazing on the passing scenes from a moving car at night. The time she is singing a song in a recording room. All those times appear as the present only for once and pass away to the past so quickly. She has no means of making them stop. -- A beautiful work. And I think one may be able to make such kind of work only once in his life.
　"appears" -- The location in New York. The twin tower buildings which don't exist now are seen. As she appears so many times in different appearances, some people may be confused. But it's rather easy to read her intention of this PV, because she is trying to picturize the content of the lyrics as it is. A couple and she who is looking at them appear in the song. So the male role and the female role of the couple and she as a singer between them appear in this PV, too. But, as it's a little confusing, it might be better without her appearance as a singer between them.
　"kanariya" -- A peculiar and impressive work. I can't read her intention clearly regarding this PV only, as is the same with the song.
　"Fly high" -- The theme setting apart from the song, the third characteristic often seen in her PVs, appeared for the first time in this PV. She who is singing merrily in a concert and she who is watching it with a white hood. If you read the lyrics trying to know who is she with the white hood, there is no answer. In fact, she had the proposition of the split of "Hamasaki Ayumi" and "Ayu" around that time, and it was set as the theme of the PV, irrespective of the song. In other words, she with the white hood was the real "Ayu" who was producing "Hamasaki Ayumi." But doesn't such a theme setting apart from the song split the work? -- No fear of it. Because both the song and the theme have come into beings from within her, and are conneected with each other in a deep place. I think it rather brought depth to the work.
　"The Trilogy" -- A desert. The dark sky. Some chimney-like objects stand far off and blowing up fires. A place surrounded by wire. A boy and a girl dressed in white get though the wire and walk hand in hand. They find a case in sand, and take a book out of it. And the picture of her singing appears on a page of the book. -- This is the introduction part of this PV, but I don't admire it much. Because it's too dark and complicated. Regarding the darkness of the scene, it can be said that it reflected her melancholic mood at that time directly. (Or "the feeling of despair", if I use her words.) But, as the content of the songs were not so dark, I think it was better for her to think out the scene setting and the plots more faithful to them. And this complexity was unlike her who usually makes it a principle to be simple and clear. This is the only PV I hope she will remake. (I suppose she has the same kind of thought.)
　"ever free" -- There is no PV of "ever free." But there is a moving image which would be by no means inferior even if it were put into the video as a PV. That is the image used in AYUMI HAMASAKI TOUR 2000, Act 2. The scene setting faithful to the content of the song. The simple and clear plots. The novel expression by the images. -- This is an excellent work as if covering all the defects of the PV of "The Trilogy." She told she was saved by making the song of "ever free." I feel this moving image also saved her in a sense. Because I think she could get out of the period of trial and error regarding the PV creation and have a clear view of her own course by making this moving image.
　"SURREAL" -- From this PV starts the third stage full of her unique and excellent expressions by images which overwhelm the PVs of other artists. It can be said that "SURREAL" has both two characteristics, "the narrativity" and "the expression of the mental state by images." It's amazing she could picturize the difficult theme so clearly as this. But, if I wish for more, I think it would have been better without the scene of her singing on the edge of a cliff in the last part. I'd like to tell the reason later when I write about "Dearest."
　"evolution" -- A foreign car slides to a parking lot underground. Two foreign men wearing black suits and sunglasses. As they open the door, she appears out of the car. A short denim top and skirt, a shippo on the waist. When the three start to wark with her in the middle, the powerful introduction. -- How can I explain the splendor of this opening scene? The contrast between the big, strong men with protection and the small, weak girl without protection. Looking at the scene only, we instantly understand the theme of this PV as "the singer under control and restriction." This scene would make many film directors jealous with a start. Also, comparing this PV with that of "Fly high", we will see quite obviously the change of the proposition she was holding. It was "Ayu" who was controling "Hamasaki Ayumi" singing about on the stage in "Fly high", while it is a stoutly-built man wearing sunglasses in this PV. I think "he" could be reworded as "the company."
　"Endless sorrow" -- Though I don't mention about the content of this PV here, as I already touched on this when interpreting the song, this is really a product of amazing imagination, a masterpiece. She appeared nowhere in the original version, which was very unusual. (Though she added the short last scene later when putting it into "A Clips 2".) Maybe the reason was that she was in quite a pessimistic mood then and didn't feel like acting herself. But the fictional and allegorical feature of this PV got all the more obvious for her absence. The theme of this PV is no longer the "restraint and freedom" to her, but the "restraint and freedom" to everyone. I even have a feeling as if the song, "Endless sorrow" had been born for the sake of this PV.
　"Dearest" -- Many singers are singing a song in their PVs, which is apparently a matter of course. But once they regard a PV as a visual work and seek high artistic quality in a PV, it becomes an obstacle in many cases. (Though it's enough otherwise, as a mere video introducing a song.) Why are many singers always singing a song in their PVs? Because they can't act. But she is different. She was once an actress and has a considerably good acting talent, which would be quite obvious watching the first half of this PV. (For example, her acting by the eyes when she was served with a glass of water by a waitress.) And, just because of that, I'd like her to abandon the common belief that a singer should sing a song in a PV. Why do I say such a thing? Because the scenes in the latter half of this PV, in which she kept on singing where many wind power generators stand, seemed needless to me. I'd rather have liked to see the continuation of the story. Though I think this PV wasn't inferior of course but considerably excellent as it was. The theme is the same as that of "evolution."
　"Free & Easy" -- The song was wonderful, and this PV was truly awesome. I was especially struck with admiration by the scene in which she crushed a bunch of grapes. How many emotions and feelings this momentary act contains ! Anger, sense of justice, love, sadness, resignation ... and I even felt her jealousy to a common family and will of negating it herself. Some people may doubt whether such a fine coffin was provided for Jeanne d'Arc, who had been burnt to death at the stake as a hectic. But I think it's out of the question. Because she didn't mention at all she played the part of Jeanne d'Arc. Because in fact, she was modelled after Jeanne d'Arc and expressed the mental state and the situation similar to those of Jeanne d'Arc.
　"Tsuki ni Shizumu"(Sinking into the Moon) -- This PV is of a little different kind from others, as it's a long music film running for as many as 36 minutes, and the director, Yukisada Isao wrote the scenario as well. In other words, she wasn't concerned with the decision of the content and devoted herself to the acting only. How was her acting? -- I felt she was doing considerably well in the scenes of the mental hospital in the first half, but that she seemed to be a little amateurish when she was exchanging a few words with Iseya Yuusuke in the woods in the latter half, for example, though he gave me a similar impression on me. (Come to think of it, a singer doesn't read lines in a PV commonly.) As I have little idea how much Mr. Yukisada knew about her, I think these plots were suited to her. What attracted my interest above all was that the historical background was set in the age of Himiko, quite a long time ago. Because that was the rare age in the Japanese history when a female shaman had the political power keeping men under control, and if it had been set in other ages, it would have been a fatherlike man of power, not a motherlike woman of power, who deprived her of freedom and broke her hope.
　"Real me" -- I think this is the PV in which her imagination was exerted to the full, as well as "Endless sorrow." How did she think out such a scene setting and plots indeed? Surpising and admiring. Though it's the PV of "Real me", it seemed to me the theme was taken from "WE WISH." ("We are meaningless, unless we accept ourselves.") But this PV can be interpreted in various ways, and I think it's possible to read the message against the cloning of human beings from the images, for example. We can also see her dancing for the first time in this PV. The inventive dancing with a playful touch that we can enjoy watching, a little bit different from those of other singers. She did a new attempt and succeeded without difficulty once again.
　"RAINBOW" -- She said herself that the theme of this PV is "something like that the past Ayu forgives the present Ayu and the present Ayu forgives the past Ayu." In which points concretely? Though it's impossible to know what was in her mind completely, I think it was surely included that she started to act as a hostess of a variety show on TV around that time, to sing songs of other singers positively, to insert English lyrics to her lyrics, and so on. This theme had only a little to do with the content of the lyrics, alike in several other songs of hers. Moreover, especially in the case of this song, she made it after reading the words of impressions which many fans had written to her after listening to the starting melody. Though this is the song in which the communication with her fans is much thought of, the theme of this PV is deep within herself. I think this point is as eccentric as the trauma dance. But it can also be said that it shows her introverted personality quite well. I was impressed personally by that the common houses and streets of Harajuku and Shibuya were used as the background. A nice PV. But I thought it would have been better to set the last scene in some sunny place outside than inside the dimly-lit restaurant.

　Her PVs are not just the videos for advertising but another wonderful group of works, each of which she created with great care. Especially the PVs after "SURREAL" (or speaking more correctly, the image works after "ever free") were novel and highly artistic, and have opened up the new possibilities of a PV. But it will take another several years before their true values are widely recognized, as is the same with her songs.


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