This isn’t particularly ranked…it’s just 10 dark videos I love and can’t get enough of.These are just opinions and speculations so I do not claim any of this to be fact. You are allowed to completely disagree with me. There are other powerful videos that didn’t make the list because I choose 10. Feel free to comment or give any feedback.

• Alterna: An interesting video that provides a dark commentary on the life of a celebrity, namely Ayu’s own fame and comparing being a marionette or ‘singing machine’ to losing your own free will to what sells or what the company tells you will sell. I like videos that have odd imagery and this one certainly has a few and I found even the humor at the end of the boy lifting the girl’s dress to be a commentary on society and fame.
• Ourselves: Whether the other people in this video, most of them at least…were actually Ayu or just people wearing Ayu masks the video was quite frightening. Having Ayu captured and I guess….tortured…I’m not sure, the defacing of, at the time her only Best album was quite intersting. I remember reading that Ayu was very upset about Avex asking her to re-record some of her songs for that album and people have said her single tear was the only sign of protest against this (see 2004 NTV special on Ayumi Hamasaki, this is where I learned of this) I feel like the Ourselves video was a continuation of this protest and in all honesty I agree whole-heartedly with Ayu, prefering the originals to re-recorded singles. 
• Moments: Despite this song being quite happy and pleasent the video is quite dark. The children in the garden are tearing apart these maniquins or dolls…not sure, they looked kind of like the art models you buy to help you draw, either way they were tearing aprt the limbs of these things and seemed quite pleased by it. The Ayu that is caring a lamp watches them, looking upset by the sight, or a look of feeling sorry for the dolls. The Ayu laying on the ground with either ink, blood, or something smeared on her body makes you wonder if the kids were actually tearing her apart. It almost makes this ballad about doing anything for the one you love quite frightening.
• 1 Love: My guess is that this was some sort of illegal circus, the circus acts were pretty typical but the addition of musician was clearly added for another commentary, perhaps again on fame. As a little humor they also had a nerdy kid wearing a backpack and baseball cap called ‘the otaku’ The other Ayu in the video was spying on the circus and recording footage into a camera on her ring, when she confronts the ring leader/clown about it however, mentioning she’d call the police he decides to make her a circus act as well. Looking at the songs lyrics itself you could almost argue that this is a commentary on modern life and the pursuit of love.
• Free & Easy: I have read that Ayu was supposed to be portraying a modern joan of arc for the photo shoot of the Free & Easy single but I don’t know if this is confirmed or not. Within the video itself she is a prisioner who is being taken to what we can only assume to be her execusion, as we also see shots of people preparing a coffin. At the very end of the video the coffin is seen being carried out, we can only assume that perhaps Ayu herself was placed in the coffin.
• Marionette: While not really being very grim in the traditional sense of Ayu being portrayed as harmed or dying. It does portray dark and intersting imagery of marionettes dancing around a carousel and coming to life. In the end it appears almost as if the Ayu viewing the display becomes a marionette, so the marionettes become human and the human became a marionette in other words. Not sure of the exact message but I found it interesting in any sense. 
• Ladies Night: One of the portrayed Ayu’s is wandering through a hotel with her bag and looking for I guess her hotel room. She finds a room with strange people, and then quickly leaves, sees more imagrey, such as a faceless reflection of herself. She tries to call for help and then attempts to escape of the elevater that in the end closes in on her, if you look closely you can see this creepy man standing behind her in the final scene. The other Ayu is seen as giving a speech in a military-esque outfit to what looks like the store mannequins (that they use to advertise outfits) wearing what could be military jackets and marching by her command.  This is one I often like to ponder exactly what is being said as the deeper message.
• Part of me: This video has a lot of traditional Japanese imagery and Ayu looks absolutly stunning as a Geisha, keep in mind this was the only new song produced in the A Best 2 album, which contained a White and a Black side. In the end of the video Ayu undoes her hair and it’s been quite some time since I saw the video however I do remember that it appeared she died while her hair was growing, I could be wrong on this fact, and may have to take a fresh look again. I also don’t know if this relates to a Japanese story or not since I don’t have much knowledge on that subject.
• Don’t look back: There are two sides of Ayu we see. An Ayu with her hair up and looking quite upset and another with her hair down, against a wall smiling and laughing. This Ayu is also shown standing in front of what I believe may have been an A Best 2 picture and it contains many marks and scratches that appear to have been intentionally made. The marks were reddish and the Ayu who is seen seated does have lipstick with her, so it is possible that the marks were made with lipstick. We also see a flash of scissors and hair on the table. Later on the other side of the seated Ayu’s face is revealed and we see the other side of her hair is down and quite messy, her face make up and lipstick is smeared and uneven. To me this PV perfectly matches the lyrics, of the inability to change your past no matter how you wish you could and the realization that you must go on despite the pain you feel from it and your hesitance. In Japan cutting hair is a sign of letting go of the past and moving on. There was also constant imagery of a warped clock, that I am not sure yet what it could mean. Don’t look Back is a personal favorite of mine.
• Moon: Ayu is seen in a big European style room. There is also some sort of thing that is pouring ink, I imagine for those old fasioned pens. She is quite distraught as she is singing and we see brief flashes in normal color of her cuddling and playing with one of her dogs. The rest of the video is in dark and gloomy colors. Near the end she is sitting under the device that is pouring ink and when it overflows the ink drenches her and her clothes, she is seen as looking quite upset. I am not sure if this was around that time or not but I recall one of her dogs, the oldest had passed away and I am not sure if that was a reference or not, the timing could be off but either way it fascinated me.

Did I mention that I love Benassi Bros. Before? Well I do!

So I will read the lyric translations and for each Gundam Wing pairing I ship I will choose Two-mix sounds that match them…or I will make them match somehow…because I can’t her Two-Mix and think of any other Anime…

Me: Yep… that one is 3X4, 1X3, 2X5, …1X6… 1X…no 2X4….(under talked about pairing right there… I ship them all what can I say?))

That will be me whenever I get to analyzing seriously.

Hi everyone! I am going to do it now! I am going to talk about my opinion on the character songs of Gundam Wing! Yes, prepare for my random fan opinions and for a love fest to ensure…it won’t be all the professional so…sorry. Also, I have heard all of Duo’s character songs but don’t actually have them all in my possesion which brings me to the fact that I will only be talking about character songs that appear on Gundam Wing Operation 2, 3, and both CDs of Blind Target since that is all that I own for now. So I will in no way talk about ALL of the character songs since I haven’t heard them all and don’t own them all. Also, I will probably talk about Two Mix in some other post with both Gundam Wing and non-Gundam Wing songs if there is interest, do let me know! Okay…anyway…enough talking…let’s get to work (order may or may not be kind of random)!

Cry for the dream- (Heero Yuy) So in all honesty I kind of expected a darker song considering how Heero is in the series before even hearing the song but I love what happened instead. Cry for the dream not only has catchy instrumentals and lyrics but it fit Heero perfectly and makes you feel ready to fight. This is probably still my favorite character song of Heero I have heard thus far. I mean it gives me season 1 feels everytime I hear it, his voice is awesome (I love Hikaru Midorikawa, he voices tons of my favorite charas) and for the first song on the album it really gets you energized and ready to hear more. I cannot sing this on karaoke…maybe if I practice. Oh and another thing, the background voice singing “Yeah Yeah Yeah” I like that…yeah..Also this album is full of wonderful guitar rifts, Cry for the dream is certainly no exception.

Good Luck & Good bye- (Duo Maxwell) First of all the music made me nostalgic for the 90s so the first time I heard it there were tears in my eyes. When I first heard the song, even without reading the translation I found it to be rather sentimental for his first character song (that I heard at least). I know Duo has that side to him but starting out with a “Hey, we fought well together but now we must carry on” (not a quote from the song) type of song was kind of an emotional start. I go from all ready to fight to being sentimental and in awe over these wonderful vocals. This is when the whole rant about wanting Duo or at least his VA to be a singer (I mean the Japanese one of course). I must admit the insert of English here and there was skillfully done in this song. It’s used in the other songs too but I think Duo’s is the most effective as it doesn’t break from the feel of the song at all. The music…again made me nostalgic for the 90s and this guitar rift is my favorite on the whole album, seriously a rock star does that stuff! (I know it’s probably a hired band…yes I do know that). Also his voice is a little echoy…Win too…much win…

Doukeshi (Clown)- (Trowa Barton) This song ugh… even before I read the translated lyrics I was tearing up when I first heard this. It was simple enough to understand that his wearing a mask and performing in the circus was being directly compared to him hiding his emotions out of fear of being betrayed and also out of not fully understanding his own emotions. It’s just so Trowa, that the first 3 or 4 times I heard it I’d cry…I thought about it…I’d cry…ugh… even know I tear up hearing it. I like his singing voice, it is deep and therefore I sound odd singing it at karaoke but I do ok. I can’t sing it without feeling…ha ha… the instrumentals are quiet and nice. The lyrics are actually quite poetic and it’s overall a nice song…please excuse me while I go cry since I listened to it just now to write about it…

I’m your friend- (Quatre Winner) After you’re down feeling from Trowa’s song Quatre jumps into the room with lively music and genki lyrics to bring a smile to your face. I haven’t read the translation to these lyrics but it’s overall encouraging and the music is very catchy, almost like party music-ish. The background voices are a tad strange but the music is catchy and his VA’s voice is good at sounding somewhat boyish despite being obviously female. So yeah, I do like this song…yep yep…

Knocking on the door towards tomorrow ( I am too lazy to write Japanese title)- (Chang Wufei)- Another kick-ass song and Wufei deserves a kick-ass song. I don’t know the english lyrics to this song but it does certainly sound like Wufei. I rarely hear his VA and I love his voice so this song makes me all kinds of happy. I find his singing voice a little quiet but very melodic and still Wufei like…the background voices are nice too. The instrumentals and the beat are just perfect and near the middle or end or somewhere I dunno… I just love it all…I’m sorry…Wufei feels… *dies*

Zutto Himitsu (Total Secret)- (Relena Peacecraft)- This song is calm, cute…sounds like Relena, the instrumentals are nice and her voice is decent, melodic. I feel kind of bad about not having many feels for it. It is a cute song but I guess it feels too safe and that’s why no feels…idk.

Tatoe kimi wo hohoende mo (Even if you smile)- (Heero Yuy)- I’m sorry I no read translated lyrics yet. Ok…what’s going on with his voice there’s some kind of machiny or distant effect? It’s ok but I prefer loud and raw voices. The background voices has some kind of win with the singing after him or however you wanna put it. The music is still great and the feeling is still a fighting type of feel but this song seems distant…this is definitely a Heero song. Ok, with the effects he is not doing so bad… but I still prefer raw voice to quiet effects. This does give me Heero feels though…ugh… who am I kidding? I love it!

Brightness & Darkness- (Lady Une) I haven’t seen enough of the Anime to get any feels for her but I know that she does some stuff later, I remember faintly something like that. This song is a nice mix of passionate and quiet at times, lots of determination and emotion. It’s catchy and emotional and yes…the song is a win. I like how at the end of the course she ends on a fragment “I…” I haven’t read lyrics yet…I will maybe analyze lyrics later.The instrumentals ugh…they are giving me mild feels.

kitto ok (surely ok)- (Duo maxwell)- *grooves back and forth in chair* Yeah, this is the Duo I know and love! Nice groovy music, that encouraging optimism, calm energeticness. The instrumentals are fun and as always the way Duo speaks or sings in this case is addicting. The rock guitars have got a good beat going on and I dunno, it’s just so Duo…yes…

Joy to my life- (Dorothy, I forget her last name..) I like this song, it is catchy and her voice is nice and the chorus and instrumentals are nice but I don’t know as I am a fan of Dorothy so far and her eyebrows scare me so I can’t make a solid judgement until I watch much more of Gundam Wing to understand her and her song.

I will do Blind target later cause this took almost 2 hours and I gotta have lunch and study soon lol

It has the only Duo character song I have yet to hear on it…and the one I have no idea how to enter into the karaoke search thing…because it has both Japanese and English in the title and the search keeps them seperate

What am I supposed to do if I wanna sing a song with both? GRRRR…Anyway I am excited to hear lets…see… I get to hear Relena’s character song, Lady Une’s character song, um…a third song by Heero that I can’t read cause kanji….Kitto ok (Duo maxwell)…eto….Dorothy’s character song um… short version of Rhythm Emotion…and epic BGM…heck ya!

P.S. the poor booklet is broken and missing an entire page…people gotta learn to take care of these rental CDs…at least it’s good to know this baby was loved!

As an Ayu fan that made my day!

Eiffel 65 and Bloom 06 as they were called when Gabry wasn’t with them have many great songs and if I wrote them all…since I love pretty much all of them…I’d just be listing all the songs so please no if the song isn’t on here that I still find it great…. I will not include remixes despite the fact that they have some pretty epic remixes since this list will be Official songs only…also I will not include songs that EVERYONE THINKS Eiffel 65 did but they nearly remixed such as Discovery Channel by the Bloodhound gang (artist could be wrong?) So please don’t send me any messages about songs they didn’t sing, check their official discography before assuming they actually made a song before you message me about a song because I will not have patience for you if you don’t…sorry. I also will not include Blue, Move your body or Too much of heaven because while great songs almost everyone who knows the group has heard them, I will highlight other songs and many beyond USA releases

Without further ado let’s get into the list, these are not ranked per say…too hard…lol.

01. Now is forever: A song I rarely hear discussed from the Europop album that has a slower tempo. The song hosts a beautiful message about appreciating the here and now and not regretting the past and focusing only on what you do not have. The music itself always left me in a sort of trance, being very melodic and I loved the use of backwards messages in the song, despite being written forward in the lyrics so not necessarily being hidden per say.

02. I don’t wanna lose- Off of the contact album this is a song that always created an dreamy atmosphere for me and it is one of the more poetic songs Eiffel 65 have and to this day I still consider the lyrics that were sung and wonder about it’s deeper meaning. To explain it wouldn’t be easy and I think you should listen to try to understand it best. It reminds me of holding on to something you really believe in and being able to escape from the hectic reality that is every day life.

03. Tu Credi- Off of the 3rd and self-titled album, I recommend the Italian version however you can look up the lyrics for the English version and also give the English version a listen to understand the meaning if you  don’t speak Italian..which I don’t either. This song is a touching love song that certainly seems to hint a message of peace. Eiffel 65 is very anti-war if you’ve known them for a while. Either way the song is catchy and melodic so give it a listen.

04. When the party is over- From Crash Test 01, the first CD Bloom 06 released this song introduced guitar instrumentals along with the well-known keyboarding skills of Maury since Jeffery started playing instrumentals as well at this time. I love the instrumentals and the message…it does give you a sense of Bloom 06 being slightly darker than Eiffel 65 at times but still a great song.

05. Brightly Shines- From Contact, This song’s instrumentals and it’s vocal effects were wonderful to me and the message was so beautiful. When I felt alone and worthless sometimes I listened to Brightly Shines to feel better about myself. The music kind of reminded me of Ancient Egypt whether it meant to be that way or not and since I’ve always loved Egypt I gravitate to this song a lot. A beautiful, somewhat dark but kind song.

06. 80s Stars: a single and was supposed to be on Contact, maybe is on some versions? Anyway, it’s basically a tribute to 80s music as the title suggests and how the narrator wonders where the 80s stars and all their great music went. In an era of songs that no longer affect him.

07. People of Tomorrow- This song, since I heard it when I was maybe 11 made me happy to know that Eiffel 65 saw promise in our generation and the technology that we are creating. It’s a great track too, very technoy.

08. Per Sempre- Crash test 01, I cannot tell you how much I love this song. I don’t understand Italian but I don’t need to to understand that this song has a deep message that yields more than one listen. The music is melodic, Jeffery’s voice is just wonderfully clear and…well sounds great in this song. The video for it is a good watch too. To this day my favorite song on Crash Test 01 (Forever is what Per Sempre translates to)

09. Silicon World: from Europop, I know people could argue that it sounds sort of sexual though I find it an innocent, catchy love song about a guy who wants to make a perfect girl in a perfect world that he can be with. I was always singing this when I was younger, it got stuck in my head a lot and I would either sing it or hum it constantly. I loved it so much though that I didn’t care lol.

10. In your eyes- Crash test 02, This song is another clearly anti-war song perhaps with a little undertone of politics but that honestly isn’t my forte so I wouldn’t know. Either way it is a somewhat haunting but beautiful song about the fears of war and what can result.

11. Going to dance all night- from self-titled 3rd album, I honestly forget the Italian title and don’t wish to butcher it up so I wrote the English version title, both are catchy dance songs that make you want to go to a dance club or at least get up and dance along with them.

12. Morning Time- This song actually made me cry the first time I heard it, it is beautiful and touching, sad but happy at the same time. A bittersweet song that may be about dieing but not losing hope, again my interpretation so don’t quote me.

13. Like a rolling stone- from 3rd album, I just love the lyrics, the song, the beat…everything. About moving forward even when life isn’t perfect and things don’t always go according to plan.

14. Your clown- From Europop, the music is nice, the vocal effects are interesting. My 2nd favorite song off of Europop

15. Journey- From Contact,This song has great music, beautiful vocals and I am a sucker for the music and or vocal effect they used, either way I loved it!

16. Back in time- From Contact, I love the synthesizer music and the lyrics, I listened to it a milion times when it first came out.

17. Another Race-  From Europop,Catchy song, good lyrics and a space theme so that works. Also the vocal effects used sounded pretty cool to me.

18. Cielo Spento- Empty Sky, from Crash test 01, I love the music, a great combination of guitar rifts and synthesizer music. I don’t understand the lyrics but Jeffery’s voice sounds great as usual.

19. Nel Buio Trad di noi- from Crash test 02, this is another case where the instrumentals stole my heart, it’s catchy, unique, the vocals sound nice too.

20. The world inside my bedroom- from 3rd CD, again wrote the English because I don’t want to butch up the Italian but I prefer the Italian version still, English one is nice too. It’s a quiet, slow, but powerful song about playing music in your bedroom and escaping the outside world where you can unwind and relax to some great music. A perfect way to finish off their third album and this list.

Thanks for reading! Many great songs aren’t on this list as you know. Please take a listen to any of these songs if you haven’t already heard them and I hope you enjoy them and many others as much as I did and still do. Comments, questions, requests, and corrections (like if you speak Italian lol) are welcome. And if you can, on your own, translate any of these songs hit me up cause I’d love to read non-google translations of Eiffel 65’s Italian songs. Alrighty, that’s all for now…take care.

Who says you don’t learn from JPOP? I certainly learned quite a few words, here are 20 Japanese words I learned from JPOP/JROCK songs…if you haven’t already read my Anime one which is much earlier so…good luck finding it…^_^

Genjitsu- Reality- There are many Hamasaki Ayumi songs that use this word because she is such a deep thinker in her lyrics, I often here this word in L’arc en cial songs.

Itami- Pain- Often heard in love songs since… well love songs that are said often mention this ‘pain’ that they have so yes… heard it a lot.

Kisetsu- Again from Hamasaki Ayumi songs since alot and I mean a lot of her songs mention the seasons or a specific season.

Jounentsu- Passion- from a lot of boy band songs but also artists like Utada Hikaru…it’s a nice word

Tsuyoi- Strong- Not sure where I first heard it

hanabira- Flower petals- Otsuka Ai songs…that is all.

dakishimete- embrace, hug, hold tight- Gack songs and other male songs as well as some Ayu songs…it’s a nice word.

tokubetsu- special- Otsuka Ai song again…yes…but I hear it in Anime too.

utau- song- from Hamasaki Ayumi songs and plenty of other artists

Hanabi- Fireworks, countless JPOP and Jrock songs since fireworks is a common summer in Japan and in general so it ofen appears in love songs where love is compared to fireworks and what have you.

Koi- love- I didn’t know about this 2nd word for love until I started listening to JPOP music and learned later from my Japanese tutor that this is a lighter form of love, like a crush or boyfriend/girlfriend versus ai which is love for family or deep love for your partner.

Egao-smiling face from Gackt songs, he says this a lot…other songs do too

yurusu- to allow (forgive?)- I hear this a lot in Ayumi Hamasaki songs and often in the form of “yurusareru” (to be allowed) like in BALLAD.

Kotoba- word- you hear this alot…obviously…so hard to pinpoint one spot.

Shashin- picture- no lie I learned this in a song before I learned it formally in class, plenty of songs I love like “Sepia” by Shela and many others use Shashin in their songs.

motto- more- All the songs, though probably learned in from Gackt’s song Vanilla…yeah…

Jikan- hour,time- Often times we talk about time in songs and often how cruel it cam be…so yeah I hear it a lot.

Kanashii-sad- Yes, a lot of sad songs use the word sad ((Hope I didn’t put this in my Anime one lol)

Shiawase- happy- I learned emotions from songs I guess lol

Ashita- tomorrow- because it’s so commonly sung about in Jpop right?

Is if someone who knew Italian and English translated Eiffel 65 songs from the time they were Bloom 06, you know the following songs: Per Sempre, Cielo Spento, Vorrei Essere come te, Anche Solo per un altimo un’altra come te, Nel Buio tra di noi. I mean like an actual translation that makes sense and doesn’t look like it was done by google translate since.. I found a Cielo spento translation that was like that and made no sense…I mean I don’t know enough Italian and I really want to know what the lyrics mean…especially because Maury wrote the Italian songs! That’s right! I always read the booklet credits so I know this…I know it and I wanna know what he says. All I can really do is translate some of the titles and techincally un’altra come te has an English version so maybe not that one but the others… please…if you know anyone who did this or can do this let me know… I wants to know what they say

What I think the titles translate to: Forever, Empty sky, I want to be with you, (not sure), Unlike you, The space between us. Now I don’t know that much Italian so it’s probably not 100% correct, if I did I wouldn’t need a translator…kay I am done now

I cannot comprehend it, Ayu’s done it yet again but Ayu always does it… this song makes me think of Progress and I loved that song so much… oh Ayu… you are giving me feels and that PV… I can’t wait to see the full one! AISHITERU AYU!