[SCANS] LOVE COOK Illustration Book

Here you have the photos of the illustration book from “LOVE COOK” limited edition. Click the image below to see them!

I photographed them myself, using my own copy of the book. I didn’t scan the pages, because the book would fall apart in the process, so I used a camera (and two strings to hold the sides). The quality of the photos isn’t that great, but you can read the story (it’s in Japanese) and see the pictures with no problem.

While writing the review of “LOVE COOK”, I thought it would be a nice idea to share this with you, since I have it and the book is already out of print. I think every fan would be happy to see the original artwork and story created by our sweet and multi-talented Ai-chan ;)

You can put the photos on your websites etc., but don’t remove the tags and remember to credit Ai Otsuka Love Blog :)

Enjoy!

Ai-chan's hiatus is driving me crazy!

I don't have any thrilling news about Ai-chin, unfortunately. I've been checking my secret trusted sources twice a day since October and... NOTHING! Even Channel-Ai has become a quiet place recently. I'm afraid such a silence will be on till Ai delivers and then comes back to music industry...

Even though my greedy fan nature shows itself in this anxious impatience, I repeat to myself that I should wait and wish Ai all the best, instead fidgeting and sifting through Japanese sites searching for new photos or whatever... I'm such a bad fan!... :P

Of course I wish Ai all the best, lots of piece and joy... I think about her well-being every day :) 

I watched "LOVE PiECE Tour 2008" concert yesterday and I must admit that it helped me a little bit in coping with my yearning for Ai-chin. It's such an amazing performance! I have to write a review someday, especially because I have never written anything about Ai's DVDs. Hmmmm...

And I made another avatar for my Last.fm account. I got bored with my old one (with Ai and Kuu) and I created a new one as a tribute to Ai performing Action 10.5 during LOVE is BORN 7th Anniversary. OMG, I loved this part of the concert so much!

OK, enough my ranting. I'm sure you also can't wait for Ai-chin to appear publicly again, so here you have a sweet photo of Ai holding a picture of LOVE-chan as a sweet surprise ^^ I found it somewhere long time ago and this pic always made me smile :)

Aaaah, Ai-chin, I miss you soooo much... Su, remember to always affectionately take care of your cute wife! :D

LOVE-chan gadgets in my local store! O.O

Wow! I can't imagine that I'm holding these in my hands! Two LOVE-chan key chains which I bought - where? In a normal gift / gadget store in my city for less than 1$ for one item!

How did I do it? It all started really simple. On my way back from college I felt like some window shopping in a mall - just like that, without any particular reason. The first shop I entered was a gift shop called Flo. I was wandering, looking at stuff (mostly either cute or a little bit kinky things, sometimes both :D), laughing at some of them - generally enjoying the paradise of unleashed consumption :P I didn't expect to find anything particularly interesting or worth buying...

BUT...

One look in that direction was enough to make me stand and stare at loss. LOVE-chan. Black. In front of me. Here, in Poland. Just like that. Affordable.

How come???

Nevermind. The fact that it was there, within my reach, was the most important thing at that moment. Forget all those eBay auctions from strange people from Hong Kong, Taiwan or wherever who want you to pay 20$ for an 1 inch mobile phone charm...

OK, I realize that the tone of my description above is far too much pompous for such a situation xD Especially because the bunnies are most likely some Chinese stuff without any license. I'm aware of my exaggeration, don't worry. I'm just enjoying my writing :D

A minute after I woke up from my daydreaming, I noticed the second version of the bunny - a pink one ^^ On the spur of the moment I grabbed both of them and rushed to the checkout. The price I was asked to pay seemed to be ridiculously small, so I wondered for a second whether it wasn't a real dream. 'I'm going to wake up and feel an overwhelming disappointment...', I thought. In fact - no! :D 

There they are: one hanging on my bookshelf, the second one (pink bunny) is going to be a present for my imoto-chan, who has been listening to 'LOVE.IT' on her phones almost all the time :) But shhhh! It's a secret for now ;) Don't tell her until tomorrow!

I'm so happy! Both for Ai-chin's personal issues and my today's shopping!

Who is Ai Otsuka?

Ai Otsuka (born 09.09.1982 in Osaka, Japan) is a Japanese singer and actress, but she's more known for her songs than movies. It’s hard to determine one particular music style that she follows. Saying that she's a j-pop singer seems to be an overgeneralization. Although her musical career started with a typical j-pop album (‘Love Punch’, 2003), Ai didn’t stick to one genre. Her style is a combination of upbeat pop, touching ballads immensely appealing to the listener’s emotions, a little bit of rock and also a sprinkle of jazz. The music created by her is generally very enthusiastic, positive and energetic, but there are also songs which make you feel relaxed and nostalgic. Some say that Ai Otsuka is so musically talented that she could perform any kind of music with a great success, even black metal if she wanted.

The records are not everything that makes a great artist. Ai is widely known for her perfect live performances - she doesn't use playback and her voice live sounds almost equally well as on CD. Apart from singing, Otsuka plays piano as well. She performs most piano parts on her records, the same during the concerts. Sometimes she also tries different instruments, such as acoustic guitar or even violin.

Ai Otsuka creates her music completely on her own – she writes the lyrics, sometimes she makes up the whole pieces of music. Her songs are basically about love. Everything connected with Otsuka is somehow linked with this emotion, even her name in Japanese means ‘love’. She writes about its both aspects: emotional and physical. When it comes to the latter, Otsuka is gentle, delicate and indirect, so that her lyrics are not nasty or vulgar.

In addition to all that, Ai is also keen in art, she likes illustrating her music with pictures. The limited editions of her albums contain comic books written, drawn and painted by Ai herself.

Ai Otsuka drawing a cat

When it comes to Ai's drawings, we can't forget about Love-chan – a small, white female rabbit created by her. She’s her mascot and an official gadget. Moreover, it has recently become also her additional musical project: Ai, under the pen name of Love-chan, released 2 singles and one mini-album in a completely different musical style. 

For those of you who are interested in Ai's discography, I'm listing here all her albums:

• LOVE PUNCH (1st album, 2004),
• LOVE JAM (2nd album, 2004),
• LOVE COOK (3rd album, 2005),
• 愛 am BEST (1st compilation album, 2005),
• LOVE PiECE (4th album, 2007),
• LOVE LETTER (5th album, 2008),
• LOVE is BEST (6th album, 2009).

For more information, please visit Discography section.

If you feel like getting to know something more about Ai Otsuka, feel free to explore this blog and I hope this will help you discover this pretty, kind and extremely gifted artist. May Love be with you.

LOVE.IT!

'Para para para para...' - I can't get this melody out of my head... It's pulsating and vibrating deep down in my brain, driving me crazy! Attention - the new Ai Otsuka's mini album called 'LOVE.IT' is highly addictive!

Brief summary: 'LOVE.IT' sounds roughly like a cute little rabbit thrown into a rose abyss of the matrix which had been multiplied by pink candyfloss connected with an insane melody from an ancient console game (ancient = somewhere around 80's).

No, it wasn't seriously.

Now it's seriously.

There's not much to review, because the album consists of only 6 songs, from which 2 were previously released on singles. Nevertheless, for Ai Otsuka's fans, this is an entirely new sensation. 'LOVE.IT' doesn't sound like Ai at all. Her electronically modified voice here is something different from the voice we are familiar with, which makes us think that it's not Ai who sings. One of the things that can help us recognise the vocalist is the energy that flows out of the songs. They are fast and energetic, yet more insane than 'Sakuranbo' or 'PonPon' (yes, that's possible). However, I wouldn't say that the material is similar to previous Otsuka's records, because it belongs to a special category: the one owned by a widely known to all Ai's fans rabbit - Love-chan. The whole album is devoted to it (her?). Since Ai still treats her little usagi as a living person, we can assume that it's not Ai-chin who sings all these songs, but it's Love-chan. Ai only helped her to write the music or lyrics or something :P Yes, being a Otsuka's fan means that you have to imagine those things! Where would be the MAGIC otherwise?...

What I like the most about the album is the free flow of the songs. All the numbers are connected into a pleasant whole, moreover, you can't really mark the moment where 'MOONLIGHT' ends and 'RED EYE' begins. At least I couldn't. I listened to this without realizing that those are 2 separate songs. What is even more cool, 'MOONLIGHT' and 'RED EYE' together create an extraordinary, relaxing mood which lasts to the very last seconds. I love it! When I need to forget about everything, I play the two and close my eyes. It always works. Have you ever paid attention to those cute piano tunes in 'RED EYE'? It seemed to be impossible to include classical instruments on the album like that and make it sound brilliant together. Yet it was possible... BRAVO, AI-CHIN! (sorry, Love-chan... :D)

If you want me to give you a special evidence that "LOVE.IT.' is worth listening, then be aware that from my experience 'MAGIC' works as the best alarm clock in the whole world. Nothing can wake you up so effectively without making you feel like throwing the clock out of the window :D Believe me, since this tune serves as my alarm, I wake up every morning with the energy and smile (however, realizing that I'm still in this DAMN dormitory spoils it a little bit, but don't worry - it's only my case :P). Can be anything better on Earth? :)

In this player you can listen to samples from "LOVE.IT". Enjoy!

 

LOVE.IT (First Love-chan's Mini Album) - Ai Otsuka's Discography

* Love.It (2009):
1. Magic
2. Moonlight
3. Starlight
4. Red Eye
5. Whice Choco
6. Love no Theme

This is the first Love-chan's mini album. At last! :) Even though Ai released her new album a few days ago, she doesn't seem to have enough and so do us! Double fun that way! :)

Ai Otsuka's Full Discography

1st Album: LOVE PUNCH (2004)

CD:

1. pretty voice
2. 桃ノ花ビラ
3. さくらんぼ
4. GIRLY
5. 雨の中のメロヂイ
6. しゃぼん玉
7. 石川大阪友好条約
8. 片想いダイヤル
9. ハニー
10. 甘えんぼ
11. Always Together

DVD:

1. しゃぼん玉　(music video)
2. Special Talk "Yousuke/Ai-chin no [Ai xx Love x Punch]
3. 片想いダイヤル (music video)

Read my review!

2nd Album: LOVE JAM (2004)

 CD:

1. スーパーマン
2. Happy Days
3. Strawberry Jam
4. 大好きだよ
5. 扇子
6. 妄想チョップ
7.  ポンポン
8. ふたつ星記念日
9. 金魚花火
10. 黒毛和牛上塩タン焼き735円
11. フレンズ

DVD:

1. Love's Story ~Daisuki Da yo.~ (short film)
2. Short Film ~Kingyo Hanabi~

Read my review!

3rd Album" LOVE COOK (2005)

CD:

1. 5:09am
2. 羽ありたまご
3. ビー玉
4. SMILY
5. U-ボート
6. 猫に風船
7. Cherish
8. ラーメン3分クッキング
9. 東京ミッドナイト
10. プラネタリウム
11. Birthday Song
12. LOVE MUSIC

DVD:

1.  ビー玉 (music video)
2. Cherish (music video)

1st Compilation Album: 愛 am BEST (2005)

 CD:

1. 桃ノ花ビラ
2. さくらんぼ
3. 甘えんぼ
4. Happy Days
5. 金魚花火
6. 大好きだよ
7. 黒毛和牛上塩タン焼き680円
8. Cherish
9. SMILY
10. ビー玉
11. ネコに風船
12. プラネタリウム
13. LOVE MUSiC

   99. Babashiのテーマ

DVD:

Music videos to all songs from the CD

4th Album: LOVE PiECE (2007)

 CD:

1. 未来タクシー
2. ユメクイ
3. Mackerel's canned food
4. PEACH
5. クムリウタ
6. 星のタンゴ
7. 蚊取線香
8. フレンジャー
9. CHU-LIP
10. HEART
11. 恋愛写真

DVD:

1.  クムリウタ (music video)
2.  HEART (music video)
3.  U-ボート (music video - first press bonus)

5th Album: LOVE LETTER (2008)

CD:

1. LOVE LETTER
2. ロケットスニーカー
3. バイバイ
4. クラゲ、流れ星
5. 人形
6. 君フェチ
7. Creamy & Spicy
8. ド☆ポジティヴ
9. 360°
10. シヤチハタ
11. One × Time
12. ポケット
13. 愛

DVD:

1. ロケットスニーカー (music video)
2. クラゲ、流れ星 (music video)
3. ド☆ポジティヴ (music video)
4. 360° (music video)
5. ポケット (music video)
6. 愛  (music video)
7. 愛 (a capella version - first press bonus)

Read my review!

2th Compilation Album: LOVE is BEST (2009)

CD:

1. Is
2. aisu x time (feat. Su from RIP SLYME)
3. 大好きだよ。
4. チケット
5. 君フェチ
6. HEART
7. ふたつ星記念日 ～ 新婚日和 ～
8. さくらんぼ
9. Strawberry Jam
10. drop.
11. 甘えんぼ ～ Wedding ～
12. キミにカエル。
13. 甘い気持ちまるかじり
14. 恋愛写真 - 春-
15. ポケット ～ Last Love Letter ～

DVD:

1. Is (music video)
2. aisu x time (music video)
3. 大好きだよ (music video)
4. HEART (music video)
5. さくらんぼ (music video)
6. 甘えんぼ ～ Wedding ～ (music video)

Read my review!

LOVE-chan's Mini-Album: LOVE.IT (2009)

 CD:

1. magic
2. starlight
3. moonlight
4. red eye
5. white choco
6. LOVE no Theme

DVD:

1. magic (music video)
2. white choco (music video)
3. LOVE no Theme (music video)

Read my review! 

For information about all singles, please visit this link.