The reaction is totally understandable.

I really appreciate the cover, it's original and fresh for Ringo.
The color scheme is so Pop !
Central_67 has well interpreted American Pop-Art and Wharol's Marylin.
It reminds me the 70' fashion colors... as always I admire her Art direction.

The cover is a little bit against the meaning of the title "Land of the Rising Sun", isn't it?
There is this song about Tokyo/NYC flight; and NIPPON.
I'm so curious about news songs now ! with cover and theme like these :o

At first sight I was disapointed by the tracklist... and so the PVs . Ariamaru Tomi & Carnation ... really ? Why ?
Don't get me wrong I like these songs. But WHY ? I love the SG era and Ariamaru Tomi is the begining of it ! 2009 / 2011... and it don't seem to be alternatives versions.

But I was wondering... with the title "Land of the Rising Sun" ( it sounds to me like she presents her vision of Japan to the world) and her last performance with a lot of songs translated ; maybe we will have english lyrics ? I hope so !

Pretty sure it's NOT the cover, just promo shot...

Never really gave most of these songs much of a chance beyond first listen (Except Iroha), maybe I'll like them more in the context of an album. Personally not too excited about the promo shoot, it looks like how I dressed in high school and it makes me cringe a little. Still excited and very curious, and I really like the airplane flight reference in the song title, I feel like I'm always super contemplative/creative on airplanes and I like imagining her writing a song in the air :)

I hope "Ima" is true to the live version. I adore that track and would cry a lot of it ended up over produced or destroyed in some way. I'd also love an acoustic "Jiyū e Michizure". The version I imagine in my mind is slow and glorious. ;_;

I cannot reconcile in my mind the presence of, Nippon, Ariamaru Tomi and Carnation. They shouldn't be there. Should be an ep if she doesn't have enough material rather than bloat it up with old/out of place stuff. :/

My money's on the promo shot being tied to the Arikitarina Onna PV and its digital release in a couple of weeks.

Agreed for the most part. Nippon was written and recorded for a very specific reason, so I don't see why it has to be placed on this album. Though, I guess it makes some sense if the name of the album is "Land of the Rising Sun". On some level I'm glad all of these songs I had no plans no buying individually are on a single album. On the other hand, I wish she had recorded an entire album full of new songs.

I guess my main concern is how this album will flow, since it's not made up of entirely new songs and wasn't written with the intent on it flowing smoothly, it seems. The placement of songs that have already existed might not work well for the album as a whole.

I'm guessing the actual cover will be along the lines of the single cover:



Land of the Rising Sun theme for sure. New Nationalist era Ringo incoming!

Down with the Gaijin!

Is the apple supposed to have bullet holes in it?

Given the number of singles flown in and the placement of the new material this should be a very strong album.

Not KZK II, but that wasn't happening at this point anyway. :D