I'd definitely say the second one, it bring the front character into just enough focus without clouding out the rest of the image, the first seems to just blend in too much.
The second one. The flashes are a bit brighter, which brings out the characters a little bit more and it's not as cloudy, as Vivi said.
The second. The first had a blue tint on the front character that I didn't really like, but it looked good with the flashes. The second one was a bit clearer when it came to the front character, and the flashes still looked good. Absolutely great.
Yeah I have to agree, the second one doesn't blend in as much and although the bluey effect fits in well it needs a bit more contrast and diversity in colouring. The text was quite hard to read to start with and I didn't even notice it at first glance xD so it could do with possibly being a bit bolder but then again I don't know if that would ruin it's effect O.o as it fits in nicely once you can see it. The textures you've chosen are lovely and I really like the circle overlay in the middle (and the rectangles at the edges). The whole piece is nice and simple and very effective even if it does feel a bit dark, keep it up : )
Oh god, this is hitting me right in the Ao Ex feels. <3 I love them both, though I think version one is just a bit more appealing with the darker blue, but I'd like to see the top of v1 blended in with the bottom of v2 (Rin's skin tone in the second feels like it'd go better with the darker shade of blue). I also love the text (Hurricane is an amazing song), the placement of everything, and the overlays (bars and circle). Eyegasmic as always, Jerome.