Happy 19th Birthday Mayuyu!Mayuyu's 19th year: 26/03/2012 - 26/03/2013 I'm going to try and recap, so, please forgive me if I miss anything... it's been another busy year for her! So, here's my take on the year in Mayuyu:
As she turned 18 her first solo starring series, Sabadol, was wrapping up, and she'd enjoyed a successful solo debut single with Synchro Tokimeki. She brought us two further singles this year, killing our wallets by increasing the number of types to five for Hikaru Monotachi. I thought the Otona Jelly Beans PV was amazing, Mayu in a complete dream playroom, just having fun with lots of crazy toys - and "
molesting her own oshiri". This was second only to the Gingham Check PV last year for me. That single also brought us Mayuzaka46! Not only a great song but sparked a lil interest in Nogizaka for awhile. She also was stepping up the mini-live events with each single - with the final ones 8 songs (one hour) long!
With all that solo activity, and the huge amounts of gravure/photoshoots that comes with it, the Warota activity this year was pretty low - just one single, Shounen yo Uso wo Tsuke, but it was a good one, and Mayu did a great
of it at Girls Factory. A lack of Warota didn't mean a lack of Mayu sub-unit releases though - new anime seiyuu unit NO NAME released a single. Speaking of which, Mayu voice acted one of the lead characters in not one, but two series of AKB0048, and even her anime counterpart
looked stunning in the photoshoots! She also played a lead seiyuu role in anime film Nerawata Gakuen, which sadly I missed seeing the premiere for - which was held in the UK of all places!
Despite all this solo/sub-unit work, some of Mayu's biggest successes of the year came within AKB48 itself. Her #2 spot in the election shocked us all - after placing at #5 for the last couple of years, and with Yukirin expected to take that 2nd spot. It also led to a damn great Oshiri Sisters 1-2 single.
The biggest turning point of the year was, of course, Tokyo Dome and the fulfillment AKB's dream, and Acchan's departure... The shuffle meant Mayu was separated from Yuki, but brought her to the center spot of Team A. I think the Waiting Stage is excellent and Mayu seems to appear more in the theatre now than for Theater no Megami. One thing I personally don't like much about Team A is their style of songs... but Mayu looks absolutely
stunning in the PVs for both of them. Team Surprise released a steady stream of singles around this time, with some great songs, my two fave group ones, Juuryoku Sympathy and AKB Festival making their way into the A Waiting Stage. And Mayuyu got two units! Both are great and well worth checking out for those who missed Team Surprise - Suiyoubi no Alice and Kimi no C/W - both really fitting Mayuyu's style. With AKB flailing post-Acchan, Mayu was marked as Acchan's replacement with Manatsu no Sounds Good, and lumped in with the new gens despite being 3rd gen. Unfortunately missed out on a lead spot for UZA (but still looked damn hot in the PV) but landed it for So long!, where she also had the lead roles for both the Team A TV drama and in the movie version.
The start of her 20th year is looking good for Mayu. She performed in the first Shinoda Team A concert on the eve of her birthday, her long-awaited 2nd photobook is released next month, NO NAME are releasing their second single soon. Hopefully they'll be more solo singles, even longer "mini"-lives and some more stunning photoshoots! All the best for Mayu in the upcoming year!
Topic: [TEAM B] MAYUYU ~ The Watanabe Mayu Thread (Read 2001773 times)