a few days before 22 june 2013, i realised i had free tickets to Asia Style Collection and it so happened AKB48 was attending. before this event, i knew of the existence of akb, but i merely listened to their songs. so i did a mini 'crash course' on akb, and the 6 members who were attending this event. since i'm on twitter all day, what other methods to better know about akb than to follow some akb fan accounts? so i did.
after the event, i was still following the fan account, of course. but i didn't understand many terms and tweets because i'm not even into akb yet. then one fine day in july, i was scrolling through my timeline as per normal and i saw many pictures tweeted by that fan account. the pictures were off-shots from Koisuru Fortune Cookie mv. i clicked on a couple of pictures, and this one girl in one picture caught my attention.
her name was Watanabe Mayu.
i decided to google her, and the rest were history. i have a blurred memory of me coming to know about her solo single, Rappa Renshuuchuu, and also akb's single, Koisuru Fortune Cookie. that was the start.
enough of the elaboration, let's get to why i love her. the reasons stated below are simply some of the reasons i can think of currently, of course, the list is never-ending. ♥
#1: she exudes an unspeakable aura
you may know Jeanette has been my favourite since 2009 (she still is, by the way). why do i love jeanette that much? jeanette has this something to her that really attracted me, and i can't describe it in words. it's some sort of a feeling.
well, mayuyu has a similar something that really attracted me too. i wouldn't say the exact same aura as jeanette, but something similar. for both jeanette and mayuyu, somehow i just became a fan of them (which progressively advanced to a hardcore fan) without me knowing. like i don't just choose her out of the many girls available and label her as my oshimen. how do i put it.. for my #2-#16 rankings of AKB girls, i decided on the rank for each girl, for example, okada nana being my second oshimen. this ranking was intentional. on the other hand, mayuyu being my kami-oshi was something really unexpected. as everyone knows, before i got into akb, i loved jeanette. before i got into akb, i wasn't even interested in the overseas entertainment industry. but, unknowingly, and unintentionally, mayuyu became my kami-oshi.
and this unintentional/unknowing feel is that something mayuyu has, that actually made me venture out, in a sense, into the overseas entertainment industry. it's really hard to describe and some may not understand what i mean, but this is exactly why i call it an "unspeakable aura".
#2: just look at her. she's beautiful
when she joined akb at the age of 12, she was such a cute little girl. as time grew, she was slowly outgrowing that 'cute' style and became more of a mature beauty. she's just gorgeous. and what better way to show how beautiful she is than to let her pictures speak? i shan't elaborate any longer on this point.
cute mayuyu in her signature twintails:
look how beautiful she is now ♥
when i first heard her singing, i was kind of shocked. to be really honest, at that time when i wasn't a hardcore fan yet, i disliked girls with high-pitched voices. but that was exactly what mayuyu voice was like. high-pitched. as a casual fan, i was just a teeny, little bit put off by it. but time passed and i soon got to accept it. after all, 90% of why i like mayuyu is because of her aura. when i accepted it, i got to appreciate her really unique and distinguishable voice.
for someone like me who doesn't listen to music as a hobby before i got into akb, you can give me songs of say snsd or 2ne1 or something, and i would say the voices sound exactly the same. i could never tell whose voice belonged to who. for me to actually distinguish mayuyu's voice among 15 other girls is just.. excellent. that's how unique it is. and i love it.
and again, what better way to show her unique voice than to put a mv of her second solo single, Otona Jellybeans (i'm being biased by choosing her second single because it's pink and dreamy and i love it) and one of her coupling songs, Sayonara no Hashi here?
first, let me clarify. i'm not saying the other girls do not dare to do so, but mayuyu was the first person i ever knew to give such a bold statement. other girls definitely have the same quality, but since mayuyu was the first and she's the first member i knew, this is one of the quality that actually caught me off guard.
first, if you watch mediacorp's Star Awards, and if it so happens one actress/actor decides to say this during her/his speech:
"I want to be the best"
chances are you get people bashing her/him for being arrogant. as a mediacorp fan for 5 years, all the speeches i listened to were just thanking his/her supporters and family. that's all. do you hear Rui En, who has clinched best actress award for idk how many times (i've forgotten how many because i've drifted apart from the mediacorp fandom), proclaim "i want to win best actress next year again"? nope. do you hear Jeanette, who so far has not clinched any best actress award, declare "i want to win best actress next year"? nope. they simply thanked their fans.
so when i heard mayuyu declare "Next year, I want to be centre/#1" or something along those lines during her speech when she was voted #2 in 2012, obviously, i was shocked. and scared that she would be hated. and also admiring her for her boldness to announce such a statement. but it turned out okay. nothing bad happened to mayuyu. and when time passed by (i use this phrase so many times lol), i got to know more girls who also made really daring statements. even kenkyuuseis (trainees) who just joined less than a year ago declared that they want to be the centre in the future. so, as stated again, not only mayuyu has this quality, but all the girls.
couldn't find the 2012 election speech, so here's a subbed 2013 election speech. she talked about what she said in 2012 about wanting to be #1 at 1:18-1:28:
in summary, here's the comparison between mediacorp and akb.
Best Actress / Voted 1st in Senbatsu Election
Rui En (Best Actress): basically thanking her fans for her support.
Sasshi (Voted 1st): declaring she wants to be first again next year, and of course thanking her fans too.
Nominated for Best Actress but did not win it/Voted 2nd in Senbatsu Election
Jeanette (Nominated): thanking her fans, as usual.
Mayuyu (Voted #2 in 2012's election): declaring she wants to win #1 next year (but she did not, sadly) and of course thanking her fans.
for now, these are the points i can think of right now. i could go on and on about mayuyu but right now my mind only has these 4 points. but you get what i mean, i love mayuyu.
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