Mai Shinuchi: Sigh, while her posts are becoming more perfect we're sadly hitting the end of them....

 

 Well, that's a real inspiring way to begin off a post though the title is unfortunately true. Will admit over the last year or so have become even more stubborn with the women I enjoy posting about but on the other hand this has been an extremely slow period for activities outside of a few faves. And there haven't been too many larger faves than Mai over the past fourteen months as she's had fifteen solo posts and that could be the most of any J-Pop Idol in that stretch of time. But she's always been someone I've liked immensely but there were never as many things to post about until 2020 or so, hate to say it but graduations may have helped her and others appear in the spotlight more often.

 So this is Mai's fifth post since mid-December and they will be slowing way down. So while there may not be as many new pics in a few weeks think I can continue to do posts featuring missed things for a while and perhaps she's not an ex-Idol who will go away quietly. Also that title is missing Nogizaka46 which is only the second time I've done that for a current member. With so many of my big faves no longer with them it's become a case of me following individual members instead of the group as a whole, as I moaned about two days ago what a sad time it is to be an Idol fan.

 As far as I know Mai's graduation concert is still on and it'll be taking place in exactly a week at the Tokyo International Forum. Haven't heard any news if it's going to be streamed or taped, probably neither as there's been no mention of it but let's keep our fingers crossed. Am holding back a few things such as Mai's appearance on yesterday's 'All Night Nippon' radio show and she's been the main host of that for almost six years. Think it was supposed to be her final show but not 100% on that so will discuss that more in her next post which will hopefully be in about ten days. Am also holding back some new modeling pics for Oggi, her recent IG pics and a few other minor things but there's still fifty new pics for this post which is impressive as her last one was done just eight days ago.

 What helps to get a high position on the yearly faves list is to consistently have posts throughout the year, that's usually the case for those that finish in the top ten. So Mai will easily qualify for the yearly list but she'll have very few posts after this month and that's a shame as she may have made the top ten for the first time. However she may finish around the tenth position and if against all odds she does stay in the spotlight guess she would have an excellent chance at being #1 for this year! So would rather not discuss her future quite yet, let's wait a few weeks and see what her plans/activities will be.

 Let's get on with things and as I've said many times before there's been no Idol who can top her legs! Mai is currently a model for Oggi and think she'll continue to be, their pics are always so fabulous. But to me her best modeling pics were with the andGirl magazine and have a few here, will also have more in future posts. But back in mid 2020 the magazine and site shut down, that's such a shame as a few other faves also modeled for them and so many magazines have shut down the last few years.

 Never did include enough Nogi monthly cards in last year's posts and there's still quite a few to get to, these have never been posted before which are from July to May.

 Mai's final appearance on the 'Nogi under Construction' show was last Sunday, in her next post will have some screenshots but the show wasn't dedicated to her. Have some mighty fine recent interview pics to promote her new photobook, this batch is from the Crank site.

 Even more terrific interview pics for the book with the Abema-TV site, here's the link to it where she also discusses her Nogi career but only a bit about her future: Abema-TV interview

 One thing I've never talked about is the mini series 'Nogizaka Star' show which is just to promote Cup Star soup. This small batch is from her final taping of the show.

 Mai's second photobook came out on January 25th and that was three days after she celebrated her 30th birthday. First Nogi member to hit that age and would think the only one who ever will but she didn't join Nogi until she was 21 in age. Have twenty new breathtaking pics from the book but they're after this set which were in previous posts but do deserve to be seen again....

 The weekly sales figures for photobooks don't come out until Friday so will be back tomorrow with that info. Would like to see it sell 35-40,000 copies but really have no clue on how well it may do, with Mai looking so sweltering you'd think it'd be a huge seller. Will be ending off with twenty brand new promo pics for the book which are the best ones to date and also probably the final ones. This book just could be Nogi's best one ever, all these pics are so terrific with my top two being the third and then the final pic. After them have a short clip from yesterday's 'All Night Nippon' show and was it Mai's final one? It was also aired on 'Showroom' and as you can see she had a pair of special guests.

EDIT: First week sales for the book were 25,300 copies sold which ranked #1 on the charts. An increase of 11,000 over the first book but was hoping the sales would have been a bit higher however sales for all photobooks have really decreased since mid 2020.