Maria Makino: Her first 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩 Morning Musume 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩!!!!

 

 Maria's first ever post was done 53 months ago, this makes it 38 for her but doesn't it seem she's had so many more? Sure does to me but 2024 and the first half of 2025 wasn't a busy stretch for her and if you can recall I was quite bummed out during that period but she's had a post seven out of the last eight months and I can live with that pace. If I was to have a list of my all time favorite photos doubt if Maria would even have one in the top 25. However I'll bet she has more 'Hall of Fame' or ultra alluring photos than anyone else I post about, seems they're all close to being perfect and of course in my eyes there's no woman who can top Maria 😍 as far as Perfection goes!!!!

 It's only been sixteen days since Maria's graduation concert and for now have no clue what the future holds for her. Maria did say she would continue on in the world of entertainment and from what I've read she does have a rosy future in TV, not dramas but variety and sports shows. We're hoping gravure modeling will also be part of that future and of course I'm biased but has anyone had as many sizzling photos as she's had the past five years? The answer naturally is a huge NO and Maria ended up having thirteen photobooks while a member of Morning Musume, that's not a Hello Project record and she couldn't have been far off with eclipsing the record and I honestly don't know who holds it or how many books it is so there's something I need to find out.

 This will be a large post with close to a hundred new photos but didn't work overly hard in this so we can keep these Maria posts going for a while. She does seem a bit different than other Hello Project members and that's hopefully a huge positive as most graduates have not had a successful solo career which is a shame as I've always liked H!P Idols over the ones from the '46/48' groups. What I need to do are some posts for other current MM members, I still like the group quite a bit but have only done posts for Maria and one other ex-member the past five years so let me work on that. It may not be doable as most MM gals don't appear in too many magazines or have come close to the amount of books Maria has but I'll still give it a try.

 Didn't check to see if Maria had more IG photos than these, even if she did would have saved them for her next post. This smallish batch is from June 24th and her graduation concert that was held at Budokan and doubt if music will be part of her solo career. Most fans think Maria has never had that good of a singing voice which could be slightly true but she's been good enough to me.

 I haven't been viewing enough newer J-Pop concerts lately and will admit I've been kind of down on most of my top groups with the main reason being most of my favorite members have left. However Maria's final concert was streamed and I do have a copy of it, what a fabulous show it was! Haven't watched the entire three hour show but will finish it soon, I had forgotten how entertaining a Morning Musume concert is and this is the best show I've seen in years!!!! To me it helps when a group is a bit smaller, MM usually has about a dozen members so all are always in the spotlight. When I was viewing this it became secondary that this was Maria's final concert and if you can get a copy of this show than I highly recommend you do so! C-ute used to have the best concerts of any group but Morning Musume wasn't far behind, another positive thing about the group is that they do have more stability than they once did and that 'having to graduate by the age of 25' rule is no longer in effect. These are some screenshots from that final concert and will have plenty more in upcoming posts.

 Don't think any J-Pop Idol has appeared more often than Maria in the Young Magazine, did a post a few months back devoted to her spreads. At the time she had just appeared on her twentieth cover, she's now made it 21 covers with this spread from their July 5th issue which is also her final mag spread as a Morning Musume member.

 I really hope these gravure photos don't cease now that Maria has graduated, it often does for an ex-Idol but she's kind of different than most other graduates and am not talking about her perfection! Maria's 12th photobook "Blooming" was released on February 2nd and that was also the date when Maria celebrated her 25th birthday. With the book came a 76 minute DVD of the photo shoot, have been including screenshots from the scorching video and have many more for today, this brings us up to the fifty minute mark. After the pics is Maria's final Morning Musume PV which is titled "Lonely.... But Not Alone" which is her graduation song and will be on the group's next single which will be released on September 9th. I think it's a decent tune and what makes H!P videos so much better than others is that they're subbed in English.

 Will end off here, seemed like a smallish post but there were close to a hundred new photos. The day before her graduation, June 23rd, Maria held an event to promote her 13th photobook and know so many of us are praying it's not her final one. One possibility is that we may be seeing some digital books from Maria, many other ex-Idols have released quite a few the past few years and they've helped a few careers out. The book has the simple title of "Morning Musume: Maria Makino" and aren't these pictures from the event so terrific?! They sure are and have one more video for today after the pics which is one from the event.