Maria Makino: If your heart can take another overly broiling post....

 

 I came oh so close to not having a post for today, this will not be too large yet there will be well over fifty new photos and is one of my patented Spur of the moment posts! Tried working on a pair and those went nowhere but may be able to finish one this week. Then I discovered something so unexpected which is that a long time favorite of mine just got married, neither me nor any other fans saw that coming. Thought that may have been an omen to take today off but did have the makings of a Maria 😍 post even though one was done just ten days ago. Am I glad I chose her for today as Maria attended an event and the photos from that could be my top ones of the year, will end off the post with the event.

 That period right after her June 24th graduation was a bit slow for Maria, seemed all she did for two months was to appear on variety shows. But least she stayed somewhat in the spotlight and I hope the event she attended today is the first of many, wait until you see those photos! After that somewhat brief rest Maria's activities have picked up the last few weeks and this now makes it ten posts for the year. With a strong finish to 2026 Maria 😍 just may end up in the second or third position on this year's faves list, number one is running away from the pack but there's zero wrong with being in the top three. Which at one time was common for Hello Project members, two have been my number one faves of a year plus another gal finished in the second and third spots two years in a row. Three others have made the top twelve but since 2021 Maria is the only H!P member to make the list, she did so two years ago.

 Maria 😍 is also making her spot on the third 'Top Twenty Faves of All Time' list a bit more solid, I expect three Hello Project members to be on the list with Maria probably being the top ranked. That countdown won't begin for another six months or at the beginning of next April, a strong stretch until then could vault Maria up to the sixth spot and when you think of the hundreds of women I've posted about that's quite impressive. For today will just have four sections but there will be over seventy photos and most are new for here. Could have made this bigger but didn't have much time to work on it as I explained in the intro plus wanted to hold a few things back for another October post. Maria's first post was done a few weeks after her February 2022 21st birthday, her posts for the next few years were always so popular. But that hasn't been the case for her 2026 posts, they still draw a decent amount of views but not nearly as many as they once did even though the views for most women these days draw more than ever.

 First up is this batch from the Bijin Hyakka site, in the past Maria has done two photo shoots for them and aren't these pics so terrific?! They sure are and the bottom one is brand new from her IG page so is Maria going to have a magazine spread for them soon or did they sign her up to be a model? I'm hoping the latter and it'd be nice to see Maria do regular modeling plus continue on with gravure work, what also would be nice is to see photobooks in the future and that includes digital ones!

 Here's the first of hopefully many which is Maria's first magazine spread since her June graduation. it's from the September edition of Gekkan Young Champion, she didn't grace the cover but Maria did so for their January issue and bet over the last five years she's been the cover girl close to fifty times.

 Maria's twelfth and final photobook while a member of Morning Musume was simply titled "Makino Maria". The photo shoot took place in one day as Maria's leaving happened a bit suddenly and no one knows the true reason for that except her. The book was set in Okinawa and at least there was a fabulous 51 minute DVD that came with the book. Have been featuring screenshots from the video in her posts, this is the third batch which brings us to the 22 minute mark.

 For the finale have these unbelievable photos from an event that was held today, Maria has often left me gasping for air and did so again even though these aren't gravure photos! But perhaps they're better(!) and how I would love to see her attend many more events in the future, especially if she's dressed so magnificently. The occasion was the 2026 'Tokyo Youth Film Festival', Maria was a co-host but she was a last minute sub or as was said the Designated Hitter!! For so many years the brains behind Hello Project was a man named Tsunku and I highly recommend checking out his bio, he also wrote most of the group's songs from 1997-2014. He was supposed to be the main MC for this movie festival but was suddenly unable to attend, he must think highly of Maria as he chose her to take his place. And aren't we glad he did for Maria looked more shimmering than ever, the woman she was with was Tsunku's wife Kanako who Maria said was such a help while with MM. There were 26 films screened at the festival, don't know how but Maria saw them all and perhaps it was a short film festival. The event just took place today so there isn't a video yet and bet there will be more pictures coming out from it so you may see those in her next post. Maria graduated from MM at the end of June but still appeared on their new single "Lonely.... But not Alone" which was released on September 30th. After the photos is the PV for the song which I like quite a bit, you can't go wrong with a Morning Musume single plus they're always subbed in English.... could this be her final ever song for I doubt if Maria will be releasing any solo tunes.