Mayu Watanabe

Career{{Anchor|Biography}}

AKB48

Watanabe auditioned for AKB48's 3rd generation and was placed in the newly formed Team B, serving as a key memberof the group. Her selection on "Bingo!" marked the first appearance of a Team B member in an AKB48 single title track. She would go on to appear on all of the a-side tracks for AKB48's singles until her graduation, with the exception of line-ups determined by rock-paper-scissors tournaments.

In 2009, Watanabe placed fourth overall in the group's first general election to determine the line-up for the group's 13th single, and ranked fifth the next year for the group's 17th single.

Watanabe appeared on the cover of the December 2010 issue of UP to boy magazine together with Airi Suzuki from Cute. It was the first gravure collaboration between Hello! Project and AKB48.

On May 13, 2011, Watanabe released her first photo book, Mayuyu. She commented that the book "is filled with a lot of expressions that I haven't shown until now, it's a book I'm really pleased with!" Regarding her cover picture, she said, "Despite being embarrassed, I did my best on the front cover, so I want a lot of people to look at it!"{{cite web

In 2012, Watanabe played her first lead role in the Japanese TV drama Saba Doru, where she played a 38-year-old high school teacher hated by her pupils, whilst having a hidden life as the highly popular idol Mayu Watanabe, based on her real-life self. On February 29, Watanabe released her debut solo single, "Synchro Tokimeki", which was also the opening theme for the drama.

Watanabe participated as a voice actress in the anime series AKB0048. In the anime, she plays a main character Chieri Sono, and is part of the AKB48 subgroup NO NAME, which sings the opening and ending themes for the series. The series features a supporting character, Mayu Watanabe Mark 3, which is modeled after her likeness, and is voiced by Yukari Tamura. She reprised her role as Chieri Sono for the series' second season which aired in 2013.

Watanabe ranked second overall in the 2012 AKB48 general elections with 72,574 votes. On August 24, she was moved from Team B to Team A during AKB48's reorganization announcement at their Tokyo Dome concert.

On July 25, she released her second solo single, "Otona Jellybeans" which reached number three on the Oricon weekly chart. Her third solo single "Hikaru Monotachi" was released on November 21, 2012, and reached number one in the Oricon singles chart. The single was released in five versions, including one that has an illustration book. Its b-side "Sayonara no Hashi" is the theme song to the anime film Nerawareta Gakuen for which she voiced one of the lead characters. In July 2013, she released her fourth solo single, "Rappa Renshūchū". A contest was held to determine the cover artwork for one of its editions.

Meanwhile in AKB48, she received her first center position with the group's 30th single "So Long!", which was released on February 20, 2013.{{cite web

In 2014, Watanabe became a regular on the television show Utage!, and a semi-regular on the TV show Renai Sosenkyo. In AKB48, she was transferred back from Team A to Team B in the "Daisokaku Matsuri". She performed an hour-long solo live concert at AKB48's Natsu Matsuri. She earned the center position for AKB48's 37th major label single, "Kokoro no Placard" after placing first with 159,854 votes in an election to determine the single's member line-up.

In 2015, Watanabe received her first leading role in a prime-time TV drama, Tatakau! Shoten Girl, broadcast by Fuji TV and Kansai TV. This drama aired from April 2015, at 10 pm. The theme song for this drama, "Deai no Tsuzuki", was sung by Watanabe, and was also released as her fifth solo single on June 10, 2015. She held solo live concerts to support the single on September 19. In 2015, a web poll conducted by My Navi Student declared her the second cutest idol amongst both men and women, behind Kanna Hashimoto of the idol group Rev. from DVL.

On October 26, 2016, Watanabe released her third photobook Shiranai uchi ni.

On June 17, 2017, Watanabe announced at the 9th General Election that she would graduate from the group. On October 31, Watanabe had her graduation concert. Her last handshake event with the group was on November 18, while her last performance at the AKB48 theater was on December 26. Her last activity as an AKB48 member was a performance at the "68th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen" on December 31, 2017.

AKB48 General Elections

Her results in the annual ranking:

• Ranked 4th in the 2009 General Election (1st)
• Ranked 5th in the 2010 General Election (2nd)
• Ranked 5th in the 2011 General Election (3rd)
• Ranked 2nd in the 2012 General Election (4th)
• Ranked 3rd in the 2013 General Election (5th)
• Ranked 1st in the 2014 General Election (6th)
• Ranked 3rd in the 2015 General Election (7th)
• Ranked 2nd in the 2016 General Election (8th)
• Ranked 2nd in the 2017 General Election (9th)

Post-AKB48

In January 2018, it was announced that Watanabe would play the titular character in the Japanese production of the Amélie adapted from the movie of the same title. The production ran from May 18 to June 3 at the Galaxy Theater in Shinagawa, Tokyo, and June 7–10 at the Morinomiya Piloti Hall in Osaka.

In April 2018, Watanabe had her first drama post-AKB48 titled Gan Shoumetsu no Wana Kanzen Kankai no Nazo where she played an insurance investigator.

In August 2018, Watanabe starred in the special drama Meibugyou! Tooyama no Kinshirou, a continuation from the same series in 2017.

Following two special dramas, Watanabe then had the lead role in a late-night drama Itsuka Kono Ame ga Yamu Hi Made in August 2018. Her character, Hikari, was a girl whose dream was to become a musical actress, but got her dreams smashed when her brother supposedly committed murder.

In late 2018, Watanabe also endorsed the brand Yakult. The commercial was directed by Ikeda Kazumasa who has directed music videos for Keyakizaka46 and Nogizaka46, while choreography was by Sasao Isao who choreographed one of Keyakizaka46's singles. The commercial also features some 33 professional dancers and performers including Spinboy Aichi, SORI and HICKY of the dance team SHIFFLE!! among others.

Watanabe also guested several music shows, namely Utacon and UTAGE. In Utacon, she sang musical songs, including collaborations with several famed musical actors.

Towards the end of 2018, Watanabe was named the ambassador for JAL Honolulu Marathon.

On June 1, 2020, Production Ogi announced her retirement from the entertainment industry for health reasons. Her website was terminated amicably on the same day.

Personal life

Tokyo Mode describes Watanabe as a girl who used to be an "otaku obsessed with illustrations, anime, and special effects shows". Her public appearances were often accompanied by life-sized animated characters and many fans wore such costumes at her meet-and-greet events. In several episodes of the AKB48 variety show AKBingo!, she demonstrated her specialty of drawing various manga characters in seconds. She also unofficially endorsed the character Pompompurin for the 30th Sanrio Character Awards in 2015.

One of her favorite series is Hetalia. Her favorite character is France, and she says he is her ideal type. She also enjoys surfing the internet, and often used internet slang terms in her blog posts. According to Yuki Kashiwagi, Mayu's blog posts are 80% anime content on average.

She is a musical theater enthusiast and attends performances both in Japan and overseas. She has also performed with the all-female troupe Takarazuka Revue.

AKB48 Group producer and lyricist Yasushi Akimoto once commented that she was born for the sake of being an idol. In the early years of her career she was called "CG" or "cyborg" due to her classic, orthodox idol appearance. However, the nickname became less common as she grew older and her personality changed. A notable turning point was in 2012 when she stopped wearing her hair in her signature twintail style. Until then, she had been very particular about her hairstyle and took great care setting her bangs. Kikuchi Ayaka once shared that she would take up to two hours to set her bangs, and Nakagawa Haruka joked that "if you touch Mayu's bangs, you will be killed."

Discography

Solo singles

• RIAJ Digital Track Chart was established in April 2009 and cancelled in July 2012.

Solo albums

AKB48

with Watarirouka Hashiritai

Main article: Watarirouka Hashiritai 7

Videography

Music videos

Appearances

Stage units

;Team B 1st Stage "Seishun Girls"

1. "Ame no Dōbutsuen"
2. "Fusidara na Natsu" ;Team B 2nd Stage "Aitakatta"
3. "Nageki no Figure"
4. "Nagisa no Cherry"
5. "Senaka Kara Dakishimete"
6. "Rio no Kakumei"
7. "Skirt, Hirari" ;Team B 3rd Stage "Pajama Drive"
8. "Pajama Drive" ;Team B 4th Stage "Idol no Yoake"
9. "Zannen Shōjo" ;Team B 5th Stage "Theater no Megami"
10. "Hatsukoi yo Konnichiwa" ;Team A Waiting Stage "Waiting Stage"
11. "Skirt, Hirari"
12. "Glass no I LOVE YOU"
13. "Candy" (new units) ;Team Surprise 1st Stage "Juuryoku Sympathy"
14. "Suiyoubi no Alice"
15. "Kimi no C/W"
16. "Megami wa Doko de Hohoemu?" ;Team B 3rd Stage "Pajama Drive" (revival)
17. "Temodemo no Namida" ;Team Surprise 2nd Stage "Bara no Gishiki"
18. "Hatsukoi no Kagi"
19. "Youchien no Sensei" ;Kizaki Team B Stage "Tadaima Renaichuu" (original stage is Team A 4th Stage)
20. "Haru ga Kuru Made"

Variety

• AKB 1ji 59fun (2008)
• AKB 0ji 59fun (2008)
• AKB Nemōsu TV (2008–2016 )
• AKBingo! (2008–2017 )
• Shūkan AKB (2009–2012)
• Naruhodo High School (2011–2012 )
• Gachigase AKB (2012–)
• Kayoukyoku (2012–)
• GIRLS' FACTORY (2012)
• Generation Tengoku (2013-2014)
• UTAGE! (2014-2015)
• Momm!! (2015-2016)
• Tribecca (2016)
• Green & Blacks (2017)

Dramas

• Majisuka Gakuen (2010) – Nezumi
• Sakura Kara no Tegami (2011) – Herself
• Majisuka Gakuen 2 (2011) – Nezumi
• Saba Doru (2012) – Herself, Usa Shijimi
• So Long! (2013) – Herself
• Fortune Cookies (2013) – Herself
• Sailor Zombie (2014) – Member of idol group, Milk Planet; Mayu
• Majisuka Gakuen 4 (2015) – Nezumi (ep.10)
• Tatakau! Shoten Girl (2015) – Kitamura Aki
• Majisuka Gakuen 5 (2015) – Nezumi (ep.2)
• AKB Horror Night: Adrenaline's Night Ep.7 - Elevator (2015) - Mayumi
• Ōoku (2016) - Oshima
• Crow's Blood (2016) - Kaori Isozaki
• Chihoushi wo Kau Onna (2016) - Yukino
• AKB Love Night Koi Koujou (2016) - Amelia (ep.35)
• Cabasuka Gakuen (2016) - Nezumi (Utsubo) (ep.3)
• Sayonara, Enari-kun (2017) - Kiriyama Saori
• Meibugyou! Tooyama no Kinshirou (2017) - Otane
• Gan Shoumetsu no Wana Kanzen Kankai no Nazo (2018) - Mizushima Ruriko
• Itsuka Kono Ame ga Yamu Hi Made (2018) - Kitazono (Morimura) Hikari
• Meibugyou! Tooyama no Kinshirou (2018) - Otane
• Kishuhanshu Tokugawa Yoshimune (2019) - Ichi
• Natsuzora (2019) - Akane Mimura

Musicals

• Amélie (2018) - Amélie
• City of Angels (2018) - Mallory Kingsley

Radio

• AKB48 Ashitamade Mōchotto (2008 – present, JOQR-AM)

Anime

• AKB0048 (2012) – Chieri Sono
• Nerawareta Gakuen (2012 film) – Natsuki
• AKB0048 Next Stage (2013) – Chieri Sono
• Pikachu, Kore Nan no Kagi? (2014) - Narration
• Maho Girls PreCure! (2016) – herself

Movies

• Three Day Boys
• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) – Annabeth Chase (Japanese dub)

Photobooks

• Mayuyu (2011)
• Seifuku Zukan Saigo no Seifuku (April 19, 2013)
• Shiranai uchi ni (October 25, 2016)

Others

• MUSIC FAIR (2012-) - irregular guest appearances
• Jounetsu Tairiku (2015)
• N Kyo CLASSIC&POPS with SPECIAL ARTISTS (2016)
• Watanabe Mayu AKB48 Sotsugyou Made no 63nichi-kan ni Micchaku, Soshite Sono Mirai (2018)

References

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