Watanabe Mayu (Mayuyu) / 3rd Generation

This is the million question.

Will Mayuyu come out of retirement at Yukirin's graduation?

 

When Mayu originally announced her retirement, I thought Yukirin would be the only way we can expect Mayu to show her face again in public. Now with all the time that's passed, that possibility seems to have grown slimmer to me. She didn't show up for the 3rd Gen 15th Anniversary Stage, while many other members, who haven't really been in the public eye for years, did in fact show up.

Members are slowly starting to mention Mayu more again than they did right after her announcement because, I think, most people have now accepted she won't come back and members mentioning her doesn't have the same effect anymore. Of course, people get happy, but they don't expect her to pop out.

I think a letter from Mayu is very feasible. VTR less so and appearance seems impossible to me personally. Naturally, I would be ecstatic to be proven wrong!

 

It seems rather odd we haven't heard from Mayu for a long time. Not even from Bunshun? Hmmmmm

 

As much as Bunshun consists of vultures, when someone officially retires from the entertainment agency, gossip papers leave them alone. The Japanese respect that this person is no longer a member of the public eye.

Same reason former Keyakizaka46 Imaizumi Yui retired from the industry. She said after graduation, paps followed her and her child around when she picked them up from daycare or took them to doctor's appointments, and it made her feel unsafe. By officially declaring retirement, these sites have to leave her alone, and they do. Mayu also officially retired, so they won't bother her.

 

Hanyu got divorced after 105 days.

He couldn't forget his true love.

 

who?

 

Less than one week from Yukirin’s grad con, is anyone getting a bit nervous now? I know realistically the chance of Mayu appearing is almost non-existent, and I won’t blame her at all if she doesn’t. But on the other hand I still dream of some miracle. At the end of the day, as her fan, I just hope to hear updates that Mayuyu is living well.

 

We all hope for Mayuyu to show up at Yukirin's graduation (even if it is via video)!

 

NOTE TO ALL: DO NOT DOUBLE POST OR WORSE. AS IN THIS CASE, TRIPLE POST! IF YOU HAVE A LOT TO SAY, SAY IT IN ONE POST!

im a nervous wreck, Mayuyu is my kamioshi and since her graduation no other girl has reached the level she had for me, i really hope to see her again ): it was a huge blow to me when she said she was 'retiring of the industry', i hoped she would have a promising career as an actress or solo singer... honestly, i want to have ANY news abt her, even if it's in Yukirin's graduation via LETTER! PLS WATANABE MAYU

i dont blame her either, i understand her, all the pressure she lived to be an 'orthodox idol with such a clean and perfect image', it must have been a HUGE burden, so huge that she got fed up... but i wish i can at least follow her again on instagram/twitter or something like that, i just want to see her living well and happy, im sure that isolating herself from the world around her like Mayuyu has been doing in recent years wont be any good for her! ):

as a classical ballet dancer i understand how self-pressure makes us isolate ourselves from the outside world for fear of rejection, fear of breaking 'our perfect image' and fear of bad comments (not that this is exactly her case as she may have her reasons totally personal for her retirement, but its never nice to receive ONE bad comments abt yourself, imagine received them for years bc youre a public figure on her scale). as an avid Mayuyu fan, i understand 100% if she decides to continue with her decision to no longer appear in the media including Yukirin's graduation.

BUT HOPE IS THE LAST DIE FELLAS!

your comment demonstrates exactly what i thought and what i think at this exact moment, it was specifically accurate, friend! for a long time i thought 'the only way i would see Mayuyu again would be through Yukirin', but after so long, i don't think this so anymore. when i saw that the deal was THAT serious and she really disappeared like a ghost, this expectation disappeared along with her.

now, with the graduation announcement, many thoughts, desires and expectations came to my head, with so many years of friendship between Mayuyu and Yukirin, in an event as important as Yukirin's graduation, i think a letter is really quite possible, a VTR is a both unlikely but definitely not impossible bc it's Yukirin!! maybe Mayuyu would make a single exception for her? now, the appearance in person would be like an angel coming to earth for the last time, I REALLY want this miracle to happen, it would be one of the most historic moments in the hole history of AKB48.

 

Today is THE day.

Please show up Mayuyu

 

no mayuyu...... i am crying T T

 

You were actually expecting her to show up? If she vanished completely that means she has no intention of being seen at all. Unless she decides to return to the entertainment industry, you will never hear about her again until the day she dies (probably a week later).

 

As a fan, of course I want to see Mayu again. But if she had made a successful transition to another way of life and decides not to look back again, I will be glad for her and always pray for her. Mayuyu had done a lot for us at her own expense already, let her decide what she wants to do for the rest of her life.

 

It's alright to have hope!
Just this week, a former Hello!Project member who had graduated and gone private showed up at an anniversary event for a former group member after 13 years. Sadly, Mayu's retirement was done in a more mysterious way so it seems unlikely.

 

I don't really know Watanabe much as she was not there when I first heard about this group but from what I read, Watanabe retired due to health issues. However, how can someone that was so popular (just judging from the videos I saw on Bilibili) just vanish? Maybe the media could not report on her legally but wouldn't she be spotted by the public?

Not sure if this is poor timing but in Kashiwagi Yuki's concert, Watanabe was only in a short clip (despite them being friends for years) seems to suggest she made a request to not be mentioned or featured much?

 

Mayuyu is a very private person, she wasn’t spotted much even before retirement. At one point, Bunshun tried to track Mayu for a month without any success.

It is also possible that Mayu is living abroad now.

For any reason, I think AKB tries to avoid showing any images/videos that involve Mayuyu.

 

Mayuyu retired which means she's back to being a non-celebrity, and just like for any other non-celebrity, the medias respect her privacy (they have to), so they're not going to talk about her or ask about her. Some channels even use a drawing of her instead of a picture when she is being mentioned (like when the past AKB is discussed etc.), although some other channels did show old footage of her, and AKB too, for example when AKB aired that special video in YouTube about AKB's charity work (it was old content) Mayuyu was in it quite a lot from what I remember, they didn't edit her out or anything. Maybe they ask for her permission before? or maybe she just gave the right for AKB to use her past images without asking.

About Yukirin's concert, it's possible that they avoided featuring too many videos of Mayuyu in Yukirin's concert because well, it's about Yukirin, and it's possible that Mayuyu herself didn't want to be on videos, it would make people talk a lot, considering there are already a LOT of talks about her in the past few days because of this concert... She retired for a reason...

Also @Kroo we don't know the reasons why she retired and the "health issues" is just a rumor, so it's not a fact. and about being spotted by the public, it's possible that it happened, but again she's a non-celebrity, so if the person posts about it online, it could bring problems to that person. Everyone who knows who she is and who would recognize her, also knows about how she's now retired and that they can't just openly talk about her, so yes it's extremely unlikely we're going to see/hear from her unless it's directly from her (and that's also unlikely).

The most we get is when a member sometimes mentions her, this happened with Yukirin, Yuiyui and I think Izurina? it's very rare but yes this is good enough to know she's doing well

 

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she’s already married and has kids. But I do agree, the Yukirin graduation concert was the absolute last hope in seeing Mayu in person. Now that it’s past, let’s hope we retain good memories of her and wish her nothing but the best.

 

i think probably Mayu is living abroad right now because is weird that she has not been spotted or mentioned by anyone for so long

 

Even while in AKB, Mayu was known as someone who loves staying home, playing games, watching anime, etc., she was a proper otaku. I wouldn't be surprised if she's neither married nor having kids, and she's just fully given herself up to that life. That would also explain why she hasn't been seen outside, cause she just hasn't been.