1. Check the 2023 Stage48 Member Ranking Results, how did your Oshimen rank this year?

Sugawara Maya (Maayan)

Discussion in 'Team E' started by Smilodon, Jun 13, 2015.

  1. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
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    Aichi
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    sugawaramaya
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    Well the obvious SSK work that comes to mind is the bikini magazine or the music video shooting. It could also be other work - all she said was that it was work she got because of the fans, which made me think it was SSK-related due to the time.

    Idols love to promote their areas, especially the ones who are from other areas than most of the rest. Practically everyone gets work in their regions - Oshirin in Yaizu, Macchi in Gifu, Yukichan in Kyoto, Hatagon in Kagawa, etc. Maya has been on some TV shows in Miyagi and of course did the first pitch for the Rakuten Eagles. But compared to Donchan (Tochigi prefecture) or Hatagon/Macchi she really isn't getting much, despite being the #1 seller for CDs at Tsutaya. OK, I realize this is a very... "whatever" stat and rather inconsequential but when you couple that with how quickly she sells out five slots in Sendai (and the large number of people who go to those handshakes) it reinforces her claim that she has a lot of support there.
    http://tsutaya.tsite.jp/feature/music/idol/sousenkyo/2018
    3358184f.png

    Maya News Vol. 2

    General news
    -
    Maya had a handshake event in Coach & Four in Sapporo with Egochan and Izurin. The event is like a national handshake event.
    Coach & Four is actually kind of special for Maya - they're the ones who sell a special photocard of Maya if you buy the single from their shop. Every senbatsu member is affiliated with a store, so Maya is affiliated with Coach & Four, which is based in Hokkaido. It's thanks to that affiliation that Maya went to Hokkaido last year as well (I think).
    I went to the Coach & Four in Tokyo (Wakabadai) in January when Maya was there with Miyo and Renahyuu. It's a really nice store.
    Looks like someone brought their kid.
    Di8fl8HUUAEmtTZ.jpg
    Di8fl8IU4AAxdeh.jpg


    After the event they flew (I doubt they took a train) back to Tokyo and from there Maya went back to Nagoya. She thinks it's a big trip and kind of exhausting to do a round-trip in a day. But according to her it's great to have such events precisely because of that distance. She ate some kaisendon (she's unsure about that), some kind of Hokkaido cuisine. Of course she was glad to be there since it was much cooler than the rest of Japan where it's boiling.
    o1000075014235653517.jpg
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    -I mentioned handshakes last time, so here's a chart for her handshake slots (made on July 25th). It's sold out if it's got the red characters over the number.
    Di8F1GjV4AAkUj6.jpg

    Mobame
    -Maya thanked the fans who came for the event in Hokkaido. A lot of the people who came were from Hokkaido but there were also some fans who came just for the event. The event was full of people she hadn't met before, which was nice.

    -She ate some shaved ice with some beans... it looked more like a cake with chocolate and some beans to me, and not very tasty, but she wanted to eat another one. This was before heading off to Hokkaido by the way.

    I wish I could share the pictures - if you really want to see them you can get the SKE48 Mail app on your phone and pay the monthly fee. Unfortunately the app doesn't let you save the photos, so they are small.
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2018
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  2. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
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    Aichi
    Oshimen:
    sugawaramaya
    Twitter:
    nickjaylitt
    Maya News Vol. 3

    Maya will be wearing a yukata this summer on at least three occasions: the August 25th (Tokyo) and September 8th (Nagoya) handshakes and her Empty Canvas stream on August 23rd. She wants a checkered yukata. Personally I don't like checkered designs as much as the ones she uploaded.

    o1080081014236241406.jpg
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    Of course the big SKE "event" on July 27 is Rena's birthday, with everyone wishing her a happy birthday and Rena replying to them.
    Many Maya fans are former Rena oshis and people love to try and find similarities between the two - things such as how they have the same penlight colour, Maya recently performed Kareha no Station (Rena's song), they were both in Team E, etc. Of course Rena is special to Maya, since she got drafted by Team E and Rena doted on her a bit.

    Anyway, Maya wrote to Rena saying she'll message her like an idiot when she goes to Tokyo, and Rena invited her to do so.
    Maya uploaded this picture she secretly took when they were at Magic Kingdom last year, alongside Tani, Lala, and Saanan.

    DjEsiupUwAAM9uO (1).jpg

    Here are the pictures they took last year:
    http://ske48matome.net/archives/50248588.html

    Staying on topic, Maya tweeted four pictures of Amichan, writing that Amichan wore her Rena seitan shirt at rehearsal. She cried when Maya sent the picture to Rena and Rena called her cute.
    DjFAFAfU8AAedjr.jpg
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    Mobame

    Maya had more rehearsals on the 26th. She took off her nails and is thinking about a new design for them.

    Maya was on radio for a-nation along with Tani and Churi. Unfortunately the a-nation concert in Mie got cancelled due to fears about a typhoon. She later sent a mail saying she had another work to do later in the evening.
     
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  3. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
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    sugawaramaya
    Twitter:
    nickjaylitt
    Hello my friends. Before we jump into the news I thought I'd talk about Maya's past janken appearances:

    In 2016 she managed to make it in, but she got eliminated right away. Does the costume look familiar?
    CuZ-iOHUMAA3chs.jpg
    It's the same one she wore for the SKE soloconcert in 2016. She's dressed up as a Sendai beef tongue dish.

    In 2017 she paired up with Rara and their unit was called (笑), or "lol". They couldn't do a three person group since Yunana betrayed them to join a unit with girls from other groups.
    They ended up losing in the preliminaries to STU lolis:
    https://twitter.com/ske48_curry_bot/status/896287798373765120
    DF5trKhUIAAdWzP.jpg
    Even though they lost they had some photocard for the event.
    g3550427.jpg

    Maya News Vol. 4

    Maya recorded an episode of 2janaiyo with Satokaho, which will air on August 7th. Maya says she's becoming good friends with Satokaho. Kaho's got a video of Maya as her header on her Line account. Kaho wrote on her own blog that she laughs whenever she sees that video and she said she'd let us see the video sometime. Kaho also says she loves idols who can do weird faces when taking pictures like Maya and other Team E girls. Kaho's really gotten herself integrated perfectly into Team E and she's making a bunch of friends and I'm glad Maya is friends with her.

    On the topic of kouhai, Oshiba Rinka was told in a recent interview (which I don't know the source of) that she isn't the type to talk to her seniors. She replied that's true but Maya has become her friend. I'm really surprised since Rinka, to my knowledge, didn't under a single time for any of the teams while she was a kenkyuusei. She got promoted to KII, so I suppose they started talking at a concert or somewhere else.

    Mobame

    The CBC concert was cancelled in addition to a-nation, although they were on the same day and with different members so Maya wouldn't have performed there anyway. It would have been her first time at a-nation so she was upset since she had practiced and had been looking forward to this for a while.

    Maya says she hates the heat of summer and she's happy it's getting cooler, but she also hates the cold. She just wants it to be warm.
    She was looking at past images of herself and was trying to find times where her makeup was on point, but rather than wanting to redo that kind of makeup she wishes she could never need to do makeup and be fine without it.

    She went to a nail salon and got some yellow ones done as they have a summer vibe. She says she feels good when she has someone help her with something she can't do, like her nails.

    She had practice rehearsal again on the 29th and she slept until 10pm afterwards. She regrets it since she slept too much.
     
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  4. kaleidx

    kaleidx Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    May 16, 2017
    Oshimen:
    suenagaoka
    Isn't that every girls dream? :^^;:
    But I think she looks really good with makeup, I'm reminded of how stunning she looked in that Stola CM:

    if the video does not show watch the video here
    I could barely believe my eyes I was looking at Maya.

    Anyways excited to see her in the Miyagi unit! I hear the SKE Osakan's teamed up and Hatagon found some Kagawans. Some spicy prefecture battles!
     
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  5. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
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    Yes, there's also a Kumamoto unit with Inoue Ruka, and a north Kanto unit with Sarina. There's a Hokkaido unit too, but there aren't any SKE members.

    Hello my friends. I actually want to pace myself for these but I couldn't wait since today's news involves my SKE mancrush...

    Maya News Vol. 5

    Maya met the recently-departed-to-NGT Suwa Hiroshi along with Nacky in Tokyo.
    They ate together. Of course Maya drank some tapioca. She really loves this drink and won't stop talking about it.
    They ate cheese dak-galbi, a Korean dish.
    She was very lucky and spoiled, since Suwa paid for the food and Nacky got her the drink. Maya says she'll pay next time... hm.
    o1080081214238612058.jpg
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    Maya remarked that although Suwa's supposed to be gone to NGT she still meets him and doesn't get lonely. Apparently Suwa returned Maya's tears during their farewell.

    It was cool in Tokyo today so she was able to walk a long time for her diet and not die to the heat. (I'm jealous.)
    She's happy since she could diet and eat good food, it's killing two birds with one stone.

    Suwa means a lot to the girls, since he was at so many events and always accompanied them. If Yuasa is the more public face that people complain to, Suwa is the one who gets a lot of love from the fans, usually meant in a kind of joking manner but you could always tell he was liked a lot.
    I was at his last handshake with SKE and he came out with Maya afterwards in front of the fans. Maya had already cried a bunch that day and he made her cry again just by being there. The fans loved him too, made evident by everyone cheering his name as he ran to get Maya some tissues.

    Mobame

    Maya announced she wouldn't participate in the upcoming Passion 4 You event. The winner gets to go on a play about an anime, and Maya said she's not interested and hopes someone who really wants it can win. She's won the model event (of which the CM is in the previous post) and won a place in the latest P4U senbatsu.

    She talked about Suwa, and also about how she wants a ot of clothes. Red lesson shoes and a key case. (I had to look up what that was)
    But the thing she wants the most right now are friends who can enjoy the summer together with her... (Hey, I'm on vacation!)
     
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  6. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2015
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    Aichi
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    sugawaramaya
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    nickjaylitt
    Hello my friends.

    I interrupt the news with an interview from the Flash Special released on 18/05/20. In this volume Maya got her long-awaited school uniform photoshoot.
    She had been asking for a school uniform-themed shoot for a very long time since she graduated high school this year.

    This picture is unrelated to the shoot, Maya used it to try and beg for the shoot. By the way, according to Maya she got this shoot thanks to the fans. Some fans were very persistent, filling out the inquiries in all kinds of gravure magazines, asking the editors to showcase SKE48's Sugawara Maya in a school uniform. I saw some people do this on Twitter as well, so a big thanks to them since apparently it worked.
    DXsJn0gUQAEuzdT.jpg

    Now I'm sure that most of you want the actual gravure photos more than the interview, and I agree, they are very nice. While I'm all for sharing and piracy, there was a small incident where Maya replied to a fan on Twitter (for the first time I've seen) since he uploaded pictures of another one of her shoots (and tweeted it at her... lol). I'm not sure whether that's her stance or the editors', but this is the general rule in Japan and it's seen as quite bad if you engage in low-level piracy. Anyway, in the rare event that she or a snitching fan would ever come here I don't want to ever have to dogeza in front of Maya like that poor guy did (I witnessed it...), so rather than upload the pictures I'll just tell you that they do exist somewhere online. Just use google.

     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2018
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  7. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
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    nickjaylitt
    Hello my friends.

    Maya News Vol. 6

    On August 1st we had the rank in concert for those who ranked into the sousenkyo. I did not go so I don't have any cool stories, but since fans can take pictures and videos at concerts now they've been uploaded.
    Some of them are still on the top tweets of the hashtag so check them out:
    https://twitter.com/search?vertical=default&q=#菅原茉椰&src=tyah

    Everyone performed #sukinanda, kimi no koto ga suki dakara, give me five, after rain, and arigatou. Everyone walked around for some picture time during aishiteraburu, oki doki, anata ga itekuretakara, and kibouteki refrain.
    This concert was quite special for Maya since she centered Mae Nomeri. She performed alongside Mikotti, Sakipon, Tani, Hatagon, Oshirin, and Airi.

    Everyone in Undergirls got to center a song. So after Maya's performance Yukichan got a P4U song where she ranked high and Ryoha followed that with 12gatsu Kangaroo.

    Thanks to Hatagon's blog I learned that Maya's unit for Mae Nomeri actually performed in 12gatsu. They had to dash from the B stage where they were to the main stage, change into the 12gatsu costumes, and get ready to appear. They only had one song's time to prepare all of this. They were the "dummy members" in contrast to Ryoha's unit. According to Hatagon it was hard to look at the monitor and match their movements with Ryoha's team, and the costume was very hot, especially in August.
    153330210604243.jpg
    The three of them participated in the following MC. The theme was "Question time for Minegishi Minami".
    Here is Maya's question and the subsequent exchange:
    Maya: You've been flamed pretty hard over the years, so why haven't you given up?
    Minegishi: How long have you been in the group?
    Maya: It's my third year.
    Minegishi: Once you reach your fifth year you start to not feel anything, and honestly your life feels pretty dull if you don't get flamed past your eighth year.

    Anyway, a feel good concert and the fans went crazy thanks to another Rena-related performance.

    DjhFb82UYAAlQYG.jpg DjhFb83U4AA7458.jpg
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    Mobame

    She was really, really happy about the concert. The next day (2nd) she was tired so she slept a lot. She met Kohaku that day and said that it felt like she hadn't seen her in a long time, but really it had only been four days. It felt like a long time since they see each other every day usually.

    She likes the rank in shirt that she's wearing the previous photos. She thinks it has a nice design and asked us to get it. (Sorry I won't)
    She complained about how hot it is, saying it burns her face. (That's where the previous "burn" came from then.)

    On the 3rd she practiced for TIF and Mihama. Maya loves green peas. She got asked to eat out with other members but she went home to eat green peas by herself.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2018
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  8. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

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    nickjaylitt
    Big update since fourteen days passed since the last post. As you'll see Maya had a lot to do.

    Maya News Vol. 7

    8/04 - Maya participated in the Bon Odori festival in Sakae along with other members. They did three songs: Aishiteraburu, Pareo and Fortune Cookie. They said it was the first time did they Fortune Cookie. I assume it was the idea of the organizers since they wanted the crowd to know one of the songs. The crowd was overwhelmingly composed of fans however. I was waiting in the shade near the event and the van carrying the members stopped right next to me, so I go to see the members come out. I called Maya's name as she was walking and she did a double-take and waved at me and my friends.

    As for the songs, the members didn't dance in the way they normally do. You do the Bon Odori by dancing in a circle surrounding by other people, however there were too many people so the onlookers didn't move in circles. In fact I don't think many people wanted to dance that way; we all had our penlights and were doing the calls during the first song, so an organizer had to come up and ask us to join the members in doing the Bon Odori. Since we couldn't move in a giant circle we just copied their arm movements or spun in little circles.

    DjzKPNaVsAAJGhO.jpg DjwIxl_U0AEPESX.jpg DjwIxl-U8AEgwFa.jpg DjwQYgxVsAAdLSV.jpg DjwbtjoVAAANqc2.jpg

    8/05 - Maya participated at the Tokyo Idol Festival. The last time she performed there was two years ago.

    Dj0GZ4yU0AUOhW9.jpg Dj0GZ4zUUAA20sM.jpg

    8/06 - Mihama summer performance. I'll have to wait to watch the recording before commenting.

    Dj77HEjUYAMCwUR (1).jpg Dj76CNrUYAEET4C.jpg

    8/07 - 2janaiyo recording with Satokaho.

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    8/08 - Maya went back to Sendai on her free time.

    8/09 - She mentioned having work in the morning on her mail. It turns out that the work was related to Yuasa's 56th birthday. A lot of members showed up and I assume they did a shoot.
    DkKFVcSUwAAu_Qw.jpg

    8/10-13 - Three days of handshakes in Tokyo. Her group lost in the janken preliminaries so she won't be at the big event.
    DkTvlBxVsAU5cre.jpg Dkij4EAV4AAQaQf.jpg DkZpuuHU0AAVbZF.jpg DkZbuQHU8AEPt8Z.jpg

    8/14 - Summer Stage in Roppongi. Team E performed last of the teams, at 19:00. She gave us the gift of revealing a shoulder during the performance, which might be as great a blessing as revealing her forehead. (Don't do them both at the same time or I'll die)
    DkjD77PUYAAgbpT.jpg DkjD77NU8AAfc8x.jpg Dkj2GdoVsAA61f5.jpg Dkj2GdpVsAAw5DV.jpg Dkj2GdpVAAAWWct.jpg o1080080914247722324.jpg

    8/15 - Two Team E performances. The evening one was Kumachan's seitansai.
    Dko7CPWU8AE_van.jpg Dko7CxxUYAII84h.jpg Dko7DjkV4AEG15a.jpg

    8/16 - 2janaiyo with Hatagon. (Not released yet)
    DkuQh32U4AABcZm.jpg

    8/17 - She had some work (unspecified) and got to go somewhere she wanted to in her free time (unspecified).

    8/18 - Interview and shoot with Hatagon for Top Yell NEO. It'll be sold at the end of September. She also had another job that day, but can't say what it is yet.
    Dk4EgLmU8AABe6k.jpg

    8/19 - She went on a "date" with Kuma to an outlet near Nagoya. They bought clothes and then she bought manga in Nagoya.

    8/20 - Two Team E performances. She's back to performing in her usual position, since Suda was performing. Usually she gets Suda's position in her absence.

    Mobame

    She again talked about how she needs to protect herself from the sun.
    Adding another item to the list of food/drinks she loves along with green peas and tapioka, she recently found out that she likes watermelon juice.
    She got called an old man by the make up artist since she was eating umeboshi and drinking calpis while waiting.
    She changed her nails to silver nails with red hearts on three fingers and her thumb. Her ring finger has a black nail with a gold heart.
     
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  9. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2015
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    Aichi
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    sugawaramaya
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    nickjaylitt
    Quick update for today: Maya had her wisdom teeth pulled out. It hurt a lot so she slept the rest of the day to forget it.

    The next episode of her niconico show is on the 23rd (Thursday). It will have a new segment: Sugawara's Lab, where she will test out things she wants to do.
    For the first time she'll be testing to see whether the various kinds of syrup that goes on shaved ice tastes the same.
    I'll let you know how it goes.

    --

    I see that there are a few people who view these posts, so please feel free to contribute here.
    Maybe a discussion topic would help:
    I'd like to know what you like about Maya and what you'd like her to improve on.

    I'll start:
    -The first thing that got me to notice her a few years ago was her humour. I loved watching her Showrooms because she was quite funny and made all sorts of faces.
    -I like her ability to recognize people at events, but even more than that I like how she treats her fans equally. She understands that she can't show favoritism and that people get jealous easily in this business, and I find that she does a good job at it. She'll usually give everyone one look at an event, and I think that's enough. I think a lot of the girls in SKE do this pretty well. (I don't follow other groups so I don't know)

    -I'd like her to improve on showcasing her desire. I always go back to her words when she claims that she has to devote herself entirely to getting better as an idol since it's the path she's chosen. This is a general mantra that many people follow, but I really think she does a good job at it.
    This desire is manifested most during our fan interactions. She puts a lot of effort into the conversations. She remembers things that were said months ago, and she clearly reads her comments and blog.

    I also think this desire is shown when she makes efforts to reach for new fans. It's how she got to me after all. I think her ability to make the extra step and initiate conversation with those who support her is indicative of her desire to get bigger and better; she's not content to sit on her laurels, she wants to reach out and thank people.

    She has a lazy/goofy character but I have seen her perform in the theatre with such confidence that I know she can (and does) showcase this elsewhere. It's more than her confident nature that's on show when she's teasing people during funny segments; there was something really special in her attitude and expression that struck me when I saw it. The kind of thing that makes you think that you made the right choice to support this member in particular. The spark that you want others to see too.

    So she clearly has a desire to get better and as her fans we interact with it every time we see her; the problem is getting others to. I see a lot of people who see her as only a baka type and can't take her performances seriously or justify her as a top senbatsu member. Why not see her as having various natures which compliment each other rather than seeing different natures as clashing with the others?

    So I'd like her to show everyone else what she's able to show me - the problem is that you almost need the proximity with her to experience it. I guess that the empirical sensation you feel with the idols is what everyone wants to share with one another when they want to push their member ahead.

    -Adding onto the theatre bit, she could always improve her dancing and performance, but I say this as an aside since I think she manages to always improve over time.
     
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  10. EinhanderX

    EinhanderX Next Girls

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2015
    Late reply. Not sure where should I start...

    First, she doesn't strike me as baka, Ida has it better in hers. It just Ida is more reserved type, while Maya is chattier and bark back when teased.
    Which is great as she comes more approachable and bad as she is commonly be the target of joke, hence her ijime chara..

    Second, I am never a performance-keen person and more like variety-oriented type. And from little I watched from Musubi, she is in the top half of members who successfully developed her TV persona. Which will work a long way in the showbiz past idol-days.

    I suppose this "lot of people" is a fellow JP SKE fans, cause this forum or international 48fandom rarely talk about her?
     
  11. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2015
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    Aichi
    Oshimen:
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    nickjaylitt
    I think most people agree that she is funny and good on variety. As you said she gets teased a lot but she can do a lot of teasing herself. Her main targets are usually Tani and Nacky. I don't watch Musubi much but Maya and Donchan are among those who get called on the show a lot, and Donchan especially has good chemistry with the hosts. Maybe they get called on because the managers like them.

    I'm the opposite of you and I don't care about variety shows but I agree that it's important in Japan, and Maya is certainly better at those things than performing and it's a good skill for models to have if they get invited on those shows.

    To be frank very few people talk about SKE in the English/French fandoms (the only ones I'm aware of, I can't read Mandarin but the girls are more popular in Taiwan) so I always mean the Japanese fans when I talk about fans.

    ---

    Maya News Vol. 8

    08/23 - Empty Canvas vol. 16!

    Maya was wearing a yukata. She's been wearing them a lot this summer and will continue to. The photo quality isn't good but you can see these green circles in the background with "2018 29th place" written on them. The fan community designed these and made fans out of them and handed them out at the rank in concert. Some extras were sent to the studio for this episode so they hung them up. (I'm be getting mine soon!)
    ss+(2018-08-28+at+02.50.03).jpg ss+(2018-08-23+at+07.32.10).jpg
    The new segment involved Maya eating shaved ice with a blindfold and with her nose pinched so she couldn't guess what flavour was used. She wanted to see whether different flavours have a different taste or taste the same.
    ss+(2018-08-28+at+02.51.30).jpg ss+(2018-08-28+at+02.50.57).jpg
    Here's a much clearer picture she posted:
    DlSNX8KU4AIfQSF.jpg
    It was another good episode. The next episode will be 09/21 (Friday) and it will be a live recording in the SKE theatre. I hope I can go.

    The studio for Empty Canvas (hosted by Planets channel) is in Tokyo, and Maya had to return to Nagoya for the next day's work. Unfortunately there was a typhoon coming straight through Aichi and other prefectures that night, so her shinkansen got delayed for a long time overnight, and she didn't get a good night's rest. Thankfully two kind ladies were next to her and lent her their blanket.

    08/24 - Maya joined other members for an appearance at a baseball game in Kagawa prefecture. The "center" for this event was Hatagon obviously and she threw the first pitch. The team they appeared for are a semi-pro team called the Kagawa Olive Guyners... what? What the hell is a Guyner? It turns out that "gaina" means strong in the Sanuki dialect spoken in Kagawa, and there are a lot of olive trees in the area too. Hatagon threw the first pitch there last year too. Here are some videos and photos taken by fans:
    http://ske48matome.net/archives/52378575.html
    DlXWQY0VAAEWV5o.jpg DlXWQY2V4AAIH2g.jpg

    08/25-26 - Handshake events in Tokyo, first day for Ikinari Punchline and then for the Sousenkyo single. The handshakes dragged on for a long time on the 26 and some people were forced to exchange their tickets since the lines were so long and some blocks had to be stopped with people still in them.
    Dlca7cBUcAEQaaC.jpg Dlh6LpZUcAArlAw.jpg

    08/27 - Work with Tani for Bessatsu Dragon Age. No clue what they did but she was happy to get some manga related work. It'll be sold on 09/25.
    DlloI5lV4AENCEC.jpg

    There was a Team E stage later. My friend said that Maya looked really exhausted during it but she kept on going. Her schedule is quite loaded as you can see, with at least one different piece of work a day, and she got caught up in the typhoon and lost a night's sleep. She still seems to be hurting from getting her wisdom teeth pulled out too.

    In my previous post I wrote that it was Yuasa's birthday on 08/09 and they had some work related to that. Well it turns out that the work in question was Jurina's Instagram challenge series. Maya worked on the previous series, which had a smaller cast. This will be broadcast on 09/01 in the SKE theatre, but Maya won't be there.

    Mobame
    She mentioned that it hurt to talk due to the wisdom teeth being pulled out, but she was happy to talk to people during the handshakes.
    She talked about food and other little things but nothing noteworthy.
     
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  12. EinhanderX

    EinhanderX Next Girls

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2015
    If there's something I notice from Musubi cast pattern, they always follow the rule of 3(now 4):
    1. 1 member knowledgeable or capable at the theme of recording,
    2. 1 member with reserved, orthodox or unexplored personality(now 2), and
    3. 1 member whom take the variety role and help lighten up the recording atmosphere.

    Tbh, SKE has excess of members in 2nd category, yet a shortage of members in 3rd category.
    Which is why the members like Donchan, Maya, heck even Mizuno, rotated in more often.
    Must be due to shortage of SKE variety show during the time of 7D2 hype. They ended up with limited knowledge of the girls personality and has to stick with something as, the "atama ii" and "atama warui" dichotomy for quite a time.
     
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  13. kaleidx

    kaleidx Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    May 16, 2017
    Oshimen:
    suenagaoka
    So, I'm a pretty casual fan. Never been to Japan and most of my knowledge of these girls comes from their stage bios, sns blurbs, and tv show appearances.

    So naturally, the first thing I noticed about Maya was her appearance. I think she is the only girl whos gravure I've purchased as soon as they're available. I always thought she was really pretty. It feels like she's been doing a lot of that lately, I think she has at least 1 more appearance planned this month.
    So, then I paid more attention to her on shows she was in and I like how she's not afraid to laugh. That huge open mouthed laugh as opposed to covering your mouth is very contagious, it always makes me want to laugh with her.
    ezgif-2-4dee9de18a.gif
    Then her personality seems very fun loving and likes to joke around. I think I got this impression of her from her ssk speech and it just stuck since.
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2019
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  14. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2015
    Location:
    Aichi
    Oshimen:
    sugawaramaya
    Twitter:
    nickjaylitt
    Funny you mention gravure. I don't care about bikini gravure but I like anything clothed, like her high school clothes shoot. I buy it anyway to support her since she wants to be a model. I remember Rena going from rather lewd gravure to the more model-like stuff later, so I hope she can go into that direction since it's her goal.

    Yeah, her sense of humour and facial expressions are the best. It's also quite the sight to see her in serious mode when she's at her most focused and determined. She doesn't really like talking about serious stuff at handshakes but you'll encounter that face if you bring up a serious topic like senkyo and things she can improve on.

    Anyway...

    Maya News Vol. 9

    Not much in terms of news thanks to Request Hour. Next post will be about Empty Canvas' live recording, which I will be attending.

    08/31 - Gravure shoot for Manga Action. She'll be on the cover. It's sold on 10/02 and it comes with a clear file.
    09/01 - Handshake in Port Messe. I wrote about it in my report. 3janaiyo recording afterwards.
    09/08 - Handshake in Port Messe. I wrote about that too.
    09/13 - She's on the cover for the upcoming SKE48 outfit book (sold on 09/25).

    09/15-16 - Request Hour!
    Since the votes were low due to the limited amount of votes and short voting period many songs got the same amount of votes.
    Here's what she performed on the first day:

    100 - Hanshateki Through - This Love Crescendo song is my favourite b-side from Muishiki. Maya wore Rara's coat.
    100 - Hoppe, Tsuneru - SKE Festival song that really grew on me.
    93 - Kimi wa Ramune - Team E coupling song from the newest single. Not a personal favourite.
    89 - Mirai ga Me ni Shimiru - Another SKE Festival song.
    81 - Bukiyo Taiyo - SKE single.
    81 - 1994nen no Raimei - Great song from SKE Festival. Maya always does really well on it.
    78 - SKE Festival.
    72 - Cup no Naka no Komorebi - The original Love Crescendo song.
    66 - Koi no Onawa - My favourite SKE Festival song and the one I voted for this RH.
    65 - Kamoku na Tsuki - My favourite SKE song! I can't wait for the DVD.
    56 - Juroku Sympathy - Yet another SKE Festival song that everyone seems to love.

    Second day:
    48 - Ikinari Punchline
    41 - Seifaku wo Nugitakunattekita - This was the song Maya chose to represent her on merchandise. She likes the song.
    40 - Gonna Jump - SKE coupling song on an AKB single. Obviously miss Rara here.
    33 - Boku wa Shitteiru
    29 - Kareha no Station - The big one! We didn't know who would do this song, so a lot of fans (like me) didn't vote for it. It seems that this is properly Maya's song now, so if there's another RH it seems certain that we'll push this song.
    27 - Muishiki no Iro
    24 - Ii Hito ii Hito Sagi
    19 - Mae Nomeri - Another big one! Maya centered this song, further amplifying the Rena comparisons. Maya's fanbase has a ton of Rena oshis, so they are overjoyed by management making Maya her successor.
    16 - Hana no Kaori no Symphony - The Passion 4 You senbatsu song.
    17 - Igai ni Mango
    7 - Seifuku wo kita Meitantei - Kuma's song.

    These songs aren't counting the encore.
     
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  15. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2015
    Location:
    Aichi
    Oshimen:
    sugawaramaya
    Twitter:
    nickjaylitt
    18/09/21 - Empty Canvas Review

    Before the sousenkyo every idol made a pledge to their fans to do something if they get a certain rank. Some members make really silly pledges with impossible ranks, while others try to be realistic and pledge a reward for an improvement on the previous year. This year Maya’s pledge was to do a live recording of her show (Sugawara Maya’s Empty Canvas) inside the SKE48 theatre if she were to rank in the top 100.

    There was a pre-application period where you could apply to be in the first two rows. They said they picked people out of a lottery, but they asked you for your internet handle, and some of the biggest fans got chosen, so I sort of doubt the integrity of the raffle. Anyway, the rest of us plebs had to apply through the ticket center.

    Since this was a solo event for a member most if not all of the Maya oshis who applied got in. Standing wasn’t allowed and there wasn’t a waitlist. That being said there were some people who got rejected when they applied. There were a lot of people I never saw before, so I hope they were able to enjoy it, although I think most of them were fans.

    They posted all the fan art submitted for this episode on the wall opposite where the member portraits are hung in the corridor before you enter the theatre.

    I sat on the left side near the back since my luck is rotten, but it didn’t really matter anyway. I noticed some reserved seats in the back left corner, and sure enough Uno Tsunehiro, the owner of Planets Channel, sat there with someone else.

    A little rant before we begin: since I’m subscribed to Planets Channel I checked out the stream the day after. Even though the SKE theatre has HD quality stuff uploaded to DMM the quality of the stream was the same kind of poor quality we’re used to on niconico. I also don’t know why but they muted the fans. You couldn’t hear any of the calls nor could you hear the questions, which ruined the whole point of asking people questions if you were watching the stream. Maya and the guest didn’t bother repeating some of the questions since they were loud enough that everyone in the theatre could hear them. There were audio problems throughout as well.

    Maya was obviously the shadow announcer and it began right on time. We all expected a song of some kind since we were in the theatre. She did Sugawarabu to start it off. She really didn’t like her performance of it though, saying she failed a lot of the movements.

    She did an introduction and changed into a shirt with her rank on it. She brought out her sousenkyo trophy and announced she’s aiming for #11 next year. Then she asked her usual quiz for a prize (you could only win if you watched the stream): when did she receive her trophy? (Answer: that day!)

    After that she called for a guest. She asked us who we thought it was. Ouchan? No. Mizuno Airi? No. Hatagon? No.

    The guest turned out to be Airi, even though Maya said no. It was Airi’s birthday, and she’s a second draftee member like Maya, although they haven’t had a lot of work together.
    DnncrGNUcAAoDjf.jpg
    They brought out two lie detectors for Maya’s Lab. This took up a lot of time and they weren’t able to get either to work reliably, which was the conclusion of the experiment.

    Afterwards they brought out two microphone stands and sang Temo Demo Namida. It was my favourite song of the night and I’d like to see Maya do it again.

    Afterwards they opened fan questions.

    Someone remarked that Maya’s been doing a lot of gravure recently and asked if she liked it. She said that while she enjoys looking at other members’ stuff she doesn’t enjoy doing it hersef. It’s something you need to put up with and do since it leads to more opportunities later. However she’s happy that she gets praised by the cameramen when doing it.

    Another person asked if she has any plans to perform Kareha no Station again. She said no, and that we should watch her performance of it during the Gaishi Hall concert. (The DVD isn’t out yet)

    Someone asked how she’d rank herself beauty-wise compared to other members. Maya deflected it onto Airi, asking her to rate Maya. Airi said that Maya’s gotten a lot prettier, saying that before she was a bit… eh. Maya eventually said that she met Hatagon today and that she’s prettier than her.

    This is where my memory gets foggy since I’m not paying to rewatch the last thirty minutes. They had more fan questions, and took some from the mail they received before the show. The first one was suspicious, since it said Maya and Airi… and it wished Airi a happy birthday and said it wanted to wish her a happy birthday right now! Of course it was from Maya, who brought out a cake, present, and cracker. We all sang Airi happy birthday.
    DnoVIumU0AA5qKj.jpg DnoVIuoU0AAL4Ms.jpg

    Maya also had an announcement with very good news: she’s getting a section in EX Taishu, a gravure magazine. I don’t know for how long, but at any rate she’s on the next one with Kitano Ruka.

    For the end they did Okami to Pride, and ended the stream. Afterwards they performed Hokago Race for the audience only. We also got to wave them bye on the way out.

    After that I got smashed with the other fans so I don't remember some of the details well.

    My thoughts: This event was pretty awesome, mainly because of the live performances, its special significance as a sousenkyo reward event, and Airi. Most fans were very skeptical when they saw Airi come in but everyone was glad with how things turned out. Airi provided a strong presence and it was easy for Maya to bounce off her.

    The overarching theme for the entirety of the show was Maya’s thanks to the fans for the sousenkyo. She’s mentioned just how many jobs she’s gotten because of it, and she’s really open about saying she wants #11 next year. The reason for 11 is because of the never-ending symbolism with Rena: Rena ranked in at 29 the first time and followed it up with 11. The event was pretty emotional and had a great feel to it because of this theme. Maya's made great strides in being able to announce goals, however it's generated a bit of a debate within the community since some fans pressure Maya to announce goals to fans to get them to do stuff. At any rate, she seems quite genuine about this goal and while that desire comes from within that number was proposed by fans.

    I think the show could always use some improvement. Maya was visibly nervous at the start, but she talked well enough and she was professional as always. It’s a good thing they’re trying out new segments but this time the lab took up too much of the time and it made me wonder if the staff tested out the detectors before. I think live recordings can be tricky but getting a guest and some performances in made it a blast.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2018
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  16. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2015
    Location:
    Aichi
    Oshimen:
    sugawaramaya
    Twitter:
    nickjaylitt
    Every year fans collect birthday messages for their idols. Last year I got a lot of messages from Twitter but I might as well try here this year too. We're going to be doing the same thing this year, where you send me a message and I translate it and write it down for you.

    I'm formally part of the team now, so I'd like to hear if you have any requests this year regarding the cards and messages.

    Some international fan groups send letters or albums with flags of their countries or pictures of their merchandise in their countries. I'd have to discuss this with the others but let me know if you have any ideas for a fun project.
     
  17. theobserver

    theobserver Next Girls

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2016
    Location:
    Melbourne, Australia
    Oshimen:
    Takahashi Juri-Miyawaki Sakura
    @jaylitt, you must be very happy right now ;)
     
  18. kaleidx

    kaleidx Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    May 16, 2017
    Oshimen:
    suenagaoka
    Congrats Maya on her first akb senbatsu appearance!
    I wonder how that happened.
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2018
  19. jaylitt

    jaylitt Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2015
    Location:
    Aichi
    Oshimen:
    sugawaramaya
    Twitter:
    nickjaylitt
    Yes I'm very happy right now! I think this can be a wonderful moment and opportunity for her career.

    It was a big surprise - I was shopping and my phone buzzes, I see the news and drop the eggs I was holding. I've never really followed AKB and there are other SKE members I expect to be selected ahead of Maya for these singles so I never think about them. So actually I feel bad for them, as well as other AKB members since it's their single, although these singles are quite odd with the whole selection process so I think it's better to just appreciate the moment.

    So although I was surprised due to that pecking order I envisioned I'm not surprised in terms of her being considered senbatsu member worthy. She's ready for it. She's shown great improvement over the past year and has done well with what she's been entrusted. I think she's shown maturity and professionalism for her age and I believe she can handle the challenges that'll present themselves.

    But over all the other feelings I'm just thankful for the wonderful fan community we have. I've met such kind people from diverse demographics who put a lot of energy and love into supporting Maya and despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that management picks the members, I'd like to believe that the community has played a massive part in helping Maya along. It just feels great to have that community-oshi relationship which makes both sides strive harder. (I'm not claiming this to be unique to Maya, as the other communities I've met have been equally kind and passionate)

    I'll leave it at that. We'll be congratulating her at the handshake next weekend.
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2018
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  20. EinhanderX

    EinhanderX Next Girls

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2015
    Omedetou @jaylitt for your girl. Have a good time congratulating her.:)
     

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