Maeda Atsuko (Acchan) / 1st Generation

I think Maeda has had ''hair issues'' for quite a while now. She used extensions very often in the early days, as I'm sure many idols have done. That episode of ''600 Seconds'' is so memorable since she said she always ''felt bald'' after her extensions her taken out whenever she got a wash and set at her favorite salon. Perhaps her hair is thin or brittle or whatever. And, believe me, I realize she's a wife, has a little one, a myriad of acting gigs and, of course, her idol days are well in the rear view mirror. We all know that, but..........I am having a tough time forgetting ''our Acchan'' in her idol prime with her seemingly perfect idol hair. (Honest to god, I could talk idol hairdos and, in particular,''Maeda hair'' forever. It might be my all-time topic.

 

Minami Takahashi takes us through a day of working in a zoo, the show is narrated by Atsuko Maeda.

Motto Maruyama Doubutsuen! ～70 secrets you'll know when you see them～

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I only just saw that Acchan announced she would be leaving Ohta Pro with the end of 2020.

She's been with that agency since 2007. She was transferred together with Oshima Yuko and Ono Erena back then, the most promising members alongside Oshima Mai back then. It's crazy and a bit scary that she's "graduating" again. I hope she'll stay in the industry though, she's by no means too old.

 

For clarification's sake, I don't want anyone misunderstanding my stance here. I still think Maeda is absolutely gorgeous even with the short hair. It just that, with longer hair, I believe her to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Just saying.

 

I actually like her hair a lot in this one.

The one time I thought her hair looked weird was on the TV performance of Hanareteitemo with AKB48 and other former members.

 

I really hate commenting on everyone's postings like I'm some sort of half-assed expert on Maeda and idol hair and all this stuff, because, obviously, I'm not. Last observation (I promise) is that as long as she keeps her bangs, she can pull off the short hair look much better. My very humble opinion.

 

I agree that Acchan looks better with longer hair even just shoulder-length, though her short hair right now looks pretty. when she first cut it, it was a bit too short and it felt that it didn't "settle" yet (like at times it looked like a wig haha) but now it settled and the hair grew a little and her current hair looks good on her. I think she will let it grow though, I'm excited to see her with shoulder-length hair again like her popular hairstyle in AKB days haha As for my favorite hairstyles of her, I liked most... But I agree with @bonjourmarlene Acchan looks very good in Busujima Yuriko! But actually even the haircut she had this year right before she cut it, it looked very pretty on her, in the special drama Remote de Korosareru.



Cute!!!



I wanted to share some Acchan-related mentions made by current/former 48G members, most of it are quite old (like middle of the year) but I forgot to share them so I'll do it now XD

Back in June, Milky was asked about Acchan in her IG stories and she replied! The fan asked "Do you still love Maeda Atsuko now?" and she replied "Yes. Very♥️♥️ I always think that it would be great if Maeda-san can be happy☺️ I really love her! Sending my feeling♥️" and she tagged Acchan. That's so cute!



Around June, Yukirin made a video where she dance to AKB songs with the original clothes, and for Oogoe Diamond, she was wearing Acchan's costume for the song! She looks so happy when she said it, and she said "Acchan" but then she said sorry and said "Maeda-san" haha so cute. I love both of them so I really love this

Around June too, Paruru made a video where at some part, she picked favorite AKB songs, and she included Sakura no Ki ni Narou, she said she likes ballads; and then she said that she really loves Acchan's solo part in the song! Acchan sings the first line and the bridge too (4:50 in the MV). I agree with her, I love her parts! Again I love both of them so I love this

Back in July, ex-SKE member Hara Minami who is now called Harada Nozomi, made a tweet about Acchan and she seems to be a big fan! She said "As expected Maeda-san is a God. I love her. When she wears an uniform, she becomes "Acchan". God ;_; #MaedaAtsuko #ForeverOshi" yes she really is a big fan haha

From July again, AKB Team 8 member Yoshikawa Nanase mentioned Acchan as one of the members she admires! She also said that they are both from the same prefecture (Chiba).

Lastly, a discussion between Okada Nana and Shinobu after they watched Remote de Korosareru! This has a bit of spoilers about the storyline, so I'll put the translation under spoiler!

Spoiler

First Naachan said something like "Remote de Korosareru, unexpectedly it developed to yuri☺️" (Yuri = girls love) then Shinobu said "Naachan, I'm sure your highlight was the kiss scene between Acchan and Asuka-chan" and Naachan replied "I was surprised by that scene, my eyes jumped out!!!"

 

I also like Acchan's shoulder length hair from when she was in AKB48. I've been looking at loads of old videos over the holidays including a performance of 'Anata ga ite kureta kara' from RH 2011 which she centered. I won't put a link to the video as it would be against forum rules regarding purchasable content, however I've made a screenshot from the end of the song as I think she looks really pretty here:

 

Good news! There is someone who subbed the movie Machida-kun no Sekai (The World of Machida-kun), a movie from 2019 where Acchan has a role. You can find it here! If possible, it would be nice for everyone to write a comment to thank the subber (I wrote one ;D). I'll try to find time and watch the movie soon!

Just now I watched the show from 26th December with Takamina at the zoo, where Acchan did the narration! it was nice and interesting to watch! Takamina is very cute, and Acchan did great narrating. I love how sometimes she laughed a little Her voice is so nice! and I love that Takamina and Acchan worked together on a same show, even if separately. Love them!



More good news for Acchan, 2 new acting projects announced a few weeks ago!

1) From this tweet I read that: "Maeda Atsuko will participate in the TV series "The supporting actors ~ The 100 days of the forest of the supporting characters". Acchan said she couldn't stop smiling during the filming and that it was fun! Broadcast starting on January, 8th on TV Tokyo."

After doing research, I found that the drama is called in english "Byplayers: Season 3", you can read about it here. The cast is big and Acchan is one of the many roles. I'm curious about what kind of project this is. I'm glad that she is part of it along with many popular actors! Some photos with Acchan:



2) New movie for Acchan! "Supporting cast line-up of new movie "Kurenazume" starring Narita Ryo - Maeda Atsuko, Shirota Yu, Iitoyo Marie, Uchida Rio, Kobayashi Kika, Tsuzuki Hiroki, Takito Kenichi, Kondo Yoshimasa, Iwamatsu Ryo & Papaiya Suzuki; showing from Golden Week 2021" (Source)



Looking forward to all these new roles for Acchan! She is always so busy with new projects and I love to see this, I hope that her career can continue being so active and successful! Ah, side-note, but for those of you who follow Acchan on IG, she posted some IG stories days ago with some of the english reviews of To the Ends of the Earth. She wrote thanks and seems happy! I'm glad that she saw it and that she knows about the good response that the movie, her acting and her role received

 

I saw a pregnant woman and thought "oh maybe that's Acchan!" But no, she plays a school girl. I thought this movie must be fairly old but in fact it's from 2019 O.O Incredible that she was able to play a teenager at age 28...

 

@bonjourmarlene Yes, back when this movie was released in 2019, I also saw a lot of japanese comments saying that Acchan can still play roles of high school girl and how it didn't look awkward at all, many comments praised her in the video of the movie trailer! Speaking of this, she also has scenes as high school girl in her special drama Remote de Korosareru in mid-2020 and again it didn't look out of place at all XD That drama aired in July and was probably recorded 1 or 2 months before so she was still 28 but soon 29, already a mom, and yet she didn't look awkward at all playing a role of teenager. I think I said this before, but it's funny because after graduation, one of her first roles was to play a teacher in Kasuka na Kanojo, in 2013, when she was 21 years old. At that time I thought she is still young to play a role of teacher. So basically she sometimes played roles of older people when she was young and she sometimes play roles of younger people now that she's older, haha.



Another good news for Acchan, from back in November, Acchan's new CM for Melvita!
She looks so beautiful! I'm glad to see that she still gets commercials here and there.


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Photo (pretty!) -

 

Yeah, I'm also wondering...why have she been absent from Twitter for almost three and a half years!?

 

Acchan being back on Twitter is such a great news! After 3 years, I really didn't expect her to return. However, I always followed her (I would follow her no matter what!), so since I was following her, when she made her first tweet about returning, I saw it right away! I was so confused seeing a tweet from Acchan with a new profile picture and new name! I was so glad to see her back! I wrote a short message to welcome her back and I was one of the lucky fans who received a "like" from Acchan!!! I'm just happy to know that she saw what I wrote, it's my first time to be noticed by Acchan since I became her fan more than 10 years ago LOL I couldn't believe it and I was really happy XD I took a screenshot ;w;



About the reason of her inactivity, I don't think it's related to Ohta Pro. Other current or former 48 members who are under Ohta Pro still use their Twitter. I think there was a time when Acchan lost interest in using social medias, I remember she also deleted all her IG posts once? and then she was barely active on IG, and not active at all on Twitter. However since 2020, she started to use IG more and more, especially on the second half of the year. I think that's why she returned to Twitter too, she probably feels like using social medias again!

She has more followers on Twitter compared to IG (although she receives more likes on IG compared to Twitter but everyone usually has more likes on IG), she has 2 million followers in Twitter. She used to have more but with 3 years of inactivity, the number constantly went down, however she now gained 7000+ followers in 3 days since she returned to Twitter! Great!

Here's her current profile photo, I really like it especially since it's pink. it just makes all her tweets look cute and colorful LOL

 

I think the profile picture is super pretty. We've already had a discussion about the short hair, but it's styled super prettily here imo

 

I just finished Machida-kun no Sekai, in which Acchan plays a supporting role. I thought she was a very interesting character and you could not tell at all that she was way past the high school age. "If this was a love drama you'd be married by now" and continuously stranger comments every time she encountered either of the main characters were really funny. She was a supportive and encouraging friend even though she appeared nonchalant. I thought she was really cool in the movie

 

Today instalive

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After very long time..

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