Kojima Mako (Kojimako) / 14th Generation

The results of our local SSK voting shows Mako in kami 7! I know it's not going to happen, but it gives me hope for a good rank. Only hours to go.

1. Miyawaki Sakura (994 votes)
2. Muto Tomu (256 votes)
3. Fukuoka Seina (174 votes)
4. Sugawara Maya (167 votes)
5. Okada Nana (166 votes)
6. Kojima Mako (68 votes)
7. Komiyama Haruka (61 votes)

http://stage48.net/forum/index.php?threads/the-2018-senbatsu-sousenkyo-exit-poll-results.22150/

 

Considering that I am responsible for over half of those votes, I don't feel that positive at all...

 

At least she recovered from her “scandal” that resulted in last year’s drop.

 

Translation of Mako SSK Speech.

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BTW, from my observation, I think she lost quite a number of her old fans this year. But she gained a lot more, especially from the Disaster Prevention poster. So it's a net positive.

 

On Discord, so many people were commenting on her smile when so many speeches were full of tears.

 

Spoiler

It is said that she organised a birthday party for her Johny Junior male classmate at her house sometimes in Septermber 2016. Allegedly, someone sold those photo to bunshun, and the news was released on May 31, the release date for the voting single last year. (It was the WORSE time possible)

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I am going to have to disagree on 'not being the best year' here. She has one of the great year IMO. She's in media senbatsu for TT. She didn't make it to media in Jaabajaa, sure, but I tend to believe that is because of schedule conflict more than anything. (She's first non-media; the media is really small; in senbatsu she is almost always next to Annin, but it wasn't the case here, etc)

The disaster prevention poster is a pretty big deal too, because it's everywhere in Japan, but since it was only from April, so it may not be effective as much.

PD48 may be on its way to be huge on her, but I am still skeptical on this. Sure, she got a lot of camera time in Ep.01, but it could be because of her variety reaction than anything else (she usually get a lot of cut in AKBINGO too, for the same reason. I actually counted, and in the episodes where they were trying to find next variety queen, Mako got tons of cuts for her reaction in studio). She might be MNET favourite too, who knows.

I said here before that I think she actually lost quite a number of her long-time fans this year, and I think she also realised this as she seems to be really, really scared of SSK this year (you'd know if you read her mail, she tend not to say negative thing on her public SNS). I am glad she did it though, as it proved that she recovered with her new fans (who don't know AKB before). Now, it might be possible entirely that she might not join SSK next year, but if she do, I do think that her new fans, after they realised what SSK is from this year, will definitely vote more next year.

She might not make it into senbatsu, but honestly, it is almost like she did, with how few AKB members rank above her (just 5). She ranked 2nd in Team K (behind Tomu). She is still ahead of pretty much all newer-gens (except Nako-Miku). She is ahead of Miru (surprise, but she is also ahead of Miru in TT senbatsu, so...). But honestly, it is already over my expectation.

Congratulations again! Last year was good, this year might be the best year ever!

 

Official PD48 pic (arriving for shooting).



https://post.naver.com/viewer/postView.nhn?volumeNo=16086053&memberNo=24876555

 

Her tweet about the game made the news!

Whee! ! ! (emoticons removed)
https://twitter.com/mak0_k0jima/status/1009072329316421635

The news:
AKB Mako Kojima also delighted for Japan's victory "Whee ー"

　Members of the AKB 48 group's football team also enjoyed the Japanese delegation who won Colombia at the World Cup Russian Football Tournament.

　Mako Kojima (21), who is MC at the football web show "F. Chan TV", tweeted at the moment of the game, "Whee!!! (T_T)" at the moment of the game.
https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/akb48/news/201806190000838.html

[I had to fix google translate: the article said she wrote ウィーーーーーーーー!!!(T_T), but google messed it up. I didn't change won to beat or delegation to team because I figured you got the meaning.]

Edit: I messed up. Whee is a perfectly good English word to express joy, so I changed the wow I originally used to whee.

 

Yep, when she tweeted that she was going to be on that show, most people assume she's going to be a guest. But it turns out she is the facilitator. Great experience!

I just wish there's more F.Chan TV going on. She mentioned before that they cannot fit that into her schedule. But at least she still have football-related jobs.

I believe there is one. At least not on SR.

 

She is going to appear in the September issue of Mer
http://mer-web.jp/

She wrote about it here
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkSgdx1HRlC/?taken-by=makochan_2525

and here

https://pressblog.me/blog_posts/94801

"Today I always look forward to working.
To shoot magazine mer ... ...
It was the first shoot of a women's magazine."

Here she is after the shoot, playing on her iPhone:

 

I thought girls! last year was a women magazine...

A few additional updates that no one mentioned yet:

• She is also going to be in BIS (https://bisweb.jp/), also September issue. She posted in her instagram story yesterday. This is also a women magazine.
• She is going to appear on Goal Japan Special Program tomorrow at 22.30 JST, right before Japan vs Senegal match. (https://twitter.com/GoalJP_Official/status/1010116479323258881)
• She passed the first tier on PD48 Producer Garden (https://twitter.com/Makolabo530/status/1010213910157279232) Should be around the 10th person to pass.
• Apparently she won popular vote of Korean YSS webboard on trainee you want to keep an eye contact, and therefore she got an advertisement for one whole day? (https://twitter.com/Makolabo530/status/1010043635549630464)

Her past week schedule seems to be packed with magazine shooting, World Cup works, and Team K lessons.

I actually planned to update these earlier, but I got caught in Monday's Osaka Earthquake lol.