Maria Makino

**Maria Makino** is a Japanese pop singer under Hello! Project as a twelfth generation member of Morning Musume. She first joined Hello! Project as a member of Hello Pro Kenshuusei on November 1, 2012 and was introduced at Hello Pro Kenshuusei Happyoukai 2012 ~12gatsu no Nama Tamago Show!~ along with Kaede Kaga and 4 other girls.

## History

### Early life

Makino Maria was born on February 2, 2001 in Aichi, Japan.

### 2011-2013

In summer 2011, Makino auditioned the Morning Musume 10ki Member "Genki Jirushi" Audition, but failed to enter the group.

In summer 2012, Makino auditioned the Morning Musume 11ki Member "Suppin Utahime" Audition, made it to the finals, but failed to enter the group.

On November 1, Makino joined Hello Pro Kenshuusei. On November 20, it was officially announced that Makino joined Hello Pro Kenshuusei alongside five other girls. She was officially introduced on December 9 at the Hello Pro Kenshuusei Happyoukai 2012 ~12gatsu no Nama Tamago Show!~ alongside Kaede Kaga, Kanazawa Tomoko, Wada Sakurako, Ichioka Reina and Kishimoto Yumeno.

In January, Makino started her Kenshuusei activities by participating as a back-dancer in the Winter 2013 Hello! Project concert tour.

On March 6, a fanclub event was held for Makino and CHICA#TETSU leader and BEYOOOOONDS member Ichioka Reina at Pacific Heaven venue. Hamaura Ayano, Ogawa Rena and Yamagishi Riko also participated the event as guests.

### 2014

From April 5 to June 29, Makino participated in ℃-ute's Spring 2014 Concert Tour as the opening act and challenge act alongside Hamaura Ayano, Murota Mizuki, Yamagishi Riko and Fujii Rio.

On September 30, during the Morning Musume '14 concert tour at Nippon Budokan, it was announced that Makino was selected to join Morning Musume as a 12th generation member along with Haruna Ogata, Miki Nonaka and fellow Hello Pro Kenshuusei member Akane Haga, subsequently leaving Hello Pro Kenshuusei.

Maria Makino's Morning Musume member color was revealed to be pink.

### 2015

On January 4, Makino and and her fellow 12th generation members began a radio show on FM FUJI, titled *Morning Musume '15 12ki Nikki*. They also began a web talk show exclusive to fanclub members on March 5, titled *12ki Relay*.

On January 8, she began a weekly column in the Nikkan Sports newspaper (Hokkaido-region only), where she discusses her favorite baseball team the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

On March 7, she was offered the opportunity to throw the ceremonial first pitch at the TOKYO DOME Nippon Ham Fighters vs. Seibu Lions game on April 7.

On March 24, Makino released her first solo e-Hello! Blu-ray, Greeting ~Makino Maria~.

On November 14, Makino released her first mini photobook, titled *Makino Maria Mini Photobook "Greeting -Photobook-"*, featuring photographs taken during the filming of her e-Hello! Blu-ray.

### 2016

On February 2, Makino celebrated her 15th birthday at a special event titled Morning Musume '16 Makino Maria Birthday Event, featuring two performances in Tokyo.

On March 22, Makino was a guest at a live recording of Suzuki Kanon's radio show *Morning Musume '16 Suzuki Kanon no Itsudemo! Kannon Smile*. At the recording, Suzuki announced Makino would be her successor starting in June after Suzuki graduates. The title of Makino's radio show was later revealed to be *Morning Musume '16 Makino Maria no Marian♥LOVErin Desu♥*, with the first episode airing May 31.

On August 6, Makino released her first solo photobook, titled *Maria*.

On August 20, Makino became a model for the girls' fashion magazine *LOVE berry*, alongside Kobushi Factory member Inoue Rei. They both made their first appearance in the vol.3 issue published on the same day.

### 2017

On February 2, Makino celebrated her 16th birthday at a special event titled Morning Musume '17 Makino Maria Birthday Event, featuring one performance at Yamano Hall.

On February 16, the 12th generation's fanclub-exclusive web talk show *12ki Relay* ended with a total of 100 episodes. Their radio show *Morning Musume '17 12ki Nikki* also ended on March 26.

On April 6, the Morning Musume '17 12th generation and 13th generation members began a radio show on FM FUJI, titled *Morning Musume '17 no Morning Diary*.

On May 30, as the official Cheer Ambassadors for the Nihon Seimei Ce-Pa Koryusen 2017, Morning Musume '17 made an appearance at the opening game between the Chiba Lotte Marines vs. Hanshin Tigers at ZOZO Marine Stadium, where Makino also received the opportunity to throw the ceremonial first pitch. A baseball card of her first pitch was included in the 2017 BBM Baseball Card 2nd Version BOX released in August.

On August 30, Makino released her first major solo photobook, *Senkou Hanabi*.

On October 20, Makino was a guest commentator in NHK's Hokkaido special documentary program *Otani Shohei no Ketsudan* about Nippon-Ham Fighters star player Otani Shohei, who was expected to leave Japan and join a MLB team.

On December 22, Makino released the digital song "Zouni de Kenkashiten ja Nee yo" with Miyazaki Yuka and Kawamura Ayano.

### 2018

On February 2, Makino released her second major solo photobook, titled *Maria 17sai*. She also celebrated her 17th birthday at a fanclub event, titled Morning Musume '18 Makino Maria Birthday Event, at Differ Ariake.

On February 13, Makino was announced as a model for evelyn's 2018 SS Catalog alongside Miyazaki Yuka.

On March 7, she released her first solo image Blu-ray, titled Blanc.

On March 24, Makino appeared as a MC in *Anime "Major 2nd" Mamonaku Play Ball!*, a program to promote the premiere of the baseball anime TV series *Major 2nd* on April 7. It was then announced that Makino would voice the guest character Mari in the third episode on April 21.

On May 3, Makino threw the ceremonial first pitch at the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles game at the Sapporo Dome. Due to the popularity of Makino's card released in 2017, a baseball card of this first pitch was included in the 2018 BBM Baseball Card 2nd Version box set released in August.

On June 4, the 12th generation members held the Morning Musume '18 12ki Member Ogata Haruna・Nonaka Miki・Makino Maria・Haga Akane FC Event at Differ Ariake.

On August 25, she released her third major solo photobook, titled *Summer Days*.

On November 30, former Morning Musume member Takahashi Ai published the *Ai Takahashi MAKE-UP BOOK* in which Makino and five other active Hello! Project members appear as models.

### 2019

On February 2, she released her fourth major solo photobook, titled *María 18 años*.

On February 4, Makino celebrated her 18th birthday at a fanclub event, titled Morning Musume '19 Makino Maria Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Yamano Hall.

On February 27, it was revealed that Makino had modeled MILKFED. clothing for the online store calif.

In the May 2019 issue of the major league baseball magazine *SLUGGER* released on March 23, Makino began an article series titled "Morning Musume '19 Makino Maria no Fun!Fun!MLB".

On April 27, the *Fami Hello! PHOTOBOOK②* was released, which includes Makino's gravure that was originally published in a December 2016 issue of *Weekly Famitsu*.

On June 3, the 2019 promotional campaign for the annual Nihon Seimei Ce-Pa Koryusen (the Nippon Professional Baseball interleague), which would be held from June 4 to June 23, was announced. It was revealed that Makino, as the character "Maripaka", would be in charge of promoting the "Ceka Paka Dance" campaign on the TikTok app.

On June 11, she opened an official Instagram account.

As Maripaka, she threw the ceremonial first pitch at the Ce-Pa Koryusen game between the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters at Yokohama Stadium on June 19.

On July 9, she was a guest on the NHK BS1 program *World Sports×MLB Natsu Special! Dai 1 Yoru*.

On July 12, Makino announced that she changed her member color from light pink to pink, which was the same shade previously used by Sayumi Michishige.

On July 26, Makino appeared as a guest in BS12's live secondary audio broadcast of the Saitama Seibu Lions and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters game.

### 2020

On February 2, she released her fifth major solo photobook, titled *Maria19*.

On February 3, she celebrated her 19th birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '20 Makino Maria Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Hulic Hall Tokyo.

On February 14, she was a special guest at Iida Kaori's M-line club 10 Shuunen Kikaku "Iida Kaori FC event".

On November 13, it was announced that Maria had been appointed to the role of image character and spokesperson for her alma mater, the correspondence and online school Renaissance High School. Her slogan was "high school revolution", promoting the idea of a high school life outside of the normal with no strict time or place one has to study.

### 2021

On February 2, she celebrated her 20th birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '21 Makino Maria Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Toysou PIT. On the same day, Makino released her 7th photobook, entitled “Maria Hatachi”.

### 2022

On February 4, she celebrated her 21st birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '22 Makino Maria Birthday Event, featuring two shows at KT Zeep Yokohama. On the same day, Makino released her 8th photobook, entitled “M.21”.

On May 23, it was reported that Maria and Mei Yamazaki were diagnosed with COVID-19. Both of them underwent a PCR test at a medical institution after being classified as close contacts to Ayumi Ishida, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 a few days prior, and got a confirmed positive result. They will be taking a break from activities for the time being and will be resting at home. Yamazaki had no symptoms, while Makino had a slight fever and sore throat.

On August 31, she will release her 9th photobook, and first compilation photobook, *Makino Maria Zenshuu 2018-2022*.

### 2023

On February 1, she celebrated her 22nd birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '23 Makino Maria Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Itabashi Culture Hall.

On August 28, she made a surprise guest appearance at TBS' *LOVE IT! ROCK 2023* music event, held at Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

## Appearance

Maria wears a pink top with a pink skirt and pink shoes. Unlike her fellow generation members, however, she has brown hair.

## Gallery

Another appearance of Maria Makinoall the 12th generationOriginal appearance of Maria Makino
## Trivia

* Her official YouTube username is MariaComedian2001.