Adult AKB48 member Mariko Tsukamoto Makes her Theater Debut

| 48 / 46 Group | Posted by TokyoGirls'Update on Jul.20.2014

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“Otona AKB48 (Adult AKB48)” member Mariko Tsukamoto, who was chosen at the “Adult AKB48 Audition” promotion by AKB48 and Ezaki Glico, made her debut theater appearance on July 16th, performing “Idol no Yoake (Dawn of Idol)” with Team 4 at the AKB48 Theater in Tokyo.

July 16th was also the day that “Mariri” celebrated her 38th birthday. For the first song of the performance, “Idol no Yoake”, when the members disguise themselves as a drum and fife band, Mariri was in charge of the band, and stood in the center, leading the members’ performance with a big smile. Mariri managed her first theater performance flawlessly, but after the first four songs she was sweating and couldn’t catch her breath. While fanning herself with her hand and trying to control her sweating, Mariri was surprised to hear Haruka Komiyama say, “Mariri is the same age as my mother.” Despite being reminded of her age difference with the other members, Mariri’s self-introduction, “Mariririri, mariririri! I’m ringing the bell of love!”, made the audience feel something about her generation, and the whole venue felt very excited.

Following that, Mariri held the center position for the unit song “Kataomoi no Taikakusen”, and gave a cute performance of “Joshikousei wa Yamerarenei” in a school uniform and holding a teddy bear. Approaching the middle of the performance, perhaps through a sense of relief, she accidentally gave a little glimpse of her life backstage when she made a mistake during the MC part. When the members were answering “How would you like your future husband to propose to you?”, she looked shy as she told the unromantic true story of how her husband proposed “at the dinner table, when we were starting to get annoyed with each other.”

During the last song of the evening, “Arigatou”, Mariri was finally overcome with emotion and had tears in her eyes. In the final “Nativity” scene, Mariri read a letter from Mayu Watanabe, aka “Mayuyu”, who had written in with her support. She spoke with deep emotion as she said, “I will never forget the year I turned 38”, followed by, “I’m going to practice more, and I want to perform (here at the theater) again”, expressing her desire to continue her activity as an AKB48 member until the promotion finishes on August 31st.

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