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The story
Following former Morning Musume.’25 member Marina Makino’s (Maria’s) graduation from the group this spring, former soccer player and TV personality Kerina Maruyama sent her a message of support on her blog, writing “We’ll always be on Maria-chan’s side” — sparking discussion on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. The thread also highlighted supportive comments from co-stars including her husband Kenji Motonami, Kenji Moriwaki, and Takeshi Kamijo, while users debated the timing of the graduation announcement and how her TV appearances have changed since leaving the group.
What people said
This one hits hard
It's what Marina Makino wants to say most but can't
Were they watching the broadcast together or something?
Motonami's on her side too.
People were already saying that back in his playing days — bringing it up again now?
If they went to Escon Field (the Fighters' home stadium), they'd have 100 in an instant lol
She's a cast member, lol
Because they're on screen together
https://i.ibb.co/LdDDxw71/Screenshot-20260929-100603.jpg
They appeared together on Ravit a few years back and reunited recently at the Pa League Tou comedians roundtable
He happened to be seated next to Maria, but he really played along with her stories
Maria's stories usually don't have much of a punchline, but thanks to Moriwaki she came off as funny too
Moriwaki's a good guy
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Who was appearing together for the first time?
I thought this was her first time with Kenji Moriwaki, but turns out they'd already been on Ravit together
Re: #33
Takeshi Kamijo
Who's supposedly meeting for the first time again?
So she'd already worked with Kamijo too!
Also, your search skills are insane lol
but in the end, graduating this spring was probably the right call for both Makino and the group
I think it depends on the 18th generation
We won't know the answer for a few more years
Wait, what?!
Even though all she's got left is late-night local TV work??
Maria-chan is appearing on TV Tokyo's 3.5-hour prime-time special airing tomorrow, so be sure to watch
https://i.ibb.co/qMVcfqFD/tabiris-com-wp1-images-2026-09-jindori18.jpg
Kitagawa being on TV Tokyo for over three and a half hours is pretty impressive
So she really has vanished from network TV
Is she going to do the rounds of local stations
Or will she disappear completely?
That ditzy image is exactly what's making her popular and landing her baseball gigs
Background and Key Points
Marina Makino was a longtime member who helped lead Morning Musume., and her graduation was announced this past spring. As one comment in the thread put it, wishing the announcement could have been “handled a bit better” given how sudden it felt, it seems a fair number of viewers were caught off guard by the timing. Opinions in the thread split mainly over how to view her television opportunities since graduating — some welcomed the supportive messages from co-stars, while others voiced concern about the change in her media exposure. Note that exchanges touching on behind-the-scenes agency dynamics were largely baseless speculation, so this article focuses on the genuine episodes of support instead.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Kerina Maruyama: “We’ll Always Be on Maria-chan’s Side”“.
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