This is my care package part 2 post (you can read part 1A here and part 1B here)
This is my third photobook purchase featuring Makocchan, so I still have a complete set. I wonder what it is about her that compels me buy. She’s not the best at anything idol related: I can think of many more attractive, more talented, and more interesting idols just off the top of my head (including some girls in her own group!). Makoto is little, cute, and has a childlike quality to her. She reminds me of the shy girl who sits in the back of class, but who everyone knows is strange. This character is difficult to sell. I’ve always believed that if PASSPO had girls with more traditional idol qualities they would sell better. But, then again they wouldn’t be PASSPO, right?
Not to say that she isn’t GORGEOUS…
Much of her previous photobooks featured pictures of Makoto doing strange things and making strange poses. As suggested by the title “Good bye my life”, Makon tries show us a mature side of her. Shot in Bali and released on Valentine’s Day 2014, the PV is full of the lush tropical. I’m reminded of my trips to Hawaii during much of the photobook. The place feels alive in a way that Los Angeles (my home) does not feel alive. The sight of Makoto doesn’t hurt too much, either.
Actually, I don’t like the cover much. It looks like she’s been out in the sun too long. Maybe that’s the point, but it certainly doesn’t sell much.
We are hit with bikini pretty quickly.
Makon with an umbrella. It’s about to rain any minute.
Here we go with more mature Makoto. Look at the serious tone her eyes emote.
She’s wearing a one piece here. There is also something deeper in her stares. I feel like she has stripped herself bare to give us a glimpse at her true self. (Almost) naked in a figurative and literal sense.
Maybe this is my favorite from the book. No, she isn’t exposing herself like an exhibitionist. Makoccan makes the simple object (an umbrella) into a piece of introspection and focus. The crook of the umbrella is like a window.
More lush tropical. The woven reed hat adds to the tropical scenery. I love the butterfly accented black swim piece in the second shot and the floral crown in the third shot. Beneath her crown, Makocchan seems to be saying, “You can’t be serious…”
Another great photo! With the yellow skirt spread out in the pool, she looks like a lily!
This is for my files. Don’t look.
You might just call this a bikini shot, but to me Makoto has never looked more human.
More with the floral crown. The flowers seem to represent the youth that is full and ripe, while the long shadows intimate the adult world into which Makoto is blossoming.
This is just adult lure. Just her bare back exudes sexuality.
This one is almost too much for me. Very nice, Makoto.
Another killer. This picture is seriously intimate. I’m not even talking about the implied nudity.
Makoto covered by the flowers of youth?
Here it is again. Looking into the sunlight, into the future.
You can buy “Good bye my life” at CDJapan.
While you’re there, pick up PASSPO’s latest release, “Perfect Sky“
