I feel that Makoto gets little chance to shine in Morning Musume which is ashame considering she has a strong personalty and a great voice. Sometimes i wonder what there buisness plan is at times afterall there sales are not what they use to be so you would think prehaps it times to try out some of the other girls. Makoto is one of the few girls who gets a lot of undesereved stick and bashing from so called fans as well which again is unkind and is always based on things which are simply untrue or just sound like someone bitching for the sake of it.
So with this next photo of Makoto heres a message for all those who bash Makoto. :D
I cannot stop being amused at how the Japanese don't track the difference between "palm forward-V" and "palm backward-V" (peace (or victory) and F*Off respectively).
But maybe she does know the difference, and she really does have a message for the people who are unfairly harsh on her. Sure, she did put on some weight for a while, but WTF BFD? She was still fantastic.
Also she seems to have dropped that weight with a vengeance (towards the end of 2004, I think (pardon my chronology failures, I've only got a couple months of MoMusu/H!P fandom right now)). Now, she's the girl that makes me punch myself in the eye and say "She's Young you dipshit, YOUNG" (because I'm old now...). I only hope that she's healthy and happy at her present size (seems to have remained pretty steady for a year, which is a good sign). (Yes, I worry about that sort of thing... worrying about the psychotic pressure these girls are under (you only have to watch the Konno Futarigoto to get the hint of it).)
I have no idea how it actually works, but I think some of the H!P/UFA/MoMusu spot-light is focused on the people who are already fan-favorites, rather than focusing on who could best suit a particular thing. Which is unfortunately self-reinforcing... Solidarity with the Demanding More Makoto Faction (wait, you're just one person?!? *laugh*)