Never knew2!!
Okay so this is more news or rather more of the owners knowings. I'm one to try and keep all I know in one place and LJ is the place for my otp.
rebloggable version this time under a cut where it belongs
kazzapond asked: I was just wondering: what was it that made you believe that Maotsujun is real? Was it a single moment of realization or was it a slow build-up? And what would you consider the best piece of “evidence” for their relationship? :)
The greatest piece of hard evidence is def their Christmas no Yakusoku date. They sneaked in after the lights went down so they wouldn’t be seen, and had to be babysat by their managers. There is no way that was not a date. No. Way. I can’t even imagine two random non-famous platonic friends going on a platonic Christmas friend-outing (and even for that scenario to work, they’d also have to both be single at the same time too, and I think we’re reaching the edge of improbability here). Jun’s reaction at the one point he’s clearly on camera seems pretty obviously “oh shit, busted,” as he seems to be checking the big screen to the side to make sure Mao’s face is blocked in the shot.
iirc the realization was a slow buildup, though in retrospect I think they hooked up around Christmas of 2006 (but it sounded like Shun started trying to play cupid in November). I feel like people started to seriously think something was up when the photo came out of him fixing her hair. Jun used to be the complete opposite of touchy-feely (he even used to complain about having to hold hands with the other members when they took their final bow at cons - which is unthinkable now where Jun will randomly hold hands with other members during cons and be the one initiating it…but that whole shift in his attitude happened around Hanadan’s timeline and everyone noticed how drastically Jun changed). Then the Valentine’s photoshoot with that gorgeous photo, where it was mentioned that the photographer said they could pose however they wanted and Jun immediately reached for her hand without being directed to. This was also pretty damning, lol (as was the video interview of them filming at the snow lodge & “neither of us can be honest with our feelings”). All the Budoukan reports were talking about how obviously flirty they were, by then enough people thought they might be together that Budoukan reports were really getting pored over. I can’t remember if we had to wait until the DVD for the wrap video to get out for Returns or if it was released beforehand, but I think that was pretty much the point everyone went “yeah they’re definitely together” because Jun hugging someone like that was justabsolutely unthinkable at the time. I also can’t remember if it was during Returns or Final but at some point a reporter(?) got to visit the set and somehow her private thoughts about Maojun got out. I can’t remember the context of the writeup anymore but the wording was something like “if you visit the set, they’re extremely open/obvious, it is completely clear that everyone on the staff is aware of their relationship. You can tell they feel safe there since they’re protected by the entire staff.”
By late 2007 the original couples bracelet had shown up. It’s actually funny because if you look closely their respective bracelets are not identical, but it’s pretty clear the bracelets have meaning (/they are aware they look identical at a glance) because when they went on the jet tour, they arrived at the airport in their regular clothes and were both wearing theirs. But, when they had the photo op in those outfits, Jun wrapped a scarf around his wrist to hide the bracelet (lol why didn’t he just take it off it looked ten times more suspicious with the scarf wrapped around his wrist). And then all the other couples items followed (and apparently Jun shared stuff with Yukie all the time too back when they were dating, so I don’t buy that it’s a coincidence at all, idk why people are so quick to write it off when LOOK AT WHO WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE. this is a dude who reads shoujo romance manga and whose favorite movie is Love Actually, HE DOESN’T HAVE A SAP LIMIT, planning out matchy-matchy outfits with his girlfriend is probably the highlight of his week).
Then Christmas no Yakusoku happened and it seemed kind of a done deal by then. People who went to stalk Final filming said they were as obvious as ever (which is pretty clear from the photobook, I don’t even understand how that one photo from the beach scene got released since it’s OBVIOUS THEY’RE NOT IN CHARACTER THERE). We know they were seen hanging out together in Vegas just the two of them, and lbr the story about Jun “discovering” Mao cleaning up her overflowing bathtub mess in her hotel room is suspicious as fuck (Mao said she asked the staff to come help her clean it because she wanted it to be a secret, so no one would find out she did something so stupid, and…they did their top secret cleanup with Mao’s hotel room door wide open, so Jun could see as he was walking by in the hall? riiiight). The Puipui interview was really shocking again, Arashi’s closeness is legendary and people just kept commenting on how not even another Arashi member would act that way with Jun. The Hanadan Final press had a lot of talk about marriage and after that was when Jun started talking earnestly in lots of interviews about how he wanted to get married by thirty. Mao also said she was surprised to find out that Jun wanted to get married at all because she hadn’t thought he was the type. When Mao and Mariko appeared on TV together on a show where the interview subject matter revolved around the guests’ love life, they were both staggeringly obvious throughout the program (Maojun is a ship and Shun and Mariko are the co-captains!!!)
Somewhere around that summer there was a sighting of Jun and Mao at a restaurant with an older couple. The fan who saw them didn’t recognize the older couple, and asked the wait staff if they were also famous. The staff said that they were Jun’s parents. There was also another sighting of Jun, Mao, and Sho eating out together later on and Jun calling Mao by name there. It’s not that unusual to address people differently off-camera vs on-camera (like Arashi all address each other even more closely in private, every once in a great while someone will slip up on camera) but when it’s Jun and Mao it seems even more suspicious.
Around the end of Hanadan, one of the producers also said in an interview that he was asked all the time what the secret had been to Hanadan’s success. He said that four different couples had gotten together on set over the course of the franchise, and so it was easy to create a romantic atmosphere because it was a set that was constantly overflowing with love. Of course Ishii met his wife on Hanadan, and fans managed to dig up info about some other staff members on the team who had started dating, but the fourth couple was left a mystery…
Stuff kept stacking up after that with sightings, and also both of them talking separately about going to concerts and the like on the same night but never mentioning they saw the other there. They’ve been sighted out at concerts together more than once but always sit a little apart and have babysitters (Jun with Sho, Mao with Nanako or Mariko). And of course Jun saying “it’s been a while” to Mao on her first Himitsu appearance, when they taped it two days after his birthday party she attended. More couples items (the boots that rocked the world). Jun wearing Mao’s favorite brand all the time (Hysteric Glamour). Mao had brought tomato zerii when she appeared on Kuwazugirai and said it was her favorite food, but it was made by a small family specialty shop a long way away and she had to have it shipped to her specially, and then Jun said in an interview years later that the weirdest thing he had in his fridge was tomato zerii. They’ve been sighted going on planes to Okinawa on winter breaks years apart, making it seem like a yearly tradition for them (I wonder if they go back to where they shot the island scenes??). Jun going to the birthday party of the president of Mao’s jimusho long after Hanadan was over (2010, I think?). The obviousness of how hard they were trying not to make eye contact at Kouhaku. etc etc etc.
also I don’t remember the source, possibly it was a 2ch drop and thus a bit dubious, but someone said they had a friend of a friend who was close with Mao from college, and the friend had said that while Mao seemed to have a boyfriend, she was extremely secretive about it and wouldn’t tell any of her college friends who he was.
Then on top of that there’s all the PR stuff factoring in (no Hanadan Final BD release, Mao getting special treatment on both Himitsu and Shukudai appearances, lots of other stuff from a PR/business perspective that only seems to make sense if they are together with plans for marriage)
[/tl;dr about two obvious as fuck idiots in a not-very-secret secret relationship]
(c)cresmix@tumblr
rebloggable version this time under a cut where it belongs
kazzapond asked: I was just wondering: what was it that made you believe that Maotsujun is real? Was it a single moment of realization or was it a slow build-up? And what would you consider the best piece of “evidence” for their relationship? :)
The greatest piece of hard evidence is def their Christmas no Yakusoku date. They sneaked in after the lights went down so they wouldn’t be seen, and had to be babysat by their managers. There is no way that was not a date. No. Way. I can’t even imagine two random non-famous platonic friends going on a platonic Christmas friend-outing (and even for that scenario to work, they’d also have to both be single at the same time too, and I think we’re reaching the edge of improbability here). Jun’s reaction at the one point he’s clearly on camera seems pretty obviously “oh shit, busted,” as he seems to be checking the big screen to the side to make sure Mao’s face is blocked in the shot.
iirc the realization was a slow buildup, though in retrospect I think they hooked up around Christmas of 2006 (but it sounded like Shun started trying to play cupid in November). I feel like people started to seriously think something was up when the photo came out of him fixing her hair. Jun used to be the complete opposite of touchy-feely (he even used to complain about having to hold hands with the other members when they took their final bow at cons - which is unthinkable now where Jun will randomly hold hands with other members during cons and be the one initiating it…but that whole shift in his attitude happened around Hanadan’s timeline and everyone noticed how drastically Jun changed). Then the Valentine’s photoshoot with that gorgeous photo, where it was mentioned that the photographer said they could pose however they wanted and Jun immediately reached for her hand without being directed to. This was also pretty damning, lol (as was the video interview of them filming at the snow lodge & “neither of us can be honest with our feelings”). All the Budoukan reports were talking about how obviously flirty they were, by then enough people thought they might be together that Budoukan reports were really getting pored over. I can’t remember if we had to wait until the DVD for the wrap video to get out for Returns or if it was released beforehand, but I think that was pretty much the point everyone went “yeah they’re definitely together” because Jun hugging someone like that was justabsolutely unthinkable at the time. I also can’t remember if it was during Returns or Final but at some point a reporter(?) got to visit the set and somehow her private thoughts about Maojun got out. I can’t remember the context of the writeup anymore but the wording was something like “if you visit the set, they’re extremely open/obvious, it is completely clear that everyone on the staff is aware of their relationship. You can tell they feel safe there since they’re protected by the entire staff.”
By late 2007 the original couples bracelet had shown up. It’s actually funny because if you look closely their respective bracelets are not identical, but it’s pretty clear the bracelets have meaning (/they are aware they look identical at a glance) because when they went on the jet tour, they arrived at the airport in their regular clothes and were both wearing theirs. But, when they had the photo op in those outfits, Jun wrapped a scarf around his wrist to hide the bracelet (lol why didn’t he just take it off it looked ten times more suspicious with the scarf wrapped around his wrist). And then all the other couples items followed (and apparently Jun shared stuff with Yukie all the time too back when they were dating, so I don’t buy that it’s a coincidence at all, idk why people are so quick to write it off when LOOK AT WHO WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE. this is a dude who reads shoujo romance manga and whose favorite movie is Love Actually, HE DOESN’T HAVE A SAP LIMIT, planning out matchy-matchy outfits with his girlfriend is probably the highlight of his week).
Then Christmas no Yakusoku happened and it seemed kind of a done deal by then. People who went to stalk Final filming said they were as obvious as ever (which is pretty clear from the photobook, I don’t even understand how that one photo from the beach scene got released since it’s OBVIOUS THEY’RE NOT IN CHARACTER THERE). We know they were seen hanging out together in Vegas just the two of them, and lbr the story about Jun “discovering” Mao cleaning up her overflowing bathtub mess in her hotel room is suspicious as fuck (Mao said she asked the staff to come help her clean it because she wanted it to be a secret, so no one would find out she did something so stupid, and…they did their top secret cleanup with Mao’s hotel room door wide open, so Jun could see as he was walking by in the hall? riiiight). The Puipui interview was really shocking again, Arashi’s closeness is legendary and people just kept commenting on how not even another Arashi member would act that way with Jun. The Hanadan Final press had a lot of talk about marriage and after that was when Jun started talking earnestly in lots of interviews about how he wanted to get married by thirty. Mao also said she was surprised to find out that Jun wanted to get married at all because she hadn’t thought he was the type. When Mao and Mariko appeared on TV together on a show where the interview subject matter revolved around the guests’ love life, they were both staggeringly obvious throughout the program (Maojun is a ship and Shun and Mariko are the co-captains!!!)
Somewhere around that summer there was a sighting of Jun and Mao at a restaurant with an older couple. The fan who saw them didn’t recognize the older couple, and asked the wait staff if they were also famous. The staff said that they were Jun’s parents. There was also another sighting of Jun, Mao, and Sho eating out together later on and Jun calling Mao by name there. It’s not that unusual to address people differently off-camera vs on-camera (like Arashi all address each other even more closely in private, every once in a great while someone will slip up on camera) but when it’s Jun and Mao it seems even more suspicious.
Around the end of Hanadan, one of the producers also said in an interview that he was asked all the time what the secret had been to Hanadan’s success. He said that four different couples had gotten together on set over the course of the franchise, and so it was easy to create a romantic atmosphere because it was a set that was constantly overflowing with love. Of course Ishii met his wife on Hanadan, and fans managed to dig up info about some other staff members on the team who had started dating, but the fourth couple was left a mystery…
Stuff kept stacking up after that with sightings, and also both of them talking separately about going to concerts and the like on the same night but never mentioning they saw the other there. They’ve been sighted out at concerts together more than once but always sit a little apart and have babysitters (Jun with Sho, Mao with Nanako or Mariko). And of course Jun saying “it’s been a while” to Mao on her first Himitsu appearance, when they taped it two days after his birthday party she attended. More couples items (the boots that rocked the world). Jun wearing Mao’s favorite brand all the time (Hysteric Glamour). Mao had brought tomato zerii when she appeared on Kuwazugirai and said it was her favorite food, but it was made by a small family specialty shop a long way away and she had to have it shipped to her specially, and then Jun said in an interview years later that the weirdest thing he had in his fridge was tomato zerii. They’ve been sighted going on planes to Okinawa on winter breaks years apart, making it seem like a yearly tradition for them (I wonder if they go back to where they shot the island scenes??). Jun going to the birthday party of the president of Mao’s jimusho long after Hanadan was over (2010, I think?). The obviousness of how hard they were trying not to make eye contact at Kouhaku. etc etc etc.
also I don’t remember the source, possibly it was a 2ch drop and thus a bit dubious, but someone said they had a friend of a friend who was close with Mao from college, and the friend had said that while Mao seemed to have a boyfriend, she was extremely secretive about it and wouldn’t tell any of her college friends who he was.
Then on top of that there’s all the PR stuff factoring in (no Hanadan Final BD release, Mao getting special treatment on both Himitsu and Shukudai appearances, lots of other stuff from a PR/business perspective that only seems to make sense if they are together with plans for marriage)
[/tl;dr about two obvious as fuck idiots in a not-very-secret secret relationship]
(c)cresmix@tumblr