Miho Watanabe

Miho Watanabe
AgencySIM (Drama)
Kanji	渡邉美穂
Romaji	Watanabe Miho
Statistics
Gender	Female
Birthday	February 24, 2000
Origin	Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Occupation	Idol Singer Actress
Blood Type	A
Height	158.2cm
Three Sizes	B81-W64-H83
Links
Twitter	Twitter
Instagram	Instagram
Website	Official Website Agency Profile

Miho Watanabe was born on February 24, 2000 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She's the actress of Rurika Tsubaki, one of the main characters in School Idol Musical the DRAMA, the TV adaptation of Love Live! School Idol Musical.

Miho Watanabe is a former member of the Japanese idol group Hinatazaka46 and an actress. She is affiliated with Queen-B..

Background

Miho played basketball from elementary to high school, being captain and point guard of her high school team, and participating in prefectural level tournaments.

Member of Hinatazaka46 from 2017 to 2022.

In August 2017, she was introduced as a successful applicant in the "Keyakizaka46 Additional Member Audition." (At the time, she was a high school senior preparing for university entrance exams. Her parents allowed her to apply for the audition on the condition that she would definitely go to university. She successfully passed the entrance exam and enrolled, but as the group gained more attention with the addition of second-generation members, her workload increased. Feeling overwhelmed, she dropped out after just two days. This fact remained undisclosed for about six years until she revealed it as a guest on the TV program Geki Rare-san o Tsuretekita after graduation.)

In January 2019, she released her solo photobook Hidamari.

In August of the same year, she served as a support girl for the Mynavi Unconfirmed Festival 2019.

From July to December 2020, she appeared regularly on the NBA Rakuten streaming program Torima NBA Fan ni Natte Miru?.

On January 4 and 5, 2021, she starred as the heroine in Nippon TV’s New Year drama Hoshi ni Naritakatta Kimi to.

On April 3, 2022, she announced her graduation from the group following the activities for the 7th single Boku Nanka. This marked the first graduation from the second-generation members of Hinatazaka46 and the first group graduation announcement since Iguchi Mao's departure about two years prior. Her last live performance was scheduled for June 28, 2022, at her graduation ceremony.

In June 2022, to commemorate her graduation, she published a book summarizing her activities, titled Watashi ga Watashi de Aru Tame ni.

Then, on June 28, 2022, her graduation ceremony was held at Tokyo International Forum, marking her final performance. She bid farewell surrounded by fellow members, the audience, and numerous fans watching via livestream. Following this, her idol activities concluded with an online meet-and-greet on July 30 and a SHOWROOM livestream on July 31, bringing an end to her approximately five-year-long career as an idol. She graduated from her idol unit in July 2022 to focus on her acting career.

Later, on September 1, 2022, she announced her transfer to the talent agency "Queen-B," which includes scriptwriters such as Takahashi Yuya, Takano Minato, and Yoshida Erika.

She became Saitama Basketball Ambassador in 2023 and the Women's Japan Basketball League Ambassador in 2024.

In 2024, likely due to her connection with the agency, she was cast in the NHK morning drama Tora ni Tsubasa, scripted by Yoshida Erika, playing the role of Mariko Akiyama. She became the second Hinatazaka46 member to appear in a morning drama, following Neru Nagahama’s role as Sakura Yamanaka in Maiagare!. Excluding Nagahama, who was a concurrent member, she is the first Hinatazaka46 member to achieve this milestone.

Personality & Hobbies

She is skilled at basketball and has even served as a team captain. She has faced off against Yū Sawabe (from Haraichi) and Toshihiro Kasuga (from Audrey) on a TV show, which contributed to her character as "Kasuga's business rival."

She is good at cooking and prepares her own bento meals. However, she reportedly does not like people watching her cook. Early in her career, due to her health-conscious mindset, her bento only contained chicken breast and broccoli, which led the show's production team to jokingly call it an "athlete’s bento."

She excels at spontaneous talk and adapts quickly to cues from MCs. Her microphone performances in competitive segments are highly skilled. Perhaps due to this, after her graduation, she made frequent guest appearances on variety shows without prior promotion. However, she places immense pressure on herself, feeling she "absolutely cannot fail," which causes her to have mental breakdowns approximately once every three months.

She is talented at Ōgiri (comedic wordplay challenges). During a Hiragana Oshi skit, she was asked to caption an old photo of Wakabayashi wearing a tank top in his school days. She delivered the unexpected response: "Hyper underdog," causing Wakabayashi to burst into laughter and joke, "I’m gonna smack you!" He later admitted, "If we were in a co-ed school, she would’ve scared me." She explained that the image gave off a strong vibe of someone heckling from behind a boss.

She has a strong dislike for frogs.

Other Roles

TV Shows:

• 2023 – TV Tokyo Drama Premiere 23: SHUT UP as Asai Sana
• 2023 – TBS Drama Stream: Brother Top as Miyake Eriko
• 2023 – Nippon TV Z Drama Numaru. Minato-ku High School Girls (Episode 1 Guest) / Love Deathmatch: National Treasure-Level Boyfriend Audition (Episode 2 Guest) as Sasa Honoka (both shows)
• 2023 – Fuji TV Saturday Premium: Ichikei no Karasu Special as Honda Midori
• 2022 – Nagoya Broadcasting Me~Tele Drama: The Last Train to Nagoya – Riding Tarumi Railway Again as Kurahashi Yuria
• 2022 – TV Tokyo Drama 25: Solitary Gourmet Season 10 (Episode 8) as Otsuki Moe
• 2021 – TV Tokyo Drama 25: Girls Gourmet Burger Club 2021 Summer Special
• 2021 – Nippon TV Koeharu! as Amagasaki Amane
• 2021 – Nippon TV I Wanted to Be a Star with You as heroine Kotosaka Nasa
• 2020 – Nippon TV DASADA ~Countdown to the Future~ as Shinohara Saori
• 2020 – Nippon TV DASADA as Shinohara Saori
• 2017 – TV Tokyo Re:Mind as Watanabe Miho

Streaming/Web Dramas:

• 2023 – Lemino / Hikari TV Good Morning, Sleeping Lion 2 as Watanuki Reimi
• 2022 – Hikari TV Good Morning, Sleeping Lion as heroine Watanuki Reimi
• 2021 – Hulu I Wanted to Be a Star with You – Another Story as heroine Kotosaka Nasa

Stage Performances:

• 2023 – Musical SUNNY as high school student SUNNY / Nami
• 2023 – Musical Drama Run! – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart’s Librettist as Coco
• 2018 – Stage Play Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story as Fukatsuki Felicia

Health Issues

It was announced on April 5 that she had contracted COVID-19, but she returned after a 10-day recovery period on April 14.

Trivia

• Her favorite character in Slam Dunk is Mitsui Hisashi
• She was the first member of Hinatazaka46 (though still in the Keyakizaka46 era) to release a solo photobook.
• She formed a duo called Waku Waku Peanuts with Konoka Matsuda.
• The group’s second single, Doremi Solashido, features a unit song, Yasashisa ga Jama wo Suru, performed by her alongside Shihō Katō and Hinano Kamimura. Her solo part—"Kilimanjaro no coffee o~"—had such a distinct singing style that other members frequently imitated her. Interestingly, searching for this on YouTube often brings up a video of Miku Kanemura impersonating her at the top of the search results.
• Her favorite comedian is Naoki Inada from Einstein.
• During her group’s variety show Hinatazaka de Aimashou, fortune teller Love Me Do ranked her 2021 career prospects and unexpectedly predicted that she would "appear in Kamen Rider," which made the members laugh. In the 2022 ranking, the prediction was repeated: "This time for sure, she will appear in Kamen Rider," again causing laughter. However, in 2022, she landed the lead role in Good Morning, Nemureru Shishi, an original drama on Hikari TV, co-starring with legendary Kamen Rider suit actor Seiji Takaiwa. Additionally, her co-stars included former Kamen Rider protagonists like Takayuki Tsubaki, Masahiro Inoue, Gaku Sano, and Shun Nishime. While not an exact hit, Love Me Do’s prediction was oddly close. Naturally, her current goal is to officially appear in the Kamen Rider franchise. Interestingly, her talent agency Queen-B, which she joined post-graduation, houses scriptwriter Yūya Takahashi, who wrote for Kamen Rider Geats, raising speculation that her dream might one day come true.
  • In the sequel Good Morning 2, she showcased live-action stunt performances. Her co-star, Takaiwa, and director Koichi Sakamoto praised her ability to execute action sequences swiftly.
• She's the only actress from the School Idol musical TV Drama to not reprise her role in the 2025 stage plays.