Miyu Takeuchi

Prior to joining AKB48, Takeuchi signed a contract with Stardust Promotion in 2004^[2] and appeared in Little By Little's music video for "Ameagari no Kyū na Sakamichi". She was a member of girl group Fruits, born out of the audition TV show "Songs Star !!". In 2008, the group debuted with the single "Koi no Saison" and they disbanded the following year, in 2009.^[3][2]

Takeuchi passed AKB48 auditions in 2009. While she was a trainee, she was part of the sub-unit Mini Skirt and released the song "Mini Skirt no Yōsei" to promote the arcade game Pretty Rhythm: Mini Skirt, which later featured a likeness of her as a playable character during the Season 2 update.^[4] She was promoted to full member status in 2010, and was announced as a member of AKB48's newly formed Team 4 in 2011.^[5] In May, Takeuchi was selected to be part of the subunit "Ojarumaru Sisters" in order to sing "Hatsukoi wa Mitsuru", used as the ending theme of the anime Ojarumaru.^[6]

Takeuchi signed to OH Enterprise in 2012.^[7] Later that year, Team 4 was disbanded, and Takeuchi was moved to AKB48's Team B.^[8] During this time, Takeuchi uploaded home recordings of song covers on social media. In 2014, she began to post song covers on her YouTube channel.^[9] In 2021, Her YouTube Channel has amassed 230.000+ subscribers.^[9]

In 2018, Takeuchi participated in the South Korean competition series Produce 48 as one of the Japanese contestants from AKB48 and its sister groups. She finished in 17th place.^[10][11]

Four days after the Produce 48 finale, on September 4, 2018, Takeuchi announced her departure from AKB48.^[12] Her last performance with AKB48 took place on December 25, 2018,^[13] and her contract with OH Enterprise ended on December 31, 2018.^[14]

On March 8, 2019, South Korean entertainment company Mystic Story announced that they had signed an official contract with Takeuchi.^[15][16] On October 22, 2019, Takeuchi released her first solo single, as well as her first Korean single and first single in Mystic Story, titled "My Type" (내 타입) as part of Mystic Story's CEO Yoon Jong-shin's Yoon Jong Shin Monthly Project 2019.^[17][18] In February 2020, Takeuchi was announced as a member of Mystic Rookies, pre-debut trainee group within the company.^[19]

On February 24, 2021, Takeuchi released her second solo single titled "Forbidden Game" (왠지 그럼 안될 것 같아) as part of Yoon Jong Shin's Yoon Jong Shin Monthly Repair Project .^[20] On May 3, 2021, Takeuchi announced the end of her exclusive contract with Mystic Story.^[21][22] On May 5, 2021, Takeuchi uploaded a video to her YouTube channel explaining her departure from the company, stating that she originally signed a contract to debut as a solo artist and left when they instead arranged for her to debut in a girl group.^[23] In the same year, she was featured on the song "Sentimental" in Night Tempo's 2021 album Ladies in the City.

On February 23, 2024, Takeuchi announced that she would release music under the stage name MiyuMiyu and released the song "Matome" digitally on the same day.^[24]

Takeuchi was accepted to Keio University in 2013, attending classes at Keio University's Shonan Fujisawa campus while continuing to perform at the AKB48 theater in Akihabara.^[25]