Graduation announcements thread

Ashu still can get her paycheck somewhere else since she seems like she’s booked nowadays. Nogi girls are all probably afraid of ending up like AKB girls that jumped ship too late. The ideal thing is to jump ship while nogi/they’re still selling like hotcakes

 

Oh, I see...


I am sad to see Riorin leave... She had this calming and sweet aura, I loved seeing her on stage... I will miss her, here is hoping that she gets more recognition in whatever she decides to do after...

 

The Wiki says that she's currently in university studying to be a dentist, and this article appears to confirm that the reason for her graduation today is that she wants to concentrate on those dental studies: https://www.hochi.co.jp/entertainment/20181006-OHT1T50168.html

 

O girl get those dentist dollars!!!

 

Another sister buys a Duster.

 

No more Yahagi Sisters

 

She indeed needs to leave. Studying medical or dentistry or veterinary would force the students to fully focus in their studies.

 

Sad that Yukina is graduating. I wish her good luck for her studies!

 

In practice this almost never happens, though. How many idols can you name that have had successful careers after graduation? There aren't many. They get booked for outside work because they are popular because they are in popular groups. When they leave the group, the majority of their fans don't follow them. It has nothing to do with when they leave - even idols who leave at the top of their popularity quickly find themselves forgotten. It's sad, but the REAL popularity is because of the group, not the individual idol.

 

Kawaei Rina

 

That's a good example though. But only her?
Even Maeda Atsuko was like, not on A-list some time after her graduation
As much as I want to see Mayuyu to be successful after graduation, it still feels like she is not more popular compared to when she is still an AKB member.

 

Agree. Kawaei is more successful even than Atsuko & Yuko.

 

you know the answer - the most successful graduate came from SKE

 

There are indeed a lot more unsuccessful former-idols than successful ones, but then:
Mitsushima Hikari
Shinohara Ryoko
Ueto Aya
Kanno Miho
Nakatani Miki
Nakama Yukie

I agree with you that as a former idol, you can't really rely on your former fans after graduation. The reason is that following an idol and following an actress / non-idol singer / variety talent / etc. are often two different kinds of experience. If you're offering a different experience to people, can you still expect most of them to stay? In a way you are switching your career. Jumping into a new circle. There will be some people that you can bring along from the older circle, but more importantly you'll also have to appeal to new people in the new circle.

And this is why I think that having been in a well-known idol group isn't always a good thing for graduates. Is it really a good thing when idol fans see you as only a former AKB / Nogi AND non-idol fans also see you as only a former AKB / Nogi? Note that for the actresses I listed above, none of their former groups were as popular as 48G / 46G is. Many people have probably never heard of those groups before, so from the viewpoint of non-idol fans, these actresses don't have that big of a 'former-XXX' label to them.

I'm not saying that being in a popular group doesn't help at all, but I think expecting old fans to follow through isn't the right way to go. Ideally you should be able to use your popularity to get booked for outside jobs related to your future career before graduation, and use these jobs to gain a proper foothold there. Convince people who are not into 'XXX the idol' and make them fans of 'XXX the actress / singer / etc.' These are the people who will still be your fans after graduation, not people who are fans of 'XXX the idol'.

Though it is easily said than done. Essentially you need to have both the opportunities and ability to do two jobs well. It's a tall order for both you and your manager / agency. I'd say not even Acchan and Yuko had established a very stable acting career before graduating... But then, it is a very long road ahead. Even if they don't make it immediately after graduation, they still have time to work towards that success. We say now that the most successful AKB graduate is Kawaei, but 30 years later it may be someone who never sold out a single handshake slot throughout her idol days. Who knows.

 

I wish Sayaka would revive Mad Catz, her old pop punk band before she joined NMB48 but seems she's going a soloist.

 

I swear we’ve had this discussion like 10 billion times

 

Too bad managment didn't push her more while they could. She could have been a superstar. She'll definitly have a great career as a dentist though, she always seemed so passionnate.

 

Maybe Yoshida Akari too. She is an interesting case because while she has an agency (Yoshimoto), my impression is that her becoming a popular vlogger wasn't really her agency's idea. Yoshimoto probably still helps her get more outside jobs after her breakthrough though.

I wonder if more Nogi members will pursue this path after graduation as this is Nogi's image to an extent and quite a lot of their members have had some experience in this area. But yeah you usually need a good agency if you want to continue that career post-graduation. :\ I don't follow Nogi enough so I don't know how much agency support they usually have.

 

Younger ones: Yoshimoto Miyu, Sonohara Arisa, Ikema Natsumi