Nagahama Neru (Neru) / Keyakizaka46 1st Generation

I can understand people annoyance, even I'm dissapointed. But this can also be Neru-chan decision, is really hard to get it but she just has stopped all her activities as Keyakizaka member, so it couldn't be a surprise if she wanted this.

Now in my groups are a lot of Neru-chan fans who are selling their Keyaki Republic tickets or asking for their money back and probably there are a lot of people more outside.

I have never agreed with management in these cases. Too much silence and zero explanations.

Despite all this changes and my dissapointment, I'm going to attend the event because even I adore Neru-chan, I also love the group and there is a big chance for a surprise (hope something related to Neru-chan or Aotan).

 

at least we get one last hurrah with the wonderful, charming idol of keyakizaka, Neru chan

the beauty of life is that it ends. We shall send her off with a smile

 

It seems to me that management is (understandably) not happy with Neru for graduating. Maybe same with Memi. In both cases, the underlying reasons for graduating may perhaps not reflect well on management, so are not to be said. As some negative posters have been saying about Memi, once a member decides to graduate, she may become a non-person as far as management and publicity are concerned. The timing of Memi's announcement was delayed to let Hinata's 2nd single get its first publicity, I believe. I'm not sure if Neru even gave management forewarning of her announcement in her blog. Does anyone know?

What I'm hoping for now is an appearance by Memi at Neru's farewell, doing one of their Hiragana songs together. No mention of a Memi farewell yet.

The announcement talks about a "solo" concert. Does that mean Neru without Keyaki? Or all Neru songs?

And with Neru, Memi and Shida, do we have the nucleus of a nice little group called "The Graduates"? (Produced by Neru? Lol.) Neru's friend Marika would make a good addition. Occasional lives. And who knows who else may graduate over the next six months to a year...?

 

I always dreamt of a GDT48 (Graduated 48) team, but I wouldn't mind at all a GDT46 team.

 

@ukifune You and a lot of Neru-chan fans have increased my suspicions regarding management. In my groups I have comments like "Neru-chan is in bad terms with management", "look at the uniform she is using", "is Neru-chan not allowed to participate in KeyaKake?", "solo event without the group she loves and no Keyaki Republic? ... Absurd", and a long etcetera. You can't imagine the amount of complains I saw after KeyaKake.

Everybody knows Sony or any other enterprise, look for their own interest. I don't want to think or even imagine Neru-chan is leaving the group because internal fights with members (It is a possibility and I and many fans will not deny it).

The only suspicion we have about a possible graduation of Neru-chan before the official announcement was at the bar. After that, she became more inactive in the group (increasing suspicions). And then, the graduation announcement.

And about a future graduation, I'm seriously worried about Techi-chan mental state. I know that Neru-chan and now Memi-chan announcements have affected her a lot because she love them a lot. I hope she don't announce graduation.

 

Well, not hating here, but since the beginning I really never was into Neru, because management was pushing her a lot and helping her over all the other members, thats why now taht she decided to graduate all teh mngmnt efforts were useless, beside hiragana/hinatazaka was all because of Neru, so it is probably thats why managment are now mad with Neru because she jsut decided to graduate just like that

 

I'm not sure I believe that management's actions are necessarilly malicious or spiteful.

But it could be that management simply sees KeyaKake (and HinaAi) as a tool for promoting members, and they don't want to spend time and money promoting a member who they know is just going to graduate. So instead they've been promoting the future of of Keyaki rather than the past, and by that I mean second gen. I'm not trying to defend the practice just describing it, and it annoys me that top Nogi members usually get such a nice send-off when graduating but Keyaki members (and presumably Hinata members) get nothing. Seed and Flower may be thinking they are being smart by ignoring graduating members and not wasting resources on members who are leaving, but that short-sighted approach will end up hurting them in the end when it creates ill feelings among fans which it already seems to be doing.

 

Agree with everything @gish0046 wrote above. I don’t like the practice either but it makes sense from a business standpoint, and I think Shida’s case was far worse than Neru’s right now. The fact that Neru is getting any form of send-off, solo event or not, means that management certainly recognizes her efforts and contribution to the group (that, and they also don’t want to piss off Neru fans lol).

Also, I’m not sure if any of the Keyaki members (graduated or not), especially those who tend to shy away from public attention, would’ve/would even want a grand sending-off event. It’s mainly for the benefit for the fans. Graduation isn’t meant to be a merry, celebratory thing, and from what I’ve seen from AKB/Nogi grad concerts, there’s lots of tears, sadness, and loud commotion and spotlight on the graduating member. While I can’t speak for Neru, I can picture certain Keyaki members (cough, Techi) wanting to avoid such commotion.

Anyway, I think what I really want more than anything is to get some kind of confirmation or reassurance that Neru plans to be active in the entertainment industry post-grad. The fact that she keeps saying nothing’s decided makes me a bit worried that she’ll just disappear altogether. Zuumin made it clear that she would stay as a talent when she was graduating. Maybe Neru really is still deciding, but I would love to at least get an idea of what she wants to do in the future.

 

Actually, as far as "management bad" is concerned, I'm kind of in the middle. I think many of the complaints I see in Japanese are ignoring the fact this is a business, and management's first responsibility is to the business. It often seems there could be good commercial reasons for things people complain about. But on the other hand, I do think they seem not to have put enough effort into maintaining the physical and mental health of some members, including Techi and Memi, and probably Hiyo-tan. For some reason they either did not see the signs of problems or ignored them. Neru is a bit of a different case, since her health seems to be good, and I can't help feeling she is well able to protect her own interests. But who knows what goes on behind the scenes? Dealing with Aki-P when he's your supporter, or with Konno-san in normal circumstances, may be just fine, but I would never want to cross either of them, from the little I see and hear of them.

I have little fear of Neru disappearing. She doesn't seem to want to go to college, at least not yet, as far as I can tell. (She seems to use the past tense when talking about studying.) And she has established connections with NHK Nagasaki, and has a level of fame of her own. I look forward eagerly to announcements from her when the time comes. Then it will just depend on whether the public wants to watch her. I have mentioned a hope that she and Memi can perform together again. I even hope that they could do that soon. But Memi might be better to spend the year getting the best college-entrance marks she can, then deciding which direction to go. I get some sense that an art/design college interests her. I guess if Neru could go overseas to college, she might do it. Not sure. But a lot of Western countries start the school year in September.

To be honest, I'm not totally clear why either of them is graduating. Neru maybe for greener pastures and an independent career. Memi maybe from dissatisfaction with the direction of the group and her place in it. Or some combination of factors, including physical ones and ones we don't know about. Maybe a stalker incident that made Memi think it wasn't worth it. Maybe even interpersonal factors. This gap of knowledge is where suspicions of management can come in. The entertainment industry in most countries is not the cleanest of industries, it seems.

Interesting timeline:

• Memi's solo trip to Kamakura seems to have been on April 5th or 6th (Memi mobame).
  
• Memi spent a whole day with Neru sometime just before 11 April (reported in Neru's mobame). She had spent time with her on or before 23 March, too. Stayed overnight 11 March (Neru mobame).
  
• Memi probably had lunch with her father on April 15th (reported in her father's twitter, without specifying which daughter, but showing a bit of a coat very similar to the one Memi wore in Kamakura).
  
• And then she was missing from M-Station on April 19th; I think that was the first indication that she might graduate.

It seems to me that she would have discussed her future with Neru and with her father. Neru has certainly met Memi's father; she said once on KeyaKake how much she liked him.

NOTE: Neru says her favorite Keyaki song is (still?) Kimi ga Inai (mobame 2019/01/24).

 

As @ukifune said, seems like management (Seed & Flower) don't know how to care the members mental and physical health. Is a fact they overload the popular or potential members and we don't need to remember the groups age average (especially Hinatazaka). Other thing is how management used Neru-chan image, but thanks to that, she is a celebrity in Nagasaki. So is not crazy to thing in a career with NHK. About overseas study, she said many times she want to study out of the country. But another reason can also be love. (Even if I'm engaged, that idea is painful)

And I also think Memi-chan consulted Neru-chan about the graduation and I remember Neru-chan and Techi-chan going out, I think that was to comfort Techi-chan and talk some details about her decision.

Until I know is still her favorite song.

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I found really interesting what @GenKelC and @gish0046 wrote above. That coincides in a certain way with what I think about the companies.

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@keyak you can't imagine how a lot of Neru-chan fans are here (including me)

 

From Yukka-sama blog.

The most recent picture of Neru-chan. And she promoting Neru-chan solo event.



And yes, probably you didn't notice, she has lose some weight (again).

 

it might be the last updates by neru on the officials sites http://www.keyakizaka46.com/s/k46o/diary/detail/29736?ima=0000&cd=member
their graduations announcement is still puzzling peoples, especially neru, she's been cut off gradually from her activity by mgmt just before she made a graduation announcement, what exactly happened inside their group, quitting because unpopular and jobless is usual, but neru condition is contradict to those situations, and now, they're desperately try to fill up the holes that left behind by neru with random members in hope that they can maintain the group, tv show, radio, magazines, and frankly, it's becoming boring, everything seems to stop ever since neru want to graduate

this one will be remembered in our memory for a long time
OUR ONLY EMPRESS


if the video does not show watch the video here
if the video does not show watch the video here​

 

For all we know, Neru might be the one turning down the job offers.

Zuumin get plenty of coverage concerning her graduation, Yone got some too. A member as prominent as Neru must be getting tons of offer for interviews, photoshoot.

The same with being absent on RoK 2019.

There is a lot of "maybe"s about her situation, but i don't think management is to blame. Don't you think it's worse if management push / force her take job / attend the event instead?

Maybe she want to give other members the spotlight, as she know that the group need another publicly recognizable face other than Techi after she left. Maybe she's already busy with whatever she want to do, who knows?

 

Here's my translation of Neru's blog post about her graduation event and about her "precious friend" Memi. She says the whole Keyakizaka team is thinking of what to do at the event, so I'm hopeful it will be a real live, with a full group performing. Techi sounds unlikely now, but maybe just an appearance. Neru and Memi are really close friends. Memi spent a night with her in March, and a full day (and maybe another night) in April, both during the time Memi was making her decision, I believe. Memi definitely consulted her about her decision. And that was a good thing, I believe, even if my own interest lies in keeping Memi around. I can see the possible benefits of graduation for both of them. Whatever they plan to do, I trust both of them to have thought it through completely.

I'm trying to come to terms with Memi's graduation right now, and since her announcement she is participating in nothing, so far: TV shows, performances, handshake, special events -- even the event for the Blu-Ray release of her beloved Magia Record. I think that's by management's choice, since they want to concentrate attention on the members that are staying, particularly with their new single's MV already out. But it could also be by Memi's choice, or because of her physical condition, whatever it is. I think management definitely has its errors and blind spots, but not as many as Japanese posters, in particular, ascribe to them. And sometimes management does have to be a bit ruthless, in service of the group as a whole.

Here's the photo from Neru's post, of little wire sculptures of Anpanman, made by Memi (left) and Neru (right). You can see who the trained artist is, lol, but Neru makes something interesting, almost cubist.

 

Official have stated it won't be a concert, but they will plan it according to Neru's idea

 

I'm hoping for her friends to get up on stage with her: Marika, Shida, Memi.... Lol. Would management allow that? I wonder if "not a concert" means no singing, or large performances, or not a very long event? I hope they spend the money to make a video presentation about her.

I still remember being both shocked and pleased when Neru discourteously trashed Sugai's Showroom...and made it more interesting in the process. Now maybe we'll see what kind of show she herself can create.

 

I know it may be old news for many of you, but what exactly happened at Sugai's showroom? What did Neru said/did? We have no access to these vids and even if we did with no subtitles it would be impossible to know. I also did not find a relevant description of the incident at forums. Thank you in advance...

 

I was worried that the incident was unfamiliar. Sorry. It was 1 July 2017. Sugai had set up a Showroom and had drawn pictures on the whiteboard and detailed her schoolmarm-ish plans. She had Shii-chan with her. Then Neru and Fuu-chan arrived. They came into camera-range and went out of it. They put new things on the board. They ignored things Sugai said and went on to say their own things. They (including Shii-chan) crowded her back from the camera. Et cetera. It might not seem that awful now, but at the time, I and a bunch of antis were shocked. I translated Neru's next blog post, and I think she may have been referring to the incident when she said she had recently "squandered a year's worth of miracles." EDIT: In the post below, @too much idea captures it nicely in a few words.

You can see it on the Chinese video site bilibili. In the comments I made at the end of my translation of Neru's post, I go into some detail about what happened and my reaction, and the storm of criticism Neru received at the time. And I mention that people said to me afterwards that I was blowing the reaction out of proportion and the people criticizing Neru were the same ones who had always criticized her. People also told me it was just normal dressing-room joking around, which looked worse on-screen than it really was.

Anyway, my feelings for Neru survived intact, and my feelings about Sugai have become more positive recently, as I see her continuing to grow in every way. But I'm still more entertained by the free-and-easy Neru-Shida style. Of course, the fact that they are both either out or on their way out suggests the stiffer, more polite style has its plus side, lol.

 

Yuuka made a nice plan for her SR. Like first lets talk about A then B then C and so on. Fuyuka Neru and Shiichan trashed that, making it such an entertaining stream to watch

 

Thanks @ukifune for the explanation, I too wasn't aware of that SR happening, or I had forgot about it.
What I have noticed is that SR viewers often tell the girls to "tune it down" when they go too wild (like in the first Fuu-Risa-Shida-Mon-Oda SR) while I'd just like for members to be themselves and enjoy their time on Showroom.

On another note, I was just rewatching Keyakitte because of a project I'm making and I'm at ep 9 when Neru came... much like keyaki for Sakamichi/48, Neru too has been like a new, different, force pushing the group forward. (and I'll never forget Yone's face )
It will be weird not to have Neru in keyaki, but she's super smart and super driven; I'm sure she'll succeed whatever she'll do.