Nishinaka Nanami announces graduation

Naami announced her graduation yesterday.



I have to admit that this came way out of left field. The official reason is she was having trouble juggling idol life and school and so she decided to focus on school. She apparently has been thinking about it for 6 months now which if you count back puts us right around the time of the shuffle where Naami was super devastated at: a) not getting promoted; and b) getting split from Team N.

Lots of finger pointing by fans and alot of self-reflection by everyone. Sayaka and Milky commented on it and its quite a big issue that a 13 year old generally recognized as being the future of NMB would just up and quit.

 

Statistically speaking, apart from the theater performance, she has appeared on multiple YNN corner with most notable appearance in 24-jikan, their anniversary special.
With that said, I can objectively say she is NOT ignored. However, being 13 year old means she is projected for a long-term strategic plan, and thus, put her behind in the NMB hierarchy. The term behind is like, she probably one of least person to appear in You Gotta NMB for obvious reason.

That is if we're looking at variety perspective. I'm perfectly blind at her performance growth because(1)I didn't watch NMB KKS LOD regularly and (2)It's something I can't judge well while AKIRA can as we had seen on 5th gen weekly show.

 

I'm also a little surprised at her announcement. Maybe its because we know how this thing goes with newbies, they sit in the theater for a couple of months and when there is a spark in popularity, management pushes that girl a little hard to test the waters and see how far she goes. I really believed she would be one of the girls on the rise this year, but I guess seeing the 5th gen members get pushed faster than her must have hurt a bit :/

 

She used to perform regularly in N3 before the shuffle where the D2 basically got demoted to normal KKS. She has a really good position in the KKS stage, performing Nandeyanen Idol to open the show with Yuzuha and her unit is Ookami no Pride which is a duet. Even over Yuzu, I thought Naami was the better performer and was closer to promotion/senbatsu out of everyone of the current KKS.

I don't want to engage in speculation that the JP fans are doing but it is quite suspicious that her 6 months ago coincides with the shuffle. The 5th gen also had YNN specials and a biweekly Kawaiian documentary that the 4th gen AND D2 never got so there's lots of bad feelings all around.

 

Looks at Aayan... Mmkay...

 

@parukii
I'm referring to variety perspective in first paragraph. To avoid confusion. Of course Aayan win if this is about promotion and management pushes.

@zeroshiki
Well, I like to think she announce graduation before she receive her due. Any point beyond that will ended up as speculation. That's all.

 

NOOOOOOO!!!!!
This is just sad.
No more YuzuNana...

 

And this is why I need to stop getting attached to kenkyuusei I really had high hopes for her.

 

Yuzu wrote a really nice blog about Nanami and her own dreams. Basically Yuzu has been MIA ever since Naami announced and fans were getting very worried about her so it was nice to hear from her again.

I can't translate it since its super long but basically:
- She heard about Nanami's graduation from her own (Yuzu's) mother
- She confirmed it with Naami
- She was conflicted whether to try to convince Naami to stay because she felt that she could not take responsibility for Naami's decision and her future
- She didn't know Naami was announcing that day (she knew it was coming soon because of the Senkyo)
- On the day Naami announced, she had a serious talk with her family about her goals. Her family said that it was their impression that Yuzu treats NMB48 as a club activity and that's fine but she needs to be serious about being an idol if she ever wants to amount to anything.
- She still remembers Naami's words from Yuzu's seitansai where Naami promised her "let's reach the top together" (issho ni teppen or torou)
- She will work hard to be the best she can be and work so she can achieve her and Naami's dreams herself.
- They will always be friends.

 

omfg this got me tickled for some reason. I'm just picturing some NMB parents union.

Anyway thank you so much for the summary! Somehow I feel like Naami is gonna join another idol group in the near future.

YuzuNana forever

 

Cross-posting from her thread:

Announced at the KKS performance today:
Her graduation performance will be on 22 June 2017 (during a Team M stage)