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Today at Asakura Kiki's 22nd birthday event, Kiki made a surprise announcement that she will be graduating in the Spring of 2023.

Statements :

Thank you for your continued support of Tsubaki Factory and Hello! Project.

Asakura Kiki will graduate from Tsubaki Factory and Hello! Project in the Spring of 2023.

She had been studying voluntarily, but in order to learn about animals in earnest, she told us that she would like to attend a veterinary school starting next April.

She does not want to cause inconvenience for the group's activities, so she wants to graduate from the group to balance her studies and work hard as a solo artist.
We have come to this conclusion based on her strong will to do so.

More details including the timing of activities will be announced as soon as they are finalized.

We would like to ask for your continued support for Asakura Kiki and Tsubaki Factory.

~~~~~

To everyone,

I, Asakura Kiki, will graduate from Tsubaki Factory and Hello! Project next Spring.

After graduation, I will do my best working as a solo artist and balancing my studies.

I have always been interested in dogs, which I have studied independently until now, and I would like to attend a veterinary school where I can learn about animals.
I would like to acquire a wide range of knowledge and become a person who can relate to the feelings of both animals and animal owners.

I have decided to end my activities with Tsubaki Factory and go solo, as there is a risk that I will neglect one of the two if I study while working with the group.

I had three pet dogs, the first of which crossed over the rainbow bridge in March of this year.
My dogs are not just pets for me, but they are a great support for my family.
They give me healing and strength to do my best every day.

It was not something to be taken for granted, and I was filled with a stronger desire to cherish it even more.

For me, I want to learn more about these dogs so that I can help people who live with animals.
I wanted to give back what they gave me in a different way.

At the same time, I am receiving love from many people now that I am active as Tsubaki Factory.
It has been 7 years since our formation and 5 years since our major debut.
I am very grateful to be a part of this group.

I have often made people feel uneasy during the period of inactivity, but I cannot express in words how grateful I am to all the fans who have supported me and to the members who have been by my side all this time.

I was able to share many wonderful moments with everyone and the members that I would not have been able to see if it were not for Tsubaki Factory, and I also learned a lot about myself and my responsibility as a person who stands on stage.
I learned a lot of things such as self-production skills as an idol, facing myself and others around me.

Although the group activities will end, my life as Asakura Kiki will continue.
Based on this experience, I would like to move forward again.
I promise to do my best as Tsubaki Factory until my graduation.

I hope I can ignite your rock spirit and give you lots of love in return, so please keep your eyes on me!

http://www.helloproject.com/news/15025/

Asakura Kiki also made the announcement in the opening of this week's Hello Station

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDhARfcK8g0&t=0s

Oh. I wish her all the best with her studies, but I will miss her.

Man, I was thinking about this the other night, noticed before about how she seemed to have really bloomed over the last year and thought it might be that graduation glow that we all like to deny. I thought Tsubaki graduations would start coming after the newbies but I simply hoped Kiki would not be first to go after Risa. This is the next step of the ending of me following H!P I guess. Can't get myself to care for any of the newbies since like 3 years.

Well, in the end I super respect that she wants to whole-ass one thing instead of half-assing two. I know it's unlikely she'll keep on in entertainment after graduating but maybe someday she'll be in something. If not I can still be happy with everything she's done for us up to this point.

Edit: this probably also means TF is either going to superspeed release 2 singles or 2022 is a 1 single year. Here's hoping at least for a digital song in the meantime.

On Monday for some reason an 6 year old Harusute episode popped up on my Youtube feed. There's a Tsubaki performance right at the beginning, and it struck me at that time how relatively stable the group stayed over the years compared with other H!P groups of that era. (It also struck me is how much lil' Mizuho looked like Runo, at least in that performance.) But of course all things must come to an end, especially in H!P. Kiki's been a rock solid member over the years and I'm not surprised she's ready to go. It's sad but I'm happy for her. I'd like to see her get into acting. She has a face well-suited for Japanese television dramas, I think.

Bless her, she really loves dogs and animals in general, doesn't she? :') I think it's great she wants to learn more about them and help other pet owners.

But man, 2 graduation announcements in less than a week...

This makes me wonder whether the Ogata-scandal fundamentally changed how Tsubaki was intended to function.

Both Tsubaki and Kobushi were intended to be the next gen C-ute and Berryz. Kobushi ended up with scandals and ultimately ended it fairly early with five members as opposed to sticking it out.

I think the same could've happened with Tsubaki but they've instead decided to go the Angerme/J=J route by changing it to a new member/graduation style group.

Had the Ogata-scandal not happened (or did happen but no new members) would Tsubaki have continued for a short amount of time before calling it quits entirely? Tsubaki in theory can persist perpetually now.

I think the management have applied the MM model of auditions and graduations to all of the groups simply to maintain those brands. It's a waste of resources to build up a group over so many years and then let it disband entirely. The only reason why they didn't do it with Berryz and C-ute is because those groups started very young (literally "Kids") and had already matured together.

Amped wrote:Today at Asakura Kiki's 22nd birthday event, Kiki made a surprise announcement that she will be graduating in the Spring of 2023.

Excerpted from the FC stream of the event…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI5W32Kkhu0

Tsubaki Factory Asakura Kiki is a guest on Bookstand.tv and discusses various topics such as her dogs, graduation, and Hello Pro songs.