[NEWS] Matsubara Natsumi announces graduation from AKB48

[Pavlova]

She wants to become an actress.

Her last performance will be on June 4 and her last handshake event on July 7.

Sad to see another 2nd gen member go.

[DSQueenie]

Aw I know someone who'll be upset I wish Natsumi luck~

[Pavlova]

I also once met someone who oshied her, iirc (unless it was the other natsumi, i really am not that sure) so yeah. I will sort of miss her, too. I always noticed her quite a bit in stage shows. She had that type of presence I guess.

[Daisuki Daiiyo]

Nooooo I guess it makes sense though, for as long as she's been a member she hasn't really moved up. She was one of the first members I learned about when I first got into AKB though, when they had those short home movies each girl recorded themselves.

The best of luck to her though.

[Pavlova]

Matsubara Natsumi will have her graduation show on June 4th, and she will participate in the handshake event on July 7th.

[boinsie]

I don't follow AKB closely so I don't know, but is that normal? If she's graduating on the 4th, why would she be participating in a handshake event 3 days later?

[Pavlova]

it's the Sayonara Crawl handshake even, so if, say, some of her fans had bought multiple copies for handshake events with her, and then she announces her graduation after that, it's sort of unfair, so ...

It's rather common for their last handshake event to be AFTER their last live. It's the last chance for their fans to say goodbye/congrats/etc in person.

Also it's July 7th, so 1 month and 3 days later, I think?

[boinsie]

Oh, I misread June for July.
But yikes! Only announcing your graduation with a month before leaving is so foreign to me as an H!P fan, though! Like, the only times we've had that short of notice are the scandals (which I think don't count for comparison in this case), and OgaSaki... oh, and Mitsui, but that was also a kind-of special circumstance.
Do AKB members often announce their grads so close to the date of departure? Like, obviously the main girls would give more forewarning, but...

[Pavlova]

It really varies an awful lot, to be honest.

Acchan announced it during the spring and graduated in August, Itano announced it February 1st and has not announced a date yet (but stated it would be this year..).

Some girls announced it the very same day they were graduating.

I guess it's pretty much left up to the girls. 1-2 months is common but everything has been seen, from almost a year to like.. same day.