Berryz Koubou have gone on indefinite hiatus as of 3/3

[Jessi]

Ai Takahashi was my favorite member of all of hello project, but when she left I wasn't really upset. After Eri/Jun/Lin Platinum Era was over and I knew it was time for Morning Musume to change. I felt the group couldn't move forward without Aichans graduation and was excited for the next chapter of Morning Musume to begin. It's kind of how I am super sad Michishige is graduating and I have grown so much love and respect for her, but I'm also kind of excited for the new generation of Musume leadership and for 12th gen to join.

It's like that with Berryz. I am sad to see them go and I love them to death, but I know that H!P is ready to graduate the group since they have been around 10 years now and the girls themselves have all matured. I am looking forward to what's next not only for Berryz, but for H!P. I see new groups being created. Country Musume and probably a new Egg group. I am excited to see what the future holds for H!P. I know we will love all the new girls just like we loved these girls. And it will be great to see the new generation grow and develop just like we've seen H!P kids and platinum era.

[Celedam]

I think it sucks more if someone you love leaves and then does nothing again with their life, their obvious talent and just slips away into being an average person again.

Please explain to me how "leaves the entertainment industry" equals "does nothing again with their life".

It's almost a cliché to say so these days, but real love means letting someone go and hoping they will find happiness in whatever they do. The "love" you're describing is selfish infatuation.

[danzarely]

What the mother fucking what for fuck's sake like no fuck this shit

OK - now that that is out of my system. *ahem*
I understand. I do.

They're not girls, they're women. In their mid to early-twenties. They've been idols, realistically, their entire lives. I can't even fathom what that means or must be like. It's all they know so they're probably bored of it and curious/excited about what REAL life means for them each on an individual level.

Let's be honest, having a MONTH off for these girls must sound insane much less...a life.

I'm sad. I've been with Berryz since I finally let them in my heart during the SweetS vs. Berryz feud (obviously, I was all about SweetS) - circa Koi no Jubaku. It's insane to me, but it sounds like it's what they want. Good for them.

[stam4o]

Don't know you guys but when a group like that releases a song about that group being alive for 10 years... it means something's gonna change. Even more if it's about an idol group

You see, it's because it's kind of out of the way.
I'm not a singer nor a musician, I have zero experience in the showbiz world and only have that little knowledge about it, but as an artist opening it's way trough the arts-world related to drawing, I've already acquired the artistic vision of producing each one's works. And it applies to most of the productions, even the most "commercialized" ones. Artists' way of making thins don't tend to mix up things like that. Personal achievements won't be included in the general production, it just won't work out very well. To put it simple, as an example, let's say we have "X" manga serialization, and it lasts for more than 10 years. The autor may include references to it on the front page of the chapter that makes it to the 10th year as a celebration, but he wouldn't include any references to it at the main story, because it just don't works that way. If an artist suddently mixes his work an life achievements it means everything is gonna change soon.

What I'm trying to say is that the fact that there's a Berryz song that actually talks about a certain level of truths related in a certain grade to the group, rather than following things with the "usual" stream, means that changes are gonna come. Like "No, seriously, who even sings about their past 10 years?". When you start valuing your past you're undoubtedly changing to some kind of new future. (Ugh now I'm not even sure I'm showing well my point ' )

An it's not only about the song. There's more and probably much more too. Little things but still things. Like the thing about their outfits(otaku_blue also mentioned something about it), like the overemphasis about their 10th birthday, etc, etc... My theory is that, not really recently, they actually decided to stop at some point and both sides managed to come up with an agreement between Berryz and UF of the kind of: "Girls, if you leave now, we'll be pretty fucked and it won't be nice, we need you, so we're going to let you have some more freedom, to the extent possible". So here we have the Berryz Kobou with some less energy but some more freedom we have had trough the past months.

And of course I can't tell "i saw this coming". I just came up with all this, but it could explain actually why I'm accepting all this too just too easy. Like "Oh!" ( ).

Anyway, with that, at least I can assure you guys that the next and last(?) releases are going to be great. Think that there's gonna be a certain level of truths related in a certain grade to the group in those ones...

[Starra]

The thing I hate most about graduation announcements (let's be real, this is essentially what this is) is that "fans" act really selfishly about it. I understand that the initial reaction is shock, but after a few hours, people should calm down and be able to think rationally about it (lol, rational thoughts on the Internet? Surely you jest!).

It's three days later and people are still being super immature about it. It doesn't matter if it's your first mass graduation or whatever -- grow the fuck up. These are adults we're talking about here, who are more than capable of making their own decisions, and if you can't respect and accept that, then to be quite fucking honest, you're not really a fan. If you actually loved and cared about these girls, you wouldn't be whining about how awful it is and how it's the end of the world.

I've seen a lot of stupidity surrounding this announcement, and it really annoys me. What part of "they've been idols for over ten years" do people not understand? Do people not realise how LONG that is? Or that most idols don't last that long?

[CaptainBerryzGiraffe]

^ There's a difference between accepting something, and being sad about something.
Some people can accept the fact that they are older now and want to move on to other things, but that doesn't mean we can't be sad that it is happening...
It's not like we're gonna sit around saying "YES. THEY'RE FINALLY GOING TO DISBAND, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOREVER!!!!" and then throw a party.

[Zunu]

Part of being grown up is in being respectful of the fact that people have vastly divergent emotional responses to the same event.

To some extent, we're hard wired that way. You telling someone to be more rational about an emotionally devastating event is a little like someone telling you on a blazingly hot day to just grow the fuck up and tan more.

[CaptainBerryzGiraffe]

I know this is a terrible analogy, but Starra, let's say god forbid, your favorite relative died. You are probably going to be devastated. Now, imagine someone coming to you and saying "They lived a long time, not many people last that long. You should grow up and stop crying about it." That's kinda what it compares to, except without the, yanno, terrible aspect of death.

And even so, if some of the idols do decide they want to leave the idol industry, then that is the same, in my mind, as them dying, because it's kinda like they just disappear.


(but whatever.)

[Menno]

The only graduation that really upset me was Sakichy's, I was really down that day at work. It was selfish because it happened just before my trip to Japan where S/mileage was pretty much on top of my itinerary.

But it's not the same as a graduation of a whole group of course. And that is something that hadn't really happened inside H!P, at least for a very long time. Country Musume wasn't really 1 solid group for a longer period. Melon Kinenbi was of course, but they got out of H!P with the big elder club graduation before graduating as a group. v-u-den was the last group to really graduate inside of H!P, but most people saw that as just a Rika side project. It was not the same as Berryz Kobo right now who have been 1 of the main groups in H!P for 10 years now. And for most of us here they have simply been here during our H!P fandom. And unlike Morning Musume, which is (almost) completely not the same as the Morning Musume 10 years ago, it's still is Morning Musume. With Berryz Kobo there won't be Berryz Kobo (except for the mandatory reunion concert in 2 years time), no younger generation to sing the old Berryz songs.

So I can imagine that people react a bit differently to this graduation then to any other graduations in the recent H!P history.

[CaptainBerryzGiraffe]

^ Thank you, Menno.
and whadayamean "except for.... time"?