Fukuda Kanon to graduate from ANGERME and H!P on 11/29

[Celedam]

^

I read somewhee that the reason to change the name is that 'S/Mileage' was registered by someone else. Don't know whether it's true.

viewtopic.php?p=163864#p163864

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By the way, forgetmenots called it…

From the way that Kanon calmly went through it all, I feel like she might be the one more likely to be starting to think of graduation as a thing that might be sooner rather than later, especially after Berryz is gone.

viewtopic.php?p=163811#p163811

I found that while looking for the answer to the copyright question.

[aerosuffly]

Wow if that is true, it is very stupid that they did apply for a register trademark for S/mileage when the group was formed.

[Sohee]

I actually don't find it at all difficult to believe that her age is a part of the reason she choose to graduate. Kanon if anyone is annoyingly obsessed with her age and has referred to herself as "old" and "granny" and "old lady" many times only because she's 20. It's bugged the hell out of me tbh, but to see her say that she's been thinking of graduating now that she's hit 20 I'm not at all surprised. She does consider it to be really old after all.
Then of course there could be other things to it, members, name change, whatever, but I definitely believe that age is a big part of it too.

[Denki]

In the modern idol world, with the groups like Hello! Project, once you reach 20, you're already "old". Fukuda is for sure someone who sees that and already feels like it's her time to move on. Of course, it may take much longer for other girls to get to that point (ex: Aichan, Sayumin). I'm not even including Elder Club in the example because they were an older generation of idols that didn't wanted to move on, despite the pace of the idol world at that time. The thing about Fukuda (which I recently found out) is that she has recently been vocal about either going solo or producing her own idol group, so she isn't going to disappear; she just doesn't know what she's exactly going to do post-H!P.

Ayaka mentioned that she wants to graduate at 25, but I somehow don't see that happening. I, for one, hopes that Kanana (alone or with Take-chan) gets promoted to sub-leader during Kanon's graduation concert so that Ayaka can feel comfortable graduating from the group in the future.

[Sohee]

Being an idol at 20 used to be "old" but with the idol-boom being the way it is, 20 isn't as old as it used to be. There are many high-profile idols who are 20 or above, even within H!P. The thing with Fukuda was though that she kept going on and on and fskn on about it, which really just turned out to be annoying in the long run. In general I get the feeling that she has a very "old-fashioned" view of idols and while that's okay and certainly what some fans want, it isn't at all what idols these days are so.
As for Ayaka I can totally see her stick around til she's 25. She seems to be the type that really stands by what she says. Unless she gets kicked out or something happens, of course.

[resop2]

I think that Ayaka viewed Sayumi as a role model (a girl with a cute image who leads a group because of her age, who coasted for a while on her looks, but then worked hard to become a stable singer) so she would want to graduate the same age as Sayumi.

[Denki]

Which is why I specifically mentioned just H!P. Once a member reaches 20, they are on the older side, and they start thinking (or staff starts making them think) about graduating. Modern H!P's age limit is certainly 25 (there isn't a current member is have mentioned about staying over age 25). I personally like H!P's age limit because, by that age, the will be at an ideal level of maturity. Other idol groups are different. In AKB48, you might have girls who hasn't turned 20 yet and already announced their graduation because of their age, yet you have someone like Kojima Haruna, who is already in her late 20s and has yet to announced her graduation. Just thinking that if all Team Makenki acts was part of H!P since the start, someone like Sengoku or Morozuka might have graduated by now. It just shows how the limit is different elsewere.

All H!P graduations from legal adults since 2011
2011: Takahashi Ai (25)
2012: Niigaki Risa (23)
2013: Mano Erina (21, almost 22), Tanaka Reina (23)
2014: Michishige Sayumi (25)
2015: Shimizu Saki (23), Tokunaga Chinami (22), Sudo Maasa (22), Natsuyaki Miyabi (22), Kumai Yurina (21), Sugaya Risako (20, almost 21), Fukuda Kanon (20)

This year alone has been a lot more younger girls graduating, which is why it scares me. Since most of these girls have been in H!P for over 10 years, I have been afraid of what next year brings us. (I guess I should chill out about this. Lol.)

I guess, in Fukuda's case, no one had her suggest her to think about graduating; she already felt "old" and made the decision early on. One thing I don't understand is when people try to make it seem like she's leaving because of 3rd gen. Like, wasn't that a joint decision? Ever since her graduation announcement, I felt like the whole name change and 3rd gen was because she was already considering graduating, but Wada feared about post-Kanyon S/mileage. Kanyon is just so complex. At first, she appears to be very cold to her junior, but eventually, she ends up much closer to them than Wada. That obviously became appearant with Murota.

[aerosuffly]

None of the OG quitted because they felt "old" though. They quitted because they want to try different things, or because of injury, or because they want to take a break. She just feels old because she does not have the appeal the compete with the younger members. Ayacho is still having fun. She is quirky. She looks smart. She looks mature. Frankly, Kanon is cuter than her, but we, or at least I, like Ayacho more. Okay, I am super insulting to Kanon here, but this is my criticism for her. She is super smart and can read surrounding atmosphere very well. If she step up her game as being a senpai, she could be one of the best H!P senpai (see Sayu), but no, she rather wants to be an idol, which she think she cannot be anymore because she feels "old." Good thing is she understand herself and already have a new goal.

[Menno]

Kanon always had something that bothered her.

First is was her height, so often blogged on the long gone H!P Egg blog how she was trying to grow. I remember making a graph out of all the times she had mentioned her height. I guess her being a fan of Yurina had something to do with this. This ended up being obsessed by her age, which I agree is probably the main reason why she's leaving now.

The new girls might have played a role, but not so much them personally. More with the new girls debuting much earlier and to become instantly popular and successful. With Kanon's popularity having gone down over the years this might have slipped into her system, which could be the reason why she's feeling old. As an Egg Kanon was really popular, she really was the number 1 egg up to 2008. I remember seeing her for the 1st time in 2007 at one of the H!P Egg concerts, she really was the one with the most hardcore wota. Compared to Ayaka who was still pretty one of the back girls back then it has also been a complete reversal of popularity.

But then again, she's been part of H!P since she was 9 years old. When you turn 20 it's not that strange that you start to think about what you want to do with your life.

Berryz Kobo could also have played a very active roll in this graduation. Not like they straight up advised her to graduate. But talking about their future plans with Risako or Yurina might have influenced her, seeing that there is also a different future up close.

[Jessi]

Kanon has struggled to find her place in the idol world. I remember that period after the Cinderella revolution phase, she seemed a bit sad and quiet. I wonder if she was discouraged. I had always wanted her to become the new ace of the group, but instead they gave that position to Ayaka... who in my opinion is a lot less interesting. (A good leader, but as an ace... idk) I hope Kanon is alot more happy in her post-college pursuits.