Suzuki Kanon has graduated from Morning Musume。'16 and Hello! Project as of 5/31

[forgetmenots]

Helping people the way you would as a social worker or something differently is drastically different than making people happy as an idol. As mentioned the timing lines up with her going to college or pretty much her getting ready to study for the college tests for next year. Not all girls are Momoko when it comes to idoldom and studying.

[Zunu]

Awh man, this is so sad.They never gave her a chance to shine.

^^oh my wish was 2 singles ago. she was centre for a single that sold 150k~ that even had a music station performance.[/quote

a single where she got to be the center because she lost weight. Sad.

This is classic "moving the goalposts"/"no true Scotsman." Even after otablue points out how Zuk did get a chance to shine, you're like, no that doesn't count because she was skinny around that time.

I don't really think that's fair to her, tbh. She was probably really happy to be the center during a 150k single. Not sad at all for her. Plus she got other opportunities to speak on programs, and I remember when she came to NYC she was pointed out as being popular in the West. My friend, who knew pretty much nothing about MM, specifically remembered and mentioned that after the show. Honestly, I think she had plenty of chances to shine, and did, to the extent she was able. The truth is she was never one of the super popular members, in Japan anyway, but that's okay. She had a good run and is graduating with her head held high and a noble goal for the future. I know you're not really denying any of that, you just wish she had more of an opportunity overall to display the full range of her talents to a wide audience. And yeah, too bad that MM weren't half million single selling artists with all kinds of prime time tie-ins so that all their girls could get more spotlight.

But anyway, I think sometimes we can overemphasize the whole front girl thing too much. Just because we fancy a particular girl doesn't mean she's suited to be a front girl or more importantly, WANTS to be a front girl. (Just like with photobooks!) I mean, lots of us here adored Eririn back in the day, but she was never meant to be front girl material. She seemed to prefer being a bit off center, maybe because of not so much pressure or scrutiny to perform. It's like, not everyone can play quarterback, somebody has to play center, er, okay that's possibly metaphorically confusing I mean someone has to be left tackle and they need to be damned good at it. A variety of different roles together make a viable team, and those other roles shouldn't be thought of as lesser. They're all vitally important. A player can shine in any role. I think Zukki made peace with the fact that she wasn't front girl material, developed the strengths she had, and Up Front were fairly supportive in that.

Plus, like Amped said, the DVDs are important. A non-fan is going to pay scarce attention to anyone who's not actually singing the majority of verses. Like for example in E-Girls I really only notice that crafty-looking blonde girl, because she has a crapton of lines and the camera's always on her. And even then I've got no idea of her name. But a hardcore E-Girls fan is going to know all the members and be familiar with their personalities. Similarly in MM just because all of Japan doesn't see or care about the ancillary stuff like DVDs and radio shows, we fans know about them. We've had many chances to see her shine.

[CaptainBerryzGiraffe]

^To go off of what Zunu was saying, (at least from my interpretation) equal does not mean doing the same; equal means playing equally important roles in different areas, and Zukki's role was an important one outside of being leads in songs and dancing; she is arguably one of the group's best current personalities. Many people fancy her the funniest member and most charismatic, which is exactly something you want for promotion and stuff in shows. And, she is definitely good at being the funniest/most charismatic.

Besides, she's clearly stated that she just wants to make people happy, and it's clear that she's done that through her 5 years as a part of morning musume, so as long as that's happened, she's fulfilled her goal, and I have no doubt that she's happy with what she accomplished in the group.

[Amped]

from Hello! Station #155

Suzuki Kanon's graduation announcement
https://youtu.be/DLd9NzNd9zw?t=7m24s

[Amped]

Translation of Kanon Suzuki blog post about her graduation feelings
https://twitter.com/UpFrontLink/status/ ... 8924036096
https://www.facebook.com/notes/up-front ... 0348175882

[Amped]

Suzuki Kanon's graduation concert will be held at Budokan on 5/31 (Tamura Meimi's graduation at Budokan is 5/30)

source : FC members executive newsletter
https://twitter.com/mirakana/status/700255553247838208
https://twitter.com/rihoriho384/status/ ... 2149312512
https://twitter.com/hoso_fam14/status/7 ... 4730061824

[321BreakinOut]

Truly will be a sad day for me...

[Shoujo Q]

Just a sad end to May. Losing two big personalities like that back to back. :<

[Amped]

[Denki]

See guys? I knew H!P were cheap enough to have both graduations back to back. ;a;

Those will be the saddest 2 days ever.