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With all the graduations and groups disbanding in 2015, it may feel like the world of Japanese idols is in danger of falling apart but, that may not be completely be true. The world of female Japanese idols is fairly transitory, especially in the case of large groups and with so many of them active. Recently, it seems that some idols that were believed to have been finished have been reappearing as members of other groups. Here are a few of them:
Sometimes an idol will graduate from a large group almost immediately before becoming too established. While it is probably impossible to determine what their reasons were, it seems they are much happier in the group that they are currently in. At the very least, it’s a lot easier to stand out in a smaller group instead of having to compete with dozens of others.
Moe Yamashita – CAMOUFLAGE
One of the 1st generation members of SKE48, Moe only appeared in “Tsuyokimono yo” before deciding to graduate in order to become a graphic designer in December of 2009. She is currently a member of the Nagoya local idol group CAMOUFLAGE that was formed in 2012.
Maia – Chu-Z
Maia was an original member of Vanilla Beans under the name Rika from 2007 until 2008. Later in 2008 she joined Idoling!!! as a 2nd generation member under the name Maia Kobayashi but graduated shortly after to concentrate on her studies. Maia is currently the leader of girls’ dance and vocal group Chu-Z which was formed in 2012.
Other times an idol will graduate from a smaller local group and reappear in a more established one. This can have mixed results as some will shine in an environment with increased competition and attention while others may end up overwhelmed.
Misa Eto – Nogizaka 46
Misa was the leader and main vocalist of Oita idol group CHIMO before graduating in the spring of 2011. She joined Nogizaka 46 as a 1st generation member in August of 2011 where she has appeared in some of the A-side songs and many of the coupling songs for the group’s singles. Seira Hatanaka is another former member of CHIMO that became a 1st generation member of Nogizaka 46 but, she graduated in April of 2015.
Koume Watanabe – SUPER☆GiRLS
Koume was the leader of Miyagi rock idol group Party Rockets before graduating in December of 2013. She reemerged as one of the new members of SUPER☆GiRLS in February of 2014.
Becoming fairly common is the instance where a group will have several members who were previously in other idol groups. In some cases, this is because certain members wanted to continue working with each other but, could there also be cases where this is coincidental? On the other hand, whoever is in charge of producing the group would be foolish to not pick someone who has already established a fan base that they could bring with them.
Lovely★DOLL
In addition to former AKB48 Kenkyuusei Miyu Aisako and Yuriko Sano and former 1st generation NMB48 member Riona Ota, the current lineup of Lovely★DOLL also includes former Jewel♡Kiss member Rira (Lilha) Nakagawa and former TOKYO TORiTSU Kore de Iinkai (iDOL Street’s Tokyo group) member Arisa Yoshihashi.
GALETTe
Billed as a supergroup of the Hakata idol scene, the members of GALETTe seem to have been gathered for all over the place. Saki Shishima was a member of the Fukuoka group CQC’s and Nonoko was one of the ace members of Oita group CHIMO. Yui Komori was a 1st generation member of HKT48 who withdrew (along with 4 other members) in August of 2012. Yui joined the Yamaguchi prefecture group 10COLOR’S shortly after and became a member of GALETTe in November of 2013 before graduating from 10COLOR’S in December of 2013 to devote her full attention to GALETTe. Akari Fujita was a founding member of Party Rockets who had been a support member during promotions for their mini album. She announced her graduation from Party Rockets on July 16th and was introduced as one of the new members of GALETTe on August 9, 2015 along with Reina Noda (ex-Happy Dance).
These are just a few of the instances where idols will come back . This doesn’t include cases where they join or form groups after spending years being overlooked like UPUPGIRLS (KARI) or girls who will graduate from a group just to rejoin it a few months or years later like Ayaka Kikuchi, Shihori Suzuki from AKB48 or Eriko Jo from NMB48. This also doesn’t consider idols who previously failed auditions only to end up becoming more popular than the girls who were selected: Yui Yokoyama (failed SKE48 2nd generation audition) or You Kikkawa, Yuki Kashiwagi, Hikaru Watanabe, and Sumire Sato (all failed Morning Musume 8th generation auditions). Just because your favorite idol is graduating or the group their in is disbanding, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will disappear from the spotlight.
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