Just saw a post about Sayu's comment over Koharu's graduation during her weekly radio show last week on a fansite.I'll translate the rest in a bit but I just have to post what she said in her 1st few lines.
ORIGINAL POST
“さゆみたちが小春ちゃんの発表を聞いたのは、ファンのみなさんに伝える2,3日前とかで、さゆみたちもギリギリまで知らなくて、「あ、じゃあ3日後には みんなに教えるんですか？」「そうだよ」みたいな感じで。ほんとにさゆみもビックリして。まさか小春ちゃん！？みたいな。2年以上今の9人でいるから、そろそろ誰かしら卒業とか加入とかあるんじゃないかなっていう予想はなんとなく雰囲気的にも感じてたんですけど。
話があるからって9人みんな会社に呼び出されて、「ケータイ切って」とかマネージャさんに言われて、これはなんか大事な話だと思って。
さゆみが予想したのは普通に考えて、リーダーの愛ちゃんかなとか、9期メンバーを入れますとか、そういう感じかと思ったら、まさかの小春ちゃんだったんで・・・。本当に今までで一番衝撃的な発表だったかもしれないですね。
TRANSLATED POST
Sayumi and others only heard about Koharu's last minute announcement 2,3 days before the fans,so they thought "So we must tell the fans in 3 days time then?"Sayumi was also surprised. For this 9 people who's together for 2 years,gradually the expectations about who's going to graduate,who's going to join sufficed,which for some reason can be felt within the atmosphere.
All 9 members was summoned back to the company on the day the announcement was said."Turn off your cellphone" said the manager.It was clear that something big was about to happen.Sayumi had just lightly considered.Was it something to do with Ai-chan the leader?Was it the inclusion of the 9th gen member?She never expected it to be Koharu ... until now that was the biggest shock to her.
---------------------------------------------------
Ok assuming that my translation is more or less correct with just a few errors here and there ... there's a couple of things that pop out.
1.The members only knew about Koharu's graduation announcement 3 days before the start of their Autumn concert,which means they knew it on 16th September.So this graduation decision is indeed a hasty one since it doesn't make sense to hide stuff like this from your own colleagues regardless of whether it's an appropriate time or not.
2.When it comes to graduation "candidates" Takahashi Ai is indeed one of the leading personnel.Neutral fans think Ai-chan is the next to depart.Highly local fans have a gut feeling that Ai-chan could be the next to go.And now even a member within Momosu itself thinks that if there's someone ready to graduate and start their own solo career,it'll be Ai-chan.
So 3 days to shake off any disappointment and disbelief before they start their live tour.And the nature of Koha's graduation,in which her's was announced at the start of the same tour of which she'll graduate out from,which compared to other members whose graduation is announced at the end of the tour before the one they'll graduate from,does indeed raise speculations over the reasons behind her graduation again.
1.If she is indeed involved in a scandal then she'll be withdrawed/forfeited from the group instantly,rather than being granted a graduation ceremony.But since she is continuing on the children morning show Oha Star! ... I honestly doubt it's anything to do with pregnancy or "BGR".Role models.For aspiring kids growing up. A lady who's pregnant with a child even before she went though 成人式(Coming-of-age) really isn't a fine example for aspiring elementary school students right?
2.To decide on the graduation just 3 days out of the tour,and emphasizing that he was the one who decided to graduate Koharu,producer Tsunku is being coerced at gun-point(?) by UFA to remove Koharu and "accept the blame" because her post-Kirarin sales isn't doing as well as they want it to be?Just a speculation.
I could probably spend the time typing all those random speculations to translate the rest of what Sayu said but ....... oh well.
