A Springs Fading Smile: Suzuki Kanon Announces Graduation from Morning Musume '16 and Hello! Project

Okay, so.... that happened o-O

 Please bear with me, I think my 5am brain is still trying to process what the fuck is going on right now.
It's not 6am as I publish this. WOW.

Suzuki Kanon is graduating... Yeah.

Okay, so to clarify (if 'graduation' was not enough to clarify), during these wee hours of the morning (afternoon in Japan, evening of the Americas), it was announced on the official Hello! Project Website that Suzuki Kanon of Morning Musume '15 will be graduating from both the group and Hello! Project come the end of their Spring Tour, in order to work in welfare.

An official translation of the announcement has been posted through the Up-Front Link Facebook page, of which you can find here.

"Thank you for your continued support towards Hello! Project and Morning Musume。'16. Kanon Suzuki, Morning Musume。'16 member, will graduate from Morning Musume。'16 and Hello! Project at the end of Morning Musume。'16 Spring tour. 

Kanon Suzuki entered Morning Musume。 as a member of the 9th generation in 2011 and then performed for more than 5 years. She reported last year “I want to study to have a work related to the welfare”. After a discussion, it came to the conclusion of graduating at the end of the Spring Concert Tour of 2016. 

After her graduation she will follow another road, but I think she can take advantage of those 5 years of activities and experiences and she voluntary leaves with her own cheerfulness character and smile, and we will support her. 

During the remaining time until her graduation, she will try her best more and more as a Morning Musume。’16. Please continue to support Morning Musume。’16 and Kanon Suzuki. 

February 7th 2016UP-FRONT PROMOTIONRepresentative DirectorTakeshi Nishiguchi"

 Zukki's own version has been published through the same link.

"I, Kanon Suzuki, will graduate from Morning Musume。’16 and Hello! Project at the end of the Morning Musume。’16 Spring Tour. 

After I became a member, 5 years have passed, I thought about lots of things since last year about the current version of me and about my future. 

During those 5 years, I have been able to meet many people as Morning Musume。, I had many experiences and I have learned many important things about living.
 I became a member of Morning Musume。 I admired since I was small, and I believe through our activities we made many people smiled with our songs and performances. I do not know how far those feelings reached everyone but I really tried my best at the fullest. 

Since last year I seriously thought about my future, and since I was really small I thought "I want to help people" so from now on, what can I do? Every activities as Morning Musume。was meaningful and fun, and during one of them, the event "SATOYAMA movement", "SATOUMI movement", I have been in contact with people with a beautiful smile and I thought little by little it would be great if I can do the same work. 

There are many forms of "Being helpful to people"... but from now on, I feel strongly that I want to help people in another way, I want to make people smile, I want to make them happy. For this first step, I decided "I want a work related to the welfare" to go towards to my dream. 

For that reason, as a human I have to experience and study various things. 

Not as "Kanon Suzuki from Morning Musume。", but as "Kanon Suzuki", in order to live this life, I have decided to graduate to fulfill my new dream. 

I will continue Morning Musume。 activities to make those activities nourish me, also to cherish the time as Morning Musume。 and to not forget the feeling of gratitude I receive from everyone. 

Thank you for Morning Musume。'16 and for Kanon Suzuki. 

February 7th 2016
Morning Musume。'16
Kanon Suzuki"

... Huh.

Okay, so my immediate reaction to this was a 'what?' kind of attitude. Wide-eyed, pondering and processing it, thinking that it was no surprise and, weirdly, no tears of any sort. Then again, it is past 5am in England right now, and I am tired yet also battling many emotions from a crappy night at work; sadness has little priority here right now.

That said, it's been about a half hour since this news got out, and I'm starting to feel dread. Safe to say, I'm gonna be in tears tomorrow, because now two beloveds of mine are graduating this year, and in the God-damned Spring, no less.

Bye, semi-melted ice heart, it was good to know you beat a few times this year. I'll see you all iced and shiny this coming summer.

Really though, I'm not overly surprised that it's Zukki graduating next. Sad, yes I am, but surprised I am not, unless you count the timing, which yes, that surprises me, because I doubt any of us expected the next graduation from Morning Musume to happen this swiftly.
 Hell, I don't think I've seen an MM Grad this quick since the departure of Gaki months after Ai-butt left, and even then it was a longer period between graduations with those two.

Honestly, it does suck that Zukki's leaving, but I can't really blame her, either. She's 17, for crying out loud, an age where most girls and guys begin to think about potential careers they may want to enter in the future. She's had five years with both Hello! Project and Morning Musume, allowing her a decent amount of time to gain good work ethic as well as wonderful experience in a variety of areas, and she has seen both the good and the bad sides of the Entertainment Industry. Like Riho and her peers before, after and around her, she has experienced a lot in half a decade, and now she's chosen now to be the time she wants to move on. So yeah, I don't blame her; if you ask me, she's making a good decision.
 I won't lie though; I'll miss the crap out of her.

Zukki, sweet girl, was my favourite Morning Musume member, often rivaling for affection with Eripon, and at one point she had been my Top Idol. Since about a year ago things have changed and my love for Hello! Project and Morning Musume has skewed, but I will never forget the love and joy this girl brought me; she still makes me smile now, and I would totally cry if I ever had the chance to shake her hand (no chance of that now, aye?). I adore this girl, and nothing will ever stop me from adoring her, because Zukki will, forever and always, hold a place in my dark, dank heart.
 For me, she is the light of the Idol World, and I will miss her to Heaven and back.

She is a very important Idol to me. Like Gaki and Eripon, Ono Erena and Ayase Miho, she is an Idol I think highly of and adore.

I'm not crying now, but I know I will eventually, because it's freakin' Zukki. She has brought me so much since becoming an Idol fan, and I do know that, come her Graduation Day, I might just be a blubbering wreck, because for a very long time she was #1 in my heart.

I'm numb now, and I feel turmoil. I think the news is finally sinking in properly, and I am grasping what it all truly means. Tomorrow I will feel worse, but I know that Graduations happen, and that they are there for a reason. Zukki needs to move on, and honestly, I do too. I will always love her, but I do accept her departure. It is what I can do as a fan, as well as to continue supporting Morning Musume '16 here on out once she has left us for good.

Zukki is beautiful, and Zukki is strong. She's put up with so much, and now she will take her final path with Morning Musume '16. For five years now, Suzuki Kanon has graced us with her smile, her talent and her beauty, and for the future, she will continue to grace others with all of these things, continuously working in high spirits and a full smile.

But, until that day arrives, let's all simply treasure the time we have with Zukki. Sure, it'll be bittersweet, but at least we have the comfort of knowing that her Graduation won't feel rushed or sudden in any way. For all us Zukki fans, we will at least be able to watch over her for just a little bit longer.

Until next time.

Chiima