[News] SKE48's Mano Haruka and Yamada Erika to graduate

[pastil]

Announced at today's team E theater performance - Mano Haruka and Yamada Erika are graduating from SKE48.





So many graduations...

[sakura_drop_]

Really...too many graduations.... I'm not that sad about these two as I am about Ono Haruka  , but still... Good luck in the future, girls!

[SomethingWild]

[gekikarabuACE]

Noooooo! What's going on with SKE? Not even a week has passed since Haachan announced her graduation and now Team E is losing 2 of its members as well? 

On a side note, that will bring SKE five empty slots to be filled: 2 in Team S and 3 in Team E. I really hope Kaotan, Imade and Makiko will be among the girls to be promoted (assuming that management has plans to fill in those spots in the near future, of course). And actually regarding that... I'd hate to play devil's advocate but, in the (hypothetical) event that someone from KII announces her graduation as well, what are the chances that management is going to pull a team shuffle on SKE? I shudder at the thought.

[sakura_drop_]

^Please, please, NO SHUFFLE!!! 

[SomethingWild]

Two things about that:

1. I have always wondered to what extent Aki-P actually plans stuff or if he just executes his on the spot ideas and sees how it pans out. Does he have several long term master plans or does he just do what he feels like whenever he wants. At least AKB48 is never boring thanks to his crazy strategies 

2. SKE48 shuffle? Go for it.
- Team S feels like its been patched up tons of times (with Tsukina, Shinkai, Mori, etc) leaving and being replaced with various KKS (who are actually more popular now than some of its first gen members)
- Team E never really captured the hearts of a lot of fans. I think most of us know/like Kanon, Kinchan, etc, but Team E as a whole lacks identity.
- Some of the long term KKS are quite popular and the latest KKS generation has tons of potential. I could easily pick five of them to fill the slots.
- Team KII feels like a pretty solid team, but I would have no problem splitting them up for a stronger SKE48.

So yeah, rather than keep patching things up, I feel an SKE48 shuffle could be a very good thing for SKE48. Balancing out the teams in experience and popularity will benefit everybody.


edit: I made a SKE48 Team Shuffle Poll

[gekikarabuACE]

^ Those are great points, actually, and ones that have been on my mind too. Team S does feel like it's been patch up numerous times because of graduations, but I do think that the the KKS they filled it up with fit in nicely. Team E doesn't have their identifying trait to them, though I think it has largely to do with their lack of original stage yet. I'm pretty sure once they do, we can see what Team E is really all about. I think the one that would be getting the short end of the stick would be Team KII. The one thing that sets them apart from Team S and E is that strong sense of team spirit. Breaking up KII might break that spirit as well.

Actually, SKE's situation right now mirrors AKB's back in 2009, doesn't it? Kinda like how S=A, KII=K and E=B. Admittedly, SKE's caste system is not that prominent as AKB's to begin with, but I think the team dynamics will undeniably change (imo, at least. Team K was just never the same after the shuffle).

Anyway, what interests me more is how they would do about the shuffles. I don't see WMatsui, Churi, Shawako, Kanon, Kinchan, captains Rikachan and Umechan being taken out of their respective teams. But how do they divide the fan favorites of Team S (Akarin, Masana, Yuria, Kumi)? Where do the lolis of Team E go? Just how are they going to break up Team KII?!?

Lol! Sorry if I steered this conversation off-topic. 

[Datalanche]

I am mildly saddened by this news. Erikasmash seemed really cool when Team E was new, but she never really stood out beyond that initial hype. Probably because she never got much of a chance to, but that's kinda how I feel. Mano Haruka is all kinds of cute. I will definitely notice both of their absences. Any girl that's part of a successful B3 remake is a champ in my book.