Urano Kazumi, aka, CinDy, was a 1st generation member and part of original Team A. As one of the oldest members, she was not promoted much in Team A, normally staying in the back and never made senbatsu. In 2007, it was decided that to help the struggling 3rd generation, senpai members from Team A would be transferred to Team B. One of these was CinDy. Her determination led to her becoming a natural leader for the 3rd gen kids, who still respect her to this day; and thanks her prominence within the team received attention from management and fans alike.
Although never selected for AKB singles, her position on stage was good, she was able to join agency Ogi Pro, started a radio show, and in 2009 fans voted her 17th in the first election, making the Iiwake Maybe senbatsu. Also in 2009, she auditioned for the AKB unit SDN48, and passed. After SDN started activities, at the first group shuffle, it was announced that SDN48 would become a seperate group from AKB, and the current SDN members would graduate AKB completely.
Within SDN, CinDy retained her popularity, coming 5th in the sousenkyo for their first single, but was not selected for some of SDN's smaller singles. She had a hard time adjusting SDN, having a very cute and fluffy character, and coming from the childish Team B, to the sexy and adult SDN, and mentioned she and fellow Team B grad Kyururun even cried on some of the jobs they were sent on. (I feel her relectance to act sexy was the reason she fell from managements favour in SDN.) She still managed to get picked as one of the few cast members of DUMP SHOW, an AKB/SDN joint musical in 2011. She graduated SDN in 2012, along with the rest of the members.
During her time in SDN, CinDy, worrying about her future and influenced by her uncle, a pastry chef, spent a year in culinary school, studying patisserie. According to her she is qualified to open a cake shop if she wants.
Immediately after graduating SDN, there was a surprise announcement - CinDy would be joining Watarirouka Hashiritai 7, replacing her good friend Nacchan who recently left the group. Interesting since Warota was considered a 'loli' group, but fitting as CinDy was both Ogi Pro and Team B, just like the fellow Warota members. She was able to take part in Warota's final single, album, and concert, before the group disbanded.
CinDy has mainly concentrated on stage shows after graduation. In 2014, she gained another regular radio slot, on bayfm's Mozaiku Night. Also in 2014, she joined Onnajuku All Stars, an idol group composed of various idols of groups past and present. Unfortunately, the group only lasted a year before disbanding, but not before releasing a major debut single.
Recently, CinDy's work has been quiet; her radio show ended in Feb 2016, and her latest stage show was in March. Regardless, CinDy is still signed to Production Ogi, even after Team Ogi ended their contract with CinDy's partner in crime Nacchan. Her main work these days is attending various promotion events for clothing and makeup brands. And of course, making sure to visit Disneyland at least once a week.
CinDy is all over social media; twitter, instagram (not including seperate insta for her clothes and her dogs), ameblo, G+ and Snapchat.
CinDy is very, very close with Nacchan; the pair have been together through Team, to Team B, to OgiPro, to Warota. They still meet up multiple times a week, and sometimes get joint work.
She is also still close to her juniors from Team B, especially fellow Warota member Ayarin. She's even close with juniors who joined the group after she left, like Izurina. Of the first gen, she spends a lot of time with Yukki, as the pair both host radio for bayfm and attend similar events.
Chiru, CinDy & Yukki promoting Chiru’s album.
Yukarin, CinDy, Yukki & Nonti at a bayfm event.
Tomochin, Chiyuu, CinDy & Ayarin at a snidel promo event.
Nacchan, Hiipink, CinDy, Risa & Maimai at a lancolme promo event.
CinDy, Nacchan, Ayarin~ Those Team B bonds ;-;
CinDy is a member I didn’t pay much attention to in AKB or SDN, but after graduating she’s become one of my faves. She is just so pure and bright and lovely. I feel she’s happier now she’s doing what she wants to do now (be at Disney 24/7), as opposed to in AKB, where she couldn’t get the recognition she desperately wanted, or in SDN, where she was so clearly out of her element.
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Erepyon joined AKB in 2006 as part of the 2nd generation. She immediately gained a front-girl position in Team K, and at just 12, was pretty much the first member to be pushed with a 'loli' image. She had incredible unit positions, either centering or in 2nin units, released multiple photobooks and DVDs, had a surprising number of acting jobs considering AKB's initial less than stellar success, and even had the first solo AKB release, 'First Love', the Namida Surprise B-side. She also ranked in senbatsu in both elections she participated in. Initially, the kind of inclusion and push that would lead you to expect great things. However, Erepyon suffered that fate of all loli members: other, loli-er members coming along to she the spotlight. The arrival of the likes on Mayu, Jurina, Myao and Kitarie caused attention on Erepyon within the group to wane, although being part of Ohta Pro meant a steady stream of outside work continued. By the time she was 14, Erepyon had to start changing her image to the sexy type.
Things came to a head at the start of 2010, when Erena was dropped from Kouhaku senbatsu, and then didn't appear in Sakura no Shiori senbatsu either. Although it was later revealed she was filming a movie, her sudden disappearance prompted rumours of punishment from management, perhaps from a scandal, rumours that would follow her the rest of her career. Although she bounced back to senbatsu for Ponytail and Hebirote, Erepyon also suffered at the hands of the first shuffle; losing her best friends Kana, Nattsumi, Chiyuu, Nnacchi, Maachan, Meetan and Nonti to new teams, and receiving a reduced stage position in K6. Erepyon announced graduation in July 2010 at age 16, aiming to study acting abroad.
Recomended Songs:
First Love
Erepyon
Aa, Subarashiki Nyansei
After graduating, Erepyon released a graduation PB/DVD, then announced she was leaving Ohta Pro, and also Japan, apparently heading to the UK to study. Not much is known about her 'time abroad', as she deleted her blog. However, in December 2010, pictures of Erepyon on her friends blog revealed that not only was Erepyon still in Japan, she also had a boyfriend, one she may have been dating as an AKB member. As a ex-senbatsu member of the recently crowned 'national idol group', as a girl still with a loli image, and shortly after Rinatin's AV announcement, this caused more of a scandal than it perhaps should have for a member who had in fact graduated not just from AKB but from entertainment in general.
This also added fuel to the fire of rumours that Erepyon had actually been told to graduate. Other rumours concerned Erepyon's parents; that they had made her leave AKB over disagreements about contracts, money, and her declining position within the group; and that Erepyon's mother has leaked information regarding AKB to the tabloids in an earlier article. (btw, the friend who leaked the boyfriend announcement? 'Pamyurin' aka the model who would the next year go viral with her debut single PONPONPON, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu! And the boyfriend? Yumehito of visual-kei band AYABIE.)
In June 2011, Erepyon started a new blog, and announced a return to idol-dom, this time as a solo act. She signed with LesPros Entertainment, and for a while just did typical indie-idol promotions such as gravure and hosting web-shows. In June 2012, she released her debut single, 'Erepyon', which as very well-received and ranked #3 on Oricon. She followed this with a furthur two singles, ending the year winning New Artist award at the Japan Record Awards, the same year AKB won for Manatsu no Sounds Good.
Erepyon continued to release singles, all but her first written by herself, and often the theme for the various dramas she appeared in. Her first album was released in June 2013, and with it, another scandal, as buying three copies allowed fans to meet Erepyon and even hug her, which of course enraged the wotas. After her album, Erepyon focused on acting, appearing in various films and dramas over the next year. Her work slowed over the course of 2014, and Erepyon was missing from social media for a while. She released an ima.ge DVD in June 2014, which would turn out to be her last release, as she announced in July that she would leave LesPros and retire from the industry for good.
She continued with her twitter and instagram accounts for a while, but earlier this year deleted both, and now the only way to see her is the occasional appearances on her friends blogs.
Erepyon with Maimai after the release of her debut single.
Kaya and Erepyon, who remained friends after graduating. Kaya was one of the few who spoke up of her support of Erepyon’s retirment.
Myao and Erepyon, being similar ages, were very close in the group. The pair spent Halloween together last year.
2nd gen bond~~~ I mentioned this on s48, but Erepyon, Kana, Nattsumii and Kasai meet up ALL THE TIME. BFFs ;-;
Where are they now?
Hayano Kaoru
Kaorin (and her stage parents lbr) has been working to get into the entertainment industry since she was a child. She debuted as a musical child actress at 10 years old, and passed the AKB audition in 2006. At just 13, Kaorin was one of the youngest 2nd gen members to debut with AKB. She never seemed to make much of an impact on fans compared to Erepyon/Maachan combi. She generally stayed at the back of the stage, and never made senbatsu, although interestingly was picked for the Jump&Cry photobook senbatsu. Despite this, in February 2009, she was signed Toyota Production, and almost immediately announced her graduation from the group, stating she wanted to focus on training as an actress. She graduated at NHK Hall alongside Maimai and Nozofisu.
For the next few years, she had a few media appearances, on radio and in musicals, but not much. She returned to AKB for AX 2010, and Erepyon's graduation later that year, but after 2010 all was quiet for a long time. Somewhere along the way, she left Toyota Pro.
At the start of 2012, she joined seiyuu agency 'Fino Pro'. Or perhaps I should say, 'Fino Pro' was established to help Kaorin's career. As I said, Kaorin has some extremely dedicated stage parents. Fino doesn't have a website, only a twitter, which seemingly exists only to retweet Kaorin's news/tweets.
And in June 2012, it was announced Kaorin was to have a solo debut! Rather than attached to a big agency, she started as an indie idol, managed by her parents. She released three singles in 2012, worked on various game OSTs in 2013, and a furthur three singles in 2014. She has also been doing constant, constant lives, and growing a loyal fanbase. In 2014, she even performed solo as a guest at a Mexican convention. She is also branching into voice-acting, having acted for various games such as 'Madou Monogatari' and 'Idol Jihen' (which look surprisingly not-bad tbh), and she has a monthly radio show too. Her website states she wants to continue as singer/songwriter (she writes all her own songs), whilst voice-acting on the side.
In 2015, Kaorin graduated from Hosei University Faculty of Law, and immediately leveled up, announcing a major debut with Zero-A, a sublabel of Universal. Through them, she released her first album, 'Prelude', in September 2015. In 2016, she also began activites as part of idol group Dream4You. D4U is a 2.5D group, where each of the members is voicing an anime/vocaloid style character, but they also hold live promotional performances. Here are the D4U members introducing themselves, as well as samples of their music.
Her status with AKB is an odd one. She has wiped all mentions of her past with AKB from her website, blogs and wikipedia, and although she attends 2nd-gen meetups, and even came back for Yuko's graduation, she never mentions it herself.
Kaorin is especially close with fellow 2nd-gen Imai Yuu. The pair meet-up often, especially to go to concerts.
Kaorin is also close with Kaya and O-yay! For a long time Kaorin's blog was the only source of O-yay news D:
Lunch with O-yay!
Purikura with Kaya, Naruru and Maachan!
2nd-gen meetup for Yuu's birthday. Featuring rarely-seens like Yuu herself, Kaorin, Erepyon + Nattsumii!
Kaorin is absurdly active on social media. Her blog is here, and she updates every couple of days. She has two twitters; monica_et_noel is her work/idol account, nd shiningkaorurin her private-ish account. I know she only talks about AKB members etc on shiningkaorurin. And if you follow either, monica_et_noel and fino_pro will follow you back lol Youtoube channel maholoborecords also posts short versions of her MVs, and has a few vids of her live singing as well, so check that out if you're interested. Her main website is here.
Where are they now?
Oshima Mai!
Maimai (not to be confused with SKE's Maimai) was a 1st gen member, and was 18 when she debuted with AKB. Like many members, prior to joining AKB, Maimai was active in idol group 'C.T.D ~brand new~'. Thanks to her experience and training, even though AKB's concept is 'the members are rough, so you can watch them grow'... From the beginning, Maimai was basically perfect as an idol. Her singing and dancing, although not the top, were always confident enough to earn her a front position in all stages and senbatsu. But her real skills were MC, variety and interviews. From the beginning, Maimai was trusted with introducing the group, leading MCs in the theatre and at events, and was able to go on variety shows with the group, and by herself, and charm everyone, with no awkward or nervousness. She was even the kageana for the very first theater show.
The ease with which she promoted herself and AKB led to her being the first member to sign to an outside agency, signing with HoriPro in May 2007, along with Tomochin and Chiyuu. Through HoriPro, Maimai became a series regular on various shows and varieties, such as 'Radio de Culture' and 'Akko ni Omakase' (Current Akko semi-regulars from 48G include Yui, Sae, Churi, Sayanee, Milky, Umechan.) She had regular gravure shoots, and released a photobook. She became a third MC of AKBingo alongside the Bad Boys. And of course she always made senbatsu and had favourable stage units, and was consistently one of the top 5 most popular members in the entire group.
tl;dr: Maimai, perfect in every way :') "Don't mess with me just because I'm stupid! I'm a girl who can do anything, Maimai."
Recommended Songs:
Namida no Shounan [Maimai (centre), Mariko, Ayunee, Yukarin, Shiho]
Haru ga Kuru Made [Maimai, Chiru]
Heart Gata Virus [Maimai (centre), Kojiharu, Nozufisu]
Kioku no Dilemma [Maimai (centre), Yuttan, Nonti, Yukarin]
Maimai currently has a blog (updated pretty much daily), and she has also left up her old blog from her time in AKB, so you can see all her old entries. <3 She has a twitter where she chats with other members constantly, and she started instagram, and got a bunch of other graduates to join too.
I post basically all of Mai's interactions with other members, haha.
I've mentioned a few times how close Mai, Ayu and Yuki are. But they don't meet up so much anymore!
Maimai, with Yukki, Ayunee, Kaya and Risa and Ayu's birthday. Super close clique.
Maimai, Risa, Ayunee, O-yay and Kaya (and Hiipink) in 2013.
Maimai, Risa, Ayunee, O-yay, and Kaya (and Miichan) in 2008! Exactly the same as always. <3
And recently, Maimai has been spending a lot of time with the SDN clique. Not entirely sure why since they weren't particularly close before.
Hana, Hiipink and Maimai. Spend a lot of time drinking and going to concerts together.
Nonti, Yukarin and Maimai. Yukarin and Mai seem to have ~renewed their friendship~ recently lol, they're often together.
Where are they now?
Matsuoka Yuki!
Matsuyuki was a 3rd gen member, and at 19 when Team B debuted, was the oldest. Thanks to her English ability, she was pretty popular with international fans, but not so much with jp fans. She didn't receive many opportunities in Team B, with a generally poor position on stage, and never made senbatsu. She graduated alongside Gussan at the end of B3 in February 2009, the second and third 3rd-gens to graduate AKB.
Recommended Song:
Very important pic with Rinatin on her birthday!
Natalie.CPU girls, pre-debut.
With Nakayan at AKB's 5th anniversary performance, all the graduates were invited.
With Tanamin at the same stage. These are like the last pics I can find of her, other than a couple blog pics. ;-;
So, Matsuyuki is no longer active, and not attached to an agency. Her blog is here.
Finding info on Matsuyuki isn't easy, since there's a popular seiyuu of the same name. e.e
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Where are they now?
Inspired by the constant whining of AKB fans claiming all old graduates flopped desire to educate AKB fans who may find it difficult to keep up with graduate members!
Summaries of where graduated members are now, and where to follow them!
I want to try and post about all members, but there are some who are completely inactive and have no entertainment or online presence.
Complete
[Graduation date] Name // Generation // Team (at time of graduation)
[2006.03.31] Usami Yuki // 1st gen // Team A
[2007.01.25] Orii Ayumi // 1st gen // Team A
[2007.06.22] Imai Yuu // 2nd gen // Team K
[2007.06.22] Takada Ayana // 2nd gen // Team K
[2007.06.26] Hoshino Michiru // 1st gen // Team A
[2007.10.02] Watanabe Shiho // 1st gen // Team B
[2007.11.30] Masuyama Kayano // 1st gen // Team A
[2008.11.23] Ohe Tomomi // 1st gen // Team A
[2008.11.23] Narita Risa // 1st gen // Team A
[2008.11.23] Tojima Hana // 1st gen // Team A
[2008.11.23] Komitani Hitomi // 1st gen // Team A
[2008.11.23] Nakanishi Rina // 1st gen // Team A
[2009.02.27] Kawasaki Nozomi // 1st gen // Team A
[2009.02.01] Matsuoka Yuki // 3rd gen // Team B
[2009.04.18] Saotome Miki // 3rd gen // Kenkyuusei
[2009.04.26] Oshima Mai // 1st gen // Team A
[2009.04.26] Hayano Kaoru // 2nd gen // Team K
[2009.05.24] Naruse Risa // 4th gen // Team K
[2009.08.23] Saeki Mika // 4th gen // Team B
[2009.08.23] Urano Kazumi // 1st gen // Team B
[2010.09.27] Ono Erena // 2nd gen // Team K
[2011.04.08] Oku Manami // 2nd gen // Team B
[2009.09.xx] Kohara Haruka // 5th gen // Team B // check out shades' Kyururun post, she knows far more about ex-SDN than I!
In progress
[2009.08.23] Ohori Megumi // 2nd gen // Team K
[2009.08.23] Sato Yukari // 1st gen // Team A
[2009.08.23] Noro Kayo // 2nd gen // Team K
[2011.09.02] Mori Anna // 9th gen // Team 4
[2012.02.05] Hirajima Natsumi // 1st gen // Team B
[2012.02.05] Yonezawa Rumi // 3rd gen // Team K
Inactive/No info
[2008.09.29] Inoue Naru // 3rd gen // Team B
- Naruppe was a popular team B member, who received a lot of attention in the early days, and one was of only two 3rd gen members picked to be part of AKB's first tour. Graduated in 2009 due to her poor health, and retired from the industry.
[2009.02.01] Noguchi Reina // 3rd gen // Team B
- Gussan, a not very popular 3rd gen whom was known for being really, really weird. Add Kojiharu to KK and x100 lol. She graduated to focus on school and has never resurfaced.
I currently do not plan on writing about those who have graduated in the past two years (do you really need me to update you on Acchan/Sayaka/Chiyuu/etc's work?) but by the time I write all these enough time may have passed that it becomes necessary lol. If you really want me to let me know.
Where are they now?
Imai Yuu!
Yuu was a 2nd gen AKB48 member, and was already almost 21 when she debuted. In AKB she didn't get much attention, as she never made senbatsu and was relegated to big stage units like 'Ame no Doubetsu'. However, she got to be one of the 5 girls chosen to voice the anime 'ICE', along with Yuko, Erepyon, Chiyuu and her close friend Nnacchi. This meant she got to sing the OP, 'Aisareru to iu koto', which is one of my fave 48 group songs, so underrated.
She graduated in June 2007 to become an actress, and had some success, appearing as extras in shows such as Kamen Rider. However, in 2008 she moved agencies, from Jellyfish Ent to Versatile Ltd, before retiring from the industry.
In 2014, Yuu reappeared, this time trying again as a singer-songwriter under the name 優/Yuu. She has not yet released anything officially, but lives the typical indie artist life of performances at live houses, and also regularly performing on the streets of Kawagoe.
She has a monthly performance night called ‘Apple Pop’, where she performs along with fellow musician friends at Kawagoe Rotom. You can see footage from this here. It seems as well as drums, she is equally proficient at keyboard.
She is still incredibly close to Kaorin, whom she referred to as ‘her best frind of a decade.’
Yuu was one of the few members to get her own graduation song, which you can listen to here:
Yuu's twitter is thank_yuyu, and her ameblo is here.
Today I decided to vary from chronological order and skip to Nozufisu.
Where are they now?
Kawasaki Nozomi!
Another 1st-gen girl, Nozufisu was a middle-popularity girl who received little promo in AKB. She spoke three languages (she has the English/Spanish lines in Rio no Kakumei) and imo one of the prettiest girls to come out of 48G.
Recommended Songs:
Rio no Kakumei
Faint [Nozofisu, Tomochin (centre), Hana]
She graduated in 2009, and was one of the last girls to graduate before AKB's popularity boom after Iiwake Maybe/RIVER.
After graduation, she dabbled in gravure as a Sky Corporation talent, before moving on to have one of the most successful careers outside AKB. How? She's a businesswomen extraordinaire.
Whilst in AKB, Nozufisu started her own brand, ANTIMINSS, that she designs and models for (Yukarin also designed a special collection for her). She also opened a nail salon AXYZ NAIL, that was frequented by AKB members; a spa, API; and a dress-hire service Dress-du-diamant. She also published a book about her journey, from starting in AKB to becoming a company president.
She still appears on variety shows, and gives interviews, usually about her success in business. According to this interview, her company has earned over ¥100,000,000 since it was founded.
And the reason I wanted to talk about Nozufisu today?
She's just announced her marriage!
Nozufisu is living the dream.
She doesn't keep up with other members too much, and only follows Yukarin and Shiho on twitter. She did make it to Acchan's graduation.
Nozufisu used to be ridiculously overactive on social media, but has calmed down recently. Her blog gets regular updates, and she runs blogs, twitters, facebook pages and instagrams for the various brands she is associated with. She also has inactive gree and twitter accounts.
