Eight Members Announce Graduation from SKE48

At the end of the Team KII theatre show on the 15th January 2013, eight members of SKE48 announced their graduation:

Kuwabara Mizuki (Team S)
Takada Shiori (Team S)
Hiramatsu Kanako (Team S)
Akaeda Ririna (Team KII)
Ogiso Shiori (Team KII)
Ueno Kasumi (Team E)
Hara Minami (Team E)
Kobayashi Emiri (Kenkyuusei)

In addition, Yagami Kumi, appeared on-stage to re-affirm her previous graduation announcement. No graduation dates have been set yet apart from a vague spring timeframe. Watch the graduation announcement below:


These nine members will appear together in a coupling song entitled [Sore wo Seishun to Yobu hi] on SKE48's upcoming 11th single [Choco no Dorei], released on the 30th January 2013. The title of the unit is Tabidachi Sotsugyou-gumi which translates to "alumni journey".

This announcement came as a big shock to me - just the sheer volume at once. However, there was a rumour at the end of last year that a mass graduation from SKE48 had been postponed due to all the NMB48 graduations. With the way the nine graduates are getting a unit song together on the next single, seems like this indeed had been planned for a while.