[2017.12.31] Aikawa Maho has officially left Angerme & Hello! Project

[Solarblade]

Welp, seems that Maho decided to leave ANGERME and H!P - http://helloproject.com/news/7975/

[arcobaleno]

Aw, Maho.   She sounds so sad in her announcement, she truly did want to come back but her disorder is just still not there yet. I hope she will find peace and happiness, especially now that she is starting to be able to get out more often.
 
Someone on H!O requested a translation, so I translated Maho's part of the announcement in her own words:
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
It's me, Aikawa Maho.
<div> </div>
<div>It's been a long time, everyone.</div>
<div>It's been eleven months since I took a break from my activities due to my panic disorder.</div>
<div>Because I'm almost finally recovering, and the frequencies of the attacks lessened,</div>
<div>this spring, I was able to start attending university again.</div>
<div>I'm so sorry for worrying and causing you all trouble.</div>
<div>This time, I have decided to graduate from both Hello! Project and ANGERME.</div>
<div>The reason why is because I'm very fearful of things returning to the state I was in before, when I'd have attacks during my activities.</div>
<div>Because no one can know the timing of when the symptoms would occur,</div>
<div>I believe the other members and the staff were at a loss for how to best support me.</div>
<div>Due to this illness not having an easily established complete recovery, I'm not able to make what they call a "complete recovery and comeback."</div>
<div>More than that, I just can't worry everyone, make everyone wait, or trouble my members anymore, and, thinking of things further down the line, the result was me deciding on this path of graduation.</div>
<div>After announcing my illness, I thought I should become a little bit of strength for the other people who struggle with the same thing I do, or other illnesses, after hearing their stories.</div>
<div>Joining ANGERME from the Kenshuusei,</div>
<div>getting to stand on the same stage with the same S/mileage I had so adored,</div>
<div>and getting to meet all of you fans has made me truly happy.</div>
<div>I received so much warmth from everyone at handshake events despite having been a Kenshuusei for such a short period of time.</div>
<div>I'd receive a lot of comments on my blog updates, and always looked forward to reading them.</div>
<div>I'm truly grateful for everyone who supported me despite being inexperienced in singing and dancing.</div>
<div>I'm sorry I couldn't directly talk to any of you from the time of the announcement of break until this here announcement.</div>
<div>I'm so very happy for the time I got to spend performing as a part of ANGERME.</div>
<div>I'm truly thankful for everything.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>-Aikawa Maho</div>
</blockquote>

[momoirosaya]

Eh I didn’t expect she would come back. It’s always sad when they don’t get a proper send off though. I wish they would at least record videos or something rather than a blog post. It feels so distant.

[DonJuan]

That's really sad, Maho was one of my favourites. But I also didn't expect her to come back, unfortunately.

[Purin-chama]

It was announced on 12/31 that Maho had officially left Angerme. The news got lost in the 2017 news thead. Could someone move the few posts over to this thread?


Ayaka: https://ameblo.jp/angerme-ayakawada/entry-12340625197.html

Moe: https://ameblo.jp/angerme-ss-shin/entry-12341156692.html


Unsure if any of the other girls posted about it.

[Meikochi]

Rikako posted a very long and touching post about Maho.

[TicTacAnyone]

We were all hoping it wouldn't come to this Q_Q

[yuzuriha]

I honestly keep ignoring and consequently forgetting this news. ;_;

[Madara]

I'm not surprised at all at this news, but it's sad nonetheless. I would much rather she had managed to recover and return to performing. I really liked her.
 
Did UpFront provide a therapist at all? I'm guessing no, since that doesn't appear to be part of their organizational model. Would it hurt to hire someone to serve that function when needed?
 
Here's a shot of her from the end of the Girls Live episode I watched on my first Friday night in Japan nearly two years ago:
 

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Myst" data-cid="212249" data-time="1515798040">The news got lost in the 2017 news thead. Could someone move the few posts over to this thread?</blockquote>Done.