It had to happen someday (Creamed Potatoes)
Morning Musume breaks the news (Kimono Edge Boy)
But- ! (Aoi♥Usagi)
Koharu’s going too! (Slasha’s Tatami Mat)

Continuing with Koha…

Private Laughter echoes my sentiment that modeling isn’t the best avenue show off her personality.  However, the fact that she has such a stand out personality compared to her groupmates made her an obvious choice for graduation.  For that reason PL wasn’t surprised by the announcement.

Sairo never took MM seriously until Resonant Blue.  And even though he wasn’t digging on Koharu at first, watching Kirarin Revolution totally changed his mind about her.  As the current lineup is the only one Sairo really knows, it is by far his favorite.  And he is sad that it will be coming to an end.

Usa-chan is another fan who was eventually won over by Koharu after not liking her at first.  Out of all of the members of MoMusu she feels Koharu has the best chance at a career outside of H!P.  She notes Koharu’s subtle maturity from a crackheaded, ritalin-addled youngster to a slightly more refined and mature crackhead.  Usa-chan thinks UFA is really losing out on this one.

Slasha hopes that these graduations aren’t a sign of something more sinister in the future, and he fears that at this rate there soon won’t be anyone left.  Ultimately he is not happy with all of the changes and feels 2009 has been a pretty dark year…

I don’t know if there is anything I can say that hasn’t already been said.  But I am sorry to see her leave Hello! Project as I have always liked Koharu and think she has been an asset to the organization since the day she arrived.  She isn’t the first member of Morning Musume to have a quirky personality, but there has never been anyone quite like her.  At 17, she has her entire life in front of her to accomplish whatever she wants in life.  And since I have always believed her personality to be a well-crafted act, I believe she will succeeed outside of H!P.  She will be a very interesting adult…

Koharu Ganbatte!