Vice captain of Team G Yamaguchi Maho has announced that she will be graduating from NGT48.

Team G members Hasegawa Rena and Sugahara Riko will also be graduating on the same day.

According to her graduation notice, she mentioned that she can no longer continue being an idol. She mentions the handling of her assault, and how the president of the company commented that it was not an incident since no one was charged with the crime and told Maho to not attack the company.

She mentions that she wanted NGT48 to be a place for wholesome idol activities but can no longer continue being an idol. Maho added that she wishes that other members can safely continue to be idols.

Hasegawa Rena and Sugahara Riko have also announced they will be graduating from NGT48. They are known to be friends with Yamaguchi Maho.

The graduation concert for the 3 members is set for May 18th.

For those who might not be aware of the issue, here’s a quick recap of the incident:

After being absent from handshake events and social media, Yamaguchi Maho revealed that she was assaulted by two men in her apartment building during a SHOWROOM broadcast on January 8th. The incident drew worldwide criticism after she was forced by management to apologize for being assaulted, with management quickly moving to hide the issue.

However, the assault cover up has led to many downfalls for the group, including the city of Nigata (the city the group represents) cutting ties with them, NGT48 management being replaced, and damage to the group’s reputation in the public eye.

Yamaguchi Maho’s graduation from NGT48 is not surprising at all. She has been going through a lot since her assault and management’s handling of the issue is among the worst we’ve seen. Thankfully, she has decided to move on with her life and leave the group behind for her safety.

For NGT48, the move to “restart” the group and hope everyone forgets a member was assaulted is sure to cause issues. After all, people are able to remember what happened a couple of months ago and rebooting the group is not going to help everyone forget about the handling of the assault.

Maho we wish you the best of luck in life and hope you find happiness in anything you do. Best of luck!

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Natalie.mu | Oricon.jp