After scandal, AKB48 veteran Okada Nana announced she is graduating from the group

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After last week’s outing by “Bunshun”, AKB48 member Okada Nana (25) who was said to be dating fellow “Magi” actor Ino Hiroki (30) and prompting netizens to debate about AKB48’s love prohibition rule, the idol has announced she is graduating.

皆様へ 。 pic.twitter.com/f7YALX9zIy

— 岡田 奈々 (@okadanana_1107) November 23, 2022

Okada posted on Twitter, “I’m really sorry that I caused a lot of trouble with the weekly magazine. I’m really sorry for betraying my fans and hurting them. I’m sorry for disillusionment”.

In the past, another member made a speech about her scandal at the general election, and Okada also criticized it by saying, “We should change the group so that those who work hard will be rewarded. I want to do this!”, which resonated strongly with fans and increased her popularity and earning trust with fans.

But after being caught by a tabloid, this is what caused problems online with netizens accusing her of being a hypocrite and when her friend, AKB48 general manager wrote that management should reconsider the dating rule and Okada liking the tweet, this caused even more fans to become upset.

“I am full of regret that I have come to lie like this even though I came forward as a disciplinary committee member. However, there is not a single lie in my words at the time. I can’t help but think that I’m not convincing, but it’s true that I’ve been working hard on my idol activities for the past 10 years. I’ve been working hard on the AKB48 group, the staff, the members, and the fans. I truly love you all. I have thought about it carefully and decided to draw a line. I am graduating from AKB48. The staff told me that I didn’t need to graduate, but after many discussions, I made the decision myself. To all the fans and members, I’m sorry”.

But her supporters were also frustrated by the graduation announcement, saying how AKB48 veterans Minegishi Minami and Sashihara Rino never ran away from the criticism and endured it and became one of the group’s most popular members.

Okada joined AKB48 as a 14th generation student in 2012 and became active as one of the core members and one of the most popular members of the group.

In 2014, after being selected for the first time as senbatsu (main performers) with the single “Labrador Retriever “, she was selected 19 times by AKB. Centered twice in 2018 and in 2021. For the general elections, she increased her popularity with at first not being ranked → 51 → 29 → 14 → 9 → 5th place.

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