Sadly it has been announced that Shimamura Uta has had her contract with Hello! Project cancelled and will no longer be a part of the group or the agency. From the official announcement of the news there were disagreements between her family and the agency that they could not resolve so H!P terminated her contract.
The group will continue on with the remaining members.
Announcement on the OHP (Japanese only)
From the start Uta has been my favorite member of the group so to have her leave so soon and so suddenly is a surprising blow. I still do not feel like it has really sunk in quite yet. I know I will miss her even if she was not around for too long but she made such a big impact in that short span of time. And with her contract being terminated that means zero chance of any kind of send off for her.
There is already a lot of speculation about the reasons for this but honestly I refuse to get into that. Unless someone comes out directly about the matter who is directly involved in it then I am willing to take the announcement at face value. I just hope that Uta will be able to follow the path she wants in her life and finds happiness with it.
I still love Country Girls as a group. Yamaki Risa has been a favorite of mine as well and Ozeki Mai has been proving to be a treasure herself. Inaba Manaka has been slowly creeping onto my radar and I keep hoping Morito Chisaki will find a way to break out and make herself more noticeable. And of course I have liked Tsugunaga Momoko since Buono! and Berryz Kobo so there is plenty of love still for the members of the group. And I still want to see where it will go.
Of course with losing Uta things will have to change a little as she was the front girl of the group so it will be interesting to see how they shift things around. And with her leaving so soon it will be easier to recover momentum for the group even though she will be sorely missed.
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