Country Girls lose their Dancing Queen

It has been announced that Inaba Manaka has graduated from Country Girls. She has been on hiatus since April because of issues with asthma and has come to the decision that she will not be able to recover to return to the group. She does still want to find a way to continue working as an idol and will at least be staying with Hello! Project to figure out how to do that.

Official announcement (Japanese)

It is heartbreaking to hear that another member of Country Girls will be leaving the group. Manaka always had an air about her that she loved being an idol so this had to have been a hard decision for her to make. At least there is some hope with the fact that she is working to find a way to continue on post-CG. So hopefully that means she will not be disappearing and we will see her at least once and a while in relation to the rest of H!P and UFP.

I am certain if she could she would have had some kind of formal graduation from the group. But from the sounds of it her health just is not with her at the moment. I hope she gets better soon and finds a reliable way to deal with her asthma so she can get back to doing what she loves.

That all said I am so grateful that she was a part of Country Girls. I do not follow the H!P trainees so everyone, outside of Tsugunaga Momoko of course, was a fresh face to me. Despite being one of the older members Manaka looked adorable. Following the group I got to see her love for being an idol shine through as well as her talent in dancing. She will definitely be missed and I am certain I will be still looking for her in the group for a while even though I know she is gone.

I wish her the best of luck in her recovery and forging the new path she has decided to take.