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AKB48's Atsuko Maeda Leaves Idol Group

An emotional Atsuko Maeda announced at a concert in Saitama's Super Arena on Sunday that she is leaving the idol group AKB48. 20-year-old "Acchan" joined AKB48 at age 14 as an early member.

Maeda has appeared in several live-action adaptations of manga for television. Her first lead role was in Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e ~Ikemen Paradise, a television adaptation of Hisaya Nakajo's Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e (Hana-Kimi) shōjo school romance manga last July. She also starred in the live-action film adaptation of Natsumi Iwasaki's Moshi Kōkō Yakyū no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no "Management" o Yondara (Moshidora) novel that same year. More recently, she played Jaiko in a new live-action commercial inspired by the Doraemon manga for Toyota Motor Corporation.

A character loosely based on Maeda will appear in the upcoming sci-fi anime AKB0048. The character "Acchan" will be voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro.

Source: Music Natalie via Hachima Kikō