Sato Masaki: Genius in Teal

I have been dreading this post for a while. I don't really want to write about this. Last time I did a post like this, nothing good came of it. But oh well, I guess Maa-chan does deserve my attention. 

Remember when I did a prediction on Inaba Manaka's case? I really really hoped I was wrong and that she would be back in no time. Yet she never appeared again after she went on haitus. Today I want to shine some light on Masaki's case and I really really hope she WILL be back anytime soon. 

First and formost: what has been going on with our 10th gen member?

Masaki has been having pain in her lower back for quite a few months now. She however did preform as usual, although fans noticed she was sloppy with her dance moves and sometimes she improvised moved (which isn't that unusual for Maa). Yet around the end of the year it was announced that Masaki would be missing some events and concert due to her back pain, which already had been diagnosed as lumbar herniated disc. This was the first time management/staff actually stated something was wrong with Masaki's back. Masaki missed all concerts until the 6th of january, when a new announcement was made. This announcement stated that Masaki had an appointement with the doctor, who told her to take rest. This time management actually stated that Masaki had been diagnosed with lumbar herniated discs back in June of 2015! But due to her busy schedule, she didn't have time to do exercises. Now Masaki will be absent until March and around the end of Febuary a new statement is expected. Masaki will also be out for the upcoming Morning Musume single, yet she is in their new song Morning Misoshiro, which is a tie in song for their Miso soup deal. 

This is the first time a Morning Musume member is a member, yet is not featured on a single. Most of the times, when members are injured, they are still in the audio recordings and often have close-up shots during the MV. Yet Masaki won't be in any of them. Ofcourse we all understand that she isn't able to preform or dance, yet it's weird that she is also out from the recordings. 

The good news, however, is that she didn't completely vanish, like Arihara Kanna and Inaba Manaka. Masaki is still active on her blog and seems to actually be in contact with the other members of Hello!Project and she still sees them. This is quite a big things, as most vanashing members were inactive on all fronts. 

Masaki already stated that she is not planning on graduating this way. She doesn't want to betray her fans like that and asks everboy to wait for her. She herself must know how scary it is for her fans to have her on haitus. 

We must hope that she is getting the treatment she needs and the rest. She should only care about herself in this time and make sure she doesn't do anything that might have consequences for the rest of her life. Yes we want her back in Morning Musume, but she really must take her own health in consideration, before coming back. I think we need to see the whole "not part of the next single thing" as a sign that management is actually fully letting her take a rest and are making sure she is doing the right thing for her health. Let's wait until the next announcement and maybe we will have this talk again. Now the next question is: Should I make a post like this on Aikawa Maho?

Get well soon Maa-chan!