On August 26th, Maeda Atsuko gave a speech to her fans�during the encore of AKB48's final day at their Tokyo Dome concert, 'AKB48 in TOKYO DOME ~1830m no Yume~'.

Maeda tried to hold back tears while receiving an "Acchan" and "Atsuko" call from the crowd of 48,000 people.�She raised and lowered her microphone a number of times before slowly beginning her speech.

Below is a translated speech from Maeda:

-

"I was shy ever since I was small. Whenever someone talked to me, I would immediately hide behind my mom. It's a mystery that a person like me can stand in front of 48,000 people right now. I'm full of happiness.

Honestly, I'm very sad. However, it's the path I've decided for myself. I would like to take a step forward from here.

To everyone who has supported someone like me as a member of AKB48 until now, thank you very very much.

(Maeda keeps her head lowered during a minute of Acchan call.)

Please continue to support AKB48 in the future. I'm really a fortunate person to be able to start my journey with so much people supproting me from behind. AKB48 was my entire youth."

-

Maeda Atsuko's graduation concert will be held on August 27th at AKB48 Theater in Akihabara. The concert will also broadcast live via YouTube and Google+ so don't miss out!

Source + Image: Oricon