In AKB48's 2012 general election, Kitahara placed 13th with 26,531 votes. She made her acting debut in the movie Graffreeter Toki, which was released on July 14, 2012 in Japan. At the end of the year, she was a cast member on the first season of the reality television show Terrace House: Boys × Girls Next Door, where she lived together with five other people.
On August 24, 2012, the first day of AKB48's 3-Tokyo-Dome-concert series, the group announced a reorganization, which placed Kitahara from Team B to Team K, and also made her a concurrent member of AKB48 and SKE48. She debuted with Team S on February 13, 2013. She was transferred from Team S to Team KII, but did not debut with the new team.. In April, SKE48 announced it was ending Kitahara's concurrency with the group, which leaves her only with AKB48's Team K.
Kitahara starred in the Japanese horror movie Joker Game, released on December 22, 2012. She also appeared in the drama remake, Kazoku Game, which aired on Fuji TV starting April 2013, as a girlfriend of a son of a prominent family member.
