The Idolmaster

This article is about the 2005 video game. For The Idolmaster 2, see The Idolmaster 2. For anime Idolmaster: Xenoglossia, see Idolmaster: Xenoglossia. For game The Idolmaster: Live For You!, see The Idolmaster: Live For You!.

The Idolmaster
Xbox 360 version cover art
Genre	Music
Game
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco Bandai Games
Genre	Raising sim, Rhythm game
Rating	CERO: C (Xbox 360)
Platform	Arcade, Xbox 360
Released	Arcade: JP July 26, 2005 Xbox 360: JP January 25, 2007 JP November 1, 2007 (Platinum Collection)
Manga
The Idolmaster relations
Illustrated by	Yumehito Ueda
Published by	Ichijinsha
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Comic Rex
Original run	March 27, 2007 – May 27, 2008
Game
The Idolmaster: Live For You!
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco Bandai Games
Genre	Raising sim, Rhythm game
Rating	CERO: B
Platform	Xbox 360
Released	JP February 28, 2008
Original video animation
The Idolmaster: Live For You!
Directed by	Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Studio	Actas
Released	February 28, 2008
Runtime	17 minutes
Manga
Puchimas! Petit Idolmaster
Illustrated by	Akane
Published by	ASCII Media Works
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Dengeki Maoh
Original run	July 27, 2008 – ongoing
Volumes	5
Manga
THE iDOLM@STER Break!
Illustrated by	Takuya Fujima
Published by	Kodansha
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Rival
Original run	September 4, 2008 – October 4, 2010
Game
The Idolmaster SP
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco Bandai Games
Genre	Raising sim, Rhythm game
Rating	CERO: B
Platform	PlayStation Portable
Released	JP February 19, 2009
Game
The Idolmaster: Dearly Stars
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco Bandai Games
Genre	Raising sim, Rhythm game
Rating	CERO: C
Platform	Nintendo DS
Released	JP September 17, 2009
Original video animation
Puchimas! Wakku Waku!! (spin-off)
Released	October 27, 2012
Original net animation
Puchimas! Petit Idolmaster
Directed by	Mankyū
Studio	Gathering
Licensed by	NA Funimation Entertainment
Released	January 1, 2013 – March 29, 2013
Runtime	2 minutes
Episodes	64
Original video animation
Puchimas! Takatsuki Gold special!! Harukasan Matsuri
Directed by	Mankyū
Studio	Gathering
Released	March 27, 2013
Episodes	5

The Idolmaster (stylized as THE iDOLM@STER) is a Japanese arcade and console raising simulation game franchise released by Namco (now Namco Bandai Games). The game follows the career of a producer who works for the fictional 765 Production studio and has to work with a group of prospective pop idols. The original game was released in Japanese arcades on July 26, 2005 and was ported to the Xbox 360 on January 25, 2007. The game has received many sequels, as well as manga spin-off series and an anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures, which aired between July and December 2011.

Overview

See also: List of The Idolmaster characters

The game casts the player in the role of a music producer who has just started work at 765 Productions, a talent agency. The producer is put in charge of one of its idols, arranging their schedule, communicating with them and training them for auditions and performances.

Games

Ports

The Idolmaster has been credited with making Japan's ratio of sign-ups for Xbox Live compared to the number of consoles sold as the world's highest. Over four times as many Microsoft points were sold on the date of The Idolmaster 360 release as on the date before it. The Xbox 360 version contains new songs and an additional idol, Miki Hoshii, for the player to work with along with the original idols from the arcade version.

On July 23, 2008, a PlayStation Portable (PSP) version titled The Idolmaster: SP was announced by the gaming magazine Famitsu. It is a direct port of the arcade game, but has three different versions, titled Perfect Sun, Missing Moon and Wandering Star, each featuring three different idols from the original arcade game to work with. All three versions were released on February 19, 2009 in Japan. The game re-introduces Miki Hoshii as a rival idol working for the 961 Productions studio, and introduces the new characters Hibiki Ganaha and Takane Shijou, also working for 961. The three together make up 961 Productions' idol unit Project Fairy.

A Nintendo DS version of the game, titled The Idolmaster: Dearly Stars, was released on September 17, 2009. The story takes place from the idols' perspective as they enter 876 Productions. The idols hope to make it big with the help of the current stars. Unlike other games, instead of taking the idols' producer role, the player portrays the idol themselves. The game includes Wi-Fi functionality.

Other games

A sequel titled The Idolmaster: Live For You! was released on February 28, 2008. A second sequel called The Idolmaster 2 was announced at the Idolmaster's fifth anniversary concert, and was initially released exclusively for Xbox 360 on February 24, 2011. The game was later also released on the PlayStation 3 on October 27, 2011. The Idolmaster: Shiny Festa is a PSP game released on October 25, 2012 in Japan. The game was released in three different versions: Honey Sound, Funky Note and Groovy Tune, each containing a different original video animation episode. The Shiny Festa games and their accompanying OVAs were released on iOS on April 22, 2013, marking the franchise's first localised release in English speaking regions.

There are also two mobile games in the series: The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, for the Mobage platform, and The Idolmaster Million Live!, for the GREE platform. Both games feature a card battle system and unique idols. In September of 2012, Nikkei Shimbun reported that Cinderella Girls earns over 1 billion yen revenue (US$12.9 million) monthly.

Appearances in other games

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (another Xbox 360 game developed and published by Namco) references The Idomaster in special paint schemes for the Su-33 Flanker, F-117A Night Hawk, F-16C Fighting Falcon, F-2, Su-47 Berkut, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-14D Tomcat and F-22A Raptor as part of downloadable packs of extra aircraft colors made available for purchase on November 22, 2007, December 20, 2007, January 31, 2008, February 28, 2008, March 31, 2008 respectively. The character Miki Hoshii appears on the paint schemes of the Su-33 and Su-47, Yukiho Hagiwara appears on the F-117A, Chihaya Kisaragi appears on the F-15E, Haruka Amami on the F-22A, Yayoi Takatsuki on the Mirage 2000-5, Azusa Miura on the F-14D, and Iori Minase on the Rafale M. A stage in Beautiful Katamari set in the Producer's office features a song by 10 of the girls titled "Danketsu". A remix was later made sung by all of the girls called "Danketsu 2010". Some of the characters in the game also represent the idols.

Some songs were featured in Taiko no Tatsujin series. Yayoi Takatsuki made a cameo in Namco's RPG Tales of Hearts as a Support Attacker by using a move named High Touch. Haruka Amami is set to make an appearance as a cameo costume for Mel in Namco's RPG Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X. The game Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology had several of the girl's costumes featured as buyable and wearable armor.

An update patch for PlayStation Home features Idolmaster slot machines inside the Namco Bandai hubs, where one can win special clothing to look like Haruka. A collaboration DLC package between Sega's Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd and The Idolmaster SP was released, featuring a Haruka costume for Hatsune Miku, a combined version of Ami and Mami's costumes for Kagamine Rin, and a Chihaya costume for Megurine Luka. The package also comes with "Go My Way!!" redone by Hatsune Miku and "relations" redone by Megurine Luka and Kagamine Rin. DLC costumes can be bought of custom Idolmaster outfits for the Namco Bandai game, Tales of Graces F and Tales of Xillia. In Graces F, Sophie, Pascal, and Cheria can have costumes purchased for them and in Xillia, Milla, Leia, and Elise can have costumes purchased for them. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon as well as the Ridge Racer series on PS3, PS Vita, and Xbox 360 also include DLC for The Idolmaster series.

Adaptations

Anime

See also: List of The Idolmaster episodes

An anime series set in an alternate universe called Idolmaster: Xenoglossia was made by Sunrise. Directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai, it aired across Japan from April to October 2007. The series centers around mecha and reimagines the ten prospective idols as fighter pilots of those robots, with eight of them posing as students. Xenoglossia has no relation to the games apart from its characters. A 17-minute original video animation (OVA) episode was included in the limited edition of The Idolmaster: Live For You!. The OVA involves Haruka, Chihaya, and Miki trying to reach Tokyo in time to catch up with the rest of girls in their latest concert after the trio gets lost in the middle of nowhere.

A second Idolmaster anime, produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Atsushi Nishigori, aired from July 7 to December 23, 2011 on TBS. The series is more faithful to the games, including being voiced by the original voice cast from the games. Whilst the ending themes differ from each episode, the opening themes, performed by the 765 Pro All Stars, are "Ready!!" (episodes 2-12) and "Change!!" (episodes 12 onwards). An OVA episode was released on June 16, 2012. Special OVA episodes were bundled with the Shiny Festa PSP game, with a different episode for each of the three versions of the game. The ending theme is "Music". An anime film adaptation, titled "The Idolmaster Movie: Kagayaki no Mukogawa e! (THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE 輝きの向こう側へ!, lit. The Idolmaster Movie: To the Other Side of the Shine!), is set to be released at some point in 2013.

An anime adaptation of the spin-off manga by Akane, Puchimas! Petit Idolmaster (ぷちます! -PETIT IDOLM@STER-, Puchimasu! Puchi Aidorumasutā), was produced by Gathering and aired in Japan between January and March 2013, also being simulcast by Funimation Entertainment. The series revolves around the 765 Pro idols as they are accompanied by super-deformed versions of themselves. An OVA episode was bundled with ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Maoh magazine in October 2012. The opening theme is "La♪La♪La♪ Wonderland" (ら♪ら♪ら♪わんだぁらんど, Ra♪Ra♪Ra♪ Wandārando). The main ending theme for episodes 1-23 is "Thank You YESTERDAYS" (あ・り・が・と・YESTERDAYS, A-ri-ga-to YESTERDAYS) by Haruka (Eriko Nakamura), Makoto (Hiromi Hirata), Miki (Akiko Hasegawa) and Ritsuko (Naomi Wakabayashi), the ending theme for episodes 24-43 is "Today With Me" by Chihaya (Asami Imai), Yukiho (Azumi Asakura), Hibiki (Manami Numakura), Ami and Mami (Asami Shimoda), and the ending theme for episodes 44-64 is "Maybe Tomorrow" by Yayoi (Mayako Nigo), Takane (Yumi Hara), Azusa (Chiaki Takahashi) and Iori (Rie Kugimiya).

Manga

The franchise has the following twenty-two manga adaptations:

• The Idolmaster Comic Anthology (アイドルマスター コミックアンソロジー), a two volume manga anthology published by Ichijinsha.
• The Idolmaster Anthology Comic (アイドルマスター アンソロジーコミック), a one volume manga anthology published by Fox Shuppan.
• The Idolmaster Concept Comic (アイドルマスターコンセプトコミック), a two volume manga anthology published by Enterbrain.
• The Idolmaster (アイドルマスター), published by Kadokawa Shoten.
• The Idolmaster -Your Mess@ge- (アイドルマスター －ユアメッセージ－), published by ASCII Media Works.
• The Idolmaster relations (アイドルマスター relations), published by Ichijinsha.
• The IdolmasterR Break! (アイドルマスターブレイク!), published by Kodansha.
• Puchimas! -Petit Idolmaster- (ぷちます!), published by ASCII Media Works.
• The Idolmaster Splash Red for Dearly Stars (アイドルマスターSplash Red for ディアリースターズ ), published by Ichijinsha.
• The Idolmaster Innocent Blue for Dearly Stars (アイドルマスターInnocent Blue for ディアリースターズ), published by Ichijinsha.
• The Idolmaster Neue Green for Dearly Stars (アイドルマスターNeue Green for ディアリースターズ), published by Ichijinsha.
• The Idolmaster (アイドルマスター), published by Ichijinsha.
• The Idolmaster Colorful Days (アイドルマスター Colorful Days), published by ASCII Media Works.
• The Idolmaster The World is All One!! (アイドルマスター The World is All One!!), published by ASCII Media Works.
• The Idolmaster Nemuri Hime (アイドルマスター 眠り姫), published by ASCII Media Works.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Rockin' Girl (アイドルマスターシンデレラガールズロッキングガール), published by Square Enix.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls New Generations (アイドルマスターシンデレラガールズアイドルマスターシンデレラガールズニュージェネレーションズ), published by Square Enix.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Ensemble! (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ あんさんぶる!), published by Square Enix.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Shuffle!! (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ Shuffle!!), published by Square Enix.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Comic Anthology Cute (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ コミックアンソロジー cute), published by Ichijinsha.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Comic Anthology Cool (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ コミックアンソロジー cool), published by Ichijinsha.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Comic Anthology Passion (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ コミックアンソロジー passion), published by Ichijinsha.

Light novels

Two novels were published by Enterbrain: The Idolmaster 1: Yarasagi no Senritsu (アイドルマスター1 やすらぎの旋律) on January 30, 2006 and The Idolmaster 2: Tokimeki no Summer Days (アイドルマスター2 ときめきのSummer Days) on February 27, 2006.

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• The Idolmaster Xenoglossia at Sunrise (Japanese)
• The Idolmaster anime official website (Japanese)
• "Wired" blog post about The Idolmaster arcade gameplay
• The Idolmaster (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia