Happy Birthday Ryo, CHANGE!!!!, and more anime Blu-ray/DVD release details

So I've been busy the past couple weeks, so I wasn't able to update, but here's a quick rundown of a few missed iM@S updates.

First, is belated Happy Birthday to Ryo! His birthday was was on September 15th, as shown in Ryo's official character profile.. Unfortunately, there was no love for Ryo on the iM@S anime website, so you don't get the wallpapers, banners and twitter icons this time.

Next, the Official IDOLM@STER Blog announced that a new opening song will be used for the iM@S anime next month! It will be called CHANGE!!!! (Wow that's a lot of exclamation points!). The single CD for it will then be released on November 9th. It will have a first-run limited edition version in a Digipak with a DVD, which will at least contain the non-credit video of the new iM@S opening featuring this song. The first-run edition will be 1,800 yen with tax, and the standard edition will be 1,200 yen with tax.

Finally, there has been some updates on the details on the contents of the Anime Blu-ray/DVD [THE IDOLM@STER Vol. 1], gotten here. The first is that Vocal CD [PERFECT IDOL 01] that comes with the Complete Production Limited Edition will include:

• [I'm so free!], a new song by Miki, Azusa, and Takane
• [relations -JAZZ Rearrange Mix-], a newly recorded remix by Miki
• [隣に... -JAZZ Rearrange Mix-], a newly recorded remix by Azusa
• [君はメロディー -JAZZ Rearrange Mix-], a newly recorded remix by Takane

I'm looking forward to this, both for the new song, and because jazz remixes can be pretty awesome. You can listen to a sample of it here.

Next is info on the newly commissioned novel that comes with the Complete Production Limited Edition. Turns out it's going to be a story called [Kotori Working], authored by Tatsuya Takahashi working with illustrator Tooru Minaduki. Reading about this pairing on Wikipedia, it seems these two have worked together for a long time, first working with each other when they were in the same college circle, publishing a manga called [Dead End World]. They worked separately for a short time until Tooru, then working at Aquaplus, invited Tatsuya to join him from Taito. They worked on [Kizuato] and [To Heart] together at Leaf/Aquaplus, then left the company in 2000 to go freelance. Then in 2004, they got back together and formed the company PLAYM along with another comrade from their time at Aquaplus, Romyu. After making two games, PLAYM closed down in 2009, and Tatsuya and Tooru moved to Tokyo to work on a serialized illustrated column in an adult game magazine. Their most recent project together seems to be a serialized comic in Dragon Age called [Other!]. Okay, maybe that was a bit off topic, but after I started reading about it, I thought it was interesting enough to share. Anyway, I'm looking forward to [Kotori Working], not only because Kotori is totally awesome, but also because it'll probably be pretty cool with the Tooru/Tatsuya pairing.

Besides that, no more info from this source specifically on the Complete Production Limited Edition. Both the limited and regular edition releases will have an audio commentary track featuring the voice actors for Haruka, Chihaya, Ami/Mami, and Yayoi. They will also include non-credit openings and endings for the first two episodes, and the web versions of the next episode previews. The plan is apparently that they will release one Blu-ray/DVD each month, starting in October. Seems my wallet is going to leaking money very quickly over the next 9 months.

Note: This post was updated on 2011-09-24 to add links to sources, add a link to the sample of the vocal CD, and word a few things more precisely.