354 Production

Congratulations to THE IDOLM@STER sound team at NAMCO BANDAI Studios! They claimed the top award in the sound category at the 2012 Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC) ! Three members of the team pose with the award below. Note that they are all being totally awesome by wearing the 7th Anniversary Concert exclusive iM@S Producer-style ANIM@TION EDITION neckties ! Mr. Nakagawa, Mr. Uchita, and the Sound Director, Mr. Ishihara, pose with their award The award was given for “Surpassing the bounds of game music, J-pop songs from a game.” The full description for why they received the award reads as such: “The light J-pop songs created by the virtual-idol producing NAMCO BANDAI Studio Sound Team have surpassed the bounds of game music, brilliantly achieving things such as: appearing as opening and ending music for a television anime, realizing a dedicated 2-day concert at the Yokohama Arena, and having character single CDs hold 5 spots in the Oricon Weekly Top 10 chart...

So it seems I only update this blog now when one of the iM@S idols has a birthday. This time it's Takane, also one of my favorites! Coincidentally, the birthday for Takane's voice actor, Yumi Hara, falls on the same day! So be sure to celebrate both of their birthdays today! As usual, you can get free wallpapers and such from the official site . Also, you get a birthday video from Niconico too! 【ニコニコ動画】【四条貴音誕生祭２０１２】 Princess Game 【アイドルマスター】

I've been away from this blog for a while, but I couldn't pass up saying Happy Birthday to one of my favorite iM@S idols, Yukiho. Happy Birthday! Yes, I know it's not the 24th here in the USA, but it is in Japan, so that means it's her birthday to me. Now go get the free wallpapers and such from the official site !

So I got THE IDOLM@STER2 First-run Limited Production Edition today for PS3! I was so excited! I would have gotten it the day before yesterday, but I just didn't get home early enough to pick it up from the post office. Anyway, I picked it up yesterday, and there was no stopping me. First, a shot of the box. The box it came in next to my 360 copy of iM@S2 When I picked it up, it was lighter than I had imagined, and I it seemed a little small to get an A1-sized tapestry in it, but opening up would show my fears to be unfounded. Unpacking it all, I found everything I'd hoped for. The contents of the shipping box I unrolled the tapestry and the poster to take a look and them, as I had bought the game specifically from Gamers to get them. They are pretty awesome. The A1-sized tapestry The B4-sized poster I also opened up the foil packet to see what was on my anime film strip. Turns out it's the same as the Gamers postcard I got with the set. I wonder if maybe ce...

I just saw the banner today about the iM@S Social Game (temp name) coming out at the end of November. Although I had seen the blog post when it came out yesterday, I hadn't gotten around to reading it and sorta forgot about it. Anyway, it's certainly an interesting idea, and I'm curious how it will turn out. It seems that there will be over 100 girls to produce, including the already present 765 Production idols. I do hope the 876 Production idols will be available too, but no news on that. It will apparently be on Mobage . You will put together a team of 5 idols that you will produce from those over 100 girls and you can do jobs with them, raise their abilities through lessons, and have concert battles with rival idol teams. So far, it sounds a lot like regular iM@S, but with a lot more idols. But then they say they're going for some kind of card battle type game. So I'm curious as to what they're going to do with that. I was already getting my card battle ID...

It's Hamuzou's birthday today! Also Hibiki's. Anyway, as usual, you can get all your wonderful birthday extras from the official iM@S anime website .

The first DLC for iM@S2 PS3 has been announced ! The video is below. So the most exciting part of that was the end! I'd read from ANN a few days ago that Miku was going to be iM@S2 PS3 as DLC, but I got the impression from the article that maybe she'd just show up in the DOTOP TV as a PV with her song, and maybe show up as a rival at a festival. But she'll be in S4U! as well! That's awesome! Ok, sure it's not quite as awesome as if you were able to produce her in the regular game, but it'll still be amazing to have her in S4U!. I hope that she'll work the same as the other idols and you'll be able to choose her songs, clothing, stage, and stage partners. Looking closely at video though, it looks like "World is Mine" is to be Miku only though. I still hope it means there are Miku versions of the iM@S songs so that you can still put her with the other idols on stage. I'm really looking forward to it. As for the other DLC, it seems like th...

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 con...

It's Kotori's birthday now in Japan! I hope she has a wonderful day filled with delusions! As usual, you can get the standard birthday wallpapers and icons and such off of the iM@S anime website's Special Page . Also, I couldn't just leave this with a post just about the birthday freebies, so I've also included a Kotori video I enjoyed from the recent 7th MMD Cup on Niconico. <a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15356768">【第7回MMD杯本選】カードキャプターな魔法少女</a>

So I couldn't let a iM@S x Sakura Wars video go by without posting it so here it is. I think it's pretty cool. Enjoy! <a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15515555">アイドルマスター　サクラ大戦 「巴里よ、目覚めよ」</a>

Yukiho is too cute! <p><a href="http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=21224577" target="_blank">ゆきほ</a> by <a href="http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=12404" target="_blank">い～どぅ～</a> on <a href="http://www.pixiv.net/" target="_blank">pixiv</a></p>

I just found out from her official blog that Yumi Hara (原由実) is afraid of dogs, even small ones like Chihuahuas. That's so cute! It's just like Yukiho, except it's Takane!

The official IM@S blog brings us new details on G4U! First off, Although the video has been up since the beginning of August, I never linked it, so for those who haven't seen it yet, here is the G4U! playthrough promotion video. G4U! VOL.1 will be on the beach, and as can be seen from the video, the featured outfits are swimsuits. G4U! VOL.2 will be in a school classroom, and we get two school related outfits, one being the school uniform, and the other being the school swimsuit. There are no details yet on further volumes of G4U!. As posted previously, G4U! VOL.1 will be included in the the PS3 [THE IDOLM@STER 2] First-run Limited Production Edition Special Box, while subsequent volumes will be included in the [Anime & G4U! Pack] for each anime Blu-ray. The IM@S blog warns however that like the Special Box, the Anime & G4U Packs will also be limited production, so to be sure to pre-order if you want to get the later volumes of G4U!. And it has been confirmed that a fil...

Official news on IM@S 2 for PS3 and G4U! Vol. 2 comes by way of Dengeki Online ! Some of it confirms what I posted previously, but there is a bunch of brand new stuff too. First-run Limited Production Edition (19,800 yen, tax included) PS3 Software [THE IDOLM@STER 2] Anime Blu-ray [THE IDOLM@STER Vol. 1] Complete Production Limited Edition Vocal CD [PERFECT IDOL 01] Newly commissioned novel Voucher for priority event ticketing Digipak case with commissioned illustration by Atsushi Nishigori Special Pin-up Box to hold all 9 Blu-ray volumes of the anime PS3 Software [THE IDOLM@STER Gravure for You! VOL.1] Soundtrack CD for [THE IDOLM@STER 2] [Monthly Idol Gravure VOL.1], a seasonal idol support magazine For Monthly Idol Gravure VOL.1, Haruka and Iori are the "PUSH GIRL" for it, which I'm guessing means they're the featured idols. As for the PS3 game, it will have a new song and a new costume for Ryuuguu Komachi. The song is 七彩ボタン (Seven-colored Button)...

Nooooo, if this source is correct, IDOLM@STER 2 is coming to PS3 on October 27th! Now I might need to buy it again! It will include all the clothing, songs, and accessories up through DLC catalog 3, and it will also include "READY!!", the new anime opening song. I wonder if it will include Little Match Girl? Anyway, I'm actually kind of sad that it's losing Xbox 360 exclusivity. Hopefully it'll be a good port though; I still want people to experience IDOLM@STER favorably. It might be interesting if it did some kind of hook up with the PSP versions to unlock stuff if you had their save data. I doubt it though. Update: After reading more stuff on the internet, it seems they will be releasing some kind of super edition of the game that includes a the first disc of the anime as well. This site says this edition will contain: PS3 Game "IDOLM@STER 2" PS3 Game "IDOLM@STER Gravure for You! Vol. 1"* First Blu-ray disc of the IDOLM@STER anime (Lim...

The IDOLM@STER blog announced that Bushiroad is releasing the IDOLM@STER 2 Trial Deck this weekend! It will include the GO MY WAY! climax card, and a the BK MANIAC event card. It will sell for 1,300 yen (tax included). Need to pick it up sometime! Go my way, whoo!

The IM@S anime website updated today with brand new info on the the series! We now know who some of the staff are besides the voice actors. They are: Original Creator: Namco Bandai Games (That was a given) Original Character Design: Toshiyuki Kubooka (Another given) Director and Character Design: Atsushi Nishigori Nishigori's Former Works: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (Main Character Design, Animation Director) Gurren Lagann (Character Design) Series Composition: Touko Machida and Atsushi Nishigori Machida's Former Works: Lucky Star (Series Composition, Screenplay) Tears to Tiara (Series Composition, Screenplay) Series Director: Noriko Takao Takao's Former Works: K-ON! and K-ON!! (Storyboard Direction for several episodes) CLANNAD (Storyboard Direction for several episodes) Lead Art Directors: Haruko Iizuka and Akira Takata Iizuka's Former Works: WORKING!! (Art Director) A Certain Magical Index II (Art Director, Key Animator f...

Earlier today on the official IDOLM@STER blog , they revealed that a new IDOLM@STER anime had been announced at "THE IDOLM@STER 2 765pro H@PPINESS NEW YE@R P@RTY !! 2011" event that same day! Further details will be contained in the March issue of Megami Magazine, due to be released on January 29th. The broadcast of a new IDOLM@STER radio show at HiBiKi Radio Station, tentatively called " Anime IDOLM@STER Radio " will also begin on that day. You can listen to a pre-broadcast commentary found there currently. Although many details will not be available until the release of Megami, all current info can be found on the newly opened anime official site , including the 1st PV below that was shown at the event. The site includes a countdown to the 29th, and for each day, a celebratory handwritten message from the cast will be added to the site. From what is provided in the PV and the pre-broadcast commentary, we can determine the following about the new IDOLM@STER anime...

THE IDOLM@STER 2 First Run Limited Edition Cover The release date for IDOLM@STER 2 has been decided! It will come out on Thursday, 24 February 2011. Pre-orders are slated to begin on 19 November, 2010 in Japan, which means they've probably already started, or will be starting very soon. It will be priced at 8,800 yen with tax included. There will be a first run limited edition version of the game with special extras. Once the limited edition version sells out, people will only be able to get the standard edition, so you should hurry up and pre-order if you want the special edition! There will of course also be pre-order extras as well. The details are given below. Illustration of the Contents of the First Run Limited Edition First Run Limited Edition Contents*: Sparkly package Specially commissioned promotional photos of the 765 Productions idols (Set of 4) 765 Productions employee identification card (includes employee no. + serial ID) If you register your serial ID...

The cover songs for the first set of THE IDOLM@STER MASTER ARTIST 2 -FIRST SEASON- CDs have been decided, and you can submit requests now for songs you would like them to cover for the second set of CDs. The first set of song covers are: Haruka Amami Sekai de ichiban ganbatteru kimi ni ( Original by HARCO ) Hibiki Ganaha Nada sou sou ( Original by Ryoko Moriyama ) Miki Hoshii Squall ( Original by Eiko Matsumoto ) Haruka Amami, Hibiki Ganaha, Miki Hoshii Tip Taps Tip ( Original by HALCALI ) The second set of CDs will feature Makoto Kikuchi, Chihaya Kisaragi, and Takane Shijou, and they are taking requests now for a song that each one will cover, and what they will do as a group. For those interested, you can fill out a request here . It's a pretty long application, and it's all in Japanese, but if you succeed, these three will sing the song you choose. Good luck!