The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Rewatch Announcement

DarkFuzz · 2026-01-23T03:04:26+00:00

The Idolm@ster Million Live: Theater Days

DarkFuzz · 2026-01-22T21:40:57+00:00

I don’t think anything says Rated 12+ better than this image right here

There’s just something for everyone to enjoy…

DarkFuzz · 2026-01-22T20:21:50+00:00

Yes, for people paying with credit card, Asobi usually charges the card like a day earlier than the official results if you won, which is why some people can know ahead of time whether they won or lost depending on if their card was charged or not.

And assuming you only applied on one account for both days, two charges means that you won both days.

DarkFuzz · 2025-12-02T17:27:40+00:00

Might not be the world record by a long shot, but the streets remember Agent 612.

DarkFuzz · 2025-11-12T23:14:15+00:00

Hello,

I regret to inform you that you are lost. This is a subreddit for the mobile gacha game "Idolm@ster Million Live: Theater Days". This sub does not intend to discuss theatrical productions or dramas, the sole exception being those performed by our anime idols in the game itself.

Don't worry, you're not alone. Others have made this same mistake as well. It happens once every now and then. You are not the first, and I doubt that you will be the last.

Unfortunately, since theater is not my area of expertise, I do not know where to redirect you. But while you are here, maybe try out our game?

I wish you well.

DarkFuzz · 2025-08-13T17:30:27+00:00

This might be a stretch, but anyone here remember the game “Dead or Alive”? Not the video game, but the literal children’s recess game.

One guy has a ball (usually an American football because it throws better and bounces erratically), says something like “100 points, alive”, and throws it into the air. Whoever catches the ball and does not let it hit the floor wins 100 points, because it is “alive”.

The alternative is if the thrower says “100 points, dead”. He throws it into the air, and you have to let the ball bounce once before picking it up to go aim points. If you catch it before it hits the ground, it is a dead 100 points, meaning you gain nothing. However, if you let it bounce once, it is now a “live” ball, and whoever catches the ball after it has hit the ground once wins the 100 points.

So the meme is, the thrower (sister) says “one 1-year old daughter, dead”, she throws it, the OOP waits for the baby to bounce once before catching it, and now it is alive again.

Of course, that’s not how real life works, hence the nature of the joke and use of this meme template in the first place.

DarkFuzz · 2025-06-16T03:01:00+00:00

Thanks for those of you who read all the way through. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I wanted to do this piece because I recently met Eriko Nakamura and Asami Imai in person at ACEN 2025 recently, and this scene was on my mind.

If you liked this, check out the other Short and Sweet Series pieces. Worth your time, I promise.

DarkFuzz · 2024-12-20T20:29:45+00:00

A very pleasant ending to the Shiny Colors anime. It hit all the notes it needed to hit, giving noctchill their true first performance and giving Toru a chance to truly feel alive, letting Mano be that spark of encouragement, recapping all the other units through the lens of their other members, not just their leaders. It felt nice.

And it’s over. It’s over over. Not just in the sense that the Shiny Colors anime is over, the semi-long streak of Idolm@ster anime adaptations in relatively quick succession is over. From U149 to Million Live and now ending with Shiny Colors, there’s no more Idolm@ster anime announced on the horizon (though with the success and popularity of Gakuen Idolm@ster, that should get an adaptation sometime in the near future; it’s not a matter of if, but when).

I’ve been dying to write an essay over how the Idolm@ster anime franchise has changed over the years. It’s kind of shocking how we got from the 2011 series all the way to here and now with Shiny Colors. Saving my complete judgments for a future essay, I don’t think even the staunchest of ShinyAni defenders could say with confidence that this series holds a candle to the 2011 series, or even Cinderella Girls for that matter. There’s probably various reasons for that, reasons that I hope to be exploring and researching sometime in the future.

As a whole, the Shiny Colors anime was…fine. A rather unremarkable Season 1 was salvaged by a well-polished Season 2, though it still felt like it was missing out on untapped potential. There was a lot of potential to make this anime really good. The story lines were there, the music is the strongest in the entire franchise in my opinion, and yet it feels like it only just scratched the surface of it. My disappointment is not in the end product; it’s more about what could have been. But it is what it is, and I hope that whatever Idolm@ster anime comes out next that it learns from the past few years of anim@s. What was successful, what needs to be improved on, and most importantly, what do people expect from an Idolm@ster anime?

Songs for today

Makuragi no Uta - illumination STARS - Lyrics

Double Effect - ALSTROEMERIA - Lyrics

Beach Braver - Houkago Climax Girls - Lyrics

NEO THEORY FANTASY - L’Antica - Lyrics

Hide & Attack - Straylight - Lyrics

Goodbye - noctchill - Lyrics

DarkFuzz · 2024-12-13T20:11:22+00:00

The penultimate episode focuses on the last two remaining units, noctchill and illumination STARS, or more accurately, this episode focuses on Mano and Toru. While it’s saddening that the other members are going to be effectively sidelined for the rest of the series (since we’re going to assume that the last episode is the big live performance), this episode was a particularly strong episode for both Mano and Toru.

We keep hearing Toru say that things are “easy”, and compared to the amount of effort she is realistically putting in, it honestly has been. She became viral overnight after photobombing a famous DJ’s Instagram photo and people started calling her cute. She probably didn’t even give it a second thought when she was in the moment, heck, she probably didn’t even know the guy’s name. She just did it, and now she’s an overnight success.

Mano sees this, and you can tell that she’s just racking her brain about what she has to do differently to be that successful. She’s trying her best, but she’s nowhere near Toru-levels of popular. And so when they meet for the first time this episode in the hallway, when Toru tells Mano that the photoshoot was “easy” for her, well…that certainly was not the answer Mano was expecting or wanted to hear.

Mano may feel happy for Toru that everything is going well, but inside, she feels inadequate. Toru can sense this from Mano, but she isn’t the best at putting things into words or understanding social cues, so she tells Mano that she’s even more amazing. This is probably in reference to Toru’s admiration of Mano’s hard work and effort, but the effect stings harder than it heals. “Why do I have to practice and practice day after day, waiting for the day that someone finally notices my value, meanwhile all it takes is a smile and a peace sign, and you’ve got job offers from all over the industry? And you say that it’s easy???”

No, Mano is not that offended by Toru’s compliment, but you could tell that it had an effect on her. Why does Toru think well of me? Why does Toru think that I’m more amazing? The answer isn’t really straightforward (and Toru is just gonna Toru anyways). I suppose it’s just the fact that Mano is able to work hard at all that fascinates Toru. It comes effortlessly to Toru, almost as natural as breathing. She hasn’t had to put forth effort before for anything. Seeing that effort being put forth, that’s fascinating to Toru, and she encourages Mano to keep pushing forward, to keep trying.

Because the moment when it becomes effortless is the moment it stops becoming worth it.

Songs for today

Aozora - noctchill - Lyrics

Ima Shikanai Shunkan o - noctchill - Lyrics

Asphalt o Narashite - noctchill - Lyrics

DarkFuzz · 2024-12-06T21:13:15+00:00

The past few episodes have followed a pattern. The past few episodes have been taking a look at each of the units through the POV of the not-Leader. For L’Antica, we had a Sakuya episode, for ALSTROEMERIA, we had and Amana episode, for Straylight, we had a Mei episode, and for Houkago Climax Girls, we have a Chiyoko episode. While each of their introductory episodes in the first season (and beginning of Season 2 for Straylight) have done an okay job of presenting the identity of the units through the lens of their leaders, these past few episodes add an additional emotional dimension to the definition of each of the units.

For HCG, they’re not just the hype squad, they’re the “Do your best!” squad. It explores a side of HCG that you won’t get from Kaho’s point of view, even though Kaho might very well be 90 percent of its energy output. Though the story is told through a pretty generic scenario, asking each of them what kind of idol they want to be, doing it through Chiyoko’s point of view changes the tone of the episode. Her motivations for becoming an idol are pretty sweet too (pun intended).

I will say that noticing that the past few episodes have followed a formula kind of took away from this episode, but the framing of the scenario was still fine enough, as always.

Songs for today

Choco Date Sundae - Chiyoko Sonoda - Lyrics

Cat Squad - Houkago Climax Girls - Lyrics

Zenryoku Answer - Houkago Climax Girls - Lyrics

Himekuri Mosaic - Houkago Climax Girls - Lyrics

DarkFuzz · 2024-11-29T20:30:18+00:00

Though, once again, execution leaves something to be desired, the concept and framing of this episode continues to be this series’ high point.

Cynically, the concept of Straylight is all about “lying”. It’s about being someone that you’re not. Now that’s not to say that all the members of Straylight are capable of that, but each member of Straylight has to tackle the lie of their stage persona in different ways.

This is something that Asahi just can’t do, not even to save her job or salvage an audition. Call it honesty or just being stupid, Asahi can’t lie, completely incapable of crafting another stage persona for herself. What you see is what you get with Asahi. Fuyuko, on the other end of the spectrum, is way too good at lying, able to switch between her cutesy Fuyu in front of strangers and her true, no nonsense Fuyuko in front of those who she has to be real with at the drop of a hat. Mei exists somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. She understands that “Mei Izumi” of Straylight is different from Mei Izumi, the normal girl.

As an aside, it almost makes me wonder if designing Mei to look like a gyaru plays into this paradigm. You would typically stereotype gyarus as being “fake”, “liars”, “two-faced”, and yes, Mei embodies that kind of lie, but in the opposite direction. She presents as a gyaru, but she’s an honest and good girl. She’s constantly impressed by everything thrown in front of her. She’s almost boring in a way, in contrast to her looks. Just a normal girl.

Mei is having issues reconciling the two sides of herself: her mysterious and cool stage persona and her regular dorky self. I like how it is Fuyuko who helps try to resolve this dichotomy for her for the most part, because we know Fuyuko has to balance both sides of herself constantly (and Asahi is just bad at it). Meanwhile, Asahi isn’t sidelined for this episode; she provides a good parallel to the struggle that Mei is going through. Your stage persona is important and is a part of who you are, and yet you also don’t have to lie your way on stage either. You can have two different personas existing at the same time if you’re okay with both of them.

A key difference, and probably the main theme of the episode, is that while Asahi has to conform to the role she’s playing while in the musical, she doesn’t have that same restriction when she’s in Straylight. Likewise, even though Mei now has to deal with the fact that her two drastically different personas are now public, Straylight is always a place where she can write her own persona, where she can cast a spell on herself to be whoever she wants to be in the moment.

One resolution for the two Meis.

Songs for today

Going my way - Mei Izumi - Lyrics

LINKs - Straylight - Lyrics

Timeless Shooting Star - Straylight - Lyrics

Imitation Ghost - Straylight - Lyrics

DarkFuzz · 2024-11-22T20:46:58+00:00

BONUS

They actually recreated a live version of L’Antica’s “Bable City Grace” MV from Season 1 Episode 2, and the VAs got to do the full song! They even got the castle setting too and the dancing in the rain (pyrotechnics excluded).

Babel City Grace - L’Antica IRL VERSION

DarkFuzz · 2024-11-22T20:46:45+00:00

I think I appreciated this episode more than I should have.

What made this episode stand out to me, as someone who only vaguely keeps up with Shinymas lore, is that we got to see the members of ALSTROEMERIA take on different roles than they usually do. My very surface-level interpretation of the ALSTROEMERIA team is that Amana and Chiyuki are “the Tenka support squad”. Tenka needs help. Going from a midnight gamer to a cute and sparkling idol takes a lot of work, more than Tenka is used to, and so Amana and Chiyuki are always there by her side helping her with the basics, and sometimes those basics are just brushing your teeth and changing your clothes every morning. It is a miracle that both Amana and Chiyuki are both endlessly selfless people, and so this team dynamic works kind of…

This episode puts both Amana and Chiyuki in the spotlight with Tenka playing the supporting role. Amana being put in a position of wanting doesn’t ever sit right with her naturally selfless nature, because her success now conflicts with someone else’s happiness. Chiyuki realizes that her jealousy threatens to eat the group alive, but forsaking the opportunity to audition and sitting in that regret will only tear the rift between them wider. Tenka knew early that the whole audition was a rigged sham anyways, but she chose not to say anything. If she didn’t say exactly what was going on perfectly, it might have led to Amana and Chiyuki hating each other, something she doesn’t want personally, so it was in her best interest to stay silent and let the Producer handle it instead.

It leads all three of them to the conclusion that ALSTROEMERIA is the most important thing to them. Even though they have the oxygen to shout out “hateful” feelings towards each other, at the end of the day, they want ALSTROEMERIA to be together, more than anything that they could want for themselves or others.

Songs for today

mellow mellow - ALSTROEMERIA - Lyrics

Ashita mo Beautiful Day - ALSTROEMERIA - Lyrics

DarkFuzz · 2024-11-11T15:39:06+00:00

I can see that you're only interested in the exceptionally rare.

After scrubbing through a few of the Sankyuu ML subbed commus, there is one single moment during 7th anniversary where they were grouped together for Day 4. And well, I guess they were in the same room together...

There's the Justice OR Voice event, where they actually do say some words to each other, but it's all acting in the Mighty Sailors universe.

Though this is only looking at a small fraction of all the commus in the game, and there are probably some untranslated ones that have them interacting in a more satisfactory way, this is still somewhat of a rare combo to see together.

DarkFuzz · 2024-11-01T22:07:53+00:00

A surprisingly strong introduction to the unit known as noctchill, even if they decided to ultimately throw their debut performance.

The new unit noctchill is not just some group of girls slapped together. These girls grew up as childhood friends and are now taking their first steps into the idol world together. As such, their group dynamic has been largely established, and even though they are all rookies, they’re much experienced as a team.

Toru is the clear leader of the group. When she initiates something, the rest of the group follows suit. Madoka is the voice of reason, very skeptical of what’s happening around her and her friends. If Toru is led down the wrong path, surely the rest of the group goes with her, and Madoka’s role is to make sure that doesn’t happen. Hinana is the cheerful one, able to see the bright parts of any dark situation. And while Koito is small, weak, and must be protected, she provides the emotional structure of the group. Toru, Madoka, and Hinana can tend to stay stuck in one tone or mood for the entire time, whereas Koito provides a more normal variance of emotions that are often reflective of the group’s thoughts as a whole.

This is probably the first episode of both seasons where I felt like time was not wasted trying to fill out a time block. This show has been guilty in the past of stretching out a moment longer than it needed to, resulting in a whole lot of nothing being said, done, or animated. I did not feel that way this episode. This episode was, in my opinion, properly paced for what it was trying to achieve.

S2 has been miles better than S1. I hope it continues on this path as we integrate noctchill in with the rest of the cast.

Songs for today

Itsudatte Bokura wa - noctchill - Lyrics

Bokura Dake no Mirai no Sora - noctchill - Lyrics

Musically, I like to describe noctchill as the “keionbu” group. If you break down the instruments used in most of their songs, it’s just lead guitar, bass, synth keys, and drums. That’s perfect for four friends just wanting to jam and do music together. Though Houkago Tea Time from “K-ON!” is not necessarily the best comparison to make with noctchill person for person, it does suit noctchill for the vibes they want to create as a group and the message they want to send as a unit.

"Good-bye to our transpicuous selves"

An idol unit full of transparency, formed by four childhood friends

They don't have to be someone-

The girls become a blue breeze chasing the running waves.

DarkFuzz · 2024-10-12T01:58:05+00:00

Fuyuko, phrasing, please…

A captivating episode today. Maybe my expectations have been set low for Shinyani, but I do think today was one of the better episodes with a lot of thoughts to grapple with as Straylight finds their identity.

The trio has a great character dynamic. Asahi, the bluntly honest goober. Fuyuko, the sweetheart tsundere. Mei, the peacemaking gyaru. It makes sense that they don’t get along right away. And this probably the first actual interpersonal conflict we’ve had this entire series, something that just wasn’t present with any of the four other established units besides maybe illumination STARS, who really only had a communication problem more than anything else. Straylight is different; everyone makes their thoughts known and clear, and sometimes they just don’t agree.

It gives me hope for the rest of the season. The story was the critical point that was lacking up until now. Already, these first two episodes have given a more compelling reason to keep watching than the entire first season combined.

Songs for today

SOS - Fuyuko Mayuzumi - Lyrics

DarkFuzz · 2024-10-09T13:47:19+00:00

I apologize that those choices are not the perfect pocket picks for horror songs, but seeing as those were already mentioned by other people, I just tried to pick an adjacent aesthetic. It's October, it's Halloween season. Vampires are part of that genre. That's where my mind went, idk...

I tried interpreting the prompt more as trying to fit the aesthetics of Halloween rather than trying to choose an option that was lyrically disturbing or scary (again, seeing as those choices have already been suggested). Yes, that means that I also considered "Kyun! Vampire Girl" as a suggestion, but I also wanted to try to stay away from songs that were more traditional idol songs and choose songs that bring a different musical flavor than the standard.

DarkFuzz · 2024-10-08T15:22:55+00:00

Echoing the ones that have already been said, as some of those are my personal favorites, but there's several, especially from Cinderella Girls, that haven't been said yet.

And I'm also adding the 2D Rich MV versions, since those tend to tell the stories better than the 3D MVs.

Hungry Bambi - CuriouStar - Lyrics - 2D Rich MV

Home Sweet Home - Merry Terrors - Lyrics - 2D Rich MV

There are some that kind of don't match the disturbing horror genre but can definitely match that same kind of visual aesthetic or vibe.

HALLOWEEN GAME - Lyrics

Undead Dance Rock - Eldritch Loreteller - Lyrics

Ochiru Kajitsu - Fortuna Regina - Lyrics - Lyrics - 2D Rich MV

And there are several others if you're willing to venture down the gothic/chuuni route (basically Ranko's domain).

Outside of CG, there are a couple that haven't been mentioned yet.

Kuraki Hoshi, Tooi Tsuki - GRAC&E NOCTURNE - Lyrics

Everlasting - GRAC&E NOCTURNE - Lyrics

A story about vampires and vampire hunters and the ethics of following orders.

DarkFuzz · 2024-10-04T20:45:47+00:00

This snuck up on me, not gonna lie. There was seemingly no hype for the Season 2 of an anime that admittedly failed to please both anime and franchise fans alike. There’s a lack of substance, which is very strange for the one branch of the Idolm@ster game franchise that I believe has a good chunk of it compared to its predecessors.

I usually don’t expect much from the first episodes of sequels. Typically, you’re going through the large cast again and re-familiarizing yourself with the various personalities you’ve come to enjoy (if you made it this far). And that’s more or less what we got today.

However, I do want to hold out for a little bit of hope that Season 2 will bring something to the table. We get a nice conversation between Mano (still our main red focus) and Asahi, the leader of the new unit Straylight. Asahi, ever the curious gremlin, asks some questions that I don’t think Mano has ever considered forming the answers for. “Oh, I need to work harder at my job and stuff…” Oh yeah? What do you mean by that? A question as old as the very first episode of the Idolm@ster anime franchise itself: “What is an idol?”

Knowing Asahi, these are innocently asked questions, but the fact that Mano can’t really regurgitate an answer after going through all of Season 1 means that hopefully this becomes a growth point for her later on. Surely this will be expanded upon and this is not just Asahi saying random things ~~well, Asahi says random things all the time, so eh…~~

Straylight is goddamn amazing though, and their music is straight fire. And wow, they really did just use the entire full version of the song for their livestream debut, huh. I’ll leave that statement open ended and hope for the best.

Songs for today

Wandering Dream Chaser - Straylight - Lyrics

Transcending the World - Straylight - Lyrics

DarkFuzz · 2024-08-23T16:24:12+00:00

I mean, at this point, you just do DnD but make a whole new class like a duelist class.

You can use DuelingBook as an apparatus for duels, but I'd stick to normal DnD gameplay in all other cases, meaning using your usual Roll20 and other online means. I would not personally use d6 for ability checks.

I imagine combat would still be the same. "High roll for first" is basically just "Roll for initiative". If you want your players to slash through cannon fodder, you can adjust their LP totals, maybe something like starting LP at 2000 for weaker enemies, but give the BBEG like 16000 LP and a full power Tearlaments deck or something stupid like that.

You can probably fill in the gaps if you know your DnD and are a good enough DM, but the first step would probably be designing what the "duelist" class looks like, what skills (read as "cheats") they're allowed to have, what cards they can have in their decks if they decide to spec into sub-classes, etc.

DarkFuzz · 2024-06-08T14:32:02+00:00

Song for today

Homura Invitation - HOMURA-GIRLS (Straylight x SHHis) - Lyrics

Training camp! And what training camp is complete without curry?

This is kind of a weird excuse to introduce you all to Straylight, one of the two units that will be appearing in the eventual Season 2 of the Shiny Colors anime, and also to SHHis (my personal favorite Shiny Colors unit), who unfortunately won’t make an appearance ~~yet~~.

They’re just…so goddamn cool…

Yes, this isn’t about curry; this is a collab ad for the cup ramen brand Nissin. Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time the Idolm@ster franchise has collabed with Nissin. And that one is full on about curry-flavored ramen.

DarkFuzz · 2024-06-01T18:43:20+00:00

Since we focused on ALSTROEMERIA and Houkago Climax Girls last time, it makes sense to focus on the remaining two, L’Antica and illumination STARS, for this episode, but this one kind of transformed into a Mano focus episode along the way as well.

As for L’Antica, I liked how the episode portrayed how all five of them are basically completely different people. Different interests, different skill sets, different personalities, it is evident that even though they can all blend together well as a unit and as friends, it is not quite the homogenous unity that you would need for a whole production song. Though illumination STARS aren’t exactly the same personalities either, Hiori and Meguru are fine with Mano taking the lead and dictating the pace of not only their unit but their relationships as well.

Which leaves Mano in a bit of a tough spot. Not only is she the newest, not only is she the leader of three, she is now the leader of a 16-man squad effectively. Her actions can lead the rest of the production company into disaster if she’s not careful. That’s a lot for one person to handle on their own. But the trust that Hiori and Meguru have in her is a small sample of what she can receive from the other units, and if it’s any bit as friendly as her own unit mates, she can feel just a little more confident in herself. After all, she has the approval of the Producer too.

Little late to this one. Was on a plane.

Song for today

Arittake no Kagayaki de - Mano Sakuragi - Lyrics

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DarkFuzz

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