IDOLiSH7

is a Japanese rhythm game developed and published by Bandai Namco Online with music collaboration by Lantis for Android and iOS platforms, which first released in Japan on August 20, 2015. The project features character design by Arina Tanemura. ''Idolish7'' has spawned several manga adaptations and novelizations. An anime television series adaptation by Troyca aired from January to May 2018, and a second season aired from April to December 2020. A third season premiered in July 2021. The album ''Regality'' connected to the series became the first album credited to a male in-story character group to top the weekly Oricon Albums Chart.

Plot

The player assumes the role of Tsumugi Takanashi, an inexperienced manager for a new idol group under her father's small agency. The idol group is named "Idolish7," and consists of seven male members, each with their own unique personality and background. She must train and turn all of them into famous idols, all while struggling against the hardships of the entertainment industry.

Characters

Idolish7

A new idol group belonging to Takanashi Production Company. Their names contain numbers 1~7 in kanji. Their music symbols mainly consist of accidentals and dynamics.

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: The rational and brilliant member of the group. Calm and polite, he is able to complete any task flawlessly, but is actually fairly sharp-tongued when he talks. He acts as a secret, second manager for the group as he advises Tsumugi on what he believes is best for the group. He originally became an idol to help fulfill his brother Mitsuki's dream, but begins to really enjoy the work and people around him. He is still in high school and attends the same school as Tamaki. It is shown that he loves cute things though he will never admit it. 17 years old. His music symbol is double flat and he represents the number one.

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: The eldest member of the group and a big brother figure to the other members. He is IDOLiSH7's leader and is regarded as their "acting genius" with multiple people praising his skills. Although he appears to have an aloof personality, he is in fact very passionate inside and thinks about the other members of the group more than anyone else. He claims to hate the entertainment industry and only entered it to "get revenge" on someone, but has abandoned that motive after he sees how hard everyone works. Despite this, it is shown that he is keeping a secret. 22 years old. His music symbol is sharp and he represents the number two.

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: The energetic member of the group who always sets the mood and Iori's older brother. He is caring and has a chivalrous spirit. His dream is to become as big and inspirational as the legendary idol, 'Zero'. He originally failed auditions multiple times before he was accepted in Takanashi Productions which caused him to be insecure at times, but eventually he learned what his special skills are (MCing and comedy) and how he fits in to the group. He has a height complex as he is the shortest member in the group. 21 years old. His music symbol is flat and he represents the number three.

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: The dancing genius of the group, he has great reflexes and has a dancing level equivalent to professionals. Tamaki is shown to be quite emotionally driven and aggressive, but always has good intentions. He moves at his own pace, and is just a little bit loose when it comes to being on time and keeping promises. He attends the same high school as Iori and often has to be dragged there by him. He grew up in an orphanage after his father abandoned their family and his mother died of an illness. While at the orphanage, his younger sister Aya was fostered and therefore he lost touch with her. He became an idol in order to find Aya as idols are on TV or radio often so she knew where to find him. Due to growing up poor, he has a love for King Pudding which can be used to win him over quite easily. He is part of the sub-unit, MEZZO, along with Sogo. 17 years old. His music symbol is mezzo piano and he represents the number four.

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: The "all-rounder" member who is able to handle any song and dance with no problem. He is kind, selfless and reserved to everyone, but is the scariest member when angered. His selfless nature however has caused him to have difficulties expressing his emotions and his concerns when he begins to have a difficult time. He grew up in a wealthier family who disapproved of his love for music with the exception of his late uncle who inspired him to follow his dream of becoming an idol. Due to his rebellion, he is shown to have a strained relationship with his family. He and Tamaki form the sub-unit, MEZZO. 20 years old. His music symbol is mezzo forte and he represents the number five.

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: The visual member of the group who speaks in broken Japanese. He is half- Japanese and half Northmeran (a fictional northern European country). He decides to move from Northmare to Japan after he fell in love with Japanese pop culture especially Japanese animation with his favorite being Mahou Shoujo Magical★Kokona. He is fully confident in his looks, has a lot of charisma, and has a habit of immediately hitting on any girl he sees. Due to this habit, he has trouble making friends with others and deeply cares about the other members as they are his first friends. Despite his seemingly ditzy personality, he actually is very smart as he is able to speak 8 languages and is very knowledgable about political topics. 19 years old. His music symbol is natural and he represents the number six.

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: The center member of the group and is regarded as their "secret weapon." He is a very innocent and energetic, but is quite naive on how the world actually works resulting in him being a bit of a pushover. He is very direct with how he is feeling and can be insensitive at times as he is unable to read how the others around him are feeling, but is always there to help others. He has an unknown respiratory disease that has left him hospitalized for most of his life and prevents him from doing anything that is too physically intense. Despite this, he does not allow his illness to stop him and works very hard to become a top idol. It is revealed that he is the twin brother of Tenn Kujo, who left the Nanase family five years ago. He originally became an idol to understand why his brother abandoned his family to enter this business. 18 years old. His music symbol is double sharp and he represents the number seven.

Trigger

The rival group of Idolish7 that belongs to the Yaotome Production Company. Their names contain numbers 8~10 in kanji. Their music symbols mainly consist of clefs.

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: A young man who is named "Japan's Number One Most Desirable Man." He is the leader of Trigger and holds great pride in his group. He is quite competitive and blunt when he speaks to others, but truly is very cordial and caring. He places a great emphasis on family believing it is the most important part of life which puts him at odds with those who do not care about family bonds. He is the son of Sosuke Yaotome, the president of Yaotome Productions, who groomed at a young age to become an idol. 22 years old. His music symbol is treble and he represents the number eight.

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: The center of Trigger who is nicknamed "A Modern Day Angel." Off stage, he is serious and cold towards others due to his perfectionist attitude and the great pride he takes in his work. He is shown not to want to inconvenience others and values the hard work of everyone around him which is why he maintains a high level of professionalism most of the time. However, Tenn truly is a kind and selfless person who cares deeply about the people around him. It is revealed that he is the twin brother of Riku Nanase and that he left his family five years ago to pursue his dream of being the greatest idol. Despite leaving the family, he secretly cares a great deal about his little brother and always thinks about his well- being. 18 years old. His music symbol is alto and he represents the number nine.

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: The last member of Trigger and the group's "big brother" figure. Born in Okinawa, he moved to Tokyo in order to become an idol to make enough money to put his younger siblings through college and pay off his father's debts. He is marketed to the public as wild and sexy with a playboy attitude. However, Ryunosuke is the exact opposite of this as he truly is very kind, loving and shy. The gap between his true personality and his public image causes him to worry at times. He is shown to be the peacemaker when arguments break out. 23 years old. His music symbol is bass and he represents the number ten.

Re:vale

An idol group that introduced in the second chapter of the game. Their names contain numbers 100 and 1000 in kanji. Their music symbols mainly consist of repeat signs.

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Mostly known by his stage name of , he is the energetic and easy-going member of Re:vale. He has a bit of a mischievous side and is shown to be very observant of his surroundings. According to Yuki, Momo is the kind of person who can make others happy just by being around. He wishes to protect the people dear to him in any way he can, often ignoring, however, the care and attention he needs himself. He is secretly insecure about his abilities, believing he is not worthy to be part of Re:vale, as he is not an original member. He is the '' boke'' of the pair, constantly making off the wall comments. His music symbol is the left repeat sign and he represents the number one hundred.

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Mostly known by his stage name of , he is the co-founder of Re:vale as well as their songwriter. He has a cool and collected personality, but is often blunt which causes others to believe that he does not care. This is untrue as he is actually quite easygoing and looks after the younger groups, often giving them advice as well. Yuki is revealed to have been searching for his first partner for the past 5 years after he took a hit meant for Yuki and disappeared afterwards. Yuki is the ''tsukkomi'' of the pair, and follows through with interjecting Momo's Boke jokes. His music symbol is the right repeat sign and he represents the number one thousand.

ZOOL

An idol group introduced in the third chapter of the game. Their names contain kanji of animals from the Japanese zodiac—boar, dog, snake and tiger. Their music symbols mainly consist of musical notes with the theme of repetition and silence.

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: Zool's center who transfers to the same class as Iori and Tamaki. He is shown to be self-centered and demanding, believing that everyone is inferior compared to him. However, this all stems from his abandonment issues he has because his mentor abandoned him after he was deemed "unworthy" to become his adoptive son and his idol. In reality, he simply wishes to be an idol that everyone loves. His music symbol is Fermata and he represents the boar.

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: Zool's lead vocalist who used to be in another band called NO_MAD. He is shown to have a strong hate for popular idols and for fans of popular idols as his old band NO_MAD disbanded after his fans abandoned the group to move on to more popular idols. Over time, he realizes that he must work harder to earn the popularity the other groups have. He is seen to be quite aggressive and brash towards others. Despite his hate and personality, he is shown to be caring of his teammates and begins to value them more. His music symbol is Segno and he represents the dog.

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: A former acting prodigy, he has starred in various older movies and dramas. He is the songwriter of the group and hides his snarky personality behind a kind face and smile. He often wishes to know what he can gain from a particular event and loves gathering intel on the more popular groups. Behind this, he is very passionate about the songs he writes and is often upset when he cannot come up with a song that satisfies him. He has a high level of professionalism and really just wants to show his talents to the world. He does fortune telling as a hobby and is revealed to have spent some time in Northmare, Nagi's home country. His music symbol is Release pedal and he represents the snake.

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: The son of a wealthy family, he had a fortunate life growing up as he was considered attractive and talented which boosted his ego. He holds a grudge against Ryunosuke Tsunashi for having a kind personality and a sexy image, something which many of his female partners told him about. This grows into hate for the entertainment industry and their fake personas and lies. However, he truly does wish to have fun with his teammates and with his work. His music symbol is Simile and he represents the tiger.

Takanashi Productions

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: The main protagonist and Otoharu and the late Musubi's daughter. Her father gives her the position of Idolish7's manager, and works hard to try and sell them. She's a strong girl who is positive no matter what comes her way. In the game, the player assumes her role and is able to change her given name.

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: The president of Takanashi Productions, the agency that Idolish7 is a part of. He's kind of spacey, but is very sincere when it comes to work. He watches over the new members of his agency. He has a past with Sosuke Yaotome as they both once fought over a girl named Musubi. Eventually Musubi married Otoharu, something which Sosuke could never get over.

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: A talented staff member with an unknown past who keeps the agency running. A very reliable man, he supports the members of Idolish7, Tsumugi, their new manager, and all of Takanashi Productions. He was later revealed to be Yuki's previous band mate and the co-founder of Re:vale before an accident caused him to quit being an idol as seen in Idolish7: The Second Beat and in the manga "Re:member"

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: A rabbit-like pet owned by Takanashi Productions.

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: A Takanashi Productions composer and was close friends with Nagi.

Others

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: The president of Yaotome Productions, which Trigger belongs to. It is relieved that he was once in love with Musubi Takanashi, Otoharu's late wife and Tsumugi's late mother. He was never able to get over his love for her and therefore never truly valued his ex-wife and son. Due to his hate towards Otoharu, he openly hates Takanashi Productions and Idolish7. Despite his power hungry schemes to make Trigger rise to fame and the outward dismissal he has at their suggestions, he truly does care about them.

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: Trigger's manager.

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: A Yaotome Productions composer.

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: Re:vale's manager.

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: ŹOOĻ's manager.

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: A TV show host whose shows Idolish7 sometimes appears on.

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: Tenn's adoptive father and former manager of Zero. He is revealed to be very rich and wishes to use that money to recruit potential talents that can one day surpass the legendary Zero. He is shown to be very manipulative on how he recruits his idols.

;ZERO
:The most talked about legendary idol who disappeared 15 years ago. The reason behind his whereabouts remains to be seen.

Development

Arina Tanemura, the game's character designer, created the characters based on information provided about their names, personalities, and theme colors. The first character she drafted was Yamato Nikaidō due to his glasses being the most distinguishable character trait and gave him short sleeves to reflect his cheerful personality. In contrast, Iori Izumi was given long sleeves because of his cool personality. Tanemura had initially drawn Iori and Mitsuki with the same hair color due to them being siblings, but a representative from Bandai Namco Entertainment had allowed her to make an exception. Bandai Namco Entertainment had also envisioned Mitsuki to be a youthful-looking character. Tanemura had misread that Tamaki was intended to be the shortest and most youthful character, instead submitting a more mature design; this resulted in Bandai Namco Entertainment accepting the draft and revising his personality to fit the design. Sōgō was intended as the group's ''yandere'' character, and while Tanemura had difficulty incorporating that into the design, she later drew him with a thin physique to reflect a "sickly" nature. Nagi was drawn with a "pretty physique" due to his half-Scandinavian ancestry. Riku was originally drawn with black hair before Tanemura revised his hair color to be lighter, and his costume was the most revealing because he was the center of the group. Whereas Idolish7 was designed with a white color theme, Trigger was designed with a black color theme for contrast.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Other charted songs

Other media

Printed media

The project has released several manga and novel adaptations. A manga adaptation is drawn by Nokoshi Yamada and is serialized in Hakusensha's ''Hana LaLa Online'' since 2015. The first volume was released on December 4, 2015. Another manga that focuses on idol group rival of Idolish7, Trigger, is titled . It is written by Bunta Tsushimi with illustrations by Arina Tanemura and was released on December 19, 2016. On October 12, 2017, it was announced that a new manga adaptation by Arina Tanemura titled "Re:member", which will center around on the past of the group Re:vale. The manga launched on December 9, 2017.

A novel titled is written by Bunta Tsushimi with illustrations by Arina Tanemura. It was released on December 4, 2015.

An official fanbook was released on June 30, 2016. The second fanbook was released on August 19, 2016.

Video games

Bandai Namco Entertainment released a tie-in console video game titled " for the PlayStation Vita on February 15, 2018. The game's story takes place between the second and third story parts of the smartphone game, focusing on the Idolish7, Trigger, and Re:vale groups on a combined tour across Japan. The game's final destination is a concert at Zero Arena.

Music videos

The music video for Trigger's third single, Crescent rise, was produced by Studio Trigger and released on January 27, 2020. It is part of a "Trigger X Trigger" collaboration project that was announced in September 2018.

Anime

An anime adaptation was first announced during a Niconico livestream event on August 19, 2016. The 17-episode anime premiered on January 7, 2018, and concluded on May 19, 2018. Makoto Bessho is directing the anime at Troyca while Ayumi Sekine is supervising the anime's scripts. Kazumi Fukagawa is adapting Arina Tanemura's original designs for animation. Ei Aoki is credited as supervisor. Crunchyroll licensed the series for streaming as the anime simultaneously airs in Japan.

On July 7, 2018, ''Idolish7'' was green-lit for a second season. The second season, titled ''Idolish7: Second Beat!'' aired from April 5 to December 27, 2020, with the cast and staff returning to reprise their roles. On April 13, 2020, it was announced that after the fourth episode, the remaining episodes of the season had been delayed due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 20, 2020, it was announced that the season will resume with the third episode on October 4, 2020.

On December 27, 2020, after the second season's finale, it was announced the series would be receiving a third season, titled ''Idolish7: Third Beat!''. The cast and staff are reprising their roles. The third season is a split-cour series, with the first half airing from July 4 to September 26, 2021. The second half premiered on October 2, 2022.

Season 1 (2018)

Season 2: ''Second Beat!'' (2020)

Season 3: ''Third Beat!'' (2021–22)

''Idolish7: Vibrato'' (2018–19)

In addition to the anime series, it was announced that there will be a spin-off series based on the stories from the manga and novels adaptations. The series of anime shorts, titled ''Idolish7: Vibrato'', is currently being streamed exclusively on Bandai Visual's official YouTube account as a YouTube Original, with the "first part" of the shorts focused on Trigger. The first episode aired on February 16, 2018. The second to eighth episodes ran from January 17, 2019, to March 7, 2019.

Reception

In 2016, ''Idolish7'' was accused of plagiarizing artwork from several other idol-related mobile game series, more specifically ''The Idolmaster'' and ''Uta no Prince-sama'', citing that several poses were traced or copied. Bandai Namco Entertainment released a statement on September 9 through ''Idolish7s official website, stating a lawyer examined the images and concluded that there was no plagiarism involved. In addition, Bandai Namco Entertainment also denied allegations that the character Tsumugi was a self-insert for the character designer, Arina Tanemura.

Notes

References

External links

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Anime official website

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{{Anime Grand Prix

2015 manga
2015 video games
Android (operating system) games
Animated musical groups
Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Anime productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Anime television series based on video games
Crunchyroll anime
Fictional musical groups
Hakusensha manga
IOS games
Japanese idol video games
Japanese idols in anime and manga
Manga based on video games
Music video games
Troyca
Video games developed in Japan