Idolish7
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 adaptation by Troyca aired from January to May 2018, with a second season premiered in April 2020. 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 singers, each with their own unique personality and background. She must train and turn all of them into the famous idols, all the 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.;Iori Izumi
;Yamato Nikaidō
;Mitsuki Izumi
;Tamaki Yotsuba
;Sōgo Ōsaka
;Nagi Rokuya
;Riku Nanase
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.;Gaku Yaotome
;Tenn Kujō
;Ryūnosuke Tsunashi
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.;Momose Sunohara
Mostly known by his stage name of Momo, he is the energetic and easy-going member of Re:vale. Momo has a bit of a mischievous side and seems to drag Yuki into his schemes. It is shown that he is very observant of his surroundings and wishes to protect anyone in any way he can. This, however, results in him often ignoring the care and attention he needs himself. 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.
;Yukito Orikasa
Mostly known by his stage name of Yuki, he is the cool and collected member of Re:vale as well as their songwriter. He is shown to have a blunt personality that causes others to believe that he does not care. This is untrue as he is actually quite easygoing and looks after the younger groups very well. He is shown to give a lot of advice to others and many others go to him for advice. Yuki is the tsukkomi of the pair, and follows through with pointing out the idiocy Momo currently has on display. His music symbol is the right repeat sign and he represents the number one thousand.
ZOOL
An idol group that introduced in the third chapter of the game. Their names contain kanji of animals from the chinese zodiac—pig, dog, snake and tiger. Their music symbols mainly consist of musical notes with the theme of repetition and silence.;Haruka Isumi
;Tōma Inumaru
;Minami Natsume
;Torao Midō
Takanashi Productions
;Tsumugi Takanashi;Otoharu Takanashi
;Banri Ōgami
;Kinako
;Haruki Sakura
Others
;Sōsuke Yaotome;Kaoru Anesagi
;Akihito Hyūga
;Rinto Okazaki
;Ryo Tsukumo
;Mr. Shimooka
;Takamasa Kujō
;Thorvald
;ZERO
Development
, 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
Prints
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 Idolish7: Trigger: Before The Radiant Glory. 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 Idolish7: Ryūsei ni Inoru 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 Idolish7 Twelve Fantasia!" 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! premiered on April 5, 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.
''Idolish7'' (2018)
| No. | Official English title Original Japanese title | Original air date |
''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 YouTube as a "YouTube Original" on Bandai Visual's official YouTube account, 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.| No. | Title | Original air date |