A Birthday Wish to Clumsy Ribbons Haruka!

Congratulations Haruka! What!? You forgot? Silly Haruka.

It's the birthday for the red ribbons wearing clumsy girl Haruka Amami!

As the face of Idolm@ster she certainly shines brightly, and her attitude is always a good source of happiness for all.

[niconico birthday video goes here]

UuU~ Genki Birthday for Yayoi!

200% Genki and all about Family!

It's the lovable and reliable genki girl Yayoi Takatsuki's Birthday today! Bursting at the seams with energy and the loving care for all her siblings, this girl really deserves a great day for all her hard work!

Here's this strange little "Human-powered Vocaloid" video of Anzu no Uta, sung(?) by Yayoi!

Nico

It's Eri's Birthday?

Eri, why so cool?

Happy Birthday to the cute and somewhat geeky net-turned-real idol girl!

This should be a really nice day? With plenty of inflections that make sentences look like questions?

And her's BL@CK ROCK SHOOTER featuring Ellie (with the voice of nayuta).

Nico

"Senpai~! Congratulations!"

A Sing Song Happy Birthday to Chihaya!

Happy Birthday Chihaya!

It's the singing diva with a cool demeanor, Chihaya Kisaragi's Birthday! This time it's our turn to sing for you.

Also, it's time for new Birthday banners from the idolmaster.jp site!

And here's a cute little video someone made for her birthday. Featuring Haruka, the ever so great friend. A laughing or smiling Chihaya is a nice thing indeed.

Nico

"THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE" Announcement + PV!

プロデューサーさん、劇場版ですよ、劇場版！！！idolmaster-anime.jp #imas #project_imas
— アイドルマスター (@imas_anime) February 10, 2013

It's a movie! A movie!

So yes, there was an official announcement for an Idolm@ster anime movie, aptly named "THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE" for now. The staff behind this is pretty much identical to the anime series with A-1 Pictures animating, Atsushi Nishigori directing, and double team script writing with Tatsuya Takahashi.

More details to follow on February the 28th in the April Issue of Megami Magazine.


And here's the English text that flashed throughout the PV, which is also currently on the Idolm@ster homepage here :

The idols of 765 Productions continue on their never ending journey,
--towards a new stage, towards a bright and shiny future!

Girls and their producer have gone through thick and thin,
and have stood face to face with all kinds of difficulties.

It's time again for the girls to foster their friendship,
and through great discipline they step forward to their starry future
in an all new production, we present to you "THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE"

Source: @imas_anime, THE IDOLM@STER Anime site, anidb (staff translation)

A Secret Birthday for The Lunar Princess

Oh Takane, never stop being your beautiful silly self.

Also known as : Happy Birthday to the Silly Ramen Princess!

Not really "Secret", but I had to include that somewhere. Therein lies the secret. There is none (or is there?).

Anyways, Takane is ever so radiant and mysterious. What makes her so special? Himitsu~


Here's a silly little video for the silly princess featuring Takanya whose birthday would also be the same I assume.

Nico

Merry Happy Birthday Yukiho~ Let it Snow

Yukiho in the snow, such a wonderful day.

Today is Yukiho Hagiwara's birthday! And also Christmas Eve!

There shouldn't be any shovelling for her to do today.

She is in the care of the great many friends she has from 765Pro.

May she continue to grow stronger and stronger as one very courageous person.


Merry Christmas Eve. And Happy Birthday to you Yukiho.


Enjoy this little BakaTest parody made by the guy who absolutely adores Yukiho and makes tons of these with Yukiho.

Nico

Subliminal Namco Impact

Nico

Creepy little video featuring Nonowa (のヮの）　and a strange vending machine...

And who's that in the background? She seems to be form Home.


Also, today was a crazy project day. Had to do a lot of stuff because one of our members was sick... What bad timing.

Day of the Future (band arrange remix)

Nico

Neat little remix of "Day of the Future", Miki's character/image song from the Idolm@ster 2 Master Special Second Season.

Of course it was for Miki's birthday the day before.

Afuu~ Birthday to Miki Nano!

The Napping Queen being super stylish as usual!

It's the favorite napping girl Miki Hoshii's Birthday!

What to do? Eat/offer lots of onigiri and nap a lot!

Then? Go work hard on something (or for someone) you love!

Nico

Here's "Ne~e?" a song with lots of "nano"'s~



Time to sleep. Afuu~

Makoto's Stayin' Alive

Some had the bright idea of putting Makoto's Jitensha PV from Shiny Festa together with "Stayin' Alive". And it works really well for the first 40 seconds with that Makoto's strolling around in the hallway.

Mobage Change!!!! (in-progress trace)

Nico

This is a pretty nicely done - but incomplete - trace of the Idolm@ster second OP "CHANGE!!!!" with the Cinderella Girls. I hope to see the full version when they finally complete it.

Coin, Election & Freetrade

Nico

Neat Cinderella Girls parody OP of "Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate" or "Love, Election, & Chocolate". I really like the sprite work they have for the various Mobage girls.

Also, it has a very clever title.

Little Busters 4 : Kud + Komari; Shiny Festa Play

I watched episode 4 of Little Busters today! Greatly looked forward to seeing Kud for the first time in the anime. Although her appearance was brief, it was absolutely wonderful especially her English.

And then we got more Komari! Komari with her sunny disposition along with the rest of the Little Busters crew help out with a retirement home. Fun times ensue, as well as a bit of drama to add to the mix. What's up with that book and dream Komari has? Who is this "Takuya"? I guess we'll find out next episode.


--

Also, I got a chance to play a bit of Shiny Festa today. And by a bit, I mean maybe 2 hours of random on-off playing. I skipped out on the special OVAs packed in because I want to watch them subbed first, but the gameplay is actually a bit fun. It's mostly the songs and accompanying music videos though. Especially looked forward to "Music" and the three other videos with new animation.

I only played a bit of Funky Note (with Ami, Mami, Hibiki, Yayoi, and Iori) as well as a tiny bit of Groovy Tune (with Makoto, Yukiho, Miki, and Takane). For the ones I played through, Music was quite fun as well as Honey Heartbeat and Next Life. I've yet to play a lot of the rest though, but will surely try it out when I get back from this weekend field trip.

Petit Idolmaster Zero

And so it begins. The so-called episode Zero of Puchimasu! aka Petit Idolmaster was released a while ago as a bonus. It'll be floating somewhere.

This episode was just that. An zeroth episode with no "plot" but quick introductions of all the Idols and Puchidols. I expect fun times during the actual web show. Ritsuko seems to be the main character as she's front and center for the whole thing. Of course she's the one who has to take care of pretty much everyone. I can't wait to see them all, as well as P-head Producer-san!

Asapon : The Great Imitator Returns

Alternatively, Ami (and Mami, even though she's technically not in this) : The Great Imitators Return.

Nico

Asami "Asapon" Shimoda does it again in the latest Namassuka Special 04. Her challenge (as Ami) was to imitate all of 765pro, so now we get to hear her takes on Takane, Hibiki, President, and even Producer-san. That Azusa and Miki voice always get me.

Honey Heartbeat - Namassuka SPECIAL 04

"3! 2! 1! Say ho!"

And now for... Namassuka.... (almost) Sunday 04!! Preview medley below!

So right after my "review" of 03 comes 04. I came in with only slight expectations such as there being a "Groovin' Magic" cover by Makoto, which she pulled off very well. And of course the rap filled "Honey Heartbeat". A nice M@STER version indeed with tons of rap and fun. The rest? Well I'll have to take a listen again, but it was all around pretty good. Hatsukoi this time was rockish, and it was pretty good though not as great as the others past. I'd have to listen to that again before having a better opinion.

Oh and we can't forget the extremely entertaining talk tracks! Haruka(kka) OTL! Brilliant Ami impressions! And Makoto... being girly? That... was a bit unsettling to say the least. And the extra talk with the upcoming duo plus one who's going to be in the next album. Oh Kotori, never change.

"Zunzun. Zunzun."
"Shiny Smile~ Hai na futari~"
"Say ho! Say ho ho ho! Sawage!!"

Nico

I guess something I forgot to mention was the new NicoNicoDouga (or just plain niconico now) interface. Seems pretty nice even with the bugginess at the beginning.

Ai LIKE Hamburger - Namassuka SPECIAL 03

Oh Yayoi. Eating on the job eh?

This is going to be edited in a bit, but I just want to put out my thoughts on the 3rd Namassuka Special even though 04 already came out a while ago.

Video medley of songs below.

First off, I didn't know Yayoi's and Ritsuko's voices could work together so well! That intro to the M@STER version of Ai LIKE Hamburger was a bit strange, but in the end it was still pretty good. Though not quite as great as Nanairo Botan, it's still incredibly catchy and repeatable.

As for the talk tracks, I haven't really payed my full attention, but I love the reactions of Ritsuko. Yayoi being the onee-chan is always fun. As well as the "surprise" visit from Producer-san himself.

For the cover songs, I have to say that I like them. His cover songs were not bad at all. As always, the Hatsukoi in this one was a nice listen as well.

Full thoughts will be edited in a bit I hope.

Nico

Nankurunaisa~ Happy Birthday Hibiki!

Happy Birthday to everyone's lovable Okinawan. She's "kanpeki!"

Hibiki Challenge~

Today's challenge is... to enjoy her birthday as much as possible! No[t much] suffering today!

Teal is her colour, Okinawa is her home, and suffering energy and power is her forte!

[nico video goes here]

HaruChiha "Love Letter"

Nico

Such a sweet love letter for the person sending it.