Are You Ready? I WAS BORN LADY! Let's Play The Idolm@ster 2

[Selpharia]

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/bestidea.jpg

OURS ARE THE IDOLS THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/TakaneG4U.jpg

MEET OUR GLORIOUS UNIT LEADER. SHIJOU TAKANE, the "Silver Haired Queen" of J-Pop

AND NOW OUR IDOLS, HOSHII MIKI, The Super Idol Prodigy

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/MikiG4U2.jpg

AND FINALLY, KIKUCHI MAKOTO, IDOL ACTION GUY GIRL

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Makotog4u2.jpg

Cue Music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g_Wm6WUkew)

Welcome, playground, to a Let’s Play of the J-Pop idol producing simulation game, The Idolm@ster 2! Here, we follow a gallant young producer as he joins a small production company called 765 Productions, and attempts to guide an idol group to the top of the entertainment world. Along the way, he will face many obstacles, rival idols, evil corporations, absurdly sparkly outfits, and most deadly of all, the personality flaws of three teenage girls. Don’t be fooled by its shiny, happy exterior though, beneath the J-pop veneer, Idolm@ster 2 is a brutal test of resource management that requires you to balance money, time, morale, and skill to come out on top. It can be pretty overwhelming for a new producer, and that is where you, gentle Playgrounders, enter the scene.

You’ll be advising on all the major decisions involved in producing an idol group or “unit.” These include: the members we choose, the songs we produce, the stage outfits we give our unit, and the direction of our publicity efforts. Don’t worry though, I’ll provide explanations for all of these things during the first few sessions; they’re individually pretty straightforward. While most of the story will play out in prose installments posted in this thread, I will also be including videos of the most interesting parts of the game itself. I’ll be subtitling any dialogue involved, so that even if you don’t know any Japanese, you can still experience the fantastic characters that form the awesome and adorable heart of the game.

If you do know some Japanese, I humbly ask that if you see translation errors in any of the videos that I put up, let me know. One of the reasons I am doing this is to improve my Japanese, so any help that you’re willing to provide will be tremendously appreciated.

I’ll be aiming for a roughly weekly update schedule. There will likely be some variance depending on how much video capturing editing, and subtitling I have to do, but 1/week is the goal. If, at any point, you have a request to see video of some part of the story that I didn’t record, let me know and I will do my best to capture it and post it up. I’ll be adding Translation and Cultural Notes at the end of each post, for the curious and the language nerds like me.

Now without further ado, Let’s Play Idolm@ster 2!


Prologue: Enter Producer

I don’t think I’ve ever had cause to celebrate a Monday. Usually it’s the iron boot stamping on the face of Sunday’s relaxing freedom. But today will not be that typical Monday, because today is the day that I start my new job as a producer! To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting to get the job. I’ve only got a two-year degree and no real experience; heck, it was kind of a joke to apply in the first place. I guess I did well in the interview though, because here I am, heading to my first day on the job.

I hum a jaunty little tune as I stroll along the sidewalk, headed downtown to where the production office is, not even really paying attention to the little apartment buildings as they pass by, but suddenly, my reverie is shattered by an ear piercing shriek. I jump, and look around for a place to hide- I mean, um, a position from which I can calmly observe the developing situation, but I just freeze as I hear the sound of footsteps from around the corner ahead of me.

From around the corner comes the source of the footsteps, a short teenage girl with a simple grey dress and brown hair. Her face is turned away from me, but the whole of her body just screams absolute terror. At this point, I’m pretty sure that there must be some kind of deranged axe murderer following close behind, and I finally manage to make my body move, and get behind a nearby tree. “Truly,” I silently chide myself, “you are an epic hero, hiding behind a tree.”

Thankfully, no axe murderer is forthcoming, but I do feel pretty stupid as a result. While I was securing myself from the terrible danger of a teenage girl, said teenage girl began talking to herself. Her voice is so quiet, I can barely hear it, but it’s high and tinged with fright.

“I-I can’t believe I didn’t notice that all those dogs were coming right at me! And the high school boys holding their leashes, how could I have missed something so t-terrifying? W-well anyway, it looks like I lost them. I-I just have to keep it together long enough to get to the office. Uu- Charge!”

As she “charges” by, I get a glimpse of her face. It’s red and there are clear tear stains on her cheeks. I think this may be the strangest, most tragic charge I have ever witnessed. The girl runs down another street behind my hiding spot vantage point, and disappears. I suddenly realize that I really ought to get going as well.

Luckily, I get to the 765 Productions office without another incident. From the outside, it looks pretty plain and, rather oddly, shares the building with a noodle shop. Even the “765” logo in the window looks made of cheap plastic. Somehow, I was expecting a gigantic skyscraper, but maybe it’s just a branch office.

The inside of the office is no bigger than it looked from the outside. The front lobby is pretty clean and polished, but the actual office space is packed with binders and stacks of documents, broken up by a few laptops. There are also pieces of calligraphy stuck on the walls that say things like: “EFFORT”, “FRIENDSHIP”, and “VICTORY.” On second thought, I’m not sure this exactly what I bargained for. Before I can get any further in my doubts, though, a man comes out from an interior office. He looks pretty important; he’s wearing a suit and tie, and he threads the maze of papers and office supplies with a practiced ease. Belatedly, I think that maybe I shouldn’t have gone with just a button-down and a tie on my first day.

“Ah, excellent, you’ve arrived.” he says, and offers me a handshake. “I’m Takagi Junjirou, and I’m the president of 765 productions”
Up close, I can see that President Takagi is older than he looked from a distance; his hair is flecked with grey and his face has a few wrinkles. For some strange reason, though, I can’t get a really good look at it, even when he’s right in front of me. When he speaks again, his deep voice exudes authority, and I find it somehow reassuring, in a stern, yet grandfatherly sort of way.

“Now, my boy, your job as a producer will be to manage the idols we have here at 765 Productions, and guide them to the top of the entertainment world. Understood?”

Simple enough. I’m a producer, so I produce idols. Comfortably obvious. I give him my best “Yes, sir!” and he continues.

“Ah, an excellent response! I can tell from the enthusiasm in your voice that you’ll have a bright future here. Why, you remind me of myself in my younger days…”

Ok, I’m sure there’s a big long reminiscence coming. I’ve got this, I had my coffee this morning, so even if it’s really long and boring, I can power through. Still, the president does seem like he might have some interesting stories to tell.

“…Which is exactly what we need. “ You see, the truth is, the idols I want to make you responsible for haven’t been doing as well as I would like since their debuts, so I’ll be counting on you to turn things around”

Oh. Well, there goes my hope of having an easy first few weeks while I go used to working here. Maybe, since everyone will know I’m new, expectations won’t be too high and I can muddle through until I know what I’m doing.

“Oh, and all the girls are really excited, since I told them I got a fantastic young producer who will breathe new life into their idol careers. Everyone’s really looking forward to your arrival”

Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. This is going to be a complete disaster. I have no idea what I’m doing and everyone’s expecting some kind of idol-producing Gordon Ramsay? I manage to squeeze out a second confirmation, but all the enthusiasm in my voice has been killed, had its corpse brutally hacked to pieces, and then buried in a tomb of horrors. Somehow, over my internal screams of terror, I can still hear President Takagi talking.

“So, in any case , the first thing to do is decide which idol you will produce.”
He reaches for a stack of manila folders, and quickly pulls out exactly nine, without disturbing the rest of the pile, and hands them to me.
I am so screwed.


So, our poor, beleaguered producer is already in over his head and needs assistance. Which idol should he choose to produce, oh Production Advisers? He has nine choices, which I have laid out below. Also, to help you in your decision, President Takagi has provided “introduction videos” for his idols to introduce themselves to their producer, and to help him understand a little bit about them.

They can be found here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE4-Sb0E-qw&t=2m5s). Also, if you want to hear the actual game version of the prologue, it begins at the start of that video.

The Idols:


All of the idols have three stats, Vocal, Dance, and Visual. Vocal is how well, they sing, Dance is how well they dance, and Visual is how they appear on stage. Often, idols with better stat totals have difficult temperaments or low morale or learning speed to balance their advantage. I will note the rough strength of each stat, as well as each idol’s highest stat of the three.

#1 Kikuchi Makoto
Picture
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/MakotoG4U.jpg
Vocal- Good Dance- Excellent Visual- Good

Makoto is the tomboy of the group. She has very masculine hobbies, like sports and martial arts, but really wants to be cute and girly. Unfortunately, she doesn’t really have any idea how to do that, and so will attempt things like EXTREME CUTENESS TRAINING!!!! Makoto, Chihaya, and Takane have more alto singing voices, everyone else is a soprano

#2 Hoshii Miki
Picture
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/MikiG4U.jpg
Vocal- Above Average Dance- Average Visual- Superior (highest of all idols)

At first, Miki seems like a pretty standard airhead, but she’s actually very intelligent. Her main problem is that she often can’t be bothered with social graces, and will say strange or inappropriate things. She often has a very odd view on the world. Miki is very feminine and cutesy, moreso than any other idol. Has a fantastic visual stat. Despite her impressive physique, Miki loves sweet snacks

#3 Shijou Takane
Picture http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/TakaneG4UKyun.jpg
Vocal- Excellent Dance- Above Average Visual- Very Good+

Takane is very princess-like, and so she’s nicknamed “Silver Haired Queen” She is always very polite and reserved, and her speech is formal and archaic. The closest analogue in English is a kind of Shakespearian dialect. Takane is very unfamiliar with the modern world. She’s also very melodramatic, with loads of dramatic pauses and inflections. Makoto, Chihaya, and Takane have more alto singing voices, everyone else is soprano. Her past is mysterious, and she is the cast’s only foreigner, in fact she may be an alien.

#4 Takatsuki Yayoi
Picture http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/YayoiG4U.jpg
Vocal-Above Average Dance- Good Visual- Average

Yayoi is an incredibly adorable bundle of cuteness and energy who is always happy and very hard to demoralize. She’s one of the easier idols to raise because of this, but her stats are not spectacular. She is the eldest of six children, and takes her role as big sister very seriously. Yayoi is very simple and honest, and gives off what the game terms as a “feeling of family.” Causes diabetes with cuteness.

#5 Ganaha Hibiki
Vocal- Very Good Dance- Excellent+ Visual- Above Average
Picture http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/HibikiG4U.jpg

Hibiki is from Okinawa, and is not used to some of the metropolitan aspects of city life. Like Yayoi, she is simple and energetic, and often gets confused by complicated plans or metaphors. Beneath that, though, Hibiki, is actually quite lonely, since she’s living by herself in an unfamiliar place She’s fairly tomboyish, but not as much as Makoto. Also, Hibiki has lots of pets, and the highest Dance stat of all the idols.

#6 Hagiwara Yukiho
Picture http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/YukihoG4U.jpg
Vocal- Above Average Dance- Average Visual- Excellent

Yukiho is very traditionally Japanese, both in her hobbies, tea making and poetry, and in her manner, which is very shy and quiet. Yukiho has very little self-confidence and is afraid of many things, but especially dogs and men. That said, she is surprisingly resolute when in critical situations. She became an idol to overcome her fears and change the parts of herself she doesn’t like. Producer saw her on his way to the office in the Prologue.

#7 Amami Haruka
Picture http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/HarukaG4U.jpg
Vocal- Very Good Dance- Average Visual- Above Average

Haruka is theoretically the “main character" of Idolm@ster, and is fairly good all around. She likes singing and cooking, and is always optimistic and happy, though she’s a bit of a klutz. She’s fairly forgiving morale-wise and her wants and needs are not terribly complex. Haruka makes a decent balancer for an idol unit. Most often, she’s described as “nice, but normal.” According to some fan portrayals, she has a “dark” form, who is something of a dominatrix.

#8 Kisaragi Chihaya
Picture http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/ChihayaG4U.jpg
Vocal- Maximum Dance- Very Good Visual- Very Good

Chihaya is solely focused on singing. The only reason she puts up with the silliness of being an idol is so that she can improve her singing. Chihaya is the most cold and stoic of the idols, and is extremely difficult to manage because she is very picky and easily loses patience with other people, especially when they are being foolish or wasting time. If you can produce her successfully, she’s very powerful. Her story is much more dramatic and serious than the other idols.

#9 Futami Mami
Picture http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/MamiG4U.jpg
Vocal- Average Dance- Good Visual- Above Average

Mami is the youngest of the idols, and a playful prankster, but can be serious when the chips are down . She’s very into games and jokes, particularly impressions. Mami used to work alongside her twin sister Ami taking turns being an idol, but they split when Ami’s career took off. Mami wants to equal her sister’s achievements as an idol. She has a particularly childish attitude and speaking style.



Votes for idol choices, can be given by idol name, by number, by description, or any other way you like. Vote for up to 3. Opinions on the LP itself are also nice.

Finally : GO FOR IT! TOP IDOL!


Cultural and Translation Notes

1) 765 Productions, or 765 Pro- 765, when read a certain way in Japanese, sounds like “Namuko” or Namco, the studio that produces the Idolm@ster series.

2) Names- For this LP, I have chosen to put surnames first, since all of the characters (except Takane) are Japanese, so they do it that way.

3) Pronouns and honorifics- I assume that everyone is familiar with the most common honorifics. TVTropes has a good article on Japanese pronouns.

4) The title joke. “Ready” when said with a Japanese accent, sounds a lot like “Lady”, and both are used in the opening song’s fantastic Japanglish line “Are you ready? I’m Lady!”

5) Mami- Mami is a translator’s worst nightmare, since her dialogue is full of slang, made up words and misused idioms. If she’s chosen as the leader, I may cry. I’ll do it, but there will be tears.

[Selpharia]

Continued from previous post because I planned this poorly brilliantly apportioned my information distribution.




Since responses are a bit thin on the ground, let me take this time to offer some additional information, and answer some additional questions that I didn't get to in my opening post.

How are we supposed to decide on an idol with so little information or reason to care? Are they different enough that it matters?

Well, to give you some other way of deciding besides my poorly worded summaries, here's a song for each of the idols so you can hear what they sound like. For songs where I couldn't find english subtitles, there are links to lyric translations. I apologize for not being able to translate them all myself.

SAMPLE SONGS

Makoto- Little Match Girl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZAtw0mHEKw) lyrics (http://www.animelyrics.com/game/imas2/littlematchgirl.htm)
Miki- Relations (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ge9YWlsqM) - lyrics (http://www.animelyrics.com/game/idolmaster/relations.htm)
Takane- Overmaster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rpqC72p6YE) lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Overmaster)
Yayoi- Ai Like Hamburgrer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8KqOwP4jwE) lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ai_LIKE_Hamburger)
Hibiki- Rest@rt Myself (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOESW-ODVnk) [Jibun Rest@rt] http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/imasanime/jibunrestartmv.htm
Yukiho- Kosmos Cosmos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6moNkOY1FgA) lyrics (http://www.animelyrics.com/game/idolmaster/kosmoscosmos.htm)
Haruka- MEGARE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XRklHi2RNY&feature=related) lyrics (http://www.animelyrics.com/game/imas2/megare.htm)
Chihaya- Heart of the Marionette (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUHi6RuPFn0&feature=related)
Mami- Kiramekirari (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnkbY2RyaZM) (Shiny sparkle!) Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kiramekirari) [Oh, gods, there's TWO OF THEM!]

And A Full Trio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjXpnXmLIrA) lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Meisou_Mind)



As for choosing idols, think of it like picking a starter pokemon, it doesn't mean everything but will set the tone for our adventure. Since we get to choose 3 idols to make a unit, it's a good idea to try for roughly balanced stats. If we choose two idols with high stats, but difficult personalities, it might be a good idea to choose an idol who's more easygoing to help keep team morale up in difficult times, which WILL happen. To help, I've made a list of which idols are high power but difficult and which are easier.

Easy to raise idols generally mean the beginning is easy, but the endgame is more difficult, like Bulbasur in Pokemon and the higher skill idols are the reverse, like Chamander

Our first vote is only for the leader, but you may vote for up to 3 idols.

High power, but difficult
Chihaya! [Vocal]
Miki [Visual]
Takane [Vocal
Hibiki [Dance]

Middle Power, and not too difficult, but not always easy to manage

Makoto [dance]
Yukiho [visual]

Low power, but very easy to manage
Yayoi [dance]

The two odd idols out are

Haruka [vocal] [easy to raise] [average skill]
and
Mami [dance] [medium difficulty] [low skill] [funny]







You mentioned resource management, but didn't actually mention what the goal and limitations are. Why is this game interesting for people who aren't Japanophiles?

The gameplay of Idolm@ster 2 takes place over 55 turns, which each represent a week in your idols' career. In the last weeks, there are several final performances, sort of like boss battles, but in rhythm game form. The last of these is the Idol Academy ceremony, which is the ultimate goal. Without the prestige of the Idol Academy award, your unit gets forgotten in the endless swirl of the entertainment industry.

Each week is subdivided into three time units, and various activities, like concerts, auditions, promotions, lessons and festivals take time. An idol unit's success is measured by how many fans they have. In order to get fans, they need to do promotions, concerts and festivals. Promotions, concerts, and festivals are played via a rhythm game, but the idols' abilities affects your ability to win.

In order to raise skills, we'll need to take lessons, because even the high skill idols have low starting stats. Of course all of these things cost money, so we have to budget well too.

Yes, but how does gameplay work?

It's one part Civilization, with the world map and resource management, one part Elite Beat agents in the rhythm sections, and one part "dating sim" as you have to keep the unit morale up by building trust among the idols and yourself in conversations. No, there's no sex. Combine them all and you get a unique pastiche of good games that becomes great.

Comments are Magic much appreciated

[Deme]

Even if she's tricky to handle, Takane's clearly my fave already. That sort of style is very much my favorite...
So let's make the Silver-Haired Queen our lead!

I don't have a vote other than that for now, mainly because I'm not sure how I'd arrange a group just yet... I'll think about it.
Edit: Oh, I have a question about group arrangement! Is it generally better to organize a group around a single strength, or balance strengths across all three stats?

[Selpharia]

I really like Takane as well, she's a lot of fun, both because of her archaic princess style, and some of the amusing idiosyncrasies beneath that. Many of the idols I listed as difficult aren't really all that bad if you're prepared for them. Takane and Hibiki are a little easier than Chihaya and Miki as well.

Fun Takane fact: in a previous game in the series, Takane was a rival idol, along with Hibiki and Miki. Her image song "Overmaster," linked above, was also her boss theme. If you listen to Overmaster's lyrics, you can hear puns off of Takane, Hibiki, and Miki's names.

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlPve1EHxIg) is what their trio sounded like.

Your question has two answers. The short answer is that somewhere between a single focus and absolute parity is best, and a single strength is doomed to fail. A single weakness works reasonably well though.

This is because the game takes steps to ensure that you can't rely on just a single stat. The idols's stats are only one part of the equation, and for the first part of the game, the effects of the outfits you choose and the song you produce are much more pronounced in determining stat totals.

The long answer is the same as the short answer with a bit more mechanical detail. Throughout the game, you produce five songs, each of which boosts a single stat while you produce it. Unfortunately, there's a penalty for producing two songs in a row that boost the same stats, because people have heard this type of song from your idols recently. Similarly, in the rhythm sections, when appealing to the crowd in rhythm with the song, the crowd gets bored and your score lowers if you focus on one stat too much. Having a second strong stat lets you keep the crowd from becoming bored until you can use your special appeals (more on that when we perform for the first time) to regain their attention.

Oh, and some additional strange cuteness from the original Idolm@ster Chihaya and Yayoi dress in various costumes and sing the Japanese Scrabble equivalent theme. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv4wzS4Tkqo) lyrics (http://kumikyoku.rintaun.net/wiki/Futari_no_Mojipittan)

[Deme]

Huh, that's pretty useful knowledge... In other words, we want at least 2 strengths, to keep from repetition...And if we coordinate to Takane's strengths, we'd want to focus on Vocal and Visual, though I'm guessing it probably wouldn't be too hard to do Vocal and Dance as the two focals if we picked the right other two girls?

...Come on, people! This sounds like a cool game! If I'm the only one who says anything, how will we ruin improve these girls' lives?

[Domochevsky]

I got no opinion either way, but i will be watching this. (Assuming it is in video form.) :smallcool:

[Taku]

Kikuchi Makoto, for sure. She doesn't speak in impenetrable keigo and has a fun personality!

[Selpharia]

Yes, it would be fairly easy to make a vocal/visual focus with Takane. I think some people may not be relishing the idea of doing the stat math to figure out which idols match well, so I'll make some suggestions, along with what the team dynamic is likely to be.

Vocal and Dance Focused

Takane, Hibiki, Yayoi. Hibiki and Yayoi get along really well and together protect us from morale issues. Because we're using Yayoi, it will take us a bit to get really strong, but once we do, we'll be very secure. A pretty happy, light-hearted group.

Takane, Chihaya, Hibiki or Makoto- Chihaya always means morale isseus, but Makoto and Takane can generally be held pretty steady. This is like a sports car, it's either going realy fast, or not at all. Chihaya and Takane togehter can mean fights over authority, and there is sure to be DRAMA

Vocal and Visual Focused

Takane, Haruka, Miki or Yukiho- Haruka, like Yayoi in the Visual/Dance teams keeps up morale if Takane becomes unhappy or Yukiho and Miki succumb to their weaknesses, fear and apathy respectively

Miki, Yukiho, Takane- This is another POWER team, and it's focus is very clear. But, of course morale could be a problem.

Dance and Visual Focused

Hibiki, Yayoi, Miki- As above, Hibiki and Yayoi tag team restrain Miki's randomness and avoid morale issues, takes some startup time.

Makoto, Yukiho, Miki

Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure what this will be like.

Balanced
These are pretty easy
For vocal choose Takane or Chihaya
For Dance, choose Hibiki or Makoto
For visual choose Miki or Yukiho

Four "special" teams

The "Invincible Armada" Chihaya, Miki, Hibiki- Basically the three strongest idols, who eeither tear themselves apart or destroy everyone. Called invinvible because of the latter case. Failure chance moderate.


The "Sinking Fleet" Yayoi, Mami, Yukiho- This is the "easiest morale trio, but they have very low starting stats. I hate to say it, but pick this and our chances of complete failure skyrocket.


"Mother and Children" Takane, Mami, and Yayoi- Maximize adorable, screw the scoring. Failure likely

"Project Fairy" Takane, Hibiki, Miki- The classic balanced team, but can have trouble really specializing themselves. I've done this one before, and so I'm not really keen on doing it again.

Also, if you are just watching, and have no particular suggestions, I suggest rolling dice to determine a vote. Assign 1-9 on a d10 to an idol, and reroll any 10s. That way no one knows what it will be like! What could go wrong?

Also, for those of you who haven;t voted or commented, is there any information or entertainment that I could provide to encourage you?

Current Standings: Who should be our Lead Idol?

{table=head] Idol | Votes
Takane | 3
Makoto | 2
Miki | 1
Yayoi | 0
Hibiki | 0
Yukiho | 1
Haruka | 1
Chihaya | 2
Mami | 0 [/table]

Last vote update 3/23 11:59:59 PM EDT

Well, looks like things are pretty tight. In the event of a tie, the votes cast first take priority, so Takane is first among equals at the moment. Also, there will be some carryover when we decide on the rest of the unit after the end of Chapter 1. After that point, the game gives us two chances to change leader. I could never do it because I could never bear to see my current leader's depressed face for something that was usually my fault.

EDIT 2: I went back and played through one or two of the openings for each idol. It's been a while since I've played, and I forgot how excellent the faces are in this game.

Edit 3: Takane wins! More information below.

[Fri]

This is an amazing idea. I've never played this and I'm always curious about this game. Too bad that no mecha are involved this time :p.

I've rolled some dices, and the dice god gave you...

Miki (yes, I also thought to chose her without the dice. The dice god agree!)

Yukiho

and Takane!

But please, give priority to others who's actually chosen without the dice.

And I actually also prefer to have a team that have big chance of sinking. You don't play an LP to win! You do LP to entertain. And hillariously failing is funny :smalltongue: (I'm just kidding, go win this one).

Oh, and I got 'no hotlinking' from Makoto's page, and I wish you could have a more screen-friendly pics for the rest of them.

[kamikasei]

This looks like fun. I'll vote for Chihaya and Makoto, plus Yukiho to round things out. Does being the lead make a difference compared to just being in the trio? I suppose I'll nominate Chihaya as the lead unless there are strong mechanical reasons to do otherwise.

Seconding Fri that it might be an idea to change some of the image links. One shows "no hotlinking", several aren't showing up at all and some of those I can see are awkwardly large.

[Selpharia]

The lead participates more in the story sections, and sort of serves as a barometer for unit health. I'll change the images when I get a free moment, for now I'll put them in as regular links to avoid issues, and then replace them as I find new ones.

Chihaya actually makes a good lead, because she chafes under the direction of people less committed than she is. Which is, of course, everyone.

[Deme]

I'd like to see Takane as lead for a Takane, Miki, Yuhiko team. I just feel like she's more interesting than a more classical character like Miki or Yuhiko...
And if this fails, then it ought to fail because of drama. Drama's great. This is about teenage idol singers: band drama is essential.

[Selpharia]

I'd like to see Takane as lead for a Takane, Miki, Yuhiko team. I just feel like she's more interesting than a more classical character like Miki or Yuhiko...
And if this fails, then it ought to fail because of drama. Drama's great. This is about teenage idol singers: band drama is essential.

Oh, I agree, I mention it so much so people can make informed decisions about how much DRAMA they want. Since I have a few minutes, I'll go through the teams that have been suggested and point out the kind of DRAMA that is likely to occur.

Deme/Fri- Takane, Miki, Yukiho- Yukiho is essentially a Takane fangirl, since Takane is the image of classical refinement. Takane, for her part, doesn't really care about Yukiho. Miki causes chaos.

kamikasei- Pairing the ultra-serious hardworking, no-nonsense Chihaya and the laid back, goofy but naturally gifted Miki is an explosive mix. Whether that leads us to slip the surly bonds of Earth, or just to being a heap of ignominious ash on the floor remains to be seen.

Taku- Makoto gets along with others very well, and so drama usually comes when other idols get dragged under by the unstoppable current of her MANLY MAIDENLY ENERGY

[Andre]

Idolm@ster 2 is a brutal test of resource management that requires you to balance money, time, morale, and skill to come out on top.

Sounds like fun. :smalltongue: Under that regard I'd nominate Takane lead.

Let it be known however that I much prefer Yukiho as hers was the only track I could stand listening to for more than 20 seconds. :smallwink:

[Selpharia]

Sounds like fun. :smalltongue: Under that regard I'd nominate Takane lead.

Let it be known however that I much prefer Yukiho as hers was the only track I could stand listening to for more than 20 seconds. :smallwink:

Actually, any idol can sing any song, I just chose songs that I thought fit well with each idol to show as examples. I find Takane really funny when she does ridiculously cutesy songs, since it's so counter to her image. If you like one idol's voice more, you can also choose who gets the "main" voice roles in each performance. No gameplay effect, just fun stuff to play with.

[tensai_oni]

Interesting! I will be observing this.

My vote is on Haruka because it's not Idolmaster without Baka-Ribbon. Actually it still is... but my vote stands.

[Selpharia]

Just so everyone knows, I'm going to end voting at 11:59:59 EDT on Friday, 3/23. I hope to get the next chapter up by Sunday, and video of the coming chapter's two major conversations by later this week. Thanks, everyone who voted and commented so far, and to those of you who will vote between now and the deadline, since I 'm unlikely to get another chance to address people's comments or questions between now and the deadline. I've tabulated all the votes so far, but if you see any errors, let me know.

[Fri]

In that case, may I change my vote from yukiho to chihaya? After the nth reading of the profiles, I realize that I'm not really into japanese nadeshiko type, and I find chihaya quite amusing. This is really not because I'm into cool bossy ladies, no way, sir!

[Selpharia]

Well, it looks like Takane won, by a margin of a single vote. I've captured the video of this turn's special events, and once I get my screenshots together, so even people who don't watch the videos can see Takane's fantastic faces, I'll post the week's update. Expect tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. At that point, I'll explain a bit more about the mechanics of the Japan Map, Lessons, and Promotions. Oh, and once Chapter 1 is posted, voting for our final two idols and our Unit Name begins.

EDIT: Translating and localizing Takane so that her dialogue makes any sense at all is taking longer than I expected. I'll have the chapter up tomorrow, and it will be double length. As an apology, take this preview of a confused Takane

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanethinking.png

Beautiful? *giggle* To let such words flow from thy lips when we have scarcely met, thou must surely be...

[Andre]

I finally got around to watch the presentation video of the idols - and got to say that Takane is three times more stuffy than expected.
(Yeah, let's make her go with childish tracks!)

[Selpharia]

Chapter 2: Behold, Takane hath arrived!
I spend about ten minutes looking over the files on the idols of 765 productions. They all seem like pretty decent material; clearly President Takagi knows what he’s doing, at least as far as scouting talent goes. It does seem odd that none of them have done very well, but music is a fickle business. Maybe this won’t actually be as horribly difficult as I thought. I look through each of the files a few times, trying to decide who to produce, but I keep coming back to Shijou Takane, and her strange appearance. I wonder how her hair is such a strange silver color, especially in Japan, where everyone generally has sensible shades of brown, black, blonde, or blue. I hand the other files back to President Takagi, and he regards me with steady interest.

“Oho, so you’ve chosen Shijou Takane-kun have you? She’s quite mysterious and has, sort of an old fashioned- hm, no, kind of a noble demeanor. Oh, well, it’s difficult to explain. I believe she went to the park nearby to view the cherry blossoms. Anyway, go and meet her!”

With a hasty affirmation, I excuse myself and head out toward the park, just down the street from the 765 office. Luckily, it’s a weekday, and so, aside from a few old men practicing martial arts, there aren’t that many people in the park. I confess, even though it’s kind of cheesy to say, I’ve always liked cherry blossoms. It’s strange that they only bloom for such a short time, and yet, are so beautiful. Perhaps it’s precisely because they’re so transitory that they’re so beautiful. As I walk along, I faintly hear what sounds like the beginnings of an odd poem running through my head.

"The petals have all changed their hue
And teasing, fall upon my form
Long ere my viewing is complete”

Wait a second. When did my brain get such a sultry feminine voice?

The sheer oddity of what I just heard brings me back from my long-winded meditation, but while I was walking, I seemed to have slipped into some sort of old-fashioned painting. Beneath a cherry tree on the opposite side of the path stands a strange looking girl with silver hair mumbling to herself, in the same voice that I thought belonged to my inner monologue. Her silver hair is strange enough, but beneath a blue vest, she’s wearing a top with enough buttons and ruffles that she wouldn’t be out of place in 19th century England. With all that, on top of an absurdly ornate belt and an almost puritanical dress, I feel like I might have wandered into a wormhole and suddenly find I’m in the 1850s.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanesakura.png

Before I can get too caught up in the possibility of a whirlwind time travel adventure, and the need to figure out how to build a Delorian to get back to my own time, the silver haired girl notices me, and in a few stately steps, crosses into the middle of the path and gazes at me with a detached serenity. Now that I can see her up close, I realize that this is Shijou Takane, the idol I’m supposed to be producing, and that I should really stop letting my nerves come up with such unreasonable situations.

“Ah, it seems this humble form of mine hath been being gazed upon for some time. Good sir, could it be that thou hast some manner of business with me?”

Never mind. Apparently my ridiculous fantasies are in fact completely realistic, or I have finally gone completely off the deep end. Shijou-san looks at me with such a serious expression that I momentarily forget what I was going to say, and manage to stammer out a completely different sentence.
“Ah, um, no, it’s just that I was, um, so captivated by how beautiful you are that I sort of…well…”
“Beautiful?” She gives a half-repressed little giggle, and I feel incredibly dumb. “To let such words flow from thy lips when we have scarcely met, thou must surely be.... one of the “pick up masters” of whom I have heard so many rumors.”
She says this last so calmly and happily, like a student who’s just figured out the answer to a difficult test question, and proudly presents her newfound understanding to the examiner.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanelogic.png

I try to explain that that’s not the case, and I'm not exactly sure what she means by a "pickup master" but she just seems confused by my protestations.
“Oh, did I surmise incorrectly? Then, that would make thee some sort of…lecher?”
And we go from bad to worse. That’s really what I need. I can see it now. “Sorry President Takagi, I meant to go meet with Shijou-san, but I accidentally got arrested for attempted sexual assault.” Oh, this is just getting off to a fantastic start. I splutter some more denials, mainly because I have no idea what else to do in this situation. Thankfully, Shijou-san seems just about as confused as I am.

“I must confess, good sir, you have me at a loss. I have heard from everyone at the office that the only types of people who would call out to me upon the road are flirts and lechers, and that I should take the utmost care when dealing with such knaves.”

“What?” For a second I am completely overcome by the absurdity of it all. “I have no idea who in the office you got that idea from, but it’s ridiculous.”

“Oh! Hold but a moment, good sir. From thy speech I can discern thou art perhaps, someone from the office?”

“Well, yes, you see I’m your producer.”
Thou art… my producer?”
“Well yes, President Takagi said I should meet you and told me where you were so I came here and- ” I suddenly realize how ridiculous I sound. “-there’s no way you believe all of this straight away, but-”

“Nay, ‘tis not so, good sir. From the moment that thou didst grace me with thy noble gaze, I saw in that noble glance the deepest recesses of your heart. And from your heart, I feel a certain, how may I say it, warmth. Thus, I shall believe thy utterances, good sir.

OK, it is now officially opposite day. Say hello- pervert. Unbelievable story about why I’m staring at her- instant trust. That makes no sense. That’s not how any sane Japanese person deals with people they don’t know. Wait, that’s it! With her silver hair, and that anachronistic, stilted manner of speaking, there’s only one possible conclusion! This level of reasoning is possible for a true producer!

“Shijou-san, could it be that you are, well, a foreigner?”
“A…foreigner? Well, you could say that, but, then again, you couldn’t really say that.”
“Um, Shijou-san what do you mean?”
“Precisely that”
So. Confusing. OK, let’s ignore that and move on before my brain explodes.

“Um, OK, sure. Anyway, there’s no need for you to call me “good sir” all the time. It just feels kind of weird.”

“Oh, I see. Then, wouldst thou permit me to call thee “Sir Producer” instead?”

“Ah, um, no, just ‘Producer’ is fine, really.”
“If you find such a manner acceptable, then henceforth I shall call thee “Producer” when we meet in the course of our duties.”
“Oh, Ok, that’s good then, I suppose.”
Somehow, every time I ask a question about Takane, I find another one I want to ask. What kind of idol does she want to be? Why did she join 765 productions? And where is she from, exactly?

“Producer, we have yet far to go on our journey. Let us go step by step and speak of many things. I also humbly hoped, Producer, that thou might see fit to demonstrate to me me more concerning thyself.”

Apparently, my confusion is obvious.

“Do not mistake my meaning, Producer, for it is not that I think thee even one jot a knave of any sort, but I still do not know whether thou canst take me to the summit for which I am questing”

Hearing Takane talk so seriously about questing, I have a sudden urge to join in her quixotic crusade, and enter some kind of “troth-plight” or something like that. Well, if I’m going to do so, might as well go all the way. Who knows, with my luck, the more arcane and incomprehensible I make myself, the easier she’ll find it to understand.

“Indeed, um, Verily, I say, ergo! Then I shall endeavor to prove to you, day by day, that I am worthy of your trust. Now, let us return to the office, that we may plan for the day when you ascend to the summit of this world of entertainment.”
She giggles that airy giggle again, and I feel incredibly stupid, like a foreigner trying to speak proper Japanese.

“I see, Producer, please allow me to put forth my paltry prayer for such a day from the bottom of my heart that we shall together have days as beautiful as these blossoms. ”
Shijou-san smiles inscrutably once again, and that paranoid part of my brain registers that cherry blossoms are all ephemeral things doomed to scatter and die. I decide for once to dismiss that nagging feeling and we head back the way we came, at a stately pace that allows Shijou-san to finish her blossom viewing. She doesn’t really say much, beyond some more poetry, but at least I didn’t get arrested or challenged to a duel or a joust or anything like that.
I can’t tell whether she’s pleased or just amused at the monkey trying to dress up like the Duke of Zhou, but so long as she’s happy, I suppose this could be called a success. I think I’ll try to avoid speaking Shijou-ese in future though. I’ll just file that one under totally-not-mixed victories and head back to the office with Shijou-san.

When we return to the office, I don’t see President Takagi anywhere, but all of the stacks of files and office supplies have been reorganized into neat and logical piles. From behind one of the larger stacks steps a woman with short black hair highlighted by a headband that looks like a hands-free microphone, and a green vest and skirt. Since I have a hard time seeing President Takagi as the practical, organizing type, I guess she must handle the day to day affairs of the 765 office.

“Oh, hello Producer-san, nice to meet you. I’m Otonashi Kotori, office clerk for 765 productions. I’ll handle most of the arrangements for the work you and your idols will be doing, so you could say I’m your “secret support from the shadows!” She grins, and it’s pretty obvious that that’s not exactly her official job description.
“By the way, you can call me Kotori-san, Kotori nee-chan or Kotori-chan, whatever you’d like”
“I see, Otonashi-san. Nice to meet you.”

At least she talks like a normal person

"Oh, yes, well Otonashi-san is fine too, I guess. Building a relationship is a slow and steady process after all”
‘What was that?”
Oh, nothing! Nothing at all!”

“Well, anyway, President Takagi wanted me to let you know that he’s arranged for you both to do some vocal practice for this week, and for today, to do a recording of a demo tape for Shijou-san. Here, let me get you the address. For today, you’ll be sticking to Tokyo, but eventually, I’m sure you’ll be working all over Japan!”

She pulls out a tablet, with what looks like am oddly deformed map of Japan, with various figures and color coded indices all over it.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/JPMap.png

“Um, how exactly does this work?”
“Oh, don’t worry I’ll explain it later. For now, the only thing you have to worry about is whether you want to do the vocal practice or the recording first”
“Oh, well, um, Shijou-san, do you have a preference?”
“Nay, Producer. I humbly await thy orders.”

So much for foisting the decision off on Shijou-san. “Oh, well, I guess it’s better to warm up with vocal practice, then do the recording afterward.”

“Makes sense. I’ll make the appointments now. You should both head off to the voice studio. Good luck.”
“Right, thanks, Otonashi-san”
“Producer, let us go forth!”

Surprisingly enough, voice practice goes pretty well. I guess Shijou-san is pretty experienced with it. She sings well and I offer words of praise at the end of each exercise. I guess I should be grateful, after all I could be stuck with an idol who can’t sing at all. I never understood why they’re popular, not like there’s a shortage of pretty girls whose singing voices are good. Shijou-san, for example, doesn’t exactly score low on either count. The hour and a half of practice passes by quickly, and so we had a quick lunch at a nearby noodle stand, and head for the recording studio. Note: I never expected to hear ramen described in senryu poetry. One of the strange perks of travelling with someone who seems to be from about 1850.

Ok, I think I’ve officially devised my first brilliant plan. For the demo, I’ll have Takane sing a variety of different songs. That way I’ll get a good mix of styles for the demo tape to send to the TV stations and agencies, and also learn what Takane’s best styles are. It’s killing two birds with one stone. I am a genius.

“Ok, Shijou-san, I’d like you to sing a few of the songs that I gave you the lyric pages for, does that sound all right?”
“There will be no problems. Ah, thou didst make mention of ‘several’ so…”
“Oh, hm, how about this one “Love Love Machine” It’s a song with a theme of modern young love.”
“Ah, Lo-ve Lo-ve ma-chine, right?”
Huh, I wonder why she said the song title so weirdly. Oh well, it’s not a big deal, I’m sure she’ll be fine.
“Yes, I wanted to make a demo tape as promotion material to show off your talents”
“…”

The silence stretches. I look up from my lyric sheet to see Shijou-san staring down at hers like she’s trying to bore a hole in it with her eyes.
“Um, Shijou-san? Are you listening to what I’m saying?”
She looks up, as though startled out of a trance.
“Oh! My sincerest apologies, Producer. I was bringing all of my will to bear upon the paper upon which these lyrics have been scribed, so I did not hear thy utterance”

“Ah, that’s some incredible concentration! Maybe it was you couldn’t read it! Heh, like that could happen, there’s no way you couldn’t read a song like this.”
I look up expecting to have to explain why my joke was funny, or maybe having to apologize for it, but I did not expect to see Shijou-san with a look of absolute astonishment on her face.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanesurprise.png

“Oh, um, sorry if that-“
“Truly thou art remarkable, Producer, to so directly hit upon the thing which so vexes me.”

What? That makes no sense. She’s like an expert poet, and she can’t read simple love song lyrics? Why is everything about this girl so utterly nonsensical?

“But, this is an easy Western-style song. How?- Why?-“
“Well, it is not that I cannot read the words, it is more that I am unable to grasp their meaning.”
“Oh, you mean you can’t understand what the lyrics are trying to convey?”

Oh, good, at least it’s not some weird selective illiteracy. It still makes no sense though.

“Truly, it is most embarrassing, but indeed, that is the case.”
“But, there really aren’t any difficult words here. I mean, the words you use are more difficult than anything here.”
“Indeed, it is the fact that the problem is easy that makes it so difficult”

Ok, now you’re just being paradoxical and obtuse on purpose. I hope.

“No matter what I do, the meaning of such modern words as these eludes me completely. Of course, normal words are not at all difficult, but, if the amount of sideways words is too great, understanding takes some time…”
“S-Sideways words? Shijou-san, have you been time warped from the past or something?”
“Yes”

That simultaneously explains everything and nothing. It’s astounding. The madness of Shijou-san’s answers takes its toll, and I have nothing to say.

“Well, from a very young age, I was raised in a very strict traditional manner by my butler, so consequently, I have not had much contact with worldly things, so I have neither knowledge nor skill with modern words.”

So, a “daughter in a box”? Please let this be it. I don’t think I can handle another bizarre pseudo-truth. Not that this really explains anything.

“Well, if that’s the case, then should we do a traditional ballad instead? That would probably be easier, right?”

“Indeed, the path of the ballad would be the less arduous; however, I refuse to flee from a problem that presents itself so brazenly before my eyes!” To do so is to lack pride! I intend to sing the song that thou hast so carefully prepared on my behalf”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanesrsbsns.png

As she makes this bombastic decree, with a face serious enough to send troops into battle, I can’t help but chuckle, because while she’s clearly trying for an epic expression of defiance, the end result looks suspiciously like the 19th century nobility's version of a pout

“Ahahah, Shijou-san, so you throw yourself fully into everything and hate losing. It’s kind of against the image I had of you to have such childlike aspects in your personality
“…”
“Please…do not mock me so.”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanemoe.png

I am a horrible person.

“W-well anyway, why don’t you tell me which part of the song you’re having trouble understanding? I can at least help you with that.”
“V-very well. This section: ‘My heart goes all kyun-kyun.’ I cannot imagine the situation to which it might refer”
Oh, that, well, it basically is talking about falling in love. “Kyun-kyun” is the sound of a heart racing.”
“Love…hm. And the sound of a heart at the limits of endurance. ” She giggles what I have decided to call the Imperial Giggle. “I see”
“Huh?”
“Oh, it is of no importance, Producer. I simply found myself recalling a recent experience.”

Not touching this one.

“All right, let’s get to recording.”
“Understood. I shall do so forthwith”

Shijou-san ‘s singing is even better than I expected. Even though it’s just a silly love song, I find myself captivated by her performance. We run through the songs I’d planned to do quickly, and each one is excellent.

Producer, I hope my humble performance hath met with your approval.”
“This will make a fantastic demo tape. Shijou-san, you really sing very well.”
“Um, Producer, what exactly do you mean by a “demo tape?” Being an idol truly is a difficult venture”

We head back to the office after a successful day, while I explain exactly what a demo tape is. President Takagi and Otonashi-san are both there when we arrive, it seems like they are looking at some important documents, but both look up when we enter.”

“Ah, welcome back, you two! How did it go?”
“Truly, it was a fine beginning, Otonashi-san. I look forward to continuing efforts to attain the summit of the world of idols”
Otonshi-san stifles a giggle. Oh, that’s good, Takane-san. Producer?”
“Oh, yeah, it went well today.” Mostly, for given values of well.

“Ah, how wonderful to hear. Thank you both for working so hard on your first day. Don’t let us hold you up any longer. Oh, but do take this, it’s a company phone just in case there’s something important I need to inform you about.”

Well, free stuff is always nice. The two of them move into the rear office, with Otonashi-san mentioning something about a letter. Once they both leave, Shijou-san turns to me.

“I wish to thank thee, Producer. Because of thy efforts, the quest of today has become a success, and I have had the great privilege of encountering many things which I otherwise would not have seen. I believe one could say that it was ‘fun.’ However, I ask that thou dost not treat me with any special consideration. Please feel free to simply say “Hey, You” when addressing me in future.”

“Um, Shijou-san . I think that might be a little excessive”
“Oh, well if thou doth insist, then please call me simply “Takane.”
Huh, I didn’t think old fashioned noblewomen liked being on a first name basis with commoners. I guess it’s a good thing though, so I won’t complain.
“All right...Takane.”

And so, we both head home. You know, this isn’t too bad. Takane’s a little odd, but I think she has potential, so long as I don’t screw it up. Huh? There’s an email from President Takagi?
“Oh, I forgot to mention, be sure to choose two other idols to join Shijou-kun in your unit.”
Awesome.


Culture and Translation Notes:
Dressing up a monkey like the Duke of Zhou- This is actually a Chinese idiom, not a Japanese one, but Producer is a humanities student, so he's familiar with it. The Duke of Zhou founded the Zhou dynasty and was renowned for his virtuous and proper behavior. The idiom refers to the futility of making someone try to be more high-class than they are

Takane and “sideways” modern words- Takane is, as we’ve seen, very old fashioned, so is used to the traditional Japanese way of writing, right to left vertical script, and has a tough time with western style writing. “Kyun” is a modern Japanese onomatopoeia for the trhrob of a heart, so Takane doesn’t really understand that one either.

Love Love Machine- Similar to the above, the title of this song is in “English”, transliterated into katakana, the Japanese script for sounds and foreign words, so Takane had difficulty reading it.

“Daughter in a box”- I liked the clarity of this image so much that I couldn’t bear to change it to a more common English expression. Basically it suggests that Takane has been carefully raised away from the world at large.

Demo tape and “demo-te”- in the original Japanese script, Takane is fine with the word “demo tape” but gets confused when Producer further abbreviates it as “demo-te” デモテ. Since that’s not an actual word in English, though, it wouldn’t be odd for her not to understand what it means.

Senryu poetry- This form of poetry is like haiku, but with a more satirical bent.

Kotori nee-chan. Kotori is older than Producer, so while this title is as familiar as “Kotori-chan” it acknowledges that she is the elder of the two. Literally closer to “Big sister Kotori”



Whew, that’s finally done. I’d forgotten that the first few turns have a lot of special events, which lengthens their chapters. Anyway, as promised, voting for the other two idols is now open. As such, here is the chart. Once again, vote for up to three. We’ll take the two with the highest number of votes with ties broken by whoever had most votes to be our main idol before.

{table=head] Idol | Votes

Makoto | 4
Miki | 4
Yayoi | 0
Hibiki | 1
Yukiho | 1
Haruka | 2
Chihaya | 3
Mami | 2 [/table]


Oh, and we also need a unit name. It’s kind of hard to give a maximum length because of the difference bwetween English and Japanese characters, but I’ll do my best to accommodate the winning suggestion. The computer default is “Namco Angels.” Please don’t make me use the default.
I’ve also updated pictures of all of the idols in the OP so they should work and not murder people’s screens.

I’ll add more information about mechanics in the next post. If Takane's text color is hard to read, or you have suggestions for a better color, let me know. Also, if any of the images have problems, I'll be relying on people to tell me, because they look fine on my end

EDIT: Votes are current as of 3:30 PM 3/31/2012. I carried over previous votes for multiple idols

EDIT2: Corrected a bit of Takane's dialogue for accuracy, see: "pickup master", and the bit about the road/journey

EDIT3: Included votes up until 7:45 4/02/2012. Video will be one more day because my editing software decided to crash. New sort of rule- Voting ends 48 hours after the video is posted. Schedule slipping, moi? You must be mistaken

EDIT4: Re-checked the dialogue, it's "daughter in a box," not "princess in a box" I still think that princess sounds better, but sadly I was not consulted when they made the idiom. Hmph. Also updated votes

EDIT5 Votes included up until midnight EST on 04/06/2012

[Vauron]

Unit Name: Gurren Brigade Radiant Gales

Other Idols: Miki, Haruka, Hibiki

[Fri]

Wow, I completely understand how making this LP would be a such a massive task if you, are not only translating the dialogue, but translating it with proper style like a true translator!

We should've picked Mami as her partner :smallbiggrin:

[Selpharia]

Idolm@ster mechanics: The Map and The Idol Unit Indicators

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/JPMap.png

So, this picture from the last update show what our "world map" looks like. In Idolm@ster, our world is Japan, and it is divided into six sections, North, South, East Highlands, West, Center, and Capital.

Unit Status

The top right part of the screen tells us our unit's Level, Skill, Trust and Unity.

[Skill]

Just like each idol has a skill level, each idol unit has cumulative skills. The three skills are represented by the three bars- Vocal, Dance, and Visual

These bars can be affected by idol skill, clothing and song. I'll explain more about clothing and song when we choose them. Idol skill can be improved with Lessons.

Level

Level, denoted with an Lv (duh) is the average of the three skills, and ranges from 1 to 16. In this screenshot, we are Level 1.

Trust

Trust is the heart-shaped indicator. It shows how much faith the idols have in Producer. Currently, it is one nearly empty heart, but will increase to as high as 5. Trust is increased by doing well in the "dating sim" styyle jobs and promotions. For each full Trust Heart, we get a Memory Appeal for use in auditions, which boosts our unit's score

Unity
Unity is measured by the pink circle graph in the upper right.

The pink circle indicates normal morale levels, so there are no fights or friendships happening. he size of the circle represents the toital amount of unity

Unity is like trust, but it measures how the idols feel about each other. As such, it is much more likely to change. It increases by successfully completing any activities, or the morale boosting minigames each week. It also increases over time. Unity acts as a multiplier for our idols' performance results and skill gains.






Resources

Fans and Attention

Each region has two statistics, Fan Number and Attention Level. Fan number, is pretty obviously, the number of fans that you have in each region. This is increased by performing at auditions, live concerts, or festivals.

Promotion events and jobd, like, for example the demo tapre recording in Chapter 1 also increase fan number. We got 1 fan from our first job, Producer himself. Fan number is key to determining how well our CDs sell, as well as the final awards standings at the end of the game.

Attention Level is how much attention the unit is getting in the press. The yellow faces indicate a good, but not great level of attention, and it's what we start with everywhere. Attention Level acts as a multiplier for our events and CD sales in that region. Therefore, we need to keep Attention level high to make sure that our other activities are effective. Unfortunately, the press is fickle, so it is usually better to focus on a few areas at a time, and maintain them, rather than spreading ourselves too thin.

The catch is that things that increase fans by a good deal tend to do less for Attention, and vice-versa, so it's a balancing act.

In short Fans * Attention = Profit = Good

Each area has an award that you can get for having a large number of fans in that area. Getting even one of these awards saves us from the horrible specter of a BAD ENDING. Getting all 5 plus the overall award nets us a PERFECT ENDING, but that's roughly as possible as a perfect Nuzlocke run using strict rules (not likely at all). These awards have no partial credit, you're either over the line and win, or under and get nothing.

Time

Now, in every day we have three Time Units, to spend doing activities, represented by the pink squares next to the clock, under Schedule 1 and Schedule 2. Everything takes time. Here is a brief list of time costs

{table=head] Activity | Time Cost
Lesson | 1
Shopping | 1
Intense Lesson | 2
Promotion | 2
Audition | 3
Live | 3
Festival | 3[/table]

Performances take the whole day, but we can mix and match everything else.

The good news is, you all don't have to tell me what to do every turn, because that would get boring. I'll ask for general marching orders, and execute your suggestions.

Money

Next to our Time Units is our current funding: 18,580

Some activities cost money, and nearly all provide some if we are successful. The big money burners are Large Promotions, which give lots of everything in return if done well. Buying new outfits in game also costs money.

If you're a bit confused, do not worry, I'll go through the changes to all of these resources as we play through, so you'll get to see them in action.

I've taken into account all votes for supporting idols so far. Since Deme gave me a full team idea last round, I reflected that as well. Voting for supporting idols will end at 11:59:59 EDT on Sunday, April 1

@Fri- Well, it's all to make it more enjoyable for people, and I hope they're at least somehat entertaining and interesting. I tend to go for a "summary" of the turn's events in my writeups, and then do an exact translation in my videos. Should I consider your post a vote for *gulp* Mami? EDIT: Most of what I cut out in the posts are instances of Producer stuttering incomprehensibly, or otherwise being really boring. The translations of what I keep in are still as accurate as they can be and make sense.

Comments, and votes are, as ever, appreciated.

EDIT: Derp, fixing all the tags

[kamikasei]

I'll vote for Makoto, Haruka and Yukiho, in that order. If Takane's the lead and rated highly for Visual already then a tomboy dancer and a stabilizing element seem like the best way to round things out. Takane will probably provide enough sheer weirdness that I don't see a need for another source of tension.

[Selpharia]

Since I have a free moment, I figured now would be a good time to discuss Promotions and Lessons.

Promotions-

These are the "dating sim" segments of Idolm@ster, because they involve navigating conversations with the idols to improve morale. What makes these more interesting is that usually there's a specific goal in each one for Producer and the idols to work together to achieve. For example, last chapter we had a Promotion about making a good demo tape. Most of the dialogue is pre-scripted, but at key points, the idols will have problems or ask for advice, and the results of the event depend on your answer. Usually there are 3 answers, and you're given 5 seconds to choose an appropriate one. Full disclosure: you can pause the game to read the text of each answer, and remove some of the time pressure.

In each answer choice, there is a right answer, a middling answer and a wrong one. Choosing all correct answers gets a PERFECT COMMUNICATION, a mix of right and middling gets GOOD COMMUNICATION, anything lower gets NORMAL COMMUNICATION, and all wrong answers gets Producer a BAD COMMUNICATION. I personally like this system a bit more than most RPG dialogue trees, because being nice or agreeable, like in real life, doesn't always yield the best results. For instance, Producer had to suggest that Takane couldn't read the lyric sheet rather than saying something more polite, in order to understand and help her real problem.

Lessons-

Lessons are rhythm games that can improve idols' base skills. For those of you voting, the most important thing to know about lessons is that you can spend more time and money for a higher likelihood of a better result. When we do this, it's called an Intense Lesson, or "Hard Lesson" in game. Ironically, "Hard Lessons" are easier, which is why I call them Intense Lessons. Also, we can choose to do lessons that give a large increase to one stat or smaller increases to 2 stats, depending on what our goal is.

Video NB: I don't plan to show lessons in the videos because my capture software produces an audio lag that makes them difficult to do well when recording, but if people are curious, I can record them.

Oh, and since Miki's gotten some interest as a secondary idol, here's a little video I found where you can Meet the Miki (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR9l-K-Iy3U&feature=related)

[Fri]

@Fri- Well, it's all to make it more enjoyable for people, and I hope they're at least somehat entertaining and interesting. I tend to go for a "summary" of the turn's events in my writeups, and then do an exact translation in my videos. Should I consider your post a vote for *gulp* Mami? [/QUOTE]

Nah, my vote is not changing from my last vote.

[Selpharia]

Just wanted to quickly note that I've decided to extend voting until Tuesday, April 3, because I still have to finish subbing the video of this previous chapter, and I know some people only watch the videos. Oh, and I've only gotten one group name suggestion, so it's really a case of "one man, one vote"

[Andre]

Should I consider your post a vote for *gulp* Mami?

No, but you may consider this a vote for Mami. Go Mami! *
As for the other choices I'll pick Makoto and Miki. She looks better brown haired, by the way.

* It's unlikely she's going to be chosen, but I am confident you would have been able to slowly carve your way through her dialogue because you're oh-so-awesome, therefore it is a damn shame.
It's not like you can't find people around to dry a tear or two in case the worst happens. :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

Hehe, this might be great! I'm just glad I can't read Japanese or I might have to play the actual game.

My votes are Chihaya, Makoto and as a last (if allowed) Mami, but with preference for the first pair. :smallwink:

And I quite like the name suggested, Cold harsh beauty which if you squint also looks like Radiant Gals.

[Deme]

I prefer "Radiant Gals" to "Radiant Gales," So this will be a very confusing vote, I think... But if we could come up with a name that was a stupid pun, all the better. This is Japan we're talking about.

[Vauron]

Honestly, I have no strong attachment to Radiant Gales. I went with it in part because I assumed it wouldn't sound horrible in japanese, which was a silly thought when the audience will be reading in english. It still seemed a better idea than my original thought of 'Resplendent Raindrops', but I'm bad at naming in general.

I kinda assumed there would be more votes to decide the team name actually.

[Elder Tsofu]

Bah, so now I'm alone with my bad taste here?! :smalltongue:

[Vauron]

I haven't changed my vote, I just stated that it wouldn't bother me if something else was chosen.

[Selpharia]

It's finally finished, and so I present-

Week 1: Meet the Takane Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QL9SQyQ7SM)

For the naming: Gales and Gals actually sound and look more different when put into katakana, but one the words I could use for "gales" has an additional sense meaning "style" So we could go with Radiant Gales[style] Gals, which would sound silly and weirdly punny both in English and Japanese. As a bonus, I found a sufficiently archaic synonym for "radiant" that I think fits a Takane lead unit.

[Elder Tsofu]

The video helped establishing Takane's mannerism, although I prefer reading your summaries to get the information. ^^

And add my vote for your suggested name, it sounds silly enough. ;-)

[Deme]

Your combo name is perfect. Let's do that.

[Vauron]

Sounds good.

[Fri]

I've watched the video, and I like Takane already. Definitely not regretting the choice.

[Taku]

スーパーラストミニッツVoting!!!
千早と真

[Selpharia]

スーパーラストミニッツVoting!!!
千早と真

Figure I might as well step in here:

Trans: Super Last minute Voting!!!
Chihaya and Makoto

[Selpharia]

And voting has ended! Our new idol unit,　灼然風ガールズ　or Radiant Gales Girls is now complete! Takane, Miki, and Makoto are the idols we will be taking all the way to the top of the world of entertainment. Expect the first chapter with the full unit sometime in the next few days. Updated the OP to include pictures of all of the members of Radiant Gales Girls

[Selpharia]

And here’s the official founding of our unit. Since Makoto and Takane have really similar text colors, I’ve decided to change Takane’s text to Dark Red for all future updates

Chapter 3: Form! Radiant Gales Girls!

In the end, deciding who else to put in the unit is pretty straightforward. Miki and Makoto both look pretty skilled, and putting Takane together with Miki might help her get used to the modern world a little more quickly. That and Makoto will hopefully keep me sane in a world of cosmetics, chatter and sparkly outfits that is producing a girl idol group. All in all, by the time I reach the 765 office, I’m feeling pretty good about this whole thing. President Takagi is already there when I arrive.

“Oho! From your determined gaze, I can see that you’ve decided on the rest of your three-person unit! So, who are you going to add?”

I tell the President my choice, and the reasoning behind it.

Hm! I’d never think to put those three together. You’ll be exploring a yet untrodden pathway of idol production. I look forward to the explosive results of your radical new unit!

Despite the President’s enthusiasm, I’m now less sure of my choice than I was before, but, eh. If there’s one thing I know about media, it’s that you have to give people what they want, and President Takagi seems like the type who don’t mind if an idea fails, so long as there’s enthusiasm and effort behind it. I give him my best “Yessir.” and he continues.

“I’ll call the girls into the meeting room. We’re a pretty small office, so they all know each other at least a bit, so the main thing for today is just to get used to working together. Anyway, go and talk to them as soon as you can”

It’s funny, after the terror and sort of success that was meeting with Takane for the first time, I’m not really all that nervous about meeting with the other two. Maybe it’s because they seem a bit more like regular people and less like some sort of time travelling alien. Who knows?

Once I set my stuff down I head over to the meeting room and see that everyone’s already assembled. As I enter, Miki, who I recognize by her bleach blonde hair, is in the middle of talking to Makoto, whose eyes seem to have slightly glazed over at the speed of Miki’s speech, while Takane looks on like a scientist observing two particularly fascinating lab specimens.

“So Miki was all, “Well, you didn’t put your name on it so how was Miki supposed to know they weren’t for everybody to just take?” And then Little Miss Forehead got all indignant on me! And she started doing that irritating shrieky thing she does, so Miki just-"

“Miki, thou must needs finish thy recounting at some later time, as Producer has arrived. Good morrow, Producer, I hope the day finds thee well?”

Miki falls silent, and Makoto looks at me as though I have just delivered her from the most horrific torturer known to humankind.
She gives me a full and deep bow, but since she’s not giving me any new feudal titles, I’ll call it an improvement.

“I’m fine, Takane”

Miki looks like she’s going to say something after Takane finishes bowing, but Makoto adds in a “Hello Producer, Good to meet you” before Miki can say anything. Makoto’s right hand moves, and it looks like she’s going to fist bump me or something before she realizes what she’s doing and draws back, looking a little embarrassed.
Unfortunately for Makoto’s Keep Miki Quiet campaign, this gives the energetic blonde an opening, and she takes full advantage.

Good morning, Producer! Nice to meet you!

She adds a little twirling flourish as she speaks, and finishes with a little wink. This one is going to be trouble. Well, no time to start like the present in any case.
“Morning, everyone. I know you all know each other, so I was hoping that you could introduce yourselves before we get started”

"Sure! Well, I’m Kikuchi Makoto, 17, and going full power with my EXTREME maidenliness!"

Well, we’re now officially two for three in the “ridiculous ways of talking” category
Well, ah, nice to meet you. But, um, I noticed your manner is kind of, well, unexpectedly vigorous?

“Wh-What? Oh, crap! I was trying so hard to be properly cute, but I just ruined it didn’t I? I’m sorry, I know it’s weird for an idol to talk like that."
Tomboy or no, Makoto’s crestfallen expression is enough to pull fiercely on my heartstrings. Well, that does answer the question of whether she’s got enough personal charisma to be an idol. I fumble around for something to say

Well, um, ah, that’s not really a problem. It’s um, what makes you unique and interesting.

Self, I really hope you didn’t just make things even worse.

Makoto looks puzzled for a second but then her face suddenly lights up with happiness.

"Hey, you’re right, Producer! I never thought about it that way. I’m truly moved! From now on, I’ll go wherever you want and do whatever you ask!”

Is it just me, or do 765 productions girls all seem to have a weird attachment to oaths of fealty?

“Ok, Makoto, thanks. Miki?”

“Oh, Miki is 15, and recently found that being an idol is really interesting! Plus, as a part of a three person group, we can do fun things like share lunches and stuff. Miki thinks it will be a lot of fun!*giggle*”

Note to self- stock up on aspirin. Clearly,, it will be necessary.

“Right then, now that we’ve all met, we need to come up with the name of our unit. Anyone have any suggestions?”

Oh! How about “The Kung Fu Fighters?”

“Bleh! Only Makoto knows kung-fu, how can we be the Kung Fu Fighters?

“It does seem that such a name wouldst not match our primary occupation"

"Oh, I know! How about “Hoshii Miki and the Two Other Ones Who Aren’t Hoshii Miki?”
That one gets a unanimous vote down.

"Takane?"

“I have no skill with such modern questions. I will abide by whatever judgment thou dost make, Producer”

Oh, well, I can just throw some random words together, and maybe add an archaism to make Takane feel more at home.
"How about Radiant Gales Girls?"

“With such a promising name, I am certain that our prospects for success will increase tenfold, Producer."

“Well, Miki is pretty radiant. That works!

“Oh, It’s both full of energy and graceful and elegant! That's a great name!

All right then, Radiant Gales Girls it is! President Takagi said he wants everyone to get used to working together before we do any performing.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGMeet.png

So according to the schedule, we’ll do dance practice, then some performance practice.

Just as we’re about to leave, Otonashi-san rushes in.

W-Wait, Producer! I haven’t had the chance to congratulate everyone on starting a new idol group! Oh, and also, a present to commemorate today: Tada! Stage outfits!

Behind her she pulls a massive rack of all sorts of clothes, including some which appear to have LEDs sewn into them, aince they light up as soon as Otonashi-san touches them.

"Of course, this isn’t everything we have, and the specialty shops have more, but I wouldn’t want to deny you the excitement of finding out what kind of clothes you might find as your carreeers progress! And how you can bring them together to create tens of thousands of combinations! That’s definitely my favorite part of the whole thing. I often find myself daydreaming about the wonders of outfits, about 8 times a day!"

Really? They’re clothes. I know they’re important, but they’re just clothes.

“Eight times a day?”

"Oh, well, um, ah, of course that was a joke! It’s more like seven, or maybe six, anyways."

O-k, I’ll just leave that alone.

"Producer, leave this to Miki! Miki will create an awesome ensemble for everyone to wear!"

I confess, I’m a bit uncomfortable giving Miki any kind of responsibility over anything, but the other two agree, and I can’t see her being any worse at it than Takane, Makoto, or me.

A few minutes later, I see the results for myself.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGSillyclothespose1.png

“Wow, that’s actually not bad”

Not exactly sane, either, but it really does look OK to start out with, and clothes are easily changed later.

“See? See? They really suit everyone, right?”

“Indeed, I find this arrangement most compelling”

“OH YEAH! These are great!”

As we leave for dance practice, the three of them continue chatting about the various outfits that Otonashi-san had on the rack. The dance studio is also in Tokyo, so we don’t really have to travel too far.

By the time the studio is set up and ready, Takane, Miki and Makoto have all switched to workout gear.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGWorkoutC.png

Somehow, Makoto’s warmups look a bunch more strenuous than Miki’s or Takane’s. In fact, the sheer flexibility on display makes my muscles ache.

“Hey, Makoto, I notice you don’t use the same 765 track suits that the other two, and your warmup seems more like a mini decathlon."

“Heheh, yeah. Ever since I was little, my dad signed me up for all kinds of sports, so by the time I became an idol, I was already really used to this kind of thing, and my workout clothes. I do karate, judo, tennis, and all sorts of sports, so dancing like this really isn’t too hard; you could say it’s my specialty. I’ll still work my hardest though, Producer!"

Takane finishes her own warmups and gets to the business of being unit leader, checking up on everyone

Makoto, hast thou made thy fullest measure of preparation?

“Yep, ready when you are, Takane. This will be fun, I’ve never done lessons with other people before!"

“Excellent. Miki?”

“Uh huh! Just follow what Miki does and everything will be fine!*giggle*"

“Verily, that is the confidence that I would expect from Miki. Still, should a problem arise, do not hesitate to inform us.”

Makoto seems a bit less pleased than Takane with Miki’s response, judging by her gritted teeth and steely stare.

Once the instructor arrives, everything goes pretty smoothly. Takane has a little trouble, but my guess is that she’s just not used to the less-than-stately pace of modern dancing. Makoto and Miki have a pretty good competition going, but while Miki is naturally limber and graceful, and pulls off a more aesthetic performance, she just can’t keep up with Makoto’s sheer stamina. As things go on, I can see a blossoming look of shock on her face as she’s gets more and more tired, but Makoto just keeps going strong.

Looking over at Makoto, she seems equally surprised that Miki has this much raw skill. Makoto doesn’t look very happy when the instructor praises Miki’s performance, but she’s not giving her horrible death glares anymore. Hopefully, they can be friendly competitors, rather than destroying each other. I did notice that Miki gets bored pretty easily when not actively engaged in competition with Makoto, and ends up talking more than actually practicing, but Takane’s pretty quick to bring her back on task.

By the time all the lessons are finished, almost everyone is exhausted. Even Makoto looks like she had to work pretty hard. Perhaps more amazingly, Miki is comparatively quiet on the way back to the office. Now that I think about it, It’s kind of unfair to Miki for me to think so negatively about her. I mean, she’s very skilled, and it’s not like she’s actively malicious, but, I guess she’ll just take some getting used to.
I figure this might be a good time to see what the girls thought about today, so I ask them once we get all the stuff back into the office.

"It was great, Producer. Working with everyone was really interesting and I feel like we got a lot accomplished. I think from now on, we’ll really be able to work like true idols."

“Weren’t you a solo idol before though?”

“Yeah, but I did more training than actual performance so it kinda sucked. But during trio lessons today, it felt like I got back gut feeling that I wanted to be an idol! I can’t really explain it, but it feels like a switch suddenly got turned on!"

“I see, because as a trio, you can give and receive motivation and energy among each other. That’s good, just keep doing that and try to remember that same feeling you had today from now on.”

"Yeah! I definitely will, Producer!”

“Well, let’s see. Miki thought today was fun, in a kinda Miki-like way.”

Of course. Clearly making sense is too much to ask.

"Well, because chatting while we were driving was fun, and then chatting during lessons was fun, and then chatting during luch was fun, and then chatting while going to the bathroom was fun, and-"

“O-Ok Miki that’s enough.” Way way way too much information there. “Was there anything besides chatting that you thought was fun?

Hmm…Oh, yeah! Miki can’t wait to get home and text with everyone! We’ll get to talk about what we think of Producer! That should be really fun! *giggle*

“I’m not sure whether I really want to know.”

I feel like today I’ve got a taste of the absolute terror of managing three teenage girls at once. But still, stiff upper lip for about five more minutes, then I can crash.

“Lastly, Takane, what did you think as leader?”

“Well, initially, I felt somewhat bewildered, but in the end, affairs progressed more smoothly than I anticipated.

“Well, since you all want the same thing, I guess working together happened pretty quickly.”

“Indeed. Despite my initial impression, as a three person unit, the deeds we may accomplish are very much greater, amd our prospects have considerably increased. I must express my humble gratitude to everyone for nobly endeavoring that our first meeting should have such excellent results.”

“Well, it’s a little early for that, since the real work is only just starting. After this, we’ll actually start performing. Still, if we can keep going like this, I think you three wil do well.”

Yes, even Miki, although whether my brain will do well is another question entirely.

"Understood, Producer. From today, we shall all unite our wills in diligent pursuit of the fulfillment of our ultimate aspirations, the position of Top Idol!"

I really can’t help but smile at the earnestness with which she says these kinds of things, benath all that bizarre verbiage.

“I’ll also work equally hard to make sure that you all succeed!”

“Yes, and we in turn shall depend upon your noble efforts.”

Takane caps off her declaration with another Imperial Giggle. Now if only she could teach Miki how to do that, my eardrums would be so much happier.
Just as we’re about to end, President Takagi enters from the back office.

“Ah, I’m glad to see everyone worked hard for their first day as a unit. I hope you’ve been able to open up amongst each other and start becoming friends. After all, there’s a national audition for new idol groups that I want you all to challenge! Remember, if you win, you’ll get to perform on TV! Well, that’s all for today. Be sure to keep working hard in the weeks to come. Well, that’s all for today."

Well, I guess I know what I’ll be stressing out preparing for during the next week.

"Thank thee for all of thy tremendous effort today Producer, as well as everyone in the unit. Let us continue to make excellent days of each of the days that is yet to come."[/COLOR]

“Thanks, Producer. I’m really Looking forward to working together next time!"

"Well, later everybody!"

Whew, looks like I made it through the first day!


Culture and Translation Notes.

Makoto’s speech style- Makoto is very tomboyish, and uses expressions that are usually the exclusive province of hot blooded mecha protagonists. She also uses “boku,” a more commonly male personal pronoun, but there’s really no way to translate that effectively, so she just ends up a little extra manly to compensate.

Miki’s speech style- Miki’s third person speech is meant to be cute, childish and feminine in the original Japanese. She also tends to end her sentences with either a star emoticon or the meaningless cutesy emphasis phrase “na no” Since neither of those really make much sense written out in English, I’ve endeavored to at least carry over her slightly airheaded and happy-go lucky obliviousness.


As President Takagi mentioned, we have our first big performance next week. This means we’re up to the last big decision that needs to be made for a while, our debut song. This affects our overall stats as well as how fast the audition rhythm game goes. I’ll be posting the list of available songs, their key stats, and links to videos of them shortly. Thanks for reading, and as always, comments are appreciated.

EDIT: Table of songs, main stats, videos and lyrics added.

{table=head] Song | Stat | Video | Lyrics
GO MY WAY | Dance | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yso_kzXbRA&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&index=1&feature=plpp_video) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=GO_MY_WAY!!)
relations | Dance | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAq4bucVKLw&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&index=2&feature=plpp_video) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Relations)
Me ga Au Toki [When Our Eyes Meet] | Visual | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHmV510n3BU&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=1) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Me_ga_Au_Toki)
Kiramekirari [Shiny Sparkle] | Dance | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_23fj7Jxe8&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=2) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kiramekirari)
Kosmos, Cosmos | Dance | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpfG3_XryyY&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=3) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kosmos,_Cosmos)
Meisou [Wandering] Mind | Visual | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPNQbme5gJA&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=4) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Meisou_Mind)
Do-Dai | Dance | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ANka_yMJs&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=5) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Do-Dai)
My Best Friend | Visual | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOCraLd4RDI&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=6) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=My_Best_Friend)
shiny smile | Visual | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSvnFswX0hU&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=7) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Shiny_smile)
my song | Vocal | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC2sJRyv2Qg&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=8) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=My_song)
i | Vocal | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDNRsMnFm4Y&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=9) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=I)
THE IDOLMASTER | Dance | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHQvjkRZKAs&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=10) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=THE_IDOLM@STER_(song))
MEGARE!! | Visual | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKA3rb_M56Q&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=11) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=MEGARE!)
The World is All One | Vocal | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE85wYKH5Wo&feature=autoplay&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video&playnext=12) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_world_is_all_one!!)
Little Match Girl | Visual | Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRlhseQV1Xo&feature=BFa&list=PLB63A494C1E0890B2&lf=plpp_video) | Lyrics (http://www.project-imas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Little_Match_Girl)
[/table]

[Elder Tsofu]

I was waiting for an new post for the update (and also waiting to comment). Then I just accidentally opened the thread and saw that you had edited in new content into the last post. ^^
*Watching videos*

So, we've got the whole tracklist from the beginning do we? (or are we getting more as we go along?)
Is there some glaring obvious tactical advantage to pick one song over the other except the main stat? I feel it is implied that they have a different level of difficulty (and if they do I suppose it might be fun perhaps not knowing the precise details of it)

---

Nice translation btw, with Takane in a group she suddenly seem a lot more odd than when she was by herself. I suppose I got used to her way of talking back then. ^^

[Deme]

Hmmm...I say, why don't we start off with a vocal song, since that's Takane's strength? Let's do 'my song'

[Selpharia]

This is most of the default track list, but of course Namco loves money, so they have a bunch of songs available as DLC. Once we've gotten a bit further in the game, I may purchase some DLC songs and outfits.
There are differences in difficulty among songs, but mostly it comes down to practice and timing, the biggest difference is the BPM of the songs, but that's not really important, and I'd rather people pick songs based on what they think our unit would sound and look good with rather than considering difficulty for me.

Songs actually boost all three stats, but other than the main stat, the game doesn't really tell you anything about that, so I didn't mention it. That is one problem with Idolm@ster, there's a load of in-game info about the things you have to manage, but they don't tell you a lot of the important "under the hood" info that makes a huge difference in actual play. Fortunately, the internet saves the day again and so I can provide explanations for the important parts, like the victory conditions


I also want to mention that our first song doesn't matter too much, since we'll need to spend our first few weeks after the tutorial, which ends next week, building up reserves of money and skill for our future work. We can do something called a Revival to bring back old songs, but I'll explain more about performances and songs at the end of next week.

For outfits, there are so many that it's not really practical to show them all, but if I have time, I may do a fashion reel

I'm happy you enjoyed the translation. Takane is incredibly fun to translate, and to write during the sections where I add additional content to make the whole thing less like a bunch of connected skits and more like a continuous story.

P.S. I think you guys will enjoy next week's installment, since it features encounters with some highly amusing secondary characters. There's also a small chance I will switch from XBox to PS3 version at some date weeks down the road, if I can find a cheap PS3. That's got a lot of DLC included as default plus some new content, and some of the mechanics change to be a little less hateful. If I do switch systems, I'll replicate our decisions as well as I can so we can continue with no problems.

[Deme]

Hmmm, if that's the case... We may want to do "When our Eyes Meet" or something. After all, there a small number of vocal songs, and we don't want to waste them... I guess. That, and When our Eyes Meet has kind of a romantic ballad-type sound, and lyrics that don't sound like they'd be tricky for Takane to grasp, since the translation sounded kind of elevated.

[Elder Tsofu]

Hm... after listening through and then reading lyrics(!), I think GO MY WAY would be quite a cheerful starting point for the kickstart of our idols careers. I also think it would fit Makoto and Miki while being suitably challenging for Takane. :smallsmile:

But be sure you don't ruin yourself for our sake. I'm sure your texts could compensate for eventual technical lacks. ^^

[Fri]

Can I change my vote for group name into “Hoshii Miki and the Two Other Ones Who Aren’t Hoshii Miki?” or is it too late?

(I kid, I kid).

[Selpharia]

I'll let Miki field this one, Fri

See? Miki told everyone in the unit that her idea was brilliant and all the boys would love it, but Producer was too busy listening to that boring old Production Advisory Council to appreciate the awesome talent of Miki! Can you believe it? And Miki is sure that she would make a great leader too, because she's definitely the cutest! Be sure to make Miki leader in Week 10, OK? *giggle*

Bye-Bye!☆

[Andre]

Ah, finally I can catch up; amazing post again Selpharia. :smallwink:
As for the choice of song, I itch to see Takane pitted to perform something like Kiramekirari cause it's bound to be hilarious.


And Miki is sure that she would make a great leader too, because she's definitely the cutest! Be sure to make Miki leader in Week 10, OK? *giggle*


How can you say no to that?

[Fri]

But Miki, can you speak a little bit louder? It's kinda hard to read your speech now, in my monitor. I wonder if it's just me though.
a darker color would do wonder for me, just saying

[ShinyRocks]

This is so awesome.

It also emphasises to me how bad my Japanese is. Sigh.

[Brother Oni]

Oversized heads on blatantly motion-captured bodies weird me out. :smalleek:

May I make a suggestion though? Upgrade to vicodin from aspirin and invest in some form fitting ear plugs when dealing with Miki.
The earplugs will filter out some of squeak and the vicodin will catch the rest that makes it through. :smalltongue:



How can you say no to that?

Very easily.

It gets even easier if you suggest a counter-offer of liberally applying power tools to parts of her anatomy.

[Selpharia]

Oversized heads on blatantly motion-captured bodies weird me out. :smalleek:

May I make a suggestion though? Upgrade to vicodin from aspirin and invest in some form fitting ear plugs when dealing with Miki.
The earplugs will filter out some of squeak and the vicodin will catch the rest that makes it through. :smalltongue:



Very easily.

It gets even easier if you suggest a counter-offer of liberally applying power tools to parts of her anatomy.

Unfortunately for Producer, I'm not sure vicodin is available OTC in Japan. Alcohol, on the other hand, runs through the blood of every Japanese man as surely as the spirit of Great Japan.

Update will hopefully be tomorrow. It was going to be today but work called me and told me Japan was on fire, so I had to engage my Pretty Super Magical Lyrical Selpharia transformation and save Tokyo from the space aliens! go bother strange Japanese people at three o clock JP time to go fix their bloody hardware.

[Selpharia]

I've decided to go with GO MY WAY for our first song, since we had a three-way tie between it, "kiramekirari" and "my song" with a preference for super happy style As a peace offering to those who would have preferred kiramekirari, here's someone unexpected (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOK3RrLggA0) performing it to hold you over.

[Elder Tsofu]

... I don't know what to think about that last one. I'm leaning toward glorious.
The worst thing is that I can totally see that act being preformed at my old student union. ^^

[Fri]

It gets even easier if you suggest a counter-offer of liberally applying power tools to parts of her anatomy.

Surely you can't mean to do that without at least asking her for a dinner date first. Despite how she sounds, Miki is a lady, right Miki? :smallwink:.


I've decided to go with GO MY WAY for our first song, since we had a three-way tie between it, "kiramekirari" and "my song" with a preference for super happy style As a peace offering to those who would have preferred kiramekirari, here's someone unexpected (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOK3RrLggA0) performing it to hold you over.

Oh my god. I can't breathe. Please ask him to stop smiling, please. Someone, please....

[Andre]

As a peace offering to those who would have preferred kiramekirari, here's someone unexpected (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOK3RrLggA0) performing it to hold you over.

It's no big deal, but I'm pretty sure there is only one of me.
Ha, just kidding. Kiramekirari performed by that idol is... peculiar, to the say the least. Not that he ain't got the smooth moves to pull it off.

*concedes* Well played, Selpharia, well played indeed. :smallbiggrin:




It gets even easier if you suggest a counter-offer of liberally applying power tools to parts of her anatomy.
Surely you can't mean to do that without at least asking her for a dinner date first. Despite how she sounds, Miki is a lady, right Miki? .

Do these get included in the 20 love confessions per day? Yeah, I did my homework this time.

[Selpharia]

Chapter 3 Part 1: Fate! A Chance Encounter with the Dragon Palace Beauties!


After a long week of practice and preparation, today is finally the day for our debut. I’ve got this, nothing will go wrong and everything will be incredibly awesome.

“Ah, good morning! I see you’ve arrived much earlier than the idols you’re producing. Impressive! Most impressive!

See, self, like I said, this day is going to be perfect.

“Oh, by the way, Ritsuko-kun and her girls should be stopping by soon. Be sure to take the opportunity to say hello."

"Ritsuko-san?"

"Oh, yes, Akizuki Ritsuko is a producer the same as you. She’s a bit younger than you, but she’s been with 765 a bit longer. She’s the producer of Ryuuguu Komachi, which is made up of Minase Iori-kun, Miura Azusa-kun, and Ami Futami-kun. They’re currently our most popular unit."

"I see, so they’re one step ahead of us, huh?"

"Ritsuko-kun is a former idol herself, and has great prospects. But you should make it your goal to catch up with her, so that in doing so you make a truly excellent unit!"

"Yessir!"

Ok, now that’s out of the way, I can quickly run through what I need to do while the girls will be getting ready for the audition. So first I’ll-
*wham*

The office door suddenly opens, and in rushes a girl dressed in pink, with long brown hair, and apparently, unless it is just too early in the morning for me and I’m hallucinating, a small stuffed bunny tucked under her left arm. She’s pretty much the perfect image of a little princess, which, if my past experience suggests anything, bodes ill for my sanity.

“Oh, my. Excuse me sir, but could I ask who you are? Perhaps someone from a record company who’s come to see us about a contract?”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ioriara.png

Her cutesy voice is just a little too lilting to be real and she’s smiling a bit too sweetly for sincerity. The warning bells in my head are going full blast. Still, how bad could it be?

“Oh, no, that’s not the case. I’m a new producer who’s just started working here recently.”

So you’re new…”

“Yes, that’s right. Now, who exactly are-?”


“There’s no need for your pointless blathering! If you’re new then hurry up and find some work like a real employee!

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ioritsuntsun.png

Why hello other shoe, I see you’re dropping rather heavily today. I resist the urge to cover my ears to defens them from her suddenly harpy-like shrieking

“Sorry, but-“


My oh my, Iori-chan, what’s happened? Why are you yelling so loudly?

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Azusaara.png

I’m too busy focusing on the pink brat to notice her enter, but in comes another girl, who’s clearly a good deal older, and, at least apparently, significantly calmer than Iori. She waggles her finger at Iori like she’s scolding a rambunctious younger sibling

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Azusalecture.png

Iori turns to address the newcomer, and quick as lightning her sweet face is back again.

“Oh, Azusa. This newbie was putting on airs, so I thought I’d give him a little lecture to improve his morale.”

Oh, I see where this is going. Nope. I’m sure that two-faced act works really well on the playground, but it’s not going to fly today. Sorry princess, but if I have to deal with people who act like royalty, I’ll take the refined time traveler over the shrieky loudmouthed brat.

"Well, it is very important to be helpful to people who are new. Oh, and don’t worry, we’re really a very nice office."

“R-Right.” Azusa seems a little bit oblivious, but at least she’s pleasant.
“I’ll help you too, so just relax, and work on becoming a great idol, OK?"

Correction: Pleasant, but really oblivious. Iori is just stunned by the awkwardness.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ioriwtf.png

I, rather heroically I think, resist the urge to smirk at her expression.

"Uwaa! Azusa-nee-chan, you really get started early on being goofy, don’t you? This nii-chan is probably not an idol, right?"

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Sanninboke.png

Where do these girls keep coming from? Are they ninjas or something or are my ears still recovering from Iori’s horrible shrieking.
"But Ami-chan, Iori-chan said he was new so…"

“Well, yeah, he’s probably new, but… Oh, right! President Takagi said something about getting 'a young awful producer!' So this is probably him.”

As I ponder the new and exciting ways in which teenage girls can be ridiculous, I hear the inner office door open and the unmistakable clicking of high heels.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RyuuguuKomachi.png

“Ami, I think you mean ‘an awesome young producer,’ which is what the President actually said. Honestly, you can’t just say whatever half-remembered nonsense slips into your head!”

This surprisingly sensible lecture finished, the pantsuited woman quickly addresses me, barely stopping to take a breath in between.

“Oh, hello, I’m Akizuki Ritsuko, producer for Ryuuguu Komachi. Sorry if this bunch was bothering you. I’ve heard about you from President Takagi."

Oh, that’s why she’s so sane. Her job is the same as mine, to slowly have her sanity leeched away by the madness around us. I greet her, and she quickly looks around at her charges.

“Alright girls, let’s go! Or do you want to go back to bottom rung promos and concerts again?"
“Ugh, there’s no way I’m ever suffering that indignity again!” Azusa, Ami, let’s hurry up and leave!”
And, thankfully, she does. Ami runs after her, but Azusa takes the time to give me a polite bow before excusing herself.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Azusabow.png

“Whew, what a bunch of troublemakers. I’m sure that I was much more serious when I was an idol.”

“Oh, that’s right, Ritsuko-sempai, you were and idol once too, right?

“Yes, until recently. Oh, and please just call me Ritsuko. We’ll be working alongside each other, you’re older than me, and being called “sempai” is stiff and uncomfortable. No need to be excessively respectful.”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ritsukosolo.png

"Ok, sure, Ritsuko. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

“Me too. Even though our units are made up of comrades from the same office, we’re probably going to be rivals. I hope that through competition, both of our groups can mature a little. My girls sure need it. Oh, crap, it’s that late already?! Ireallygottagobye!

And she rushes out. Godspeed, Ritsuko.

A blissful quiet descends upon the office. I finish up my preparations for the day, and before long I’m met with a familiar tripartite greeting.


http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGGreeting.png


“Good morrow, Producer
“Morning, Producer.”
“Hi, Producer!”

I find myself suddenly very glad to see them.
-Continued in Part 2-


Cultural Notes

1) Ryuuguu Komachi- The name of 765 ptroductions’s other unit translates to Dragon Palace Beauties. Incidentally, the difference between Komachi 小町　and Bijin 美人 which is a more common term for a beautiful woman, is that Komachi were courtly beauties who possessed great skill in literary and fine arts as well as physical beauty, while bijin refers only to good looks.

2) Sempai- Sempai is a formal term of respect one uses for those who have been working or studying at a place longer than you. So a college freshman would call a college senior “sempai”

3) Nii-chan- Ami and Mami share the peculiar verbal tic of referring to all males older than themselves as “nii-chan,” a cute, familiar term that translates loosely to “elder brother” For the female equivalent, "nee-chan", see Prologue Culture Notes
4) –kun and President Takagi- You may have noticed form the previous chapters and videos that President Takagi usually uses –kun instead of the more usual –chan or that Kotori, Producer and the other idols use. –kun often refers to males, but in this case, Takagi is using it to refer to the others as his subordinates, in a manly, less formal way


This chapter is really long, so I’ll put up the other parts tomorrow or the day after. I know that Miki’s text is sometimes difficult to read, let me know if bolding it makes it any better.

Incidentally, I used Iori as my idol for Idolm@ster 1, and let me reassure those of you waiting to engage her in a delightful conversation that involves power tools and parts of her anatomy that she does get better. Plus, she makes the best faces, like this

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ioriwtface.png

Comments and questions welcome. See you tomorrow!

[Brother Oni]

Unfortunately for Producer, I'm not sure vicodin is available OTC in Japan. Alcohol, on the other hand, runs through the blood of every Japanese man as surely as the spirit of Great Japan.

A Japanese brand of hydrocodone containing medicine is available OTC, so yes.

Alcohol and cigarettes tend to power most Japanese salarymen as far as I can tell though, but I don't think Mr Producer has quite hit that stage yet. :smallbiggrin:


Surely you can't mean to do that without at least asking her for a dinner date first. Despite how she sounds, Miki is a lady, right Miki? :smallwink:.

Huh, I was thinking about just snatching her off the street with a canvas bag over her head and some plastic restraints, but I guess spiking her drink with GHB would serve the same purpose.

Not too sure that's available OTC in Japan though.


Incidentally, I used Iori as my idol for Idolm@ster 1, and let me reassure those of you waiting to engage her in a delightful conversation that involves power tools and parts of her anatomy that she does get better.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but you'll excuse me if I start lining up the drill bits in bore order and removing any imbedded tissue. :smalltongue:

[Selpharia]

Unfortunately, my capture that I was using to write this chapter has decided it needs to be corrupt and unreadable now, so it will take a little longer to re-record and finish out the chapter. Bleh.

[Brother Oni]

Finally got round to watching the second video and have a minor quibble on translation.

There's a bit where Takane refers to you as 'Producer-dono', which you've translated as 'milord Producer'. I believe 'milord' is a contraction of 'My Lord' used by the lower class (peasants and the like), so I think the more accurate honourific for that would be tono.

Dono would be better rendered as 'Sir' or 'Master', so 'Sir Producer' or 'Master Producer' (or if you wanted to be really stuffy and pretentious, Mr Producer, Esquire) in my opinion.

This is just my uneducated viewpoint, so feel free to ignore it. I'd ask my wife for help as she's a native speaker, but she gets a nervous twitch in her eye and refuses to help me with anything 'too otaku-y'. :smallsigh:

[Selpharia]

Finally got round to watching the second video and have a minor quibble on translation.

There's a bit where Takane refers to you as 'Producer-dono', which you've translated as 'milord Producer'. I believe 'milord' is a contraction of 'My Lord' used by the lower class (peasants and the like), so I think the more accurate honourific for that would be tono.

Dono would be better rendered as 'Sir' or 'Master', so 'Sir Producer' or 'Master Producer' (or if you wanted to be really stuffy and pretentious, Mr Producer, Esquire) in my opinion.

This is just my uneducated viewpoint, so feel free to ignore it. I'd ask my wife for help as she's a native speaker, but she gets a nervous twitch in her eye and refuses to help me with anything 'too otaku-y'. :smallsigh:

OK, fair. I was trying to go for something that indicated how unusual and archaic the term was while conveying respect, so I went with Milord, but Sir Producer works as well. I'll change it henceforth, and go back and fix it at some point. I'll confess to not having seen much feudal Japan material, and so I had forgotten that -tono even existed as an honorific.

I was also under the impression that Milord was just for anyone of lesser, but not necessarily commoner standing to refer to a noble person. Of course, as I am an American rube, I have only the faintest idea of how feudal titles worked in practice.

[Brother Oni]

I'll confess to not having seen much feudal Japan material, and so I had forgotten that -tono even existed as an honorific.

To be fair, it hasn't been in use since the Bakumatsu jidai/late Edo, so you're forgiven for not knowing it. :smallbiggrin:

Unless you play Shogun:TW much or watch period dramas/anime, you're unlikely to come across it.

In case I haven't made it clear, I do applaud your translation of Takane's sometimes very archaic speech, especially when she starts throwing around watakushi and other very formal terms.



I was also under the impression that Milord was just for anyone of lesser, but not necessarily commoner standing to refer to a noble person. Of course, as I am an American rube, I have only the faintest idea of how feudal titles worked in practice.

You're correct that in your impression of the general usage of m'lord/milord for lower class people referring to gentry at late Victorian/early WW1, but since you want to emphasise its anachronistic nature, back in more feudal times 'lord' was only used to address barons, vicounts, earls and marquess.

[Selpharia]

Chapter 3 Part 2: Super High Energy! THE DEBUT!

“Makoto, thou art looking most gallant this morning, I must say; I envy thy energy.”

“Gallant, huh? Well, I’d rather you said I was looking pretty this morning, but…oh well."

"Indeed. Miki, it is a refreshing morning, is it not? Hold but a moment, Miki, for it is not well that you should be holding back a yawn of exhaustion so early in the morning."

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Mikibored.png

Oh, well, Miki can’t beat such serious eyes, Takane. *yawn* Miki understands though; from now on, she’ll yawn more freely!*yawn*

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Mikiafu.png

No one says anything. I think we’re all just too stunned.

"Ahem… In any case Producer, we await thy direction for the day’s activities."

“Right, thanks Takane. So, like I’ve mentioned before, today we’re going to be auditioning for a role in a TV program showing off new idol groups. If we pass the audition, we’ll be able to have our first televised performance as a unit! Alright everyone, let’s get ready and give it our all!”

Even Miki is excited at the prospect of performing on TV, so we’re ready to go in record time. Somehow, she also convinced Takane that they should use different outfits that they’d apparently been working on in their nightly marathon texting sessions. President Takagi went off to deal with something that Ryuuguu Komachi was doing, but Kotori-san arrives in time to see us off.

Morning everyone! I heard from President Takagi that you’ll be challenging the audition for the music program called THE DEBUT. It’s known in the business as the first step on the path to success for new idols! I’ll be watching and cheering in the background like always, so just do your best, OK?

Everyone agrees in unison, and we pile into the company car.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/SakuraTV.png

THE DEBUT is sponsored by Sakura TV, a pretty well-known broadcasting company, but the building isn’t really that imposing. It’s a pretty standard office building, with a few broadcasting trucks parked outside. Everyone is almost eerily quiet. I can hear Takane practicing lyrics under her breath as the intersections go by. Once we get there, I have a strange feeling, like I forgot something incredibly important, but I’m pretty sure that’s just nerves.
Once we get inside, it’s absolute chaos, with what must be thirty different production companies and their idols all running about making last minute preparations.

Funnily enough, to one side of the hubbub of the general maelstrom of preparation is a completely empty VIP area. While we’re somewhere between the third and fourth registration desk, I notice out of the corner of my eye that there’s a group of four people let behind the VIP velvet rope, but I can’t see anything really clearly.

In another few whirls of bureaucracy, we finally get to our staging room, and everyone’s all set for the audition. Well, almost…

Aww, what do you mean we can’t use our stage clothes in the audition? How will Miki impress the judges with her super fashion sense?
“Unfortunately Miki, Section 14, Paragraph B Subsection 3 specifically requires a specific kind of what is apparently known as a “track suit” or alternatively a “tank top.”
“Oh, fine. Miki will just have to overwhelm them with her incredible natural beauty!”

Wait, what? I knew Takane had asked for a copy of the audition regulations, but there’s no way she could remember everything in that kind of detail. Sure enough though, I page through my copy and that’s exactly where it is. All right then.

Miki (surprise, surprise) still takes the longest to get ready, and Makoto is well into what looks like a pre-match regimen for judo before Miki is finally prepared. We’re cutting it pretty close to performance time, and sure enough, we get the five minute warning.

“Ok, girls, everyone ready?”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGpreaudition-1.png

“Yep, no problem!”
“Don’t worry Producer, we’ll smash this audition to pieces.”
“Please leave everything to me, Producer. As unit leader, I shall take full responsibility for delivering excellent results in this contest.”

"OK everyone, from this point all I can do is watch and cheer you on, so good luck!"

As they head out onto the audition stage, the nerves I’ve seomehow managed to repress return in full force. What if Miki says something incredibly stupid to one of the judges? What if Takane is too stiff? What if they mistake Makoto for a boy? Thinking all these terrifying thoughts, I barely notice as one of the staff leads me to the observation area. Before I realize it, they’ve started, and all I can do is watch.

In the beginning of the song, they’re doing pretty well. Miki’s got a good handle on the lyrics to GO MY WAY, and everything is easily within her vocal range. and the dance steps aren’t anywhere near challenging for Makoto, especially after last week’s practice sessions. The one problem is that Takane seems to have a little trouble with the cutesy poses. She just keeps trying to make them into grand sweeping gestures, but even Takane can’t make miming driving a car into something epic and grandiose.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takaneburst.png


Wait, nevermind. As soon as we get to what is perhaps the silliest part of the song, Takane completes a twirl and suddenly I have the strange feeling that even though I’m watching the girls perform in a tiny little soundproof room, we’re suddenly beneath a rising autumn moon, and Takane is the image of traditional Japanese loveliness. Even though she’s still in a track suit and this song is decidedly not anything like a ballad, my attention is drawn inexorably to her and everything else fades from sight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so magnificent.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takaneburst2.png

From the sudden stillness at the judges’ table, I suspect that they feel the same way. As suddenly as the moment arrived, it’s gone, and the rest of the song soon follows. The judges deliberation doesn’t take long, and the cards come up.

Pass
Pass
Pass

I try to remind myself that this victory isn’t all that important, that there will be so many more difficult challenges ahead, and that the two most fickle things in the world are fate and the entertainment industry. But in that moment, my worries and calculation are melted under a wave of complete euphoria.

I want to go congratulate them, but the studio staff whisk them away to the real stage performance before I get the chance to say anything. Once again, I can only watch as they perform, but from their expressions during the whole thing, I can tell that they’re at least as ecstatic as I am.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGStageFinishGOMYWAY.png

I finally meet up with the three of them again after the performance in the hall outside the staging area. No sooner do I see them than I’m almost bowled over as the two pink-clad projectiles hit me simultaneously and force the air out of my lungs in a two-pronged hug.

“Hello everyone, how did it go?” Not that I really doubt the answer, but I do want to make sure my lungs still work.
“It was awesome, Producer!”
“Miki had a really fun time! Wasn’t Miki great, Producer?”
“Yes, Miki, you were.”

At this point, I’m so happy that I’m not even bothered by Miki’s erm, distinctive attitude. I do notice though, that Takane seems a little hesitant to join in the general celebrations. Makoto and Miki detach from me and turn around to look at Takane, whose expression is unusually pensive.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanepensive.png

Takane, is something wrong?”[/COLOR]
“Well, it has been some time since I have performed on the television. I confess to some unease as to whether I have been able to do sufficiently well.”
“There’s no need to worry about that, Takane. You did very well with your performance."

She smiles, and I see that my answer was exactly what she was hoping to hear.

“Is that so, Producer? To receive the honor of hearing such praise from thy lips scatters my unease to the winds.”
While we’re talking, a boy comes walking down the hallway, his face set in an impressive grimace. I weant to ask Takane to let him through, since she hasn’t noticed him, but before I can…

“Hey you, You’re in the way. Shut up and move.”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Amatoupolite.png

Takane turns around, and gives him a look that would send wolves yipping back to their mothers for protection. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her quite so angry. From the way Makoto and Miki are looking at her, I’m pretty sure they haven’t either.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takanerage.png

“Is not ‘move it’ a most uncouth manner of speaking? I do not know who thou art, but thou wouldst do well to have some cognizance of the simplest rules of propriety!”

I start to say something, but there’s no point when they’re staring each other down like this. The unknown boy is the first to break the standoff.

“Tch. What an unpleasant woman” He runs his hand through his hair, sets his face firmly into a snide grimace and pushes past everyone.

Unpleasant? Look in the mirror, buddy.
Takane watches him depart, but she’s still seething, and it clearly takes every ounce of her ladylike willpower not to continue this any further.

“Unbelievable. To hold such an attitude in a public place like this. Is he not a vastly craven little cretin?
“Well, yes, but you shouldn’t be so ready to pick a fight yourself.”

For a second, I’m afraid she might turn some of that frustration and anger on me, but she suddenly backs down, as though my reproach punctured her rage like a balloon.
“Indeed, thou art correct.” she sighs, “I did allow myself to be excessively flustered. ”However, his crass pronouncements ruined our exultant moment of victory, so I -”

“Don’t worry about it Takane, we’re bound to meet all sorts of strange and unpleasant people in the TV business. Let’s head back to the office.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t let dumb guys like that bother you, Takane! Miki knows how to ignore people like that’ since she’s always getting secret love confessions from them, but they’re too annoying to date. Miki will give you tips!"
“And besides, if we see that guy sometime in the future and he decides to mouth off at you again, I can just roundhouse kick him in the face!”
“While I appreciate both of your offers, I do not believe that such measures will be productive or necessary. I will not allow such a situation to occur again.”

Despite the questionable usefulness of Makoto and Miki’s unique offers of assistance, they seem to have at least made Takane feel better about the whole thing.

When we arrive back at the office, President Takagi is waiting for us.

“I watched the broadcast of your performance, you all did excellent work on your first audition. I hope that you all continue to work hard like this and give it your all. Now, I’m sorry to bring this up when you’re all tired out, but I have something important to discuss with you all."

“Wow. It’s so strange that President Takagi has something serious to say. Usually he’s just joking around.”

“Indeed, it is most rare to see Sir Takagi so serious. Please, sir, say what thou dost wish.”
“Ahem. Listen well. I want you to aim to receive first prize in the Idol Academy Awards this year.”
“Eeeeeeh?! The IDOL ACADEMY Awards?
Um, what are those again? Miki kind of forgot. *yawn*

There are not enough facepalms in the world.
“The Idol Academy awards are nationally recognized awards that recognize the group that can truly be called Top Idols, and confer top honors to them. Only the select few who stand at the top oif the idol world through their talent and effort can hope to obtain such an honor. I know it may seem like a distant goal to you all, since you’ve just become a unit, but I’m sure you all know how cruel the world of entertainment is. For a group that cannot achieve such results in its first year, there is only one possible future.”

“Indeed it is as you say, sir, for those who cannot achieve great results tomorrow cannot hope for any better the next day.”
“Right. So, I want you all to work for the next year with a strong determination to win the Idol Academy Awards! I know it seems like it will be difficult with such a short time limit, but for you all, I think it will be possible. What do you think?"
“Well, it’s not something that I can say easily, without explanation, but I think we can do it.
“Indeed. Such is our intent, even though only now do we know precisely how high your hopes for us are.”
“Hm! I can see from the light in your eyes that you are the young people I’ve been searching for! In any case, the first thing you’ll need to do is get nominated for the IA awards.”
“By the way, there are forty weeks left until the nominations are decided, so you’ll have be good enough to get nominated by then, or that will be the end of everything!”
“Man, we really don’t have time to take it easy, do we?”
“Indeed. Normally I’d advise that you spread your time equally among your idols, but you will ultimately have to decide what is most effective.”
“Do not worry, Producer. We have already prepared to entrust our fate to thee, even if that means going through fire and water, we shall obey.”
Oh, good. That makes me feel so much better about the ridiculously huge responsibility involved.
‘Well, there’s no need to talk about something that’s a year away right now. How about making it your goal to defeat Ritsuko’s Ryuuguu Komachi?
Eh? Defreat Ritsuko and Ryuuguu Komachi?

B-But Rutsuko, um, san and Ryuuguu Komachi and Miki and everyone are all 765 productions right? Predsident Takagi, are you saying that you’re fine with Ryuuguu Komachi losing? Do you hate them for some reason or something?
“Ahaha, no, not at all! Ideally, I’d like you both to win! But, the world of battle is cruel, and there can only be one winner. Really, I hope that you both become better through competition! I believe both of you have the ability to win the IA Awards.”
“Well, if Miki has to battle with Ryuuguu Komachi, she definitely won’t lose!”
“Yeah, but Ritsuko and Ryuuguu Komachi are stronger than us right now. Well, we’ll just have to use our ferocious willpower to create a glorious victory!”
“As I thought, the journney to the summit is fraught with peril. From today, there can be no more naïve sweetness, if victory is to be achieved.”
“There is one last thing though, if you are going to aim for the IA Awards. You must absolutely watch out for 961 productions."
“961 productions?”
Yes. Kuroi Takao, the president of 961 productions and I were rivals back when we were producers, and now that we are each president of our own production companies. Unfortunately, his company is superior in all the fundamentals, capital, connections, everything. Kuroi has always been incredibly stubborn, and since he sees me as an obstacle to his own greater glory, there will inevitably be conflict. He’ll see you all as enemies and try to torment you as much as possible. I hate to cause you trouble like this, but do be careful.
“Don’t worry President Takagi, we won’t dsuccumb to the pressure of some giant corporation, no matter how big!”
"Ah, you all are a promising bunch! Well, I’ll leave next week to you then!"

And with that, we all head home for the day.

“Oh, before you go, there’s one more thing I should mention. The producer of the idol unit who wins the IA award Grand Prix also receives a prize, an opportunity to spend a year in Hollywood learning from the best in the business. Win that, come back, and put Japanese entertainment on the map!

“Yessir!"

Well, that’s kind of cool I guess. Bonus.


Cultural/Translation notes

1- 961 Productions and President Kuroi- This is a pun similar to 765 Productions, except that 961 sounds like “kuroi” 黒い meaning “black” or “evil.” Similarly, President Kuroi’s name 黒井 is another homonym with the same word.


I’ll put up a post explaining performances in some detail later. Since it’s been longer than expected between updates, I’ll do something to make it up to everyone. The Idol FAQ! Just like Miki answered that one question about name changes, the members of Radiant Gales Girls will answer any questions you have about anything!

[Selpharia]

Oh and Brother Oni, I went back and changed the instance of "Milord Producer" to "Sir Producer."

And I only just now realized your name is a pun Oni-oniichan.

[Brother Oni]

And I only just now realized your name is a pun Oni-oniichan.

:smallbiggrin:

Bad puns are a weakness of mine (as are very 'otaku-y' games). :smalltongue:


The one problem is that Takane seems to have a little trouble with the cutesy poses. She just keeps trying to make them into grand sweeping gestures, but even Takane can’t make miming driving a car into something epic and grandiose.

I beg to differ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhseD2tRLUY). :smallbiggrin:

[Fri]

The one problem is that Takane seems to have a little trouble with the cutesy poses. She just keeps trying to make them into grand sweeping gestures, but even Takane can’t make miming driving a car into something epic and grandiose.

Wait, nevermind. As soon as we get to what is perhaps the silliest part of the song, Takane completes a twirl and suddenly I have the strange feeling that even though I’m watching the girls perform in a tiny little soundproof room, we’re suddenly beneath a rising autumn moon, and Takane is the image of traditional Japanese loveliness. Even though she’s still in a track suit and this song is decidedly not anything like a ballad, my attention is drawn inexorably to her and everything else fades from sight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so magnificent.

Serious business man. I can already imagine this scene in a shoujo manga about idol life.

...or gag shonen manga in the line of yakitate japan.

[Selpharia]

Serious business man. I can already imagine this scene in a shoujo manga about idol life.

...or gag shonen manga in the line of yakitate japan.

I'm pretty sure that with Makoto present, any attempt at anything other than gag shounen would be impossible.

Oh, since the voice work on every member of Ryuuguu Komachi is fantastic, I've made this video of part one of this week's update.

Meet Ryuuguu Komachi (http://youtu.be/o2jXvvkeIAc)

[Andre]

Oh, since the voice work on every member of Ryuuguu Komachi is fantastic, I've made this video of part one of this week's update.

Meet Ryuuguu Komachi (http://youtu.be/o2jXvvkeIAc)

And you call that shrieking, Iori? I've heard mewling kittens being louder! :smallbiggrin:

[Selpharia]

And you call that shrieking, Iori? I've heard mewling kittens being louder! :smallbiggrin:

How dare you insinuate that the beautiful and super talented idol Minase Iori would ever do something as undignified as shrieking! I was just making sure that useless new Producer knew his place. And besides it's not like I even care what you think, dummy!

But Iori~n, why did you demand that we leave our lesson early just to come here to do this if you don't care? Ami had a new game she wanted to buy so she could play with Mami, why couldn't we go to Akiba and shop for that instead? Besides, aren't the Princess, Miki-Miki and and Mako-chin supposed to be answering these?

S-Shut up! I was just being generous, that's all! You, manservant, should be grateful that the wonderful Iori-chan even bothered responding to such an absurd question! Hmph!

[Andre]

How dare you insinuate that the beautiful and super talented idol Minase Iori would ever do something as undignified as shrieking! I was just making sure that useless new Producer knew his place. And besides it's not like I even care what you think, dummy!

But Iori~n, why did you demand that we leave our lesson early just to come here to do this if you don't care? Ami had a new game she wanted to buy so she could play with Mami, why couldn't we go to Akiba and shop for that instead? Besides, aren't the Princess, Miki-Miki and and Mako-chin supposed to be answering these?

S-Shut up! I was just being generous, that's all! You, manservant, should be grateful that the wonderful Iori-chan even bothered responding to such an absurd question! Hmph!

*chuckle* Whoa, am I glad the beautiful Iori-chan deigned to answer me.

The new producer-san must be extremely disappointed that you were not available to be part of his cast of idols, ain't it?

On a totally unrelated note, is there a convention to allow others to detect friendly/affable sarcasm?

I don't suppose the scope of your Idol-FAQ just got a little broader? :smallwink:

[Selpharia]

I've finished capturing all the footage fore this week, write-up should happen soon. This week I did a production with Makoto, since I thought Miki and Takane have been overshadowing her a bit. There's another Ryuuguu Komachi segment, but this is the last we'll hear from them for a few weeks. Next week, I'll be doing a Miki communication, but if people would prefer Takane or Makoto again, I'm not averse to changing plans.



The new producer-san must be extremely disappointed that you were not available to be part of his cast of idols, ain't it?


Well, I don't think Producer really likes Iori all that much, but I'll freely admit to being biased in her favor. Since we only see Ryuuguu Komachi girls in little sketches in Idolma@ster 2, there's no opportunity to see the best bits of Iori, namely the fascinating and explosive contradictions that make up her character, beyond the simple, though often adorable, tsundere routine.


Detauiled thoughts on Iori as a character

Iori is a classic Rich [redacted], complete with the arrogance and entitlement that comes with that. At the same time, though, she's stuck with a father who she describes as "terrifying" and brothers who hold high corporate position. Next to them, her job and the presitge it generates at the lower levels of fame, are worthless. Much of her early story is devoted to trying to escape from the long shadow of her family whether by earning her own money, or by running away from home. Beyond merely being an opportunity for her to pursue her own desires, succeeding at being an idol gives Iori the opportunity to refute her family's claims that she and her work are uselesss wastes of time. Thus, while for most of the other idols, success is fun and affirming and failure is an unpleasant setback, Iori's fan numbers and sales are the sole measure of her own self-worth. This is also in large part why Iori is very proud and hates asking for or acknowledging the help of others; she's terrified that her father might be right that she's too weak to achieve anything by herself. Because being an idol is a constant battle for self-esteem, Iori is more prone to be both more bitter in defeat, and exultant and more exultant in victory than everyone else at 765.

The other interesting contradiction that Iori encompasses is a social one; she constantly boasts about how much she is beloved by all of her fans and everyone who meets her, but until she meets Producer, Yayoi, and later Takane, she actuaolly has no friends at all. Her constant demand for adulation stems from interacting entirely with people who are either paid to be around her because they are servants, or her family. Iori has absolutely no idea how to interact with social equals, and to accept that someone is her superior would be too damaging to her all-important pride, so everyone she meets must be subjugated, so that their praise can reassure Iori that she's succeeding. One of the most heartwarming Iori scenes is toward the end of Idolma@ster 1 and features Iori telling Producer the childishly literal name of her stuffed rabbit, "Usa-chan" which basically means "Bunny." It's striking, because she admits that she's been lonely pretty much all her life, and relied so much on a stuffed bunny for companionship that she's kept it since her earliest childhood. Given that admitting weakness and trusting people as equals are two things Iori is almost always unable to do, it's a huge moment of character development that also shows how much Iori's relationship with Producer has progressed from his days as her "useless manservant." Where the other idols tend to view a victorious Producer either as a sibling or a lover, depending on age and inclination, Iori is nearly unique* in that for her, Producer is both and neither of these things in the end, he's somewhere in between as the first person that she's really gotten to know, and the only person that she's allowed to really know her**.

*Chihaya possibly excepted
**Not in the biblical sense, at least as of the ending.

For the curious, Idolm@ster 1 and Idolm@ster 2 are effectively parallel universes.

[Selpharia]

Part 4: Battle with Franken, the Super Robot!"

After the chaos of preparing for the debut audition, I’m hoping that this week will be a little calmer. This week, everyone is doing some publicity-raising events. I scheduled Miki to do a chat show, Takane to appear on a food program, and Makoto to be the campaign girl for a new robot expo. Most of these shouldn’t be a problem, after all, if there’s anything Miki can do, it’s talk, and since the cooking show is doing a segment on traditional cooking methods, Takane should be right at home. I’ve decided to personally accompany Makoto, entirely to ensure that nothing goes wrong, and certainly not because robots are incredibly awesome and it sounds like the most fun one. That would be irresponsible.

As a bonus, Makoto’s event is today, so I’ll get to start the week off on a really incredible note before hardening my ears for Miki’s event. On the other hand, I’d bet Takane cooks pretty well, and free food is always nice It’s a shame Ritsuko’s not in today. Since last week, we’ve taken to chatting as we prepare our respective groups’ schedules, and I found out she really likes technical things like robots and supercomputers and such. Plus, if I brought her along, I’d have another sane person to talk to in between dealing with the weird people that populate the entertainment industry. Oh well, looks like it will just be me, Makoto, and a bunch of sweet robots.

Suddenly, the office door slams.

Oh no. Not you again. Please

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Iorimad.png

One look at her face, and I know that talking to her will be roughly as pleasant as being eaten by a rabid tiger feet first.
“That Ritsuko, she treats us so miserably, I really can’t stand it! Hmph!”
Thankfully, it looks like Miss Minase is too caught up in whatever she’s so upset about to notice me. I’ll just slide into the back office and wait until she’s-

“Hey, you over there.”
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ioriheyyou.png
-gone. Well, crap
“Ah, Iori-chan. What can I do for you?”
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Iorikimo.png
“Ugh, could you not call me Iori-chan so casually? It’s gross. You’re so much older than me, and besides, you’re supposed to be a producer!”
Charming, as always. I really have no idea how Ritsuko and the rest of the office haven’t just dropped you off a cliff somewhere.
“What would you like me to call you, then, if not Iori-chan?”

Because believe me, I have quite a few ideas. None pleasant, but all incredibly gratifying.

“Well, since you’re a producer, just “Iori” is fine. Of course, if you insist, I’ll allow you to call me “Lady Iori” or “Princess Iori.”
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Iorismug.png
Oh, truly your generosity is astounding. I’m pretty sure if you look up arrogant in the dictionary, Iori’s face will be right next to it.
“I think I’ll go with just ‘Iori’, thanks”
"Anyway, I’m dying of thirst, so go get me juice from the vending machine!"

What. No. Last I checked “Producer” wasn’t a synonym for “intern”
"Why should I be the one to run errands for you?"

“What!? The super-beautiful Iori-chan who would never normally tolerate anything but freshly-squeezed juice has offered, to just this once, do you the favor of bearing to drinking something that came from a vending machine. Just do as you’re told, hurry up and bring me my juice!
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Iorikiii.png

I really do want to just refuse, but if I do, I don’t think my poor ears can take Iori’s reprisal. On the other hand, I don’t think my dignity can take being made into her errand boy. I’m refusing
"Now, listen here, you-“

“Oh, Producer-san and Iori-chan, good morning! Were you all getting drinks? I spent this morning reorganizing President Takagi’s office, so I’m kind of parched. Could you get me a coffee?”


Great. Now I can’t refuse Iori without also offending Kotori, who’s not a horrifically spoiled brat, and actually does useful and helpful things for people. Nngh! Fine, I guess I really don’t have a choice.

“I’ll…go get them. What do you want, Iori?”
Besides a punch in the face, obviously
Iori’s giggle at my compliance once again reminds me of some sort of evil mastermind

“You should have been this cooperative from the beginning. I’ll take orange juice. 100% juice of course, I won’t accept anything less”

Of course. That would be too reasonable.

I finally manage a temporary esacape from the agony of dealing with Iori as I make my way to the vending machine. OIf course, it doesn’t work right and I have to mash the buttons like a lunatic to get anything to actually come out, but eventually I get two coffees and Iori’s orange juice. *sigh* I make my way back to the office, certain that Iori is going to berate me again for taking too long to do something for her.

“Hey, I bought your aaaagh- “

Suddenly, my hand slips and I just narroewly miss getting drenched in hot coffee. Unfortunately, the table and the paperwork on it is less fortunate.

“What are you doing? You didn’t burn yourself, did you?
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/iorishimpai.png
What? Iori showing concern for another human being instead of the immediate desires of Queen Iori I the Magnificent? Color me shocked.

“No, I’m fine, there’s no need to worry.”
“Worry? Why would I be worried about you? Are you stupid? You pervert! You big pervert! You perverted 大人*!
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ioribaka.png

Ordinarily I’d complain about her shrieking, but seeing her blushing like that, and so discombobulated that she somehow switched to Chinese was easily worth the price of admission. I can barely stop myself chuckling as I wipe up the table under Iori’s constant glare. Once I’m done and I’ve thrown out the ruined papers, I hand over the drinks

“Here, Otonashi-san, take this one. I’ll go get another one later.”
“Thanks, Producer-san. I really appreciate it!”
“Iori, I found the 100% juice that you requested.”
“Good work, and, well, um…thank you
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/iorithanks.png
“What was that?”
“Th-Thank… I said thank you! Don’t make me say it a million times! I don’t normally thank people because it’s irritating, but this time was a special case! An exception for you this one time, got that?”
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Ioritsuntsun.png
Sure Iori, that’s why your face is redder than the flag.
Thankfully, Iori seems too embarrassed to demand anything else, so I’m actually able to get work done before everyone arrives.

“Good morrow, producer. If I recall correctly, we are to engage in various promotional activities today."
“This is going to be super fun! Miki can talk about all sorts of things for the people on the radio, like her favorite snacks, and the love confession she received yesterday, and the awesome nap she took this morning, and the awesome deliciousness of caramel macchiato lattes!"
“Um, Miki, I’m pretty sure that’s not what you’re supposed to talk about during a chat show. Usually they ask you questions about things, and you answer them. You can’t just talk about whatever you want.”
“Indeed. For example, Miki, as I am to be involved in a television program related to ramen, I anticipate several distinct topics of discussion, and have prepared to evaluate all elements of the dish that could conceivably be relevant. To begin with, The use and distribution of a vegetable accompaniment to the fundamental noodle, the composition and flavor of the broth, the aesthetics of the bowls and other utensils that accompany the meal. Also, the- “
“*Yawn* Miki doesn’t need any of those things. She’ll just go through the Miki way, winning with natural charm and talent!”

Why do I feel like I’ve been here before? Oh right.

Makoto and Takane continue attempting to explain to Miki how chat shows work , with minimal success, all the way to Kouchi. Part of the reason for their failure is that Miki fell asleep halfway there, but you can’t fault them for trying. Other than that though, we arrive without incident, I wish Miki and Takane good luck, and Makoto and I head for the “Super Novel Wonderful Robot Fair”
When we arrive at the exhibition hall, none of the general public has been allowed in yet, and the various displays are still being set up by the roboticists.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Makotopreevent.png

“Producer, this is really incredible! This place is huge and there’s so many different kinds of robots here! Look! That one can use a calculator ultra fast. Genius!”
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week4MakotoHassou.png

What exactly is the point of a robot that can use a calculator? Couldn’t you just have the robot do the calculations itself?
“OOOH! And this one can write characters into tiny grains of rice! THIS IS SO AWESOME!
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Makotosquee.png
Makoto’s squee of delight echoes through the nearly empty hall.
“Um, Makoto, there’s no need to be quite so loud."
“Oh, sorry! I just figured I’d study up on all the different kinds of robots before the show starts, so I was looking around at them all.”
“Wow, I’m impressed that you’d think of studying with all the cool stuff around. You really take work seriously, huh?”
Heheh, don’t praise me like that, it’s embarrassing!
“Fine, fine, but since you’re studying so hard, let’s see the results: What’s this rice robot powered by?
“Um….ah….courage, right?”
No, Makoto, this is not GaoGaiGar. Studying, huh?”
All the excitement suddenly vanishes from her face, and she looks really glum. “All right, I wasn’t really studying hard enough, I guess. I’ll go look around and try again. “
“Well, um, you still put in a lot of effort, which is impressive!”
She sighs.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Makotoiraira.png
“Even if you say that, you still ruined my good mood. You can’t just say something like that and assume everything is all better after one compliment.”
“Yeah, you’re right. How about this? After the event is over, we’ll go and get a delicious-“
“Oooh! A delicious what?”

Well. That was a quick turnaround. I guess the way to a girl’s heart is also through her stomach.
“Well, I figured some fresh juice might be nice. How about some high quality warm orange juice?”
“Forget it. I’m having a perfectly good time hanging out with these robots over here.”
Well this is awesome. If things keep going like this, there’s no way the event will go well with Makoto in this kind of mood. And now a bunch of the engineers are staring at us. Why is nothing ever simple and straightforward? Oh, right, teenage girls. Well, anyway, I have to come up with something. Maybe one of the robots…
As I frantically look around for some kind of robot that might improve Makoto’s mood, I see a robot shaped like a massive silver arm, with a placard that reads: “Franken-kun, the arm-wrestling robot. Please feel free to have a match. “ That could work.

“Hey Makoto, come look at this one, it seems pretty cool”
“Look yourself, Producer. I’m busy watching this rice robot.”
“Well that one is interesting, but this one’s an arm-wrestling robot.”
“Really? An arm-wrestling robot?
“Yeah, and it looks like they’ll let you challenge it to a match.”
“Oooh! It’s really OK for me to challenge it, Producer?”
“Yeah, just make sure you win, OK? It’ll make the crowd much happier.
“What crowd?”[/COLOR]
I point out to Makoto the growing gaggle of roboticists and engineers who’ve been watching our exchange.
“Oh. Well, leave it to me Producer! I’ll show you the strength that constant training brings!”
Behind Makoto’s back, a few of the engineers snicker; I guess they can’t imagine such a mechanical marvel being beaten by a cute little pop idol. I suspect they are about to be surprised.
The match begins, and Makoto strains against the silvery gears of the metal arm. At first, she seems to be having a little trouble, as her arm is slowly pushed downward under the inexorable weight and constant pressure that the machine puts out.
“It’s really very unlikely that you’ll be able to win, miss. From the looks of it, your frame is simply not built to exert and sustain the necessary force. Even before taking into account human error, I’d estimate your chances were only about 30%.”
Thank you obnoxious engineer. I’m glad you’re here to prove the stereotype that engineers lack basic social skills completely correct.
“That. Doesn’t. Matter! With the power of courage, even a 1% chance inevitably becomes 100%!” Golden Destruction Arm!”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Makotolinzhan.png

Makoto’s shoulder muscles bulge, and suddenly, Franken is pushed back, and is slowly inching toward the table. Unfortunately for the engineers, it would appear that they didn’t think to install any kind of rocket boosters on their creation, and it falls in under ten seconds.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/MakotoWeek4Yarii.png
Yeah! I won, Producer! This is awesome!
And I seem to have witnessed a shounen manga in real life. To be fair, it was pretty awesome. Makoto is so please with herself that she seems to have forgotten to be angry with me, and the rest of the event goes very smoothly and we draw an exceptionally big crowd.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/makotosmug.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week4endstats.png

I have to amend my previous statement. Clearly, the way to a girl’s heart is through violence.
The exhibition ends in the afternoon, so we meet up with Takane and Miki for vocal practice at a nearby studio we’re using for a few hours.
"How did your events go, you two?"
“The program proceeded most excellently, Producer.”
“It was fine.”
“Guys, I fought a robot today and won! It was the best thing ever!”

The three of them discuss their activities, and then we get down to the serious business of vocal training. Makoto is in unusually high spirits, and so we make great progress, and level up!
Level 3: Halfway to Idol-dom Unit
http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/lvlupto3.png

After that, we go back to the office, and everyone heads home soon after. Oddly, Miki stays behind after everyone else has left.
“Producer, can Miki ask you something?” She looks unusually thoughtful.
“Um, sure, what is it?”
“Does Miki ‘always babble stupid nonsense?’ The chat show director yelled at Miki today for doing that.”
“Look, sometimes that happens. You can’t please everyone all the time.”
“But what about Miki’s question?”
Well, she kinda does, but how can I say that. I can’t really think of anything to say that isn’t a lie and doesn’t sound really horrible.
“Oh, well, um, no, not most of the time.”
Like that.
“…”
“I see” She suddenly turns and runs away before I can say anything.
Oh, man. That cannot be good.


Culture and Translation Notes:

1) 大人 – Pronounced da ren, this is a Chinese word meaning “adult.” As a high-class, well educated child of wealth, Iori knows several languages. Of course, given her actual level of proficiency, it might be more accurate to say that she knows of five languages, but still. Iori’s insults are the sort of playground fare intended to show how flustered and immature she is.
2) Warm orange juice- Japanese people usually prefer warm food and beverages, except in cases of extreme heat. This is partially due to a belief that cold food is bad for you.
3) GaoGaiGar- A classic robot show involving COURAGE and MANLINESS and combining robots. To get an idea of the series aesthetic, the opening theme is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rHDEl5T6Kg)


Sorry for the delay in this chapter. I don’t have any excuses this time. I changed a lot of Producer’s dialogue with Iori, because it’s mostly a tutorial for events that involve physical interaction as opposed to just talking, but I figured you all wouldn’t find his monologues about pressing things, pressing things down, repeatedly pressing things, and wiping things to be very interesting.

However, a rather excellent subtitled translation of Iori’s scene can be found here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF7xuzNe9kg). Not mine, unfortunately

Now that we’re officially done with tutorials, let’s take stock of where we are. We’re level 3, and strongest in Vocal, if you don’t count our accessories and song. We’re most popular in the west, and the word is out the most there as well. The only major decision to make now is what our secondary stat after Vocal should be, because that will determine the second area where we concentrate our efforts besides the west. Assuming people mainly like vocal and visual songs, which I believe was the case, we’ll be hoping to pick up a piece of special equipment that will greatly help our score in those areas.

As ever, comments and criticisms are appreciated. Oh, and how about a topic or three for discussion: Producer: sarcastic, incompetent moron, or just under stress and treading unfamiliar ground? Which idols or characters, if any, do you want to see more of or learn more about? Which idols can you not stand?

Oh, and I do plan on explaining performances, and if my capture software ever learns to behave, to record them.

[Deme]

OOh, nothing like making tutorials meaningful events.

Anyway, I support visual as our secondary -- otherwise, why bring Miki along, right? (*Is lukewarm on Miki. Is not lukewarm on Makoto. Makoto rocks.*)

Anyway, from our team, I obviously like me some more Takane (otherwise, she'd not be leader)... And maybe from outside our team, more Mami.

As for the Producer... Why not meet in the middle? A sarcastic, stressed guy in unfamiliar territory, whose competence is just now being tested?

[Selpharia]

As for the Producer... Why not meet in the middle? A sarcastic, stressed guy in unfamiliar territory, whose competence is just now being tested?


This was something like what I've been going for, but I wanted a way of ascertaining what impressions people had, without giving that away.

Miki's a strange case, for me at least. I alternate between finding her amusing and wishing to send her on a 52-week promotion to Timbuktu. I'm glad you're enjoying Makoto, since she's sometimes eclipsed by the zaniness of everyone else as the straight man.

[Fri]

Aww man. From the title I was expecting for Makoto to accidentally stumbling into a mecha prototype and ended up having to pilot it to fight against Franken the mysterious attacking evil robot.

Though, it's mostly because when you mention 'robot' I thought of it as more of 'giant robot' and when you mention 'expo' I thought of it as 'military arm exhibition,' like the one in patlabor.

And anyway, Miki, babbling stupid nonsense is part of your charm! Don't worry about it!

...at least for me.

[Brother Oni]

I have to amend my previous statement. Clearly, the way to a girl’s heart is through violence.

Usually with a knife through the fifth and sixth rib... *Cough* Sorry, what were we talking about again?


Anyway, seconding Deme's intepretation of Producer, a sarcastic stressed guy who's only now starting to feel the pressure.
I really enjoyed the Producer's internal monologue when dealing with Iori. :smallbiggrin:

I'd also like to know more about Takane (and not because I want to torture you more with translating her speech :smalltongue:).

[Andre]

So much to comment on. Well, let me start by saying that the first part was easily my favourite one.
Further Iori interaction already on top of detailed thoughts, now you're just spoiling me us. :smallbiggrin: She's not so bad for a rich girl.

I'm not so sure about Makoto. I wasn't expecting her to be peeved that easily unless I'm missing something, although she recovered fast.

There ain't much to say about Takane this round. Perfectly proper as usual.

As for Miki... hey, Miki is always pretty funny, but I'll let Miki-experts such as Fri handle this one. :smalltongue:

[Elder Tsofu]

Hehe, go with all the others have said. Ought to be interesting. (stressed guy with hitherto untested competence)

And I'll give my vote for visual since I feel bad for Miki. Sorry Makoto but that's how it is, you'll manage even if we're not playing at all your strengths!

http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv173/Tsofu/iDOLMSTER-RadiantGalesGirls.png

Enjoyable read this far, keep up the good work. :smallsmile:

[Selpharia]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone, I'm going to do my best to get the next bit out fairly quickly(I mean it this time, I swear!)

@Elder Tsofu

Did you draw those? They're fantastic. Assuming you did: FANART! of something I did! *faints*

Ok, better now.

@Andre

Well, I do take some liberties, but all of the Iori material so far has been direct from the game. We won't be seeing her or the rest of her group "officially" for a while after this.

@Brother Oni I thought you might enjoy that.

@Fri- Baby steps. you can't start off fighting the shounen big bads, we need at least one filler arc first. Trust me though, round about week 16, we're going to have more ham than a Brian Blessed fan convention emceed by Tabitha St. Germain, where Wakamoto Norio is the keynote speaker

[Elder Tsofu]

Did you draw those? They're fantastic. Assuming you did: FANART! of something I did! *faints*

Ok, better now.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv173/Tsofu/RGG2.png

[Selpharia]

Finally, I can make good on my threat promise to explain performances and CD sales.

WARNING: The following is a detailed look under the hood of some mechanics. I love pontificating as much as the next academic, but there's no need to read it all if you find it boring. Normal story progress will continue Soon.


On Performances and CD Sales:

Performances are the ultimate cornerstone of our unit's success, because they determine, in large part, the unit's sales numbers, and allow the the unit to gain fans and attention, which are the other components of sales and success. All of the performances are rhythm games. The general setup of a performance looks like this:

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/ExampleFestival.jpg

The goal is simple, to press the corresponding button when the inner circle coincides with the outer circle to appeal to the judges based on either Visual,Dance, or Vocal. The points received from each appeal depend on how closely you match the timing. However, like everything else in Idolm@ster 2, there are many other factors that require consideration. You'll notice a number next to each of the circle, that's the multiplier representing the judge's or the crowd's interest in that particular aspect. Appealing to a stat lowers its multiplier, but raises the one to the right. So our eventual Visual/Vocal focus is nice because appealing to visual increases the vocal modifier.

Of course, that alone wouldn't be complicated enough for Idolm@ster, so they gave us a few more things to worry about. The first of these is Memory Appeals. Memory appeals are nice because they don;t drain the modifiers, and actually set them back up to a relatively high value. You may remember the heart gauge that fills up as we do "promotions" like our demo tape with Takane, or our robotics convention appearance with Makoto. When that is full, we get an additional memory appeal, up to 5 from our base of 1.

Memory Appeals and Voltage-

Voltage is a measure of our unit's "Idol Spirit." It's the green bar below the unit's high score in the top left. Getting PERFECT appeals and using memory appeals raises voltage. When voltage is maximum, the option to do a Burst Appeal presents itself. The Burst Appeal looks like this:

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Takaneburst2.png

The unique thing about burst appeals is that instead of using the "regular" modifiers, they use Unity as the basis for scoring. They are, in essence, the power of friendship made manifest. In Festivals, where you do battle with another group, Bursts also reduce the opponent's voltage gauge and prevent them from appealing, and thus, from gaining score.

The last hing about the performance itself is Chains. Chains are created by making successive PERFECT appeals. In the early stages where we are, the Chain Bonus is the single biggest determinant of our unit's scores. Faster tempo songs like GO MY WAY and KirameKirari generally have more appeals to make up for difficulty created by the speed of their circles, whuich makes Chaining hard. In case anyone is wondering what I'm doing with this LP when not recording or writing, the answer is "practicing chaining appeals" 90% of the time.

Why does all this matter?
The high score on the performaces determines initial sales strength. Addditional performances can also influence CD sales in different ways.
Succeeding at an Audition gives a chhance to revive the sales of an old song, or REVIVAL, succeeding at a Live show can stop week-to week sales decay, called a KEEP. Succeeding at a Festival can give us an explosive sales growth called a BREAK. All of these are awesome and are a huge help in climbing the charts.

Reporters-
Succeeding by a large margin over the required point score for an event while a Reporter is in the area (shown on the world map) gives us a bonus. Depending on the reporter, this can be a bonus to voltage growth, lesson effectiveness, fan and moiney awards, or all of the above for the most powerful reporter. Since we're up against a strict time limit, anything wev can do to improve efficiency, like getting reporters, is hugely beneficial.

But why do we care about the charts? Besides comptitiveness, obviously.

To win the IA Grand Prix, we need at least one song in the top 10 by the end of the game. Beyond that, we also need to get three areas to at least 100,000 fans apiece. The problem is, that's currently mathematically impossible, since our performances offer only a few thousand fans each. But if we get a song in the Top 50 and Top 20, more rewarding performances open up that will allow Radiant Gales Girls to succeed, and not end up crying bitter tears in the parking lot of the Idol Academy Awards Ceremony. No seriously,the Bad End is incredibly pathetic and sad and miserable and saps the will to exist out of anyone that watches it. So, in short: Good performances prevent horrible, tragic, miserable idol tears.

If all that seems unnecessarily demanding, detailed, and complicated, it's because it is. If you want to go through and crunch numbers and such, please feel free, otherwise, I''ll continue to ask you all for advice on long-term plans or particularly interesting dilemmas only, since those are the fun partss.

[Elder Tsofu]

No idols crying at the end, at least not ours! :smallannoyed:

Thanks for the run-through, now I feel slightly less uninformed about the game-play our voting affects. :smallbiggrin:

[Brother Oni]

Thanks for the run-through, now I feel slightly less uninformed about the game-play our voting affects. :smallbiggrin:

So now when we make stupid decisions, they're informed stupid decisions? :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

So now when we make stupid decisions, they're informed stupid decisions? :smallbiggrin:

There is nothing like making informed stupid decisions. :smallwink:

[Brother Oni]

There is nothing like making informed stupid decisions. :smallwink:

Excellent. I love it when we're all on the same wavelength. *Grins evilly at Selpharia*

[Deme]

They're the best sort of decision: just informed enough that there's no hurt feelings, just stupid enough that there's fun.

[Selpharia]

I'm glad my write-up was informative, and at least not too boring to read. Next chapter is written, I just have to format everything and grab all my screenshots.

[Fri]

No idols crying at the end, at least not ours! :smallannoyed:

Seconded for truth.

And I think you should put the burst appeal pic in spoiler box or resize it because it stretches my non-widescreen office computer screen.

Yes! I read silly LP about teen idols at work! Don't judge me!

[Selpharia]

Part 5: Seeds of Victory: The First CD Sale

Since the day of the robot convention, things have been pretty quiet. Makoto and Takane settle pretty easily into a routine of shows and events in the morning and practice in the evening. Ryuuguu Komachi are apparently doing some promotions for their new single, but Iori insistred that she could manage ther entire thing, so Ritsuko’s been in the office all week with me, calling all the studios and arranging practice times and the million little things that keep an idol unit running. Right now though, we’re just relaxing a bit, as I’m waiting for the girls to arrive and Ritsuko’s waiting for the head of Sakura TV’s production department to return her call. In the meantime, she was telling me about last week’s electronics expo.

“-And Ami spent most of the event playing that new game system that they were demoing. Not that I’’m complaining, since her skills apparently drew a huge crowd and we sold a bunch of CDs. But Azusa got lost somewhere in the GPS display, how she did that I had no idea, and Iori wouldn't stop complaining about the attendees’ personal hygiene. I finally told her that, since she was the leader, it was her responsibility to go find her missing unit member, and that if I had to do it, she’d append the rest of the event waiting tables at the cyberpunk maid café on the first floor."

“That can’t have gone over well.”
I can see Iori’s face turning puce with rage in my head. And I feel a sudden pang of pity for the innocennt bystanders who poor people who happened to be nearby.
“No, but it did get her to go find Azusa incredibly quickly”
“Ritsuko, you are a genius. I think I can learn a lot from you.”
“Heh, well, I’ve known all of the girls in Ryuuguu Komachi for a while, so I know what makes them tick. Mostly.”
“Good morrow, Sir Producer. It pleases me to see that thou art in such high spirits.”
“Oh, hello, Takane, I didn’t hear you come in. Did Makoto and Miki come with you? Oh, and you don’t have to call me that, remember?”
“Ah, verily, thou didst indeed say so. Please excuse my forgetfulness. Makoto and Miki should be here shortly. Apparently, Miki and Makoto met during the third mile of Makoto’s morning jog, and the resultant reduction in speed has impeded their progress.”
“I see”
“’Sir Producer?’ That’s really cute, I’ll have to start calling you that now.”
Oh, joy. Well, so long as she doesn’t start in with the “thees” and “thous” I’m sure I can take it.
Makoto and Miki arrive shortly afterward. Despite having just run a pretty substantial distance, Makoto looks very pleased. Miki, not so much.
“Hey Producer, what’s up? Sorry we’re late. Miki’s not really used to the pace, I guess. This morning was a personal time record for me though. Three miles in 12:45!”
“…”
“Morning”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGWeek5.jpg

Well, so much for Plan A: Give Miki enough time to get over last week.

"Good morning everyone. We’ll be selling pre-orders of our first single today. That should give you all a little experience talking with fans and making a good impression offstage."
“Such would be quite desirable in my estimation, good Producer.”
“Sounds like fun!”

“…Maybe”
All right, clearly I’ll have to pay special attention to Miki, if only to make sure that she doesn’t bring down the mood of the whole unit. That and making this successful might help dispel that funk she’s been in the last week.
I figured we should get practicing out of the way before we meet with fans, so I schedule vocal practice for the morning. Nothing unusual occurs. Thank heaven for small mercies.

We arrive at the hall I rented out for the CD sales event. The harm of events like this is for the fans to be able to chat a little with the idols when they get their CDs, and hopefully give the girls a chance to use use their personal charisma to generate some good word of mouth about the group.
As I, along with the venue staff, finish setting up the tables, with the idols’ seats spaced out enough so that the fans can talk to one of them individually, but close enough that if there’s a problem for one of them, the other two can help out.

Everyone’s really into it, since our first single, GO MY WAY, launches next week. Takane is serene as usual, but Makoto more than makes up for her, running about and setting up stacks of CDs. Her dynamism seems to have affected Miki, who’s much more enthusiastic than this morning. About five minutes before we open the doors, while Makoto and Takane are helping put up the last signs, Miki and I have a second to talk.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5CDWK.png


“Hey Producer, we’re doing a 'personal CD sale event' today, right?”
“Yep. It’s a chance for your biggest fans to come out and meet you three, and buy signed copies of the new CD. I know this is the first time that you’ve directly interacted with fans as a unit, so it will take some getting used to, but be sure to give each of your customers a smile and make sure they’re glad they came.”
Even though I’d probably get a fist-bump from Makoto, or a formal declaration of intent from Takane at this point, Miki doesn’t seem very convinced

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5Mikidowncast.png

“OK. That’s fine, but there really aren’t that many people outside waiting to see us.” She heaves a dejected sigh.

“Well, let’s see, so far we have 1..2..3…hm, ten people waiting in line.”

I want to say that it’s a good starting point, or that I’m sure it will get better, but just looking at Miki’s face, I can tell that platitudes like that will fly with her about as well as a plane with no wings. I guess I’ll have to go with honesty. At least the other two won’t have their morale sapped quite yet.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5Mikiiraira.png

“Yeah, it’s a little underwhelming, huh? It feels like a waste to see so few people in a venue this size.”
“Isn’t it? Ten people is less than the number of boys that bring Miki presents every day at school.”
“What?, You have more than ten people giving you presents in a day? Really?”
Jeez. I mean she’s cute, but ten gifts a day is a bit much.
“Yeah, sure,”

I can tell she’s more than a little fond of that statistic, despite her neutral tone.
“Anyway, this whole CD sale thing is way different than what Miki thought it would be.”
“What exactly did you think it would be like?”

I ask this, of course, with a creeping dread of what in the world the answer will be.

“Well, we’re giving people CDs right? So, we should get presents from our fans in return!”
I hate it when I’m right. Still, for Miki, that was abnormally normal.
“No, that’s a gift exchange. Besides, fans are paying for the CD with their money, you’re not just giving it to them.”
“But, a present exchange sounds much more fun, can we just switch to that now?"

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5Mikibestidea.png

I’m pretty sure that *pop* was one of my more important blood vessels. Good grief. Sure, let’s just change everything. I mean five minutes is plenty of time, right? Ha. Ha Ha. No.

“You know there’s no way we could do that, don’t you? Honestly, you can’t just say such selfish nonsense and expect-”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5Mikisad.png

Oh, dear, I appear to have treaded on a mine. Miki glares at me and takes a breath, and I know a storm is coming.
Miki’s not being selfish, it’s just that this personal CD sale is stupid and boring! Everyone in the unit has been thinking that since we got here! Mikis is just speaking for everyone telling you how pointless and hollow your dumb event with no fans is! It wouldn’t even matter if we didn’t do this stupid thing at all!

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5Mikibitter.png

Wow, I can feel the anger and resentment just pulsing from her. I never expected such a bitter and angry response from happy-go-lucky Miki. The miserable thing is, she’s right. The girls put in so much effort every day at practice, performing and doing promotions, and ten people is all they get? How can they be anything but furious? I can’t even look at Miki for a bit, and I find myself wishing that I could have Iori screaming at me about 100% orange juice instead.
Suddenly the hall door opens and can hear some sort of commotion outside:
“They’re here!"
“Lady Takane, I swear on my honor as a man, that I shall bear you eternal fealty if you would but grace this small item with your eminently majestic calligraphy!”
“She’s even more majestic in person!”
“Makoto-kun, you’re so gallant! Will you be my prince?”
“SQUEEEEEEE!”
The crowd outside may be tiny, but what they lack in size, they make up in enthusiasm. Takane and Makoto have to push through. Or rather, they would if the crowd didn’t suddenly fall silent and part at a single word from Takane. I guess “hardcore” isn’t an understatement for them. Suddenly, as I watch this scene, it dawns on me. I turn back to Miki just as Makoto and Takane enter the hall.
“Miki, the number of fans at this event is small, but the impoertant thing isn’t their numbers, it’s the depth of their enthusiasm. Yes, their numbers are few, but, on the other hand, these ten people have come out today to such a small event because they’re such incredibly huge fans. Wouldn’t you think that the normal reaction to seeing so few people here would be for the few people who came to decide it was a waste of time, say “screw it,” and go home?"

“Well, yeah, if it were Miki, Miki would definitely leave.”
"Then don’t you think you should treasure the fans who haven’t gone home, and who have instead waited so patiently to see you?”

Yeah. Yeah, you’re right, Producer! And…you’re pretty amazing.

Huh? That was quick, and unexpected.
“Amazing?”

“Miki could only think, “Why are there so few fans here” all morning. Miki was only thinking of all the people who hadn’t bothered to come. But Producer, you were always thinking about the people who took the time to come and see us and show how much they love us. You’re really kind, Producer."

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5Mikikawaii.png

I wouldn’t call me kind, I was just thinking about our long term brand image and the power of word of mouth. That’s all. The entertainment industry doesn’t take kindly to nice people. I mean really.
Aw, Producer, you’re so cute when you’re embarrassed!”
I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the look Miki is giving me.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Mikibreyes.png

“Thank you, Producer. Be sure to teach Miki lots of useful things like this, OK?”

When we started the event, Miki was in top form. She talked with anyone about anything they wanted for as long as they could stand. And, since they were Miki superfans, they could stand quite a lot. The fans liked it so much that word spread before the day was out, and by the end, we had hundreds of people.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week5results.png

“That was most enjoyable, Producer. I pray that we might do that again at some future time.”
“Yeah, the fans were really excited today, I could feel their awesome energy! I just wish I could have some more male fans instead of girls all the time.”
For once, though I can scarcely believe it, Miki has nothing to say, but her smile makes words unnecessary.

“Your fans are quite spirited, for such a new idol group. I doubted at first, with such a small initial showing, but it looks like Junichiro was right, you do have an impressive bit of potential. Don’t get cocky though, potential won’t win you any awards. Anyway, I’ll be watching you with great interest.”
Wait, what? Who is this guy? I swear I didn’t see him come in, but he’s the only one here other than us. He’s got slightly graying hair, an unremarkable gray suit and a shapeless brown cap that looks as old as he is. He calmly puffs on a cigarette as though suddenly appearing after a major event where he was never seen is completely unremarkable.
“Sir, may I enquire as to your identity?”
“No. If I want you to know, I’ll tell you”
“ I…see. My apologies for my rudeness, good sir.”
“Don’t worry about it. Hope to see you around. Producer. Ladies.”
The strange man takes another drag of his cigarette, and strolls out of the event hall.
Right then.

The girls spend the ride home discussing the identity of our mysterious visitor. Makoto thinks he’s a talent scout of some kind. Miki is convinced that he must be a stalker. Takane says nothing, but looks very pensive the whole way back. President Takagi and Kotori-san are there as usual when we return, but it’s been such an exhausting day that we don’t have much energy to chat, and everyone heads home rather quickly. Just as I’m crossing my doorstep, I get a text from Miki.
Thanks, Producer. Miki had a lot of fun doing idol stuff today. <3



Culture and Translation Notes

1- CD Sales event- The original term for this is 渡し会(watashikai) or お渡し会(owatashikai) which is where the singers of a group sell albums directly to fans as a promotional gimmick, rather than going through a sales intermedary. This is, I hope, made clear from the text, but it's an interestingly specific bit of Japanese vocabulary that has no dirrect equivalent in English that I'm aware of, so I thought I'd mention it.
2- Producer being kind- The word I translated here as kind, 優しい(yasashii) also has connotations of gentleness, patience, goodnewss, and mercy. I considered using "nice" instead but wanted to avoid the connotations of a "nice guy" which aren't quite what this means

The broken heart in our unit status meter reflects Miki's dissatisfaction with the unit. The actual reason for this in game was that I lost a morale-raising minigame where you have to intentionally lose rock-paper scissors to improve morale. But, I thought that no one would want to hear the tale of Producer, tragic Rock-Paper-Scissors champ, so I came up with something else. I'll have to correct this with other morale minigames, so it's likely to last for another week.

Our single releases next week, so I was planning on doing a national audition next to raise our attention level prior to the big launch at the end of that day. So fart my record chain is 63 in practices, I'll try tyo improve that over the next week. Also, my fingers would be very grateful if we could choose a slower tempo song next time.

Like I said before though, even with a giant chain like I hope to ge, the first song probably won't get us very far, our base stats and fans are just too low.

[Andre]

If all that seems unnecessarily demanding, detailed, and complicated, it's because it is. If you want to go through and crunch numbers and such, please feel free, otherwise, I''ll continue to ask you all for advice on long-term plans or particularly interesting dilemmas only, since those are the fun partss.

Also, my fingers would be very grateful if we could choose a slower tempo song next time.


'Tis okay, it still doesn't sound as complicated as one of the old CM games. Still, I promise to be less of a jerk in my next song nomination and avoid upbeat and super-energetic ones. :smallwink:


There is nothing like making informed stupid decisions.

We call them 'educated guesses' in my field (economics). You guessed, they are guesses nonetheless, albeit educated ones.


“Lady Takane, I swear on my honor as a man, that I shall bear you eternal fealty if you would but grace this small item with your eminently majestic calligraphy!”

This cracked me up.


Also, a couple of a considerations...
1) If Miki has more fans as a person per day than fans as a idol in total, why didn't she notify them of the CD sales event? :smalltongue:
2) A friend of mine, Peter, has a query on anime that your idols might be able to answer.
"Wha- I just can't understand any of this, everybody in Japan is either a ten years old girl or a monster?"


Addendum - ElderTsofu's fanarts are great.

[Brother Oni]

I finally told her that, since she was the leader, it was her responsibility to go find her missing unit member, and that if I had to do it, she’d append the rest of the event waiting tables at the cyberpunk maid café on the first floor."

I think the tsundere cafe across the street would have been a much better placement... :smalltongue:



“Hey Producer, what’s up? Sorry we’re late. Miki’s not really used to the pace, I guess. This morning was a personal time record for me though. Three miles in 12:45!”


Whoa.

Either Makoto's cheating on her time, or she's in the wrong occupation - the women's Olympic record for the closest distance (5km or 3.1 miles) is 14:11... :smalleek:




The crowd outside may be tiny, but what they lack in size, they make up in enthusiasm. Takane and Makoto have to push through. Or rather, they would if the crowd didn’t suddenly fall silent and part at a single word from Takane. I guess “hardcore” isn’t an understatement for them. Suddenly, as I watch this scene, it dawns on me. I turn back to Miki just as Makoto and Takane enter the hall.

Oh crap. I just had a vision of an ouendan group for our idols... at least Makoto will happy with the new male fans.


Oh and Makoto giving the Producer a bro-fist amuses me no end. :smallbiggrin:

[Selpharia]

@Andre- Miki doesn't have the kind of pragmatic business sense to do that, pluss, she probably expects them to come anyway. Miki doesn't expect to have to work hard to be liked, it comes naturally to her.

For your second question, the answer is in two parts. First, cuteness is a massive part of Japanese ideals for feminine beauty. It's very common and expected for a girl to cultivate a sort of childish cutesy image into her late teens and early twenties. It's not univewrsally true, but it's a second body ideal that's I'd say equally popular to the more normal "sexy" image
that Ami and Mami explain so well. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xd1w6tBFtk)

Also worthy of consideration is that Japanese tend to be shorter and slimmer on average than Westerners, so what looks normal for a 14 year old to them often looks more like age ten to us.

I'm not sure about "monsters," but I do know that the archetypal image of schoolgirls + tentacles as a subset of that arose from a postwar ban on explicit portrayal of genitalia.

@Brother Oni- Probably, if Ritsuko were looking to have Iori fit in well, that would have been a great choice.

Makoto is very much in the wrong profession, idols are supposed to be cutesy and feminine and she's not really either. More about that as things develop, I expect. More importantly though, Makoto is essentially a shounen protagonist. Rules of feasibility are more of guidelines for them, if they're anything other than meaningless restrictions to be ripped up with the Power Of Courage.

If you don't find the genre argument persuasive, I submit that every idol has exaggerated traits related to their talents or specialties. Iori's family is so rich that they make the Queen of England look poor. (As a comparison, in one pokemon crossover, the Minase family owned every building in every city that was not a Pokemon Center or someone's house.) Takane is absurdly traditional, Miki has super charisma powers, and so on

EDIT: Dear Appeal Chaining and your total dominance of my scores,

Please report to a termination booth immediately as you are treasonously obnoxious.

Hate,
Selpharia

[Brother Oni]

2) A friend of mine, Peter, has a query on anime that your idols might be able to answer.
"Wha- I just can't understand any of this, everybody in Japan is either a ten years old girl or a monster?"

Further to Selpharia's excellent answers, may I suggest reading up on kawaisa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuteness_in_Japanese_culture) and moe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_(slang)) for further details?

As an aside, I can also suggest further *cough* reading on the latter point, but board rules prohibt me from offering links.



If you don't find the genre argument persuasive, I submit that every idol has exaggerated traits related to their talents or specialties. Iori's family is so rich that they make the Queen of England look poor. (As a comparison, in one pokemon crossover, the Minase family owned every building in every city that was not a Pokemon Center or someone's house.) Takane is absurdly traditional, Miki has super charisma powers, and so on

Oh I find the genre argument perfectly acceptable, although I don’t think Takane is absurdly traditional – my wife’s father’s family are very traditional, to the extent that her grandmother wanted to give her a nice traditional Japanese name – Ulala.
Her grandmother also managed to set up a miai (for others, a miai is an arranged date/meeting with the possibility of marriage) for her with a nice doctor (who was only about 8 years older), while my wife was dating me.

Needless to say, both suggestions got turned down - I'm fairly sure there were other attempts, but my wife hasn't told me about them (or refuses to tell me given I haven't let her live down the 'Ulala-chan' story). :smallbiggrin:


I disagree on Miki having super charisma powers though... well I suppose she has some, given I haven't actually killed her yet...

[Fri]

The broken heart in our unit status meter reflects Miki's dissatisfaction with the unit. The actual reason for this in game was that I lost a morale-raising minigame where you have to intentionally lose rock-paper scissors to improve morale. But, I thought that no one would want to hear the tale of Producer, tragic Rock-Paper-Scissors champ, so I came up with something else. I'll have to correct this with other morale minigames, so it's likely to last for another week.

You're kidding right? I'd totally watch the heck of the story of Milord Producer: The Rock-Paper-Scissor Champion.

[Brother Oni]

You're kidding right? I'd totally watch the heck of the story of Milord Producer: The Rock-Paper-Scissor Champion.

I prefer 'Sir Producer, the Janken King!' to the tune of 'I, Jack! The Pumpkin King!' from The Nightmare Before Christmas. :smallbiggrin:

You may also be interested in the anime Janken Man, about a superhero who defeats his adversaries with Rock-Paper-Scissors. :smalltongue:

[Selpharia]

So I finally got a respectable chain, at 91, and then promptly realized I wasn't recording. Still, I'll try to get this coming week done by Thursday. Also P.S.: Miki's foul mood is the stickiest thing in the universe.

[Brother Oni]

Also P.S.: Miki's foul mood is the stickiest thing in the universe.

How nasty can a 1.61m, 44kg teen girl be?

Oh, you meant without the use of plastic restraints... never mind then. :smalltongue:

[Selpharia]

So I went on a trip (after utterly failing my Thursday goal post), which meant not having access to my PC/Capture devices, only to be sucked into a marathon Idolm@ster session with a friend of mine where we somehow finished all 55 weeks in four days. The good news is I'm much more confident in my understaanding of how the game works, the bad news is I was a little burned out on the game. I've recovered and got everything captured though, so I'm just going through the writeup now.

and @Brother Oni- It's less being nasty than just kind of depressed, and lowering scores on everything.

Oh, and it's not the best thing ever, but I did as requested

I, Producer, the Janken King
グー(guu)= rock
パー(paa)=paper
チョキ(choki)=scissors

There are none who'd deny, that with the girls I'm not the best, for my awkwardness is known far and wide.
One gives me terrors like the darkest night, she'll excel without ever even trying.
With the slightest exhortation of her idol charms, she can sweep twenty boys off of their feet.
With a wink of her eye and a light na-no she dooms all other ladies to defeat.

She over here plays a one-note tune,
but she's grown so wary of the kiai screams,
and I, Producer, the Janken king,
must find some method to make this girl sing.

From somewhere draped in sepia tones,
the strangest girl has come alone,
She's somewhat awkward, far from her home,
away from all she's ever known.

I'm the best at the グー, and my パー smothers you
and my チョキ has grace like a dance
Throughout Nagasaki, they all say I'm lucky,
but with these girls I have not a chance

We play and I win, but the ice, it grows thin
much to my continuing vexation
No rational man, would mope like they can
at their failure in our confrontations

But wait, now at last I understand,
that the Janken king with the cleverest hand
gets nothing from his crown. It'll all be well-planned
I'll gvie it all up and lose on command

Oh there's a way to improve their mood
Although I'll say, it's rather crude
and so we duel, from day to day,
I'll take the match and throw it away

[Brother Oni]

Wow, I wasn't expecting that - it was just a offhand remark.

I wish these forums had a 'like' or 'upvote' function as you would have all of them - very well done. :smallbiggrin:

Is it wrong that I know the song so well that I can read that while singing along?

[Selpharia]

Part 6: GO MY WAY! Debut Audition


After weeks of preparing, doing events to get the word out, and more meetings and coffee than I thought were physically possible to cram into so little time, today is finally the day for our first single to debut. When I arrive, the office is eerily silent, since President Takagi and Kotori-san are at BRIGHT Records, overseeing the technical end of our first sale. The girls and I will be headed there later, but we’ll be taking part in an audition for a BRIGHT Studios performance starring their newest attractions.

From what Kotori-san described, Director Ishigami, who’s in charge of this event, uses an initial performance to decide how much screen time each group gets, and there are only a few individual spots. If we get stuck in the background performances, we might as well not bother, since it’ll do nothing to boost our image. And then of course, we’ll immediately be forced into playing catch-up for the next month trying to find somewhere else to perform a single that no one’s ever heard of.

While I am pondering the many scenarios that lead to inevitable doom, I notice out of the corner of my eye that the TV in the back office is on. Before I can even think about seeing who besides me would be here so early, the front door bursts open, and what looks like a grocery bag with pigtails busts in.

"Good Morning Kotori-san! Sorry to bother you by bringing Kasumi and Chousuke here, but Mom had to leave earlier than usual for work and I they’re too little to just leave at home I bought some bean sprouts too if you’d like to take some. They look really delicious- oh!"
The girl behind the giant bag of vegetables finally lowers her haul, shows her face, and it seems, realize that I’m not Kotori-san.
She looks overwhelmingly like a little orange hamster, in a sweater that seems about two sizes too big and a little frog-shaped bag slung around her neck. Her sweater and pants have a bunch of little patches of all different colors sewn into them. Combined with her expression, which exudes more optimism and happiness than any rational human being should have this early in the morning; the overall effect is so bright I can’t look away.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/YayoiHamster.png


"Oh, sorry, I thought you were Kotori-san! I’m Takatsuki Yayoi, 14 years old, and, an idol working for 765 productions! Wait, are you Takane-san’s producer?"
“Yes, I’m just waiting for her, Makoto, and Miki to arrive.
Suddenly where I expected s polite acknowledgement, Yayoi suddenly draws back in shock.
“Aaaah! I’m sorry! I knew Takane-san was busy, but Kasumi and Chousuke love playing with her, and she was here early and volunteered to watch them while I went to get groceries! I’m sorry if I ruined your whole schedule!"

I cannot believe a girl that small could possibly be that loud. Well, at least she’s not talking in third person. I try to smooth over the situation.

“Well, it’s not really a problem, since it’s so early. I’m actually surprised anyone would be here at this time”

“Well, getting up early and getting a good start is a big part of staying energetic all day long! You did eat breakfast, right? It’s the most important meal of the day you know! I have some fresh vegetables here if you’re hungry”
‘Um, no, I’m fine, thanks”
“OK, if you're sure.” She hurries off toward the back office.
Did I just get mothered by a fourteen year old who barely comes up to my chest? Honestly, at this point, I’m not surprised much by the people who work here
When Yayoi opens the office door, I hear the ending stains of the theme song to Pythagoras Switch
“A most fascinating experience, with such marvelous and mysterious machines. I was not aware of the primary role played by static electricity in the creation of stuffed toys. I must confess however, to being most confounded at the reason for the attire of the two miniature penguins. For what purpose would they be wearing a full complement of winter clothing if they are inside chatting merrily with their friend the dog who is also a television?”
Takane is on the office couch with two little children, a boy and a girl, probably about 5 or 6. Both are unquestionably related to Yayoi, the boy shares her distinctive hair color and the girl’s face looks like a miniature copy of her elder sister’s. Chousuke, who looks a little younger, looks up at Takane from her lap, and replies, full of seriousness
“Princess Takane, his name is John the TV! You should remember that at least!”
“Indeed, I had forgotten. I am most appreciative that thou wouldst remind me, young Chousuke.”
Kasumi, who had been busy playing with Takane’s long silver tresses, also stops to offer her opinion
"Right, and Pita and Gora wear winter clothes because they’re from Antarctica and so they’re used to it being cold!
Takane gives them both her Imperial Giggle. “I see, I am certainly fortunate to have two such fonts of knowledge to mend the insufficiencies in my understanding.”
“Chousuke, Kasumi, time to go to school! Say goodbye to Takane-san.”
Aww, but big sis, we were having so much fun. I built a Pythagoras Switch machine too! See?
He points to a collection of wooden rails and blocks arranged into a complex contraption like they show on the children’s program. I’m not sure it would actually work, but it’s a pretty impressive effort, considering his age.
“That’s very nice, but you shouldn’t leave a mess for other people to clean up. Pick up your toys, and hurry up, you don’t want to be late for school." As she says this, she wags her index finger at her little brother in a manner so reminiscent of my own mother that I feel a sudden sympathetic urge to cringe.
“Verily, for education is the first step on the noble path to understanding, by which one’s bright future is secured”
Kasumi, more obedient than her little brother, has already accepted Yayoi’s command, but she pipes up. “Takane-san, can I use that for my paragraph in History on Fukuzawa Yukichi. I always get really high marks when I write down things you say.”
“Certainly”
Yayoi takes Kasumi by the hand, and Chousuke, takes Kasumi’s other as they rush out the door, looking for the entire world like a bright orange mother duck and two little ducklings being led across the street.
“Yayoi and her siblings are always so lively, and quite amusing. I am as ever impressed by her redoubtable fortitude.”
Not knowing much about their money situation except what the state of their clothes could tell me, I decide it’s best to avoid that this early in the morning.
“Well, her siblings seemed to like you a lot. Honestly, I sort of thought kids might be intimidated by the way you speak.”
“I have no especial virtue in the arena of dealing with children. I am certain it is merely because Yayoi’s siblings are such well-behaved children that they tolerate my company.” She laughs that airy laugh again. “Although, I must confess, I find the freedom and vigor that young ones display to be most heartening. It is why I, well, find programming aimed at them so fascinating. The sheer wonder of discovering something new, of understanding in an utterly novel manner, and the raucous freedom of boundless vitality expresses itself in those programs as surely as it does in the audience. Seeing them at play in such a fashion is like catching the scent of spring long past, borne through the air on winter winds that carry halcyon memory upon their chilling wings.”

“Um, right. So do you think you’re ready for the BRIGHT audition today?”
“Yes, it was in part to calm my apprehensions that I accepted Yayoi’s request. I am now fully prepared to do my utmost to make of this endeavor a success.”
Once again, the door slams and we’re suddenly interrupted. Not that I have time to see much before I’m glomped by a sudden blondeness.
“Morning, Producer! Miki stayed up extra late last night getting our outfits ready for today!”
“Wait, didn’t we already change outfits once?”
"So? This idea is super brilliant, even for Miki!”
Terror. Absolute Terror. It must show on my face, because Miki quickly continues,
"Really! Even Makoto thinks so!"
“Well, yeah, it’s surprisingly cool. I wish we could have kept the hair ribbons, but the flower is nice. I’m not sure how the wrist wings are supposed to stay on, though.”
"Duh, they have clear little bands.”
Oh good, for a second I was worried she’d suggest glue.
“Hmm, Miki, I do believe this latest essay in your craft has surpassed thy previous efforts.”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/RGGWeek6Outfits.png

The new outfit does look almost normal. I’m not sure why they’re wearing taiko drum anklets though.
The girls run through a few warm-ups and then we’re off to the audition.
BRIGHT studios is housed in a massive skyscraper that dwarfs the Sakura TV building

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/BRIGHTTV.png

The inside is much the same as last time, but, if anything, there are even more groups here. Thankfully, the girls’ new black outfits make them harder to lose in the sea of neon and pastels. We make it through the usual bureaucrats and into the dressing room fairly swiftly and with nothing major forgotten.
Within a few minutes, we’re all set to go, and each of the idols is absorbed in their different last minute pre-stage routine. Makoto appears to be doing some mix between gymnastic warm ups and shadow boxing, Miki has her cell phone out and is sending pictures of her outfit to the rest of the 765 idols to show it off.
Just before we’re set to go on stage, an aide rushes in.
“Apologies sir, but there’s been a slight change of plans”
Oh joy of joys. I’m sure it involves free cake and ice cream for everyone.
“Yes?”
“Due to some last minute changes in sponsorship for the event, we will only be requiring one idol group instead of five from today’s selection process.”
“That is most irregular, good madam. Has there mayhap been some error in the communication of decrees?”
“What? One? But there must be fifty groups here! Isn’t it usually ten to one?
“Well, ah, yes, but due to unforeseen circumstances, there will now be only one available performing spot.”
I know bureaucratic intransigence when I see it, and I don’t think we’ll get anywhere with this.
“I see, thank you.”
The staffer leaves, as Takane and Makoto begin discussing strategy.
“Maybe if you opened with a solo line and I come in with the first refrain, and then Miki…hey Miki, pay attention! We’ve got 49 other groups to beat, and we have to think of something!
“Uh-huh” Miki looks up from her phone. “Why don’t we just appeal with happy cuteness?”
“Miki, have you seen our outfits? Have you heard our song? We do nothing but appall, I mean appeal, with happy cuteness!”
"No, Miki means doing cute poses during the song and in the middle of the dance.”
“I- but, that, how? What?”
“Well, it actually makes sense. The director will be expecting a standard performance, so suddenly doing a different cute pose at the end of a phrase could help us stick in her mind.”
“See, Producer agrees with Miki! Miki told you it was a great idea.”
“That is well, Miki, but I fear that I may be unable to change the dance that we have spent so much time learning into something spontaneous that also appeals to modern tastes.”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that hard! Just think of something fun and it will naturally just happen.”
“Fun, hmmm. I see.”
Takane falls silent, and from the expression on her face, it doesn’t seem like she sees quite as clearly as she says. Well, with the clock running down, there’s not much left I can do.
"I’m sure you’ll all be fine. You’ve been practicing hard on the song, and have had plenty of experience riling up an audience with the events we’ve been doing. The only difference now is that your audience is only one person. So go for it!”
“Yeah, you’re right!”
“Yep!”
“Just so, Producer. Come, everyone, let us sally forth!”
Once again, I find my way to the viewing area, to see how things go. I get to actually see the terrifying Director Ishigami, and I’m surprised by her age. Her gray hair and spectacles give her the severe look of a veteran professor who’s had countless students beg her for extensions so many times and for such stupid reasons that she just tunes them all out and denies them all. When the song starts, her mouth is a perfectly horizontal line of indifference. As it continues, I watch the girls giving everything they’ve got. Every step is perfect, every note hit exactly on time, but Director Ishigami’s expression barely changes.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6MidAudition.png

For a second time, when we get to the bit where traffic jams are defeated by planes, I have that same feeling that I’m standing under an ancient autumn moon, and the world recedes before Takane’s performance. Even after that though, the old woman just sighs.
And then, when the last verse rolls around and we get to the horrible line, “One and Only but not Lonely,” out of nowhere, Takane leans forward and gives a cute little wink to the director.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6TakaneWink.png

Her resulting laugh is dry and gravelly, like she’s half forgotten how it’s supposed to work, and she cuts it very short, with her expression swiftly regaining its impassive default.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6auditionEnd.png

The Radiant Gales Girls finish up, and are led offstage while the last few groups perform. They’re all pretty decent, but I have to say, not as well as us. Not that I’m biased or anything.
When the last of the performances end, I step outside to go looking for the girls and await our results. I open the door into the performers’ area, I almost run into Director Ishigami, who’s actually even shorter up close than she looked in the audition. Then she looks at me with a terrifyingly steely stare that I’m sure has made more teenage girls weep than I can count, and I can barely muster an
“Excuse me”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6postAudition.png

“You. You’re the producer for Radiant Gales Girls, yes?"
“Ah, yeah, I am- I mean, yes ma’am!”
“Feh, kids today-, well, your lot were the only ones to actually make me feel anything besides a desire to pierce my eardrums with a pair of chopsticks, so I suppose you’re it. I’d wanted to put in a few more groups as background noise and colors for the fanboys, but what Takao wants, Takao gets, apparently. Bah. In any case, get them to hurry up, I don’t have all day.”
"Ri-Right. Thank you Ma’am."
Oh, gods, I can’t believe that Miki actually had the best idea. You know, I say that surprisingly often. Maybe she’s just the right kind of crazy for this line of work.
Once she leaves and I can breathe, I make my way the rest of the distance to where the girls are waiting. I do my best to keep professional passivity, but I may have skipped a few times en-route.
Once I enter and tell them the good news, I’m crushed by a chorus of “Yay!” (and one Huzzah!) and once again hugged by all three of them at once.

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6auditionResults.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6PerformAppeal.png

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6Results.png

The performance afterwards is just icing on the cake, and is fantastic as usual, with morale as high as it is. When we finally get home to the office, President Takagi and Kotori-san are waiting as usual.
“Ah, welcome back, everyone. Congratulations on the audition! I saw your performance on DOTOP TV, it was exceptional! Oh, and here are today’s rankings, according to DOTOP, of the top 100 pop singles in Japan by sales. You’ve made it on the list! Very impressive for a first single! You’ve now joined the ranks of young idol units with bright futures!"

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6DOTOP.png

“It is most gratifying that we are able to please our noble audience in such a manner.”
"By the way, one of the criteria for receiving a nomination for the Idol Academy is that you need to have one single in the top 20. Those nominations occur in about 30 weeks. If you can get into the top 20 by that time, I expect you’ll be nominated without a problem."
"Because these weeks are so important, people in the business call these the “Rankings of Fate” since they’ll be the thing that determines the fate of your unit. If you can’t get into the top 20 by them, well, that will be the end.”
Oh good, so we have even less time than I thought. Does President Takagi ever give anyone any good news? But you know, if they can make Ishigami-san happy, they might just pull it out in the end. I look at the girls and note that, though Miki and Makoto still look flushed with their earlier victory, Takane has that pensive expression I’ve come to know.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be a tough battle, but I think that you all have what it takes to stand at the top one day.”
"Indeed. That is what I wish to make a reality. To stand at the summit, that I can view the glorious scenery that can be glimpsed only from that high peak."

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/TakaneMezasumono.png

“The scenery?”
“Yes. I wish to see what I can make of myself with my own ability, my true value. Such things as these…”
Once again, I get a demonstration of why, despite her awkwardness and strangeness, Takane is a fantastic idol. She expresses a desire, and my immediate thought isn’t my own doubt , but how to make that happen. Her charisma is really incredible.
“All right. I’ll be behind you all the way, so let’s go for it.”
“Quite so, Producer. Let us together face the battlefield, prepare for mighty struggle, and through that, come to know the wonders that lie beyond!”
“Takane, I’ll help you too! Together, the three of us will definitely have the power to smash down anything that dares get in our way!”
“Miki too! Today’s audition was really fun and when we passed, Miki was all, "Yay!" Let’s do that a bunch more times and get that same awesome feeling again and again!”

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o522/Selpharia/Week6Mikithree.png

And so, our first song debuted successfully.



Cultural and Translation Notes-

Pythagoras Switch- This is a rather well-known children's educational program in Japan, with its two main characters, the penguins Pita and Gora (whose names form the two halves of the Japanese transliteration of "Pythagoras" learning all sorts of useful and interesting information about the world from their friend the book and John the television dog. (His name is a pun in Japanese Terebi-no-John sounds similar to "television" It's most famous for its collection of impressive Rube Goldberg machines, and the Algorithm March. Full disclosure: while Takane is canonically fond of children's TV, I did choose the program based on personal preference.

Example machines here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzAQ-jYfEqA&feature=related)

Fukuzawa Yukichi- Fukuzawa Yukichi lived during the late Edo and Meiji period of Japan, and was a major proponent of modernizing and adopting Western ideas about the importance of science and math, and of education, since he saw them as key to the success of Western nations. He was a tremendous influence on the Japanese public education system, and remains the figure visible on the 10,000 yen bill. He has been compared to the U.S.'s Benjamin Franklin.

Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuzawa_Yukichi)


Sorry for the wait, everyone. As always, questions, comments, and criticism are appreciated.

[Deme]

Man, Miki's bad mood lasts forever, doesn't it? *Noticed the little broken heart in the corner*
Anyway, great work! Hooray for success!

[Selpharia]

Recovering from things like this depends significantly on who gets fan letters(random), and who gets the evening morale-boost lecture(random), so it's tough to recover once you're in a nasty state. I hope people are happy with the amount of Takane, she has this tendency to talk forever once she gets started. This is magnified by polite Japanese being about three times wordier than casual speech, which I've tried to convey by having her choose really long-winded sentence structures, but those can be a pain to actually read.

[Brother Oni]

“Why don’t we just appeal with happy cuteness?”
“Miki, have you seen our outfits? Have you heard our song? We do nothing but appal with happy cuteness!”

Has Makoto been speaking to Producer too much, or is this a Freudian slip? :smallbiggrin:

I know it's probably a typo, but the thought of the girls becoming as jaded experienced and sarcastic professional as the Producer amuses me no end. :smallbiggrin:



Pythagoras Switch
Algorithm March


Both of my children are quite fond of these, so spot on. Anpanman is also quite popular for that age group as well.

[Selpharia]

The following portion of this post is security clearance ULTRAVIOLET and requires the use of text highlighting, which is security clearance BLUE

Greetings, citizens of the Idolm@ster 2 LP thread. I, Chihaya-UV-RB7-2 am acting as a representative of Friend Computer to inform you that there were never any egregious typos in the latest update post of the thread, nor was the image of the Top 100 rankings accidentally replaced by a second copy of the audition results. Any appearance to the contrary is the result of communist infiltration and anyone experiencing delusions of such errors should report this to the team Happiness Officer for the proper psychotropic remedies. Rest assured that the parties responsible for this violation have been terminated, and there will be no recurrences. Ahem. Isn't that correct, Citizen MAMI-R-AMI-7?

...Yes, Ulltraviolet-sama

Excellent. Have a pleasant daycycle!


"Um, Chihaya-onee-chan? I don't think all the fan nii-chans will know about our PARANOIA game.

Oh, right, that's true. Well, on behalf of 765 productions, I apologize for the slovenly appearance of the last update. Someone apparently slacked off until the last minute and then thought it would be fine to skip the proofreading process.

What, it's like a game of "find-the typos" to improve the English of all of our fans! Really, Mami was just providing a vital educational service! And people could send in their typos for an extra special no-prize!

...

Fine, I'll let Ricchan do the editing next time.

Good. Thank you all for your understanding. Once again, our sincerest apologies.

[Elder Tsofu]

Well it does lead to fun misunderstandings, just like in real life. :smallwink:
Sally forth and huzzah... well I'm not a native speaker but they certainly seem like old-fashioned and comedic. :smallbiggrin:

Good work, I'll vote for a calmer song next time. ^^

[Deme]

I personally love the Takane bits. She is my favorite.