Gakuen idolmaster 学園アイドルマスター

in a nutshell:

• Released: Mar 2024
• Genre: Mobage Gatcha, Deck Builder
• Devs: Bandai Namco
• Available on DMM and mobile

Gakuen Idolmaster (referred to in fandom as gakumas) is the perfect combination of my two favorite tropes in anime - school life and idols. Here you are a student at Hatsuboshi Gakuen, a school for future idols and producers to grow their skills. As a student on the producer track you need to scout potential talent and grow them towards success. it’s pretty much a roguelite raising sim with cute idol girls. Very similar to gameplay mechanics of idoly pride or uma musume.

why i recommend it:

Because this is my dream scenario of academia, focus on trainee life, and genuinely enjoyable characters. in past im@s games i felt like the overflow of idols led to some becoming so one dimensional there was no fun in getting to know them (looking at you Noriko the donut idol)

while not all the girls are my favorite, their personality and history ties directly into the game play. The weak and sickly idol has a lower HP, the former ballerina scores higher in dance than other areas, the sleepy idol stores up all her boosts for one final point score at the end. It really makes you feel like you are producing them in a way that best suits their personalities.

Favorite Characters

Honorable Mentions

I can say pretty confidently I enjoyed playing and training all the characters even if I personally didn’t like their designs/personalities. Having this much diversity that directly impacts the gameplay is part of the selling point of this game. Here are a few characters I connected with enough to constantly pull on their banners.

• Mao Arimura: …yes… I too struggle with …identifying as …cool…when I was …assigned cute at birth
• Sena Juo: God tier idol who has DDLC monika levels of awareness. Her story was hilarious to me

Winner: Sumika Shiun (紫雲清夏)

It’s me and my perfectionism incarnate. She was so incredibly written as a character. I’ve mentioned before that I have a minor ballet background history so Sumika’s story resonated with me. The skipping of lessons out of fear, her upbeat attitude even when things get rough, and the entire good girl gyaru aesthetic speaks to me. Her image song Tame-Lie-One-Step hit so hard with its lyrics. But I’m getting ahead of myself here - songs are soon to come. Her VA did a great job on her voice, I loved her animations. Fantastic best girl. Also 20+ to charisma for green eyes and red hair.

Best Songs

Second Place: Tame-Lie-One-Step

Okay thanks for waiting - back to this banger. So like I said there’s a lot of ways to read the title of this song. Officially it is written as “Tame-Lie-One-Step” in roman characters. This could translate ためらいは捨て to abandon hesitation. But also the characters of ためらい are how you would phonetically sound out the ballet step “Temps Lie” meaning “connected movement”. It’s a very elementary move that you’d learn in beginner ballet. I think this interpretation isn’t intentional on the writer’s end, but you could read a subtext in the refrain of “just start with the easiest smallest move” which is similar to her story arc of how she overcomes her fears.

Honorable Mentions:

• Moon Turtle - it’s honestly hit or miss depending on my sensory levels, but I never skip the intro
• Kamurogiku - one of the few concert songs I wouldn’t skip at the final concert - even when I was grinding!

Winner: Fighting My Way

I promise it’s not just because it’s a Giga song - although that has a lot to do with it. It satiates my vocaloid 2010’s taste buds perfectly. Even with her annoying voice the style of the song works well enough to capture my heart. Yeah it’s nasally but it works with all the mechanical tech twangs in the song. It hypes me up every workout, I scream it in the car, I table drum to the sexy rhythm of the rap lines because my auditory processing doesn’t let me catch a single syllable of what she’s saying. It’s yummy.

Best Costumes

Solo: Misuzu Initial SSR/SR

Is it contrived to pick one of the first stage outfits? Contrived for me anyway. You know I love the classics. And in general the initial white stage costumes were super cute (Saki and Lilja’s were close runner ups). What ultimately lets Misuzu take the W is the overall elegance of the outfits. We’ve previously established my love for the ethereal and whimsical. She looks like a little princess without defaulting to that cupcake silhouette we see with outfits like China’s initial SSR. The side layers of the skirt make me think of a little maiden in a fantasy village and the sleeve and bodice details are so delicate. Misuzu honestly won a lot of points for me because of her designs in general and her first fit set the tone wonderfully.

Group: Calm Uniform

So many outfits hit in this series - simply by being academy uniform themed. Seifuku, western blazer, haunting reminders of my own grade school uniform days - it doesn’t matter. I love uniforms of all sorts. I am a hardcore academia aesthetic lover. What I love about this set is primarily the color pallet. It harkens back to the original white outfits which I’ve already mentioned were so iconic. I think this once does a good job of showing off each idol’s style while still looking cohesive enough to make me believe they go to the same school. I especially like the lining on the blazers and sweaters with the cream color. It pops so nicely to give a mature structure to the outfit. The material on the outfits look so soft and cozy, if I ever get around to cosplaying again in my life I could see myself wanting to wear this so badly.

quick resources

A heads up if you ever decide to play this game is that it is entirely in Japanese - no english translations. Luckily for you there are ways around this - and with my beginner genki level of skill I was able to keep up fine.

• A Beginner’s Guide to Gakuen Idolmaster by sw\tch
• Play Gakumas in English via GAKUM@s localization

overall

As I write up this post I’m so tempted to boot up the game again. Gatcha is so frustrating to me - I need an end point to my games. Had this game come out as a simple one time purchase it would be a staple in my game library. But I have too many hobbies and too many fleeting whims to stick with any game with dailies before too long. I will always treasure this game and definitely recommend it for the idol or anime lover out there.

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