Ringing in the New Year

The folklore about the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac is a race. So it seems appropriate that Japan would put up a bunch of idols in a literal race while wearing animal things. Thankfully by “Japan” I only mean “in the game IDOLM@STER MILLION LIVE.” That being said the Japanese count these days and old ways slightly differently so I’m not going to get into that nitty gritty for sake of familiarity.

Over the holidays there were a lot of people writing and blogging about interesting things. I’ve been taking my time reading through them (think of it as an elixir for the post-new years blues, I guess). As you might notice there’s been a bunch of anime production type write-ups, with a bunch of animators here and a bunch of seiyuu here. It’s detailing stuff I normally don’t get to read and wish there was more resources like this in English. It’s practical and something I enjoy reading.

So rather than lamenting that nobody is playing ML, here are some notes about the latest Million Live event, or as the game calls it, 招福！アイドル干支マラソン–Good Fortunes! Idol Zodiac Marathon. Can I call it a day now?

The main motivation is that Numakura Manami is a 1989 baby, which makes her a Dragon (not sweating the exact dates here for those late January to mid February babies). Surprise, surprise, Hibiki’s event card has her in a dragon outfit. This one jumped out at me because I know her birthday the best out of the six idols that are getting event specific cards. Well, one of the two.

I think I only know Kido’s birth year by heart only because I can still count backwards fast enough. And she is from the year of Ox, 1997 (she’s young enough to make me feel legit old). Being the ranking prize for this event, Kana’s outfit is fitting in more ways than one, given it’s the year of the sheep.

You would think all the event cards will have sensibly matching idol seiyuu zodiac outfits, but you would only be partly right. Kugimiya Rie is from 1979 which would make her sheep, coming full circle, but somehow Iori gets a tiger getup. Well, playing the seiyuu connection game, you can find at least one other meaning behind the tiger outfit.

Ueshama, or Ueda Reina, turns 21 in another 9 days or so. Our first edge case. But being Japanese it’s the year of the dog once the clock strikes 1994, so she would be only rooster going by the lunar calendar. Either way her Umi Kosaka is wearing a boar outfit. I think it’s timely to make a koebuta joke here.

Chizuru’s seiyuu, Nomura Kanako, is born in 1989 (on Christmas no less), a year of the snake. Instead she wears a flamboyant peacock outfit. I am not sure why this is the case.

Momoko-senpai dons a cute rabbit outfit, which suits her extremely well. Her voice actress, Watanabe Keiko, is also born in the year of the rabbit, 1987.

Finally we get to the last event card. The voice for Elena, Kakumoto Asuka, is born on the year of the monkey, but Elena wears dog. Maybe there’s a reason but I don’t know what it is.

OK, now I am done.

Well, I figured, why not provide the raw data for the other 43 Million Live voice actresses? Just DOB (if available easily) and name and character. Well one reason why not is because it’s kind of extra work, but that is a poor excuse given the nature of this blogging endeavor. It only took me less than an hour anyway. Take this pastebin and put it in a spreadsheet for size.