THE IDOLM@STER properly had an event in America, at Anime Central 2026. I have read a bunch people’s reactions and reflection of their trip to the con and I think I don’t have much that I could add. I am too tired to link to all of them, but I’ll try to do some at the end of this post.
This year for me it’s pretty crazy. Somehow I was indirectly being made aware of some of this stuff, partly because I also have been doing some fan projects for IM@S contents for Acen on the side. I think having some additional information did help make me make better plans in 2026, as once the IM@S stuff is locked in, it’s all I had time for at the con and before the con. I mean I wanted to go see FJ/Kajiura and I ended up not doing it because of various reasons outside my control, which kinda means the only thing I saw was the maestro herself on stage at Opening Ceremony. In addition I was able to see U3 and get an autograph from her too, thanks Sekai Project. There was a moment I got to see the INTERSECT guests, but that’s basically it.
So, where to start? I’ll just say that IDOLM@STER at ACEN is brought to you by nothing less than a small miracle. I’m sure Sujay and company have lost like 6 months of their life expectancy working on bringing IM@S to Acen this year so if you see Sujay and his crew, make sure to buy them a drink to further reduce said life expectancy. It was frenetic leading up to the big show on Friday and maybe Sujay can write a book about it when he retires or something.
What that meant for all the American producer, however, is probably a lot more than the total value of hard work of a small team over there at Acen, and even Bandai Namco. Overwhelmingly the reaction from all the Ps who went have been positive, including all the Japanese (and Chinese) producers who flew for this. As someone who goes to Japan for IM@S events I can only smile at how JP Ps are learning the fun experience that a good con can be. Even the local whiners, while loud and disproportionately reflected reality, still had a good time. Just about everyone I talked to had a great time, selection bias aside.
At the party was the only time I was able to go around and talk to a lot of people. Saturday during the day I was busy un-dying from watching HIF Selection Exam stream, then to deal with the panel, then to deal with the autographs, and then straight to the offkai. Friday I had some time to chat when I canvassed the line (thanks Cyberwave) to get P-cards. I gave up doing shikishi message boards because 6 sets is too many to deal with, I would need like 3 additional helpers. Also big thanks to pal Vanilla Thunder for hooking me up with his spare necktie since I left mine at home, among a number of other things. I also left some other things at home that cost me some money, but oh well.
Well, yes, I threw a party Saturday. Not a lot is to be said about that, but I feel it’s an important part of a culture of having a Good Time in the tradition of cons. Here’s a Google Photo pool that you can look through. First of all, it wouldn’t happen without the incredible turnout from Ps and folks willing to help. So a big thank you both to those who helped and those who came. If you ever want to throw a party, it’s really important to get the vibe right, and this, to me, is not only the key to success but I need the event that I throw the party with to be on the same page. Thankfully Acen is it, much like when Cinderella Girls came to AX that one time. What is different this time is there are actually Ps? Who are these Americans, that went to see IM@S in Japan, and brought that back, and all that stuff. Maybe some of them learned from Vtubers? Why, at the anikura on Friday, people only got hype from IM@S songs? I really don’t know.
What is truly unique about Acen IM@S, that I do know. That is the Miki solo showcase.
The Miki thing is not something you’d expect if you knew anyone involved, or Acen in general, although I suppose other Vtubers have landed at Acen before. But in IMAS 3.0 the whole XR/MR/VR stuff is beginning to pop off. All I can say is, I went to Chihaya Budokan, and it’s the most special thing I’ve seen in a long time, and definitely the best MR concert I’ve seen. Maybe it’s a bit of a promo for the July MR concert IWSF, but hats off to the folks who made the Miki show possible. It felt like a proper concert with Miki and I think everyone felt that. It’s a special sauce that added something extra to IM@S Acen, with its own substance, and a kick in the face for attendees (in a good way). I’m just laughing at how Japan reacted to the live stream, the American Ass thing.
Anyways, what else to say other than it’s great to have some drinks, cake, light meal, and a lot of happy Ps in one room, with some nice DJing going on? This is it. I brought some speakers for the offkai but I also used them to watch HIF Selection Exam day2. On Saturday night (like 3am), about 20 of us hijacked an unused room to put my $30 projector into use, so it’s dark enough to work. We got Tsubame’s new song. It was as lit as it can be at 4am.
Just a couple hours earlier, I went to see Kenmochi Hidefumi at the rave, which was great because I like his Denonbu hits! It was a fun time. Anyways, it was too much in a night for this old man, let alone the whole weekend. I had barely any time to eat Saturday, so basically I was living on fumes for half the weekend and in a physically active state. It wasn’t too bad, but it made the Italian beef after the con hit pretty good. I think the only thing missing was my roommate drank my last Monster which made Saturday just that much more painful.
In 2026 I have been doing the same “come to Acen way before” thing as I had done in prior years. I probably will again next year to witness how this Chicago dog is made from within and from the outside. Also there’s just so much good eats in Chicago that I want to have the time to do so, outside con hours. If it’s like any other year I will be very busy on the actual con days anyway.
PS.
Food-wise: Peaquods finally made it back this year, and I got Lou Manati’s twice. Funny story, I was suppose to eat pizza with some folks on Thursday night but they end up being very late (because they gave feed back to Bandai Namco staff at the mixer?) and I kept ordering more pizzas since the slices for them kept on getting eaten by other people who dropped by, lol. The main culinary focus on this trip was a dinner (regular) at Alinea, a three-star Michelin place. Was it worth it? It wasn’t that expensive, and it’s a fun experience. I probably won’t mind doing it again but it’s not exactly what I particularly care about in dining.
I still got to go to Gibsons at Acen. It’s becoming a tradition.
Drinking with friends, a wonderful time was had.
PPS. Murakami Munetaka is some special baseballer. I hope the Chicago White Sox treasure this man. Also, at the game, I almost caught a foul ball but I was too busy looking at my phone to react fast enough. If you go on a weekday night game when it’s chilly there’s not going to be many at Rate Field, so your odds of catching one are so much higher lol.
PPS. Some links as promised. Not exhaustive by any means.
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