It’s the signs of the times. When you reinterpret the glittering future of idol life in 2026, with the words of a 2014 film, you don’t get a masterpiece from A1 Pictures or Trigger or Cloverworks, you get something like a bunch of heroines in a, uh, school? My Idol Academia can’t be this light-novel coded. My little sister…uh, what is the equivalent to a buttery lobster here? The tsundere is too dere and tsun?
In the second numbering concert for the sub-brand, Gakuen IDOLM@STER hauled out its budding-star lineup once more and put on a great performance. It’s getting absurdly good by josei seiyuu standards that I think the show itself has aspects that can stand alone. Forget that it has a video game (and it’s even fun, I mean, who doesn’t like Slay the Spire). Just watch Yukari Amane’s MY STAGE performance and let me know how you think? Actually, watch the music video and the vtuber version of each first if you have the time. Seriously, I want to know what people think.
In a grab bag situation with over a dozen heroines, do you even need the rest of the media mix? I guess so, because it’s how everything is put together. But first, links.
Setlist day 1. Setlist day 2. Playlists for each day. Official announcement posts day 1 and day 2. AP Kasshi teamed up with Aarin on day 1’s after stream. Day 2’s after stream link. Asobi Stage link for the actual streams. IM@S-DB (also ez links to xR HIF selection show last month). My quick takes here.
I think the easiest take is the same what I put on twitter, that 2nd is basically formatted the same as 1st. The one new element is Tsubame CV: Yukka, and she did some stuff for the first time during 2nd. If they want to retain this surprise element, I guess we’ll see Rinha next in 3rd? That means she gets implemented half way through year 3 I suppose.
Rinha’s implementation was one of the factors driving anticipation for 2nd, so maybe there needs to be something that follows if they really are adding Rinha. I think there isn’t any reasons to think to the contrary as that they won’t implement Rinha.
As to the show itself, it has been a long journey if you ask me. Part of this is just like how the Garakuta Road PV, the design elements in the 2nd anni outfits, that the 2nd merch was mostly based on Garakuta Road outfits… I don’t know, but those designed feels very well polisehd, for years. In the end, the cast wore step 3 outfits and performed step 3 songs. I suppose that much made sense given where we are at the game, and so far Gakumas has been the One Series that performs music from the game in the right timing. As an aside, where are our birthday songs? I guess that’s more to look forward to in the 3rd year and beyond.
The start of the show is obviously, the ticketing? Gakuen IDOLM@STER consistently outperformed its reasonable expectations and have smashingly sold-out shows. It’s a huge ordeal to get tickets to them, to the degree that many JP attendees come to the venue to socialize and go home to watch the stream. In order to win tickets, many of the oversea producers tried ticket pooling. Since there wasn’t a strict ID check, people generally were able to win tickets and transfer them, despite being against the terms of service. I think the popularity of Gakumas also affected oversea attendance and some of the ticketing situation did get a bit dicey to say the least.
Leading up to the show was the xR concert, which gave us the first look at the second single for Tsubame. The song selection was pretty basic but it covered the grounds we saw in 1st. I was able to watch it at Acen, which was fun with a group.
For the actual concert, we went into it planning an offkai on Saturday, and having a large group was pretty fun both pre-show and during the offkai. We did a smaller meetup on Sunday for lunch, eating Thai to manifest Rinha (because her seiyuu is born in Bangkok?) which was just a fun thing.
The weather more or less cooperated until Sunday afternoon. Maybe it’s just the collective tears of kimoi otaku to celebrate the announcement of Honoka Kuroki’s marriage, but it started raining right when the show doors opened for Sunday. It was fun seeing people make light and cheer for the big news before the show. There was a tweet or something about someone saying something about it while wearing a Village Vanguard Aoi Nagatsuki collab t-shirt, which made us want to get those shirts. I won’t bore you with the seiyuu otaku neta but fun was to be had.
The show itself is at Yokohama Arena, which is about a 7-10 minute walk from Shin Yokohama station. Given its oval shape and the stage being at one of the pointy end, you could end up in a seat very far back, or all the way to the side. I had pretty okay seats so there’s not much to complaint about, but I still had to watch the stream for both days to really get everything out of the shows.
In a way Gaku 2nd is a “letdown” in the sense that those of you who’ve been or seen Ongakusai a few months prior, it’s not going to be as lit. The main new thing was Tsubame’s new songs and the new outfits everyone wore based on Step 3. That points the rest of us looking for more excitement towards surprises, like manifesting Rinha’s implementation.
Sure, the longer POV is that we are pent up of new stuff that had to get released over time, so Gaku 1st had more surprises than Gaku 2nd. With big media mix projects like this, it’s always easy to fall into the trap of treating the live performances as afterthoughts in the overall plan. It does feel that way for a lot of IM@S sometimes, even if it is one of the franchise that does that the least. Anyways, I thought we had a thoughtful setlist and it was coordinated in a thoughtful way to squeeze out the feels to the max. I was next to a ChinaP for day 2 and he really had it going for him in the last block, while I’m just enjoying the coast to the end. I’m just glad to know that the planners know which songs people want to hear, and care enough for the setlist to put it in the right order.
If you are a big time Gakuen IDOLM@STER fan, you really should try to come to one of the shows in Japan. That said, it doesn’t have to be a numbered show, it could be any show with all the cast members, or even just your favorites. It’s all streamed, so there’s always that option too. I’m still stoked that one of my fav sub-branch is finally doing it right, and I hope we can enjoy it overseas or via flying to Japan!
Lastly and very briefly, my favorites:
- Naiwa is always a banger and I love this song at shows and at home. This is definitely one of the best versions outside HIF Selection.
- Kimi to Semi Blue is a reliable fun song, along with Campus Mode. On that note, also Mirakuru na Nau. Do the calls, to the left and to the right.
- I realize I care about the weirder step 3 songs more than, say, Ittai Itsukara. SUNFADED, Ume’s Step 3, and Wildflower are so good. Atmosphere is so good live. I don’t know. If China summoned her drones maybe I’d like the Evan Call masterpiece more. On that note it’s a rare treat…
- Garakuta Road is a lot of fun also. I want to see this a few more times.
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