The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls

The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ, Aidorumasutā Shinderera Gāruzu, officially stylized as THE iDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS) is a Japanese free-to-play simulation video game developed by Cygames and Bandai Namco Games for the Mobage social network platform for mobile phones. It was first released on November 28, 2011 for feature phones, and compatibility was extended to iOS and Android devices on December 16, 2011. The game is based on The Idolmaster franchise, and features a cast of new idol characters.

The story in Cinderella Girls follows the career of a producer in charge of leading and training prospective pop idols to stardom. Its gameplay follows a collectible card game format in which each idol is represented as a card, which the player may use to form a unit of idols to train in lessons, take to jobs, and compete against opponents. Cinderella Girls has made transitions to other media. An anime television series adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures began airing in January 2015. Eight manga series, three sets of manga anthologies, two Internet radio talk shows featuring the series' voice actresses, image song singles and albums, and live concerts have also been produced.

Premise

The game and series takes place at the 346 Pro talent agency, where a producer is raising a group of idols to stardom in what is known as "The Cinderella Project". The anime follows three such girls, Rin Shibuya, Uzuki Shimamura, and Mio Honda, along with their fellow idols, as they become part of the Cinderella Project.

Gameplay

An example of gameplay in Cinderella Girls depicting Uzuki Shimamura finishing up work.

Cinderella Girls is a free-to-play, simulation social network game based on The Idolmaster franchise. Like its forerunners The Idolmaster and The Idolmaster 2, the player assumes the role of a talent producer who is in charge of training prospective pop idols on their way to stardom. Idols are represented in the game as collectible cards divided into three categories: cute, cool, and passion. The player begins by choosing one of the three categories, and he or she will then receive an idol belonging to the category.^[1] Each idol card has several statistics points that influences gameplay: attack, defense, cost, and affection rate; each card is also designated one of three rarities: normal, rare, or S rare, all of which also have a "plus" variant.

There are several activities which the player may take his or her idols to participate in, such as work, live battles, and lessons. Work are jobs that the producer and idols can take in different regions of Japan. During a job, the player earns in-game money and fans, receives new idols or costumes,^[1] and may also increase an idol's affection rate. As work progresses, the player also earns experience points and increases his or her producer level. The amount of progress the player may make at a given time is limited by the amount of stamina he or she has, which depletes during work. To continue working after the stamina has been completely depleted, the player must either wait for the stamina gauge to replenish over time or use in-game items. The amount of stamina the player has is determined by his or her producer level, but it can also be increased by allocating earned bonus points. After completing a number of jobs in an area, the player and idols are occasionally challenged by a computer-controlled rival idol. To finish working in the area, the player must compete against this opponent with the idol he or she has chosen as the leader.^[1] By defeating the rival idol, the player receives the idol's corresponding card or in-game items.

Live battle is a gameplay mode in which the player can compete against other players on the Mobage platform, and operates in an asynchronous manner. To initiate live battles against other players, the player must first assemble an idol unit for attacking. The player can add a maximum of five idols to his or her unit, but only the first cards whose costs are cumulatively equal to or lower than the player's attacking cost limit are played during battle. Like stamina, the player's cost allowance is determined by his or her producer level, but can also be increased by allocating additional points. If the player has cost remaining in the unit, then additional idols whose cost can fit the gap are played as back members. In order to win the live battle, the player must obtain a higher score—determined by the idol units' total attack, defense, and skills—than his or her opponent. By defeating his or her opponent, the player earns additional fans and money, and receives a costume from the opponent.^[1] Similarly, the player needs to assemble a unit for defense, limited by the player's total defending cost. For either units, the player may add the same idol to the unit more than once, but the same idol card is only permitted once.

To raise the attack and defense competency of an idol, the player can have her participate in lessons. To participate in a lesson, the player must first choose up to ten other idol cards as lesson partners, who will then be removed from the player's roster in exchange for raising the level, attack, and defense of the idol who partakes in the lesson.^[1] The player can also increase an idol's attack and defense by raising her affection rate to the maximum. Lastly, the player can choose to participate in training,^[1] and combine two identical idol cards to obtain the card's "plus" variant.

Development and release

The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls was developed by Bandai Namco Games and Cygames for DeNA's Mobage social network platform for mobile phones. It was first announced of October 14, 2011 under the tentative title "Idolmaster Social Game",^[2] and pre-registration for the game was opened to the public on November 16, 2011.^[3] It was first released on November 28, 2011 for Japanese feature phones,^[4] and compatibility was extended to Android and iOS devices as a web application on December 16, 2011.^[5] To commemorate the game's third anniversary, native applications for Android and iOS were respectively released on November 17 and November 25, 2014.^[6][7][8] The game was later released in South Korea for the Daum Mobage platform. The Korean version was released as an application for Android devices on December 2, 2014,^[9] and featured a new idol character exclusive to the version.^[10]

In May 2012, the Consumer Affairs Agency determined that the "complete gacha" (コンプガチャ, konpu gacha) gameplay mechanic's usage in social network games violated Japanese law,^{[note 1]} and announced it would issue a request to DeNA and other social game platforms for its removal.^[12] Cinderella Girls was cited as an example of a game that employed the tactic.^[12][13] The mechanism was later removed from the game, following separate announcements by DeNA and Bandai Namco that the companies would cease its usage in their social games.^[11][14]

Related media

Manga

Cinderella Girls has received several manga adaptations since its service commenced. The first manga series adaptation, titled The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls New Generations (アイドルマスターシンデレラガールズ ニュージェネレーションズ), was illustrated by Namo, and focuses on the characters Uzuki Shimamura, Rin Shibuya, and Mio Honda.^[15] It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Gangan Joker between its October 2012 and November 2013 issues. The chapters were later collected into two tankōbon volumes released on April 25 and November 25, 2013.^[16][17] A second manga series, titled The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Rockin' Girl (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ ロッキングガール), was illustrated by Hamachon, and centers on the characters Riina Tada, Kanako Mimura, and Rika Jōgasaki.^[18] The manga began serialization in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Monthly Big Gangan in its eleventh volume of 2012, and the first tankōbon volume was released on April 25, 2013.^[19]

A four-panel comic strip manga adaptation, titled The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Ensemble! (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ あんさんぶる!) and illustrated by Sadoru Chiba and written by Haruki Kashiba for seinen manga magazine Young Gangan,^[20] began serialization in the magazine's 22nd issue for 2012. Its first volume was published by Square Enix on November 25, 2013.^[21] This was followed by two four-panel comic strip manga adaptations by Saya Kiyoshi for Big Gangan, titled The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Idol of the Day (アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ 本日のアイドルさん, Aidorumasutā Shinderera Gāruzu: Honjitsu no Aidoru-san) and Honjitsu no Dereradi-san (本日のデレラジさん, Honjitsu no Dereraji-san); the latter series follows the characters featured in the Internet radio show of the same name.^[22] The two series were serialized in Big Gangan between the twelfth volume of 2012 and the eighth volume of 2013, and were collected into a tankōbon volume released on November 25, 2013.^[23] Another four-panel comic strip series, titled The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Dereradisan, was illustrated by Ajiichi for the manga website Gangan Online. The series also follows the Internet radio show's characters, and began serialization on the website on September 12, 2013.

Cinderella Girls has also inspired several sets of manga anthologies illustrated by a multitude of different artists. The first manga anthology, titled The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Shuffle!!, was regularly serialized on Gangan Online between August 2 and November 8, 2012,^[24] and was serialized irregularly thereafter. Its first volume was released on April 25, 2013.^[25] A six-volume anthology series, titled The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Comic Anthology, was published by Ichijinsha between October 25, 2012 and October 31, 2013. The series devoted two volumes to each image category in the game: Cute, Cool and Passion, and each category's second anthology was also bundled with a drama CD written by Tatsuya Takahashi.^[26]

Anime

The first anime adaptation of Cinderella Girls was the music video for the song "Onegai! Cinderella". The music video was produced to commemorate the game's second anniversary, and it was streamed within the game on November 28, 2013.^[27][28] The music video was later included in the Blu-ray and DVD The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Animation First Set, released on November 5, 2014.^[29]

An anime television series adaptation was first announced at the concert "The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls 1st Live Wonderful Magic!!" on April 5, 2014.^[30][31] The anime is produced by the animation studio A-1 Pictures and directed by Noriko Takao. Takao and writer Tatsuya Takahashi share supervision duty for the series screenplay, and Yūsuke Matsuo based the character designs on designs provided by illustrator Annin Dōfu;^[30] the music was composed by Hidekazu Tanaka of Monaca. The series began airing in Japan on BS11 via satellite, and Tokyo MX and nine other local independent terrestrial stations from January 10, 2015 and is being simulcast on Daisuki.^[32] The series will air in split seasons, with the second half to begin airing on July 17, 2015.^[33] The opening theme is "Star!!" by Cinderella Project, a group composed of Uzuki Shimamura (Ayaka Ōhashi), Rin Shibuya (Ayaka Fukuhara), Mio Honda (Sayuri Hara), Miria Akagi (Tomoyo Kurosawa), Anastasia (Sumire Uesaka), Chieri Ogata (Naomi Ōzora), Ranko Kanzaki (Maaya Uchida), Rika Jōgasaki (Nozomi Yamamoto), Riina Tada (Ruriko Aoki), Minami Nitta (Aya Suzaki), Anzu Futaba (Hiromi Igarashi), Miku Maekawa (Natsumi Takamori), Kanako Mimura (Yuka Ōtsubo) and Kirari Moroboshi (Rei Matsuzaki).

Reception

In September 2012, the Nikkei Shimbun reported that Cinderella Girls earns over 1 billion yen in monthly revenue.^[34] The game currently has a playerbase of at least 4.6 million players.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Anime official website (Japanese)
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia