Idolmaster Cinderella Girls

[Daverost]

The Fairy Yui singing style was a nice touch

You're damn right it was. Probably the only reason I actually bought her CD.

[RoninatorMarx]

I want to ask this one question: What makes a Cinderella Girls character popular? Unlike the idols from the main series, CG doesn't have too many characters that develop over time (meaning can't have too much room for characters like Miki, Ryo, and Touma due to the massive number of characters). Is it personality? Character design? Maybe even a character's gimmick? Because characters like Miku and Anzu are very popular character, even though they both run on a gimmick and not much else (The former is a cat person and the latter is mega lazy). I'm just really curious about this.

I think it's mainly the gimmick that each idol brings. Not in the sense that what gimmick people like most, but how fans can interpret those gimmicks and make themselves like the girls. A good example would be Anzu and Kirari. Both are 17 but each stand on the opposite ends of the height scale. When fans caught on to this, they basically paired the two on the spot. Or how about Kaede's puns? Or Miku's cat girl-ness but dislike for fish? Or how Minami always ends in sexy idol clothing, etc.

It is as MetalPredator have concluded. How popularity worked in CG, in all my time of observing fanart, is how they can turn a character into their own target of affection, chew toy, sex symbol, etc., using whatever data Namco gave us about the character. The more they can work with, the more people will talk about her, and thus making her more popular. It's also worth noting how much they like a character's traits, like the shy trait that most characters have, or Shizuku's beach balls, etc. Stereotypical traits in personality still apply here, but for the fanbase, it's a matter of what are the exciting traits they can exploit.

[Maka]

The third cinderella girl election has been announced...

The top five idols will get a group cd like last time, but there will also be a 9 person CD featuring the top three picks from each group, a lot like the Onegai Cinderella CD.

I like this setup, hopefully it means the top picks won't be 80% Cool like last time.

[MetalPredat0r]

The third cinderella girl election has been announced...

The top five idols will get a group cd like last time, but there will also be a 9 person CD featuring the top three picks from each group, a lot like the Onegai Cinderella CD.

I like this setup, hopefully it means the top picks won't be 80% Cool like last time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JUCfX1P1ik

On a serious note, this is an excellent setup. I'm guessing they're doing this to compensate for the fact that Cool idols DOMINATED last year's election which felt a bit......off. Passion didn't get jack that year. Another thing that could happen is that we may have repeats of the whole Anastasia thing like last year. Remember, she didn't have a voice at the time yet she won 2nd place! Can't wait to see the winners on April 18th!

Btw, Team Minami and Team Natalia to the end!

[Nargrakhan]

The titles for the upcoming Cinderella Master songs have been released:

Syoko Hoshi: Dokutake Densetsu

Nao Kamiya: 2nd SIDE

Karen Houjou: Hakka

Sae Kobayakawa: Hanakanzashi HANAKANZASHI

Yuko Hori: Miracle Telepathy

I LOL'ed at Syoko's song name. It's so like her to have it named like that.

[RoninatorMarx]

but there will also be a 9 person CD featuring the top three picks from each group, a lot like the Onegai Cinderella CD.

I like this. With this we do guarantee a spot for the Passion idols. Plus it's a chance to see who can we consider the top three of each group. I'm just wondering if the Cool group would kill this election again... D:

Btw, Team Minami and Team Natalia to the end!

No love for Team Mio? D: Guess I'm alone in this one...

[MetalPredat0r]

The titles for the upcoming Cinderella Master songs have been released:

Syoko Hoshi: Dokutake Densetsu

Nao Kamiya: 2nd SIDE

Karen Houjou: Hakka

Sae Kobayakawa: Hanakanzashi HANAKANZASHI

Yuko Hori: Miracle Telepathy

I LOL'ed at Syoko's song name. It's so like her to have it named like that.

I know that Densetsu means "Legend of", but what does Dokutake mean? Sorry, not good at Japanese.

Yuko's song name is one that I expected, but am I the only one who thinks Sae's is kind of.....redundant?

No love for Team Mio? D: Guess I'm alone in this one...

How could I be so stupid!? Of course I'm Team Mio!

[Cael K.]

I know that Densetsu means "Legend of", but what does Dokutake mean? Sorry, not good at Japanese.

Yuko's song name is one that I expected, but am I the only one who thinks Sae's is kind of.....redundant?

It means poison 'shroom. Also, Karen and Sae's songs (Hakka, Hanakanzashi) have kanji for them, but their pronunciation is written after it as well - katakana in one case, English in the other.

毒茸伝説 (Legend of Toadstool), sung by Shoko Hoshi
Lyrics: NBSI (LindaAI-CUE), Sakura Asu-e / Composition, Arrangement: NBSI (LindaAI-CUE)

2nd SIDE, sung by Nao Kamiya
Lyrics, Composition, Arrangement: ESTi

薄荷 -ハッカ- (Peppermint), sung by Karen Hojo
Lyrics: Itsukioto / Composition, Arrangement: Noritaka Izumi

花簪 HANAKANZASHI (Flowered Hairpin), sung by Sae Kobayakawa
Lyrics: Yoshimi Yuuno (IOSYS) / Composition, Arrangement: ARM (IOSYS)

ミラクルテレパシー (Miracle Telepathy), sung by Yuko Hori
Lyrics, Composition, Arrangement: Yuuki Higurashi

[Maka]

I think Sae's is called Hanakanzashi Hanakanzashi, and Karen's is just Hakka? I dunno. It might be like Ranko's song where we have to wait and see, I dunno.

Either way...

Nao's song is by the person who did Little Match Girl and Zero Fill Love from Pangya, among other things.
Sae's is by the composer and arranger for Meruhen Debut.
Aaaaaand Syoko's is by the person who did I Want, Honey Heartbeat, and Agent Yoru wo Yuku.

[Roswell]

I really don't like Nao, but her song being composed by ESTi is getting me really excited. Hope she gets a good voice to go with it.

[SakuraMaxX]

Yeah I have some good memories from ESTi, especially from the good ol' days of Pangya and maybe DJMAX too. 

The melody of the "Osanai koro no chiisana PEEJI, daremo ga yume miteru ima mo" lines in Little Match Girl reminds me of a part of Zero Fill Love, a song ESTi composed for Pangya.

Comparisons, here and here.

[Eab1990]

I think it's mainly the gimmick that each idol brings. Not in the sense that what gimmick people like most, but how fans can interpret those gimmicks and make themselves like the girls. A good example would be Anzu and Kirari. Both are 17 but each stand on the opposite ends of the height scale. When fans caught on to this, they basically paired the two on the spot. Or how about Kaede's puns? Or Miku's cat girl-ness but dislike for fish? Or how Minami always ends in sexy idol clothing, etc.

It is as MetalPredator have concluded. How popularity worked in CG, in all my time of observing fanart, is how they can turn a character into their own target of affection, chew toy, sex symbol, etc., using whatever data Namco gave us about the character. The more they can work with, the more people will talk about her, and thus making her more popular. It's also worth noting how much they like a character's traits, like the shy trait that most characters have, or Shizuku's beach balls, etc. Stereotypical traits in personality still apply here, but for the fanbase, it's a matter of what are the exciting traits they can exploit.

Just to add, but I had a conversation (on Facebook, don't ask) about this and we concluded that CG idols can be more popular than their main series counterparts by the extent/extremity by which their gimmick defines them.

Why is Uzuki more loved than Haruka? Uzuki is far more plain.

Why are shy girls (whose shyness defines them, unlike girls like Ranko/Koume/Mayu/etc.) like Miho and Chieri more popular than Yukiho? Their shyness is even more moe.

And so on. Though it gets a little blurry when the main girls are just as, if not more popular than CG idols. Like Miki vs. any CG idol with big breasts would be a tougher call. Or perhaps, Yayoi vs. Miria or something.

As for the next batch of songs, guess I'll be looking forward to Nao's and Sae's as well.

[RisingStar]

The third cinderella girl election has been announced...

The top five idols will get a group cd like last time, but there will also be a 9 person CD featuring the top three picks from each group, a lot like the Onegai Cinderella CD.

I like this setup, hopefully it means the top picks won't be 80% Cool like last time.

*crosses fingers*
Kyoko, Kyoko, Kyoko, Kyoko...

I'm looking forward to Karen's song. The others never held my attention, especially Yuko. When she was revealed to be getting a CD, I was really caught off guard. PassionP must hate how he has the least popular type, considering there's only about 10 Passions that people seem to really care for. Cool has the most work put into them, and Cute is full of crazies.

Also, Uzuki for 29th place again! A higher place would be nice, too.

[Cael K.]

Today's April Fool's game is so great. Kinda glad I watched all those Im@s Sword World replays so I kinda know what's going on. ^_^;

Looks like you start with 10 dice, with 3 in your dice pool (pre-rolled). Anytime you want to do something (attack, perform, move, lockpick), you roll two dice randomly, and pick the third from your dice pool. Anytime this happens, you lose one die, and a replacement die is rolled and put in your dice pool.

There are three skills: Attack, Treasure, and Live. Looks like each idol gets a total score multiplier (not just a multiplier to that die, a multiplier to the three that are rolled) if certain numbers come up. The game will tell you which when they're summoned, and when they make skill rolls.

Successful battle gets you a level (max HP increases).

Successful treasure opening gets you dice back, and recovers health.

Successful live performance gets you fans. When you're attacked, there's a random percent chance that a fan will rush to your aid and take the hit for you like a champ. This chance increases the more fans you have.

Also, it looks like there's a bug where all enemies spawn with 0 HP.

[zaitcev]

So, what do you guys win? Being unverified, all I get is a sad Chihiro.