I Hate Other iM@S derived works

[Okayu]

Given that the game initially had you focused on one idol and one idol only in its origins (from my understanding; I've never played the arcade or X-Box versions) it makes sense to provide different sorts of characters that people would like to deal with, whether it's the haughty Iori, hyperactive Yayoi or shrinking violet Yukiho. Ultimately, each of the original girls began as fitting a stereotype, then given elaboration, becoming fuller-featured characters.
It's whether or not they can be more than their stereotype, and how much it's emphasized, which worries me more. I don't think I'd have minded the introduction of new idols in the franchise, but they could've gone about it much differently than they did. There's definitely character types and roles they could have brought in and elaborated on that originated in the mobile games, and despite their lack of realism, they could've been just as good as the main core given some polish and effort - many, though, I agree can't be redeemed.

Actually I'm pretty sure even the arcade game let you do units, but If I remember correctly in that and the xbox game you had to have successfully produced a solo idol first which makes sense. And actually the idols were pretty developed to begin with. The xbox game and part of SP is all reused content from the arcade version with new models. All the xbox version added was a few extra commus and Miki's routes. SP added a few more commus and it's story modes. Or rather arcade games and mobile games work differently and thus have different content. With an arcade game you want people to keep coming back so each character was given a sort of route and a good amount of commus. You could only pick a few commus at a time depending on how good you were, plus 9 girls in total to produce, so that's quite a bit of time and money there if you had wanted to see everything back before it got ported. The arcade game itself was in development since 2001 so this wasn't exactly a rushed product either. On the other hand mobile games goes with a quantity method in a different sense, gotta catch em' all, get all of the cards of all the idols you like and you'll get a few more lines and new pictures. While mobile makes it easy to release a ton of girls and update frequently, it's not exactly the best place to introduce them and keep them there. You have to give them something deeper. Even DS started as it's own full game with 765 on the side. As for the ML's potential I'm just not seeing it. As said before some of these characters are not interesting even at a concept level. I'd rather look at what is than what could be, and what is right now is not impressing me at all.

[Virgofall]

And actually the idols were pretty developed to begin with. ...The arcade game itself was in development since 2001 so this wasn't exactly a rushed product either.

I don't disagree with those things. I just meant that, even though the core 13 are developed, fleshed-out characters, they can each be distilled to a core personality type - of course we know that Yukiho is more than the shy androphobe we see at first glance. There is much, much more to her than that - but if someone were to just point at a picture of Yukiho and ask, "what is that girl?" you probably aren't going to go that far in depth to her character. You'd just describe her in those few words. Hopefully this makes a bit more sense? It's not to say that the idols were not developed to begin with, but I'm sure they began on a concept board as just the base type.
You can't do that with most of the mobile characters - there's nothing to take from them EXCEPT that personality type. Describe them in those few words, and voila, you're done. Not so great.

I also don't disagree that what it is now isn't particularly appealing.

[animagic4u]

You can't do that with most of the mobile characters - there's nothing to take from them EXCEPT that personality type. Describe them in those few words, and voila, you're done. Not so great.

For ML, however, there is an actual storyline and event plots that help develop a sense of the characters' personalities.
The short stories are kind of comparable to the short day-to-day commus in iDOLM@STER OFA, but they tend to have a story that goes for several short episodes.

The events, comics, flavor text, and birthdays really help solidify a personality type into a fully fledged character.

That being said, however, I don't actually like all the ML characters. There are a certain few I can't stand. For the most part, I still find them enjoyable.

[RisingStar]

Whoa, strong feelings in this thread. I guess I'll throw in my two cents. I strangely like when this topic comes up.

My initial feelings were the exact opposite of most in the thread. I welcomed more idols at first, but it was when voices were given to CGs and more were being created that I started to get a bit annoyed. I realized the sheer number of idols was holding CG back, and it doesn't help that it's extremely lazy in developing the idol's personality beyond their quirk. The music in CG is great and most CGs have very nice designs, but without substance they're beginning to fall flat. With ML, I believe they were handed everything in order for them to catch up to CG in terms of popularity and that push backfired significantly. The ML girls are actually really nice after listening to the drama tracks, reading translated lines, and their manga is shaping up to be pretty good. Although, there are a few MLs whose designs/voices/etc. still get on my nerves.

But here's a question I like to ask: what do you think would be most beneficial to CG/ML? And don't say "REMOVE THEM FROM THE FRANCHISE" out of spite, it's not very productive and, if it were to happen, would certainly tick off the fans who like them.
CG: I've said it before, but I'd wrap up the Cinderella Masters around 50 and then build off that cast. That's just to match with the now expanded 765. CG severely lacks in keeping their idols interesting due to its popularity-centered nature. Getting voiced is an achievement, but all goes quiet after they're voiced. I see it as the fans saying, "Yay, [insert CG] is voiced! On to the next."
ML: I actually haven't thought much about ML because it's showing improvement. The LTHs have shown an improvement in terms of music, idols are represented much more equally than the ones in CG, and they now have a story-driven manga to help out with developing them. They seem to be giving things a bit more thought than CG, at least.

[Okayu]

My initial feelings were the exact opposite of most in the thread. I welcomed more idols at first, but it was when voices were given to CGs and more were being created that I started to get a bit annoyed. I realized the sheer number of idols was holding CG back, and it doesn't help that it's extremely lazy in developing the idol's personality beyond their quirk. The music in CG is great and most CGs have very nice designs, but without substance they're beginning to fall flat.

How should I put this? They weren't exactly hiding that approach with it's "over 100 girls to produce!" right from the beginning. Unlike pokemon when you're making human characters they sort of need a more detailed personality, more so when GamiP claims this to be the appeal of the franchise. There are ways to handle characters with less personality, but again that's not the case for imas.

But here's a question I like to ask: what do you think would be most beneficial to CG/ML? And don't say "REMOVE THEM FROM THE FRANCHISE" out of spite, it's not very productive and, if it were to happen, would certainly tick off the fans who like them.

Although I get very annoyed with what has been dropped upon us these past few years these characters are popular and still make money so it can't be helped. Besides I'd be upset if it were the other way around too.
CG: The anime has 30 girls shown thus far, 10 per type. I think this is a pretty good amount where there's not too many or too few, compared to over 100 anyways. I thought it'd be cool if they had an SP kind of thing where there was three versions split by type. So basically CG cute version, cool version, and passion version although with fancier names of course.
ML: I'm not sure what to do with them honestly. I know it's their gimmick, but I would kind of prefer if they had their own production. As it is now it just feels like they're riding on 765's popularity instead of making a name for their own like CG did. I know they're trying more ML only stuff but I still get this impression. Also being from different productions hasn't stopped people hanging out before like Takane and Hibiki when they were in 961 and DS in 876.
I guess my view is overall as in games and productions I'd want them separate, but maybe give them some crossover albums and such as those can be fun for both sides. For example we haven't heard CG or ML sing any of 765's songs and via versa yet.
Also music wise I don't like ML very much. CG seems likes the genres are all over the place as it changes per character, but with ML the music and lyrics just feel bland to me. What I mean is that to me it seems like they threw some composing in there and didn't really care if it was memorable or not. Also who thought making a tone deaf character who sings was a good idea? This is as bad as early Haruka and Yayoi but they weren't doing it on purpose and have improved.

[Chance4U]

All this DS hate has been bothering me. It's like no one reads the strategy guides anymore..

When DS was released, it was to be the first account of Second Vision available. The goal for this "era" would be to expand the world of iM@S. As you can see with not only CG and ML, but in the anime and movie, their world has stretched further than what was thought to be possible. DS has pretty much become a footnote in the long list of iM@S history, but the series wouldn't be the same without this game.

This is a quote from Wikipedia. I know it's a horrible source, but it actually contains a fairly good summary of a portion of the game guide:

When developing the game's three idols, the staff first decided on going with an archetypal "cheerful" girl and "slightly brooding and negative" girl. When thinking about what to do with the last idol, Kujioka suggested having the idol be male instead, and Tanaka thought this would be okay. It was also suggested that one of the 876 Pro idols be related to one of the 765 Pro idols, leading to Ritsuko Akizuki being chosen to be Ryo's cousin. When developing the idols' characters, creating one idol's details resulted in equivalent changes to the other two idols. For instance, this development technique ultimately led to the image color for the idols being decided based on the idols' surnames.

In other articles within the guide, it says that Ryo is a male due to the fact that it may have been awkward for adult men to play the game as a teen girl. His gender was chosen for both gameplay and surprise purposes, and he was even marketed as such in the promotional articles by gaming magazines. Now given the difference between the DS ending and the way the manga ended, it looks like they wanted to go in a different direction than what Ryo is currently in. When the last DS manga was published Ryo was revealed to be a boy and all was fine. Bonus artwork was even produced of Ryo in his boyish costume.

Then Jupiter practically made the fandom revolt, and destroyed the hope for Ryo to become manly. After Jupiter's debut, works by the Neue Green artist that included Ryo reverted him into still being in a position of acting like a girl while the other DS characters actually kept most of their development from their stories. If Gravure For You's tie in magazines and introduction videos are to believed, Ai, Eri, and even Cineria have at least some character development. Ryo seems to been handed the short stick with not only his current image, but marketing as well (thanks to SHINY TV). The anime even references the time 876 spent with 765, but no change has been given to Ryo. The lack of development appears not only in the official anime artwork and episodes, but in concept sketches for 876's appearance, where even Eri can be seen as being more outgoing, but Ryo is still in a dress.

Now, I know quite a few of you are still crying that "Ai is a Haruka clone", but so much more than basic introductions went into these character creations. Ai's "clone-ness" of Haruka is pretty much only surface level stuff, and she's actually more in line with Yukiho's self depreciation with Yayoi's energy. To say that she doesn't have a resemblance and probably some character overlap with Haruka would be a lie, but she is a very different character and reacts very differently in situations when compared to Haruka (such as when deciding to throw Miki in a pool).

When Toshiyuki Kubooka and Kiyotaka Tamiya worked together to design the 876 idols (as in their initial concepts), the staff even made sure the dances had been completely thought through. Ryo's boy and girl voice performances were even decided at that point.

From the old iM@S blog we have this:

For the dance sequences during performances, Kujioka chose to employ talent star Fumi Sakura, as opposed to professional dancers who had been used in The Idolmaster games up to that point. Kujioka wanted the dance sequences to be closer to what he calls an "idol's aura"—a certain emotional charm that is not a part of an idol's skill at dancing, according to him. Also, because of the idols in Dearly Stars are young and are just starting out, Kujioka told Sakura to purposefully mess up some dance portions to reflect this inexperience. The chief music director Kouji Nakagawa told Satoru Kousaki, the composer of the game's theme song "HELLO!!", that he wanted it to be "similar to the opening theme of an anime." It was decided beforehand who the three composers would be for the other three songs introduced in Dearly Stars—"ALIVE", "Precog" and "Dazzling World". When discussing who would compose which song, Go Shiina said he wanted to compose the song for the game's main idol, so he was given in charge of composing Ai's song "ALIVE". Producer Youzou Sakagami pointed out that as a ballad, "ALIVE" does not seem like a typical idol song, but as noted by Nakagawa, the song is meant to reflect that fact that Ai's mother Mai originally sang the song once she became a prominent idol.

So yeah, DS gameplay wise sucked although according to my research, some fans apparently had a bigger problem with the fact that 876 was drawn instead of modeled in 3D for the promotions. The depth of the character's stories was different from 765's routes. 876's stories heavily involved several other characters with complex backgrounds of their own (Yumeko, Manami, Cineria, Reiko, Director Igarashi) rather than only family, other idols, or even fans. 876 idols have their gimmicks too, but a lot of thought was put behind them, and with the exception of Ryo, they've grown from their experiences.

tl:dr I'm not saying DS is perfect. It's just.. different.

[ninjamitsuki]

I'm also really miffed about Bamco completely erasing all of Ryo's development and making him into a gimmick. It's always been incredibly jarring that the entire ending is just ignored. I actually really love his natural voice. Albeit I think Ai has the most interesting route in Dearly Stars.

Really, the "bad" things about Dearly Stars are mostly due to the hardware limitations. I think DS stands in nice with the console games, albeit with a much different approach in that it is from an idol's perspective.

[Virgofall]

I think I have to echo a lot of Okayu's sentiments. It probably wouldn't be so bad if they were their own, like (I don't remember the name of SideM's production company off the bat, but here). Or they could've put them in 876, since there aren't many idols there and it could've given them a chance to look a bit more at Eri/Ai/Ryo.

And speaking of the latter...

In other articles within the guide, it says that Ryo is a male due to the fact that it may have been awkward for adult men to play the game as a teen girl. His gender was chosen for both gameplay and surprise purposes, and he was even marketed as such in the promotional articles by gaming magazines. Now given the difference between the DS ending and the way the manga ended, it looks like they wanted to go in a different direction than what Ryo is currently in. When the last DS manga was published Ryo was revealed to be a boy and all was fine. Bonus artwork was even produced of Ryo in his boyish costume.

Then Jupiter practically made the fandom revolt, and destroyed the hope for Ryo to become manly. After Jupiter's debut, works by the Neue Green artist that included Ryo reverted him into still being in a position of acting like a girl while the other DS characters actually kept most of their development from their stories. If Gravure For You's tie in magazines and introduction videos are to believed, Ai, Eri, and even Cineria have at least some character development. Ryo seems to been handed the short stick with not only his current image, but marketing as well (thanks to SHINY TV). The anime even references the time 876 spent with 765, but no change has been given to Ryo. The lack of development appears not only in the official anime artwork and episodes, but in concept sketches for 876's appearance, where even Eri can be seen as being more outgoing, but Ryo is still in a dress.

Probably my largest issue with Ryo. You want character development? Well you didn't like Jupiter (initially) so nope. (I, personally, didn't care about Jupiter's presence.) I completely understand why Ryo was in DS, but since they pretty much killed his character development... it's very hard for me to say "I want to see 876 have more than a cameo in another game" because I know his character development's basically going to get screwed over again for the sake of his character type - yet, we know if he gets cut, we're gonna have iM@S2 360 all over again, and I wouldn't want to see that.

[Okayu]

When DS was released, it was to be the first account of Second Vision available. The goal for this "era" would be to expand the world of iM@S. As you can see with not only CG and ML, but in the anime and movie, their world has stretched further than what was thought to be possible. DS has pretty much become a footnote in the long list of iM@S history, but the series wouldn't be the same without this game.

I wouldn't say the world has been expanded honestly. The cast definitely, but we're still in Japan doing the same things as before. With all the talk of worldwide you'd think they would release some type of world tour game for imas eventually.

In other articles within the guide, it says that Ryo is a male due to the fact that it may have been awkward for adult men to play the game as a teen girl.

Riight. Maybe if it was normal adult men, but the fan base is not quite that.

Then Jupiter practically made the fandom revolt, and destroyed the hope for Ryo to become manly.

It wasn't just Jupiter but a combination of things imas 2 and vision 2 had brought. There's long Japanese articles on it if you're interested. Once again imas is a galge, as in a series of games known for being filled with girls, it's not exactly surprising. I think this was just a misunderstanding really. They thought since people liked Ryou, a trap, that they would also like regular male idols as well. While Jupiter eventually grew on some people I can understand why some fans were upset. Their introduction had even teased about how many guys were in the audience but how that didn't matter. While both guy and girl idols exist, there's already a popular female aimed male idol franchise around. Maybe namco had wanted a piece of that too, but I don't think that's what most fans came to idolmaster for in the beginning. Personally from what I've seen thus far male and female idols are sort of different.

Go Shiina said he wanted to compose the song for the game's main idol, so he was given in charge of composing Ai's song "ALIVE". Producer Youzou Sakagami pointed out that as a ballad, "ALIVE" does not seem like a typical idol song, but as noted by Nakagawa, the song is meant to reflect that fact that Ai's mother Mai originally sang the song once she became a prominent idol.

"Main idol", not even trying to hide it. Anyways considering that comment about ALIVE is it the same for Saihyou then, meaning that Chihaya has become a prominent idol at this point?

So yeah, DS gameplay wise sucked although according to my research, some fans apparently had a bigger problem with the fact that 876 was drawn instead of modeled in 3D for the promotions. The depth of the character's stories was different from 765's routes. 876's stories heavily involved several other characters with complex backgrounds of their own (Yumeko, Manami, Cineria, Reiko, Director Igarashi) rather than only family, other idols, or even fans. 876 idols have their gimmicks too, but a lot of thought was put behind them, and with the exception of Ryo, they've grown from their experiences.

I think the 2D part was more due to habit. Even in SP they had models for commus so that's partly why. Honestly I wouldn't mind them carrying over the good parts of DS, the story and perspective change, to 765 as well. Although with OFA's EX eps they have carried over the song tied into the plot idea well. Honestly I don't dislike DS, I certainly think they were better successors to 765 than ML is. I liked how each story had it's own characters and 765 tied in. Although it is easier to write three unique routes than 13.

[MetalPredat0r]

I think I have to echo a lot of Okayu's sentiments. It probably wouldn't be so bad if they were their own, like (I don't remember the name of SideM's production company off the bat, but here).

315Pro

I have to agree with Chance and Virgo. If Ryo should have an actual comeback, he should keep his character development from DS intact and perform as a male. But nooooooooooooo, TGS 2010 happened and now we can't get ANY of that! That's the kind of sh*t I hate! Fans being all whiny and b**chy to the point of the developers ruining something for other fans who don't do that! IT PISSES ME OFF!!!  !

Anyway, after that rare moment of me raging, Virgo bringing up 315Pro, I wonder what people here think of Side M, besdies some people saying it's existence is kinda redundant. I guess it isn't mentioned here as much as Cinderella Girls or Million Live because it's too new, huh?

[Chance4U]

I wouldn't say the world has been expanded honestly. The cast definitely, but we're still in Japan doing the same things as before. With all the talk of worldwide you'd think they would release some type of world tour game for imas eventually.

It's not just the cast. The international release of SHINY FESTA and, as you mentioned, the recent interviews have shown that Scamco is beginning to look at their franchise from a global perspective. We now have idols from Brazil and Great Britain, and iM@S songs in general have spanned more genres than they did before DS (we even have a heavy metal idol). Dances are now much more intricate and thought through; take a look at 99 Nights.

Riight. Maybe if it was normal adult men, but the fan base is not quite that.

The target audience wasn't just men though. Some of the commercials and promotional marketing for the game were actually aimed at little girls, not just the typical iM@S fan. It wasn't just how people assume iM@S is for little girls either, there were actually in depth articles for the game that were catered to the younger audience. DS seems to have been trying to break the mold from its audience being solely iM@S fans into being more widespread among different age groups. It's actually a lot like SHINY FESTA's english release game, where the costumes were toned down to match the 4+ rating. DS got a C rating, but it was still pushed towards the younger age group.

It wasn't just Jupiter but a combination of things imas 2 and vision 2 had brought.

I'll give you that one. RK's non producability and the inclusion of guys really killed the drive for iM@S 2. If you have the article, I'd like to read it.

"Main idol", not even trying to hide it. Anyways considering that comment about ALIVE is it the same for Saihyou then, meaning that Chihaya has become a prominent idol at this point?

Isn't that the point in becoming top idol? Chihaya's perspective is changing as she gets to higher and higher ranks, and Ai's story was about her gradually accepting and going beyond her mother's name. The development the two go through lead to them both being able to become top idols in their own routes.

I wonder what people here think of Side M, besdies some people saying it's existence is kinda redundant. I guess it isn't mentioned here as much as Cinderella Girls or Million Live because it's too new, huh?

This is all specualtion, but I always got the feeling that SideM and ML were supposed to be released before Cinderella Girls. When Jupiter bombed, they scrapped the idea and later revamped it to make it less "edgy". I think that was why Koi wo Hajimeyou was released; it was supposed to be damage control for the loud and threating Alice or Guilty. ML was going to be shown around the same time (hence the beta images), but it was rethought after Xbox 360 iM@S 2 fell apart. Then CG happened and took off in popularity, much more than was originally intended. Seeing mobile games as a good idea SideM and ML were moved to Mobage and GREE.

But that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY

[Okayu]

315Pro

I have to agree with Chance and Virgo. If Ryo should have an actual comeback, he should keep his character development from DS intact and perform as a male. But nooooooooooooo, TGS 2010 happened and now we can't get ANY of that! That's the kind of sh*t I hate! Fans being all whiny and b**chy to the point of the developers ruining something for other fans who don't do that! IT PISSES ME OFF!!!  !

Anyway, after that rare moment of me raging, Virgo bringing up 315Pro, I wonder what people here think of Side M, besdies some people saying it's existence is kinda redundant. I guess it isn't mentioned here as much as Cinderella Girls or Million Live because it's too new, huh?

Just because you don't agree with them doesn't make them whiny or bitchy. In most cases the fans I've seen are really nice so if they were upset it must have been for an important reason to them. Another thing is due to cultural differences something that may seem minor to us, the changes in danketsu's lyrics for example, is major to them. Besides there's probably other reasons for DS not coming back than just the fan reaction, Eri's VA has gotten very popular since for example. As for SideM I've been pretty much ignoring it's existence. I was never that interested in Jupiter and certainly not a third mobile game now. Just because they're guys doesn't change anything to me, it's just more characters that will barely get any development and was created to pander to as many niches as possible.

It's not just the cast. The international release of SHINY FESTA and, as you mentioned, the recent interviews have shown that Scamco is beginning to look at their franchise from a global perspective. We now have idols from Brazil and Great Britain, and iM@S songs in general have spanned more genres than they did before DS (we even have a heavy metal idol). Dances are now much more intricate and thought through; take a look at 99 Nights.
The target audience wasn't just men though. Some of the commercials and promotional marketing for the game were actually aimed at little girls, not just the typical iM@S fan. It wasn't just how people assume iM@S is for little girls either, there were actually in depth articles for the game that were catered to the younger audience. DS seems to have been trying to break the mold from its audience being solely iM@S fans into being more widespread among different age groups. It's actually a lot like SHINY FESTA's english release game, where the costumes were toned down to match the 4+ rating. DS got a C rating, but it was still pushed towards the younger age group.
I'll give you that one. RK's non producability and the inclusion of guys really killed the drive for iM@S 2. If you have the article, I'd like to read it.
Isn't that the point in becoming top idol? Chihaya's perspective is changing as she gets to higher and higher ranks, and Ai's story was about her gradually accepting and going beyond her mother's name. The development the two go through lead to them both being able to become top idols in their own routes.
This is all specualtion, but I always got the feeling that SideM and ML were supposed to be released before Cinderella Girls. When Jupiter bombed, they scrapped the idea and later revamped it to make it less "edgy". I think that was why Koi wo Hajimeyou was released; it was supposed to be damage control for the loud and threating Alice or Guilty. ML was going to be shown around the same time (hence the beta images), but it was rethought after Xbox 360 iM@S 2 fell apart. Then CG happened and took off in popularity, much more than was originally intended. Seeing mobile games as a good idea SideM and ML were moved to Mobage and GREE.

But that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY

I suppose I took "world" too literally there. I admit I had already noticed those things mentioned. Honestly I didn't care for the international idols much as they're usually full stereotypes.

I don't really think imas is good for kids, mostly for costume and story reasons. I wouldn't want things to be toned down just for a lower age range. SP had that in writing with it's lower rating and the english release of shiny festa had that with it's costume censorship.

But yeah they nicknamed the day where most of these announcements happened "The 9/18 Incident".
You had the introduction of jupiter, Yukiho having a new voice actress, RK being not produce-able (while saying the game focused on danketsu, that pissed off a lot of people for obvious reasons), etc. One thing to note is originally only the 3 trios were going to get CDs with RK getting none. That's why theirs came out months after imas 2. The original PVs had shown RK with 765 and with all the pre game hype this probably really hurt some fans.
http://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/9%E3%83%BB18%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6

Yeah I suppose that's true. I meant prior Mai was one of the highest idols and what not.

I think your theory isn't true at all. How I viewed it was CG's success lead to either namco going to gree/lantis or via versa and they asked the anime staff to make these characters. If they were pre existing they would have cameo'd in the original anime. Then they wanted more females so they got jupiter to kick off like 765 did for CG at first and made Side M. I hope this is the last one, we really have plenty of idols now. I'd rather this not turn full pokemon with 700+ idols.

[MetalPredat0r]

Just because you don't agree with them doesn't make them whiny or bitchy. In most cases the fans I've seen are really nice so if they were upset it must have been for an important reason to them. Another thing is due to cultural differences something that may seem minor to us, the changes in danketsu's lyrics for example, is major to them. Besides there's probably other reasons for DS not coming back than just the fan reaction, Eri's VA has gotten very popular since for example. As for SideM I've been pretty much ignoring it's existence. I was never that interested in Jupiter and certainly not a third mobile game now. Just because they're guys doesn't change anything to me, it's just more characters that will barely get any development and was created to pander to as many niches as possible.

Sorry. I'm just too exposed to fandoms complaining too much that whenever I see it, I just assume that people are being idiots. Trust me, I've seen it too many times. I didn't mean to offend anybody.

But yeah they nicknamed the day where most of these announcements happened "The 9/18 Incident".
You had the introduction of jupiter, Yukiho having a new voice actress, RK being not produce-able (while saying the game focused on danketsu, that pissed off a lot of people for obvious reasons), etc. One thing to note is originally only the 3 trios were going to get CDs with RK getting none. That's why theirs came out months after imas 2. The original PVs had shown RK with 765 and with all the pre game hype this probably really hurt some fans.
http://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/9%E3%83%BB18%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6

I honestly see Ryuuguu Komachi not being produceable being the ONLY justifiable reason to be mad. Having characters that were perfectly fine to be produced in the last games and just removing them for the next is NOT going to win you a lot of fans. Yukiho changing a voice is something that shouldn't be seen as TOO serious as long as the voice still suits the character. Jupiter isn't much of a big issue either, it's just a new rival like Project Fairy in SP. Maybe it IS cultural differences and I just don't get it as much.

I think your theory isn't true at all. How I viewed it was CG's success lead to either namco going to gree/lantis or via versa and they asked the anime staff to make these characters. If they were pre existing they would have cameo'd in the original anime. Then they wanted more females so they got jupiter to kick off like 765 did for CG at first and made Side M. I hope this is the last one, we really have plenty of idols now. I'd rather this not turn full pokemon with 700+ idols.

The only backup I see to the theory is that Reika Kitakami and Momoko Suou actually WERE part of the beta stages for iM@S 2 (as seen here: http://i.imgur.com/63iNxPF.jpg). Though I see that more as Namco looking at beta elements and reusing those for a new game, just like Hibiki and Takane. I also agree that Side M should be the last mobile spin-off game. I like having a bigger cast, but there are moments where you draw the line.

[Okayu]

The only backup I see to the theory is that Reika Kitakami and Momoko Suou actually WERE part of the beta stages for iM@S 2 (as seen here: http://i.imgur.com/63iNxPF.jpg). Though I see that more as Namco looking at beta elements and reusing those for a new game, just like Hibiki and Takane. I also agree that Side M should be the last mobile spin-off game. I like having a bigger cast, but there are moments where you draw the line.

I have seen that image before, I think it's a fake. The date is after both the original xbox360 and ps3 version had released and I would never trust just one photo as proof. I'm just saying that in the past sites like 2ch have created very convincing fakes and it's possible it just happened to resemble a design later used. Also why would that image be under the save data? I don't recall idolmaster 2 having anything like that. Also reverse image searching shows it was posted around March-June 2013 which means someone probably just attempted drawing something resembling those characters after ML was shown, set the ps3 clock back, and then took a screenshot of that and posted it to the web.

[zaitcev]

As for the characters, I feel like they... Are a lot flatter. Especially in CG's case. They're designed around a gimmick rather than a personality. (...) But honestly I can see the CG and ML characters getting the depth of the main idols if they stick around for 9 years like the main cast has.

That seems to be the plan all along. Look how much veterans like Shiburn developed in these 2 years.