Idolish7

 is a Japanese rhythm game developed and published by Bandai Namco Online with music collaboration by Lantis for Android and iOS platforms, which first released in Japan on August 20, 2015. The project features character design by Arina Tanemura. "Idolish7" has spawned several manga adaptations and novelizations. An anime adaptation by Troyca aired from January to May 2018, and a second season aired from April to December 2020. A third season will premiere in July 2021. The album "Regality" connected to the series became the first album credited to a male in-story character group to top the weekly Oricon Albums Chart.
Plot.
The player assumes the role of Tsumugi Takanashi, an inexperienced manager for a new idol group under her father's small agency. The idol group is named "IDOLiSH7," and consists of seven male members, each with their own unique personality and background. She must train and turn all of them into famous idols, all while struggling against the hardships of the entertainment industry.
Characters.
Idolish7.
A new idol group belonging to Takanashi Production Company. Their names contain numbers 1~7 in kanji. Their music symbols mainly consist of accidentals and dynamics.
Trigger.
The rival group of Idolish7 that belongs to the Yaotome Production Company. Their names contain numbers 8~10 in kanji. Their music symbols mainly consist of clefs.
Re:vale.
An idol group that introduced in the second chapter of the game. Their names contain numbers 100 and 1000 in kanji. Their music symbols mainly consist of repeat signs.
Mostly known by his stage name of , he is the energetic and easy-going member of Re:vale. He has a bit of a mischievous side and is shown to be very observant of his surroundings. According to Yuki, Momo is the kind of person who can make others happy just by being around. He wishes to protect the people dear to him in any way he can, often ignoring, however, the care and attention he needs himself. He is secretly insecure about his abilities, believing he is not worthy to be part of Re:vale, as he is not an original member. He is the "boke" of the pair, constantly making off the wall comments. His music symbol is the left repeat sign and he represents the number one hundred.
Mostly known by his stage name of , he is the co-founder of Re:vale as well as their songwriter. He has a cool and collected personality, but is often blunt which causes others to believe that he does not care. This is untrue as he is actually quite easygoing and looks after the younger groups, often giving them advice as well. Yuki is revealed to have been searching for his first partner for the past 5 years after he took a hit meant for Yuki and disappeared afterwards. Yuki is the "tsukkomi" of the pair, and follows through with interjecting Momo's Boke jokes. His music symbol is the right repeat sign and he represents the number one thousand.
ZOOL.
An idol group that introduced in the third chapter of the game. Their names contain kanji of animals from the chinese zodiac—pig, dog, snake and tiger. Their music symbols mainly consist of musical notes with the theme of repetition and silence.
Development.
Arina Tanemura, the game's character designer, created the characters based on information provided about their names, personalities, and theme colors. The first character she drafted was Yamato Nikaidō due to his glasses being the most distinguishable character trait and gave him short sleeves to reflect his cheerful personality. In contrast, Iori Izumi was given long sleeves because of his cool personality. Tanemura had initially drawn Iori and Mitsuki with the same hair color due to them being siblings, but a representative from Bandai Namco Entertainment had allowed her to make an exception. Bandai Namco Entertainment had also envisioned Mitsuki to be a youthful-looking character. Tanemura had misread that Tamaki was intended to be the shortest and most youthful character, instead submitting a more mature design; this resulted in Bandai Namco Entertainment accepting the draft and revising his personality to fit the design. Sōgō was intended as the group's "yandere" character, and while Tanemura had difficulty incorporating that into the design, she later drew him with a thin physique to reflect a "sickly" nature. Nagi was drawn with a "pretty physique" due to his half-Scandinavian ancestry. Riku was originally drawn with black hair before Tanemura revised his hair color to be lighter, and his costume was the most revealing because he was the center of the group. Whereas Idolish7 was designed with a white color theme, Trigger was designed with a black color theme for contrast.
Other media.
Prints.
The project has released several manga and novel adaptations. A manga adaptation is drawn by Nokoshi Yamada and is serialized in Hakusensha's "Hana LaLa Online" since 2015. The first volume was released on December 4, 2015. Another manga that focuses on idol group rival of Idolish7, Trigger, is titled . It is written by Bunta Tsushimi with illustrations by Arina Tanemura and was released on December 19, 2016. On October 12, 2017, it was announced that a new manga adaptation by Arina Tanemura titled "Re:member", which will center around on the past of the group Re:vale. The manga launched on December 9, 2017.
A novel titled is written by Bunta Tsushimi with illustrations by Arina Tanemura. It was released on December 4, 2015.
An official fanbook was released on June 30, 2016. The second fanbook was released on August 19, 2016.
Video games.
Bandai Namco Entertainment released a tie-in console video game titled " for the PlayStation Vita on February 15, 2018. The game's story takes place between the second and third story parts of the smartphone game, focusing on the Idolish7, Trigger, and Re:vale groups on a combined tour across Japan. The game's final destination is a concert at Zero Arena.
Music videos.
The music video for Trigger's third single, Crescent rise, was produced by Studio Trigger and released on January 27, 2020. It is part of a "Trigger X Trigger" collaboration project that was announced in September 2018.
Anime.
An anime adaptation was first announced during a Niconico livestream event on August 19, 2016. The 17-episode anime premiered on January 7, 2018 and concluded on May 19, 2018. Makoto Bessho is directing the anime at Troyca while Ayumi Sekine is supervising the anime's scripts. Kazumi Fukagawa is adapting Arina Tanemura's original designs for animation. Ei Aoki is credited as supervisor. Crunchyroll licensed the series for streaming as the anime simultaneously airs in Japan.
On July 7, 2018, "Idolish7" was green-lit for a second season. The second season, titled "Idolish7: Second Beat!" aired from April 5 to December 27, 2020, with the cast and staff returning to reprise their roles. On April 13, 2020, it was announced that after the fourth episode, the remaining episodes of the season had been delayed due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 20, 2020, it was announced that the season will resume with the third episode on October 4, 2020.
On December 27, 2020, after the second season's finale, it was announced the series would be receiving a third season, titled "Idolish7: Third Beat!". The third season will be a split-cour series, with the first half premiering in July 2021. 
"Idolish7: Vibrato" (2018-19).
In addition to the anime series, it was announced that there will be a spin-off series based on the stories from the manga and novels adaptations. The series of anime shorts, titled "Idolish7: Vibrato", is currently being streamed exclusively on YouTube as a "YouTube Original" on Bandai Visual's official YouTube account, with the "first part" of the shorts focused on Trigger. The first episode aired on February 16, 2018. The second to eighth episodes ran from January 17, 2019 to March 7, 2019.
Reception.
In 2016, "Idolish7" was accused of plagiarizing artwork from several other idol-related mobile game series, more specifically "The Idolmaster" and "Uta no Prince-sama", citing that several poses were traced or copied. Bandai Namco Entertainment released a statement on September 9 through "Idolish7"'s official website, stating a lawyer examined the images and concluded that there was no plagiarism involved. In addition, Bandai Namco Entertainment also denied allegations that the character Tsumugi was a self-insert for the character designer, Arina Tanemura.