It’s been a while! We’re finally nearing the last Ps in the Better Know a P series appropriately near the 2nd HPT anniversary. #19 this time is bbb from Canada. I’ve only met him in person at Anime North before but as a fellow Haruka P, hopefully we can get him to an im@s live in person one day!
1. How did you first learn about “The iDOLM@STER”? What were your first impressions?
The 2011 anime. And even then, I didn’t consider myself a Producer or was even aware of the community at large. However, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have an anime convention (Anime North) nearby that hosted not one, not two, but three (and counting?!) seiyuus from The Idolm@ster in consecutive years. It would be a lie to say that getting to know all the people in the Idolm@ster fan community who flock to my home town didn’t have any effect on how I became a fan myself.
Specifically, though, it was Kurotsuki who had the biggest hand in “enabling” (brainwashing) me. LINE groups allowed me to meet Producers in my local area, and organized meetups were a great deal of fun. One meetup in particular I travelled all the way to Montreal to watch M@sters of Idol World 2014 with the MTL crew. If I had to pick the exact moment I stepped off the proverbial cliff, it was this one.
2. Have you played any of the idolm@ster games? Which is your favorite?
If we’re excluding mobage here, I own The Idolm@ster 2 and One For All. Funnily enough I only purchased The Idolm@ster 2 at AN to have something meaningful for Eriko-sensei to sign, and ended up playing it despite my very limited Japanese knowledge.
If I had to pick a favourite, it would be One for All, because it has my favourite songs, favourite outfits, (DLC) for Million Live idols, but honestly, it’s mainly because story progression was much, much more forgiving towards someone with low reading comprehension like me. That said, OFA has helped a LOT in this regard.
3. Which idol is your favorite and why?
Haruka. This is hardest to put into words, but it made me question what it is I look for in an idol.
I appreciate her earnestness, her intense loyalty and love for her friends, and her investment in everyone’s success. She won’t feel satisfied standing at the top of idol stardom, but she will if she’s standing there with the rest of 765 Pro. And that resonates with me.
4. What is your favorite idolm@ster song and why?
Wow, so many. I really love the variety of the Live Theater albums. There’s just so many great tunes, and some come straight out of left field in their style, and seeing the old 765 Pro idols join in in song with the newcomers, it’s a beautiful thing.
Oh right, favourite. If there was one song that came up on my playlist that never fails to make me misty it’d have to be いっしょ. A certain quality of Idolm@ster music speaks to me. It’s easy to envision them on stage, singing in that Broadway show-tunes style.
5. What’s your favorite aspect of the idolm@ster series?
Something about the franchise sets it apart. It’s this feeling of camaraderie it encourages. Also, the idols it sells you. Not idols set on this unattainable altar as many other types of idols tend to do, but ones you can relate to.
6. When and how did you become a “Producer”? That is, when did you consider yourself an idolm@ster fan?
As mentioned in Q1, the exact point where I fell down the hole was in Montreal in 2014. So, I feel pretty new as a Producer, but the community has been very welcoming and I still have much to learn.
7. Have you ever been to an idolm@ster live concert? Please share your experience or any particularly special memories if so.
No, sadly. Going halfway around the world to attend one of these is as unattainable for me as much as it is my dream. The offkais we hold locally have been very special memories for me, though.
8. Do you play any of the mobile game series such as Cinderella Girls and Million Live?
Deresute, Million Live, MobaCG, the lot. The only one I have invested any significant time (or money) into is Million Live, however.
9. Did you watch the Cinderella Girls anime? What were your thoughts?
I did. I remember using the half-hour break in the middle of my classes to rush home and watch it. Then that evening I watched it 4 more times.
Ozaki and Frank hyped me up to it. It was good.
10. Do you have any favorite seiyuu related to the idolm@ster series?
I Uhhh…
I have a few. To be honest the seiyuus are what attach me to Million Live the most, so many of my favourite seiyuu in Im@s are from there. CG has many I recognize from my days follwing seiyuu in seasonal anime, so I’ve definitely taken an interest in some of those there.
Eriko-sensei will always hold a special place for me, though, being the first seiyuu I’ve ever met in person, and perhaps being the one that set me off on the path to becoming and Idolm@ster fan.
HPT may be leading me down the wrong path in this whole seiyuu fan business. Or the right path, who knows.
11. Shout out your love about the idolm@ster series, say anything you’d like!
Honestly y’all are the best. My favourite part of of the Idolm@ster are the fans I have met through it. They give me something to look forward to each month. They give me something to smile at every other day.
12. [From Landro] When you first came in contact with im@s, were you a HarukaP at first sight? Or did you flirt with the other girls first? What was your process like?
More than once I have been accused of “main character syndrome” and subsequent denials have failed in the face of overwhelming evidence so I’ll say this:
Haruka has gotten to the point for me where I appreciate her faults to the point where I don’t consider them faults. At this point, I really cannot see myself oshi-ing any other 765 Pro idol, because that’s how much Haruka’s character resonates with me. So to answer your question, I may not have been a HarukaP at first sight but there definitely wasn’t anyone else along the way.
“When are you getting that Amami Haruka bag?” – Kurotsuki, 2014
13. Say something about the next interviewed person (ToastCrust), also please ask them a question.
Ah Toast, the stealth HPT agent. I really don’t know much about you (despite following each other on Twitter since who knows when) so I’ll ask some hypothetical question regarding topics you seem to be knowledgable about.
If you were the owner of a small indie game company, and The Idolm@ster never existed, and you were tasked with creating the franchise in your vision, what would you create? Would it have more or less lives/chara goods/music? Who would the audience be? Assuming the profit from anything you create goes back towards franchise development, what path would you take to lead it to success?
You can follow bbb on Twitter @bobbierob
<Better Know A Producer>
#01 – [Exciel]
#02 – [Kurotsuki]
#03 – [vota]
#04 – [Seraph]
#05 – [Shinikenshi]
#06 – [Erwin]
#07 – [JT]
#08 – [garbejP]
#09 – [KenP]
#10 – [YashaFoxP]
#11 – [omo]
#12 – [ShinP]
#13 – [Basu]
#14 – [karagea]
#15 – [vae]
#16 – [Frank]
#17 – [Robert]
#18 – [Landro]
#19 – [bbb]←Here
#20 – [ToastCrust]