Hello and welcome to LAST entry in our Better Know a Producer series. We’ve been doing this for almost a year and a half now and as of this post have covered 22 different Producers from different parts of the world. I hope you’ve been enjoying reading these as much as I have and after this I’ll be looking into the possibility of a new interview series for other Producers who have yet to be featured on this website.
But without any further ado the last P to be interviewed is a great friend of mine SetsunaP who is also a Haruka Producer from about the same era when I got into im@s. Since then I’ve seen him fall into Love Live, Cinderella Girls, Million Live, basically everything so you could say he’s a DD. The very first night I stayed in Japan was actually at his place while he still lived in Japan so I have a lot of fun memories hanging out with Sets during those times.
1. How did you first learn about “The iDOLM@STER”? What were your first impressions?
iM@S has always been in my periphery vision since I began dabbling in the otaku subculture since my university days back in 2007-8 at first I only thought of it as that strange JP game with cute dancing girls and bubbly songs.
Being the creepy otaku that I was I thought of it as a harem game where I make the girls fall for me huehuehue. After viewing some gameplay footage (thank you xbox imas) and getting to know some of the backstories of the characters my views changed rapidly.
It was kind of hard for me to get more info on iM@S since I couldn’t understand JP at all back then and I am forever thankful for the existence of domelola who put in lots of time and effort to provide imas content on youtube for us plebs. (Last I heard he is happily married and expecting his first kid. Congrats and good on you mate.)
2. Have you played any of the idolm@ster games? Which is your favorite?
I played a little L4U on a friend’s xbox on occasion but the first time I really got into an imas game was iM@S 2 on xbox 360 when I bought my own xbox 360. I really enjoyed the game though I failed multiple times on my first playthrough causing Yukiho to cry and it really broke my heart to let her down. On my subsequent runs however I got better at the game and managed to push my girls to become top idols.
Then iM@S 2 for PS3 was announced and I felt gutted. I swore I would never support Scamco again for dumping me out in the cold. But the pull of idols was too strong and like a good Producer I went and bought a PS3 to play it wwwworz.
Sad to say, I have not played OFA yet even though I bought the game. Too many distractions orz. Looking forward to playing Platinum Stars once I get enough money for a PS4
3. Which idol is your favorite and why?
This question kills the DD. Seriously though with new entries in the franchise I find my favourite idols changing ever so often. Yukiho was my first love, Haruka I admired for her genki power and unceasing hard work, and now Julia (from ML).
So instead of favourite idol here is a list of my top 10 iM@S idols (seiyuu factor not included)
1. Amami Haruka
2. Julia
3. Hagiwara Yukiho
4. Ibuki Tsubasa
5. Kanzaki Ranko
6. Tokugawa Matsuri
7. Tenkuubashi Tomoka
8. Mogami Shizuka
9. Tokoro Megumi
10. Takagaki Kaede
Holy shit I’m so DD ;_;
4. What is your favorite idolm@ster song and why?
I have quite a few im@S songs I like for various reasons such as hype and feels etc so I’ll just go into detail about a couple then put the rest in a list.
Sora, this song by Kotori always gives me hope that things will change for the better even though it looks bleak. Thank you best secretary for the support.
Hitomi no Naka no Sirius is one of my favourite feels songs. I’m not too sure why but I feel that this song brings me back to my childhood and a time where things were simpler and I feel it resonates with me. 10/10 will cry again.
For hype songs my favourite will be Overmaster. This song is so overpowering hearing it just automatically breaks my UOs.
as for other songs they are listed below in no particular order
Jibun Restart
2. Praline
3. Airu
4. Ryuuseigun
5. Rebellion
6. Yakusoku
7. Blue Symphony
8. Nation Blue
9. Carnival Japanesque
10. Maria Trap
5. What’s your favorite aspect of the idolm@ster series?
Growth and staying power. Growth in the sense that though the characters don’t change drastically you can still see their growth in tangible ways throughout the series’ history from a bunch of amateurs into top idols. The same can also be said about the seiyuus who breathed life into the characters, they have grown and matured so much as performers in the last 10 years. From a small performance at some event to filling out stadiums, it really is remarkable how big they have become.
Staying power. Well, the series has been going on for 10 years now and the OG cast is still around with us for the foreseeable future (thanks platinum stars). I don’t have to worry about them suddenly disappearing one day. (Looking at you LL ;_; )
6. When and how did you become a “Producer”? That is, when did you consider yourself an idolm@ster fan?
I think I placed P in my nickname around the same time I started playing iM@S 2. So sometime around there I guess.
7. Have you ever been to an idolm@ster live concert? Please share your experience or any particularly special memories if so.
I’ve had the pleasure of attending 9th and 10th anniversary lives and more recently Million Live 3rd Osaka. Was supposed to join ShinnP at 8th but family issues prevented me from going. Other events I went to that had iM@S performances were Anisama 2014, Lantis Matsuri 2014, Nico Nico Chokaigi 2014, AFA2014, and a Lawson Special live also in 2014.
As you can see the moment I really got more involved with the franchise was during my stay in Japan as a student at a JP language school. The period there allowed me to interact and meet with other Ps whom I only ever heard of online and that was when I first joined the HPT crew when they started the Line chat group. Really appreciate and hate y’all for showing me the eventer lyfe.
Special memories eh, let’s see:
Nico Nico chokaigi was my first time seeing the seiyuus in the flesh and it was unforgettable. Haisai Future Stars will always be remembered.
The gathering in the typhoon after 9th day 2 and the subsequent trek to a Matsuya in Shinjuku for food. Still no idea why I led you all to that place in the middle of a typhoon but that was fun www.
Bro hugging with P’s after lives. Always loved the camaraderie.
10th was just all out madness and the heat almost killed us all before the live even began. I think im seeing a pattern here where it always rains before/after an imas live.
ML3rd oh dear god everything with Aimi in it is special. Also, I have to say going YOLO mode with Dis in the stands was a unique experience. Also seeing how fast he gained new wives was funny w.
8. Do you play any of the mobile game series such as Cinderella Girls and Million Live?
Played all imas mobages and gave up in all of them. I couldn’t stand the grind. Gave up deresute after failing to land SSRs, spent 20k on ML then quit, and some money on CG as well before quitting.
Does GBF count as an imas game? Because I am grinding hard in that game at the moment. W
9. Did you watch the Cinderella Girls anime? What are your thoughts?
Watched it, enjoyed it, but the anime didn’t really add more idols to my list. Still was a fun ride though I am more of a ML P these days.
10. Do you have any favorite seiyuu related to the idolm@ster series?
Do I? I think I may have too many favourite seiyuus orz.
However top of the group at the moment for me is Aimi (or Terakawa Aimi if you prefer). She voices Julia from Million Live and like her character, she could play the guitar, and play it well. Every time she appears she just electrifies the stage for me I can’t help but want to go all out to cheer her on.
I almost got her to sign my pamphlet at this one event in Malaysia but bushiroad staff didn’t allow it ;_;. So I got a signed postcard for her instead. In person she is also a really friendly and bubbly girl who enjoys life. Got to hang out with her (ie. She standing around me watching me play cards) at the event and played a round of vanguard with her followed by multiple rounds of handshake sessions. As the event ended and she was leaving the area she even took the time to wave back and say goodbye as I waved her goodbye outside the event area. God I love her.
Since I am a terrible DD other im@s seiyuu I like include : Machico, Fujii Yukiyo, Natsukawa Shiina, Suwa Ayaka, Takahashi Minami, Koiwai Kotori, Nakamura Eriko, etc to name a few. I don’t remove idols from my list, I only add more to it.
11. Shout out your love about the idolm@ster series, say anything you’d like!
Shoutout to the P’s, eventers, DDs, Livers, etc I’ve met along my journey so far. Its thanks to iM@S that I got into this crazy subculture of eventing and through it I met most of you. Thanks for everything and I hope we can go to more events together in the future.
12. Question from MatchaP
Since I talked about this above, are there any common qualities amongst your favorite characters (im@s or otherwise, you filthy traitor)? If no, why are you such a DD? If yes, why those qualities?
Wow this is an interesting one. I often thought about this since I happen to like quite a few idols/seiyuus.
One of the unifying features I’ve realise is that they are all hard working characters who are 100% dedicated to their passions. While I also appreciate lazy characters like Anzu, I really admire those who put in lots of hard work into their work like Haruka and Julia ( Also Mayu from WUG and to a certain extent Maki from LL). They embody the ideal that I sometimes feel I will never reach as I am a lazy slob.
Another common thread is that their image color is Red. Haruka, Julia, Maki, Mayu all have Red as their image color. I also personally have quite a lot of red in my wardrobe and it is one of my favourite colors so I guess that plays a role.
Those are not my only reasons for liking certain seiyuus/idols but those are the most common denominators I could think of.
You can follow Setsuna on Twitter @SetsunaP
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