Bandai Namco revealed the new Idolmaster game it previously teased in late February 2024. The new game will be titled Hatsuboshi Gakuen: The Idolmaster, and it will be available on iOS and Android mobile devices as a free-to-play app. The game will also be known in Japan with the shortened title Gakuen Idolmaster.
As the title suggests, Gakuen Idolmaster will take place at Hatsuboshi Academy. Its high school will feature a specific Idol major, in addition to the regular study course. The academy will also have a vocational college with a Producer major. After graduating, both Idol and Producer students will join a yet-to-be-named talent production agency. Akio Ohtsuka, the veteran voice actor best known for Metal Gear Solid‘s Solid Snake and Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory‘s Anavel Gato, will voice the academy’s headmaster Kunio Juo.
The player will become a student in the college’s Producer major. They will be able to produce a single idol candidate during a gameplay session. The Producer College’s professor Asari Neo, who is voiced by Aoi Koga, will assist the player in a similar way Kotori Otonashi and Hazuki Nanakusa did in other Idolmaster titles.
Gakuen Idolmaster will feature nine characters at launch, but the reveal stream only unveiled the first three. The fourth character will make her debut in a livestream scheduled for March 13, 2024. The remaining characters will also be revealed gradually every following Wednesday.
Bandai Namco has also published individual trailers for the first three announced characters. The first one is Kotone Fujita, who will be voiced by Hikaru Iida. Her songs and performances will be geared towards the “kawaii/cute” genre.
The second character revealed is Temari Tsukimura, who will be voiced by Nao Ojika. She will represent the “blue” line of idols who have superior vocals but stoic personalities. Previous examples in The Idolmaster metaseries include Chihaya Kisaragi, Rin Shibuya, and Hiori Kazano.
The third and last character announced in the new The Idolmaster game stream is Saki Hanami, and Aoi Nagatsuki will provide her voiceover. She will also act as the title’s overall poster girl in a similar fashion to Haruka Amami and Shiny Colors‘ Mano Sakuragi.
The full reveal trailer for Gakuen Idolmaster is available right below:
Hatsuboshi Gakuen: The Idolmaster will be available on iOS and Android mobile devices in Spring 2024.
