Idolmaster: Xenoglossia
Idolmaster: Xenoglossia (Japanese: アイドルマスター XENOGLOSSIA Aidorumasutaa XENOGLOSSIA) is a spin-off anime television series by Sunrise, loosely based on Bandai Namco's game series THE iDOLM@STER. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 2, 2007 on TV Hokkaido and various other UHF television stations, three months after the release of THE iDOLM@STER (Xbox 360). The series was also broadcast over the internet on the Japanese website @nifty. The series has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America and was released on DVD in late 2012 with English subtitles.[1] The DVD releases contain additional video content depicting the characters' daily lives and pasts, as well as an extended epilogue for episode 26. Starting from March 2018, Xenoglossia has been available for streaming on Hulu JP.
Staff
- Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
- Producer(s): Naotake Furusato, Toyota Todoroki
- Script writer: Jukki Hanada
- Music composer: Tsuneyoshi Saito
Storyline
The plot in Xenoglossia regards the destruction of Earth's moon several decades ago and the devastation its lack of gravitational pull has had on the planet's tides and overall ecosystem stability. Making thing worse are the fragments of the “Lost Artemis” that frequently fall to Earth, bringing yet more destruction in their wake. In order to combat this the organization, Mondenkind has deployed five iDOLs built around very powerful harmonically tuned cores found in the wake of the moon's destruction. Piloting these giant robot iDOLs are Masters who must be female in order for the iDOLs to allow control. These iDOLs are then deployed during meteor showers and used to destroy large asteroids with high powered sonic shockwaves emitted via a precisely delivered punch. Making Mondenkind’s trouble worse is the organization Turiavita, which seeks to steal away all the iDOLs from Mondenkind and its Masters and allow the destruction of humanity to occur so its own touted superior genetically engineered race of iDOL/Human hybrid called the Mischlings can take over in their place. Much of the series is about the battle between Mondenkind and Turiavita for control of the iDOLs as well as the shifting bonds and rivalries between the Masters themselves.
Characters
- Haruka Amami (voiced by Yuka Iguchi)
- Yukiho Hagiwara (voiced by Yui Horie)
- Iori Minase (voiced by Yukari Tamura)
- Yayoi Takatsuki (voiced by Ami Koshimizu)
- Makoto Kikuchi (voiced by Eri Kitamura)
- Ritsuko Akizuki (voiced by Mai Nakahara)
- Azusa Miura (voiced by Tomo Sakurai)
- Chihaya Kisaragi (voiced by Kaori Shimizu)
- Ami Futami (voiced by Kaori Nazuka)
- Mami Futami (voiced by Momoko Saitō)
- R.I.F.F.A (voiced by Yukana)
- Naze Munakata (voiced by Mamiko Noto)
- Naraba Daidou (voiced by Daisuke Ono)
- Sorewa Suzuki (voiced by Mikako Takahashi)
- Chikako Minamoto (voiced by Naomi Shindō)
- Hotaru Yasuhara (voiced by Ryōka Yuzuki)
- Hibiki Saku (voiced by Takuma Takewaka)
- Karasu (voiced by Akira Ishida)
- Joseph Shingetsu (voiced by Kazuhiro Nakata)
iDOL Robots
Mondenkind
- Prometheus–1 Imber
- Master: Chihaya Kisaragi, Haruka Amami
- Colors: white and indigo blue (episodes 1–7), white and pink (episode 8 onward)
- Name origin: Mare Imbrium
- Prometheus–2 Nebula
- Master: Azusa Miura (past), Makoto Kikuchi (episodes 1–13), Iori Minase (episode 14 onward)
- Colors: yellow and orange
- Name origin: Palus Nebularum
- Prometheus–4 Tempestas
- Master: Mami Futami
- Color: red
Turiavita
- Prometheus–3 Nubilum
- Master: Chihaya Kisaragi, Yukiho Hagiwara
- Colors: black and red
- Name origin: Mare Nubium
- Prometheus–5 Hiems
- Master: Makoto Kikuchi
- Colors: white and yellow
- Name origin: Mare Hiemis
- Epimetheus–1 "Epi-chan"
- Master: RIFFA
- Color: blue
Episodes
- Episode 1: Penguin Going to Tokyo
- Episode 2: Master of iDOL
- Episode 3: iDOL and Master
- Episode 4: Dumplings and American Dog
- Episode 5: Cold Hands, Warm Hands
- Episode 6: Height of Twenty Thousand Metres
- Episode 7: I'm Back. Welcome Back.
- Episode 8: Konpeito Night Stories
- Episode 9: Key Board
- Episode 10: Unharmoinious Sound (Noise)
- Episode 11: Niflheimr
- Episode 12: Muspellsheimr
- Episode 13: Room 501
- Episode 14: Somehow, It's Difficult to Move
- Episode 15: Hangar Heaven
- Episode 16: Idol and iDOL
- Episode 17: Stray Rabbit
- Episode 18: Night
- Episode 19: Goodbye
- Episode 20: The Way Back Home
- Episode 21: The Last Pudding
- Episode 22: Key and Bat
- Episode 23: RUN!
- Episode 24: Revival Calendar Year 108
- Episode 25: The Spring Snow
- Episode 26: The Moon and The Penguin
Trivia
- Since Idolmaster: Xenoglossia was initially made without Namco's supervision, it features an entirely new line-up of voice actresses.
- Earlier upon the broadcast, the anime was not well-received, due to its different nature compared to the games. It is also said that the anime, along with various other reasons, caused such an unrest within the fandom, which peaked on Tokyo Game Show 2010.
- The voice actresses were also not involved further in the franchise, most likely as a result of the negative reception from the fandom.
- However, this all has since changed, with several fans nowadays starting to appreciate it as well as some of the voice actresses participating in BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Festival in 2019.
- Xenoglossia also marks iDOLM@STER's first involvement with the label Lantis.
- Penguins are heavily featured in the anime. Yayoi likes to wear a giant penguin costume during times.