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The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Celebrates 5th Anniversary With Gekijō Anime Short

The IDOLM@STER franchise began streaming a The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Gekijō (The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Theater) anime short on Monday to celebrate the fifth anniversary of The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls game. In the video, idols Emi, Suzuho, and Uzuki host a presentation to mark the anniversary.

The video begins with the three idols discussing the anniversary and the years they have been idols. Emi asks Uzuki about what year level of idol she thinks she will be in five years. Uzuki asks Nono how she feels, but she has no desire to comment. Uzuki reluctantly says she will still be around the level of a second-year idol. Emi tells her she should say "Naturally, I'm a top idol." Uzuki closes the presentation with a short speech to celebrate the anniversary: "Huh? Umm, this fifth anniversary is a turning point, so we... uh, well... We'll do our best!"

The second and last day of "The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls 4th Live TriCastle Story" concert series announced in October that an anime adaptation of Bandai Namco Games and Kuma-Jet's The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Gekijō (The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Theater) manga was green-lit for "broadcast around 2017."

Mankyū (Donyatsu, DD Fist of the North Star, Mobile Suit Gundam-san) is directing the anime at the studio Gathering, where he also worked on the PUCHIM@S net anime adaptation of the Puchimas! -Petit Idolm@ster- manga. "BanNam" (Bandai Namco) is credited with the original work, and Kuma-Jet is credited with the anime's original character designs.

The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Gekijō five-panel manga is irregularly serialized in The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls social mobile game app itself, often as a tie-in to game events and other media projects in the franchise. The "cute, comical" manga follows the idols' "real" daily life that can only be found in these panels. Kadokawa's ASCII Media Works imprint published the first compiled book volume in January 2015, and the fifth volume shipped on October 27. The manga already inspired a mini-drama on the franchise's official streamed radio program.

The first game in The IDOLM@STER franchise inspired Sunrise's 2007 loose television anime adaptation which Sentai Filmworks licensed for North America. The game franchise then spawned A-1 Pictures' more direct adaptation that included a 2011 television anime series, several original video anime, and a 2014 anime film, THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE: Kagayaki no Mukōgawa e!. Crunchyroll streamed A-1 Pictures' television series as it aired in Japan.

The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls game app is a spinoff that already inspired its own television anime. It launched its second anime season last year.

Thanks to Dennis R for the embedded video

[Via Yaraon!]