the fiery end of my favorite male idol franchise

(also available on my website)

today, bandai namco announced the end of service of the game "idolmaster sidem: growing stars".

i've been an idolmaster fan since i was 15 years old, but only got into sidem a few years ago. but i've grown to love sidem more and more. without growing stars, sidem will no longer have an active stream of content for fans to enjoy. it didnt close down because of money either; the game was on the top 3 of two categories on the app/play store. not only that, but sidem was constantly mistreated by bandai namco, mainly because it's target audience is women.

sidem's main theme throught the franchise was showing how you can still pursue your dreams as an adult. sidem's cast is composed by characters who are extremely realistic; they are teachers, fire fighters, cafe workers, part time workers, etc. sidem was the source of many people's happiness just because how different from other franchises it felt.

i'm extremely distraught and i've felt nothing but miserable all day. i even cried.

i wasn't into sidem for that long, but listening to "study equal magic" by S.E.M. made me emotional because of the lyrics. i'm someone who had extreme difficulty learning because of my adhd, and so i've had extremely difficult relationships with teachers. and hearing from teachers, even fictional ones, that they believe in me and want me to succeed, want me to be happy and find a way to learn on my own, in a way that is easy for me, makes me extremely happy.

i wish i liked sidem when i was in middle/high school, because i would have really needed them back then. would've made my experience much less miserable.

through idolmaster, i've made wonderful friends, friends i still talk to this day, everyday; we were brought together by idolmaster and our love for all franchises.

but now, sidem is on a firery, downward spiral. we didn't ask for this. before growing stars, sidem had a game called live on stage, and everyone acknowledged it sucked, even the company, and they eventually closed down to make a newer, better game. growing stars was that game, where they made everything better; while the game didn't have 3d models for the characters, they had beautifully animated music videos. everything was going well, the game was even earning money steadily.

then, the game is just going to shut down, with no particular reason. no transparency from the company at all. the fans are extremely distraught and dissapointed, everything seemed to be going well. sidem even participated in a concert with all the other idolmaster branches, which pushed sidem's popularity even further.

just why? why do this to a fanbase who was so extremely dedicated? fans continued suporting the franchise even though the fans were constantly treated like shit. you can tell me, companies aren't your friends, and that's absolutely true, bandai namco has always treated sidem and their fans like garbage from day one. i don't think a single sidem fan trusted them.

these days, an anime multimedia franchise without a game is basically a dead franchise. they're basically trying to kill off sidem for good. this is the final nail on the coffin for the franchise.

they haven't announced any future projects, nothing. no future cd releases, no anime, no video shorts, nothing. nothing for the future of franchise. it's just going to be the end. even though everything just seemed to be doing just fine.

all of this just feels like mysogyny. since sidem's target audience is women, they just refuse to give us a good experience as fans. and recently, sidem fans include idolmaster fans in general, people from all genders, backgrounds, and ages. but because they believe the target audience is women, we deserve less as fans.

recently, it was also announced that idolmaster will be debuting a small set of v-tuber idols. a lot of fans believe that the reason why bandai namco wants to kill off sidem is to promote this new franchise. the v-tuber market is just so, so extremely satured. every concept under the sun has been excecuted. nothing new and cutting edge can be done in this sub-culture anymore. they're just going to be another v-tuber project that is going to slowly die and fade away. specially because idolmaster fans will not support a new project when the new management decides to just ditch a a beloved game entirely.

it's just so sad and frustrating. to see such a great and fun franchise just die like this. i've been feeling miserable and distraught all day. i don't want it to end. i didn't even finish listening to the entire discography like i planned to do this year. i still would like to do it but i don't even wanna give the half of a cent spotify gives them for streaming. i haven't felt this sad over something ever since my favorite artist passed away a few years ago.

nothing i'm saying is unique to me either. it's what the entire fandom's grievances. not only the sidem fandom, but the entire idolmaster fandom as a whole. even the voice actors, which most of them had their very first role in sidem, have even apologized for the closure of the game. i've seen multiple people say that this was the last straw for them, that they're moving on to other interests, and it's just extremely sad to see, even after old fans regaining a renewed interest in the series because of the all branch concerts. it's all so disheartening.

please keep the fans in your thoughts. it's just an awful, awful time for the idolmaster fans.