Okay, this is probably a weird thing to point out, and it’s really minor, but I think someone might have messed up on putting Itsuki’s measurements into inches. Like, there’s no way he’s supposed to have a 23-inch waist.
I like that Itsuki’s signature is just like a regular one, nothing fancy, and all his friends have fancy celebrity ones
Also yeah his waist measurement is messed up, if you look at the metric measurements for him and Tsubasa they’re different despite it saying they both have 23 inch waists
Ohhhh, Tiki is a precious munchkin! I’d be her big sister! 
Tsubasa might think Touma being called big brother is weird but I’m here to be the friend to all children. Unless they’re total dicks. Okay maybe don’t be friends with ALL children.
MadameTanky, friend to exactly zero children
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I said total dicks. All kids are dicks, it’s just a sliding scale.
Anyway! With the huge boom in fictional idols, I’m here to cover the voices behind our characters though especially other idol stuff. (And… let’s call it “idol-adjacent”; I can think of a couple other things focused on things like rock bands or stage musicals that kind of end up with a similar feel to idol media, especially the smartphone games feel a lot like idol ones.)
I’ll try to hit like 3-5 titles they’ve had a major role in, and a fairly comprehensive list of idol and similar stuff. Though not exhaustive, I’m only human and I’ll probably miss stuff! I’ll even cover the party Mirages too, there’s enough that’ve done a solid base of stuff even if a couple later ones I’ll just have to go “uhhhhh this is an actor that exists and was in a Fire Emblem once”.
Today, we have our protagonist and his Mirage!
Itsuki Aoi, voiced by Ryohei Kimura
I’ve been growing increasingly fond of Kimura lately, he’s got a good acting range! I’m not too big on his singing voice, but I think that kind of works here since Itsuki’s just kind of “okay if I’ve gotta be an idol to support Tsubasa here, sure”?
Major roles:
- Shoma Takakura (Mawaru Penguindrum)
- Ryota Kise (Kuroko’s Basketball)
- Sorey (Tales of Zestiria)
- Hirotaka Wakamatsu (Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun)
- Kirito Kamui (Psycho-Pass)
Idol roles:
- Shun Shimotsuki of Procellarum (Tsukiuta)
- Tsumugi Momose of reve parfait (Dynamic Chord)
- Mikado Kiryu of Rexx (Root Rexx)
- Aoi Kakitsubata of Tenjo Tenge (I-Chu)
- Yamato Hyuga of Heavens (Uta no Prince-sama (anime-only))
Chrom, voiced by Tomokazu Sugita
So it turns out Sugita’s been active and having major roles for even longer than I realized? Dude’s been getting cast as the lead in stuff since at least 2002, I’d figured Suzumiya Haruhi was his big break. He’s been kind of a lot of protagonists, though I think he’s at his best when he gets to chew the scenery instead.
Major roles:
- Hideki Motosuwa (Chobits)
- Yuichi Aizawa (Kanon (the 2006 anime))
- Kyon (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)
- Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)
- Joseph Joestar (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (EDIT: specifically young Joseph))
- Ragna the Bloodedge (Blazblue)
- Yusuke Kitagawa (Persona 5)
Idol roles:
- Raging Otori, manager of Heavens (Uta no Prince-sama (anime-only))
- … that’s it. That’s not even an actual idol. But he does get to have scenery-chewing contests with Norio Wakamoto in it sooooooo. Enjoy a longer list of major roles instead.
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Which Joseph Joestar was he, young or old?
Young. Old Joseph is voiced by Unsho Ishizuka, who voices Professor Oak and Ivan from Devil’s Third.
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Ah yeah shoot thanks, I have not Jojo’s-ed nearly sufficiently (I should fix that I know) so I’d forgotten Joseph is in Stardust Crusaders too and older (with a different actor) there.
The ol’ pause screen is starting to fill up a bit, and we haven’t even done the first proper dungeon! So let’s do that.
Ah yes, the demonic department store. A classic.
Aya… where are you…?
Itsuki, make sure you keep an eye on Tsubasa.
Got it. Chrom, I need your strength again.
And you will have it.
All right, Cain! Let’s get this show on the road!
Well said! Let us storm the field with speed beyond speed!
So welcome to the first actual dungeon. TMS isn’t afraid to throw you in the deep end right away, so let’s just hit a couple quick things. As the info bar helpfully tell us, Tiki will occasionally send us topics while we’re out dungeoneering to let us know we can forge new weapons or unlock new skills the next time we come back. It’s not as handy as it sounds, especially for skills since it’s usually very obvious when you can make new ones. You’ll see how much I ignore her by the “Tiki: 8” in the top left corner at all times while we’re dungeon crawling. 
Additionally, the circle thing off to our left is a warp point. The game is very good about giving you regular checkpoints in dungeons, and always puts one right before a boss or miniboss. It’s just a real nice quality of life thing.
Immediately to our right is another one of those light walls. Again, nothing we can do here so let’s get started.
Our first new enemy is this disembodied clown head. Nickelwise is weak to a whole host of stuff, including swords, axes, ice, light, and dark magic, almost none of which we can do anything with. Their sole resistance is fire, which means Itsuki is the only one who can deal with them in a timely manner. Thankfully, he’s mostly content to chomp on someone for a low amount of physical damage.
And after the battle, we get introduced to another core part of the system. Each party member has a Stage Rank that increases as they take part in combat and sessions. Each stage rank unlocks a new skill (the vast majority of which are incredibly broken), and you need to have them at certain levels to unlock the party members’ personal sidequests.
Just as an example? The skill that Itsuki just unlocked allows him to change targets if an enemy dies during a session. That his Rank 1 skill.
Tsubasa’s is much less interesting, but no less handy. This unlocks the Traport skill, letting you leave the dungeon at any time for just 10 MP.
Oh, and I guess Touma picked up Sword-Blaze, but that’s not really as important.
Now, you might be thinking “Okay, that sounds good but not like, holy shit broken good” and you’d be right! But there’s another wrinkle to this system, and we’ll use our myrmidon friend here to demonstrate. Like all sword users, he’s weak to lances (and thunder but that’s not really important here), and between Itsuki and Tsubasa, we can build quite a combo off of lances.
And sure enough, after a turn or two the myrmidon bites it. However, we still have part of a session to go. When an enemy is killed as part of a session (including as the opening attack!), you achieve an “Overkill”, which causes every remaining attack in the session to ignore enemy resistances, including Nulls, Repels, and Drains. So if you know that an enemy absorbs fire but Touma is up next in your combo, as long as you can kill something before his turn comes up, it doesn’t matter. His attack will hit them just like they were neutral.
This is the power of Itsuki’s skill, and why it’s so broken. And while we can only change targets once per session right now, you had better believe that he’s got upgrades later on that let him change multiple times.
The main gimmick of Illusory 106 is these big dresses. You go in one side…
…And you come out the other.
On the far side we find a set of switches, and it should be pretty obvious what they do. Considering that we’re on the doll’s right side, the only one that’s of any use to us is the right switch.
This gives us access to the third floor. This room is basically shaped like a sideways “8”, with a dress on either side to let us go up and down as necessary.
On the third floor, we get introduced to what is probably my least favorite mechanic in the entire game. The purple enemies are called Savage Enemies, and they are motherfuckers of the highest caliber. For starters, you can’t stun them with your sword, so unless you can get to some kind of environmental trigger (or another enemy), you’re almost certainly going to get stuck fighting them. And that’s really bad, as we will see later.
For now, we’ll flip this to the middle switch and head down to 2F.
Along the way, Touma unlock his first skill. Estoma prevents enemies that are lower-levelled than Itsuki from spawning for a while, and I’m pretty sure I have literally never used it across multiple playthroughs.
On 2F, I spend a comical amount of time trying to get around this asshole, but unfortunately we have to fight this one. Let’s…just get this over with.
So yeah, not only do Savage Enemies usually get a surprise attack on you, they hit like a freight train. They are always somewhere between 2 and 5 levels above your party, with skills and attacks that you usually won’t see until the next dungeon (or at least much later in the current one). Running away is a crapshoot that wastes your turn more often than not, but standing your ground usually requires burning your good healing items and in some cases your SP to use super attacks to even the playing field.
That’s not to say that you can’t (or even shouldn’t) fight them - you will get a ton of experience and rare drops if you prove victorious. But if you’re actively fighting them, you’re probably going in to specifically hunt down savage enemies. For the most part, encounters with them end after a character or two fails to run away, everyone’s hurting, and at least one person is dead.
Good thing we bought those curries!
Anyway, before we were interrupted by our purple friend, we meet our first one-way wall. If you approach from the other side, it’s just a big slab of iron, but hitting the back of it will destroy the barrier.
On the other side of 2F there’s another wall, but the red dress is already in place for us to go behind it and break it. Really, I don’t even know why this one is here.
Huh? Who’s that…?
Ah! Over there!
Anybody…! Please…! Stop these monsters!
We have to help him!
Oh, it’s just three myrmidons. The way he was screaming, you’d think we might have an actual challenge. :colbert: Touma picks up Strength Boost after the fight, so at least it wasn’t a total waste of our time.
Th-Thank you so much, you three!
You know this guy, Touma?
This is Yatsufusa Hatanaka… Everyone in the industry knows him. He’s one of the best producers around. He’s the one that set up the live concert today, too… I-It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Hatanaka!
Ahaha, well, rumors always blow my reputation out of proportion… I don’t know if I’m THAT great. But… just what is going on? There was some commotion in the 106, and suddenly I was running for my life…
Um… how should we explain…?
You tell him where the exit is…
You’ll be able to get out of this place if you follow those directions.
A-All right… I understand.
You would think that finding someone who’s such a big shot here would call for a bit more caution, like escorting him out, but you do you game.
Anyway, shortly thereafter we get an update from Maiko and Kiria.
[quote]
Hey, is everyone okay? I’m at the hospital now with Kiria. Don’t worry, she’s going to be fine.
The wounds aren’t anything life threatening but she might be out of it for a while. I’ll contact you again soon.[/quote]
Well that’s good to hear. With Hatanaka out of trouble, if we raid the room he was hiding out in, we can grab a Chakra Drop and a Traport stone. Neither of which are great but it’s hardly worth complaining over.
And one last treasure for the road. We’re pretty close to the next teleporter, but Itsuki is out of MP so we might as well put that Traport stone to use and regroup.
Back in the Bloom Garden, we can turn in those Stage Rank performas to unlock our new skills. Note that they require prestige stars as well, so sometimes we’ll have to choose between new skills and new weapons.
We’ll also take the opportunity to grab a new lance for Tsubasa. Still nothing new for Touma yet, but that’ll change soon. For now, we’re gonna call it here and next time we’ll be taking on the miniboss of Illusory 106.
Oh man, didn’t expect to see Kimura here. I haven’t had that much time to play games outside of tablet ones so I’ve sunk a TON of time into I-chu specifically; Aoi is one of my favorite voices in the game. I looked up the vocal album after this and was disappointed by the lack of Itsuki songs, but such is life. 
Overall I’m still not sure how I feel about this game. I’m definitely one of those people who was super embittered by the reveal of an idol game after they used Main Series SMT art for the first promo, but it seems like a serviceable enough Persona-like? Either way I’m really glad to be able to read an LP of it.
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It’s worth noting that you will always have EP for Tsubasa to cast Traport. Dungeon crawling is very dependent on how much EP everyone has and since Tsubasa has so much it’s very likely that someone else will run out before her.
Okay, I’m starting to see how sessions are pretty broken… already. Are there any skills as/more broken than Leader’s Gaze, at least when it comes to sessions?
There’s two more minor additions to the system and one more major one. The major one is about on par with Director Itsuki, but it gets a lot of its utility from how broken switching targets is in the first place. On its own, it’s just “really good” instead of “holy fuckballs”.
I’d argue that the major one (assuming I know what you’re talking about) is actually more important than switching targets for reasons other than combat once you hit that point in the game, but I’ll refrain from spoiling what it is until we get there.
Last time we left off back in the Bloom Garden, so we have a little backtracking to do. Fortunately we weren’t particularly far in, so it’s a pretty short trip.
Really, the only notable thing that happened on the way was Tsubasa picking up her Rank 2 skill. This gives her Gentle Embrace, which increases the amount of HP she heals. She also picks up Zan, so she can start pulling her weight on offense.
You can also find a Speed Incense on 3F if you play around with the blue doll’s state a little bit. We’re going to hold on to this for now, but it’ll probably get dumped on either Itsuki or Tsubasa before the end of the dungeon.
Back where we found Mr. Hatanaka, we have the controls for the red dress. The left option lets you grab a treasure or two down on 1F, but we need to head upstairs, so right it is.
Ah, there she is. This rescue mission stuff isn’t so hard.
…Aaaaaaand then she walks off. Good effort, team. Really went hard on the pursuit.
Aya!
Wait! Tsubasa! You can’t just go after her alone!
But, Itsuki, she’s-
Oh… Sorry. When I see her like that, I just remember what happened to Kiria… and it gets hard for me to think straight.
I see…
Hey, Itsuki. You remember back in elementary school? How I used to be kind of clumsy?
…Used to be?
Yeah. Is…something wrong?
Uh, no. Nothing. What about it?
Well, whenever I made a mistake and got all sad… my sister would always ask me to sing with her. And when I did… I’d forget all about being sad, and I’d just laugh and sing with her.
So…if some Mirage is controlling Aya and making her do all this awful stuff… I won’t let it hurt her anymore!
If that’s the case, then I guess I don’t have anything to worry about.
Worry?
Well, if I can avoid it… I really don’t want to end up fighting her… But both Kiria and Ms. Maiko trust me to do what I have to.
So I want to save her with my own hands. This time, I’ll be the one that helps her smile again!
I’m sure you can do it, Tsubasa. I’ll do everything I can to help you.
Okay!
Plus, we’ve got one more teammate we can rely on. We’ve got this - right, Touma?
Damn right. C’mon, Tsubasa, we’ve got a rescue mission to take care of!
Itsuki, Touma… thank you!
And with that little inspirational speech, let’s head upstairs.
On the way, Itsuki picks up his Rank 2 skill, HP Fitness. It’s good for an extra 10% HP, once we get back to base.
And right around the corner, we have our first checkpoint. We could turn back, but we just started this run, so we’ll press on for now.
As we step outside, we find ourselves on the stair access. And at the top…
It’s showtime.
Jackpot. Right over there.
Hey, look at that. Didn’t even run away from us this time.
Aya…! I finally caught up!
Oh? If I’d known we’d be entertaining such adorable little guests, I’d have dressed for the occasion…
Something about seeing Tsubasa sets off Aya again. Turns out this whole mind control thing might not be as absolute as it seemed.
Aya… It’s really you, isn’t it!? It’s me, Tsubasa - your little sister!
Who are you…? I don’t know anyone like you…
…No, that isn’t right. Those eyes - I know those eyes… That unwavering gaze…almost like… Tsubasa!
Yes! It’s me, Aya. I’ve come to take you back… so let’s go home together!
No… it can’t be her… Tsubasa was so small… an adorable little girl…
Heh heh heh… Overslept, have we? Perhaps I can shed some light. I’d say, you’ve spent, oh… five years in slumber?
Five… years…
Oh, but Ayaha, that must mean… that girl there truly is your dear sister.
Aah… aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!
Aya…?
I’m trying too… I’m trying so hard… But I just can’t do it anymore! I can’t go on like this…!
Aya! What’s wrong!?
It must be because of the Mirage that’s controlling her…
So quick to shift the blame… You know, darling, no girl likes a man who’s so quick to point fingers. Me, controlling Ayaha…? Why, I’m insulted! After all, we’re partners.
You mean… these are Ayaha’s true feelings…?
No- No, that can’t be right! My sister would never say things like that. I saw her practicing so hard, every day. She practiced so late into the night… She was always working so hard!
Poor, naïve little girl… You think hard work is the same as success? All it’s good for is false comfort. Just a way to relieve some of the pressure - nothing more. Just ask her yourself.
Better-looking girls dropping out… Better singers cut one after another… It didn’t take long for me to realize, I was a joke. There was no way I could become an idol.
But I couldn’t let everyone down… It was just too much! I couldn’t take it all! Please, just stop telling me I’m someone I’m not… I never had any talent to begin with!
That’s not true! When you were an idol, you shone like a beautiful star! I heard you sing… I could feel the emotion in it! I felt your passion for your music!
You can talk all you like, girl, but I’m afraid Ayaha’s not interested in listening to your little tantrum.
That’s not true! I don’t believe that!
The effect is much more obvious in the video, but she believes in her sister so hard it makes a pink aura in the room. It’s impressive, in a “okay kid, turn it down a notch” kind of way.
Ngh… Ah…
It’s not about talent. You’re a star - you’re my idol. You were pretty, and cool, and I loved everything you did… and I’ll always be your biggest fan!
I can…hear something… Is that… Tsubasa…?
Well. That’s problematic…
She hears something…? What does she mean by that…?
I won’t let you little wretches hold me back… There’s too much I still need to do!
Well, whatever Tsubasa did, it’s working enough that our mysterious villain decided to throw an enemy at us. I guess that’s progress?
Aya and the mirage slip out, leaving us with a really angry girl and a flying pony. I’m sure this will end swimmingly.
Get out of my way! I don’t care what you throw at me… I’m going to save my sister!
Before we deal with our flying friend, we should turn our attention to her companions. Killing these Men o’ War should be your first priority for several reasons, not the least of which is because they have an annoying set of resistances that only Itsuki can really exploit (Weak - Sword, Wind; Resist - Lance, Thunder).
Far more important, however, is that these guys are your introduction to the idea that enemies can combo you. These guys are packing Wind-Thunder, Lance-Thunder, and Elec-Thunder, which means that if Tsubasa or Itsuki is on the receiving end of an attack, there’s a good chance they’re about to go to town on you. The faster these guys go down, the quicker this damage race becomes manageable.
And as if that wasn’t enough reason to hunt them down immediately, they also have Poisma up their sleeve, and you do not fuck with poison in this game. Every turn that you’re poisoned, you take damage equal to 25% of your max HP, and it persists after battle, inflicting damage with every step you take until it’s cured.
With her backup taken care of, the peg knight herself really isn’t that much of a threat. Without the Men o’ War, all she can really do is hit you with either Skewer or Zan, and she’s weak to both wind and fire so it’s pretty easy to work her over with sessions. If we had bows, that would work too, but we’re not gonna see them for another few chapters.
At any rate, it doesn’t take long to mop her up. Everyone gets a couple levels, Tsubasa gets Fire-Lunge, and we all get to go home happy.
Hold on, Tsubasa. We’re going after her, but it might be better for you to take a moment and calm down first. …And not just that. Something’s bothering me with how Ayaha was behaving.
What do you mean…?
It was almost like… she couldn’t hear you, Tsubasa.
Huh?
Maybe it’d be more accurate to say it was like your voice just wasn’t reaching her. Think about it. She was following that Mirage’s orders, but she wasn’t really responding to Tsubasa, right?
Now that you mention it… you might be right… But then, how can I get Aya to understand how I feel?
Caeda?
Tsubasa, I can sense your love for your sister… and I can feel your wish to save her from peril. I believe your best chance to truly express these feelings to her could be through the power of your singing.
Through a song…
After Kiria’s performance, I’m starting to see how song can give words a certain kind of power. A power that’s different indeed from the forces we wield in battle.
Like Kiria’s concert… Okay. I’ll do it! I’m going to save Aya with my song. I know I can!
Itsuki… If I’m remembering right, Tiki said she could use Unity to awaken new abilities.
Maybe with this Performa and Tiki’s help, she could sing a song that could break that Mirage’s control…
Yeah! Let’s go try it!
That sounds like a plan to me. Back to the Bloom Palace!
Before we do that though, some general upgrades. First, a new sword for Itsuki; Touma’s been maxed out for a few levels now, but he still doesn’t have any new weapons available.
We’ll also pick up new radiant skills for both Itsuki and Tsubasa before we grab Feel My Voice. It’s nice that it does have a mechanical benefit (faster ailment recovery in battle), even if the skill itself is purely a plot token.
Do you think I can reach her now…?
You must believe in yourself, Tsubasa. I know you can save her.
…You’re right! No matter what, I’m taking my sister back!
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I am a Shadow, the true self.
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Since last week… I found out I’m not the only one here who plays I-Chu?! But more importantly, Tsubasa found her sister! … and then lost her again. But it’s relevant, since this time I bring you Tsubasa and Caeda!
Tsubasa Oribe, voiced by Inori Minase
She’s a relative newcomer, it doesn’t seem like she’s been in a whole lot yet. A couple of those roles have been at least briefly pretty popular though from what I’ve seen.
Major roles:
- Hestia (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?)
- Ruruka Ando (Dangan Ronpa 3)
- Rem (Re:Zero)
Idol roles:
- Lico of Magic-User Twins Lico and Gli (Tsukino Productions)
No I’m not making up the fact that the Tsukiuta-verse has a Glico Pocky tie-in unit/single. It’s kind of cute though?
Caeda, voiced by Saori Hayami
She’s in a lot, I am really fond of some of her stuff, I don’t really have much else to say though? Caeda and Cain hadn’t been voiced in anything prior to TMS#FE, and they definitely went with solid names to go alongside Sugita as Chrom.
(EDIT: Actually, I forgot there was a Mystery of the Emblem OVA back in the day, and both Caeda’s and Cain’s actors from that are still at least somewhat active, so huh. They do retain their TMS actors in Heroes though, for what it’s worth.)
Major roles:
- Chiriko Tsurumi (Anohana)
- Aila Jyrkiainen (Gundam Build Fighters)
- Miyuki Shiba (The Irregular at Magic High School)
- Shinoa Hiiragi (Seraph of the End)
- Kotoha Hanami/Cure Felice (Maho Girls Precure)
Idol roles:
- Kaede Takagaki (Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls)
- A of Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan (Show By Rock)
part of me is upset that Inori Minase didn’t voice Iori Minase from idolmaster
That would in fact have been extremely amazing and I’m now sad that she was all of… *checks* …ten years old when the original Idolmaster came out.