B-Project (manga/game)
B-PROJECT is a Japanese cross-media project by MAGES. about a group of virtual idols that began in 2015. The project was first announced via Twitter on August 9, 2015, with the first production presentation and song previews being released on September 4, 2015, via nico live. As of January 2018 the project features an anime series, a manga adaptation, a rhythm game, a stage play, multiple music CDs, and a range of related merchandise.
Overview
B-PROJECT follows four (initially three) Japanese idol groups that perform both as separate units and as a whole group. When the project first began the units were: Kitakore (キタコレ), THRIVE and MooNs, but on December 4, 2015, a fourth group known as KiLLER KiNG was added. The first single for the series, “Eikyuu Paradise (永久パラダイス)”, was released digitally on September 11, 2015, alongside a promo video for the series and a teaser of a new single, “dreaming time”, from THRIVE. It was later revealed that in addition to “dreaming time” from THRIVE, MooNs & Kitakore would also be releasing singles on November 25, 2015, “Glory Upper” and “Koiseyo Otome (恋セヨ乙女)” respectively.
Shortly after the introduction of KiLLER KiNG the next round of singles was announced on January 24, 2016. KiLLER KiNG’s debut single would be “Kira Kira Smile (キラキラスマイル, Kira Kira Sumairu)”, THRIVE’s new single would be “Maybe Love”, Kitakore’s new single would be “Mysterious Kiss”, and MooNs’ new single would be “Brand New Star”. Unlike the first round of singles the release dates were split into two batches; “Kira Kira Smile” and “Maybe Love” were released on March 23, 2016, while “Mysterious Kiss” and “Brand New Star” weren’t released until April 6, 2016.
On September 9, 2016, it was announced that from December 2016 to March 2017 there would be six consecutive releases, with at least one single from each unit. The releases began on December 21, 2016, with the release of “Muteki*Dangerous (無敵＊デンジャラス, Muteki＊Denjarasu)” by B-Project as a whole, and “Hungry Wolf” by KiLLER KiNG. The next single, “Summer Mermaid” by MooNs, was released January 18, 2017. “Needle No.6” by THRIVE was released on February 22, 2017, while “Wonder☆Future (ワンダー☆フューチャー, Wandā☆Fūchā)” by Kitakore was set to be released on February 8, 2017, but was pushed back to March 15, 2017, the same release day as KiLLER KiNG’s next single, Break it down, for unspecified reasons.
On March 19, 2017, alongside the announcement of the stage play production it was announced that B-Project would be releasing its first album. Two versions were released with different tracklists: S-Kyuu Paradise BLACK & S-Kyuu Paradise WHITE, both albums were released on July 19, 2017. The first song on both albums, “S-Kyuu Paradise (S級パラダイス)”, is a new song sung by all 14 members, and each unit also released a new song: THRIVE and KiLLER KiNG on BLACK, and Kitakore and MooNs on WHITE. On June 9, 2017, the album covers were revealed and the titles for the four new songs were announced; “the one& only” by THRIVE, “Blooming Festa!” by KiLLER KiNG, “Jikū no Rasen (時空の螺旋)” by Kitakore, and “PRAY FOR…” by MooNs, along with previews for the THRIVE and Kitakore songs.
On September 30, 2017, at the second anniversary event, DARK in the HALLOWEEEEN, it was announced that the anime series would be receiving a second season at some point in the future, as well as announcing the fourth round of singles for each unit alongside new solo songs from all 14 members. On January 28, 2018, at the WINTER of FANTASIA event at Universal Studios Japan it was announced that there would be a new live show in July 2018, B-PROJECT SUMMER LIVE2018, as well as announcing the names and release dates of the fourth round of singles. The first singles released were “Phantom・of・Love (ファントム・オブ・ラブ, Fantomu・obu・Rabu)” by KiLLER KiNG and “Ultra-sensitive Destiny (超感デスティニー, Chōkan Desutinī)” by THRIVE which both released on March 18, 2018, followed by “GO AROUND” by MooNS which was released on May 16, 2018. “Crank In (クランクイン, Kurankuin)” by Kitakore and “Kaikan Everyday (快感エブリデイ, Kaikan Eburidei)” by B-Project which was released on July 16, 2018.
On November 28, 2018, a compilation album containing all the opening, ending and character songs from the first season of the anime, titled B-PROJECT～Kodō＊Ambitious～Compilation Album (B-PROJECT～鼓動＊アンビシャス～ コンピレーションアルバム, B-PROJECT～Kodō＊Anbishasu～Konpirēshon Arubamu) was released. On the same day, it was revealed the opening and ending themes for the second season of the anime were revealed, Zecchō Emotion (絶頂＊エモーション, Zecchō＊Emōshon) and Hikari to Kage no Toki Musubu (光と影の時結ぶ) respectively.
In total, the series has seen the release of 21 singles, and three albums, with another single slated for release in 2019. In addition to musical releases B-Project also features an anime produced by MAGES that ran during the Summer of 2016 for a total of 12 episodes, a manga written by Morino Mizu that ran for 6 chapters in late 2016 in the monthly magazine Cheese!, an ongoing web-radio series, a mobile musical game, and stage play. The anime was later released in 6 DVD & Blu-ray volumes; volumes 2-6 came packaged with 2 character songs each, 1 song for each unit member who made an appearance in the anime. The series has also seen a variety of special events, all of which have taken place in Japan and usually feature several of the voice actors from the series. These events have usually been to announce upcoming singles or projects, however two have been to celebrate the anniversary of the series. So far the series has seen the following special events: Happy Summer Eastar, KING of CASTE, Brilliant＊Party, LOVE & ART FAMILY MTG 2017, DARK in the HALLOWEEEEN, and WINTER of FANTASIA. For April Fools in 2017 there was an announcement on the official Twitter saying that the B in B-Project stood for baby, this was accompanied by a voting poll for who the fans most wanted to see become an adult again which lasted until April 9. The top 3 ranked characters, Kento Aizome, Goshi Kaneshiro, and Ryuji Korekuni, had limited edition life-sized body pillow covers made as a result of the voting poll. For 2018 April Fools the official Twitter revealed a continuation of last year’s Baby-Project, known as Kids-Project, which showed the characters as pre-school children.
Media
Manga
On April 8, 2016, shortly after the announcement of the anime series it was revealed that a manga series known as “B-Project: Mousou＊Scandal (B-PROJECT 妄想＊スキャンダル, B-PROJECT Mousou＊Sukyandaru)” would begin serialization in the magazine “Cheese!” the following month. The series began on May 24, 2016, and concluded on October 24, 2016, after 6 chapters, the series focused largely on the units of THRIVE and KiLLER KNG.
Video games
On August 6, 2016, it was announced that in addition to the anime and manga the series had just begun development on a rhythm game app for smartphones known as B-PROJECT～Muteki＊Dangerous～ (B-PROJECT～無敵＊デンジャラス～, B-PROJECT～Muteki＊Denjarasu～). Pre-registration has opened on the game’s website and will remain open until the game’s release, with users receiving bonuses for collectively clearing certain “stages” of pre-registration (stages are determined by the number of people signed up so far), the most recent stage to be cleared was 700,000+ users. At the LOVE & ART FAMILY MTG 2017 event in March a small preview of the game and how to play it was available for attendees to play. The game involves putting on performances to B-Project songs with the characters you have obtained, it also has a story mode including some chapters in a visual novel game style. In a live broadcast on nicovideo on June 9, 2017, it was announced that the game would finally be released in the second half of June. It was then announced on June 27 via Twitter that the game would be released the next day, on June 28, 2017. Owing to an unexpected number of users, the game was largely in maintenance for its first week so that the servers could be upgraded to handle the increased amount of activity.
At the 2018 live, B-PROJECT SUMMER LIVE 2018 ETERNAL PACIFIC, it was announced that the game would be receiving a renewal including a major overhaul to the interface and certain features, including significant changes to the rhythm section of the game. Few details were initially released other than the fact it was slated for an early 2019 release, though later updates revealed that the game would receive a new name along with the renewal now being labelled B-PROJECT Kaikan＊Everyday (B-PROJECT 快感＊エブリディ, B-PROJECT Kaikan＊Eburidei). The renewal eventually went live on May 20, 2019, after several days of maintenance; to celebrate the release players received a weeks worth of free 10-card pulls in the games photo feature.
At the B-PROJECT Thrive Live 2020 -Music Drugger- event, a console game developed for the Nintendo Switch titled B-PROJECT Ryūsei*Fantasia (B-PROJECT Shooting Star*Fantasia) was announced. On July 1, 2021, it was announced that the game will be released in Japan on September 30, 2021, for Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
Radio
The first release in the series was the web-radio show, premiering on September 7, 2015, on nicovideo and known as “B-Project Radio: Gandara Broadband”. The radio series currently has 16 installments as of December, 2016, but also often hosts special announcements and messages, such as the special broadcasts done as part of the first anniversary and the announcement of special events such as KING of CASTE.
Stage play
On March 19, 2017, it was announced that the series would be seeing the release of a stage play called “B-PROJECT on STAGE『OVER the WAVE!』” beginning July 28, 2017, and ending on August 17, 2017. Along with the play’s announcement the first round of casting was released with one character from each unit being revealed. A second run of the play, entitled OVER the WAVE! REMiX was announced on January 10, 2018, with most of the original cast returning to reprise their roles; Tomohisa, Momo, & Hikaru were recast due to scheduling conflicts with the original actors. The REMiX play ran from February 22, 2018, until March 3, 2018.
Anime
On March 26, 2016, at AnimeJapan MAGES. announced that B-PROJECT would be receiving an anime adaptation called B-PROJECT～Kodō＊Ambitious (B-PROJECT～鼓動＊アンビシャス～, B-PROJECT～Kodō＊Anbishasu～) in the Summer of 2016. The series began airing in Japan on July 3, 2016, and ran for a total of 12 episodes before concluding on September 25, 2016. The series focuses on the units of Kitakore, MooNs and THRIVE, with KiLLER KiNG only making a brief, non-voiced cameo in one episode, as well as featuring several unique characters that have not appeared in any other media for the series as of yet. The character designs were done by Toshie Kawamura, who previously worked on the character designs for Yes! PreCure 5 and Smile PreCure!. Series producer and songwriter Takanori Nishikawa also made a brief cameo in the fourth episode as fellow performer Nishiyama.
The opening theme is Kodō＊Ambitious (鼓動＊アンビシャス, Kodō＊Anbishasu) by B-Project while the first ending theme is Hoshi to Tsuki no Sentence (星と月のセンテンス) by Kitakore. The second ending theme is STARLIGHT by THRIVE. The third ending theme is Yumemiru Power (夢見るPOWER) by MooNs.
The story follows Tsubasa, a new hire in the A&R department of the major recording company Gandara Music. Tsubasa is immediately assigned to oversee the idol unit “B-PROJECT,” which is made up of three idol groups: Kitakore, THRIVE, and MooNs. This is Tsubasa’s first job, and she gets involved in various incidents and accidents as she deals with this group of young men who each have their own differing personalities.
A second season was announced at the 2017 DARK in the HALLOWEEEEN event. The series is titled B-PROJECT～Zecchō＊Emotion～ (B-PROJECT～絶頂＊エモーション～, B-PROJECT～Zecchō＊Emōshon～), and it premiered from January 11 to March 29, 2019. The second season will consist of new staff members, with Makoto Moriwaki replacing Eiji Suganuma as director, and Ryosuke Nakanashi replacing Masato Nakayama as music composer. Nozomu Ōshima and MAGES. will be in charge of series composition, and Yumiko Hara will handle character designs. Bandai Namco Pictures is credited for production. Returning staff members include Takanori Nishikawa as producer, and Chiyomaru Shikura, who is credited for planning and original work. The anime cast will also reprise their roles, with the exception of Hisako Kanemoto, who announced in May 2018 that she would be going on hiatus to study abroad until March 2019. She was replaced by Asami Seto who voiced Tsubasa Sumisora for the anime’s second season.
The opening theme for the second season is Zecchō＊Emotion (絶頂＊エモーション, Zecchō＊Emōshon) while the ending theme for the second season is Hikari to Kage no Toki Musubu (光と影の時結ぶ), performed by the anime’s cast. Season two saw the introduction of the members of KiLLER KiNG to the anime’s storyline, as they were absent from the first season (except for a minor cameo in a flashback episode).
A third season was announced at the B-PROJECT Thrive Live 2020 -Music Drugger- event.
| B-Project | |
B-PROJECT～Kodō＊Ambitious～ Promotional Poster
|
|
| Genre | Music |
|---|---|
| Created by | MAGES Chiyomaru Shikura |
| Anime television series | |
| B-PROJECT～Kodō＊Ambitious～ | |
| Directed by | Eiji Suganuma |
| Produced by | Takanori Nishikawa |
| Written by | Deko Akao MAGES |
| Music by | Masato Nakayama |
| Studio | A-1 Pictures |
| Original network | Tokyo MX, GTV, GYT, BS11, ABC, CBC |
| Original run | July 3, 2016 – September 25, 2016 |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Manga | |
| B-PROJECT Mousou＊Scandal | |
| Written by | Morino Mizu |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Magazine | Cheese! |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Original run | May 24, 2016 – October 24, 2016 |
| Volumes | 1 |
| Game | |
| B-PROJECT Kaikan＊Everyday | |
| Developer | Criware |
| Publisher | S & P Co. (formerly) MAGES |
| Genre | Rhythm game |
| Platform | iOS, Android |
| Released | June 28, 2017 |
| Anime television series | |
| B-PROJECT～Zecchō＊Emotion～ | |
| Directed by | Makoto Moriwaki |
| Produced by | Takanori Nishikawa |
| Written by | Nozomu Ōshima MAGES |
| Music by | Ryosuke Nakanishi |
| Studio | Bandai Namco Pictures |
| Original network | Tokyo MX, BS11, ABC, GTV, GYT |
| Original run | January 11, 2019 – March 29, 2019 |
| Episodes | 12 |
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