DiGiKerot sent me a link to IM@S2 PV this morning. Holy cow.

• They are all in it! Sure, synthetic characters are infinitely malleable and we do not necesserily get a "story" in terms of an anime sequel. But it's so... strange. Cool, too, but also strange.
• In particular, Ami is all grown up. She also performs alone. Dunno if this is a new default that is set because she's all grown up.

• Miki grew her fabulous hair back! [Also, thanks to the new software, it falls on her shoulders in most wonderful fashion.]
• Software now permits limited contact between idols on stage (holding hands, and not just in the ED sequence).
• Ryo?! Seriously?! Officially, in the DS, all the trap stuff was Ishikawa's doing. Ryo wanted to be a kind of young Michael Jackson, only Japanese. But Ishikawa said that she only managed girls, and so either trap or no idol career. And now? You just look at him (pictured).
• Takane is not impressive as I hoped she would be. I "met" her on CD initially, and although I wrote that Yumi Hara is not as developed as the old guard, I liked her. And you know, more experience will fix her right up. But the personality Takane is given is somewhat dubious.

Speaking of personalities, what is the difference between Makoto, Hibiki, and Ryo (who is a girly man while the other two are manly girls, which is exactly where they meet)?

Most importantly though, we get new tracks. I may never play the games, but I collected every Idolm@ster song I could find and listen to them often.

QUICKIE: Evirus' reaction is "The Idolm@ster 2 Makoto has legs that go up to her neck." Talk about one-track mind (see Tall Taiga).

UPDATE: DiGi e-mails:

By the way, that's not Ryo in that image you posted on your blog - that's Makoto, only she's grown herself a far more feminine haircut. Confused me for a while as well (thought it was a new character for a bit - ditto Mami thanks to the massive height increment).

Actually, I don't think any of the Dearly Stars characters are in, at least as far as they've announced thus far...

Oh, shoot. That is what happens when one counts ahoge. Aside from the unfortunate confusion with Makoto, he was too tactful to point out that both Ami and Mami are in the trailer. Ami even has a titled line, in case you cannot remember which way her tail points. Mami is the one which performs with Hibiki and Haruka.

Still! While I screwed up... Makoto vs. Hibiki. The difference?

UPDATE: Azumi Asakura replaces Yurina Hase as voice of Yukiho Hagiwara. What the world has come to.