Matsuboshi gakuen Idolm@ster - Temari, Saki, Kotone

A bit of a semi random announcement popped on my twitter timeline...

https://x.com/gkmas_official/status/1980227050968666291

So the School Idolmaster side might be getting a trio release... no idea if its going to be all three in one go or during a set period since its just the teaser.

So I guess volks isnt still going to complete the original cast set, but... what can you do.

Edited October 20, 2025 by finnleo

I was wondering if/when they’d move into Gakuen Im@s. I have very low familiarity with it (I’ve actually never seen these characters) but I hope it means another stern/neutral sculpt for Temari, and I always do like the :3 kind of sculpts so Kotone should be cute.

I hope it doesn’t mean the other Im@s series are done with though, I’m still really surprised Riamu hasnt gotten one.

I wonder if Volks intends to revitalize the DDP by revisiting IM@S at this moment. With the f3 2.0 body releases happening, there's probably a lot of internal discussion about whether to update or discontinue the DDP line.

I have no idea what the popularity is in japan, but from my perspective Cinderella girls was already bloated enough in terms of cast of trying to keep up. I Only knew Lilja and Hiro by name because of some arts that have popped up, probably seen the other characters and identified as being idolmaster, but didnt really register any further.

If volks had wanted to do something with the DDP thats idolmaster releated, they probably would have when the U149 anime was airing, but thats been a few years ago already.

Although if they stay true to form, when we went through the size charts Yuriko was the shortest DDS at 154cm, and Iori the tallest DDP at 153cm, so Saki would be a DDP at 152cm. Cant recall what the cut off was between DDS and DD if Temari would still stay a DDS.

Technically the DDP would probably only need a refresh for the neck, and bust options, wich Saki might actually need if Iori had a bust of 77 and Saki is at 84

...and as much as Riamu is an adorable girl failure, her getting a doll release would probably be a wild card, despite ranking pretty high in the passion class in the elections. although Anastasia did get a doll release with just a second place in the finals after Ranko (although she won the prelim), if we assume that Rin, Mio and Uzuki's first releases was just because of being the main cast in the anime, and the re-releases election win compliments, although Mio hasnt gotten that yet -- But still a Riamu would be fun.

 

 

10 hours ago, Thespian said:

I wonder if Volks intends to revitalize the DDP by revisiting IM@S at this moment. With the f3 2.0 body releases happening, there's probably a lot of internal discussion about whether to update or discontinue the DDP line.

i've been wondering the same thing! i really hope they update and continue DDP more IM@S would be a good oppurtunity. i'm not familiar with these 3 characters from the twitter post but i like the look of all of them, specifically Kotone, and would seriously consider getting one of them if they would get a DDP body.  

I'll admit, I don't know a whole bunch about Idolmaster (even tho my first DD was from that series😅) but new dollfie news is always exciting!! The vastness of the series always put me off a little, but same goes for Precure and I love that, so maybe I'll give it a try...

I'm just sad I missed out on Takane and There's only a handfull of Imas characters I like and it's only the main girls. (Not a fan of the child ones tbh)

I only played Im@s 2 and Stella Stage.

Please re-release Takane and give me Azusa 🥲

They posted the website and pics of Saki, she looks very cute. I love the way her wig looks, it seems like she is getting released soon/first?

 

Since they have a display ready doll ready Saki is soon'ish in terms of release. I guess the following days will show do they have display ready dolls for the rest of the teaser group.

 

But... Since Saki is a DDS, the future of the DDP seems ... to be in limbo as usual. Since she should have been one in comparison to Iori

Ok but the sculpt for saki is so cute?? I'm glad they're starting to take chances with more stylized sculpts again.

I don't go here, but Saki is so cute! If I had money to throw around, I'd probably get her lol. Sucks she isn't on DDP if y'all are saying she probably should've been. I keep kinda wanting a DDP body but not if they're just gonna fully ignore it 😒

mm, well the choise of body for Saki is ultimately up to volks, its just a little weird they had a taller character from the main franchise on a DDP (although I think they did do Iori a bit dirty by putting her on a DDP, but what can you do). But for whatever reason volks just doesent want to do things with that body.. like add bust choises that Saki would have also needed as a DDP by the looks of the stat sheet for her (DDS M-bust).

I need to see the others before I make a decision, but that sculpt is seriously tempting me...

Her eye shape really pops, I love it

I'm not a fan of hers, but surely love the bold choices they made with the wig and faceup style. Can't wait to see the other 2!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSU8x5DEsx0/?igsh=bHB6YmszM3YyZHZ5
I like aki_aa’s repaint of Saki.

I also found it interesting that Puyodoll have a Kotone too, under their new (?) label Dollymate.

They actually posted her a few days before Dolpa but it seems like she was announced long before. It will be interesting to compare her sculpt to the Volks one.

https://x.com/dollymatejapan/status/1994239925945029076?s=46

Edited December 18, 2025 by Monty

9 hours ago, Monty said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSU8x5DEsx0/?igsh=bHB6YmszM3YyZHZ5
I like aki_aa’s repaint of Saki.

I also found it interesting that Puyodoll have a Kotone too, under their new (?) label Dollymate.

They actually posted her a few days before Dolpa but it seems like she was announced long before. It will be interesting to compare her sculpt to the Volks one.

https://x.com/dollymatejapan/status/1994239925945029076?s=46

Are these characters popular in Japan? They do seem to get quite a lot of doll attention from Volks and even Puyodoll now! The Dollymate one sure is cute, and well done regarding how the sculpt looks compared to Kotone picture. 
 

also, thank you for sharing this Saki’s repaint, it looks soooo cute!! Totally different vibes from the original volks one, which looks quite feisty lol

I keep coming back to this thread in the hopes we'll finally have confirmation of Kotone 😭 I have the chance to preorder the Puyoo release of her and I'm so conflicted because I really can't justify buying both but I don't have to gamble on a lottery for the Puyoo.

@SchneeFlockele Idolm@ster is absurdly popular overseas - I knew of it long before I deliberately consumed any of the surrounding media. The first game came out in 2005 iirc, and varying games and animes have been released fairly consistently since; Cinderella Girls was a gacha-like game in the early 2010s that brought in billions of yen before being found as violating related laws due to its gacha-style gameplay and did a lot for its popularity. Gakuen Idolm@ster (the newest generation, with Kotone & Co.) has been similarly popular, but since the releases are more game-focused rather than animes, tend to remain somewhat isolated from the western audience.

On 12/27/2025 at 8:05 AM, kagamik said:

I keep coming back to this thread in the hopes we'll finally have confirmation of Kotone 😭 I have the chance to preorder the Puyoo release of her and I'm so conflicted because I really can't justify buying both but I don't have to gamble on a lottery for the Puyoo.

@SchneeFlockele Idolm@ster is absurdly popular overseas - I knew of it long before I deliberately consumed any of the surrounding media. The first game came out in 2005 iirc, and varying games and animes have been released fairly consistently since; Cinderella Girls was a gacha-like game in the early 2010s that brought in billions of yen before being found as violating related laws due to its gacha-style gameplay and did a lot for its popularity. Gakuen Idolm@ster (the newest generation, with Kotone & Co.) has been similarly popular, but since the releases are more game-focused rather than animes, tend to remain somewhat isolated from the western audience.

One good thing is that this Dollymate preorder ends in February, at least this gives you a bit of time to wait to see if Volks decides to release her!

by the way, for anyone wanting to preorder her, she’s available on ami ami and nin nin games at (almost) MSRP prices. She’s pricier on Legend doll. I initially wanted to buy her clothes set for my (snow) Miku, but now I don’t think it would look great on her. Hmm.

@kagamik Interesting, thank you for the write up. I feel like it really isn’t too popular here, even among the “weeb” crowd. But it does seem popular in other countries, and Japan, ofc.

On 12/27/2025 at 6:05 PM, kagamik said:

I keep coming back to this thread in the hopes we'll finally have confirmation of Kotone 😭 I have the chance to preorder the Puyoo release of her and I'm so conflicted because I really can't justify buying both but I don't have to gamble on a lottery for the Puyoo.

Unfortunately if Volks are following typical release schedule she might not be shown until March for an April release (May online). 
There is a chance they could show her earlier, but it would be out of the ordinary. However, them being exhibited at Dolpa last year was already out of the ordinary. It’s a shame photos weren’t allowed, because then she could be easier compared to the Dollymate one, but I assume it was because they were prototypes.

I personally like the look of the Dollymate one a lot more than I’ve been liking the look of recent DD releases, but I guess it ultimately depends on whether you would prefer her to be resin or vinyl.

I saw the Dollfie version of Kotone at Dolpa last month and was gobsmacked at how similar she looked to the Dollymate one. Like, they looked so similar I legitimately thought they might get into a legal dispute over it.

There must be differences I didn’t notice at the time, and because we couldn’t take photos, I can’t cross check after the fact, but in the moment I was legitimately confused that they could look so similar without it being a problem. I get that they’re meant to look like the character, but Volks doesn’t have a great track record for making their dolls look true to the source material, so the face being so similar was really surprising.

16 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

I saw the Dollfie version of Kotone at Dolpa last month and was gobsmacked at how similar she looked to the Dollymate one. Like, they looked so similar I legitimately thought they might get into a legal dispute over it.

There must be differences I didn’t notice at the time, and because we couldn’t take photos, I can’t cross check after the fact, but in the moment I was legitimately confused that they could look so similar without it being a problem. I get that they’re meant to look like the character, but Volks doesn’t have a great track record for making their dolls look true to the source material, so the face being so similar was really surprising.

That’s really interesting. 
It’s a shame we have to wait nearly a year for a proper side by side comparison.

I doubt either could have copied the other as the Dollymate one was only unveiled a few days before Dolpa. But if she looks similar, that does make me feel a little more optimistic about future releases even if it’s an awkward situation. (I do like Chikage a lot though, just not enough to get)

I had no idea she'd been shown already - that makes the choice so much harder!!

I did a whole lot of snooping, and it looks like you can see them in the background of the official photos from the after party! They're under section 4 🙂 Not very high-res, but that does give me a good idea of what to expect, and I am also very surprised by the similarities tbh. The Puyoo release's sizing is nearly identical to the DDS, and pricing is within 20 USD - it looks like Volks will be offering at least her "casual outfit", but I'll be curious to see if they do a secondary outfit like Puyoo is.

I've honestly never owned/seen/touched a resin doll before; I have my one DCH MDD that I love, and I know that the vinyl has treated me very well. Since pricing will be about the same assuming I source from Japan either way, I really don't know what I'll end up doing 🤣 

I wish I would have a better idea of what to expect from the puyoodoll body. It's baffling they don't even show the body of this new line. (Or at least I have not found anything) 

I know their Kumako doesn't even have double jointed knees, so movement might not be good with the puyoodoll compared to other resin dolls.

10 hours ago, pyoko said:

I wish I would have a better idea of what to expect from the puyoodoll body. It's baffling they don't even show the body of this new line. (Or at least I have not found anything) 

I know their Kumako doesn't even have double jointed knees, so movement might not be good with the puyoodoll compared to other resin dolls.

They don’t show much for sure… usually resin brands tend to show what the doll can do, so this is quite odd indeed.

At the very least, she does have double jointed knees (As you can see here on the 4th picture), but she doesn’t move a lot in these pictures 

On 1/5/2026 at 11:08 PM, SchneeFlockele said:

They don’t show much for sure… usually resin brands tend to show what the doll can do, so this is quite odd indeed.

At the very least, she does have double jointed knees (As you can see here on the 4th picture), but she doesn’t move a lot in these pictures 

I see, thank you for pointing out that picture.

I don't think I will spend that much money on here though without seeing what the body can do. The fact her pictures all look very static doesn't put a good light on the body because I have learned my lesson that normally that means it poses badly*. 

Leaving aside posing, making a completely new body and not even shown it naked is super strange to me. 

(*Might of course be different for her, but as a newbie to resin bjds I did fall into that trap. Buying a doll, wondering why arms or legs don't bend much, or part x not moving well. Checking promotional pictures again - >aaah, they never show this part beeing engaged..and I just learned why.. ) 

Edited Thursday at 01:21 PM by pyoko