Characters featured in Shining Song Starnova.
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Starnova / Shining Productions
In General
- Badass Creed:Shining brighter than everyone else!
A light to turn night into day!
We are!
STARNOVA! - Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Their uniforms include a star-shaped cutout which exposes a large chunk of the midriff, highlighting them as idols.
- David vs. Goliath: Starnova is the David to Quasar's Goliath, as a recently-formed, seven-woman idol group made up of washed-up has-beens and complete newbies to the business.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Many of the characters' quirks — which on the surface make them fit into anime archetypes like tsundere and yandere — are the result of traumatic experiences they went through in the past.
- Nemu's yandere tendencies are the result of a hereditary psychosis that she inherited from her mother, who suffered a breakdown and neglected her until Haruna saved her.
- Sasami lost her job as an idol at Golden Calf shortly before the events of the visual novel by refusing to undress for a photoshoot. Her producer tried to forcibly undress her in a manner highly evocative of attempted rape, causing a young producer named Kaoru Nishiyama to punch him out. At the beginning of the story, Mariya comes across Sasami contemplating suicide and manages to talk her down, becoming highly protective of her.
- Aki's belligerence and cynicism is the result of her mother pressuring her to do whatever it takes to be successful, even if it means prostituting herself to her Producer or literally working herself to death. Her career as a child idol came to an end when she was molested by Oda. She managed to escape, but when she told her mother what happened she was berated for not sleeping with him to advance her career.
- Mariya was a former member of Quasar who was cast aside when she got too old, and who was subjected to severe harassment and bullying from her supposed comrades.
- Julie actively invokes tsundere cliches as a stage persona, but finds navigating the cultural differences between Japan and the United States to be confusing and stressful; and is revealed to have daddy issues due to her physically-abusive father walking out on her and her mother when she was a child.
- Everyone Is Bi: All seven girls are attracted to their producer but, while a few of them protest they aren't into girls at various points, in the uncensored game they have sex with each other in the Hot Springs episode.
- Family of Choice: The girls and their Producer become very close as they work together.
- Meaningful Name: It can be taken two ways. On the cynical side a nova is a star that is dying, as each of the unit's members are idols that have failed in some way. On the more upbeat side nova is also Latin for new, with the girl's careers as stars being reborn.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: As is commented on a lot, all of the unit's members are unlikely candidates for stardom, but keep pushing on together anyway.
Mr. Producer (Kaoru Nishiyama)
An idol producer who used to work at Golden Calf before a certain incident got him fired. Now he works for Shining Productions, producing the girls of Starnova.
- Big Damn Heroes: The certain incident that got him fired? He protected Sasami from a harassing producer and punched him hard. And in Julie's route staying by her side allowed him to protect her from Reon during her handshake event.
- Chick Magnet: While each route features him and Starnova's central star falling in love all the girls in the unit develop at least somewhat of a crush on him.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Defied on Julie's route. He lets her know in no uncertain terms that, yes, he's picked up on the hints she's dropped since the start of her route, but he's still not going to compromise on his sense of ethics or the group's integrity dating her.
- Chuunibyou: He was this during his high school years, and he looks back on those days with shame. His understanding of the chuunibyou mindset enables him to establish a rapport with Mika and get her to open up to the other girls.
- Closet Geek: His interactions with Mika reveal that he has got a well-hidden nerdy side, one which he tries to hide from the other girls and the outside world. They have an inkling anyway.
- Covert Pervert: He constantly has to remind himself to not think lecherous things about the girls and not to cross the line when the girls try coming on to him. But his inner monologue reveals that he's often thinking about lecherous things anyway, and not in the clinical way his job demands.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Well, Kodama is interested anyway.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone Kaoru Nishiyama interacts with, from his own talent to his corporate rivals, calls him Mr. Producer. It gets to the point where he notes that he's starting to forget his name and feel like a generic visual novel protagonist.
- Forgotten First Meeting: During Natsuki's route, it's revealed that she met him when he was still an idol himself.
- Heroic BSoD: On Julie's route, after seeing how serious Julie's own mental collapse is following the public stabbing, Mr. Producer feels not only incapable of salvaging Starnova, but of remaining part of the industry and potentially subjecting anyone else to what Julie has gone through. The two of them take a train out to the end of the line and spend some time in a small village no one's ever heard of pulling themselves and one another together.
- Nice Guy: Mr. Producer's compassion was what got him fired from Golden Calf; and while he initially laments it and wishes he was more ruthless, he feels uncomfortable with how the idol industry treats the idols as objects and products, and is often torn between his duty to make money for the company and his empathy towards the girls. While he's a bit of a Covert Pervert, he never tries to take advantage of his talent — to the irritation of several of the girls, who are trying to seduce him.
- Rage Breaking Point: On Julie's route, after dealing with a tremendous amount of both professional and sexual frustration with her persistent misbehavior, he finally and uncharacteristically lashes out at her both verbally and physically when she's seemingly seduced Kile, a high-school aged boy, to get back at him for trying to transfer her to another unit rather than deal with their growing feelings for one another, and is disgusted to realize that she's getting sexual gratification from it. He does apologize immediately afterwards. Later, at a crisis point in Julie's route, it happens again when he sees Reon either standing over Julie and Aki's wounded bodies laughing in the bad ending or physically assaulting Aki when she tries to keep him away from Julie with a knife, and the producer throws himself at the deranged fan in a rage.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Mr. Producer is initially determined to fulfil his duty to Shining as the manager of the idol team, but his innate compassion and sympathy towards the girls leads him to frequently lament how cruel the industry can be in treating the idols as commodities instead of people; and he goes out of his way to accommodate and be supportive to the girls instead of exploiting them like Kamijou does.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: It's a small one but on Nemu and Sasami's route the girls note that Mr. Producer has become somewhat less friendly and more focused on the business than the people as Starnova has become more successful.
- Unequal Pairing: Although he is fully aware of all the unfortunate implications of the trope, at the end of the day he ends up dating whichever member of Starnova he makes center by the end of each of their routes.
- Virgin-Shaming: While he doesn't come out and say it, Mr. Producer is a virgin at the start of the story, being too much of a workaholic to date recently and having been an idol himself in his teen years. A few of the girls pick up on this and tease him for it, Julie especially, although they don't get too mean. (Well, Julie does on her route, but by that point she's acting like that with everyone, and it's because she's increasingly frustrated by his unwillingness to "remedy" the situation with her.)
Sasami Shimazaki
Voiced by: Mi-Ko
A gentle and sweet, but at times naive, girl who used to work for Golden Calf before an incident saw her kicked out.
- Alliterative Name: Sasami Shimazaki
- Beware the Nice Ones: As the various routes progress, several of the girls note that Sasami can be quite cunning and ruthless when need-be, quipping that the "Lamb of Starnova" has horns. This is best seen in Sasami's own route, where Shirou tries to corrupt her and succeeds a little too well; and in the uncensored version's bonus hot-spring, where she mercilessly reduces Julie to a blubbering mess and mocks her over her daddy issues.
- Corrupt the Cutie: Sasami is subjected to this by Shiro in her route. It is successful for a time and Sasami becomes cold and heartless like her. Thankfully on the good ending seeing Mr. Producer refuse to risk Aki's health to advance Starnova's fame snaps her out of it and she goes back to being her usual kind self, ultimately even redeeming Shiro.
- Even the Girls Want Her: In Sasami's route, Shiro Okuda sets out to seduce her in order to break her heart and eliminate her as a rival, like she did to Kana. However, Shiro ends up being the one having her heart broken when she genuinely falls for Sasami but her efforts to Corrupt the Cutie work better than anticipated and end up backfiring.
- Hannibal Lecture: In her route, when Shirou tries to go all the way with her, Sasami coldly shuts her down; saying that she saw through Shirou's Go Seduce My Archnemesis plan from the start, decided to beat her at her own game by using Shirou to get over her inhibitions about having sex with Mr. Producer, and now no longer needs her. She then mocks Shirou for actually having fallen in love with her — reiterating that she's not into girls — and sneers that Shirou's just trying to use her as a replacement for Kana.
- The Heart: A sweet, innocent and supportive person, Sasami tries her hardest to help the other girls get along with one another. Makes sense why Shiro starts crushing on her, since her own lover, Kana, was much the same.
- At the beginning of Julie's route, where Julie has let becoming center go right to her head and become an obnoxious prima donna, Sasami is the only member of Starnova who half-heartedly sticks up for her when the rest are assuming she slept with the producer to get the position. Partway through, she's the only one Julie unburdens her insecurities to, and who sticks up for her center and tries to keep the group from disintegrating after Julie has a major sex scandal.
- Although she's the other major candidate to replace Mariya on her route, and Aki's not wrong when she points out that Sasami is definitely maneuvering herself into position to be a viable candidate for center, she finds Aki's outspoken ambitions a bit rude and disconcerting.
- Incompatible Orientation: In her route, she repeatedly insists to Shiro that she's not into girls, though Shiro pressures her into kissing, fondling and — in the uncensored version — fingering by saying they're just practising and it doesn't count if it's between girls. When Shiro attempts to go all the way with her, however, Sasami shuts her down. That said, the hot springs event suggests that she might also just be in the closet.
- Interrupted Suicide: The game opens with Mariya stopping Sasami from jumping off a bridge following her being fired from Golden Calf.
- Jack of All Stats: In the Idol Empire spin off game she starts with reasonable stats in all areas and no special advantages or disadvantages.
- Nice Girl: There is a reason she is known as the "Lamb of Starnova". In her own route, she tries to shed this image in favour of becoming more ruthless, but ultimately goes back to being nice to others.
- Replacement Goldfish: In her route, Shiro subconsciously tries to use Sasami to fill the void left in her heart by her betrayal of Kana, even offering to give her Kana's old neck broach. Sasami picks up on this and calls her out on it, at first vitriolically but later with more compassion.
- Rescue Romance: Her initial feelings towards Mr. Producer arise from this after he slugged an executive at Golden Calf who was trying to forcibly strip her for a photo shoot she wasn't comfortable with.
- Slasher Smile: In her route, when deciding to be more ruthless she sports an unsettling grin with her hair casting a shadow over her eyes. In the uncensored version's hot spring scene she sports a vicious smile when taunting Julie over her daddy issues while having sex with her, though this quickly becomes an Oh, Crap! face when Julie turns the tables.
- Unlockable Content: In order to do Sasami's route the player must have completed all other routes first.
Aki Kashiwagi
Voiced by: Yayoi Hayase
The youngest member of Starnova, and a former member of the tween idol unit Strawberry Pink. Aki has been in the entertainment business since she was a child, and her youthful appearance and childlike stage persona belie an ambitious young woman who'll do whatever it takes to become successful.
- A-Cup Angst: Despite her schtick being the "eternal twelve year-old" — earning her the nickname "shit loli" — Aki is jealous of the other girls' larger busts, especially Nemu's. In some of the routes' epilogues she has a time-skip growth-spurt and winds up with a buxom figure, while in others she remains flat-chested.
- Former Child Star: Aki Kashiwagi has been in the entertainment business since she was a child, and even though she’s eighteen she still acts like the 12-year-old she claims to be... when the cameras are rolling, at least. Her nasty attitude while they're off earns her the nickname "shit loli", with the other girls even comparing her to a drill sergeant.
- Hartman Hips: In the ending of her route, Mr. Producer amorously notes that Aki's butt makes up for what she's lacking in the bust department.
- Heroic RRoD: She is an incredibly skilled idol but she develops a stress-related condition that causes her to black out repeatedly. Due to the pressure exerted on her by her mother, she passes it off as not being serious until she collapses from exhaustion and strain, almost literally working herself to death. This leads to her death in her Bad Ending.
- Insufferable Genius: The producer pegs her as the member of Starnova with the highest potential at the start of the common route, but notes that her harsh and uncompromising attitude will have potential problems for both group cohesion and her own well-being down the road. On her route, both these criticisms prove very prescient, and off her route, while she does indeed remain pretty harsh with the other girls, she also repeatedly shows that she's plenty capable.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Aki may be blunt and abrasive when criticizing the other girls of Starnova, but she really does care about her teammates and only berates them because she wants them to become better — with many of the girls comparing her to a drill sergeant. In Mika’s route Aki is especially critical because she knows idols need to be thick-skinned in order to survive in the industry, and she’s trying to toughen Mika up. On Julie's route, she's the first to throw herself at Reon to protect Julie when he pulls a knife. And in Mariya's route she's the most open about her ambitions to replace Mariya after "graduation," which the other girls find rude but she thinks is just realistic. (She does come around to supporting Mariya and the rest of Starnova later on.)
- Older Than They Look: Looks twelve, but is actually eighteen. She’s evidently a late bloomer, as she goes through one hell of a growth spurt in several endings.
- Passing the Torch: In several of the endings, Aki succeeds whoever the player chose as the center once they graduate.
- Pursue the Dream Job: Deconstructed. Aki dropped out of middle school to become a full-time idol, and the crisis of her personal route involves learning when to stop sacrificing for her dreams and take care of herself instead.
- She Is All Grown Up: In several of the endings, Aki undergoes a massive growth spurt and ends up with a buxom figure; Mr. Producer joking that he doesn't recognize her given how much she's grown.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mika, who Aki constantly harasses in an effort to toughen her up so she won't get her heart broken if things go south. After Starnova starts coalescing into a functional idol unit, they continue to bicker constantly but genuinely care about each other... and even admit they love one another while having sex in the uncensored hotspring bonus chapter.
- Workaholic: Aki is laser-focused on becoming the top idol at the cost of everything else. This affects both her relationships with others and her health, potentially even killing her on her own route. In both her own and Sasami's good ending she finally manages to relax and find meaning in other aspects of her life.
Mika Hashimoto
Voiced by: Mami Yahiro
- Ascended Fanboy: In her route, she becomes a part-time voice actress and is initially overjoyed to be cast as the lead role in a live-action movie based off her favourite anime, Black Opera... only to be shocked and dismayed to find out that it's a low-budget In Name Only borderline hentai. At the end of her route, however, she is cast in a proper adaptation of the anime.
- Chuunibyou: She was an anime-obsessed shut-in before joining Starnova, and spends most of the game acting like she's the main character of a Magical Girl anime. It's explained to be her putting on a character to avoid being crushed by her own anxieties and crippling self-confidence issues.
- Corrupt the Cutie: While not subjected to a deliberate campaign like Sasami on her route Mika is affected poorly by the hate directed at her after the failure of the Black Opera TV show. She comes to believe that she is talentless, that her love for otaku culture is pointless and she is only worth anything for her body. If she is not snapped out of it she abandons Starnova and goes into porn but in the good ending Mr. Producer revives her passion and confidence in herself.
- Despair Event Horizon: In her route, she becomes increasingly distressed by the In Name Only adaptation of her favorite anime, Black Opera, and at having to shoot borderline-hentai scenes she's not comfortable with. If Mr. Producer tells her to accept that fanservice is just part of the idol business, she has sex with him and then quits Starnova to become a porn actress (Bad Ending). If Mr. Producer tells Mika to continue to act on her own beliefs she rallies the crew into making a proper adaptation, but the poor quality leads to such intense backlash, cyberbullying, and even death threats from Reon and the other trolls that she initially gives in to despair, relapses into her shut-in lifestyle, and even contemplates suicide. However, with Mr. Producer's support she's able to make a recovery and this trope is eventually averted.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: She uses the style and when Starnova begins to take off she is overjoyed to be able to afford brand name dresses.
- Hikikomori: She was a total shut-in until her favourite anime inspired her to become an idol.
- Mystical White Hair: Her pale (and apparently very soft) hair accentuates her gothic look.
- The Nicknamer: She comes up with fantasy nicknames for the others, calling Mr. Producer the "Black Knight" and Aki the "Red Imp".
- No Social Skills: She was a NEET before becoming an idol, and initially struggles to get along with the others or relate to fans as a result.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Aki — who constantly harasses Mika in an effort to toughen her up so she won't get her heart broken if things go south. After Starnova starts coalescing into a functional idol unit, they continue to bicker constantly in all of the routes, but genuinely care about each other... and even admit they love one another while having sex in the uncensored hotspring bonus chapter.
Julie Watanabe
Voiced by: Mako Ayane
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Downplayed, in that Julie hardly lacks for confidence beforehand, but if she's made center it immediately goes straight to her head, and she starts constantly bad-mouthing the fans backstage and acting like The Prima Donna.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Bitter and hurt that Mr. Producer is trying to hand off Starnova to another producer to get away from their burgeoning feelings for one another, because she sees it as both him once again putting the good of the company above what both of them want and yet another man she trusted walking out on her when she needed him like her father did, Julie gets drunk enough to decide to get back at him by seducing the high-school aged Kile. Although his Incompatible Orientation prevents this from going too far, it still nearly ends her career and destroys Starnova several times over.
- But Not Too Foreign: Julie is half-Japanese and half-American, and deliberately exploits stereotypes to play herself up as a Gorgeous Gaijin fanservice character.
- Culture Clash: Julie, who was raised in America, chaffs against the differing societal and cultural mores of Japanese society — especially the importance of obligations and putting the wellbeing of the group before that of the individual. She is also slut-shamed due to ethnic stereotypes regarding Americans.
- Family of Choice: After tearfully admitting that her own screwed up family situation has left her with a warped idea of what family is and means, she declares Starnova to be hers on her route, after they rally around her following her false sex scandal and reaffirm their love and friendship for her and one another.
- Going Commando: In her route, she leaves her panties and Modesty Shorts on the dressing room floor during a live performance, resulting in blurry upskirt photos showing up in the tabloids. Despite Mr. Producer's fears that the resulting controversy will shut Starnova down, it instead drives sales of Starnova’s latest CD through the roof; leading the President of Soma Music to suggest that Starnova capitalize on the controversy by taking themselves in a more risqué direction.
- Good Bad Girl: Julie exploits the Japanese perception of Americans as being reckless and wantonly promiscuous to cultivate the image of being a "bad girl". This earns her the nickname of the "top bitch of Starnova",note but winds up backfiring on her in her route when paparazzi catch her dragging Kile into a love hotel and proceed to drag her reputation through the sewer. She also mentions having started misbehaving in middle school and experimenting with alcohol and weed in high school as a response to her parents' disintegrating marriage.
- Gratuitous English: Julie peppers her spoken lines of Japanese dialogue with the occasional English curse word.
- Heroic BSoD: She enters one late in her route. After weeks of being subjected to various scandals (some based in reality, other invented by the media) she's just beginning to repair her reputation and self-respect when Reon tries to kill her, screaming that she's a whore. In hospital she shuts down completely, seeing Mr. Producer as her absentee father. While she gets past this in a few days she is still stuck having a panic attack at the thought of performing again and occasionally lapses back into delusions of her father. Thankfully Mr. Producer is able to gently coax her back to herself.
- The Immodest Orgasm: She's reduced to a blubbering mess when Mr. Producer spanks her and when Sasami goes to town on her with a vibrator in the hot spring episode.
- Incest Subtext: Julie is revealed to have a father complex stemming from her absentee father physically abusing her when she was a child.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: It's eventually revealed that Julie's obnoxious behavior during her route springs as much from her own brimming insecurities about herself and internalized feelings about being a miserable screw-up as her frustrations with Japanese Culture Clash and desire for a man she can't have.
- Mixed Ancestry Is Attractive: Julie is half-Japanese and half-American, and is an attractive young woman with blonde hair and a flirty bad-girl attitude. It's later revealed she's trying to exploit both this and the Gorgeous Gaijin tropes by dying her hair blonde and exploiting Japanese stereotypes of foreigners as promiscuous in order to get by... and hide that she is having trouble navigating the cultural differences between Japan and America.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In the second half of her route, she plans to step down as center of Starnova after realizing what her selfish attempt at revenge almost cost her friends, and is only saved by Kile bravely coming out of the closet to both distract from the scandal and prove they couldn't possibly have had an affair. Afterwards, Reon attempting to kill her over the scandal with Kile gives her PTSD, and she blames herself for Starnova's lagging success.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Julie, the only half-American in the cast, is also the only blonde. It turns out she dyes her hair at the end of her route, something hinted at a few times in a few other places.
- The Prima Donna: At the start of her route, Julie's let becoming center go right to her head, showing up late for lives, insulting the producer for not rising to her seduction to his face, constantly talking smack about and insulting the group's fans backstage, and interrupting attempts to let the producer know about a legitimate security risk with demands for water.
- Technical Virgin: Julie's never had sex, but she boasts that she frequently masturbates with dildos.
- Too Kinky to Torture: When Julie's antics in her route put Starnova in jeopardy, Mr. Producer decides to administer some corporal punishment. However, this just serves to turn her on and reveals that she has a complex regarding her physically-abusive father. It's downplayed in that she's still mentally quite contrite afterwards.
- Tsundere: She adopts an over-the-top persona in this vein during her route, but it's also quickly clear that she absolutely fits the archetype, constantly throwing insults at the producer whenever she's frustrated with what she sees as his spineless unwillingness to make them both happy and damn the consequences and often being a little dishonest with her own feelings in turn.
Nemu Akimoto
Voiced by: Suzuka Fujimura
A wealthy heiress, Nemu wants to follow in her birth mother's footsteps and become an idol singer, against the wishes of her adopted mother Haruna. Nemu is prone to knife-waving bouts of intense jealousy and rage, but is otherwise a sweet, polite, and refined young woman.
- The Atoner: She becomes one at the end of her route. Nemu puts in the time to make up for her behaviour towards the other girls and puts herself in a large debt to fix Kaori's leg after she broke it.
- Bastard Angst: Nemu is the illegitimate child of the heir of Amaterasu Television, and while her father’s wife Haruna adopted her into the family following her birth mother’s death, Nemu is convinced that Haruna resents her for being a constant reminder of her husband’s infidelity and only adopted her to avoid a scandal about her parentage. The fact that Haruna won’t let Nemu follow in her mother’s footsteps by becoming an idol adds further strain to their relationship.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Her massive bust is commented on by others several times, and it triggers Aki's A-Cup Angst the most, earning her the nickname "Yandere Boobie-Monster". They're also a source of a Boob-Based Gag, subjecting others — particularly Aki — to Marshmallow Hell.
- I Call It "Vera": Nemu carries a large knife in her purse that she calls “Gunter-kun”, and has even made up a background and personality for “him”. In the bad ending to her route, she names the meat cleaver she uses to butcher her stepmother “Strobanov”.
- In-Series Nickname: Aki dubs her the Yandere Boobie-Monster, in reference to her knife-waving fits of maniacal laughter and her massive bust.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Does her hair antenna really give her psychic powers, or does she simply have amazing intuition? Are her yandere tendencies the result of mental illness, or is she possessed by a literal body-surfing demon? Who knows!
- The Mentally Disturbed: In her route it's revealed that she inherited a form of psychosis from her mother, Sena, that manifests itself as fits of intense jealousy and rage. As it worsens over the course of her route, she begins suffering from delusions, paranoia, and hallucinations; until she finally snaps and lets the demon inside her take over.
- Pokémon Speak: While sloshed, she starts saying her own name instead of complete sentences.
- Shipper on Deck: In the uncensored version's hot spring episode, she gets Aki and Mika to have sex as an outlet for their rivalry.
- Yandere: Nemu is polite and refined, but whenever someone threatens Starnova or makes eyes at Mr. Producer, she lapses into knife-waving fits of maniacal giggling. The other members of Starnova call her a yandere in-universe and are terrified whenever she slips into this state, though in most routes she never attacks anyone and never tries to interfere with Mr. Producer’s love life. In her own route, this is revealed to be the result of a hereditary psychosis her birth mother Sena succumbed to; and the pressure of being Starnova’s center and the frustration of Mr. Producer ignoring her romantic overtures causes Nemu to undergo Sanity Slippage. She becomes increasingly violent toward perceived threats like Kaori, Mika, and her own mother; deliberately crippling the former out of jealousy, and murdering the latter two in her Bad Ending.
Natsuki Tanabe
Voiced by: Minaho Matsudaira (credited as Akari Ayase)
- Accent Adaptation: She's supposed to have a Kansai accent, transcribed into the English written dialogue as something like a Southern US accent.
- Ambiguously Bi: Natsuki has feelings for Mr. Producer, but also has no problems waxing poetic over Mika's butt, kissing Julie for a yuri-themed photoshoot, admitting she wants a "forbidden romance" with Julie, or with getting it on with Mariya in the NSFW version's hot spring episode.
- Brutal Honesty: Natsuki doesn't possess much of a filter between what she thinks and what she says, leading her to blurt out her opinions on things.
- Country Mouse: Natsuki is an energetic farm girl who came to Tokyo to make it big as an idol. While she’s somewhat ignorant of the subtler aspects of city life and the seedier elements of the idol industry, her humble upbringing ensures that Starnova never gets mired in scandals during her route.
- Expressive Hair: Natsuki’s Idiot Hair occasionally forms a question mark (complete with a period) when she expresses confusion or bemusement at Mariya’s histrionics.
- Farmer's Daughter: She's the daughter of rural farmers and speaks with a Kansai accent, having come to the big city in hopes of emulating her idol.
- Massage of Love: Invoked during the first hot springs visit, where Natsuki uses her great physical strength and family mastery of massage to win the producer's favor early on.
- Riding into the Sunset: On an Alpaca, no less!
- In-Series Nickname: She often calls herself "Nattan", which the other girls and Mr. Producer eventually pick up.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: She is the first to try to seduce Mr. Producer, pretending to be an Innocent Fanservice Girl and stripping in order for him to "examine the best parts of her".
- Tomboy: The most physically active and boyish idol of Starnova, coming from a rural community. Her first job is as a construction worker, and her fellow construction staff workers show up to her first show to support her.
Mariya Yamamoto
Voiced by: Maki Tomonaga (credited as Himari)
The oldest member of Starnova, and a former member of Quasar who was let go for being too old. Though Mariya’s experiences have left her bitter and cynical, she hasn’t given up on her dreams of becoming the most popular idol in Tokyo.
- The Alcoholic:
- Mariya drinks a LOT early in the story, not least because she's working in a hostess bar. After showing up to Starnova's first live still drunk after a bad night (which involved getting molested at work and quitting in a rage) she cuts back considerably
- It turns out that her drug abuse started after Kana stopped being the center of Quasar, and she started smoking to deal with the stress even as their parties grew increasingly debauched.
- In her bad ending, she falls back into drinking, and refuses to reestablish ties with her old producer when she runs into him again out of certainty that she'd just drag him down with her.
- Babies Ever After: Horribly inverted in her bad ending, where becoming the single mother to twins is just another step in her downward spiral, and another factor in her refusal to reestablish a relationship with the producer when they meet again years later. In her good ending, her very last scene is holding her newborn child in a hospital, happily introducing her to Starnova.
- Broken Bird: The traumatic experiences she endured as a member of Quasar have left her bitter and cynical, feeling she's washed up and past her prime despite only being in her mid-twenties, and she's initially wary and suspicious of Mr. Producer's motives.
- Catchphrase: She calls people she doesn't like "Shit-Eaters". In her route, this is revealed to stem from how she was kicked out of Quasar. After being demoted, Haruka cruelly humiliates her by stripping her naked and forcing her to eat human feces.
- Competence Zone: Due to the ageist policies of the idol industry, she's referred to as being past her prime and laments the toll age has taken on her body... despite only being in her mid-twenties.
- Crutch Character: Narratively, while Mariya's experience in the industry compared to many of her teammates has her start out leading the group as center, she's nearing the end of her shelf-life and has plenty of issues of her own. Downplayed in that her route, where she remains center, is one of the ones where Starnova actually does go toe-to-toe with Quasar and come out on top, although she graduates that same year, passing the position to Aki and moving into a backstage role as a producer and manager.
- The Eeyore: Her usual role in a given scene, especially early on, is to lecture the other girls about how badly everything is going to turn out and all the things that can and surely will go wrong in their line of work.
- Formerly Fit: Five years of smoking and excessive drinking have taken a toll on her body. Despite only being in her mid-twenties, she also blames age for her body's shortcomings. In her bad ending, after an ill-fated attempt to compete with Quasar by announcing Mariya's own early retirement, she cuts ties with the group in despair, falls back into old vices, and ends up even worse off.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Deconstructed. Mariya has internalized a lot of other people's negative opinions of her, and has genuine and intense self-esteem and body-image issues, comorbid with being an older woman in a young girl's game. In her bad end, Mariya's negative self-image becomes too overbearing, and she not only cuts ties with the producer and the rest of Starnova but rejects attempts to reconnect, feeling that a "fuck up" like her would only drag them down with her.
- Informed Deformity: Despite being repeatedly described by herself and other characters as if her years of hard living and aging (relatively speaking) have taken their toll on her appearance, Mariya is still drawn as just as pretty as the other cast members. Lampshaded and justified by the protagonist after their first photo shoot, where Mariya is unhappy with her photo despite him thinking it's a lovely photo that captures her mature charm well; he realizes that in her own mind she can't help but compare it to the fresh-faced idol she remembers being early in her career.
- Irony: As someone constantly cautioning the other girls about how predatory showbiz can be, Mariya ruefully points out on her route that, by technical definition, she orally serviced her producer and he promptly fell for her and went to the mat to try to get her to the top of the idol business.
- Kirk Summation: Delivers a blistering one to Shiro.Mariya: Once upon a time, I looked up to you. But now, I look at you, face to face, not as your kohai, but your rival. I was once nothing. I was once trash. A stupid, chain-smoking alcoholic, but right now, I look at you, and I know I am greater. Regardless of how the vote turns out, regardless of who makes more money, becomes adored by the people, or is remembered the longest, I'll live on, happy with everything I have done to this point. I loved my friends. I believed in people. I didn't lie. I didn't manipulate. I didn't betray. And if I sink into nothinghood for it, so be it. But I'll have lived; lived knowing I gave it my all, that I fell into the night screaming and heaving for all I believe in. Shiro. I'm not empty anymore. Because I'm surrounded by the love of those around me.
- Meaningful Name: Possibly; the oldest and most experienced member of the unit shares a name with Mariya Takeuchi
, something of an elder stateswoman of Japanese music. - Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Mariya describes her backstory this way: she hit puberty early and excelled in a variety of sports, extracurricular activities, and academics in middle school. It went to her head, and she decided that it meant she was destined to become someone famous and important, eventually applying to join Quasar and impressing Kamijou with her ambitious interview. It's downplayed in that Mariya was genuinely talented and good-looking enough to make it into the main ranks of Quasar, something which is made very clear to put her in rare company, and learned to be content with her lot before Kana's departure and Haruka and her posse's abuse emotionally demolished her and temporarily ended her career, but in the present day she still sees her younger self as too arrogant and overconfident for her own good.
- Number Two: The good ending of her route has her graduate from being an idol singer and become a producer and manager, helping Mr. Producer run Starnova while using her expertise and seniority to bring the group to new heights.
- Old Maid: While she's only in her mid-20s, she's internalized the rampant ageism of the idol industry and sees herself as a washed-up has-been who's past her prime, frequently lamenting that she's too old to be seen as attractive anymore. In her romance path, the MC proves her wrong, and she can retire from being an idol to help run Starnova. In her bad ending, she ends up as one for real, with twins whose father she doesn't know and back to working a seedy hostess job while abusing alcohol as her looks fade.
- Passing the Torch: As the oldest and most experienced starting member of Starnova, Mariya starts out in the center position. In every route but her own, she then relinquishes it to someone else. And even then, she graduates into a backstage position and hands off the crown, figuratively and literally, to Aki at her final performance in the good ending to her route.
- Pursue the Dream Job: Deconstructed, then reconstructed. At the start of the story, Mariya, who dropped out of middle school to pursue her dream of idol stardom, is left in a really bad place when said dream ran aground on the rocky shoals of backstage politics and exploitation, leaving her slowly killing herself at the bartending and hostess club jobs she was still able to find work in, something she falls back into in her bad ending. But on the good routes, her success with Starnova revitalizes her career and gives her a second chance to achieve success in the field, if not as a singer than as a manager.
- Team Mom: As Starnova coalesces into a functional idol unit, Mariya — as the oldest and most-experienced member — finds herself looking out for the younger members, offering them jaded advice. She's especially protective of Sasami, due to the girl having been on the brink of suicide when Mariya met her. In some of the routes, she ends up becoming Mr. Producer's Number Two when it comes to managing the team.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Downplayed, since she was already in her early twenties, but for most of her time in Quasar, Mariya was actually a friendly and optimistic girl who loved the culture of sisterly friendship Kana cultivated among the cast and was loyal to her leadership as center. The mistreatment she received as a result of that loyalty led to her breaking down into the cynical, bitter woman she is at the start of the story.
Quasar / Golden Calf Productions
In General
- Badass Creed:Greater and brighter than all else!
The light at the center of the galaxy!
All the stars revolve around us!
QUASAR! - Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: The Quasar uniform is a two-piece ensemble that leaves the midriff bare.
- David vs. Goliath: The Goliath to Starnova's David as a long-running idol industry giant.
- Elite Army: The less-experienced members of Starnova assume that the "lower ranks" of Quasar aren't any good, and are taken aback when they realize that every member of Quasar is an incredibly skilled, top class singer and dancer, regardless of their place in the ranks.
- Hookers and Blow: While idols are mostly expected to keep up
Contractual Purity, Golden Calf has a fair bit of wild partying under the surface. Aki, who used to work in a young idol unit for Golden Calf, mentions being very familiar with underage drinking, and Mariya describes alcohol, sexual harassment and assault, and sketchy pills becoming more and more common after Kana was forced out of Quasar. - Leitmotif: "End Game." A striking orchestral piece that serves as the Imperial March to Quasar's evil Empire.
- Meaningful Name: Golden Calf references a biblical story about a false idol.
- Out of Focus: The common route sets up Golden Calf as the main villains of the story and Quasar as the direct rivals to Starnova and on most of the girls' routes this is followed through on. However on Julie and Mika's routes Quasar never show up after the route starts and Kamijou only makes a cameo appearance in each route with unrelated issues providing the conflict.
- Informed Attribute: We are often told that getting to the top five in Quasar requires one to be heartless, ruthless and cruel. However of the members of the top five that we see on screen only Shiro and Haruka demonstrate this; Kaori and Kana are generally nice people, Mako is more jaded and apathetic than anything else, and Stella just follows her pre-programmed instructions. That said what we see of the lower ranks of Quasar does seem pretty cutthroat.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Golden Calf and Quasar routinely flaunt their ability to abuse their wealth and authority to screw over Starnova and Shining Productions in ways that should be against the law, and get away with it scott-free.
Seiichi Kamijou
Voiced by: Sora Mizuki
- Becoming the Mask: In Sasami's route, Mr. Producer speculates that Kamijou's persona as a ruthless social darwinist was a mask he donned to cope with the pressure of running Golden Calf, and that he wore it for so long he lost sight of his true self.
- Casting Couch: He admits that when the old centers used to throw themselves at him, he indulged in the past, but he's long since discontinued the tradition by Shiro's time. Deconstructed in that he still humiliates her so thoroughly that the rest of Quasar assumes something like it has happened, and between that and having to betray the woman she loves to take the crown, it still leaves Shiro looking downright deranged.
- Covert Pervert: Prior to cultivating his aloof persona he used to make the centers of Quasar have sex with him, leading to a persistent rumor despite him having discontinued this; and built Stella Silver to be an anatomically correct Ridiculously Human Robot.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Kamijou may be a Social Darwinist who wants to completely crush Starnova's spirit, but even he is repulsed by Oda, to the point of going into Enemy Mine territory with Starnova just to take him down.
- Evil Counterpart: To Mr. Producer, with both being deeply invested in the advancement of their unit but with Kamijou lacking Mr. Producer's refusal to do so at the expense of his girls' mental and physical wellbeing.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In the true ending of Sasami's route Kamijou is horrified and disgusted by Oda and Haruka's cruelty, and vows to become a better person and producer for Quasar.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: As terrible a person as Kamijou certainly is he is better than the utterly vile Oda.
- Nepotism: Invoked but eventually subverted. While Kamijou is the eldest son of Golden Calf's founder, he is shown to be very competent, hardworking, and takes his role as CEO seriously to the point you can say he earned the position. This doesn't stop the higher-ups in the Board of Directors to resent him for perceived nepotism. Before he became The Social Darwinist they might have had a point about him abusing his power.
- Pet the Dog: Kamijo sends thirteen-year-old Mako on a Snipe Hunt to protect her from being molested by Oda, though he does nothing to protect the other older girls.
- Robosexual: Haruka wonders if he might be one when she discovers Stella — a gynoid made by Kamijou to be the perfect idol — is anatomically correct.
- Sadistic Choice: He forced one when Shiro and Kana tied in the reorganized voting structure: the winner would become center, and the loser would face immediate "graduation." It worked; Kana broke down and didn't fight back while Shiro embraced his cruel philosophy to survive and abandoned her friend and lover as someone who'd made her soft and complacent.
- The Social Darwinist: Inspired by the ruthlessness of American capitalism while spending time in the United States, Kamijou subscribes to the "survival of the fittest" mantra and encourages the girls of Quasar to viciously compete with one another for the center position, ruthlessly weeding out the "weak" from the "strong". This extended so far as to deliberately undermine Kana's attempts to make Quasar's culture mutually-supportive and cooperative rather than competitive, and to pit she and Shiro against one another with "graduation"/retirement on the line, even though under Kana the money was still rolling in and he'd be losing a popular star in the prime years of her career either way.
- Spirited Competitor: An extremely dark version, but while Kamijou plays hardball and fights dirty as hell, he's also always bang up for competition and is excited rather than angered by Starnova continually rising to the occasion when pitted against Quasar or when Kana and Shiro tried to defy his manipulations.
- The Unfettered: Fits this trope to a 'T,' to the point that he checks off every subcategory - he's devoted himself to Quasar so completely that he's willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the sake of its success; he's cold, calculating, and decisive, never allowing his emotions to impair his judgment; and judging whether something is beneficial or harmful to Quasar as a whole is the closest thing he has to a sense of morality. What's more, he wasn't always this way - only deciding to shed his fetters after his experience in America. In his own words, "Once I realized I could become the villain, the possibilities became endless."
- White Hair, Black Heart: Kamijou has snow-white hair, accentuating his cold and ruthless personality.
Shiro Okuda
Voiced by: Miu Yuzuhara
The wealthiest and most popular idol in Japan, Shiro has been the leader and center of Quasar for several years in a row. Her aloof and regal image has led the media to dub her the Empress of Entertainment. She has a complicated history with Mariya.
- Becoming the Mask: Shiro plays the part of a ruthlessly ambitious ice-queen to the extent that she sacrificed everything to be consumed by that role, and was reduced to an empty husk of a woman. In Mariya and Sasami's routes, Shirou is revealed to be a Broken Bird beneath her stern and aloof mask, and deep down is haunted by the deeds she did in order to secure her place as Quasar's center. It takes Kana calling her out on having lost sight of her true self in Mariya's route and falling in love with Sasami in the latter's route in order to cause the mask to shatter.
- Broken Bird: Although Shiro outwardly seems to have adapted to the situation better than Kana, her former center and lover, on the inside she's become dead and empty inside as a result of destroying the person she loved for the sake of her ambitions. Mariya is haunted by the memory of her Empty Eyes when she tried to confront her about it.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Pun aside, Shiro was forced to choose between her girlfriend Kana and taking the center position of Quasar, and picked the latter. Her regret and emotional pain have caused her to build up the shell of a ruthless Ice Queen and viciously cling to her position so as to not let her sacrifice be for nothing.
- Go Seduce My Arch Nemesis: In Sasami’s route, Shiro takes it upon herself to seduce Sasami with the ultimate goal of corrupting her, breaking her heart, and eliminating her as a rival idol. She ends up falling in love with Sasami instead, though Sasami quickly deduces that she's subconsciously trying to use her as a replacement for Kana and repeatedly turns her down.
- Has a Type: She likes sweet girls with supportive and nurturing personalities who try to make the world a better place. Both her major love interests fit that mold.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: After taking her spot as center, she told Kana that she never loved her, resented her for being promoted straight to the center, and was only ever plotting to manipulate her through their relationship. Kana sees right through her, and protests that she's just trying to be strong for the sake of the rest of Quasar.
- Love Hurts: As revealed in Mariya's route, Shiro is in love with Kana Kihara, but the pressure from the media and Kamijou's test compelled Shiro to close her heart and usurp Kana's center position. This ends up having consequences in Sasami's route when Shiro tries to corrupt Sasami and ends up falling for her. Sasami coldly calls her out for trying to make her into a Replacement Goldfish and repeatedly rejects Shiro's attempts to seduce her.
- Love Redeems: Comes up in Mariya and Sasami's routes. In the former Kana reappearing persuades her to turn on Kamijou and not help him Rules Lawyer his way into beating Starnova at the Idol Grand Prix. In the latter her love for both Kana and Sasami causes her to defend Sasami from Oda. In both cases she recovers something of her humanity and gets back together with Kana as a result.
- Ojou Ringlets: Has a curled hairstyle to emphasize her regal persona.
- Tragic Keepsake: Despite her insistence that Kana never meant anything to her and she was always just manipulating her center to get to the top, she never stopped performing in the choker she exchanged with Kana the night Kamijou started maneuvering to split them up, which Mariya correctly interprets as proof that her feelings were genuine all along and she's just putting on a brave face to try to keep Quasar together, no matter how twisted the form.
- Villainous Friendship: Despite her cold demeanor, her sincere friendship with Mariya is an early humanizing element establishing that Shiro's not so bad deep down. It stems from Mariya discovering her relationship with Kana and not only refusing to rat them out but expressing support for it, although Mariya never quite forgave her for abandoning Kana to chase fame instead and mocking Mariya for trying to defend her friend.
Haruka Enokida
Voiced by: Lili Tanaka
The second most popular member of Quasar, Haruka has her sights set on Shiro’s position and will go to any lengths to become the center.
- Attempted Rape: In Sasami's route, Haruka and her followers attack Kaori and Stella, forcing them to strip naked with the intent of filming them having sex and releasing the video online to further humiliate them. Fortunately, Kamijou's arrival puts a stop to it.
- Beta Bitch: She's the second-most popular member of Quasar, and is hellbent on usurping the center place from Shiro by any means necessary. In one of the routes, Kamijou notes that this is why she'll never take the crown — her Mask of Sanity slips off far too often. Flashbacks in Mariya’s route show that Haruka led the other girls in humiliating her after she was let go from Quasar by stripping her naked and then forcing her head into a bag full of human feces; in Sasami's route she assists Oda in his attempted takeover of the company, sexually assaulting Kaori and Stella; and in Aki's route, after being fired from Quasar due to a sex-scandal, she outright tries to kill Kamijou by ramming her car into his.
- Beauty Is Bad: Haruka is a pretty face, who's also a sadistic bully that uses her good looks to hide her cruelty.
- Hate Sink: In Mariya, Aki, and Sasami's routes, Haruka is revealed to be a ruthless, sadistic, and vicious bully who will stop at nothing to usurp Quasar's center position. She even tries to kill Kamijou once her sex-scandal is revealed and she's kicked out of the group. When Oda takes over Quasar, she and her cronies try to force Stella and Kaori to have sex on camera with the intent of releasing the video online to further humiliate them.
- Notably she is the only member of Quasar that the player cannot recruit in the Idol Empire spin off, presumably because very few fans would ever want to.
- Opportunistic Bastard: On Mariya's route, flashbacks to her entry to Quasar show that she's always been willing to quickly throw others under the bus to get ahead.
- Removing the Rival: Haruka's modus operandi. If it's up to Haruka, she would get rid of any person who's a threat to her standing as an idol. She's shown to have bullied her competiton, mostly via Gaslighting.
- The Sociopath: Haruka is ruthless, sadistic, and will stop at nothing — even attempted rape and murder — to achieve her ambitions. Kamijou notes to himself that Haruko will never attain her ambition of becoming the center because her Mask of Sanity is too unstable.
- The Starscream: Haruka is the second-most popular member of Quasar, and is hellbent on usurping the center place from Shiro by any means necessary.
- Teens Are Monsters: In Mariya's route, it's revealed that when Haruka was younger she forced Mariya to eat a bag of human feces — the origin of Mariya calling people she hates "shit-eaters". In Sasami's route, she and her followers viciously attack Kaori and Stella while assisting in Oda's takeover, with the intent of completely humiliating them.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: She manages to become much worse in Sasami's route. While Haruka had a history of being a cruel bully, in Sasami's route she moves up to full-blown torture with her sexual assault on her two group mates that was so brutal, she could've permanently injured or even killed them.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite her status as Quasar's Beta Bitch, Mariya's route reveals she originally entered Quasar at the same time as Kaori and simply found the new, ruthless environment after Kana's forced graduation suited her own ambitious and unscrupulous nature very well.
Mako Yoshino
Voiced by: Rin Mitaka
The third most popular member of Quasar, Mako is a child prodigy whose familial connections allowed her to bypass the normal training process.
- Foil: To Shiro. While Shiro was born into poverty and spent many years working her way into becoming Quasar's top idol, Mako was born into a wealthy family and only managed to make her way to Quasar's top ranks through her family's connections.
- Oral Fixation: Never seen without a lollypop in her mouth.
- Pet the Dog: While mostly uncaring she does seem to have a soft spot for Kaori and, while she won't stick her neck out for her, she does offer some helpful advice from time to time.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: She managed to bypass Quasar's infamous trainee program through her family's connections.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Sasami's route, Mako leaves when Oda and Haruka attempt to take over Quasar, though it's revealed that she went to fetch the security team and put a stop to it.
- Snipe Hunt: During Aki's route, Kamijou sends her on a useless errand to protect her from Oda.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: She's 12 at the start of the story but life as a child star from, apparently, age 2 has left her jaded and cold, though thankfully not as actively malevolent as some of her fellow Quasar members.
Stella Silver
Voiced by: Aya Kitamura (credited as Toa Yukimura)
Holding the rank of #4, Stella is an android built by Kamijou to serve as his vision of the perfect idol.
- Alliterative Name: Stella Silver.
- Job-Stealing Robot: Kamijou introduces her in Mariya's flashback bragging about her ability to completely replace fallible human idols who'll eventually age with robots like her who'll not only be young forever but can mold their personalities on command to fit whatever he needs them to be.
- Personality Chip: How much actual emotion she feels is a bit ambiguous, but at one point Kamijou has her demonstrate her ability to completely alter her presented personality on a whim according to various archetypes, like "cute little sister" or "tsundere."
- Ridiculously Human Robot: She's a gynoid created by Kamijou to be the perfect idol... and for some reason has fully-functional genitalia.
- Robot Girl: Although it somewhat strains credulity for a work set in 2017-18, Stella is indeed a seemingly-sapient robot designed to work in the entertainment sector, hence explaining why she looks as human as possible, save for a few seams and Robot Antennae.
- Sliding Scale of Robot Intelligence: It's a bit tough to tell but she seems to be at level 3, being able to interact with others (and having great analytical skills) but only showing emotion when programmed to fake it or her settings are adjusted. She does express a desire to learn and grow however.
Kaori Nitta
Voiced by: Maya Suzuya
The fifth most popular member of Quasar, Kaori is both skilled and surprisingly meek for her position. She is also the only Quasar idol who isn't antagonistic against Starnova in any way.
- Anti-Villain: She's the nicest member of Quasar and quickly realizes they're the bad guys, defecting to Starnova in one of the routes; though in one ending she inherits Shiro's ruthless ambition and determination.
- Butt-Monkey: If a route puts any focus on Kaori it usually doesn't go well for her.
- Career-Ending Injury: She suffers one in Nemu's route. Having succumbed to her mental illness Nemu pushes a metal shelf onto her as revenge for (so she thinks) trying to undermine her, breaking her leg and apparently preventing her from ever dancing again. Thankfully subverted in Nemu's good ending when Nemu pays for the best medical care and Kaori recovers after all and joins Starnova properly.
- Heel–Face Turn: Calling her a heel is questionable at best, but during Nemu's route she joins Starnova.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: In one of the endings, Kaori becomes Quasar's center and inherits Shiro's ruthless ambition and determination — vowing to do whatever it takes to follow in her footsteps and destroy Starnova.
- Token Good Teammate: She quickly realizes that Quasar are the bad guys and laments joining them. In some routes, this leads her to a Heel–Face Turn but in others it's an Ignored Epiphany.
Kenjiro Oda
The longest-serving employee at Golden Calf, Oda is the company’s chairman of the board and the former producer of the Strawberry Pink tween idol unit. Though he may appear friendly and supportive, his kindly smile hides a dark secret.
- Dirty Old Man: Aki's route reveals that he's a pedophile, and the reason she quit working at Golden Calf. He fully intends to re-instate the rumored Casting Couch tradition when he takes over Golden Calf and apply it to all the members; and the Bad End of Sasami's route he succeeds in doing so and celebrates by raping her.
- Hate Sink: More so than any other character there is nothing redeemable whatsoever about this man.
- Justice by Other Legal Means: It is how he is taken down in Aki's route. There is no evidence to prove that Oda is molesting idols under him without ruining Golden Calf's reputation so Kamijou accuses him of a different crime that he can prove: embezzlement and tax fraud.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: A firm believer in this. It mostly works out for him but in both Aki and Sasami's routes he pushes it too far.
- The Starscream: He may seem loyal to Kamijou at first, but as Sasami and Aki's routes show he has ulterior motives to usurp his superior's position for his own gain.
Supporting characters
Kodama
A flamboyant photographer initially contracted to take pictures of the Starnova girls for a dubious magazine. After Starnova’s popularity starts taking off, Kodama is hired as the girls’ dance instructor.
- Camp Gay: His flamboyant dress and manner of speech set up the reveal that he's gay, though the reveal catches Mr. Producer by surprise given Kodama's reputation of a sleazy attitude towards girls.
- Hidden Depths: He gives the impression of being self-centred and airheaded but in fact he has contacts all throughout the entertainment industry that allow him to smoke out information for Mr Producer and he is also impressively perceptive of the girls' feelings on several routes.
- The Informant: He supplies Mr. Producer with background information and other intel across several of the routes, never missing an opportunity to flirt with him.
Kyousuke and Junpei
The chairman and vice-chairman of Starnova’s fan club. Originally diehard fans of Mariya and Aki, respectively, they founded the fan club after Starnova’s debut live.
- Above the Influence: An early incident briefly leaves Kyousuke with the idea that Natsuki is trying to hook up with him. He tries to gently turn her down as he knows a relationship would ruin her career. He's misunderstood the situation and she wasn't hitting on him at all but still, points for effort.
- The Cavalry: Kyousuke, Junpei and their fellow fan club members come to the rescue of the beleaguered girls on many routes in various ways.
- Fat and Skinny: Kyousuke is obese while Junpei is a beanpole, and the two are rarely seen outside of each others' company; making the effort to attend all of Starnova's concerts and serving as a frequent source of comic relief.
- Nice Guy: They're both a little...off but they are never anything but polite and supportive of the girls of Starnova, even when this sets them against public opinion, and they're the first to step to the girls' defense when something goes wrong. They represent the wholesome, non-toxic side of idol fandom.
- This is reiterated in the Idol Empire spinoff. While they both do things like attend all their lives, like all their social media posts, and buy a lot of their merchandise, the idols all consider this behavior to be completely normal and nothing they're concerned about since they're otherwise respectful.
- Nosebleed: One of Junpei's sprites has High-Pressure Blood spurting out of his nose when he's worked up.
- Stalker with a Crush: Averted. During the story mode of Idol Empire, the members of Starnova learn Aki's mother is dating a new guy, and worry that it might be one of their fans who's only dating her to get close to Aki. However, after some snooping they learn that it was not only Junpei, one of their biggest fans, it's discovered her mom was lying to him that she was a college student, and he freaks out and bolts upon learning that his date was not only much older than she claimed, but Aki's mother. While he did like her in part because she resembled Aki, the deception and learning she was the mother of his favorite idol made him flee. None of the girls hold it against him when they learn he was deceived.
- Undying Loyalty: Even before the rise of Starnova they were loyal fans of Mariya and Aki who never forgot them even after the time they left Golden Calf Productions. After the rise of Starnova they apply this devotion to all the members, even in routes where scandals or other problems have the group on the ropes.
Kile
A high school aged member of QWST, a band also managed by Starnova's parent company.
- Coming-Out Story: On Julie's route he kindly and bravely agrees to use his to both prove that Julie didn't have an affair with him and distract from her scandal so she doesn't step down as center of Starnova. Thankfully this doesn't end up costing him as the producer convinces Kile's to set him up in a new Boys Love themed project that is only going to make him more successful.
- Incompatible Orientation: Played for Drama in a different way than usual. On Julie's route, it means that rather than being tempted by her, he scolds her about the position she's putting both of them and both of their bands in when she tries to seduce him while drunk to get revenge on her producer. On Mika's route, it unfortunately means that they have a profound lack of chemistry while trying to act in a more faithful adaptation of Black Opera that goes totally down the drain.
- Karmic Jackpot: Fortunately for everyone involved, Kile choosing to come out of the closet to protect Julie and preserve her reputation ends up working in his favor and only makes him more successful.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Kile's character in the Black Opera TV adaptation is a Manipulative Bastard who brainwashes women into becoming his sex slaves and subjects the main heroine to horrible scenarios… and Kile is so ashamed of the things his part requires him to say and do to Mika that he breaks character and runs off the set in tears in the middle of a particularly gruelling scene.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In Mika's route he's cast as the villain of Black Opera but considers quitting after learning that it's being shot as borderline hentai and that his character is a womanizing rapist, apologizing to Mika over what the script instructs him to say and do to her.
- Nice Guy: Kile is revealed to be a kindhearted individual in Mika and Julie's routes. In the latter he comforts Julie after she drags him into a love hotel and attempts to seduce him, and comes out of the closet to save her reputation when the tabloids start a smear campaign.
Other characters
Yumiko Kashiwagi
Aki's mother, Yumiko is a quintessential Stage Mom who views her daughter’s career as her personal ticket to a life of wealth and luxury.
- Abusive Parents: She seems nice on the surface, but it's revealed that she's emotionally abusive and extremely controlling of her daughter's life; constantly pressuring Aki to be successful at all costs, even if it means prostituting herself to her producer to achieve the center position or literally working herself to death. She's also good friends with Oda, being fully aware that he's a pervert who tried to rape her daughter when she was fourteen — and was angry that Aki didn't sleep with him to further her career.
- Bait the Dog: In her first appearance, she seems to be, while an unfit mother, someone who genuinely cares for her daughter... moments before emotionally manipulating Aki, showing her bad side.
- Heel–Face Return: At the end of Sasami's route Yumiko is in the crowd for the Grand Prix live and apologises for pushing Aki. This despite the previous appearance on this route featuring her still sucking up to Oda.
- Stage Mom: Yumiko may play the part of an adoring mother, but all she really cares about is fame and fortune — berating Aki for not having sex with Oda to further her career when she was just fourteen, and pushing her to literally work herself to death if that's what it takes for stardom.
Kana Kihara
- Alliterative Name: Kana Kihara
- Creator Breakdown: In-Universe, Kana suffers one when faced with Kamijou's Sadistic Choice pitting she and Shiro against each other in a competition for center, with the loser facing early retirement. While she still has many loyal fans and inertia on her side, Kana becomes listless and doesn't put up much of a fight, because she can't bear to know Shiro lost her job for her to keep it.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: She had Shiro join her on stage before their last major Halloween performance to exchange chokers and reaffirm their feelings for one another, albeit with just enough ambiguity that they weren't quite coming out of the closet in front of the crowd, who could safely interpret it as "just" extremely close friendship. Shiro, on the other hand, knows exactly what's going on and is crying with joy before Kamijou intervenes.
- The Heart: She served as this for Quasar and it got so much worse after she was forced out. In Mariya's flashbacks, she's a kind and friendly presence to the new trainees.
- The Lost Lenore: She's established as being one for Shiro Okuda in Mariya and Sasami's routes, though in both of them they end up getting back together.
- Powerful People Are Subs: Despite being the center of Quasar, Shiro was the sexually-dominant partner in their relationship according to the relevant flashback and Shiro's inclinations on Sasami's route.
- Was It All a Lie?: She asked Shiro as much when it became clear that Shiro was going to become the new center. Shiro insisted that she'd been manipulating Kana all along, and that she'd always despised and resented her for being promoted straight to the top over her head. Kana rightfully doesn't believe it.
- We Have Become Complacent:
- Kana, the first girl promoted directly to the front row from training, wanted to reform Quasar away from cutthroat competition, and her friendly leadership helped keep Quasar stable and internal group politics non-toxic, but in Kamijou's eyes that same culture of sisterly friendship also led to too many members becoming complacent and happy with their lots on the team instead of ambitious and hungry, something which he believed would be to the group's ultimate detriment. This fatefully led him to reorganize the election system, and thence to Kana's downfall.
- This also applies to Kana herself, who was so used to the sisterly and cooperative atmosphere she'd built that she wasn't able to emotionally deal with being pitted against her best friend and lover with "graduation" (early retirement) on the line. She broke down weeping in front of the rest of Quasar and couldn't bring herself to fight to keep her position with vigor.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In Mariya's route, Kana shows up and persuades Shiro to break free from being Kamijou's pawn and return to her true self following her graduation from Quasar.
Reon
- Ax-Crazy: He represents the absolute worst aspects of the idol fandom, being a self-entitled, arrogant, and cruel troll at best, and a deranged murderer at worst.
- Entitled to Have You: He holds this attitude in Mika's route, having decided that him developing an obsession with her after her debut means she now belongs to him and trying to destroy her after he judges her to have "betrayed" him by not living up to his personal standards of womanhood.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Unlike the other villains in the game there's no ending, not even bad endings, where he can be said to win. He can succeed in ruining Mika and actually killing Julie but he doesn't get to abduct Mika in the former case and is still going to spend the rest of his life in prison for murder in the latter.
- Internet Jerk: In Mika's route, Reon is the ringleader of a group of trolls who harass and slander her online due to the failed Black Opera TV show.
- Jerkass: This hater is the main architect of misery on Starnova during Mika and Julie's routes; slandering Mika and eventually attempting to kidnap and rape her due to the failed Black Opera TV show in the former and attempting to kill Julie in the latter — succeeding in her Bad Ending.
- Loony Fan: Even when he's at his best, in Sasami's route, he comes across as being creepy and lecherous towards her.
Haruna Akimoto
Nemu’s adoptive mother, and the CEO of both Amaterasu Television and Akimoto Realty. Haruna disapproves of Nemu’s desire to become an idol, and has a strained relationship with her daughter as a result.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Haruna disapproves of Nemu's desire to be an idol, as she feels it would damage the reputation of their family and corporation, and tries to make her stop. In most routes they come to an undisclosed arrangement that allows Nemu to continue being part of Starnova, but in Nemu’s route she discovers Haruna conspiring with Kamijou to ruin Starnova… or so she thinks. In reality, Haruna is scared that the stresses of trying to be a successful idol will exacerbate Nemu’s mental illness and drive her insane, just like her birth mother Sena.
- Older Than They Look: Doesn't look a day over 30, but has been CEO of Amaterasu television for over 25 years.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Being de facto in charge of two huge corporations allows Haruna to get away with a lot. On Nemu and Sasami's route she throws this weight behind Shining Productions and Starnova, helping close some of the gap between them and Golden Calf.
- Un-person: Nemu tells the Producer that Haruna is very good at making her enemies disappear, and strongly believes that she's responsible for the traffic accident that claimed her birth mother's life. In Nemu's route, it's revealed that Haruna really IS an expert at making people disappear... but not in the way Nemu thinks. 18 years ago, a deranged Sena tried to murder Haruna and Nemu by running them down with her car - Haruna used the resulting car crash to fake Sena's death, and whisked her away to a secret mental hospital where the rich and famous treat their mentally ill away from the public eye.
Sena Ueda
Nemu’s biological mother, Sena was a former idol who enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s. She disappeared from the public eye after giving birth to Nemu, and is reported to have died of a car crash in 2000.
- Ax-Crazy: In Nemu's route, she relapses into her psychosis after seeing Nemu on TV, breaks out of the hospital, and tries to kill her own daughter — having convinced herself that Nemu is an imposter who stole her career.
- The Mentally Disturbed: In Nemu's route it's revealed that Sena possessed a form of psychosis that manifested itself as fits of intense jealousy and rage, delusions, and hallucinations. Nemu inherited this mental illness, which is the source of her knife-waving yandere antics. In the good ending of Nemu's route, Sena relapses into her psychosis and sets out to kill her own daughter, but is stopped by Haruna and agrees to resume her treatment, eventually making progress towards coping and reconciling with Nemu.
- Missing Mom: She died when Nemu was very young. Or at least, that's the official story. The truth is that she's been in a mental hospital for eighteen years.
Mr. and Mrs. Tanabe
- Good Parents: They fully support Natsuki's decision to move to the big city, are responsible for raising her into becoming the well-adjusted mood-maker of the cast.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Mr Tanabe, every time he's reminded that his little girl is all grown up.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Mr Tanabe makes a brief attempt to pull this on Natsuki and Mr. Producer but gets nowhere as his wife has the opposite opinion and Natsuki pays him no attention.
- Shipper on Deck: Mrs. Tanabe — presumably aware of Natsuki's feelings for Mr. Producer — is more than happy to offer them her old room, and encourages them to "make the most" of their time together.
- The Simple Life is Simple: This initially appears to be the case, with Mr. and Mrs. Tanabe sending absurd amounts of produce and even livestock to their daughter. However, it's subverted when it reveals that Mr. Tanabe is having financial difficulties keeping the farm afloat and took out a loan from some unsavoury individuals that he's having trouble paying back.
- So Proud of You: Both of them towards Natsuki.
President Okada
The head of Shining Productions and financier of Starnova.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's fairly jovial and easygoing guy willing to take a chance on Mr. Producer's little Ragtag Bunch of Misfits... but make no mistake — he's in it to make money and is more than happy to casually screw over Mr. Producer and the idols of Starnova to do so, and if Starnova fails to perform to his expectations he will give them the axe.
- The Ghost: Despite appearing in a number of scenes and actually being quite important in Mika's route he doesn't have a sprite and never shows up in CGs.
Labrador
- Screwed by the Network: Invoked, as while they weren't taking the world by storm, Labrador were apparently doing well enough... but were replaced with younger idols due to executive decision, with no chance to object.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: While we know what the future Mr. Producer did next neither he nor anyone else ever mentions where his two former unit mates are these days, despite them seeming to be good friends at the time.
