The Idolmaster x Granblue Fantasy Event Sends Kaede Takagaki Flying

It’s that time of year again. Hit mobile RPG Granblue Fantasy is running its regular Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls crossover event. The latest girl to join the crew is none other than mature, hot spring-loving idol Kaede Takagaki, star of screen and Starlight Stage.

The event, which is live now, is titled Cinderella Fantasy: To the Skies Once More and is the latest of a great many crossovers with The Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls. In fact, almost since its 2014 launch, Granblue Fantasy has run a Cinderella Girls crossover every year. (Sometimes there are event two in a single year.) The only exceptions have been 2018 and 2019, when the game crossed over with Idolmaster rival Love Live!. Kaede Takagaki’s debut marks the return of Idolmaster-themed content to Granblue Fantasy‘s skybound setting.

Players who join the game can play through a series of story chapters featuring interactions between the main cast and Kaede, as well has fellow Cinderella Girls idols Rin Shibuya, Uzuki Shimamura, and Mio Honda. Rin, Uzuki, and Mio joined the playable roster in 2016 as part of the fifth wave of idol reinforcements, though this time around the trio appear as a single unit named after their own Idolmaster grouping, “New Generations.” Kaede Takagaki herself will actually be made available once the story chapters run their course. Currently, the first half of the event story is playable (unlocking the New Generations unit), and the second half will go live on May 19, 2020.

Unfortunately for fans of actress Saori Hayami, who voices Kaede Takagaki, the crossover event will not feature any new voice acting. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic forced developer Cygames to suspend voice recording sessions in April. As a result, this event, as well as the previous story event, The Art of Mercy, had no voice acting. Cygames has pledged to add voice acting to any missed content once conditions have improved enough for the needed actors to come in to record.

Granblue Fantasy is available on iOS, Android, and PC via browser. The current Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls crossover event will run until May 27, 2020.