#gs382

every time i make dolste shitposts i always remember why i usually don't (it is SO hard to find pictures of these people) (forgive the really awful quality)

hello there!!!! are YOU a fan of: mankai stage???????? actors?????? butai in general???? perhaps you have been interested in idols but havent yet found the confidence to be absolutely shameless about them?????

LOOK NO FURTHER; IDOL STAGE IS FOR YOU!!!!!!!!

produced by nelke planning (who also produced things like haisute, esute, tourabu, etc. etc.), idol stage - known as dorste or dolste for short - is a series of original stage plays based on the concept of idols! very original name, i'm sure you'll agree.

each show comprises of two parts: STAGE x LIVE. the stage part shows the backstage of the idols: how they came to be, the drama and tea, and the inevitable power of friendship. the live part is the idols performing a concert for the audience, so you get that feeling of seeing how far the boys have come 🙌

there are 7 dolste units that appear over 5 generations:

1. Shounen Hollywood

2. Present◆5 & Mikazuki

3. CHaCK-UP

4. Un-Planet

5. Primoon & GS382

(each one will have a link to a post specifically about that unit!! coming soon, trust)

idol stage also has an interesting concept they call Another World (AW). it's a kind of inside joke/unspoken secret that the idols aren't played by any actors: they're just everyday people that look scarily similar to the irl actors. the actors refer to the characters as their 'friends', and all have varying degrees of closeness that can be pretty entertaining to see. it gets a little tricky in the 3rd and 4th generations (since the idols are played by actors played by actors) but it's not too hard to get the hang of!

HANG ON A SECOND! rhian, you said that idol stage is perfect for mankai stage fans! what the heck does esute have to do with this?

WELL WELL WELL HERE WE HAVE COME TO THE REASON THIS POST WAS MADE.

as i said, nelke planning produced both dolste and esute. if you do a little deep dive into twitter accounts, you can see that the scriptwriter for esute... is ALSO the director of dolste!

as a result, we have a good deal of esute actors in dolste (...or more like the other way around. dolste is old ♡). akazawa tomoru, honda reo, furuya yamato, and especially akigumi: akazawa ryotaro, yoshitaka shion and nakamura taro appear in Un-Planet and Primoon! (ryotaro and shion are main characters of their units, while taro is a guest in a few Un-Planet shows and a fan of CHaCK-UP ^o^)

where to from here??

hopefully that means you're interested!!

here is a youtube playlist of all 7 dolste mvs! they're pretty rough quality, but if you're looking for a laugh or you're just curious for a peek into dolste these are great!!

you can search for the groups' songs on spotify! try "アイドルステージ", and a playlist with songs from CHaCK-UP to GS382 are free to listen there! (unfortunately, since Present◆5 disbanded, they dragged Mikazuki down with them making all of their songs unavailable :( Primoon and GS382 did covers of some of their songs though!)

dolstedia is also a fantastic place to read character and unit profiles. it's a fanmade wikipedia and you'll have to use a translator if you can't read japanese, but it's amazing :D