it's just a silly self-indulgent au i've been cooking up bc i love idol anime series and i wanted to combine my special interests, sorry if it doesn't appeal to anyone but me
also it's not clear from my sketches at all because i'm bad at art but
Sonic and Amy are Japanese, Tails is ハーフ (Asian/European, born and raised in Japan), Knuckles is black (born and raised in Japan), Shadow is unknown (abandoned at birth and they don't know where she's from, but her skin is darker than would be average in Japan), and Rouge is Latina (didn't grow up in Japan but moved as a teen)
because it's inspired by idol anime series like deresute and love live, there's a lot of tropes in this AU -> an underdog newbie group going against all odds to reach greatness, overpowered rival group, competition at stake
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[Sonic/Tails/Amy/Knuckles]
Unit 93 — prototype name ‘KATS2’ [キャツツー]
sound inspo (AKA what their music vaguely sounds like): REIRIE - Marionette
-> newly formed unit just starting their journey as idols
Sonic:
solo sound inspo: Quubi - Take me now
-> her personality is a little closer to Boom Sonic than gameverse
-> she appears to be lazy and not care a lot because she's always skipping rehearsals -> she struggles to learn how to be passionate about idol stuff since she's never care about anything strongly before
-> she has a tendency to leave the dance rehearsals mid-lesson because 'I already got it, y'all can keep going but there's no point in me being here, right?', which initially results in pretty bad synergy with other members
-> she starts working harder when she realizes how highly Tails thinks of her and she finds herself not wanting to disappoint her
-> it's after she grows attached to everyone that she begins pushing herself -> she doesn't want to ruin Tails's image of her, she doesn't want to take away Amy's chance to debut, she doesn't want to spoil Knux's experience as a music producer
-> she also wants to prove to Shadow she's capable of taking things seriously
-> after she becomes more involved with idol stuff, she starts taking back-dancer gigs for other fellow idols from the same company, which teaches her a lot about adjusting to the group and not just doing her own thing
-> she envies Tails's and Amy's enthusiasm and passion
-> despite being in the same unit, she sees Knux as a rival and refuses to be outshined by her on stage
-> she's bilingual, which makes her even more popular, but she always thinks it's weird when people ask her to speak English even though they won't understand it
Amy:
solo sound inspo: = LOVE - Love Song ni Osowareru
-> unbreakable trainee who keeps going despite never getting a chance at a debut
-> she doesn't lack skill, she's pretty great as an idol, but because of her lack of stage presence she fails to stand out during auditions
-> despite acting confident, she's actually quite insecure because of all this
-> having been here for a long time, she's learned a lot about music and even though she doesn't know how to write anything herself, she helps Knux with the songs since she's the one who has the true understanding of idol music (she helps with lyrics especially)
-> she has a dozen potential call-and-response phrases written down for herself as well as the other members, but she hasn't made the decision yet
-> she has a little bit of a crush on Sonic, but hides it (she doesn't realize how obvious it is to everyone)
-> she's very scary when stopping fights between Sonic and Knux
Tails:
solo sound inspo: Lilja Katsuragi - Atmosphere
-> the protagonist
-> falls in love with idols when she sees Sonic perform on her debut live (she never saw it as a failed live) and makes it her goal to become one, that's why she auditions for the exact same company and by some miracle passes
-> she can be overly technical, never taking creative liberties or experimenting, which affects her musical performance
-> used to be bullied as a kid — (Sonic has actually helped her at the time too, but Sonic doesn't even remember the encounter, and Tails doesn't recognize Sonic after she's transitioned -> at the time, Sonic had given her a star sticker, and she's loved stars since) — so she has a low self-esteem -> she hopes she can become more confident as she steps on stage
-> her and Amy end up being centers for most songs
-> she's a little bit of a sound engineering nerd and can name every brand of stage equipment and how they differ
-> she's always the last one to leave the rehearsal room
Knuckles:
solo sound inspo: Aimyon - Ai wo tsutaetaidatoka
-> she thinks Amy's fan service (愛嬌) (and her attempts at making her do the same) is embarrassing, so she's known (and loved by the fans) for her wooden delivery of staple cringy-sounding cutesy phrases
-> before she became more recognizable as an idol, people would always assume she didn't speak Japanese and would try to speak English to her (she does not speak English, she grew up in Japan and only speaks Japanese)
-> she never met her parents but she knows they were musicians and she started playing the guitar to feel some sort of connection to them
-> since she's self-taught, she has a bunch of bad habits, especially with her elementary understanding of the piano (when Shadow sees her play at some point, she needs to leave the room so she doesn't get a headache)
-> she writes most of the lyrics, but Amy often has to correct her drafts to hell and back because they're not idol-like at all
-> when it comes to dancing, she's the dark sheep of the unit -> for some reason, she just can't get her head and body to be on the same page, which is surprising because she's extremely athletic and visits the gym five times a week
-> that's why she truly shines on stage if she gets to play an instrument live and not have to move around much
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[Shadow/Rouge]
Team Dark — no prototype name (can't think of anything)
sound inspo: Phantom Siita - Mou Iikai?
-> two top-of-the-charts solo idols and a faceless producer responsible for some of the biggest hits of the international charts (known by most as ΩMEGA) form a unit to participate in an idol group competition and win the grand price
Shadow:
solo sound inspo: RONDO - BLACK LOTUS
-> refuses to call Sonic her rival (as if they're on the same level) -> is forced to, though, after she loses to her
-> needlessly edgy and rude to other idols, but surprisingly polite to the staff
-> is classically trained in piano and violin, but also knows the basics of the guitar, acoustic bass, and shamisen
-> never even considered doing anything with her musical skills, and even as she was scouted on the street, she almost threw their business card away, but she ended up taking the chance for Maria's sake -> she needed the money, and Maria has always loved to listen to her play
-> (Maria is still alive in this AU, but she's bed-ridden in a hospital -> she's proud of how far Shadow has made it and she's happy to see her work so hard for something, she doesn't realize Shadow is only doing it for her)
-> inevitably, when Maria dies, Shadow entirely graduates from being an idol and quits music all together -> which makes Sonic angry, because she refuses to lose her biggest rival — Sonic is eventually the main reason she reconnects with music again
-> only then does she start exploring her 'true sound' and writes her own music, not music that she knows will sell, but music that she knows is her own, one that Maria would have loved
-> her rebrand makes her lose a lot of fans as her sound changes, but it's okay because she's finally herself
Rouge:
solo sound inspo: Kanade Hayami - Hotel Moonside
-> she doesn't write her own music, but she likes her songs being bassy and EDM-inspired — something fun to dance to, as other than being a Visual, she also specializes in dancing
-> she travels a lot (and is multilingual, fluent in Japanese, English, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese)
-> she actually lies a lot about little things and nobody knows what's true anymore (is 'Rouge' even her real name?), even fellow company members aren't sure when she's telling the truth
-> she loves flashy spectacular live performances that some (Shadow.) might call over-the-top
-> she doesn't usually care about new idols joining the company, but Shadow instantly caught her attention with how well she'd 'lie' when singing as if she actually cared
-> she's partially responsible for Shadow's success, as after she took notice of her, she'd always request Shadow to be her back-dancer or to have her appear in her music videos, which gave Shadow a lot of new opportunities
-> she also sees a lot of potential in Unit 93 and considers them worthy rivals (despite their amateurish skills at that point) before Shadow even acknowledges them -> she's great at judging character and knows Tails is the most dangerous out of the four
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