The Idolm@ster SideM Film Opens in Japan on 20 November; Male-Cast Idol Anime Hold Just 16 Free Episodes Here
A SideM film and the franchise's first console game are coming. None of the five SideM pages on AnimeSphere offers a free episode, and of 133 idol entries with a primarily male cast, only Gravitation runs whole, for readers in Canada and the United States.
By Riley Kuroda · AnimeSphere staff · September 14, 2026
The Idolm@ster SideM, the part of the Idolm@ster franchise built around male idols, has a feature film opening in Japanese cinemas on 20 November and its first console game on the way. It is a fair moment to ask which idol-tagged anime with a primarily male cast can be watched free here today. The answer is short: one complete series whose uploads are allowed in only two countries, and three episodes of another that currently play with Spanish subtitles.
The film and the game
The film is titled Gekijō-ban Idolm@ster SideM F@ntastic Battle Fes: Who goes first. It was announced on Sunday, on the second day of SideM's 11th Stage concerts, as Anime News Network reports. Takanori Urui directs, with SIKAKU and hotarubi animating.
The game, from Bandai Namco and D3 Publisher for Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch, is an adventure title with a new story in which the player schedules and produces 49 idols in 16 units.
No SideM entry is free here. Our index holds five, and none of their pages states a free episode count:
- THE IDOLM@STER SideM, a 2017 television series of 14 episodes
- THE IDOLM@STER SideM Wakeatte Mini!, a 2018 series of 12 short episodes
- three original video releases from 2018 and 2019
The film is not in our index yet.
Where the free idol episodes sit
Our index gives the idol tag to 793 entries. Of those, 21 state a free episode count, 185 episodes in all. The primarily male cast tag appears on 133 of the 793, and only 2 of those 133 state a free count, 16 episodes between them. Among the idol-tagged entries, those tagged for a primarily female cast account for 108 free episodes across 9 entries, and those with neither cast tag account for 61 across 10.
The 2011 Uta no Prince Sama television series, IDOLiSH7 (2018), Ensemble Stars! (2019), B-PROJECT (2016) and Paradox Live THE ANIMATION (2023) all carry both the idol and male cast tags. None of those pages states a free episode.
One whole run, in two countries
Gravitation is one of the two, and the only complete run. Our index records it as Gravitation TV, a television series first aired in 2000, carrying the idol tag at 88 out of 100. Its page states 13 free episodes against a recorded total of 13, the whole series. The uploads come from the Nozomi Entertainment channel, the episode number in each title matches ours, and each runs between 1,319 and 1,412 seconds against a recorded 23 minutes, so these are full episodes.
All 13 uploads are allowed in exactly two countries, Canada and the United States. A reader anywhere else may not be able to play them.
The other entry, currently with Spanish subtitles
The only other male-cast idol entry with free episodes is DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR, a 2026 television series of 12 episodes. Its page states three free: episodes 1, 2 and 3. Each of those pages currently plays an upload from the Crunchyroll en Español channel, with an automatic Japanese caption track, a Spanish subtitle track and no English track. What these pages play right now is Japanese audio with Spanish subtitles, not English subtitles.