TV Anime 'Aikatsu Stars!' Announced with New Movie [Update 2/27]

by arsonal
Feb 21, 2016 6:40 PM | 34 Comments

The official website of the Aikatsu! movies has announced that the second installment will be titled Aikatsu Stars! Movie. The movie will open in theaters on August 13, 2016, and will be double-billed with a special anime titled Aikatsu!: Nerawareta Mahou no Aikatsu Card.

Aikatsu Stars! is also the title of a new TV anime series that will air on TV Tokyo beginning April 7. It will air on Thursdays at 6:25 p.m. (Aikatsu! is currently airing in the 6:30 p.m. time slot.) A key visual for the new series (pictured) was also revealed.

The new series follows Yume Nijino, who enters Yotsuboshi Academy and aims to become a top idol. In the movie, the students of the academy will travel to an island in the south in search of a legendary dress.

Source: Animate.tv, Eiga Natalie

Update February 22
An official website has opened for Aikatsu Stars! indicating that the series will air on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., in the time slot currently occupied by Aikatsu! Director Ryuuichi Kimura has also confirmed on his Twitter account that Aikatsu! will end its broadcast in March.

Official site: http://www.aikatsu.com/stars/

Update February 27
The Aikatsu Stars! Project Announcement Event has announced the voice cast members of the series. Production staff members were also revealed in new promotional material released earlier this week.

Cast
Yume Nijino: Miyu Tomita (Oshiete! Galko-chan)
Laura Sakuraba: Ayaka Asai (Hibike! Euphonium)
Hime Shiratori: Minami Tsuda (Pretty Rhythm: Dear My Future)
Tsubasa Kisaragi: Sumire Morohoshi (Aikatsu!)
Yuzu Nikaidou: Azusa Tadokoro (Musaigen no Phantom World)
Yozora Kasumi: Ayaka Ohashi (The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls)

Staff
Director: Teruo Satou (Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn)
Series Composition: Yuuko Kakihara (Digimon Adventure tri.)
Character Design: Yukiko Aikyou (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso)
Supervisor: Ryuuichi Kimura (Aikatsu!)
Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures

Opening Theme: "Start Line!" by AIKATSU☆STARS!
Ending Theme: "episode Solo" by AIKATSU☆STARS!

Aikatsu! Project Announcement Event

20 of 34 Comments Recent Comments

The voice cast is decent.

Feb 28, 2016 8:37 AM by Hoppy

Max said:
I want to sigh in the general direction of whoever the art director is. Pastel characters on a pastel background looks terrible.

But it's always been that way.

Anyways, looks like we got a fresh cast coming up. Some old and new faces, can't wait for the new project to kick off!

Feb 28, 2016 12:02 AM by Aqutan

I want to sigh in the general direction of whoever the art director is. Pastel characters on a pastel background looks terrible.

Feb 27, 2016 5:41 AM by vegetablespirit

News Update
The Aikatsu Stars! Project Announcement Event has announced the voice cast members of the series. Production staff members were also revealed in new promotional material released earlier this week.

Cast
Yume Nijino: Miyu Tomita (Oshiete! Galko-chan)
Laura Sakuraba: Ayaka Asai (Hibike! Euphonium)
Hime Shiratori: Minami Tsuda (Pretty Rhythm: Dear My Future)
Tsubasa Kisaragi: Sumire Morohoshi (Aikatsu!)
Yuzu Nikaidou: Azusa Tadokoro (Musaigen no Phantom World)
Yozora Kasumi: Ayaka Ohashi (The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls)

Staff
Director: Teruo Satou (Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn)
Series Composition: Yuuko Kakihara (Digimon Adventure tri.)
Character Design: Yukiko Aikyou (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso)
Supervisor: Ryuuichi Kimura (Aikatsu!)
Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures

Opening Theme: "Start Line!" by AIKATSU☆STARS!
Ending Theme: "episode Solo" by AIKATSU☆STARS!

Aikatsu! Project Announcement Event

Feb 27, 2016 1:20 AM by arsonal

oliviette said:
i'm so mad, how could they just abruptly end OG aikatsu like that
also character designs for aikatsu stars is...ugly

ugly huh? we will see about that but for me i'll give this a try and a chance! since i'm also addicted to Aikatsu :)

Feb 23, 2016 12:37 AM by Prankster_001

Hoppy said:
Yeah, a single idol anime is not meant to have 100-200 episodes. This needs around 50-60.

I'm not sure - Aikatsu is strange one: they are trying to make stuff more grounded in reality (to some extent of course - as pointed young idols wouldn't be taking part in planing an event) there is limited amount of things they could do here. Somehow I think they were surprised by success of it: which lead to some weird decisions - DreAca was fine idea which was very poorly executed. And they went back to what worked earlier... with rather poor results.

Still I can imagine something like PriPara going for 100-200 episodes. Setting is crazy to begin with so if they decide to put aliens, time travel or whatever wouldn't be so weird.

Feb 22, 2016 3:24 PM by Dalek-baka

mirana said:
So Aikatsu it's finally gonna end huh. I wish I watched the series from the beginning...
@gisselle I bet you'll be happy with this.

Oh my goooooood of course! I'm so happy! Looks super moe, I'm so ready.

Feb 22, 2016 2:23 PM by busan

Who knew that an idol show could last this long?

Feb 22, 2016 1:42 PM by malvarez1

Dalek-baka said:
well sales dropped a lot (in 3Q of 2014 it had 9 billion yen, in 3Q 2015 it was 3.5) so no wonder Bandai decided to do something with it.

I like idea of new school and it would be better if they went Precure route - each season something different (like different place, to start with). maybe from time to time crossover competition.
Aikatsu was fine at first but it started to feel like they are just repeating stuff, just with way weaker characters - Sumire was great but Akari as main character was just meh.

Yeah, a single idol anime is not meant to have 100-200 episodes. This needs around 50-60.

Feb 22, 2016 1:29 PM by Hoppy

I was expecting it to reach 200 episodes (poor Nono and Risa), but I guess they're just going to finish the Starlight Queen Cup and wrap it up thereafter. It is a little bittersweet; I still love the show, but it's never been as good as the first season was. I'll always miss Ichigo.

Anyway, I'll give Aikatsu Stars! a shot. Maybe the reboot will ultimately be for the better.

Feb 22, 2016 1:00 PM by Florete

well sales dropped a lot (in 3Q of 2014 it had 9 billion yen, in 3Q 2015 it was 3.5) so no wonder Bandai decided to do something with it.

I like idea of new school and it would be better if they went Precure route - each season something different (like different place, to start with). maybe from time to time crossover competition.
Aikatsu was fine at first but it started to feel like they are just repeating stuff, just with way weaker characters - Sumire was great but Akari as main character was just meh.

Feb 22, 2016 12:15 PM by Dalek-baka

i'm so mad, how could they just abruptly end OG aikatsu like that
also character designs for aikatsu stars is...ugly

Feb 22, 2016 11:11 AM by arashian

Frezlaj said:
Looks too moe for Aikatsu, I wonder what happened...

It needs to be extra moe to compete with Precure.

Feb 22, 2016 8:55 AM by Hoppy

the timing for this is so bad and confusing but i'm still really excited!! i do wish aikatsu would get a proper final season/ending but i also feel grateful that we even got as much as we did. plus we still have photokatsu!

Feb 22, 2016 7:05 AM by wink

Looks too moe for Aikatsu, I wonder what happened...

Feb 22, 2016 6:41 AM by Frezlaj

@Palea i'm already also in my deppest memories of this Aikatsu and the fave characters that we all love will be our forever comrades and also RIP to the current series and welcome the new one :3

Feb 22, 2016 5:05 AM by Prankster_001

I'm absolutely devastated. Aikatsu means so much to me I'm crushed that its going to end. I could have watched it for 1000's of episodes and I had so many hopes for it. I don't feel ready at all for this show to end, and I don't feel ready to leave Starlight and Dream Academy, its like moving away from my best friends.

That being said, I will definitely watch Aikatsu Stars, I am committed to Aikatsu and if in the long run it means more from this world than there would have been, I can only be happy about that.

RIP Aikatsu, and thanks for the memories.

Feb 22, 2016 3:11 AM by Palea

I find it strange that they're cutting season 4 short by half a year, it's quite a shame. Was looking forward to 200+ episodes :(

In any case, I'll watch Aikatsu Stars!, but not right away. I was already thinking of putting Aikatsu! on on-hold for a while, I still enjoy the show but I haven't gotten into it as much as I used to.

Feb 22, 2016 2:07 AM by morshuwarrior

Kagami_Hiiragi said:

Max said:

Aikatsu switched to 2-cour runs in the fall, so this will complete it.

That's true, though I still feel like its getting cancelled over finishing. Especially since a movie of Aikatsu is due Summer 2016 with Akari and friends.

If it wasn't cancelled and gets a convincing ending, I still won't be satisfied.

That's how it feels as they have not handled the transition between the two shows well. This has been in the works for some time, probably since last summer, and season 4 has experienced falling quality episode by episode, especially with the second half. There's been signs like a lower number of new songs compared to previous seasons (the endless train of lucky train! while it is a nice track becomes boring after a while), recycling old songs a lot, announcing the movie for summer not winter, ending the Japan tour arc seemingly early (and with a lot of filler), Starlight Queen Cup being earlier than usual (and with a lot of filler), manga being cancelled and so on.

If they'd been clearer that season 4 was the last season of original Aikatsu and adjusted plot development and maintained quality I think it would have been better. Hopefully we'll get a good few final episodes and see Akari's arc off with a bang.

At the end of the day though the anime serves to sell the arcade game, which has been struggling against PriPara. I feel it's the right time to reboot the franchise but a shame all the current anime and merchandise has to be cut short to go with it.

Feb 21, 2016 11:25 PM by Onosume

i'll definitely watch this to crave my liking for Aikatsu :)

Feb 21, 2016 11:03 PM by Prankster_001

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