Aikatsu! (anime)

* Original key visual
* Season 2's key visual
* Season 3's key visual (1st Half)
* Season 3's key visual (2nd Half)
* Season 4's key visual
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**Aikatsu!** (アイカツ！, *****Aikatsu!*****) is the anime adaption of its original arcade collectible game, *Data Carddass Aikatsu!*. The series is produced by the 9th studio of Sunrise, Telecom Animation Film, and BN Studios, and began airing on October 8, 2012.

The second season which is produced by Sunrise's 5th studio, was confirmed along with the arcade game "2014 Series" and began airing on October 3, 2013.

Season 3 was confirmed along with the arcade game's 2015 Series and began airing on October 2, 2014, with Akari Ōzora replacing Ichigo as the protagonist.

A movie adaptation was announced on February 27, 2014 and premiered on December 13, 2014.

A music awards special movie was announced in June, 2015 and premiered on August 22, 2015.

Season 4 was confirmed along with the arcade game's 2016 Series and will begin airing on October 1, 2015.

Due for no reason, Season 5 was planned during 2016, but it has been cancelled. This will be marked final season 4 for Episode 178. Since it was followed by Aikatsu Stars! Anime Series.

In mid-September, *Aikatsu!* was green-lit for release in Indonesia and is slated to premiere there October 20, 2014 along with the DCD Collection. On the other hand, Aikatsu has been airing on Indonesian TV Network RCTI since September 20, 2014.

* More Information can seen here.

A while after the second season started, South Korea had their Korean Dubbed Version of *Aikatsu!* premiere on October 7, 2013. The cards are released in packages with cards mixed from numerous rarities, brands and collections.

Beginning from October 17, 2014, Taiwan has aired their Taiwanese Dubbed *Aikatsu!* on YoYo TV, and gained popularity from the country, so as having their version of the DCD game and collection released.

Hong Kong has also bought copyrights and had season 1 premiere on January 7, 2014 every Tuesday and Wednesday on the channel TVB Jade in both Cantonese and Japanese, and had Season 2 premiere on January 7, 2015, and Season 3 in mid-November, 2016 from every Monday to Friday.

## Plot

*Main article: List of Aikatsu! Episodes*
### Season 1

Ichigo Hoshimiya is an ordinary middle schooler who works at her mother's bento shop. One day, after attending an idol concert (featuring Mizuki Kanzaki) with Aoi Kiriya (her best friend who has a dedicated knowledge for idols), and Raichi Hoshimiya (Ichigo's little brother), Ichigo was left with a huge impression to become an idol. Later, Aoi told Ichigo that she is going to enroll in a school known as Starlight School (a female-only school dedicated in training girls to become idols) and suggests that Ichigo should enroll with her. Soon after taking their respective entrance examinations and getting accepted into the academy, Ichigo begins her life as an idol-in-training.

The series itself primarily focuses on Ichigo's journey to become a famous idol. She goes through the desire to become an idol while going through hardships of distrust.

### Season 2

With the rise of the new idol school, "Dream Academy", Starlight School has been placed in a predicament! With large rookie idol with perfect pitch "Seira Otoshiro", and producer-in-training Kī Saegusa, Starlight Academy will start facing new rivals which appear one after another, multiplied by the rivalry to take the seat of top idol! The girls driven into Idol Activities with overlap, encounter, and interact with new rivals. Ichigo and the others' Idol Activities will continue to go on!

### Season 3

This season marks the end of the central protagonist, Ichigo Hoshimiya and the first generation and the beginning of the second generation. Middle school first year, Akari Ōzora is now the new central protagonist and along with her new friends, Sumire Hikami, the "Blooming Ice Flower of the Stage", and veteran idol Hinaki Shinjō, they will continue to do Idol Activities together and succeed in their senpais' footsteps!

### Season 4

Deciding to embark on a new journey, the girls of Luminas hop onto the Aikatsu! Wagon and hold a nation wide tour around Japan. Along the way, they encounter various idols coming from different areas of the country. In Hokkaido, they meet Nono Daichi and Lisa Shirakaba, two average girls, and inspire them to become passionate Aikatsu! idols at Starlight School.

## Notable Characters

### Primary Cast

#### Season 1

Ichigo Hoshimiya is the main protagonist in the anime series. She's a young middle-schooler who works in her mother's bento shop. Originally, her dream is to work in her mother's bento shop. Encouraged by her mother and her friend, Aoi, Ichigo becomes a student of Starlight Academy to become an idol like Mizuki.Aoi Kiriya is Ichigo's best friend who has a great knowledge for idols. Since she was a child, Aoi was intrigued with idols, she watches them as a hobby. Eventually, she becomes an expert in knowing idols.Ran Shibuki is a lonesome student of Starlight Academy and one of Ichigo's classmates. She often oversees the friendship between Ichigo and Aoi and knowing that the two won't be friends for long.Mizuki Kanzaki is the number one idol and top role-model in Starlight Academy, who is a year above Ichigo. She started off as an elementary model then mysteriously disappeared from the public for a whole year and came back as a student in Starlight Academy. Mizuki doesn't show her hard-working side to many people and is thought of as a genius. She is highly idolised by Ichigo and inspired her to enroll into Starlight Academy.Otome Arisugawa is a bubbly girl who is in a different class from Ichigo. She admires cute and pop things including popcorns, cats and rainbow, and is best known for her catchphrase, "Love You!". Even though Otome is a bit of a klutz like Ichigo, she fears that she will make a mistake during the real thing. Therefore, Otome practises for jobs at least a year beforehand. Otome is very hard working and performs shows with all her heart.Yurika Tōdō is Otome's classmate who is self-called "vampire over 600-year-old". She generally walkes around with an umbrella to shield her from the sunlight. Outside of the public eye, however, she is a more plain girl who is addicted to vampire romance manga and wants to use the settings to make her stand out, which only Ichigo and her friends know of. Contradictory to her character, she likes garlic-flavoured ramen.Her name is Sakura Kitaōji, like Ichigo, she was inspired by Mizuki to become an idol. She comes from a famous kabuki troupe family "Kitaōji Theater", and as such she has the genetic habit of breaking into theatrical performance when reminiscing about things. She is one year younger than Ichigo and was her mentee when she first arrived in Starlight Academy.Kaede Ichinose is a transfer in Starlight Academy to become Mizuki's partner in Tristar. A returnee from America who is a commercial model of her father's American sushi chain "Kaede Sushi", she came from America and uses a lot of English phrases. She has a habit of kissing people she meets on the cheek. She also can do magic and enjoys performing various tricks.

### Secondary Cast

* **Orihime Mitsuishi**: The headmistress of Starlight School and **Hime** of the legendary idol unit, Masquerade.
* **Raichi Hoshimiya**: Ichigo's little brother. He's a big fan of Mizuki and has a crush on Aoi.
* **Ringo Hoshimiya**: The mother of Ichigo and Raichi. Ringo is a pleasant mother who owns the bento shop, Nandemo Bento. In Episode 48, she is revealed to be **Miya**, the other half Masquerade.
* **Johnny Bepp**: The dance instructor of Starlight Academy. Johnny is a cool-looking hotshot with an energetic personality. His name is a play on American actor Johnny Depp.
* **Naoto Suzukawa**: The groundskeeper of Starlight Academy who's secretly the vocalist and leader of the indie rock band More Than True. As of Episode 127, he is now a new teacher at Starlight Academy.
* **Tiara Yumesaki**: The headmistress of Dream Academy who worked as one of Masquerade's staff in college. She is the former president of an IT company and Naoto's older sister.
* **Shion Kamiya**: A talented teenage actress from Starlight Academy who is very dedicated to her work. She is a member of Powapowa-Puririn alongside Otome and Sakura.
* **Noel Otoshiro**: Seira's little sister. She is a fan of Ichigo's and is close friends with Raichi.
* **Hikari Minowa**: A popular net idol from Starlight Academy and Ran's rival.
* **Yū Hattori**: Akari's close friend and former roommate.

## *Aikatsu!* in Other Languages

*Aikatsu! -Aidoru Katsudō*
 Chinese
 Cantonese
 Taiwanese
 Indonesian
*Ai Em Seuta!*

## Staff

* **Planning, Original Work**: Sunrise (Episode 1 ~ 126) → BN Pictures (Episode 127)
* **Original Concept**: Bandai
* **Director**: Ryuichi Kimura
* **Series Composition**: Yoichi Kato
* **Character Design**: Hiroko Yaguchi
* **Character Design Assistance**:
	+ Ayumu Kawamura
	+ Shigeki Fujiwara
	+ Kaori Kimoto (Episode 1 - 24)
* **Supervisor**: Seiji Mizushima
* **CG Director**:
	+ Kenya Taniguchi
	+ Shin Kitada (Season 2)
* **Design Works**:
	+ Kayoko Ishikawa
	+ Satomi Watabe
* **Art Director**: Yūji Ōnuki
* **Color Scheme**: Masumi Ootsuka
* **Director of Photography**:
	+ Junko Miyakawa (Season 1)
	+ Hiroshi Ōgami (Season 2)
* **Editing**: Yoshihiro Kasahara
* **Music**: MONACA (Keiichi Okabe, Ryuichi Takada, Kakeru Ishihama, Keigo Hoashi, Hidekazu Tanaka, Kuniyuki Takahashi (starting Season 2))
* **Music Production**:
	+ MONACA
	+ Sunrise Music Publishing
* **Music Production Assistance**:
	+ Lantis
	+ TV Tokyo Music
* **Sound Director**: Hiromi Kikuta
* **Executive Producer**:
	+ Yukio Kawasaki (TV Tokyo)
	+ Keisuke Furusawa
	+ Masaki Endou
	+ Masayuki Ozaki
* **Producer**:
	+ Nara Hatsuo (Season 1)
	+ Yōsuke Imai (Season 1)
	+ Ryuta Wakanabe
	+ Nobuyuki Hosoya (Season 2)
	+ Takanori Itō (Season 2)
* **Animation Producer**:
	+ Haruhisa Yamamichi
	+ Kōhei Itō
* **Animation Production Cooperation**: Telecom Animation Film (Season 1)
* **Production**: TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Sunrise (Episode 1 ~ 126) → BN Pictures (Episode 127)

## Videos

*Please cooperate with us by not spamming this section. This section is solely for official videos like TV ads or promotional videos.*
劇場版アイカツ！仮 超特報 12月公開Teaser PV for the movie (March 7, 2014)映画『劇場版アイカツ！』特報完成！Official trailer of *Aikatsu! The Movie*アイカツ！プロモーションＶＴＲ『アニメダイジェスト』を公開♪Third season confirmation trailer (September 1st, 2014)
## References

1. ↑ All information on this page belongs to Aikatsu! Wiki.
2. ↑ http://aikatsu.com/pdf/2014\_pressrelease.pdf

## External Links

* http://www.aikatsu.net/ - Official portal site by Sunrise
* http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/aikatsu/index2.html - Official site by TV Tokyo