Aikatsu!

Aikatsu! (アイカツ！) 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.

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.

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.

Season 1
Ichigo Hoshimiya was an ordinary middle schooler who worked 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.

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
 * CGI Comparison.pngCG 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
 * Lisani_vol14.2_mg-01402-c003-e1380865317683.jpg 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)