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Aikatsu! Franchise Gets New Anime Film in Summer 2016

The end credits of the Aikatsu! Music Award: Minna de Shō o Moraima SHOW! film revealed on Saturday that the second main film in the franchise will open in summer 2016. The staff at Toei noted at a greeting event at the Shibuya Wald 9 theater in Tokyo on Saturday that they have not yet decided the film's details aside from its release period.

Although Aikatsu! Music Award: Minna de Shō o Moraima SHOW! is technically the second film in the franchise, the staff consider the new film opening in 2016 as the second Gekijōban Aikatsu! (Aikatsu The Movie) in the franchise. The first Gekjōban Aikatsu! film opened in Japan in December 2014.

Aikatsu! Music Award: Minna de Shō o Moraima SHOW! opened on Saturday in 50 theaters throughout Japan in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D. The first 100,000 film attendees will receive a 3D Aikatsu! card. In the 50-minute film, an Aikatsu! All-Star awards ceremony takes place. The film includes songs and stages featured throughout the anime series.

Shinya Watada (Aikatsu! episode director, Gundam Build Fighters Try) directed the film at Bandai Namco Pictures. Ryuichi Kimura served as supervisor, and Hiroko Yaguchi designed the characters.

The first 50-episode Aikatsu! television anime series premiered in 2012. Daisuki began streaming the series last September, and it describes the series:

Ichigo Hoshimiya is an average first-year middle school student, but after her best friend Aoi encourages her to enter Starlight Academy, a famous idol-training school, Ichigo's whole life changes. She meets various rivals, becomes proficient in abilities that are integral to idols, and uses Aikatsu! cards while challenging herself with an array of auditions.

The curtain has risen on newbie idol Ichigo's cheerful, energetic idol activity!

The second half of the third season of the Aikatsu! TV anime series premiered in April, and the fourth season will premiere in October.

Source: Cinema Today