Film to screen alongside new anime short

Bandai Namco Pictures' Aikatsu! franchise announced on Monday that a new Aikatsu Stars! television anime series will premiere in April. Additionally, the company announced that it will open Gekijōban Aikatsu Stars! (Aikatsu Stars! The Movie) on August 13. Bandai Namco Pictures has revealed a key visual for the television anime series (pictured below).

A new anime short tentatively titled "Aikatsu! ~Nerawreta Mahō no Aikatsu Card~" (Aikatsu! ~Aiming For the Magic Aikatsu Card~) will also screen alongside the Gekijōban Aikatsu Stars! film. The film and the short will mark the first time the franchise is screening a double feature.

The television anime series will premiere on TV Tokyo and its affiliates on April 7 at 6:25 p.m., and it will air on Thursdays. The show will also air on BS Japan on Mondays at 5:00 p.m.

The series will feature a new protagonist named Yume Nijino. Yume aims to become a top idol, and she enrolls in the Yotsuboshi Gakuen (Four Stars Academy). This academy has a special group called the S4, who are the top four active idols in the school. Yume and the other first-year students aim to become a part of the S4.

The film opening on August 13 will revolve around the students of the Yotsuboshi Gakuen traveling to a southern island in search for the "Legendary Dress."

Bandai Namco Pictures had registered a trademark for Aikatsu Stars! earlier this month for animation, games, character shows, books, music, and merchandise. Bandai Namco Pictures had announced last August that a new film in the Aikatsu franchise would open this summer.

The first 50-episode Aikatsu! television anime series premiered in October 2012, and the fourth "season" (fourth year of broadcast) premiered in October. The franchise's first anime film opened in Japan in December 2014, and the second anime film, Aikatsu! Music Award: Minna de Shō o Moraima SHOW!, opened in Japan last August.

Bandai's original Aikatsu! arcade card game began operation in Japan in October 2012. The franchise has also inspired four Nintendo 3DS games.

Images © BNP / Bandai, Aikatsu Stars The Movie

Images via Eiga.com

Source: Animate.tv