User blog:Staraptor Kwan/Aikatsu Friends gets tie-in manga series

The April issue of Shogakukan's Ciao magazine revealed on Friday that the upcoming Aikatsu Friends! anime will have a tie-in manga that will launch in the magazine's next issue on April 3. Chihiro Komori will draw the manga.

The anime will premiere on TV Tokyo on April 5, and the accompanying Aikatsu Friends! Data Carddass arcade game will also launch in April.

The new anime will have a theme of "Aikatsu! with your friends!" and will center on a new protagonist named Aine Yūki, who is good at making friends, and is enrolled in Star Harmony Academy's general education track. She befriends Mio Minato, the school's top idol, and becomes an idol herself.

Aikatsu Friends! is the third entry in the Aikatsu! franchise, which began with the original arcade card game in October 2012. The original game inspired a television anime that ran from 2012 to 2016, and three anime films. The second entry in the franchise, Aikatsu Stars!, inspired a television anime that premiered on TV Tokyo and its affiliates in April 2016 and is currently airing. The series airs on Thursdays, and also airs on BS Japan on Mondays. Aikatsu Stars! received an anime film in August 2016.