User blog:Staraptor Kwan/Osamu Tezuka Museum's Next Exhibit Highlights Aikatsu! Anime

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Hyōgo Prefecture announced "Tezukatsu! ~Tezuka Osamu x Aikatsu!Series~" as its 73rd exhibit on Friday. The exhibit will run at the museum from March 1 to June 25. The collaboration image below features Aikatsu Stars!'s Yume dressed as the title character from Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight manga and anime. Meanwhile, Akari cosplays as Marvelous Melmo's lead, and Ichigo channels Black Jack's Pinoko.

The exhibit will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Aikatsu! anime. The exhibit will introduce the Aikatsu! series' idols, display anime materials, and feature the latest information about the Aikatsu Friends! anime that will premiere in April.

Aikatsu Friends! is the third entry in the Aikatsu! franchise, which began with the original arcade card game in October 2012. The Aikatsu Friends! Data Carddass arcade game will also launch with the anime 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.

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.

The arcade games have shipped over 250 million cards.

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum's current exhibit, "'80s Girly Collection ~'Kawaii' wa Jikan o Koeru~" ('80s Girly Collection: "Cute" Crosses Over Time), showcases "fancy goods" from the 1980s, including many items inspired by Tezuka's Unico manga. The exhibit opened on October 27, and it will run until February 20.