User blog comment:Hielmiez/Aikatsu Friends! Next Aikatsu series?/@comment-5885873-20180125111103/@comment-26426093-20180125145206

That's literally what I feared the most; it is no coincidence that both this and the Pretty Series underwent hard reboots at the same stage, not to mention becoming more and more like Pretty Cure in terms of art style, basic premise and among other things.

Frankly speaking, if you took a look at the initial posters for Aikatsu Friends without the logo defining it as a Aikatsu spin-off and property of Bandai, you wouldn't even have guessed that it was Aikatsu and thought that it was some sort of magicial girl series with some idol elements thrown in-much like Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. That's how far the series has dropped since then.