User blog comment:Dorayaki/The Fallen Stars? --- What have been occured to Aikatsu Stars!/@comment-26426093-20180206010328

Thank you, Dorayaki for listing out all the flaws which exist within the Aikatsu franchise that led to the regretful demise of Stars.

Now, we know. If it wasn't apparent before, it is now. How many times have Bandai lied to us? How many times have they promised us great things to come, only to pull the wool over our eyes and give us crap content? I still remember the time around 2 years ago, when the fanbase was promised that Stars would be the new way forward for Aikatsu. At that time, we were angry and sad that Season 4 had been rushed so as to be replaced by Stars!, only for Bandai to give their word to us, stating that Stars! would be a whole new series that had roots embedded within the original series spirit while taking on a new, fresh face.

Because of that "promise", we agreed to support Aikatsu Stars!. We were excited over the possibilities and new experiences that Stars would bring: new coords, new arcade content, new visuals, new graphics, new characters, a more darker and mature plot, better character development and so on.

And yet Bandai pulled the wool over our eyes again. Even with Season 1 having a rough but respectable start, we were still faithful. Until the bulk of everything that Dorayaki mentioned in his blog occured during Season 2, and all those valid points were almost enough to nearly send the franchise into total oblivion. Not only was the plot starting to get stale and enrage the anime fans with its unfair treatment of certain characters, the endless amount of recycled arcade content was more than enough to send even the most diehard DCD player into rage mode. Let's not even mention how the movie and the 3DS games sold poorly, to the point where money was being lost left and right.

To rub salt into the wound even further, it was at the same exact time period that Takara Tomy decided to man up after 3 consecutive years of dishing out their own crap content and come up with Idol Time, which had far more interesting variety and better content. The songs were actually good, the siliness of past seasons was toned down, the writers managed to come up with some interesting plot twists that intrigued viewers, male idols were given the proper amount of screentime and actual 3D performances (Bandai's salt must have been real for sure), knowing how exactly to capitalize on nostalgic fanservice (Hello Mia, bye 5th Anniversary), and give both new and old characters proper treatment. Then again, Takara Tomy kinda shot itself in the foot again with the release of Pri-chan, so at the very least both franchises get to face each other on equal terms for the first time ever.

Okay, that might have been excessive, and I get that not everything that went wrong has to be attributed to the staff who have worked hard to provide us with a flawed yet charmed series. For all its faults, Stars! still has some charms of its own that make it worth watching in a while, but in the end, it's sad knowing that there was so much potential at the very beginning, only for most of it to be wasted away in the end.