Aikatsu! or Aikatsu! Idol Activity (アイカツ! アイドルカツドウ, Aikatsu! Aidoru Katsudō!) is a multimedia franchise spawned from an arcade collectible card game in Bandai's Data Carddass line of machines, which launched in October 2012.[4] The game revolves around using collectible cards featuring various clothes to help aspiring idols pass auditions. An anime television adaptation by Sunrise began airing on TV Tokyo from October 8, 2012 to March 31, 2016.[5][6] In 2015, production switched from Sunrise to the studio's subsidiary Bandai Namco Pictures. Four films were released in December 2014, August 2015, August 2016, and January 2023 respectively. Three manga adaptations have been published by Shogakukan, along with four Nintendo 3DS games published by Bandai Namco Games.