Aikatsu! or Aikatsu! Idol Activity (アイカツ! アイドルカツドウ, Aikatsu! Aidoru Katsudō!) is an arcade collectible card game in Bandai's Data Carddass line of machines, which launched in October 2012 . The game revolves around using collectible cardsfeaturing various clothes to help aspiring idols pass auditions. An anime television adaptation by Sunrise (and later by its subsidiary Bandai Namco Pictures ) began airing on TV Tokyo from October 8, 2012 . Two films were released in December 2014 and August 2015 respectively. Three manga adaptations have been published by Shogakukan, along with four Nintendo 3DS games published by Bandai Namco Games . The series was succeeded by Aikatsu Stars !