Aikatsu Stars!: Hoshiboshi no Progress dated for January 22, 2027, as Yume and friends head for the Venus Jamboree
The franchise's first new Aikatsu Stars! film in a decade revealed its release date, key visual, main trailer and theme song "Five stars" at an Ikebukuro fan meeting on October 17, with the original director, writer and character designer back.
Graduation is only weeks away for Yume Nijino and her friends when Neo Venus Ark's Elsa Forte asks them to take the stage at the Venus Jamboree, a concert that brings together top performers from every corner of the globe. That is the setup of Aikatsu Stars!: Hoshiboshi no Progress, which now has a firm opening day. Bandai Namco Pictures announced on October 17 that the film reaches Japanese cinemas nationwide on Friday, January 22, 2027, narrowing the "early 2027" window it had been carrying.
Fans heard the news first, at an Ikebukuro event in Tokyo where the key visual and main trailer were also unveiled. According to the press release, a mysterious cruise ship called the Petit Venus Ark also turns up in the story, and the girls keep up their idol activities while each of them weighs her own dream and what comes after school.
A tenth-anniversary return
The film is billed as the tenth-anniversary project for Aikatsu Stars!, the 2016 entry in Bandai's long-running idol franchise. Television carried it for two years, 2016 to 2018, across 100 episodes, a run AniList splits into Aikatsu Stars! and its second year, Hoshi no Tsubasa, at 50 apiece. Its only theatrical outing so far, Aikatsu Stars! The Movie, reached cinemas in August 2016, so this is the cast's first new film in roughly ten years.
The people who made the series are back for it. Teruo Sato, who helmed the broadcast run, directs again; Yuko Kakihara writes the scenario; and Yukiko Aikyo returns as character designer. BN Pictures is credited with planning, original work and production, Bandai with the original concept, and Bandai Namco Pictures distributes.
Who is singing, and who is speaking
The trailer gives the first listen to the main theme, "Five stars." Its vocalists are Sena, Rie, Miki, Nanase and Kana; Miho Karasawa wrote the words, while Kenichi Nagahashi of agehasprings Party handled composition and arrangement. The ending song, "Anata e," adds Miho, Ruka and Risa to that lineup; Karasawa again wrote the lyrics and Tomohiro Akiura of agehasprings Party wrote and arranged it.
The voice cast is the TV series' own. Miyu Tomita plays Yume, Ayaka Asai is Rola Sakuraba, Ai Yamaguchi is Koharu Nanakura, Natsumi Murakami is Ako Saotome, Yume Miyamoto is Mahiru Kasumi and Minami Tsuda is Hime Shiratori. Sumire Morohoshi (Tsubasa Kisaragi), Azusa Tadokoro (Yuzu Nikaido), Ayaka Ohashi (Yozora Kasumi), Reina Ueda (Lily Shirogane), Yoko Hikasa (Elsa Forte), Natsumi Fujiwara (Rei Kizaki), Nako Eguchi (Kirara Hanazono) and Kaori Maeda (Aria Futaba) are also listed.
Tickets and promotion
≠ME members Hana Ogi, Hitomi Suzuki and Shiori Nagata have been named the film's publicity squad. A second Mubichike prepaid card is released on October 23 for 1,600 yen, bundled while supplies last with a five-postcard set in one of three random designs.
