Noelle’s passionate Idol Activities, Aikatsu, is about to start!
That’s right! We’re already back in business, with the incredibly exciting season that I know some people were dying to see, Noelle and Dream Academy as the protagonist! Immediately we get an extremely Aikatsu episode, showing that just because this is a web anime, the quality is exactly as high as it always has been. There is nothing about this that indicates it will be any less than before. However, there are a few key points to mention that you should be aware of going forward.
- The episodes are half length, clocking twelve and a half minutes with no OP or ED
- The naming scheme appears to indicate that every two episodes put together will comprise one “whole” episode, although that is yet to be proven
- The web series airs once every two weeks, which for this one means that the first one was on last Saturday March 28th, and the next is April 11th
- Even though it “airs” on Saturday (Japan time), the high quality raws we use do not come out until Monday, so don’t expect a weekend release. This is a good thing, because the original in 480p was extremely ugly
Now this is just my speculation, but I expect that given the plot of the season and the pacing of this episode, this will continue for a full six months, probably for a total of 12-14 episodes. But I could be wrong, so don’t take that at face value.
Oh, and about how we’re naming the releases. You may have heard this series called “Dream Story”, but in actuality, that’s only the name of the DCD release, not the anime. According to the official Aikatsu website, this is simply called “Aikatsu on Parade Web Series”, and the official numbering starts from episode 1. That’s why we’re using this.
Pretty sad when a 12min web series has had more emotion and passion put in then the last two series Aikatsu! friends/Aikatsu Parade had in them.
This was a great can’t wait to see more.
Also we got news today as well Aikatsu! Singer Remi Mitani Goes on Hiatus
she did the voice of Otome Arisuga and Miyabi Fujiwara, and the second singing voice of Yurika Tōdō in the Aikatsu! franchise.
Link here: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-04-03/aikatsu-singer-remi-mitani-goes-on-hiatus/.158241
Not bad at all! And nice to see the transformation sequence is back.
Very cute first episode! I’m glad that DreAca gets a focus, especially because it takes us all the way back to OG Aikatsu, complete with the old transformation sequence!
Unfortunately I am still not exactly a huge fan of Raki, so her being part of this leaves me a little disappointed…
Quick question, as my memory is very hazy when it comes to remembering old songs… was this a new one? If so, finally! The biggest disappointment was that we only got a single new song in the entirety of On Parade (not counting the opening, which ended up being Raki’s song), so starting off with a brand new song is just what I wanted out of On Parade the entire time… Not big on the song itself, but it’s new! And that counts for me.
Also, Akari looking as cute as ever, ahh~ Sad that she probably won’t have any big moments, but it’s ok, Noelle is very cute, so I can live with this.
Kimi no Entrance, Akogare Customize, and Future Jewel, plus a new Idol Katsudou (On Parade ver).
Nice to see Elza still putting her grubby hands on every possible event. Aikatsu really wouldn’t be the same without her.
But it seems a bit unfair that schools can choose ex-students to partecipate (and yeah, I’ve already seen the lineups on the DCD website, I guess it was more about popularity than any story reasons).
I’ve waited for nearly half an decade for Noelle to become a protagonist of her own series, and after what seems like an eternity, Bandai finally saw fit to elevate her up to that role, along with making Dream Academy relevant again after so long.
Look, I get the caveats; the web series is considered to be filler to keep us occupied while they prepare for the next series. I also get that due to its shorter run time and format we’ll only be getting the equivalent of 12 TV-sized episodes in an period of six months, when we could have so much more. And it sucks knowing that her gains will mean absolutely nothing in the end (see the ending of On Parade for details).
But hell, I don’t give a dang considering that we finally got Noellekatsu after all these years! I’m hyped, as I always have been, and ready to see what the younger Otoshiro sister has in store for us.
Filler is, by definition, non-canonical material in an adaptation that is created to “fill in” time until there is more source material to adapt. Often it results in retreading old character development and having story elements that do not result in any changes.
In absolute contrast, this season is pure canon material that was unable to be fit into last season, so they are releasing it now. We already have meaningful character development for Noelle, and it has been given a clear place in the timeline during the events of Parade. It occurs during last season; we simply weren’t shown it until now.
My only regret is that the Raichi interview occurred off screen.
Apparently, this episode was supposed to have premiered yesterday. But it got moved immediately after the TV series ended!
Loved the episode and the new song is so relaxing and catchy 😁💖
Good news! Episode 2 has just released!