Aikatsu Indonesia Launching Event

Last week I attended an event that was held on JKT48 theater in FX mall. I'm actually quite picky when picking event invitations. While usually I attended beauty related events, I just couldn't not attend this Aikatsu launching event. Mainly because I watched the anime before and I really liked it. Ever since watching Love Live anime, I quite enjoy watching idol related anime including Aikatsu. Let me give you a brief story about Aikatsu.

Aikatsu actually started as card game machines in Japan. The game mostly revolves around collecting cards while raising your character as an idol. It got popular and was adapted into anime and console games. There were 2 seasons of the anime. The story is about Hoshimiya Ichigo, an ordinary girl whose family runs a bento restaurant. She never had any other dream except for continuing her family business. She has a little brother and also a best friend, and both of them are so addicted to idols especially this popular rising idol Kanzaki Mizuki. One day Ichigo got invited to watch Mizuki's concert together with her best friend, Kiriya Aoi and her brother and she literally got hooked to Mizuki's talents and charm right after. She couldn't forget how captivating Mizuki was on stage and finally she knew she wanted to be an idol too, especially after Aoi told her about this idol school, Starlight Academy. It was nearly impossible to get accepted to the academy but both friends managed to pass the harsh audition and became Starlight students. 

In the academy, the happy go lucky Ichigo learned that being an idol wasn't just about singing and dancing, but she also has many friends and rivals along the way to stardom. The anime itself is half fantasy with the magical devices they use to perform on stage. They all have to pick 3 cards (top, bottom and shoes) to coordinate their stage outfits and run through a door and change into the outfit they pick. They have a saying "cards are life" cause what they pick to wear determine how they appearance and stage going to be. And depending on the outfits (and skills), the idol can also use special appeal on stage. Ichigo could use special appeal during her audition stage which considered to be rare since she was an amateur. Special appeal is like those special effects like bursting jewels, hearts and others while an idol is performing on stage, only it's not computerized. Anyway, Aikatsu story revolves around Ichigo and her friends and how they try to achieve their dreams to be top idols like Mizuki. 

Due to Aikatsu popularity in Japan, they also branch out to other countries including Indonesia. Bandai, one of the world's largest toys manufacturers, held the press conference to announce Aikatsu project in Indonesia last September 10th on JKT48 Theater. I'm sure many people are familiar with Bandai, especially if you're a fan of Gundam and Sailor Moon. Anyway, before the press conference started, they let the visitors to try the game machines.

It's basically a digital card game which involves creating a new character and making her into an idol, starting from the audition, training and live stages. Users can collect the cards to combine the cards and make the character succeed as an idol. 

At the moment, there are 70 collectible cards with 3 different types, cute, cool and sexy. There are 46 normal cards, 18 premium cards, and 6 rare cards that players can collect. 

While waiting, I also took some pictures of the Aikatsu merchandise that can be collected on toy stores. Everything is just so cute! Most goods are targeted for younger audience, including the Starlight Academy uniform. 

How cute is that? There are a lot of merchandise and I can see they'll sell really well once people got hooked with anime. There are just too many things to get. 

The event started with JKT48 performing Aikatsu song (Ichigo's first audition song), Calendar Girl. JKT48 is sister group of AKB48 in Indonesia. There were 6 of the girls present. To be honest it was my first time seeing them (blame the internet, I never watch TV anymore lol) but my friend helped me to know the girls. 

Then, Reino Barack, Senior Vice President of Mediacom Tbk started to present what Aikatsu is and all about. Aikatsu is short of Aidoru Katsudo which means Idol Activity. He also announced that JKT48 is Aikatsu's special collaboration partner as they sing Aikatsu songs for the anime in Indonesian, and also appeared on Aikatsu commercial ads. He also announced that Aikatsu will officially air in Indonesia starting from September 20th every Saturday on 6.30AM on RCTI, one of the best TV channels in Indonesia. I highly recommend everyone to watch Aikatsu once it airs, if you haven't! 

Next there were Mr. Harada, deputy general manager of Bandai, and Ms. Yoko. They explained that Bandai will release more games and also smartphone application soon. Around May 2014 Bandai conducted a questionnaire of favorite character of children, and Aikatsu won the first place in the category of girls' most favorite character, proving its popularity in Japan. I also heard a while ago that movie adaption is in the making and will be released on December 2014, yay! 

Then Ms. Yoko explained how users can play the game. It was really interesting to me cause I've never tried card game machine before. And when I heard card game I only thought of Yugi Oh, which was quite different lol. Anyway, the concept is still like the anime. Basically you create a character, which can be customized to your liking especially if you use the ID card. ID card also acts as the memory card to save your game data and progress. People with no ID card can still play the game but they can't get the special features like if you use the ID card. The audition consists of live stage, team stage, and fashion show. It's quite interesting how people can play together with their friends and perform as a team. Collecting and using the (physical) cards with the same type can gain you more game scores. The game mode is basically like a rhythmic music game, which I really like. You can also build your idol's fanbase in the game. The game machines will be available in Indonesia around October and one game is only IDR 10,000. 

One of JKT48, Yupi, also wore Ichigo's first audition outfit (which I really adore) and performed. She was really cute and so energetic on stage, just like Ichigo. The costume was so adorable and on point, obviously. 

They also had Q&A session with JKT48 girls. One of the girls, Haruka, explained how she played Aikatsu game and how to get better scores with collecting more cards. 

After listening to the presentation and what Haruka said, I was interested to try the game too. And wish I could find the game machine in game centers nearby lol since the game app isn't available yet on smartphones. I couldn't try and play that day but I managed to get a picture, with Suu on the game machine. Miharu Julie wasn't there yet, so we took turns taking the picture lol~

I didn't play though, just pretended to be playing lol. And, here's some mandatory selfies from the event. 

There are still a lot more, but I'm being kind and considering my readers eyes and didn't want to bore anyone with my solo selfies lol. Anyway, visit Aikatsu Indonesia on their official website and facebook to learn more about Aikatsu.