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I★CHU Idol Anime Reveals 2nd Promo Video, More Staff, January 6 Premiere

The official website for I★CHU: Halfway Through The Idol, the television anime of Liber Entertainment Inc.'s I★CHU smartphone game, revealed on Friday the second promotional video, additional staff, and the January 6 premiere date. The anime will debut on Tokyo MX on January 6 at 11:00 p.m., and it will then air on BS11 on January 10. The video previews scenes featuring the idol groups Pop'N Star, RE:BERSERK, and Lancelot.

Ryо̄suke Obokata is credited as art director, and Gō Sadamatsu (Macross Frontier) is credited as editor. Yomogiko Murano (Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life) is the director of photography. Masanori Tsuchiya (New Game!) is the sound director.

The cast members, all returning from the game, include:
(left to right in images below, with costumed character images above regular cast images)

Pop'N Star

• Kazutomi Yamamoto as Momosuke Oikawa
• Ayumu Murase as Kokoro Hanabusa
• Kōhei Amasaki as Runa Kagurazaka

RE:BERSERK

• Yoshiyuki Shimozuma as Ban Jumonji
• Hiro Shimono as Eva Armstrong
• Tetsuya Kakihara as Mio Yamanobe

Lancelot

• Yūma Uchida as Futami Akabane
• Tomoaki Maeno as Issei Todoroki
• Yusuke Shirai as Takamichi Sanzenin

Tenjō Tenge

• Ryohei Kimura as Aoi Kakitsubata
• Kei Minegishi as Toya Honoki
• Yuuki Ono as Tsubaki Rindo
• Sōma Saitō as Tatsumi Madarao

F∞F

• Yūichi Iguchi as Kanata Minato
• KENN as Seiya Aido
• Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Akira Mitsurugi

Twinkle Bell

• Takashi Kondo as Mitsuki Kururugi
• Showtaro Morikubo as Satsuki Kururugi

I♥B

• Yuichiro Umehara as Lucas
• Toshiki Masuda as Leon
• Natsuki Hanae as Noah
• Junya Enoki as Li Chaoyang
• Naoya Nakanishi as Rabi

ArS

• Katsufumi Yachi as Shiki Amabe
• Atsushi Tamaru as Akio Tobikura
• Hiroyuki Kagura as Kyosuke Momoi
• Kenji Roa as Torahiko Kusakabe
• Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Hikaru Orihara
• Daisuke Hirakawa as Raku Wakaoji

Other cast members include Akio Ohtsuka as Principal Bear and Megumi Toyoguchi as the producer Yuzuki Asahina.

Hitoshi Nanba (Golden Kamuy both seasons, Our love has always been 10 centimeters apart.) is directing the series at Lay-duce. Yoshimi Narita (Our love has always been 10 centimeters apart., DAKAICHI -I'm being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-) is the series' script supervisor. Mina Ōsawa (Given, School Babysitters) is designing the characters. Reiko Iwasawa (Code Geass) is credited for color design, and Yoshiaki Dewa (Gamers!) is composing the music. Liber Entertainment Inc. is credited with the original work, Ailedore Public Relations Department is credited as manufacturer, and Twin Engine is producing the series.

Liber Entertainment Inc. released the original "love rhythm adventure" game for iOS and Android in summer 2015. The game features 42 voice actors in the main story, performing original songs. In the game's story, a famous talent agency called Ailedore has created an academy called Etoile Vio School to train budding idols. Players play as both a teacher and producer for the students.

The original game ended its online service on July 6. However, Liber Entertainment updated the game on the same day to work offline. This offline version will be available until December 13, although players cannot purchase in-game Discs or obtain Scouts in it.

A new app titled I★CHU Étoile Stage launched on April 30, after a delay from fall 2019.

Sources: I★CHU Halfway Through The Idol anime's website, Twin Engine's YouTube channel, Comic Natalie, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web