KAWAII LAB.’s five idol groups are becoming the first release in a new trading-card game platform where players collect members and songs and assemble them into performances. FRUITS ZIPPER, CANDY TUNE, SWEET STEADY, CUTIE STREET, and MORE STAR will all appear in KAWAII LAB. CARD GAME, due in summer 2027.
It’s the first title under Stage Collection, a project set up by TWIN PLANET, trading-card game developer Sekappy, KAWAII LAB. operator ASOBISYSTEM, and entertainment company Y&N Brothers. The four announced their joint Stage Collection Production Committee on September 17th, describing the venture as an ongoing platform between music fandom and trading-card games instead of a one-off run of collectible cards.
TWIN PLANET’s announcement and the Stage Collection website describe what appears to be the same still-unrevealed ruleset in slightly different words, with players gathering members, arranging them into a formation, and working towards completing a song or a full setlist. Neither involves the combat structure of most major TCGs.
Committee members sum up the concept as “tatakawaseru no dewa naku, kagayakaseru”, roughly “make them shine instead of making them fight”. The idols are not being sent into battle against each other, though the game itself is competitive, with nationwide official tournaments already planned alongside special events.
KAWAII LAB. is only the starting point for a roster the committee intends to keep adding to, with further participating artists due to be announced, new sets following regularly after launch, and expansion outside Japan under consideration.
Organisers want card-game players to find new artists through Stage Collection, and music fans who have never touched a TCG to enter the hobby through acts they already follow.
The ambition makes more sense against the state of the market, with Japan Toy Association figures putting the country’s card game and trading card category at ¥338.4 billion in the 2025 financial year, ¥35.9 billion up on the year before and about 30% of a toy market worth ¥1.17 trillion. It was the category’s eighth consecutive year of growth.
Sekappy gives the project working knowledge of that business, developing systems and running events for trading-card games, with previous work including BANDAI TCG+, Bushiroad’s Bushinavi, and the Sekanavi platform used for Pokémon Card Game, hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME, and MTG Arena tournaments. TWIN PLANET, which co-manages ATARASHII GAKKO!, brings the IP and artist side.
KAWAII LAB. suits the format, having been founded by ASOBISYSTEM under the concept of taking Harajuku to the world, with groups already structured around distinct member identities, songs, choreography, and a shared umbrella brand that a card set can borrow wholesale.
Those groups went into digital cards earlier this year through SUKISUKI Toreka for KAWAII LAB., a free web service launched on February 11th covering more than 50 members across all five plus the next-generation KAWAII LAB. MATES and KAWAII LAB. SOUTH units. Cards there reproduce live moments, backstage shots, as well as specially photographed costume sets, handed out through a daily free pack and in-service missions, with no game attached to the collecting.
Exactly how any of it works on the table is still unknown, with card rarities, product formats, pricing, and a precise release date within summer 2027 all yet to be announced.
With more artists already promised, though, KAWAII LAB. CARD GAME is being set up as the opening act for something the committee expects to run well beyond one idol franchise.
