Episode 72 - Happy☆Idol Fes 1st DAY!

Happy☆Idol Fes 1st DAY! (ハッピィ☆アイドルフェス 1st DAY！) is the 72nd episode of Aikatsu! TV Anime series and the 22nd episode of it's "Second Season". The episode aired on March 6, 2014.

Synopsis
''Starlight Academy and Dream Academy's conjoined festivals, the "Star-Dream・Festival & Carnival" has finally begun! The first day is Dream Academy with Seira Otoshiro as their headliner. Seira, who will give nothing more than her best, realizes something important with the help of Ichigo.''

Summary
Ki introduces her role as the committee chair for the Dream Academy Carnival and everyone shares a cheer as Seira brings up how leaderly Ki has become since their Cool Angels audition. She watches as Ki continues to excite everyone before the meeting disbands and approaches Seira to tell her that as the headliner she must put on a great performance. She suggests that they check the stage again, and Seira promises that everyone will have the time of their lives.

Later, a man delivers the exciting news about the upcoming event. He explains that it will be a little competition to see which of the two schools electrify the audience more and claims the future of the idol world may even be decided with this.

At Dream Academy, Seira has just finished her performance and she is feeling good, with Ki agreeing as Raichi approaches them to deliver the bento they ordered. They apologize for making him come this way out to deliver it but because he has been dying to check the school out, he doesn't really mind. He comments on how different it is from Starlight Academy, then reveals his special Press Pass for the upcoming event, and how he and Noel will be covering them. He then brings up that Seira will be a headliner and remarks on how different it will be in comparison to Ichigo's performance, as she is doing it with a group of friends. This surprises the duo because they thought she would want the attention and light for herself, and they call her to find out if it's true or not. Ichigo confirms that it is though, claiming that it would be more fun this way and because it will raise the excitement factor for the audience as well.

As they chat Sora is shown in the designing studio working on an outfit. She chats with her pet bird Palm, expressing excitement and hope that a lot of people will come by to look at the designers hard work.

Later, Maria is shown gathering milk from Elizabeth III to make fresh pudding. She turns to thank Seira for helping out when she isn't preparing for her performance, and Seira claims that it's fine since she really loves pudding and they make it a lot at home too. As Maria decides to get more milk, Seira thinks back to when Tiara informed her of the wonderful news. Seira was surprised, but found herself joyous and thought about how much work she would need to put into this, and how everything is resting on her shoulders now- but after talking to Ichigo she has began to rethink this.

Eventually the day for the event comes. As the announcer is speaking he happens to catch Ichigo with Aoi, Ran, and Otome discussing their plans on what they want to do before noticing this. They greet the Television audience members watching them.

Due to the carnival taking place, the Academy has been opened to everyone, with Orihime and Johnny chatting about this until Johnny is approached by several fangirls. They greet him and ask for autographs, distracting him from noticing Orihime has left until he finishes and turns to find her gone.

Orihime meets up with Tiara and thanks her for attending, discussing the carnival and how much fun it's been, as well as how inspiring it is to open everyone up to new ideas and experiences. Tiara takes her to the producers classroom within the school and Orihime comments on how different the school is, since they don't have courses like this there. Tiara also brings up how some students work between two courses; such as Sora and Ki, both who are Idols focusing on other courses, and the school tries to give the students the freedom they need to follow what course of action they think is best for them. She can only assume this is why Dream Academy is so popular right now.

Back outside, Raichi is taking pictures of everything with Noel. But when she gets excited and runs off he tiredly chases after her.

As Otome goes over the scheduling she sees Maria, who joins her with some herb tea and pudding that she made for her since she always seems to be so busy. Otome can't deny this, especially as the current Starlight Queen now. She stops to take a bite of the pudding and tea and remarks on how relaxed they make her feel.

Inside, at the Special Display corner entrance is Palm, with a path leading to the display full of wonderful dresses and costumes. Ran is inside observing them and compliments the clothing, with Sora expressing happiness before bringing up how nice she believes Ran would look in her brand, Bohemian Sky. It's then Ran spots food and drink nearby and Sora explains how she made Ehomaki, even if it is out of season now, because sometimes she has an urge to have some. It's then someone dressed as Ebipon runs into the room worried over a loose hair on the costume, and Sora is quick to repair it. However, she is bewildered when she watches Ran suddenly take to the costume- unaware of her attraction to the mascot.

At the Executive Committee Headquarters, a student comes to inform Ki that they have run out of balloons. She recalls that they have some in the preparation room and the girl thanks her before running off to get them as Aoi stops by to greet her. She compliments Ki's hard work and brings up how good she is as the leader of the Cool Angels, and Ki admits that while she still isn't sure if she is befitting of a Leader, she is doing her best to help everyone.

Elsewhere, Seira has taken Ichigo to a special spot at Dream Academy that she hasn't seen yet, and Ichigo voices how happy she is to spend time with her now. While this is a competition and they are technically rivals, she believes they are also friends through Aikatsu. Seira struggles to understand her words at first until Ichigo properly explains herself, when suddenly Seira strums her guitar and causes it to become too loud, alerting several people. The news crew run by to ask about the riff they just heard and she asks to borrow his microphone and announce to everyone that she has something she wants them all to hear. To their surprise, she asks Ki, Sora, and Maria to join her performance because hey are her beloved friends, and she realizes that they have all worked hard together and knows they will give it their all, just as she has. The three girls all accept and join Seira as Noel and Raichi stand nearby to discuss the turn of events. While Noel is happy by this, she is surprised to find Raichi in tears.

Later, before the performance the girls stand in the hall to exchange sentiment. They change into their school coords and appear on stage to perform "Happy Crescendo".

After the performance, the four stand on stage where everyone cheers. The announcer ends the events and tells everyone to head to Starlight Academy the following day as the four return backstage to relax and take in what just went on. They bring up how much fun hey had and share a cheer.

Outside, the two headmistresses talk to each other and Johnny returns, having finally found them. As this is going on Raichi and Noel are deciding where to meet up the following morning, with Raichi showing her the timetable Otome made, and he brings up how she didn't plan herself to perform, causing them to express confusion and wonder if something is wrong.

Character Appearances

 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Seira Otoshiro


 * Aoi Kiriya
 * Ran Shibuki
 * Kī Saegusa
 * Otome Arisugawa
 * Sora Kazesawa
 * Maria Himesato


 * Orihime Mitsuishi
 * Tiara Yumesaki
 * Johnny Bepp
 * Raichi Hoshimiya
 * Noeru Otoshiro
 * Mizuki Kanzaki
 * Palm
 * Shion Kamiya
 * Yurika Tōdō
 * Kaede Ichinose

Trivia

 * At one point during the episode, the purple in Sora's hair appears to be higher then it should be.
 * This epsiode marks the debut of the Apricot Dream Coord
 * The song Happy Crescendo appears for the first time
 * Coincidentally, 100 episodes later, an event also held in Dream Academy, the Spring DreAca Carnival

Gallery
Main article: Episode 72 - Happy☆Idol Fes 1st DAY!/Image gallery