Episode 102 - Let's Aikatsu!☆Ready Go!!

Let's Aikatsu!☆Ready Go!! (アイカツしよう) is the 102nd episode and Season 3 premiere of Aikatsu! TV anime series. It is the 1st episode of its "3rd Season". The episode aired on October 2, 2014.

Story
''Akari prepares for her upcoming performance when she comes across a strange girl with tarot cards. The girl tells her that there will be a "parting"... ''

Summary
Akari goes out for a jog one morning and she is joined by her roommate and good friend Yu. They continue running until they notice a slip of paper that a girl passing them drops and she stops to pick it up and return it. The girl thanks her and takes off, and Akari is called back by Yu after she takes a moment to observe the girl. They resume running and the girl turns over the card to notice it has "chance encounter" written on it, followed by "departure".

Later, Akari daydreams of a lovely sunny day when rain suddenly pours down on her. She notices a storm beginning to form outside and by the time she fully awakens, she realizes the roof is beginning to leak. She panics over her Ichigo poster being ruined and hurriedly tries to determine what to do when Yu remarks on how bad it's gotten. Both girls locate some buckets and pans to hold the water in and as Akari saves her poster, Sakura comes by to inform the girls that they will have new living arrangements as a result of the incident.

While they are happy knowing the school will be helping them, they are disappointed after finding out they have to split up because they don't have any open rooms for the both of them to share. Sakura encourages Yu and Akari to just go along with the decision for now, convinced they will still be able to see each other and hang out, and with no other choice the girls begin packing up. Before leaving the room they take a picture together.

Akari arrives to her brand new dorm room and knocks on the door when Yu points out it belongs to a pretty girl named Sumire Hikami, someone she's seen at a few auditions before. Akari steps into the room and quickly notices she has a poster of Yurika on her wall and Yu mentions never talking to Sumire before.

It's then Akari is called into Orihime's office to meet her new roommate, and Akari quickly notes the mysterious girl she saw earlier as she arrives. She is surprised this girl is Sumire, but they greet each other with no problem before Orihime mentions their classes are next to each other, and how Akari is Sumire's first roommate. She goes on to bring up that she called the girls in because she wanted to give them their brand new Aikatsu Phone Look, and she explains the Idolook app, which allows the user to manage her schedule, periodically receive special job offers, and even upload her personal profiles for viewing. She also hands over their brand new uniform coords, complimenting how each coord uses navy blue to unite them together while the stars represent the academy.

With that, Akari and Sumire return to their dorm room. Akari is still pretty flustered over getting to share a room with someone like Sumire, and they sit down to try to make small talk. After a few minutes Sumire offers to make some tea and asks Akari some specific questions; such as what kind of tea she likes, if she wants milk, and after getting her answers she leaves the room to prepare it.

Akari patiently waits and Sumire returns with some apricot tea, surprising her when she tries it and notes how sweet it is despite having no sugar in it. She comments on Sumire's beauty again, then notes her interest in LoLi GoThiC, but before they can discuss this Sumire notes the time and mentions a private lesson she has to get to. Akari offers to clean up for her and Sumire thanks her before taking off.

Later, Akari walks down the hallway when Yu sees her and introduces her to Matsuri Hasegawa, her new roommate. They exchange greetings and ask Akari if she's met Sumire yet, and she mentions that besides being really pretty she's also really nice, and how she likes tea; but that's all she knows yet. After Yu explains that they were going to head over to the Cafeteria, Matsuri invites Akari to join them but she turns down the offer. They leave when she sees a message has come for her on her phone, and to her surprise she discovers its an announcement to determine which idol will become Ichigo's manager for a day.

Eventually, Akari sits down to listen to her favorite radio program called Ichi-Ichi-Ichigo in the PM, and as the program is nearly ending Sumire returns from her lesson. She sits down as Akari mentions that Ichigo was her inspiration for becoming an Idol, and how she wants to enter the upcoming audition in order to gain the role of one-day manager. Sumires wishes her luck when Akari suggests they take it together, surprising Sumire because of how much Akari wants the position. She can't understand why Akari would want her to participate too, but she agrees to it seeing how convinced she appears to be.

The next day the girls decide to get as much training done before the audition as possible. They head out to jog, then they practice their dancing, where Akari shows her a spin she was working on. Sumire offers some advice and after a while they stop for a break. However, Akari decides there has been something she's always wanted to do, and she brings Sumire all the way up to Angely Mountain.

She explains that because Ichigo ended up climbing the rock wall, she is sure it would be great training if they did it too. Sumire initially seems confused but she agrees to try it with her, and together the girls begin climbing the large mountain. They reach the top just in time to admire the beauty sunset in the distance before returning to school, then they prepare for bed. While laying there, Sumire remarks to Akari that this is the first time she's ever had so much fun, surprising Akari as she goes on to bring up her confusion regarding why she wants her to enter the upcoming audition with her. But by now she thinks she discovered the reason- Akari likes Aikatsuing with others and has a lot of fun doing it with them.

Akari confirms she is right, then she mentions how she wants to become better friends with Sumire. Sumire admits that she hasn't taken an audition with someone else before, and she reveals that growing up she usually kept to herself. But she has always loved to sing and dance, even though she wasn't really watched by others, and one day her older sister suggested she try to become an idol, introducing her to Starlight Academy. She had also hoped it would encourage her to make more friends. However, when Sumire entered she saw everyone else as a rival because of knowing that for every idol who succeeds another would fail, and many end up suffering because of that. So she would only practice on her own to avoid it and eventually she became isolated from the others.

It's then Akari thinks about Ichigo and performing with Ran and Aoi as Soleil. They never worried about rivalries because they were such good friends and supported each other. With that the girls go to sleep.

The following day, the girls wait for their turn performing. Akari is delighted knowing they could enter together and when their turn arrives they head inside, changing into their brand new school coords. They appear on stage and perform Let's Aikatsu.

After the auditions have concluded Johnny brings everyone into the waiting room nearby to announce the results: Sumire has been chosen the winner. She is very surprised by this and feels bad for Akari, but she admits that while she is disappointed she had a lot of fun, and she's happy Sumire had a lot of fun too. To celebrate she suggests they head to the cafeteria to have a snack, Sumire then begins to think about the card Akari handed back to her a few days ago and pulls it from her pocket. She realizes it was right and puts it away to catch up to her.

Characters

 * Akari Ōzora
 * Sumire Hikami
 * Yū Hattori
 * Sakura Kitaōji
 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Yurika Tōdō (poster cameo)

Trivia

 * The episode's title is taken from the last line of Let's Aikatsu!.
 * This episode premiered on Sora Kazesawa's birthday.
 * This is the second time an episode premieres on a main character's birthday. Coincidentally, this episode marks an important event, either in-universe or out, much like the first time did.
 * Like Episode 2, the episode's performance is for the One-Day Manager Audition. However, unlike Episode 2, both Akari and Sumire aren't new idols by that point, each have their own Idol Aura, and both are able to perform Special Appeals.

Major Events

 * This episode marks the start of Du-Du-Wa DO IT!! being the new opening song and Good morning my dream being the new ending song.
 * This episode marks the start of Akari taking the role as the new central protagonist for the anime adaption's third season.
 * Along with Akari being the central protagonist, this episode also marks the official debut of Sumire Hikami.
 * The song Let's Aikatsu! appears for the first time
 * The Pink Parade Coord and the Blue Parade Coord make their debut in this episode.

Animation Trivia

 * The new CG models for the idols have changed in order to reflect Akari, Sumire, and Hinaki's younger age in comparison to the first generation girls.
 * The changing room theme has once again changed for the new season.
 * Both the episode title, eyecatch and next episode preview themes have also changed for the new season as well.