Aikatsu8

Aikatsu8 (アイカツ８) is an idol unit made up of 8 of the best idols voted from fans in both anime and DCD. The members of the 1st Generation consists of idols from Starlight School, Dream Academy, and the members of WM. As for the 2nd Generation, the members consists primarily of Starlight School idols, with Mizuki Kanzaki of WM. The unit began activities in Episode 91.

History
2014= Elections In Episode 86, the headmistresses of Starlight School and Dream Academy - Orihime Mitsuishi and Tiara Yumesaki announced the beginning of the Aikatsu8 Elections, in which fans will show their support for their favorite idols and vote for them. The eight most popular idols are to form a special unit known as Aikatsu8 and go on a summer tour. The Elections were not limited to students from Starlight and DreAca, so independent idols such as Mizuki Kanzaki and Mikuru Natsuki of WM could participate. Each idol would prepare their own PR campaign (with fans being able to submit their own ideas), an example of which is Aoi Kiriya's "Go go! Aoi Project", submitted by Raichi Hoshimiya. To mark the beginning of the Elections, Starlight Academy students - Ichigo Hoshimiya, Ran Shibuki, Otome Arisugawa, Yurika Tōdō, and Aoi Kiriya held on a concert. Three of these five idols would eventually become members of Aikatsu8. The results of the Elections were announced in Episode 91. Final Concert In Episode 92, the members of Aikatsu8 held a pajama party before their final performance. Under the request of Aoi Kiriya and Ki Saegusa, Ichigo and Seira took pictures of the party which was initially meant for Aoi and Ki's personal enjoyment. As suggested by Mizuki Kanzaki, the pictures taken were used in the introduction video used in Aikatsu8's final concert. During WM's performance at the final concert, Ichigo and Seira set a new goal for themselves - to surpass Mizuki and WM by September, based on Mizuki's goal to surpass Masquerade, as revealed by Mikuru Natsuki. As the group's tour bus returned to Starlight and Dream Academy, Ichigo disclosed her and Seira's intentions to surpass Mizuki to the others, stating her wish to one day stand on the same stage as Mizuki. Mizuki reveals that her wish may come true sooner than she thinks, leading to the beginning of the Twinkle Star Cup. 2015= Elections In Episode 141, Hinaki Shinjō and Juri Kurebayashi of Passionate✮Jalapeño see a poster of Aikatsu8 confirming that elections for a 2015 line-up are underway. Unlike the previous generation, this year's elections also depends on the activities each idol performed during the voting period, and that the results would be reflecting the current state of affairs, as revealed by Headmistress Orihime in Episode 146. Line-up Reveal In Episode 146, the eight idols were revealed to be Akari Ōzora, Sumire Hikami, Sakura Kitaōji, Yurika Todo, Mizuki Kanzaki, and the members of Soleil. Unlike the last year's Aikatsu8, this line up would not be going on a summer tour.

Members

 * -|Anime=


 * -|DCD=

Unit Information
2014= Dresses Songs Stages 2015= Dresses Songs
 * Prism Heart Coord
 * Aikatsu8 Day Outfit Cards
 * SHINING LINE*
 * It was mentioned that each Aikatsu8 member would put on a solo performance before their group performance. The songs used for the solo performances were:
 * Dance in the rain (Ichigo)
 * Idol Activity! (Ver. Rock) (Seira)
 * Adult Mode (Mikuru)
 * Precious (Mizuki)
 * Eternally Flickering Flame (Yurika)
 * Kira・pata・shining (Sora)
 * CHU-CHU♥RAINBOW (Otome)
 * Aurora Princess (Maria)
 * Smiling Suncatcher (WM)
 * Aikatsu8 Stage
 * Solo performance stages
 * Heavens Runway Stage (Ichigo)
 * Musical Neon Stage (Seira)
 * City Night Road Stage (Mikuru)
 * Crescent Cruise Stage (Mizuki)
 * Gothic House Stage (Yurika)
 * Arabian Palace Stage (Sora)
 * Dessert Land Stage (Otome)
 * Fairy Flower Stage (Maria)
 * Sunshine Beach Stage (WM)
 * Cheerful Pastel Coord
 * Lovely Party Collection

Stages
 * Data Carddass Aikatsu! Tour Stages
 * Lovely Party Collection (Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sapporo Stages)
 * SHINING LINE* (Osaka Stage)
 * Hirari/Hitori/Kirari (Tokyo Stage)
 * Aikatsu8 2015 Stage
 * Data Carddass Aikatsu! Tour Stages
 * Aikatsu8 2015 Stage (Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sapporo)
 * Aikatsu8 Stage (Osaka)
 * STAR☆ANIS Stage (Tokyo)

Trivia
Both Generations= 2014= 2015=
 * This is the third unit to have eight members, following STAR☆ANIS and Dream Star.
 * This is the first unit to have its dresses have its rarity as Normal.
 * This is the first unit to have the members decided upon the results based on the fan votings in Japan.
 * However this rule does not apply to the anime Aikatsu8, as the final results are altered based on the plot.
 * Ichigo, Akari, Mizuki, Mikuru and Yurika are the only idols to have been members of both generations of Aikatsu8 in the DCD game.
 * Ichigo, Mizuki, and Yurika are the only idols to appear in both generations of the anime.
 * This is the second unit to have a unit within the unit.
 * Ichigo has been a co-center for both generations of Aikatsu8.
 * The unit shares many similarities to STAR☆ANIS:
 * Their unit songs have been used as an Aikatsu! theme song (Hirari/Hitori/Kirari was an anime ending song, while SHINING LINE* were used as opening songs.
 * Each unit has eight members, two of each idol type
 * Both were created to go on a summer tour
 * Both held their first performance on the 41st episode of their respective season
 * Both units had Ichigo Hoshimiya, Mizuki Kanzaki, Otome Arisugawa, and Yurika Tōdō as members
 * Both units also had Aoi Kiriya as a member (DCD game only)
 * The unit shares many similarities to Dream Star:
 * Each unit has eight members, two of each idol type
 * Both units have Ichigo Hoshimiya, Otome Arisugawa, Seira Otoshiro, Sora Kazesawa, and Maria Himesato as members
 * Both units also had Aoi Kiriya as a member (DCD game)
 * Both units had Ichigo Hoshimiya and Seira Otoshiro as co-centers
 * Both groups' unit dresses come from a brand (Swing Rock for Dream Star, and Angely Sugar for Aikatsu8)
 * This is the only official unit so far in which two or more members share the same singing voice (Maria Himesato and Sora Kazesawa, and Otome Arisugawa and Yurika Tōdō).
 * This is the second unit overall to have two or more members share the same singing voice, following Dream Star (Aoi Kiriya and Seira Otoshiro, and Ran Shibuki and Sora Kazesawa).
 * Interestingly, while Yuna sings in the official version of SHINING LINE*, none of the idols that she provides the singing voice for (Ki Saegusa, Kaede Ichinose, and Ran Shibuki) were made members of Aikatsu8 in both the DCD game or the anime.
 * The decision to have Otome replace Akari was made to balance the unit, as the DCD version had three Cute idols and only one Pop. The decision to have Seira replace Aoi was to initiate the Twinkle Star Cup.
 * The DCD line up is the only Aikatsu8 incarnation so far without designated co-centers.
 * Unlike STAR☆ANIS and Aikatsu8 (2014), this unit has three Cool idols, three Cute idols, and two Sexy idols, instead of having two idols of each type.
 * It was also the first eight member unit not to debut in its season's 41st episode.
 * Each member of the real idol unit STAR☆ANIS members voices one of the members (Ruka - Akari, Mona - Sumire, Waka - Ichigo, Yuna - Ran, Fuuri - Aoi, Eri - Sakura, Remi - Yurika, and Risuko - Mizuki).
 * The line up of this Aikatsu8 was vastly different to its DCD counterpart. Of the original eight members, half were replaced, and only Akari, Ichigo, Mizuki, and Yurika were kept.
 * Interestingly, the line up is quite similar to STAR☆ANIS' line up, with Akari and Sumire in place of Otome and Kaede.
 * This is the first time in which two members of a unit (Sumire and Yurika) share the same brand.
 * Unlike the previous generation, each idol's activities during the voting period play a big role in the elections.
 * Unlike the previous generation, Aikatsu8 2015 does not have a performance lined-up for the anime.
 * In the anime version of Aikatsu8, all of the members have attended Starlight School at one point in their career.