Episode 16 - Heart Pounding!! Special Live Act Part 1

Heart Pounding! Special Live Act Part 1 (ドッキドキ!! スペシャルライブ PART 1) is the 16th episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 16th episode of its "1st Season". The episode aired on January 28, 2013.

Synopsis
''As Ichigo and Mizuki get to work planning the upcoming concert Ichigo gets frustrated at the realization that she won't be able to match the Top Idol. In this time, Mizuki's opinions about her start to change... ''

Summary
Ichigo is worried that she won't be able to do a good job with Mizuki so Aoi and Ran try to calm her nerves by saying they will be there to support her. She is very happy to get to perform with Mizuki, and her sudden change makes them wonder if she is too dense to see how big of a deal this is, or if she just has really strong nerves.

Later, Ichigo searches for the meeting room when she finds a bunch of people inside. She takes note of how serious Mizuki is acting there, and someone points out how Ichigo should greet everyone in the room- impressing them with her lively personality. After Orihime arrives the meeting gets started to discuss Mizuki's Premium Shiny Stage Performance. They reveal that they managed to get fifty-thousand audience members within two seconds and plan to use the Aikatsu System in order to change stages within seconds. They also plan to make a Mizuki cafe, shop, and even a contest to deem which girl is the most like Mizuki.

All of this impresses Ichigo, while everyone else seems completely straight faced about it. There are one-thousand staff members and Mizuki introduces herself to them, then she introduces Ichigo as the second performer, who will sing about two songs. After being asked to introduce herself, Ichigo struggles to think of something to say until promising not to lose before Mizuki before being seated. Everyone is very supportive of Ichigo and they all seem to enjoy her fresh and perky behavior.

They move onto the next discussion with the meeting, involving which songs they will put into the performance. They have written everything down on a program and Mizuki mentions an idea to start with some happy, exciting songs. Everyone makes suggestions and they begin to discuss how they can improve attention on her until the meeting ends.

Ichigo is highly worn out as Mizuki walks by, asking Ichigo to join her for a walk. They go outside and Ichigo points out that Mizuki has began to address her differently.

Just as the trio wonder how things are going, Ichigo and Mizuki happen to walk by them. They greet Ichigo but out of distraction, she winds up not returning their attention. Suddenly, Honoka shows up to inform them that Ichigo's training from hell is about to begin.

Ichigo watches as Mizuki jumps on a giant trampoline to make an alternate pose in the air. Ichigo is surprised and when her turn begins; and ends with less-than good results. Mizuki tries to encourage Ichigo by explaining the alternate appeals idols can do and how they work, voicing that Ichigo may have pulled off her audition appeal by a stroke of luck, since only pro-idols can use them so easily.

Meanwhile, Aoi and Ran are going over the same thing. Ran mentions that Mizuki is the only idol that can do the maximum three appeals in one turn, and this is believed by everyone to be the reason why she is as talented as she is.

Mizuki continues to explain Special Appeals to Ichigo but they are forced to stop when Mizuki has to leave for a job. She compliments Ichigo for trying and Ichigo is left wondering what she may need to do in order to achieve a Special Appeal.

Late that night, Aoi gets a call from Honoka and she finds Ichigo practicing on the trampoline. She had gotten a feeling that Ichigo skipped dinner to keep training, so she wanted Aoi to come and check on her. The trio begin to prepare something for Ichigo and when meeting up with her, she discusses the training she was doing before they begin to discuss Special Appeals. They try to encourage Ichigo by saying that she is not a top Idol so the best isn't expected of her, but Ichigo is bothered by this since she doesn't want people overlooking her flaws just because she is a rookie. She recalls that Mizuki questioned this earlier when she claimed not to mind very much.

Ran tells Ichigo to finish eating, then she brings her back to the dorm room to show her Mizuki's homepage. She points out how excited all of Mizuki's fans are in their comments and Ichigo begins to realize that she can't keep making excuses for herself when it comes to such crucial things. She thanks Ran and decides she will give her all in order to be able to reach three special appeals.

She spends the following day practicing and training but still cannot reach the right answer to tell her what else she needs to reach such goals.

Eventually the day before the concert arrives. Mizuki tells Ichigo to just put all of her effort into it and to give the rehearsal everything she can. Ichigo then asks Mizuki why she's suddenly begun to address her differently, and Mizuki mentions that it is proper to do so for someone who can stand on the same stage as herself. But she tells Ichigo not to hold back either and they go to change, picking the coords chosen for the performance before they appear on stage, where they sing "Idol Activity!"

After the performance, Ichigo thinks about how she was only able to perform one special appeal. When she comes across two of the staff members, they claim she did a very good job and she continues outside. Mizuki approaches Ichigo and asks her why she feels down, though Ichigo claims it to be nothing. Only to admit her disappointment in only performing one Special Appeal. Mizuki claims that just because she only did one today doesn't mean she wont be able to do three tomorrow, because Idols have to keep moving forward and being frustrated will actually encourage Ichigo to keep going. This advice makes her feel a lot better and she decides to spend whatever time she has left training, which causes Mizuki to realizes that Orihime had actually been right about Ichigo.

Character Appearances

 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Mizuki Kanzaki
 * Aoi Kiriya
 * Ran Shibuki
 * Otome Arisugawa
 * Honoka Tsukikage
 * Orihime Mitsuishi
 * Johnny Bepp

Trivia

 * Mizuki reveals the other types of appeals that can be performed(i.e the Dress Appeal, Special Appeal, Premium Special Appeal, and so forth).
 * This is the second time Honoka Tsukikage appears.
 * This episode marks the first time more than one appeal has been used in a performance.