Episode 161 - Tale of the Osaka Idol

Tale of the Osaka Idol (大阪アイドルものがたり) is the 161st episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 9th episode of its "4th Season". The episode aired on November 26, 2015.

Story
''The next location of the "Luminas☆Japan Tour" will be held in Osaka! At the location, the unit Akari Ōzora is in, Luminas will be coming across Nina Dōjima, who attends Naniwa World's No. 1 Academy, the Comedy School Osaka is so proud of. Nina whose head features bear ears that acts as her trademark is a cute and intense character...!''

Summary
Passing by Mt. Fuji on their way to Osaka, Luminas chat about the various idols they have met up until now. They are sure they will meet another here.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Osaka is a young girl with colorful hair. She thinks over various calculations when a few high school girls notice her, and she responds to them with an amusing gesture.

Upon arrival the trio begin observations of the surroundings. Akari grabs some takoyaki for them to enjoy and Hinaki notes the upcoming idol comedy event from the renowned comedy school, Naniwa Grand Academy. She recognizes Nina and they decide to check out the event, heading to the stage where it will be taking place to find a large crowd. A man spots them and he informs Nina of their arrival, causing her much excitement. She rushes out to them and voices how happy she is they have come to see her show, and she promises to work harder for their sakes. Another man then informs her its time to start.

While heading to the stage Nina deliberately trips herself on the last step to get some quick laughs, but her plan works too well and when they worry over her safety, she quickly calms everyone and plays it off. She starts her show and assures them she's fine and they seem to respond positively, so she goes on to introduce herself. She puts on a stage show with a variety of props and items.

After the show the girls head to a cafe and discuss how funny the show was, and they confess it would have been fun to join Nina on the stage. She stops by to join them and Hinaki remarks that she seems so different off stage, with Akari taking notice of her lacking accent. Nina admits she only just moved to Osaka, but for a long time her plans were to attend Starlight School until realizing that as her goal as a comedic idol Osaka would be the better place. Every day she practices and aims to get as many laughs as possible, and gets into a complicated explanation about how calculations play a big key in comedy. Having never looked at it like this before, the girls seem to be impressed as she goes on to explain what started her passion for comedy.

Back in elementary school she was a girl who took her work very seriously -which explains her sabermetric approach to comedy- and she puts in a lot of calculations, pointing out that her "sproingy ears" and "ya know" tick are both from that. They have proven to be the most effective things people respond to- something she shows them after a little girl approaches her and Nina greets her. The little girl takes off with her mother and Luminas remark on this. Nina invites them to check out the school.

On the way over, the four girls chat about how common comedian schools are becoming lately. Nina also brings up the importance of having a strong presence on variety shows for Idols, which is why they also feature Idol activities lately.

Upon arrival the four head inside to find several girls within the building and note its activity. Nina leads them to the Idol area of the school, where a dance lesson is currently going on. The girls remark that this school seems normal, and they go on to watch as they practice singing with the use of AiKara. Nina continues to lead them down the hallway, preparing to show them the comedy section of school. But they seem to be fairly shocked and confused at first to see how much training they go through; including letting metal basins fall on your head, and swatting things with the back of the hand. As the girls observe Nina, they see that she is really passionate for her activities as an Idol-Comedian, and they soon grow to respect the uniqueness of her training.

They express concern over her hand but she assures them its aright. She gets distracted just then and they comment on how different Nina is off stage once again. She apologizes for having spent so much time training and they head out to resume visiting the rest of the school. The girls don't seem to mind though, seeing her passion has really inspired them. She asks if she can come to see them to perform that evening and they agree to it.

That evening the girls share a quick chat before they change into their Unit Coords and appear on stage to perform Let's Aikatsu!.

Afterwards they rejoin the delighted Nina, who compliments them before becoming distracted again. This time they notice it and she mentions that while they were able to return some of the power back to her with their performance, she felt that she has also regained her childhood smile. When noticing their confusion Nina resumes her story from before, saying that she never had a real smile until the day she decided she wanted to become a comedian. She was always serious whenever she studied, but because she was used to it she didn't think anything of it. Until she began to notice the unusual smile on her face that came from watching idols or funny comedians. She was surprised but it drove her to decide that she wants to make others smile as much as she can. However, she admits that she tenses up whenever she trains alone, so being with Luminas helped her stay calm and natural for her fans. She asks them to see her upcoming performance to show them this.

When it's time for Nina to perform the girls head to the audience as she heads backstage and decides to go with her instincts rather than calculations. It wasn't them that led her to meeting Luminas. Changing into a coord, she appears on stage to perform "Miel Miel".

After the performance, the girls compliment how well Nina performed.

Characters

 * Nina Dōjima
 * Akari Ōzora
 * Sumire Hikami
 * Hinaki Shinjō

Trivia

 * Miel Miere is performed for the first time in this episode.
 * The Fluffy Monster Coord makes its anime debut.