Episode 49 - The Place Where Brightness Goes to

The Place Where Brightness Goes to (輝きが向かう場所) is the 49th episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 49th episode of its "1st Season". The episode aired on September 19, 2013.

Story
Inspired by her friends working hard to achieve their goals after the Starlight Queen Cup, Ichigo tries to find her own goal.

Synopsis
Everyone is growing more and more excited for the upcoming Starlight Queen Cup. Ichigo and Ran are curious to find out whats going on with Aoi and they wait outside of Orihime's office. When she comes out and announces that she got the lead role in a movie, Ichigo and Ran take her to the cafeteria to reveal the huge parfait they made for her. As they eat, Aoi discusses that she has been promoted from Naughty Detective to the Naughty Inspector and the movie is rumored to be more popular then a musical drama that came out sometime before. She also announces that it is to come out sometime during the upcoming winter break.

Later that night, Aoi and Ichigo go on a walk and bring up how Ran is currently off for a private lesson. They sit down to listen to the song everyone will be performing during the Starlight Queen Cup and they begin to feel nostalgic, wondering if this was their true destinies all along.

As they head home a bit later, they meet with Ran. After they ask her how it went, she informs them of the message she just got letting her know of another audition for another representative model. They head inside to help Ran do some training while she discusses how important this is to her since she didn't get it last time. She thanks them for being so supportive, then takes off for the dorms.

The next day, Aoi mentions that they only have one day left until the Starlight Queen Cup. They hear music and catch Yurika in the middle of practice and she scolds them for interrupting her private lesson. They notice she seems to be more like a vampire than usual, causing Yurika to mention preparations for the S.P.Q. Rockfest, which she was invited to. They congratulate her, and she asks them to leave her alone since they are distracting her. As they leave, someone comes in to drop off the garlic ramen she ordered.

The girls find Sakura in another room and ask her if they will just be training with her, confused to see that Kaede and Otome are gone. She informs them that Otome had an interview, while Kaede is at a magazine shoot. She also mentions that she has her own plans after practice and the foursome quickly get to work. But while doing this Ichigo begins to get distracted with her thoughts, realizing that everyone has been hard at work while she lacks a goal.

That night, Johnny and Orihime are discussing the girls and the Starlight Queen Cup. While it's a standing point for them, it also has a lot in store for them as their next stepping stone.

Ichigo goes to visit Ran in her dorm room and she watches as she fills out some papers for her modeling tryouts. Ichigo expresses concern in the fact she doesn't know what she plans to do with her life just yet, but Ran points out that surely there's a hint in everything she's done in Aikatsu so far and sits down with her.

After heading back to the dorm Ichigo continues to give it thought but still doesn't have any answers. She finds a message from Aoi that she gave her sometime prior, but decides that she has to figure it out on her own. She goes outside to continue to think things through and realizes that she has done everything with everyone else. She's hardly done anything by herself and has to find a way to become more passionate about her own idol activities. But as she sits there, she suddenly becomes inspired and runs off to find Kaede.

Later, she returns to find Aoi in the dorm. She asks her how everything went and Aoi brings up the many ideas the director had in mind for her. But they should sleep for tomorrow, so she insists that they discuss everything then.

The following day, everyone has showed up to see the Starlight Queen Cup performance. A woman announces the program and how everyone can watch it live, on television, or even on the internet. She also points out that Mizuki will battle the winner of the cup in one final round afterwards.

Everyone meets up and at first it seems like a tense moment, but it's immediately lightened up when Ichigo accidentally calls the Starlight Queen Cup as "cap". They laugh and express joy in getting to do this and while they may be nervous, Kaede says they should just focus on having fun. Which is enough for them to share one last group cheer and change into their coords. After they appear on stage, they perform "Moonlight Destiny".

When the performance ends, it is announced that Mizuki will be revealing the winner. She walks onto the stage compliments everyone for their job well done. Then, she opens the card to reveal the name: Ichigo Hoshimiya. After she mentions how excited she is for this performance, Mizuki tells Ichigo that they have to give it their all and everyone cheers.

Ichigo, Aoi, and Ran leave and though disappointed, Aoi is just happy that Ichigo was the winner. Ichigo wishes to speak to her and Ran, but she tells them to come in about ten minutes and runs off for the cafeteria.

Aoi orders a very special parfait for Ichigo and asks the woman working there to write out a message using chocolate. She spots Kaede passing by and speaks with her for a moment- only for Kaede to bring up Ichigo's sudden plan to leave the Academy. Startled, Aoi can only stand still as it dons on Kaede that she didn't know.

Character Appearances

 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Aoi Kiriya
 * Ran Shibuki
 * Mizuki Kanzaki
 * Kaede Ichinose
 * Otome Arisugawa
 * Yurika Tōdō
 * Sakura Kitaōji
 * Orihime Mitsuishi
 * Johnny Bepp
 * Ringo Hoshimiya
 * Raichi Hoshimiya
 * Hikari Minowa

Major Event

 * Starlight Queen Cup begins.
 * Ichigo is the winner from the first round, and goes to the final round.

Animation Trivia

 * The episode subtitle might come after Signalize!'s lyrics, "向かう場所はミライの　僕らの希望の中に　望む場所はミライの輝きが合図 Let's go, Go!"
 * There was a cameo appearance of the CDs Signalize!/Calendar Girl, Diamond Happy / Hirari/Hitori/Kirari, and Fourth Party!, all done by and featuring the real-life group STAR☆ANIS.
 * This marks the offical anime debut of the Star Festival Coord
 * The song Moonlight destiny appears for the first time