Episode 77 - Aiming to be a Star☆彡

Aiming to be a Star☆彡 (目指してるスター☆彡) is the 77th episode of Aikatsu! TV Anime series and the 27th episode of it's "Second Season". The episode aired on April 10, 2014.

Synopsis
''Akari Ōzora was chosen on the Starlight School Idol Caravan and thus, the sunny idol walked her first step. Even though the dance and the song are still yet to be, Ichigo quickly registered the performance and was swept away with the rising potential!''

Summary
As she cheerily sings Akari pushes her suitcase towards Starlight Academy. She is disappointed as she observes a hill before her and complains over missing the bus earlier.

Upon arrival, she stops to take in the sights and sounds surrounding her, as well as taking a quick picture of herself. She thinks about how much she has been looking forward to this before running inside.

An upperclassman shows up to give her a tour and Akari quickly recognizes the room they are in, recalling that the entrance exam took place there. She thinks about the first time when she failed and almost finds it hard to believe she is there now as they leave the room. They look at various other things, such as previous Top Idols of the school like Mizuki, and how far Ichigo's grown. She is brought to the headmistresses office, where Orihime has been waiting. Akari introduces herself and she is congratulated for passing before being bluntly told how much her singing and performance skills need to be worked on. However, she can sense an unseen potential inside of her, and because Ichigo chose her specifically she must have seen it as well. She then hands Akari the Apricot Torte Coord cards she used for her entrance exam and explains how valuable the coord cards are while handing her a student ID and the Aikatsu smartphone.

Outside of the dorm area, Akari makes her way through trying to locate her room. When she steps inside, she finds Aoi and Ichigo there and quickly leaves realizing she opened the wrong door. She is flustered by the mistake, but Aoi and Ichigo are impressed by how she somehow found them and decide to help her before they leave. Akari steps into her room to find a girl with really short hair. She introduces herself as Yuu and Akari beings setting her stuff up until her mother calls, telling her that a program is featuring her. Yuu uses her phone to turn the program on and finds Ichigo, Aoi, and Ran being interviewed by a man and discussing Akari.

The man asks why the girls picked her to attend the school, stating that she wasn't very skillful or impressive. He wonders if Ichigo was biased since Akari proclaimed herself a fan but she claims that isn't it at all- what first made her notice Akari was how she unknowingly performed Ichigo's signature move during the song at the exact same time, almost on instinct. What really sealed the deal was the fact she can see an idol in Akari; followed by the man suddenly announcing the program's end.

In her office, Orihime and Johnny discuss how Akari's popularity is rising since she was accepted into the school. Johnny wonders if Orihime planned this, but she claims not to have had any idea. She also doesn't know what will happen to Akari either, so she feels the excitement in seeing how she will grow.

In the cafeteria, Ran and Aoi discuss how they really had no intention of choosing Akari. Her performance was really bad and it was the only impression they had of her, but Ichigo pushed so hard and even they had to admit that she kept their attention, especially with seeing how hard she was trying. Ran then asks Ichigo what really convinces her to pick Akari, but she claims not to know herself. They are suddenly interrupted by Seira and Ki, with Ki delighted by them choosing Akari, since it's like they are producing her. Ichigo doesn't understand until the others explain that she was the one to pick Akari, and while she chose her based on a strange hunch, Ichigo should be the one to guide Akari.

Suddenly Ichigo gets a call from Orihime and rushes to the office, where she gives Ichigo a job offer involving a PR concert for the upgraded Aikatsu Navi. Ichigo agrees to take it but asks for a favor. After listening, Orihime gives Akari a call to inform her of the news- leaving her beyond shocked. However, Yuu thinks this is a good idea and shows approval.

The following day Akari is asked to join Ichigo in training, and while she is nervous she is very excited. She greets her as she runs into the room and thanks Ichigo for thinking of her like this, bringing up how honored she felt. Ichigo attempts to calm her down and suggests that for now, they should train normally since she isn't exactly sure what else she can do as her producer.

They start by running laps and work on performing a Special Appeal. Akari struggles to keep up with Ichigo and soon they move onto posing while jumping on the trampoline, then sit down to a big lunch while Akari watches Ichigo eat. Then Ichigo takes a nap, much to her surprise, and eventually, they decide to take a break from physical activity. Ichigo takes off for a moment and returns with a sheet of lyrics for the song they will be performing then and tells Akari to study them. She is sure once she understands the song, she may be able to perform better. With nothing else to lose, Akari agrees before noticing a personal lyric that inspired her to become like Ichigo, and she explains this to her before expressing doubts that she might not ever be able to improve since she messes up so much.

Akari spends the night awake and trying to focus on the song. In their own dorm room, Aoi also finds Ichigo doing the same as she thinks about Akari's words earlier. Aoi decides to leave her alone as she sees she is starting to realize something important.

Soon the performance day comes along and Akari remains nervous until Ichigo joins her and manages to calm her down. She shows her the lyric sheet again and explains that instead of Akari trying to aim to be exactly like her, she should be her own person; the star in the song is her and they should both aim to become original, instead of aiming for someone else. Ichigo then goes on to say that she chose Akari because she saw the light of an Idol within her, the very light she felt when she watched Mizuki perform for the first time. Akari also tried her very best and managed to keep everyone's attention. While her light might be small now, she must continue to do her best and it will continue to shine.

Touched by Ichigo's words, Akari agrees and they change into their school coords before appearing on stage to perform "Original Star☆彡". As it is going on, the girls note that Akari is still a bit shaky but she did do a little better. She even managed to perform a Dress Appeal.

After the performance, Ichigo takes off to join her friends. In this time, Akari thinks about her original dream of becoming like Ichigo and how she must focus on being herself; an original. With that in mind, she returns to her room and puts away the scoop she carried to emulate Ichigo. She then grabs a pair of scissors and begins to cut her hair as she thinks about how she will make her own story.

Character Appearances

 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Akari Ōzora
 * Yū Hattori
 * Aoi Kiriya
 * Ran Shibuki
 * Seira Otoshiro
 * Ki Saegusa


 * Naoto Suzukawa
 * Orihime Mitsuishi
 * Johnny Bepp
 * Mizuki Kanzaki (Flashback)

Trivia

 * The episode title was taken from Original Star☆彡's lyrics.
 * This is the first episode of the 2nd Season series to use a song's lyrics for its title and the second overall.
 * The lyrics sheet for Original Star☆彡 was shown in this episode.

Major Events

 * Akari decides to cut her hair as she realizes it's time to be herself.
 * A Dress Appeal is used for the first time in the anime.