Episode 151 - Light of the Stage

Light of the Stage (ステージの光) is the 151st episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 50th episode of its "3rd Season". The episode aired on September 17, 2015.

Story
''The idols to appear on the last day of the Great Starlight School Festival will be Luminas, composed of Akari Ōzora, Sumire Hikami and Hinaki Shinjō, as well as Soleil, composed of Ichigo Hoshimiya, Aoi Kiriya and Ran Shibuki. To compete with Soleil, Akari has become aware that she has begun to embrace the different feelings she has up until now... ''

Summary
While practicing their jumps and poses, Akari, Hinaki, and Sumire suddenly falter and fall to the ground. They can't understand why its so difficult now since they got the move itself down, but their height and timing still needs work. They are convinced they will lose but Akari smiles, perking up Hinaki and Sumire and gives them a towel, suggesting they take a break. It's then Hinaki notices they have been training for three hours now. Akari encourages Sumire and Hinaki to keep going, believing that they truly can shine even brighter.

Later, Johnny-sensei reveals the remaining units to be performing for the final day of the Great Starlight School Festival. Ichigo suggested they hold a lottery to decide who will go on, and Orihime likes this idea. He shows that he has already picked one card, that being Soleil. He draws another card and reveals it to Orihime.

Suddenly, Akari gets a call and she reveals to her friends that they will be performing on the final day of the Festival with Soleil. The very same news makes it's way around the idoling news channels, along with the fact that the top five units being revealed following those performances to crown the top unit. This adds more pressure onto the girls as they think about their competition, but Akari assures them that they have a week before then so they can focus on training and special appeal.

As the days passed, the girls continued a variety of training. But like before, they falter trying to perform their appeals jump and this causes them to start worrying. Hinaki asks if she is losing sight on their goal and wonders if they really can shine as they hoped, but Akari claims she can see how brilliantly they shine. Everyone feels discouraged every now and then, and if you focus too much on your ideals and training you will lose sight of yourself. But without doubt, even by little they are still moving forward. They thank Akari before she comments hearing something similar from Ichigo, then reminds them of their limited time before they resume training. Orihime and Johnny are revealed to be observing them.

Until the big day arrives, the girls do a variety of things to use every single minute until their performance, like pull extremely heavy weights, bungee jump from the sides of buildings to practice their appeals, and even climb Angely Mountain. For their last practice on the trampoline, the girls jump high into the air and pose- to their delight they finally manage to perform their new appeal.

Eventually the final day of the Great Starlight School Festival arrives. The announcer explains that Luminas will be performing that morning, while Soleil will perform during the afternoon. The two units great each other and give good wishes before Luminas goes back stage to perform. They share some words of encouragement and change into their coords, appearing on stage to perform "Little Beat, Little Wing".

Afterwards, everyone cheers and compliments their job well done. On stage, Luminas thanks everyone before Soleil make their way back stage to change. They cheer and change into their brand new unit coords, appearing on stage to perform "Diamond Happy".

All ten units return to the stadium as the announcer reveals the top five. On the screen, the units are revealed to be Vanilla Chili Pepper, Tristar, Soleil, PowaPowa-Puririn, and Luminas. As the girls happily cheer over it, the other idol units sadly admit defeat as the winning units step onto the stage. He then goes over to reveal each of the units rankings; Vanilla Chili Pepper came in fifth, PowaPowa-Puririn came in fourth, in third was Tristar, who gratefully thanks everyone. Luminas is revealed to have placed second, topping Tristar by 304 points, suprising the trio. Soleil places first, and the trio thank everyone and share some words over how much fun they had during the School Festival.

That evening, Akari goes for a walk when she spots someone using the training building. She is greeted by Sumire and Hinaki, who are equally surprised its not one of them within it given how much they used it before. Akari admits that despite how painful the ordeal was it was also worth it, and she knows that they will continue to have fun and reach their dreams soon enough.

Characters

 * Akari Ōzora
 * Sumire Hikami
 * Hinaki Shinjō
 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Aoi Kiriya
 * Ran Shibuki
 * Juri Kurebayashi
 * Rin Kurosawa
 * Madoka Amahane
 * Otome Arisugawa
 * Sakura Kitaōji
 * Shion Kamiya
 * Mizuki Kanzaki
 * Yurika Tōdō
 * Kaede Ichinose
 * Orihime Mitsuishi
 * Johnny Bepp
 * Naoto Suzukawa