Akari Ōzora

"I used to want to be like Ichigo-chan, however, I now know that I need to find my own light. This is my story!"

- Akari as she begins to find her sense of self at the end of Episode 77.

Akari Ōzora (大空あかり) is one of the main characters from the Starlight School community who made her debut in the second half of the second season and the 4th collection of the Data Carddass Aikatsu! 2014 Series. As of Season 3, Akari is the new central protagonist, succeeding Ichigo Hoshimiya. She is a cute-type idol and her primary brand is Dreamy Crown.

Appearance
Akari has magenta eyes and honey brown hair. Her hair is in a layered bob with a bit pulled up into a curled side ponytail by a pink bow.

During her early appearances, Akari had long hair and wore a pink bow, due to the fact that she was a huge fan of Ichigo.

By Episode 96, Akari's hair remains layered, but has grown to where it's medium length.

At the start of Season 4, Akari starts wearing a section of her hair in a braid that travels across the top of her head and no longer wears a side ponytail. Her hair has also gotten noticeably wavier.

Personality
Akari is a clumsy, somewhat nervous, yet cheerful girl. She highly admires Ichigo to the point of wanting to be an idol like her. She appears to cry and get frustrated easily, but is determined nonetheless. Akari is also quite resilient and is able to quickly recover from her mistakes.

In Episode 96, Akari has grown into someone who wants to shine with her own light. She has become a hard-working and an even more determined idol who no longer aspires to be like Ichigo. She is no longer clumsy and is still energetic and cheerful, but can be prone comedic antics from time to time, much like her mentor and predecessor.

Etymology
Ōzora (大空) Ō (大) means big and combined with Zora (空) which means sky, Ōzora means big/vast sky. As said in Episode 177, this refers to her becoming greater than/encompassing the sun and the moon.

Akari (あかり) means light or brightness.

Background
Akari first became a fan of Ichigo when she was in the 4th grade. She had come across the Christmas Special television program (Episode 12) and was amazed at how Ichigo helped out her friends and brought smiles to people faces. Desiring to be like that, she mustered up the courage to help a girl struggling on the uneven beams on her school's playground and after that, began down her road of fandom. It was revealed in Episode 101 that Akari attended Ichigo's unveiling concert for the Mermaid Pisces Coord and was taken by her concert. She decided that she wanted to be an idol and auditioned for Starlight, but didn't even come close to making the cut her first time around.

Surprise! Ichigo's Fan
Akari's official debut was in Episode 76 of the anime when she appeared in her living room watching the ad for the Starlight School Idol Caravan which stated that those who applied and failed to get into Starlight the first time, could try again with this nationwide idol search. Excited, Akari jumped at the chance to not only get into Starlight, but to meet Ichigo as well.

Akari didn't appear until the very last audition, where before her turn to go on stage came, she focused too much on Ichigo and ended up making a mistake. This, along with her overall appearance which by then mirrored Ichigo's, left an impression on the audience and judges. Her passion is noted by Ran and Aoi, who call her "intense." Akari then shows the three the picture of the the day she tried to get into Starlight and how she may not be that talented, but she won't back down from her dream without a fight. While she may mess up, she'll give it her all and proceeds to perform "Idol Activity!"

Throughout the performance, Akari makes mistake after mistake. But between those missteps, Ichigo saw an idol in her and because of that, chooses her as the winner of the final Caravan audition. From there, though still in shock, Akari Ōzora began her path of idol-dom.

Aiming to be an Original Star☆彡
Having missed the bus on her very first day, Akari is pushing her luggage up the hill to Starlight School while singing Calendar Girl. When she makes into the top of the hill, she begins to shed tears of happiness, seeing that she's finally made it to Starlight. She then takes a picture of herself at the school's front gates to commemorate this, not knowing that an incredible world would be waiting for her.

Before the tour began, Akari realizes that this was where they announced the results for her first entry exam. That first time she failed miserably and didn't even come close to passing, but now she's officially a student of Starlight School. Once more her excitement wells up and as the tour continues, being led to Headmistress Orihime's office. Orihime introduces herself and congratulates the new idol on passing, noting that while her singing and dancing is still something to be desired, she can sense the unseen potential in her. Akari questions this and Orihime explains that Ichigo was the judge who passed her, and states that she must have seen something special and was excited to see what kind of path Akari will take to becoming an idol.

Once arriving at her room she meets Yū Hattori, her new roommate. Not long after Akari starts unpacking, she gets a call from her mother saying that she's on TV right now and true enough, she was. Ichigo, Aoi, and Ran were being interviewed about the Idol Caravan and she was being noted because of her intensity, how she stood out, and just why Ichigo chose her. Ichigo revealed that she saw an idol in her, but before she could elaborate time ran out leaving Akari upset at not getting a straight answer. Later that night, Akari receives an email from Orihime, stating that Ichigo wants her to perform with her for her next live performance leaving her in shock.

The next day, while Akari is waiting for Ichigo, she thinks about how she's getting a lesson from her idol which makes her nervous and excited. Ichigo arrives and notices how Akari resembles her, with the latter revealing her desire to be as much like her as possible. The two carry on with Ichigo's unpredictable physical skill ranges impressing Akari continuously. At some point later, after having the latter work on special appeals, the two take a break. Ichigo gives Akari a copy of the lyrics to "Original Star☆彡," the song they'll perform for the Aikatsu Navi live. When reading the lyrics, Akari comes across the line "aiming to be stars" and tells Ichigo that she's the star she's aiming for, but no matter how much she tries she doesn't come any closer to being like her. This makes Ichigo wonder just why she chose Akari and stays up late looking over the lyrics, finding her answer.

Morning comes and so does the time for the concert, but before they go on, Ichigo tells Akari that she's the star, not her. This resonates within Akari, as Ichigo informs her that she was chosen because of the light Ichigo saw- one she was unable to take her eyes away from. The light of an idol, and even though it was small, it was hers. After this, they head to the stage with Akari managing to pull off a Dress Appeal.

When the performance ended, Ichigo congratulates Akari on a great performance then heads off. Later that night, Akari realizes that she must create her own light and cuts her hair, stating that this is her story, as a sign of her becoming herself.

Aikatsu! Boot Camp
Akari watches over a report involving the upcoming Partner Cup while sitting in the lunchroom when Orihime comes by to pay her a visit. She brings up her poor performance in school, and shows her a flier for the Aikatsu Boot Camp, a new program to help idols hone their talents and skills to improve themselves.

Back at her dorm room that night, Akari is discussing the situation with Yū; who questions why she agreed without doing any research first. Orihime recommended it so she felt that it was best to just agree right there, but she starts to fret as Yu reveals the rumors she heard and looks up some reviews.

Early the next morning, Akari leaves for camp. While concerned for the fact this may be really hard, she is also aware of how bad she performs right now. Meanwhile, Orihime and Johnny also discuss the unfortunate events. Orihime thinks that while Akari may not be too great now, if she can figure out the important things while at boot camp, she will become better for it. On the bus, Akari sits in the back by herself. Many of the girls sound worried but she tries to focus on how good this will be for her.

As they reached the docks and are forced onto a boat, which takes them to a strange island. There, the girls are welcomed by the coach, Sergeant Pepper. He tells all of the girls to start running to the first area and Akari gets caught by a stick on the ground and yanked down. She quickly takes off to catch up with the others  and is shown doing the same thing the next day- with the addition of logs. Akari realizes that this isn't what she wants, and how behind she is no matter how hard she tries. This time she realizes she is alone and falls in defeat.

It is then Sergeant Pepper tells the girls that everything they did was only a warm up. Now they need to build a stage on this island for performances. They split up trying to figure things out, but soon realize that they need to work closer together. She and the girls regroup at another part of the island, trying to determine the stage design. In this time, one of the girls recognizes Akari and brings up her hair cut. Akari admits to them that she isn't very talented or good with performance, and bonds with the girls when they admit to never performing before either. While they may dance during training or practice, it must feel really different to do the same thing before an audience for the first time. The girls then decide to let Akari decide on a stage design, because she has had the most experience from them all.

They show Sergeant Pepper the design and he agrees to it and takes the girls to tool shed. He tells them that if there is something they don't know how to use, they can ask him. It's then Akari recalls the time Ichigo cut down a tree for her friend. She is inspired by that but she has never actually used an axe before. The girls are approached by Ichigo, who helps Akari to free the axe. She is shocked to find Ichigo there, as well as Ran and Aoi. Akari asks why they came, but Ichigo first explains on how she met Sergeant Pepper back in America. She had been enjoying a snack when she saw a poster advertising an Idol training camp. It seemed like fun so she joined up.

Hearing such words, Akari and the other girls become inspired once again. Ichigo helps the girls learn more about using tools, such as the axe and they watch as the tree falls to the ground. Then, everyone begins to work together, pulling trees away, cutting them down and into the shape they need. Akari has become very inspired by all of this and she really wants to do her best for all of her new friends who have never gotten to perform before. Later that evening, Akari discuss on her experience on the camp with Ichigo. Akari admits that she had no idea that she would get along so well with the others, and while it seemed scary at first, she had a lot of fun and she's glad she came now. She also realizes that she really wasn't alone.

The next morning, Sergeant Pepper congratulates the girls on their job well done. He then asks who will perform first and they look to Akari and she asks if she can perform with Ichigo. She wants to stand on the stage with her again more then anything else. With that the girls change into their chosen coords before appearing on stage, where they perform to "Idol Activity!". After their performance, Akari returns home to tell her friend all about the fun she had. The girls from the camp pass by while greeting her and Akari resumes discussion over the stuff that went on while at camp. As this goes on, Orihime watches her from the door and comments on how Akari has realized what was really important from Ichigo.

Part 1
While struggling to perform a special appeal, Akari joins Johnny Bepp's training camp for the summer. Before she starts training, she tells her mother, who bought her a watermelon, that she would not be coming home for summer vacation.

During training, Akari keeps in mind the things Johnny Bepp said were the key points of a special appeal, but she still struggled to perform an appeal on the trampoline due to her nervousness. The next day, Akari continues to improve by stretching and shouting under Johnny's orders, but she still manages to mess up on the trampoline. While delivering a watermelon from Koharu Ozora, Johnny tells Akari that she is the only idol left to perform her special appeal, but he also notes that trying won't matter and whether if she can or cannot will. Back on the trampoline for practice, Akari begins to tear up starting believe that she is not suit for become an idol.

Part 2
While trying to improve, Akari recalls all of her failed attempts at a special appeal. Akari remembers the time she appealed with Ichigo and when she met other idols similar to her, and how they all motivated her to keep on improving. However, Akari noted to herself that she must learn how to help herself and continued to practice.

Later, Ichigo encounter Akari, who came out of the training room, and observed her bandaged arm telling her to that she will continue to support her. At her dorm, Akari is happy that Ichigo is still supporting her, but she is still exhausted from practice and provokes her to sleep.

The next morning, Akari goes back to the trampoline with sore feelings, but she then encounters Ichigo once again telling her that she will listen to anything she wants to tell her. Akari cries as she tells Ichigo that she believes her words about becoming an idol were wrong. Ichigo tells Akari that she still has a light shining in her even though it is not visible, and she joins her on her practice. Ichigo helps Akari improve her posture and pose in order to appeal, and Akari surprises herself with her own special appeal.

On her final exam, Akari is able to perform Cute Flash which allows her to pass her test. Following the exam, she is congratulated by Orihime, Johnny, and Ichigo.

New Roommates
Akari used to be roommates with Yū, but they had to move to different rooms due to severe water damage. That's when Akari became friends with Sumire.

Pon Pon Crepe Campaign
Later on, Akari became friends with Hinaki. She invited her to try out for the pon pon crepe campaign, and Akari had won and thanks to the accessory given to her by Hinaki.

First Premium Rare
The upcoming performance could be called as the most important performance for Akari, and she had to get a special outfit. Her favorite brand, Dreamy Crown was about to present their first premium rare dress, and Akari knew that that was the one. Despite the unfinished dress when Akari arrived at Dreamy Crown's workshop, she helped gather the remaining materials to assist Tsubasa, the designer, in completing the dress.

Great Ichigo Starmiya Festival
Akari has already become a regular at Starlight Academy. She even sang with her seniors during their performance. With the StarMiya Festival in preparation, Akari volunteers to help in any way she can, and she did, despite her "clumsiness". She even helped get Kanzaki Mizuki to the concert in time for Etude of Radiance. For the encore, she performs Let's Aikatsu! with Ichigo and Mizuki. After the concert, Ichigo gives Akari the crystal mic as a thank you gift for bringing Mizuki, and has Akari inherit her dream of becoming an idol.

Starlight School Christmas Party
Akari wanted to be like Ichigo and chop down a tree for her classmates in honor of Christmas and got help from her friends, including Sumire and Hinaki. Even though the tree got buried in snow, but with the help of Juri's mother, the Christmas tree got back to school on time.

Ozora Weather
After being tasked with focusing on completing a Resolution before their first year ends, Akari goes out in search of finding one. While browsing the IdoLook for an Audition, she happens to spot one related to being a Weather Forecaster and Akari quickly decides that she was meant for this one. After learning about how weather isn't always good news, Akari points out that while she isn't ready to become a Forecaster, it still seems fun and she wants to try anyway, and that she had a gut feeling and wanted to try it out, and now she understands that she can clear her Viewers feelings with her words, and it isn't any different than when she is doing her idoling. Akari was excited when she learns that she will be hosting a new morning news segment known as Good Morning Watch, because of her feelings as an idol.

Soleil's "Our Dream" Tour
When Soleil left on their "Our Dream" tour, Akari tells the top idol Ichigo that she will become the Starlight Queen.

Skips
After two duo units had formed, Madoka wanted to form a unit as well and found out that Akari would be the one for her. Akari quickly replied and said yes. Their group had won the partner's competition.

Forming Luminas
After the unit have been formed, they wanted to get better at their special appeal for the Great Starlight School Festival.

Starlight Queen Cup
The criteria and standards for the Starlight Queen Cup were tough, but Akari had won because of her outstanding Special A level Fever Appeal.

Premium Dress
The designer of Dreamy Crown had caught a very bad cold when the Starlight Queen Cup was coming up, and the premium was almost up to date. But with Akari's care, the designer quickly healed and designed a brand new dress for Akari, taking inspiration from words she previously told him.

Aftermath
As a present for her birthday Ichigo and Akari formed a unit together.

Relationships

 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Ichigo is Akari's mentor. Akari is a huge fan of Ichigo and at first she wanted to be like her to the point of imitating her appearance and several of her performance habits. She highly admires Ichigo and in return, Ichigo sees a light in her and guides her down her idol path. Ichigo also provides advice for Akari throughout the first half of Season 3, and when she is leaving for Soleil's national tour Akari tells her she will become the Starlight Queen. At the end of Season 4, Akari is crowned the new Starlight Queen by Ichigo.


 * Yū Hattori
 * Akari's old roommate who encourages her and helps her when she's feeling down. After their dorm leaks on a rainy night, Yū and Akari are assigned different rooms, but they still are connected. In her friendship with Akari, Yū was always impressed with how Akari keeps on improving.


 * Sumire Hikami
 * Akari´s new roommate after she had to move from her old room. Akari found Sumire to be very mysterious and beautiful and wanted to get to know her better. The two enjoy each other's company and managed to become fast friends despite Sumire being the total opposite of Akari. With Akari, Sumire begins to make more friends. Akari and Sumire, along Hinaki formed the unit Luminas.


 * Hinaki Shinjō
 * Akari admires Hinaki and in return Hinaki is enamored of Akari. The two are positive influences on each other and Akari continues to inspire Hinaki with her freshness. Akari and Hinaki, along with Sumire formed the unit Luminas.


 * Tsubasa Sena
 * Tsubasa is the creator of Akari's preferred brand, Dreamy Crown. Both are very similar and have a similar sense of determination in reaching their goals.


 * Juri Kurebayashi
 * Akari helped Juri to walk on as an actress without her mother's help. They became quick friends. Akari invited her to her home on New Year's Eve for a fashion shoot near the area.


 * Miyabi Fujiwara
 * Akari became Miyabi's first friend when she transferred to Starlight School. While watching her, Akari is impressed with Miyabi's talents. With Akari, Miyabi learns that her talents make her an idol.


 * Madoka Amahane
 * Akari took good care of her when Sumire, her original mentor was busy with her unit activities, and helped her build confidence to obtain her first Premium Rare Coord. The two of them later formed a unit named Skips♪.


 * Rin Kurosawa
 * Akari is Rin's Mentor.


 * Koharu Ōzora and Manabu Ōzora
 * Akari's mother and father, respectively.

Trivia

 * Her zodiac sign is Aries.
 * Coincidentally, her birthday is the same day as April Fool's Day.
 * Her favorite foods are watermelons, chocolate, donuts, mandarin oranges, and curry.
 * Her specialty is imitation.
 * Formerly her favorite brand was Angely Sugar.
 * Akari, along with Mizuki, Yurika, and Ichigo, have shown themselves to be the most consistently popular main characters, having made it into all election-determined incarnations of Aikatsu8 and Photokatsu8 since their debut.
 * Akari is the second known idol to cut her hair.
 * She is also the second to have a side ponytail as her hair style.
 * She is also the first to change hair style more than once.
 * She is the first idol to make a mistake during her debut performance.
 * She is the fourth idol overall to make a mistake, following Ichigo Hoshimiya, Sakura Kitaōji, and Ran Shibuki and is followed by Sumire Hikami.
 * Akari is the third person to be shown in a normal school uniform.
 * She is also the third person to attend a Starlight entrance audition in a regular school uniform.
 * She is the first season two character to not share her singer.
 * She is also the first to have a new member of STAR☆ANIS as her singer.
 * She is also the third main character who doesn't share her singing voice.
 * Akari is the first known idol to perform a Dress Appeal in the anime.
 * She's the first known idol to change her basic pose after going through the changing room, and the second known overall to change her pose, first being Mizuki.
 * She is the second idol not to have a primary brand in the season she debuted, following Shion Kamiya, who debuted in season one, but had her primary brand confirmed as Futuring Girl in season two.
 * Akari is the first character to grow her hair out after cutting it and the first character to have had four different hairstyles.
 * She is the first character to use a brandless coord (non-basic) for a performance in season two.
 * She is the first idol to have trouble performing a Special Appeal.
 * She is the second idol to have the color of her school dresses change between seasons (from apricot to pink).
 * Out of all the main characters, Akari has the longest record of performances without having a preferred brand (30 episodes), beating out Mizuki Kanzaki, who wore her first Love Queen dress 27 episodes after her debut.
 * She has a habit of kissing her Aikatsu cards before her performances.
 * Akari has the fastest record of receiving her second Premium Rare Coord (5 episodes as the movie takes place between Episode 112 and Episode 113).
 * She is the first idol to have two autographs that she uses through the course of the series.
 * She is the only main idol to do performances for certain episodes in the anime adaptation's second half of season 2 before being promoted to "central protagonist" for Season 3's Aikatsu! anime adaption.
 * Akari is the only idol from Season 2 who didn't have an Idol Aura in her debut performance.
 * Overall she is the fourth character not to have an aura in her debut performance.
 * Akari is one of the few main characters for the Aikatsu! anime adaption to make cameo appearances before her actual debut episode.
 * For this case, Akari made cameo appearances 50 and 51 until making her debut appearance in Episode 76.
 * In homeroom, Akari sits in the same seat as Ichigo did when she was still in Johnny's class.
 * She is the first idol whose aura changed while not wearing a new Premium Rare.
 * She addresses Seira as Otoshiro-senpai in the latter half of Season 2, but now calls her Seira-san as of Season 3.
 * Akari is 155cm tall as of Season 4.
 * As of Episode 177, Akari replaces Sakura as the new Starlight Queen.
 * In that same episode, Akari achieves several firsts - she is the first idol to have her Premium Rare's Dress Aura appear, the first to successfully perform a Special-A rank Special Appeal, and the only idol (group or solo) to ever max out the Stage Points meter in a competition.


 * She shares her singing voice with Hime Shiratori and Aria Futaba from Aikatsu! Stars.