Episode 150 - The Bonds of Stars

The Bonds of Stars (星の絆) is the 150th episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 49th episode of its "3rd Season". The episode aired on September 10, 2015.

Story
''The idol from Starlight School who is in high spirits, Kaede Ichinose is planning to make an appearance in the Great Starlight School Festival. She is planning to invite the vampire idol who is also participating in the festival, Yurika Tōdō to join her. There is only one reason why Kaede called for Yurika. Aware of the situation, Yurika with a wavering heart was...?''

Summary
Akari, Sumire, and Hinaki are preparing to do some training for their performance. They try to determine what the best methods would be to make Luminas shine even better, and Akari suggests that they should work on improving their unit appeal. They need something more dazzling, which they agree with. Hinaki plays a video of their previous appeal and criticizes how slow they were in using it, as well as the fact that they didn't get enough height, besides the height and speed they also need to focus on timing. Encouraged the girls get straight to work, deciding to spend every day training until they then.

Meanwhile, Kaede is outside when she spots someone using the training facility. She approaches it to see Luminas inside and feels inspired to be a part of the Great Starlight School Festival too.

The following day, Yurika is finishing a commercial recording when she happens to notice Kaede dropping down from the sky. She scolds her for startling her and Kaede apologizes, claiming it was for the sake of excitement. She approaches Yurika with her idea to enter the upcoming school festival with her, but Yurika points out its just for trio units- which is why Kaede planned on asking Mizuki too, so that they could enter as Tristar. Yurika is surprised by this and thinks back to her time with Kaede and Mizuki, up until the point when she decided to separate from Starlight Academy and walk her own path. Their popularity remained and they had the option to remain a unit even without her, but Yurika chose to disband it.

Kaede tries to encourage Yurika, saying that they could reform Tristar with this opportunity- even becoming better than they use to be since all of them have grown since then. She wants to see this performance more than anything, and she asks Yurika to join her. Yurika refuses and walks away after pointing out Mizuki wouldn't return to them.

Later that day, Luminas practices their various poses on the trampoline. Yurika walks in and thinks back to the days she spent with the other two as Tristar. She refuses to believe it can work, but gets a text from Sakura asking her to stop by the Sakura Chateau when she gets a chance. Curious, she makes her way over.

Upon arrival, Sakura leads Yurika to a room where Otome and Shion await with a bunch of tomato. Green Grass had a huge amount of tomatoes from their garden and the girls wanted to share them by having everyone get together to make tomato products; such as juice and sauce. They know how much Yurika likes tomato juice, but she quickly claims that she drinks blood, not tomato. But she is unable to avoid her enthusiasm, saying that she likes it with a little salt and pepper or splash of lemon juice. After Shion points out she just revealed that she does like tomato juice, she pouts and joins them in the kitchen.

As the girls prepare, Sakura reveals that she called Vanilla Chili Pepper, and Luminas will be joining them once they finish training. They begin to discuss their unit, the concert performance, their talents, and so on until Yurika asks if Kaede will be joining them.

A while later, Kaede runs up the path to spot Yurika waiting for her. She is happy and starts to head inside, only for Yurika to stop her to speak about something. Before she can get a word out, she is embraced by Kaede, who already has an idea as to what she wished to say. Flustered, Yurika quickly explains that she has been unable to think of anything but Tristar since the announcement for the School Festival. Like Kaede, she also wishes to perform with Mizuki and her friend again, and any idol affiliated with the school has the right to enter. Mizuki still has qualifications to enter as well, but she has chosen to walk away from the school so Yurika is doubtful that she will return. Kaede suggests they face Mizuki and Yurika agrees.

Before then however, Kaede has something else in mind. To Yurika's horror, she manages to get her up in a plane to go parachuting. Seeing how upset she is Kaede asks Yurika why she isn't used to this yet, causing Yurika to yell at her until they spot Mizuki beneath them in town. They land onto the ground after Kaede calls out to her and with a smile, Mizuki greets them. They head inside and explain why they have showed up so suddenly, saying that they would like for Mizuki to rejoin them as Tristar again. She recalls their past together and their unit, and to their surprise she reveals that she often thinks about it. She is happy they thought about her and quickly agrees, but before then she must speak to Orihime first.

They sit together and she explains her desire to enter the School Festival under the reformed Tristar. She knows that she was the one who left in the past, but she wants to perform with her friends again, and she was hoping her previous affiliation will allow her to join. Orihime has no problem accepting this, as she feels that Mizuki is part of the reason that Aikatsu has kept going. Many idols populate the scene, but she has been the one encouraging everyone to keep going and try harder, and for this she is grateful. Mizuki thanks her and right away, an idol report is put up detailing the event as various fans and idols watch.

Everyone is very excited by the news and ready to see their performance, including the members of Vanilla Chili Pepper. They discuss the news and comment on how popular the unit was, and how they used to watch their performances. Johnny even discusses it with Yotsuba, and they discuss how many younger idols have been excited by the news. Naoto is happy for the turn of events but he questions why they are sitting around eanting donuts. The guys explain how good it is to have a little guy time every now and then, and Johnny mentions that he called Sena, causing Naoto to remind him he lives in the mountains and it is pretty far away. With that, they decide to hold their next guy bonding time at Sena's place and have barbecue. It's then Johnny recalls Luminas and decides to save them some donuts.

The girls continue to train and make a few more poses until they get too tired to continue. However, they are disappointed by their lack of progress.

Another idol report is held, with the man revealing that today, Tristar will be holding their performance. Everyone continues to grow excited as the performance time approaches.

As she walks through a hallway, Mizuki is surprised by Ichigo, who has come to speak to her. They stand on the stage, with Ichigo recalling that it was the very area where Mizuki performed, and where she saw her first idol concert that inspired her to become an idol too. Mizuki comments that it was also the spot where she gained her resolve to continue idoling, just when she was on the verge of quitting. Ichigo is very happy to have gotten to see Mizuki, and she claims that there was a lot she wanted to speak to her about. Mizuki agrees before revealing there is still time before the concert, so she asks Ichigo if she would like to do it now.

As Yurika and Kaede discuss sushi, they are joined by Mizuki. She apologizes for making them wait and to her surprise, Mikuru has come to watch their performance. She comments that she was really excited to see the performance, since watching Mizuki always makes her feel motivated, and she has even brought some flowers for her. The girls share a few words and head back stage to change. They appear on stage and perform "Take Me Higher".

After the performance, everyone in the audience cheers for them. The girls stand backstage together, and Mizuki thanks them for bringing her back into Tristar. The girls are just as happy and they thank her before they all share an embrace.

Outside, Luminas discusses how amazing the performance was, including their appeal. While happy, the girls are a bit concerned, but they decide to keep training anyway. As Luminas, they need to shine just as bright as their name, if not even more. Their turn will be approaching, and it encourages them even further.

Characters

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

Trivia

 * Tristar makes their comeback in this episode.