Episode 105 - Bursting Flair☆

Bursting Flair☆ (はじけるヒラメキ☆) is the 105th episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 4th episode of its "3rd Season". The episode aired on October 23, 2014.

Story
''Let's Aikatsu with all we've got! Hinaki admires that Akari works so hard, but seems to be having trouble. Those troubles surprise Akari, but could a past incident be related to those worries?''

Summary
Sumire awakens to find Akari already awake and looking through things about the Pon Pon Crepe Image Girl event she recently won. Akari can hardly believe it, but she isn't given much time to linger on her surprise when Johnny calls her to ask that she comes to Orihime's office as she has news for her. Akari agrees and heads right over, where they congratulate her on her win. Orihime explains that she will become busier due to winning the campaign and she is expected to advertise at shops, appear for handshake events, and star in commercials- but before she does anything she needs a poster for the Pon Pon Crepe team to use. This is usually everyone's first impression of the new girl, so she must make a poster she can be proud of.

Akari meets up with Sumire and Hinaki and admits to being nervous as she shows them her overly filled schedule and Hinaki mentions that work for the poster starts the next day. As they observe prior posters Akari starts worrying that she won't be as cute as they were, but she promises not to let them down. Hinaki assures Akari that she'll be fine since she was chosen above everyone else, they clearly want her true self for this. Sumire agrees, although Hinaki decides that a little preparation would not hurt and Akari decides that first and foremost she needs a unique pose to stand out. Hinaki offers to ask her mother to send them some posters to help them choose one, mentioning that she is a fashion magazine editor.

After obtaining the posters the girls stay in class to observe them and Akari wonders how she could possibly display the feeling of yumminess and still be herself, and Hinaki brings them to the practice area after they changing clothes. At the trampolines she reveals that the Pon Pon Crepe posters are always shot midair and Akari anticipates this as she got a lot of experience using it over summer break, and to help her practice Hinaki provides her with a donut. At first she does wonderful, but when she lands to see the other two making peculiar expressions she expresses concern, and she expresses alarm after Hinaki reveals that had she been wearing anything other than pants she would have exposed her panties in the pose she made.

Akari tries again, with Hinaki using her phone like a camera to try to help her picture it more clearly, and she tells Akari to remember where it's located to avoid further panty shots. After Akari obtains a couple nice shots they decide to take a break and they compliment her work, but when Akari gets inspiration she tries again and manages to pull off a wonderful pose. Hinaki comments on Akari's eagerness and remarks on how much she enjoys her positive nature, and before she can say anything more she gets a reminder call about her own gig. She takes off as Sumire brings up that Hinaki was about to say "she wishes she was more like Akari" once Akari joins her.

As Hinaki arrives to her job location she thinks about how wonderful Akari's training went, feeling encouraged.

Back at the dorm, Akari wonders if lately Hinaki has been worrying over her own Aikatsu and both she and Sumire want to help her. However, Sumire reminds Akari that she also has to focus on Pon Pon Crepe, and Akari excitedly promises that she will, because not only did she train really hard to keep some things in mind, but she has the perfect pose for it now. She thinks about how it will go, but upon realizing all of her many new ideas are beginning to become cluttered she finds herself anxious and begins to panic. Seeing this, Sumire tells Akari to look outside and after seeing how clear and cool it is, Akari decides to clear her mind and go out for a jog.

To her surprise, Akari happens to spot Ichigo running in her direction. They stop to greet each other and Ichigo congratulates her for becoming the brand new Pon Pon Crepe girl. Akari is happy with Ichigo's words but expresses her feelings of anxiety, not only because of how she mixed herself up now, but because of how worried she is for Hinaki. Ichigo recognizes Hinaki by her name and brings Akari to the Gazebo so that they can chat more, with Akari voicing concern that Hinaki may be beating herself up over something, but because she rushed off to work they have yet to see each other.

As Ichigo begins stretching she points out that when friends can't see each other it is important to focus on work, but making someone smile -through work or not- its the most important thing. Akari takes these words to heart, and Ichigo mentions how she, Aoi, and Ran are often separated through work but they always support each other to the best of their abilities. She suggests to Akari that she focuses on being the new Pon Pon Crepe Girl, even recalling that Aoi believes she would make a great one. She prepares to leave when Akari stops her to mention how happy she was seeing her. Ichigo claims to feel the same way and recalls how this happened when she saw Mizuki outside. She also plans to always support Akari.

Akari begins to head back when she finds Johnny waiting for her. He went through her schedule and found out that she will have the time to go and see Hinaki's event after the shoot ends, surprising Akari as he brings up that Hinaki will be participating in a live for the debut of a new lip gloss. As Akari begins to think about how much Hinaki has been helping her in spite of her own work, she is very happy and asks that he take her there whenever the time comes.

The next day, Akari is introduced while showing everyone the cute outfit she will be wearing for the poster, and they welcome her and get straight to work. She begins to jump on the trampoline and poses with everything she's got, and they are quite surprised by how high she is able to jump, and with her excitement overflowing Akari suddenly takes a bite of the crepe in her hands, alarming her upon realizing what she did as everyone panics. But to their surprise, the photographer enjoyed her sudden gesture and they continue the shoot. Upon finishing, they let Akari finish eating the one she had been holding, and the photographer admits that nobody has ever actually tried to eat the crepe before, so they really liked it. Akari thanks them and she takes off to head to Hinaki's event.

There, a woman reveals that it is the announcement for the brand new Twin Lip today. Hinaki will be putting on a performance for PR and they reveal the song and ask about the chosen coord, discussing how bold it is, but how it was a good decision to let her handle it. As this is going on Hinaki stays in the dressing room and overlooks the original coord she had wished to use: the Smile Dwarf, but she convinces herself it was too flashy for today's event and as she is putting it away, Sumire and Akari arrive to visit her. She invites them inside and Akari discusses how her poster went, pointing out that it was thanks to Hinaki's inspiration that helped her. Hinaki appears sullen for a moment until she reveals that she keeps realizing how much she likes Akari's attitude, and when they note she said this the day before, she explains that Akari always runs with her inspiration entirely- but Akari claims it was only because she has no other way to do things. Hinaki doesn't believe so, saying it's her determination and how her power comes from how hard she works.

Suddenly spotting the coord Hinaki planned to use, they bring it up and Hinaki explains how she wasn't going to, and she wishes she could be more like Akari and be more honest with herself. She has been in the industry since she was little due to her parents being a fashion magazine editor and cameraman duo, she was so eager watching them work that she gained the aspiration to become a girl they would do work on too. So they dressed her up and professionally took some photographs, uploading only the best images and complimenting how wonderfully she did. Her dad made a promise with Hinaki to always put her best and most into everything she does, and she agreed.

She got her start not too long after, but at some point she lost the ability to effervesce from deep down. The accident causing it occurred four years ago, back when she appeared as the first star on the public recording of Good Morning Studio. It was gloomy out and to raise everyone's spirits Hinaki remained her bright and lively self by doing what she normally did, and it seemed to work until she slipped in one of the puddles, resulting in her being knocked unconscious. She was rushed to the hospital and while they deemed it nothing serious, she began to notice everyone began to change in demeanor towards her. Every time she hopped up they would suddenly grab her or become overly protective, and while she appreciated it, she feels bad they're so worried like this, and since then she decided to unconsciously ignore any idea she gets, and now she is unable to fully come to any resolve about what she wants, and she reminds Akari of her words the other day, pointing out that it is she who needs to learn to be herself. All she can do is give others peace of mind by acting like how she thinks they want, and she hasn't been her real self in a long time.

But seeing Akari put her entirety into everything she does was inspiring her to begin effervescing again. Sumire and Akari would both like to see the true Hinaki, and just then Akari gets a message with the draft involving the Pon Pon Crepe poster. She asked the Photographer to send her all of the pictures they would be considering so that she could have an opinion on them, and she lets the girls see. Hinaki is very inspired and loves how fresh Akari was by eating the Crepe for a change. She feels like she should be thanking Akari for giving her the courage to move forward and decides that she will try to show them her true Aikatsu by using the Smile Dwarf coord she wanted to use; since she thinks it will match the lip gloss better. She reveals the song she plans on singing and mentions that a line in there just fits the lip gloss wonderfully, and she is sure that while these changes may cause problems for someone, she wants to show her true self.

Hinaki goes to the staff to reveal her new ideas and thanks them once they express positively towards them. She sends a sign to Akari and Sumire to confirm that things went well and heads backstage to change into the Smile Dwarf coord, then she appears on stage to perform "Good Morning My Dream".

Afterwards, they comment on how great the change in outfit and song worked and thank her for the input she gave and Hinaki thanks them for believing in her. To her surprise she spots her parents, who reveal they watched her perform and remark on how differently she's been acting that day, wondering if something nice happened. Hinaki admits that she thinks she may have gotten a fresh new start in Aikatsu and she decides to introduce them to her new friends, Akari and Sumire. They are very happy for Hinaki and watch as she interacts with them.

Characters

 * Akari Ōzora
 * Hinaki Shinjō
 * Sumire Hikami
 * Orihime Mitsuishi
 * Johnny Bepp
 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Kī Saegusa (poster cameo)
 * Aoi Kiriya (poster cameo)
 * Hinaki's parents (nameless)

Trivia

 * The Smile Dwarf Coord makes its anime debut in this episode.
 * The song Good morning my dream appears for the first time as an insert song.
 * This is the first episode that features the making of the Pon-Pon Crepe Campaign Girl poster.