Me during free days of gym class

Lily’s back! Welcome to the second half of Aikatsu Stars, with a new OP and ED to boot. I really like them, and I think the OP director’s certain tendencies (perhaps embodied by the above girl’s name) will be obvious. I forgot last week to mention that KirakiLine is the next version of KiraKiratter, and of course is based on Line, a chat program primarily for phones and often used in Japan. There’s also a certain Fist of the North Star reference, or at least that’s the most well-known use of the line. I haven’t quite gotten around to reading or watching it yet myself, unfortunately.

Episode 026: Torrent | Magnet

Also, October 10th is Mezashite’s fourth anniversary. Thank you all for sticking with us!

I am Breakfast in this scene

Delays brought to you by computer failure. It’s actually appropriate given the events today. This is the first episode in a while actually written by Kakihara Yuuko, the series compositor, and with that knowledge you can actually kind of feel it, since several of the characters’ personalities are knocked back into place and given a new foundation. Also, I made a handy spreadsheet right here dealing with focus and songs and such, so feel free to check it out for reference. I made this because none of the Wiki or Wikia articles had exactly what I wanted all in one place.

Episode 025: Torrent | Magnet

So much fashion

The first off time episode for Aikatsu was also 24. Glad to see they’re sticking to tradition. Also, a big happy birthday to Ako-nyan!

Also, there’s a full batch for Aikatsu 1-178 out now. It’s just everything you already have packaged nicely together.

Episode 024: Torrent | Magnet

Kashikoma dazo!

I think this would have been easier to do if I had ever read or seen Anne of Green Gables in my life. And please do enjoy Yurika and Takane’s daughter. She is truly next level.

Episode 023: Torrent | Magnet

Quiz: How closely have you been watching Stars, and what’s wrong with this image? Answer after watching

Congratulations: If you’re reading this, then you’ve probably just reached your 200th episode of Aikatsu! It hasn’t been four years just yet, but it’s still quite the accomplishment for everyone.

The name of Yume’s CD is the same as the title of episode 1, but we shortened it a bit here. It’s also the name of a real upcoming song you can see on the back of the case (if you can also read Japanese). This episode was visually different than usual, if only because the animation director (probably) made everyone look cute and mushy. You can see it clearly in the final scene. There are also some nice little continuations of past events which were fun to spot, so I hope you feel the same.

Episode 022: Torrent | Magnet

Second best sensei this season

They play Red Light Green Light this episode, but Anna makes it all clever and stuff. They also do some tongue twisters—so far as I can tell, they aren’t supposed to make sense (for the same reason as before, actually). Besides the PLOT, there were some interesting little things, like who wears what coord. Unfortunately it seems like someone on either animation direction or storyboarding was asleep at the wheel, because a lot of cuts aren’t fluidly put together this episode. It still looks good enough though. And we get plenty of the mint trio too. Also Laura’s CG hair is definitely not stiff enough.

Episode 021: Torrent | Magnet

I just wanted to show off their casual clothes

Tsubasa means wings (not bird), and Taiyou means sun. No it is not related to Icarus. This episode is almost like a tongue-in-cheek joke about Ichigo and cliffs. You’ll see what I mean if you keep in mind who voices Tsubasa. And the title “Taiyou ni Moero” could be a reference to any number of things including “Taiyou ni Hoero” or “Moero! Taiyou”, old Japanese films and shows. They aren’t important to the plot though.

Episode 020: Torrent | Magnet

I feel like there’s another dancing character who’s also FREEDOM and BURNING…

So much Dance Class, and also a hint of a new “flower” addition to the cast… I’m sure many of you know who she is, and I for one am very excited to see what happens when she finally joins. As for the next episode preview, don’t take the exact wording we used that seriously. It’s hard to hear Japanese people speak English sometimes.

Episode 019: Torrent | Magnet

The admins are the cutest

THIS IS THE EPISODE BEFORE THE MOVIE. WATCH THIS EPISODE BEFORE YOU WATCH THE MOVIE.

There, now I can just redirect people here in half a year when the BDs come out. This episode did a great job of combining like three related plotlines into one episode. It was also written by Kakihara Yuuko, finally, after like 15 episodes off. That was a long wait.

Episode 018: Torrent | Magnet