Episode 03 - The Sky of My Color

The Sky of My Color (わたし色の空へ) is the third episode of the Aikatsu Stars! Anime Series. It aired on April 21, 2016.

Summary
A Spring Festival has been announced to decide which set the new students belong in. Yume wishes to enter within the Song Class that Hime is in, as the Song Class is the most popular of the four classes. However, Yume makes things rather hard for herself, so she becomes rather negative. But, she is given words of encouragement by many people, which suddenly gives Yume a boost of motivation. Now everyone is waiting for the results that will decide which set they belong in. Which one will they be in--!?

Plot
Anna is giving her students some singing tips and has them practice holding a note. Once again Yume struggles, so she observes her classmates to see how they do it. Anna suggests to the students fairing poorly to do some stretches while Yume compliments Laura. Laura explains that she's had lessons since a young age, then she asks Yume if she learned anything useful; but Yume can only recall being part of the volleyball club in school. She is confident in being loud and having tons of stamina- but Laura reminds her that projecting the voice and being loud are two separate things.

Yume begins to wonder if she's really far behind her classmates, when suddenly Anna shows up and adjusts her posture. She gives Yume some advice and she's surprised when she does a lot better. A prideful Anna reminds the girls about their Class Sorting auditions.

Later, a man is telling off a young girl by the name of Hiyoko Aozora -actually Tsubasa- for screwing up again. She refuses to give up. While she might be clumsy she wants to one day take to the sky and become a flight attendant. Yume cries while the girls observe the display before them in the cafeteria, but Laura isn't phased. Koharu joins them and they chat about Tsubasa's acting before Laura and Koharu take a moment to exchange greetings, having not met prior to this. They get along fine as they get right into the class sorting discussion. Koharu still wants to join Moon Beauty, while both Laura and Yume want to join Flower Song. Considering the low acceptance rate for this class is, Yume worriedly brings up her lack of confidence because she isn't as good as the other girls. Koharu believes Yume will do fine though, recalling her performance from the other day. Yume still doesn't know what happened though, but Laura manages to perk her up with some cake she didn't eat yet while reminding her of how important their rivalry is. Koharu happily watches them interact.

While heading through the hallway Yume spots several students exercising outside. She feels inspired to do her best as well and she finds an empty room to practice holding her notes. She sadly realizes it's not working like earlier, which makes her fret further until Anna overhears her. She points out that an idol needs more than just stamina to get by. Yume heads out for a jog and once again she sees nobody around, and she tries once more to hold a note. She isn't satisfied as she thinks about Laura, and she begins to imagine herself failing and starts to yell out in panic. She is startled to find Tsubasa nearby when she spots the script in her hand from the drama they were watching earlier. She compliments how wonderful it was and Tsubasa happily explains that she comes out here to memorize her lines. Yume begins to leave to give her some space, but she stops to ask Tsubasa if she was worried back when she was taking the class sorting audition. She assumes she went straight for the Bird Theater- but Tsubasa reveals she actually wanted to join Flower Song.

Back when she joined Four Star Academy, Tsubasa had aspirations of becoming one of its shining elite, and being at the top of Flower Song was her dream. She did very well, and gained a lot of positive reception, but prior to meeting Hime before the auditions she was very confident that nobody could best her. Right away she could tell that Hime would be the top idol of Flower Song, so her time was spent trying to determine what her next move should be. She was approached by Momoko -Bird Theater's teacher- who awed her with superior acting in hopes of getting Tsubasa's mind away from her anxieties. She gave Tsubasa some advice and asked her why she thinks a bird flies. After Tsubasa responds, she claims it is because of their will to fly. As an actress, it isn't about competition, but facing oneself and fighting whatever worries may come in search of the desired answer. Her words resonate within Tsubasa, and in order to challenge herself she decided to join Bird Theater. Now, she might be at the top of the class but she still has a lot to learn. She offers Yume some words of encouragement and takes off.

Yume tries to determine what she should do as she returns to school later. She wants to be like Hime and focus on singing, something she's known since her performance. But now she isn't sure. As she runs Yume accidentally comes across Subaru, who is also out running. They become competitive and try to outrun one another, but Yume forces herself to run even faster until she surpasses him- her joy being short-lived when she runs into a bush. faster. After successfully passing him by, she happily congratulates herself; only to run right into a bush after. Subaru stops to observe her and asks if she is okay, but Yume is only happy to have beaten him. He laughs in amusement and she becomes flustered, demanding he stop calling her a tomato because if she keeps up with him, it won't do anything to help. Subaru listens to her and remarks that with her being so focused on passing the audition she's beginning to lose sight of what her aim should be. She needs to focus on what she wishes to accomplish, so she must sprint towards her goals. He takes off as Yume expresses surprise with his advice.

Eventually, the audition for Flower Song approaches. Words are given to everyone by their older classmates as Yume shows up late. She apologizes and explains that she lost track of time trying to put together an outfit. Anna takes over to explain how this event works. Everyone who participates will have a score combination from the class teachers, S4, and the audience.

The auditions begin, with Koharu and the rest of the Moon Beauty hopefuls taking part in a modeling audition to show off their class, grace, and style. Eventually, this is followed by Laura singing on stage, and lastly, Yume. Before Yume goes out on stage, she thinks of how she loves to sing and rather than aiming for acceptance, she wants to have fun while doing it. She changes into her chosen coord to display her new-found passion and performs for everyone.

S4 take the time to discuss how Yume did, expressing that while she didn't do nearly as well as he first time they could see her passion in the performance. The auditions conclude and S4 take turns announcing who passed the four different auditions; Yozora starting with Moon Beauty to reveal Koharu is one of the accepted now students. Yume congratulates her as Laura is announced the top spot of Flower Song, while Yume herself has placed last. Yume is very stunned as it dons on her that she passed as the girls congratulate her. They head outside after she happily cheers her success and they begin chatting until they each receive a message. In it is something known as "Glitter".

Before they can figure it out they bump into four males. Yume quickly starts bickering with Subaru as Koharu recognizes them as M4. Yume has no clue who that is, amazing the duo who bring up how they're essentially the boys division of the S4. Their concerts sell out within five minutes, and magazines featuring them sell out very quick. Yume doesn't seem to care one bit now that she knows, voicing how only the S4 matter to her. She happily breaks out into a run, with Laura and Koharu giving chase.

Characters

 * Yume Nijino
 * Laura Sakuraba
 * Koharu Nanakura
 * Hime Shiratori
 * Tsubasa Kisaragi
 * Yuzu Nikaidō
 * Yozora Kasumi
 * Subaru Yūki
 * Momoko Yachigusa
 * Nozomu Igarashi
 * Asahi Kasumi
 * Kanata Kira

Trivia

 * This episode marks the debut of Nozomu Igarashi and Asahi Kasumi.