Episode 19 - Midsummer's Top Dancer☆

Midsummer's Top Dancer☆ (真夏のトップダンサー☆) is the nineteenth episode of the Aikatsu Stars! Anime Series. It aired on August 18th, 2016.

Summary
S4 member Yuzu Nikaidō who is in her 2nd year is to compete in a nationwide top level dance competition. Yuzu safely qualifies, but she is no where to be found before the final round. Yume and the dance executives tries look for her around the venue. Where has Yuzu, the idol who is always too carefree, gone to--!?

Plot
The girls are training but find it too difficult to concentrate due to the heat and lack of air conditioning. When they see how dizzy Koharu has become they head off to the cafeteria to take a break and get some juice, and they encourage Koharu to try eating something. She tells them she isn't hungry though, and to their surprise they find Yuzu with a large amount of food on her own plate. She goes on to bring up the Burning Summer Dance Battle event and believes this could help the girls deal with the summer weather. Not only does it decide who the best dancer currently is, but the girls reason that it will probably be cooler there, due to the school air conditioning in need of repair right now. Yuzu also reasons that because it's summer the girls should have some fun.

The girls enjoy the cool air as they are driven out to the Plateau, and they observe various animals surrounding them until they arrive to find several people dancing. Koharu begins to feel light-headed again and Yumu helps balance her. Yuzu calls out to them while eating ice cream, and she directs them to the booths set up nearby. The girls admire the delicious foods before them and Yuzu grabs a lot for them to enjoy; ice cream, grilled corn, cream soda, even tacos. While they eat the girls bring up the fact that Yuzu isn't backstage practicing for her turn, but Yuzu explains that because she has passed the prelims, she has time to spare. However, Miki and Saya the admin from dance class show up to collect Yuzu, after Yume takes a moment to introduce them to Koharu and Laura. The girls quickly finish their meal to join them in the waiting area.

Dave Satou introduces himself to everyone and as usual they find themselves a little intimidated. They mention he's gotten sweaty, but he claims this is proof of living, and that one should always go at Summer activities full of passion. After a moment of banter between him and Yuzu, they watch as a duo, the Boney Boney Brothers, head on stage to perform as the final performance of the prelim round. Their performance skills prove to be a problem when the votes for them skyrockets straight to top ranking. Seeing that Yuzu was the only one from their school to pass the prelims, the girls attempt to make conversation with Haruka, until they realize that Yuzu took off again.

At a large building, Yuzu observes the venue from a window. She asks the mysterious girl she is wish how she is doing, then she reveals that she purchased crepe for the both of them to enjoy. Realizing the time she begins to leave, asking the girl to return to Four-Star Academy soon.

With the finals about to begin everyone participating is asked to stand backstage. Dave announces that if Yuzu is unable to get back in time she will be disqualified. Miki and Saya aren't very surprised, because Yuzu has always hated to follow things like schedules and group activity, and she often gets distracted. The girls get the students of Dance Class together to put their capture plan into motion, ensuring Yuzu will return in time.

Yuzu is on her way when she gets distracted by a clown street performer. She juggles and dances along with him until one student is coming by to check for her, causing her to quickly take off. They also spot her playing with some children and a butterfly and fire a capture net at her, but Yuzu spots a ladybug and it misses. Yume and Koharu are amazed by how evasive she is able to be, with Dave comparing Yuzu to that of a wild beast, able to cleverly avoid any trap or trick with her naheadtural reflexes. Because of such skill its not a surprise she joined S4 as early as she did.

As they try to find her again, Yuzu finds a small, wild ostrich and attempts to bond with it seeing how shy it is. It clamps down on her hand, then slowly rubs against it when Yuzu manages to convince it that she doesn't mean any harm. She guesses it got separated from its mother and offers to look for it.

The group watch as the finals begin, with the girls growing anxious over the missing Yuzu. The Boney Boney Brothers finish their performance and once again jump to first place while the girls return to the waiting area. They consider that she may have went outside and together, Yume, Laura, and Koharu manage to guess that Yuzu will be with the animals, which ends up being correct when they find her with the baby ostrich. Yuzu explains what happened, and expresses that while she knows the finals started, she can't abandon a helpless creature in need. With that she runs the entire way back to the plateau, followed by the ostrich, Yume, Laura, and Koharu. To their surprise the Ostrich offers her a ride, and Yuzu gladly accepts.

She arrives on the ostrich, exciting everyone as they quickly speak with her. Miki scolds Yuzu and plans on chewing her out for this behavior later, but she hands over the coord set she believes would suit her right now. Yuzu thanks everyone and goes off to change as Yume, Laura, and Koharu arrive to wish her luck. She apologizes for causing them problems all day, and noticing how casual she is behaving, Koharu asks if she feels nervous or worried. Yuzu claims that she is, but with everyone's hope lying on her winning this, and her desire to go out and have fun, it doesn't really matter to her either. She changes into her coord and appears on stage to sing August Marina.

After the performance Yuzu thanks everyone who watched, while Yume goes on to compliment Miki's efforts for the day. Miki explains that although Yuzu tends to drive them to exhaustion, she continues to follow her lead and every time she sees her dance, it all melts away.

Yuzu is proclaimed winner of the event, and she participates in an interview. She thanks everyone for voting for her, but explains that she won't be using the trip she won to go to Los Angeles as expected. She enjoys her Dance Class and S4 too much to just leave, so she wants to offer it to Haruka, who is very surprised by this gesture. Yume is also surprised and watches as Yuzu encourages everyone to start dancing together, since seeing everyone's dancing has fired her up. The performers, audience, and animals dance along with Yuzu, who is having so much fun.

Characters

 * Yuzu Nikaidō
 * Hime Shiratori
 * Tsubasa Kisaragi
 * Yozora Kasumi
 * Yume Nijino
 * Laura Sakuraba
 * Koharu Nanakura
 * Haruka☆Ruka
 * Dave Satō
 * Lilie Shirogane
 * Miki Katsura
 * Saya Akashi

Trivia

 * The Tropical Hula Girl Coord makes its debut in this episode.