Episode 20 - Passion and Pride!

Passion and Pride! (情熱とプライド！) is the twentieth episode of the Aikatsu Stars! Anime Series. It aired on August 25th, 2016.

Summary
Yume, Laura, Koharu observe the filming of a movie that S4 and Tsubasa are in. But as Tsubasa attempts to put up with an Actor who does nothing but complain, the stunt person doesn't show up for the final scene. At this rate, the release of the movie will be cancelled. Within this pinch, one idol stands up--!

Plot
While heading into the cafeteria, Koharu and Yume discuss the upcoming Aikatsu Island event. They get seated in time for the S4 program to start and listen as they reveal they will be working on a movie. They introduce the audience to the Director of the project and its name Bodybird, and reveal that Tsubasa is the lead. Everyone applauds her and she shares a word with the audience, then makes a promise that it'll be great.

Yume fawns over how amazing the movie sounds once the program ends. She suggests they stop by to see how things will work, since Tsubasa mentioned the difficulty of filming this and the girls rush over to the location to observe a car scene smoothly being filmed. The girls are excited but Koharu reminds them that because they were sneaking onto the set, they need to be quiet. She spots a script someone left behind and they begin to look through it, learning that the movie is essentially about a racer -Tsubasa- who becomes the bodyguard of the main protagonist, the owner of a large company. A man comes by to retrieve his script, only to discover it is missing after the girls take off.

The girls hide in a new location, where a man complains about the writers decision to cover him with mud. He refuses to do such a dirty job and demands they hire a stand-in when Tsubasa approaches him. She tries to get to know him but he abruptly tells her to mind her business, then he snidely remarks that she probably only got the role because she was the singer of the main theme. Tsubasa denies this, until she becomes distracted after a staff member spots a trio of mascot costumes moving around. The man fears they may be paparazzi, but Tsubasa recognizes the girls and apologizes on their behalf, but the man is kind enough to let them go without any trouble.

Yume quickly explains that she came up with the idea to spy on what was going on in order to get some inspiration with their Aikatsu, and seeing how earnest they are, Tsubasa heads off to speak with someone. She returns a moment later with backstage passes for the girls and they return back into the building, as long as they respect the staff members and don't cause any trouble, these passes will allow them to stay. When Yume expresses confusion, Tsubasa takes a few minutes to give them some pointers, such as silencing their breathing during filming, and how the camera has a wide viewing angle so its best to make sure they stay out of the way, and that they shouldn't touch any equipment either.

During break the girls are surprised to find Hime, Yozora, and Yuzu serving curry, salad, and sherbet. They explain that because they had some time before they had to work, they wanted to lend the food staff a hand to make their jobs easier. As they speak Yume recalls the effort she had put into doing stage work some time back and recalls how important cooperation is. The girls sit down to eat and they are shocked to see that Tsubasa has quickly downed everything as they barely get started. She heads off but happens to hear the man from earlier -Taiyou- and his manager. She learns that he was rejected to play the lead of another film, and while he claims not to care, his manager hesitantly comments that he has changed over time. Before he was passionate about his work, and he asks why that is. Taiyou refuses to answer, instead storming off.

Eventually filming resumes, and Yume is delighted to see Hime, Yozora, and Yuzu will be starting, and they watch as Yuzu and Yozora prepare to fight a bunch of dangerous men while Hime leads the president to safety. Once on the roof, Tsubasa resumes her role as his bodyguard, explaining that while he doesn't like her, she is serious about her job and takes pride in it. Suddenly, Taiyou breaks character to inform everyone that there is a mistake with the pronunciation of Pride and Bodyguard. Nobody can understand why he's so insist on correcting it when the scene went fine, and as they begin to chat a man rushes in to inform everyone of a problem. In the final scene they were to film Tsubasa jumping off of a cliff, but the stuntman who was to do it had to cancel.

Taiyou demands an answer as to how they plan to fix this, reminding the Director that they only had today to finish the filming, or else the whole project would be canceled. Nobody seems to know, leading him to dismiss this role and claim he didn't care anyway. Tsubasa quickly volunteers doing the scene herself, much to everyone's shock. Taiyou reminds Tsubasa that as an idol she doesn't need to do much other then act like one, but she refuses, saying that she is also an actor. The Director warns her its too dangerous, and reminds her that her safety could be at risk but Tsubasa remains firm with her decision.

Everyone heads over to the cliff and they explain how the scene will work, including that there will be bags to catch her during the fall. While the rest of S4 is anxious, they are sure Tsubasa will be fine and express their belief in her to be okay before they leave to avoid getting in the way. As this is going on, one of the staff reminds Taiyou how his final line should be said for the scene but he doesn't believe Tsubasa will go through with this.

The scene begins and Tsubasa runs over to the cliff. She stops to observe the height of the jump when she is cornered by several men. She prepares to jump, but when part of the rock starts to crumble she finds herself hesitant. The Director attempts to encourage her but she struggles and they prepare to stop the scene, until Hime interrupts and tells them not to. Everyone watches with amazement as Tsubasa leaps from the cliff, and she lands onto the bag, with dust kicking up into the air and everyone worriedly waiting for her to return. Taiyou is very surprised when she returns in perfect condition, and he asks her why she would go so far for her role. One director points out that this isn't the line but the other stops him, preferring that they speak from the heart as they are now, and Tsubasa reminds Taiyou of his past by saying that before he would devote his entire self to the role he played, and she too does the same. Taiyou cheers up and thanks her, and the scene is drawn to an end.

Afterwards, the rest of S4 and Taiyou approach Tsubasa. He's come to apologize for being so rude earlier, and he goes on to compliment her as both an idol and actor. Tsubasa admits that she has admired him as an actor as well, and Taiyou assures her that he's going to stop being so mean, because he wants to become passionate again and continue to act with the devotion he used to hold for it. With recording for the theme song left, Tsubasa heads off to prepare. She changes into a coord and appears on stage to perform Dancing Days.

Everyone applauds this new song and Tsubasa's hard work, and that evening a large staff party is held, with Yume, Laura, and Koharu being invited to attend it too. Yuzu comments on how nice Taiyou has become and they observe him pour his manager a drink, causing the man to happily embrace him. It's then Koharu recalls that they originally came here to search for Aikatsu inspiration, and when they turn to find Yume stuffing her face with food she reasons its fine, since there is so much. Everyone begins to laugh.

Characters

 * Tsubasa Kisaragi
 * Yume Nijino
 * Laura Sakuraba
 * Koharu Nanakura
 * Hime Shiratori
 * Yuzu Nikaidō
 * Yozora Kasumi
 * Taiyou

Trivia

 * The Girls' Flag Coord makes its debut in this episode.
 * Dancing Days makes its debut as an insert song.