Episode 08 - A Small Radiance

A Small Radiance (小さな輝き) is the eighth episode of the Aikatsu Stars! Anime Series. It aired on May 26, 2016.

Summary
Yozora Kasumi from S4 has notified the first year Moon Beauty students about a contest for fashion models. After her attempt on the large stage, Koharu is quite nervous. With their lessons used for production time, everyone is in the same class from midday. With Koharu having no faith in herself, she begins to lose all of her self-confidence...

Plot
One day while training, Tamagoro introduces his students of Moon Beauty to a new concept. Seeing their confusion, he calls on Yozora to explain it better, and she reveals that the class will be participating in a collaborative show with her favored brand Romance Kiss. This is only for first-years and she will be watching everyone closely to see how they do. Koharu begins to worry as the others express excitement.

During lunch, Yume snaps Koharu out of her daze after Laura notices they must get leaving for a lesson they wanted to take prior to their next class. They apologize before taking off and inspired to see their dedication, Koharu decides to head out to her next lesson.

There the girls must balance bottles of water on their head while practicing their posture. Koharu drops hers due to distraction, but Tamagoro assures her that with some more practice she will do better. Another classmate -Mahiru- flawlessly wows everyone by balancing a two-liter bottle on her head, just like Yozora can. Koharu finds this to be an unusual coincidence and she watches as Mahiru shows-off by spinning around and posing. After class is dismissed, she observes Mahiru start to cough and offers her cough drop, along with some mint and orange candies, and a lozenge. Mahiru comments on how much she is holding, and Koharu explains that she always stuffed her pockets full with useful essentials. Mahiru accepts a mint and asks to call Koharu by name. Koharu agrees and asks that she does the same.

Koharu is approached by a pair of classmates once Mahiru leaves, and she is confused until they explain how difficult Mahiru is to approach. She's so adult-like and talented, and she isn't the most approachable person. Koharu understands their reasoning but doesn't find it hard at all, and she heads outside to spot Laura with her arms full while dragging a heavy set of speakers behind her. Yume is also doing the same and she complains until she feels the load has lightened suddenly. She is very happy until she realizes Koharu assisted her, and she offers to continue helping them.

That evening the girls tiredly retire for the night and Koharu feels remorse for not having done more. Yume insists that she did enough in lending a hand when Koharu requests confiding in her about something- only to realize she's sleeping already. She decides to let Yume sleep as she recalls a past event, when Yume revealed her dream to get into S4 and convinced Koharu to join her. Koharu decides that instead of moping she should be focusing on her modeling as an idol. She gets up and grabs some items, modeling various looks; including the elegance of Yozora and Mahiru, the intellectual look, something cute, and some off the wall, like a diver suit, a cat girl themed parka outfit, and a mysterious detective.

In the end, she feels something is lacking. She accidentally frightens Yume after realizing she's awake, and she quickly takes off her disguise an explains that she has been preparing for the upcoming contest. She wants to enter but she isn't entirely convinced she can do it. Yume voices excitement at getting to see her model but this worsens Koharu's mood.

The following morning, Yume and Laura are outside training when they spot Koharu heading into a building. They momentarily stop to wonder what she could be doing.

Koharu decides that she won't be participating in the contest and Tamagoro seems disappointed. She claims her skill isn't very good and she has no confidence, but he tries to get her to reconsider, pointing out that this will be a test of courage for the class, and having flaws isn't a bad thing. Spotting the curious Yume and Laura spying on them, the girls lead Koharu outside to chat. Koharu explains that while she wanted to speak to them honestly, the timing made it really hard. Yume attempts to convince her that she can be courageous and confident and recalls when they would sing and dance while watching Idols on television when they were children. Koharu would often correct Yume on how she could improve, which impressed her very much as Koharu went on to reveal carrying six idol DVDs in her pockets for them to watch. Koharu is very good at being an idol, and she's been looking up to her since they were little, she admires her talent, modesty, perception, and kindness, and has come to love her even more than she used to. Laura goes on to point out that being different is a good thing, reminding her how each one of the S4 is different from one-another. Encouraged by the girls, Koharu decides to keep trying, with Yume and Laura offering to lend her a hand.

With that Koharu gets to training. She walks along a balance beam with a bottle of water, and when she drops it Yume asks to try wanting to see how difficult it is. But she obliviously uses a two-liter bottle rather than the smaller ones and doesn't make it too far. She falls off and after checking on her, Koharu resumes trying. She continues to fall off but keeps getting back on, making it a bit further with each attempt. She refuses to take a break after two hours pass, and just as she's able to stumble she manages to do a twirl to save herself from falling and manages to reach the end of the beam.

Soon, the "Romance Kiss: Etoile Fashion Show" begins, Yozora introduces the event to everyone and explains how the program will work. The teachers will be assisting on the judging and reminds everyone to be impartial. Eventually the last few contestants take their turns, including a girl named Momoi Kokoro, Mahiru, and lastly, Koharu. Koharu elegantly walks across the stage, only to stumble before she can finish- but she recalls what happened earlier and twirls to end her final pose with a curtsy. While she faltered everyone is amazed with her graceful save. Yozora thanks the audience and entrants and allows Tamagoro to take over. He announces for the finale Yozora will be putting on a performance and she runs back stage to change and perform "Future Transit".

Afterwards, Koharu, Mahiru, and Kokoro join Yozora and Tamagoro on stage and Mahiru is announced the winner. Yume shows dismay while Laura points out that Mahiru flawlessly modeled; but to everyone's surprise a special judge was also participating and they will choose an additional girl, who ends up being Koharu. They explain that Mahiru embodies the sexy brand while showing plenty of poise and elegance, while Koharu managed to win over everyone with her potential and quick-thinking. She thanks everyone while the girls comment on how well she did, and as she recalls what Yume said from the past, she is sure that they will both become members of S4 one day.

Characters

 * Koharu Nanakura
 * Mahiru Kasumi
 * Yozora Kasumi
 * Yume Nijino
 * Laura Sakuraba
 * Tamagorō Miwa
 * Anna Hibiki
 * Dave Satō
 * Momoko Yachigusa

Trivia

 * This episode marks the official debut of Mahiru Kasumi.
 * Future Transit makes its debut as an insert song.