Yo, yo! This is the Ai-ka-tsu, yo!

And this episode, we learn what sakura means. Various notes include a shamisen player in the Ooku, a play on Papaya and Papa (close enough), and Bruce Lee. Oh, and Japanese history from the Edo Period until now.

Our previous and current encoders have leveled up their black magic skill. If nothing breaks, then from this episode on releases will have smaller filesizes and better quality. Just check out the performance for comparison.

The writing this ep was top tier, and it wasn’t even the series composition writer. I’ll be keeping an eye out for Chiba Misuzu from now on. And next episode we finally fill out the Yume generation. Let’s see how not!Mikuru is.

Episode 007: Torrent | Magnet

This is a cat, not a stalker. Know the difference, it could save your life

First drama episode! Just reminiscent enough of the first Aikatsu one (you know, with Shion and the Naughty Detectives) without actually repeating anything. Do you know what a “swot” is? Neither did I. The headbands they’re all wearing say “Pass”. Also did I not just note what Koshien was like a week or two ago? I can’t find where I said it, but I definitely did. Also, Ako. Oh, and the word they use/define is “gariben”. You could figure that out from the images and context though.

Episode 006: Torrent | Magnet

Now this is atsui

Finally the last week of the Go Go Start Campaign. You don’t want to know how long I had to spend researching this history and etymology of hotpants and short shorts. But that’s really what fansubbing is all about. Let me know if you agree that this week’s performance was far superior to all the ones so far this series.

Episode 005: Torrent | Magnet
Episode 005v0: Torrent | Magnet

Her hair looks even tastier than Madoka’s

Yume is dream, Hime is princess, Yozora is night sky, Laura is Roller. I’m refraining from xdcc until the v1 is out because it’s a pain to remove them later on. Enjoy the mass of goofy faces.

Episode 004: Torrent | Magnet
Episode 004v0: Torrent | Magnet

Tsubasa is the new best S4

I think there were things to say other than about how great Tsubasa is. Oh right, tell me if you know what “CA” is in regards to a job you do on a plane. As for Subaru, he calls Yume a “boiled octopus”, but we don’t really have that expression in English so I made it tomato. The drama Tsubasa’s in has her name as Aozora Hiyoko, which is a play on blue sky and “hiyoko”, meaning chick, hatchling, or similar. So they talk about “Hiyoko is a hiyoko”. We’re doing a v0 with the Go Go Start Campaign and then releasing v1 when we get it, like last week. There’s no benefit in waiting so go right ahead.

Episode 003: Torrent | Magnet
Episode 003v0: Torrent | Magnet

No patch because it’s a totally new encode from a different channel.

Please no ties

Episode two of the intro arc. You can bet everything up until the episode they get into their final classes will be considered this, and I’m sure we’ll be finding out more about the final two main girls before long. As for notes, there’s a line in which Silver Vine is mentioned, which we made catnip instead. SV is basically super catnip, from what I’ve been told. Also just be glad I said mandarine instead of melon, and it’s not a misspelling.

Version 2 that includes the Four Star Academy News instead of the silly giveaway.

Episode 002v2: Torrent | Magnet | Patch
Episode 002: Torrent | Magnet

Oh yes, I know they show “Rola” as her name. I don’t care. They also have “Njino” on the official website.

Become the first star of idols!

To those of you who are just picking this up, welcome. To those coming right off of Aikatsu, welcome back. It’s the beginning of a brand-new journey for us all, and I’m excited to start it with you. We’re in for another hopefully long trip into a slightly different world of Aikatsu, and I’ll let you explore it and judge it yourself.

The primary music studio has changed from Monaca. However, they still composed the ED song. The CG studio has also changed to Sunrise’s in-house group, but Samurai Pictures is still helping them make the models. They’ll probably need a bit of time to get used to the series, so please be patient.

And now for my usual notes. The four classes of Four Star Academy are Moon, Wind, Bird, and Flower. This corresponds to 花鳥風月, meaning the beauties of nature. The two songs thus far, Start Line sung by Hime and Aikatsu Step by Yume, parallel each other with their lyrics. Much like the original, you’ll find a lot of star and light metaphors woven into the language used.

As a final note, I have one suggestion, since so many of you said this was the first super long form series you followed. Watch the episode. Absorb it, think about it, feel it. Then after a few hours, a day, or right before episode 2, watch it again. It’s hard for everyone, including me, to get over lingering feelings from the past year or more, but seeing it twice and giving yourself time lets you be more objective. It’s different, and that’s okay. It’s still Aikatsu, and I’m sure you’ll like it.

Episode 001: Torrent | Magnet

Oh yeah, and Yume means dream.