Akari Ōzora

"I used to want to be like Ichigo-chan, however, I now know that I need to find my own light. This is my story!"

- Akari as she begins to find her sense of self in Season 2.

Akari Ōzora (大空あかり) is one of the main protagonists in the Aikatsu on Parade! series and was the main protagonist of the third and fourth season of the Aikatsu! series. She is a student of Starlight School. Akari is a cute-type idol whose primary brand is Dreamy Crown.

Appearance
Akari has magenta eyes and honey brown hair. Her hair is in a layered bob with a bit pulled up into a curled side ponytail by a pink bow.

During her early appearances, Akari had long hair and wore a pink bow, due to the fact that she was a huge fan of Ichigo.

By Episode 96, Akari's hair remains layered, but has grown to where it's medium length.

At the start of Season 4, Akari starts wearing a section of her hair in a braid that travels across the top of her head and no longer wears a side ponytail. Her hair has also gotten noticeably wavier.

Personality
At first, Akari was a clumsy, somewhat nervous, yet cheerful girl. She appears to cry and get frustrated easily but is determined nonetheless. Akari is also quite resilient and is able to quickly recover from her mistakes.

By season three, Akari has grown into someone who wants to shine with her own light. She has become a hard-working and an even more determined idol who no longer aspires to be just like Ichigo. She is still energetic and cheerful but can be prone comedic antics from time to time, much like her mentor and predecessor.

Background
Akari first became a fan of Ichigo when she was in the fourth grade. She had come across the Christmas Special television program (Episode 12) and was amazed at how Ichigo helped out her friends and brought smiles to people faces. Desiring to be like that, she mustered up the courage to help a girl struggling on the uneven beams on her school's playground and after that, began down her road of fandom.

It was revealed in Episode 101 that Akari attended Ichigo's unveiling concert for the Mermaid Pisces Coord and was moved by her concert. She decided that she wanted to be an idol and auditioned for Starlight, but didn't even come close to making the cut her first time around.

Relationships

 * Ichigo Hoshimiya
 * Ichigo is Akari's mentor. Akari is a huge fan of Ichigo and at first she wanted to be like her to the point of imitating her appearance and several of her performance habits. She highly admires Ichigo and in return, Ichigo sees a light in her and guides her down her idol path. Ichigo also provides advice for Akari throughout the first half of Season 3, and when she is leaving for Soleil's national tour Akari tells her she will become the Starlight Queen. At the end of Season 4, Akari is crowned the new Starlight Queen by Ichigo.


 * Yū Hattori
 * Akari's old roommate who encourages her and helps her when she's feeling down. After their dorm leaks on a rainy night, Yū and Akari are assigned different rooms, but they still remain great friends. In her friendship with Akari, Yū was always impressed with how Akari keeps on improving.


 * Sumire Hikami
 * Akari's new roommate after she had to move from her old room. Akari found Sumire to be very mysterious and beautiful and wanted to get to know her better. The two enjoy each other's company and managed to become fast friends despite Sumire being the total opposite of Akari. With Akari, Sumire begins to make more friends. Akari and Sumire, along Hinaki formed the unit Luminas.


 * Hinaki Shinjō
 * Akari admires Hinaki and in return, Hinaki is enamored of Akari. The two are positive influences on each other and Akari continues to inspire Hinaki with her freshness. Akari and Hinaki, along with Sumire formed the unit Luminas.


 * Tsubasa Sena
 * Tsubasa is the creator of Akari's preferred brand, Dreamy Crown. Both are very similar and have a similar sense of determination in reaching their goals.


 * Juri Kurebayashi
 * Akari helped Juri to walk on as an actress without her mother's help. They became quick friends. Akari invited her to her home on New Year's Eve for a fashion shoot near the area.


 * Miyabi Fujiwara
 * Akari became Miyabi's first friend when she transferred to Starlight School. While watching her, Akari is impressed with Miyabi's talents. With Akari, Miyabi learns that her talents make her an idol.


 * Madoka Amahane
 * Akari took good care of her when Sumire, her original mentor was busy with her unit activities, and helped her build confidence to obtain her first Premium Rare Coord. The two of them later formed a unit named Skips♪.


 * Rin Kurosawa
 * Akari is Rin's Mentor.


 * Koharu Ōzora and Manabu Ōzora
 * Akari's mother and father, respectively.

Etymology
Ōzora (大空) Ō (大) means big and combined with Zora (空) which means sky, Ōzora means big/vast sky. As said in Episode 177, this refers to her becoming greater than/encompassing the sun and the moon.

Akari (あかり) means light or brightness.

Quotes
"The best thing about Ichigo-chan? Without a doubt, that would be... How she taught me to dream!"

- Akari answering Aoi's question in Episode 76

"Let's do our best in another day of Aikatsu!."

- Akari's introduction words in the Season 3 PV

"I wanted to become an idol, a Starlight Queen who could bring people smiles. Even off the stage, I wanted to Aikatsu that would make everyone smile. I wanted to become an idol who could look for fun and inspiring things together with you. This all comes from how big a crybaby I was when I was younger as well as seeing Ichigo-chan do her best for the sake of her friend. The sight of Ichigo-chan bringing a smile to her friend's face was incredibly awesome! If, like her, I've become able to ease someone's unpleasant feelings or bring them a smile, then that's all I could ask for. I'll work harder and harder – even if something bad happens, even harder – always doing my best!"

- Akari after being crowned Starlight Queen in Episode 177

Trivia

 * Her zodiac sign is Aries.
 * Akari is 155cm tall as of Season 4.
 * Coincidentally, her birthday is the same day as April Fool's Day.
 * Her favorite foods are watermelons, chocolate, donuts, mandarin oranges, and curry.
 * Her specialty is imitation and being a weather forcaster.
 * Her former preferred brand was Angely Sugar.
 * Akari, along with Mizuki, Yurika, and Ichigo, have shown themselves to be the most consistently popular main characters, having made it into all election-determined incarnations of Aikatsu8 and Photokatsu8 since their debut.
 * Akari is the second known idol to cut her hair.
 * She is also the second to have a side ponytail as her hairstyle.
 * She is also the first to change hairstyle more than once.
 * She is the first idol to make a mistake during her debut performance.
 * She is the fourth idol overall to make a mistake, following Ichigo Hoshimiya, Sakura Kitaōji, and Ran Shibuki and is followed by Sumire Hikami.
 * She is the first season two character to not share her singer.
 * She is also the first to have a new member of STAR☆ANIS as her singer.
 * She is also the third main character who doesn't share her singing voice.
 * She's the first known idol to change her basic pose after going through the changing room, and the second known overall to change her pose, first being Mizuki Kanzaki.
 * She is the second idol not to have a primary brand in the season she debuted, following Shion Kamiya, who debuted in season one, but had her primary brand confirmed as Futuring Girl in season two.
 * She is the first character to use a brandless coord (non-basic school coord) for a performance in season two.
 * She is the second idol to have the color of her school dresses change between seasons (from apricot to pink).
 * Out of all the main characters, Akari has the longest record of performances without having a preferred brand (30 episodes), beating out Mizuki Kanzaki, who wore her first Love Queen dress 27 episodes after her debut.
 * Akari has the fastest record of receiving her second Premium Rare Coord (5 episodes as the movie takes place between Episode 112 and Episode 113).
 * She is the first idol to have two autographs that she uses through the course of the series.
 * She is the only main idol to do performances for certain episodes in the anime adaptation's second half of season 2 before being promoted to "central protagonist" for Season 3's Aikatsu! anime adaption.
 * Akari is the only idol from Season 2 who didn't have an Idol Aura in her debut performance.
 * Overall she is the fourth character not to have an aura in her debut performance.
 * In homeroom, Akari sits in the same seat as Ichigo did when she was still in Johnny Bepp's class.
 * She is the first idol whose aura changed while not wearing a new Premium Rare.
 * She shares her singing voice with Hime Shiratori and Aria Futaba from Aikatsu! Stars.

Gallery
Main Article: Akari Ōzora/Image gallery