Ichigo Hoshimiya is a bright young girl who is always helping her mother out at a takeaway bento place. After accidentally messing up her brother Raichi's photos of top idol Mizuki Kanzaki, Ichigo goes to her best friend Aoi Kiriya, who manages to get them some tickets to Mizuki's concert. The three of them go to Mizuki's concert, which leaves a strong impression on Ichigo.

Ichigo and Aoi begin their first day at Starlight Academy, taking in the sights before moving into their dorm. They then meet up with the headmistress, Orihime Mitsuishi, who gives them the Aikatsu cards they selected in the audition, as well as an Aikatsu Phone used to store their cards.

As Aoi begins her job as Mizuki's temporary manager alongside her usual manager, Honoka Tsukikage, Ichigo decides to pursue them in secret. She is soon caught stowing away, but Mizuki lets her tag along regardless.

After Ichigo and Aoi's audition is uploaded to the academy's website, Aoi gets her first fan letter. As Ichigo applies for another audition with Aoi for a job at a takoyaki store, she begins training to avoid tripping over like last time.

Ichigo becomes curious about her classmate, Ran Shibuki, who appears to be something of a loner.

As Ichigo and Ran head to their fashion shoot, Ichigo realises she doesn't have an autograph signature. Hearing about this, Johnny tasks Ichigo and Aoi to come up with a signature by the next day. Ran agrees to help them figure out an autograph to use, spending all night helping them out.

Ichigo and Aoi end up signing up for different auditions on the same day, receiving support from fans from the KiraKiratter social network.

As Ichigo gets lost while shooting a vlog, she discovers an underground studio where another idol is in training.

As Ichigo, Aoi and Ran train for their special audition, they ask Johnny for help on obtaining special Premium Cards needed for their audition.

On their way to school, the girl's meet the peculiar Otome Arisugawa, who fell into the school fountain trying to catch a rainbow. Meanwhile, a tournament is held for one of three places in a special Christmas event, with Ichigo to face Otome in the first round.

As Ichigo ends up volunteering everyone to help out for a Christmas party on the day of the special event, she notices the normally energetic Yuna Nakayama is feeling down due to her parents working around Christmas.

As the New Year rolls in, Orihime informs Mizuki of her planned partnership with Ichigo for a special stage event. Meanwhile, Ichigo ends up eating too much over the New Year's break and gains weight by the time school starts up again.

As the girls anticipate their audition for a drama called Naughty Detectives, they also find themselves against fellow schoolmate Shion Kamiya. As the girls are informed of two roles to audition for, Shion cuts her hair short to try for a boyish detective role. As Aoi starts to become nervous, Orihime gives her and Ichigo some words of advice.

As Ichigo and the others prepare for a team audition, they decide that Otome needs to obtain some premium cards. After Johnny warns them that the designer for Otome's favourite brand, Happy Rainbow, is a very strict person, the girls work on their team training.

Ichigo nervously attends her first meeting with Mizuki's staff as they plan for her next concert. After the meeting, Mizuki starts training Ichigo on a trampoline, teaching her about the Special Appeals she'll need to use. As Ichigo struggles to think about how to pull it off, her friends give her some advice.

As the day of the concert arrives, Ichigo's mother, Ringo, has a feeling of nostalgia as she takes Raichi to the theater. Meanwhile, Ichigo is nervous as she hasn't been able to do three Special Appeals during her rehearsal, but Aoi, Ran and Otome show up to give her their support.

As Ichigo, Aoi, Ran and Otome are asked to perform for a Valentine's Day Fashion Show, the girls decide to make some handmade chocolate for the event before spending the night picking out their choice of clothes.

While running home late from a job, Ichigo encounters a supposed vampire, who runs off when she sees a pin Otome gave her. This vampire is revealed to be Otome's classmate, Yurika Tōdō, who constantly acts in character in preparation for a Loli-Goth themed audition for a rock festival, which Ichigo also intends to participate in.

An article appears in the tabloids features photos that expose Yurika's normal appearance that she keeps secret from the public.

Ichigo, Ran, Otome and Yurika are given the chance to audition for a movie remake of Stylish Thief ☆ Swallowtail, a show which previously starred Masquerade, the idol pair Orihime was a part of. As the gang train for the audition, Yurika chooses not to in order to keep with her vampire character.

The gang decide to go undercover so they can watch Ichigo and Otome's movie in a normal movie theater.

As Ran trains for the representative audition for Spicy Ageha, Ichigo applies her to appear in a fashion show for the senior students' graduation ceremony. R

After finishing up their auditions for a while, Ichigo, Aoi and Ran decide to go to some hot springs for their time off. Along the way, they encounter some fans, have conversations on the train and stop by a field of flowers to enjoy a picnic.

Ichigo's father, Taichi, arrives home on April Fools' Day, bringing with him some star grapes that he acquired during his travels.

As a new school year arrives and Ichigo and the others move up a year, the now second year students are assigned to help mentor the new freshmen.

The Fresh Girls Cup is announced, in which students get the chance to challenge Mizuki for the title of Starlight Queen. Ran, who competed the previous year before Ichigo and Aoi transferred in, explains how remarkable Mizuki is for facing off against every single student, stating it will be tough to beat her and all of their rivals.

Ichigo, Aoi and Ran find themselves unable to sleep before the semi-finals and decide to have a sleepover in Ichigo's room.

As Ichigo, Aoi and Ran ponder on how they can catch up to Mizuki, they meet a first year named Akane Mimori, who is an admirer of Aoi.

A special audition is being held where idols must form teams to try and earn the Mastery of Communication. Ichigo and the others invite Sakura to join their team, but she doesn't feel confident as she doesn't have any premium rare cards.

As Mother's Day approaches, an audition is announced in which student pairs will be performing one of Masquerade's songs.

As the gang are chosen for a Newcomer Idol event, in which they decide on wearing matching brands, Ichigo is requested by Angely Sugar's designer to appear in a commercial for their mascot, Angely Bear.

Mizuki decides to hold an audition at Starlight Academy for two partners to form a new idol unit, Tristar, with her.

Kaede, who is a super idol in America, manages to get a place in the final audition by showing she has done more extreme versions of the trials the other idols went through.

With the final audition approaching, Ichigo, Aoi and Ran are told to spend the night living in separate rooms of a big mansion without their Aikatsu Phones.

As Tristar's schedule becomes busier, Ran becomes more isolated from Ichigo and Aoi, who are saddened to hear Ran is unable to return to the Star Academy dorms due to her schedule.

As Tristar continue their success, Orihime announces that Ichigo and Aoi will form a new idol unit, which they personally decide to name Soleil.

With Soleil now a three-girl group, Aoi and Ran decide Ichigo should be the leader. Meanwhile, Otome decides to form her own idol unit with Sakura and Shion, Powa Powa Puririn, while Mizuki takes an interest in Yurika.

Orihime arranges for Soleil to perform a concert at a local open-air stage in Ichigo's hometown. The catch, however, is that they must fill every seat without using television or the internet, otherwise the event will be called off.

Soleil have to make the announcement about STAR☆ANIS' tour without the Tristar due to a flight delay, but Aoi manages to handle things until a live feed goes up.

As Powa Powa Puririn give a press conference about their involvement with STAR☆ANIS, Shion states she will not join STAR☆ANIS in order to focus on her acting career.

As STAR☆ANIS' tour comes to an end, Orihime announces there will be one more secret live concert, taking place on a cruise ship with a hundred fans.

As the STAR☆ANIS members return to their individual units, Shion is preparing for an audition for the role of Alice in a production of Alice in Wonderland.

A musician named King from Nao's band More Than True appears at Star Academy's gates, telling Ichigo to pass on a message that he "will never approve of Nao's music".

Orihime decides to give the members of STAR☆ANIS a day off by renting out part of a water park. As the gang slowly assemble, Mizuki gets delayed due to some sudden radio work. To lighten up the mood, Aoi suggests they have a water sports contest, which soon draws a crowd.

Orihime announces that the Starlight Queen Cup is approaching, with all the STAR☆ANIS girls qualified to compete. With the chance to face off against Mizuki, Ichigo, Aoi and Ran become curious about what Mizuki did during her one year out of the spotlight.

As Mizuki starts to feel the burden of her packed work schedule, Orihime gives Ichigo and the others a key to a Masquerade reference room featuring various materials on the group.

After Ichigo, along with Aoi and Ran, learns about Ringo's secret, she goes home with her to rest up for the Starlight Queen Cup, where Raichi also learns of Ringo's identity.

With two days until the Starlight Queen Cup, Aoi learns that she's won the lead role in a movie while Ran hears of another audition to be Spicy Ageha's representative.

After everyone gets together, Ichigo reveals her intention to leave Starlight Academy and go to America after the cup so she can work on her own Aikatsu, with Aoi putting on a brave face to support her friend. The next day, Ichigo faces off against Mizuki in the Starlight Queen Cup finale, which is inevitably won by Mizuki.