Ep. Title

In Episode 1, Uranohoshi Girls' High School student Chika Takami discovered the school idol group μ's while trying to catch a runaway flyer. Having had looked for something to devote her all to for a long time, she was inspired and decided to form her own school idol group. With help from her friend You Watanabe, Chika tried to gather members at the school entrance ceremony, without any response from the student body. You and Chika then encountered first year students Ruby Kurosawa and Hanamaru Kunikida, and Chika tried to interest them in joining the school idol club. Yoshiko Tsushima suddenly interrupted the conversation and Hanamaru recognized her from kindergarten. Yoshiko ran off with the other two first years chasing her and Chika proclaimed she would recruit them later.

In Episode 2, Chika and You met Hanamaru and Ruby again, luring the shy Ruby out of hiding using a lollipop. Chika learned Yoshiko had not been at school after running out of class on the first day, and that Dia is Ruby’s older sister.

In Episode 3, Chika met Ruby and Hanamaru after their trip to a bookstore. After receiving a flyer from Chika, Ruby asked what their school idol group's name was. Before their concert, Aqours worried about people not attending due to the rain. They laughed it off and stood behind the stage's curtain, hand in hand. However, when the curtains raised, they only had a small group of audience. Included in the audience were Mari Ohara, Ruby, Hanamaru, and a disguised Yoshiko. Despite this, they continued their concert and performed "Daisuki dattara Daijoubu!" while Kanan and Dia listened from outside the gym.

In episode 4, Hanamaru explained how she came to love reading, using it as a way to deal with her loneliness, and how she met Ruby. Chika, Riko, and You entered the library to return books they had found while cleaning up, just as Ruby was excitedly telling Hanamaru the news of the school idol club officially being formed. Once again, Chika tried recruiting the duo as school idols. As soon as they were alone, Hanamaru asked Ruby if she wanted to become a school idol. Ruby declined, saying she cannot like things her sister cannot stand, and that she was okay not being a school idol if Hanamaru was not interested. While Hanamaru was at the bookshop, thinking it was impossible for her to be like μ's and Rin Hoshizora, Yoshiko passed by in disguise, muttering about why Hanamaru (referred to as ‘Zuramaru’ by Yoshiko) was there. Met by a very excited Chika, Ruby and Hanamaru started a trial period as members of the school idol club, saying they would join if they liked it. Short of a place to practice, the school idol club ended up taking their dance practice to the rooftop, inspired by μ's. When Hanamaru struggled running up the stairs during stamina practice, Ruby stopped and suggested they run together. Hanamaru told Ruby she should care more about her own feelings and exhorted Ruby to go on without her. To herself, Hanamaru thought about how her own dream was to let the light of Ruby’s aspirations and dreams out and shine in all the corners of the world. While Ruby and the school idol club were celebrating having reached the top, Hanamaru met with Dia and told her to pay more attention to what Ruby had to say about her feelings. After Ruby officially joined the school idol club, she confronted Hanamaru at the library. Ruby explained how she suspected that Hanamaru went along just because she thought being a school idol was something Ruby wanted to do, but that she also thought maybe Hanamaru was interested herself, too. Ruby drew a parallel to Rin also thinking she was not fit to be a school idol, and admitted she had always wanted to become a school idol with Hanamaru. Hanamaru finally agreed to become a school idol after Riko, You and Chika entered the library, Chika saying what matters is the will to do it, rather than your skills.

In episode 5, The school idol club, now with five members, were looking at their ranking and comments online. Hanamaru was revealed to never have seen a computer before, due to living in a temple without many electronics. The members of Aqours wondered how they could stand out more in order to raise their popularity. Whimpering in the school idol clubroom, Yoshiko explained she knew she was not a fallen angel and wanted to be a normal high school student. Chika, on the other hand, got the idea of fallen angel idols as a way to make them stand out more. Therefore, she asked Yoshiko if she wanted to become a school idol, addressing her as “Fallen Angel Yohane-chan”. Much to Dia’s dismay, the school idol club uploaded a fallen angel themed video online using their new costumes. Dia showed the Aqours members that the initial boost in rankings the video had gotten them was already declining and their rank was dropping. This broke the spirits of the school idols, causing Chika to second guess their trying to be like μ's and Yoshiko to once again say she wanted to be a normal high schooler and quit the school idol club. The day after Hanamaru made the other Aqours members understand why Yoshiko had wanted to be a fallen angel in the first place, they confronted Yoshiko wearing their new costumes and asked if she wanted to join Aqours as the fallen angel Yohane. Chika yelled to the fleeing Yoshiko that she was fine the way she was and that μ's got so popular due to their being themselves and not caring about what others thought. After being assured all the members of the school idol club were okay with her antics, Yoshiko accepted their offer and joined.

In episode 6, news of the school possibly being closed and merged with a school in Numazu reached Chika, and she was overjoyed to be put in a similar situation to the one μ's faced, becoming motivated to do more school idol activities in order to save the school. After some careful thinking, Aqours decided to create a promotional video, with the purpose of showing people what made their small town Uchiura a great place. They all went out to film, but most of the things the group could come up with seemed quite unimpressive after reconsideration. The group gathered at a café to think things through, and Chika realized that what they had at their current school was something special she did not want to lose. Showing the chairwoman their promotional video, Mari told Chika and the rest of Aqours that they did not know what it was that made their town and their school great. After Mari proclaimed she knew better herself, Chika decided not to ask about it, considering it something they had to figure out for themselves for it to be worth something. On her way to the clubroom Chika spotted Dia on stage in the empty auditorium. While she did decline Chika’s offer of joining the school idol club, Dia stated she was happy that they wanted to save the school. As Dia was leaving the room, Ruby stopped Chika from calling out to her, and a flashback showed the third years seemingly right before a school idol performance. Mari showed up and told Dia you can not run away, only move forward, but Dia denied she had been trying to run away. In accordance with Uchiura tradition, all the town members gathered early in the morning of the first day of beach season to make and release floating lanterns. Riko, for whom it was the first time experiencing the tradition, talked about how she did not realize there were so many people living in the town and suggested that maybe that was the special thing about Uchiura and Uranohoshi Girls’ High School. Hearing this, Chika gathered everyone’s attention and introduced Aqours, saying they needed the help of everyone in town to save their school. "Yume de Yozora o Terashitai" was performed as an insert song by the currently six Aqours members, thus concluding the episode.

07 "TOKYO"

TOKYO , "TOKYO"



In episode 7, the members of Aqours realized that their PV had boosted their popularity enough to push them into the top one hundred school idol groups. Because of this, they were invited to perform at an event in Tokyo. Getting to Tokyo, the school idol club (sans transfer student Riko) tried not to let on that they were from the country side, without much success. After getting temporarily separated, Aqours paid a visit to Kanda Shrine, and got excited about running up the same stairs that μ's once used for stamina practice. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Chika heard Sarah Kazuno and Leah Kazuno singing “SELF CONTROL!!”. Although the two girls were strangers to Chika and the rest of Aqours, Sarah recognized them from their PV and asked if they were in Tokyo for the upcoming event. The Saint Snow members then left, leaving Aqours impressed with their acrobatics and singing skills. The next day, Chika went out for a run and visited the place where she first found out about school idols, UTX High School. There, the rest of Aqours caught up with her and the six of them saw the next Love Live! competition being announced on the screen of the UTX building. Aqours decided they wanted to enter the competition. At the event location, the Aqours members were surprised to find out the girls they had met at Kanda Shrine were school idols, too. Sarah introduced herself, and the episode ended just as Saint Snow were to take the stage.

In episode 8, Saint Snow performed “SELF CONTROL!!” on stage at a school idol event in Tokyo. After all the school idol groups invited had performed, neither Aqours nor Saint Snow were announced as one of the winners. In spite of their loss, Chika talked about how it was Aqours's best performance yet. The other members, on the other hand, worried about how far from being top idols they were. Having been given the results of the audience poll used to rank the groups at the event, Aqours learned that they not only placed last, but also got zero votes. Approached by Saint Snow, Aqours was complimented on their performance but told they might be better off giving up competing in Love Live! by Sarah, and warned not to take Love Live! lightly by a crying Leah. On the train ride back to Numazu, five quite depressed Aqours members and one seemingly less depressed Chika discussed Saint Snow’s statements. Once they arrived they were greeted by Uranohoshi Girls’ High School students, relieved and happy to hear it was the group’s best performance so far. When Dia arrived at the scene, Ruby ran into her arms, crying. Dia talked to Aqours about their placing last, saying she was afraid it would happen, considering how tough the school idol scene had gotten. She explained how she, Mari and Kanan formed a school idol group two years back, but were unable to sing at the very same event, overwhelmed by the other groups’ performances and the atmosphere. Riko Sakurauchi followed Chika to the beach, who, after holding all of her feelings in for a long time, finally allowed herself to cry and let out her frustration about all of their hard work not bearing fruit. When Chika said she thought it would make the other members sad if she allowed herself to be sad, Riko pointed to the rest of Aqours and said that no one joined for Chika’s sake, it was a decision they all made on their own. The sun’s rays hit the six girls standing in the water as they decided to try to turn their zero into a one.

In episode 9, the six members of Aqours tried to figure out what to do for the upcoming summer festival. Chika wondered what made Kanan (who had been evasive when Chika asked her about it) quit being a school idol since she did not think it was like Kanan to quit just because of one failure. Ruby revealed she had heard Dia speaking to Mari back then, saying neither Dia nor Kanan were running away. On one of her early morning walks Kanan was followed by the school idol club, who overheard Kanan and Mari talking about Kanan’s returning to school. However, Kanan said she was not going to become a school idol again and that she did not want to talk to Mari any more. At school, Kanan and Mari got into a heated argument, which made Chika burst into the room and yell at them to break it up, and to come to the club room of the school idol club after school. There, Kanan continued to claim that the fact she could not sing in Tokyo was the reason she had quit being a school idol. Once she had left the room, the other girls pushed Dia into revealing that Kanan did not sing at the event to prevent Mari from performing with an injury, and that she quit being a school idol because she did not want Mari turning down other opportunities. Aqours convinced Dia to join them, Chika saying they’d all help out if juggling school idol duties and student council president duties got too much, and Ruby handing her a stage costume. All nine girls performed “Mijuku DREAMER” as an insert song, and Dia turned out to be the one who wrote “Aqours” in the sand, it being the same name the third years’ previous idol group had.

In episode 10, summer vacation began for the now nine members of Aqours. Summer is the season of the Love Live! competition, and Dia had somehow managed to get her hands on the training schedule μ's used when they were active. Since Kanan and Chika had been asked to help run a snack bar on the beach, the members decided to camp at the Takami family inn in order to make time for practice. Initially intimidated by a competing snack bar on the beach, Dia quickly took charge and assigned tasks once she received encouragement from Mari. Riko, Chika and Kanan begun advertising in order to draw in customers, seemingly somewhat unwillingly. Meanwhile, You, Yoshiko and Mari started cooking the food. With everyone exhausted after attempting to train the way μ's did, they all sat down to eat Mari’s Stewshine and Yoshiko’s Tears of a Fallen Angel takoyaki that had not sold during the day. Aqours's second day of managing the snack bar wasn’t all too successful either, but everyone enjoyed the curry You made using both Mari’s and Yoshiko’s culinary creations. Dia tried to hold a lesson on Love Live! history, but it was cut short due to Chika’s sister Mito thinking they were being too loud.

In episode 11, all the members of Aqours saw Riko off as she left for Tokyo to compete in a piano competition that would take place the same day as the regional Love Live! qualifiers. They made the promise to sing together on the same stage next time. As “special practice”, Dia got the eight of them to help clean up the school’s pool, and once they finished they decided to practice their dance in the empty pool. With Riko missing, Aqours needed to adjust their formation, and opted for You to fill in Riko’s spot. Chika and You struggled to find harmony in their dance, Chika being accustomed to the way Riko performed the dance moves. They had just made it through the part they had problems with because of You’s mimicking Riko’s movements, when Riko called from Tokyo. After Ruby, Hanamaru and Yoshiko greeted her, the call was cut short due to Chika’s battery running low just as You was about to say something to Riko. The night of the Love Live! qualifiers and Riko’s piano competition, everyone wore the matching scrunchies Riko had sent as bracelets. Riko played her piece at the competition, and the remaining eight Aqours members performed “Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare” on stage.

In episode 12, the members of Aqours were happy and relieved to find out they made it through the regional qualifiers of the Love Live! after a nervous wait. While the video of their performance had gotten a lot of views and comments, the number of applicants for the school’s open house was still zero. Chika couldn’t help but compare Aqours to μ's, and wondered if the school idols she looked up to weren’t regular people after all. Calling the other Aqours members, she suggested they’d all go to Tokyo before Riko went back home, and try to figure out what made μ's great. In Tokyo, Chika had arranged for Aqours to meet up with Saint Snow, who told Chika and the others they did not know what made μ's and A-RISE different. To them, what mattered was winning and following in the footsteps of their predecessors. Together, both groups watched the announcement of the Love Live! finals being held at the Akiba Dome on the screen outside the UTX High School building. At Riko’s suggestion, Aqours visited Otonokizaka High School. They learned that μ's had not left anything from their school idol days at Otonokizaka, saying their hearts would be connected even without those things. Chika and Riko said the visit had brought them closer to the answer of their question. On the train back to Numazu, the nine of them took a stop to look at the sea. Chika said that they couldn’t compare themselves to μ's, and all of the members started realizing that they had to run freely, stand on their own feet and not chase after someone else in order to become great. They decided that what they were running towards was turning the zero into a one.