It hands the mic to a nobody and dares you to not care. Yui Yumekawa is a Paparajuku kid whose friends roll their eyes at how loudly she dreams, and the show's opening move is breaking Laala Manaka, the girl who could turn anyone into an idol, so the franchise's own legend has to sit in the audience while a beginner learns the stage. That's a gutsy handoff for a series 51 episodes deep in glitter, and it works because the music carries it. The songs are the argument, not the decoration, and the Cyalume Change and Making Drama beats still land the way they did the first time. Meganee explaining the new system with total deadpan while a theme park runs on a bug is exactly this show's sense of humor. You come for the sparkle, you stay because Yui actually earns it.

Yui lives in the town of Paparajuku and dreams of becoming an idol, even though she knows that goal is close to impossible for her. Her friends often comment on how much she talks about it. Then PriPara, an idol theme park with new concepts, opens in her town, and word spreads that Laala, an idol from Parajuku, is coming. The news only makes Yui dream bigger. There is a problem, though: a system error has left Laala unable to PriPara Change. The result is a comedic slice-of-life music series about a girl chasing idol stardom.