Aoi Kiriya

Aoi Kiriya (霧矢 あおい Kiriya Aoi?) is a student at Starlight Academy and Ichigo 's best friend. She was later put into a unit called Soleil (ソレイユ Soreiyu?) with Ichigo and Ran.

Bio
Aoi and Ichigo have been best friends since they were young. She first met Ichigo at a fair where she was dancing. She's calm, bright, and good at analyzing. She's well informed on the entertainment industry, especially on idols at the starlight academy, so Ichigo calls her “Idol Professor”. After they joined Starlight Academy, it was revealed that she got the best score out of around 1000 people in the Idol test for the entrance exam. At the end of Episode 2 became Mizuki Kanzaki's temporary manager due to her brilliance.

Appearance
Aoi wears her hair in a side ponytail and rarely lets it loose, where it seems to have a bit of curl/wave. She is mostly seen wearing her Starlight Academy Uniform.

Her regular stage outfit is a short, puffy sleeved shirt with a plaid patterned blue bow and matching plaid skirt. On her feet she wears boots the same colour as her top. In season two, Aoi gains a brand new basic stage uniform consisting of a blue top with blue and purple plaid skirt, white gloves with blue cuffs, and white knee socks with blue mini-boots.

Personality
Aoi is a bright girl that admires idols even though she is one. Due to her huge knowledge of idols, she is often called the idol professor or Aoi sensei. She seems to be quite lucky as she is seen throughout the series meeting several idols she is a fan of. As seen in episode 14, she is more of the intellectual type than the sporty one. She is determined to do things right and serious about her career as an idol and actress.

She makes sure to plan as much as she can and it was revealed that because she's studied Idols so long, she got used to doing her homework early. She has a perfection streak and usually has little to no trouble completing training.

Aoi is known for being a lot more mature than Ichigo and sometimes puts her on the right track. She also observes other idols before a performance to find out their weaknesses. While normally she seems confident and in good spirits, Aoi is afraid of the fact that she knows it's possible she and Ichigo wont both rise to stardom together as planned. Her favorite brand is Futuring Girl and her stage colour is blue.

Becoming an Idol
Aoi is first introduced in episode 1 when Ichigo tries to ask her for tickets to Mizuki's concert for her younger brother. She then comes over to Ichigo's house and gives Raichi (Ichigo's little brother), a scrapbook to replace the pictures Ichigo had spilled juice on. She explains that through a very distant connection she was able to get tickets so that they could all go. The next day, Aoi explains to Ichigo about Starlight Academy and how they're going to audition together to get in the school. After Ichigo agrees, they begin their special training to get into the Academy. She successfully passes the entrance exams with Ichigo marking their start on the path to become an idol.

As an Idol
Aoi passes many auditions with Ichigo and Ran, and is also in the Naughty Detectives drama with Shion Kamiya. Later on, she auditioned for Tristar with Ichigo and Ran and made it to the final 3. In the end, Ran wins. Later, in Episode 37, she is put in a unit called Soleil with Ichigo. In the end of the episode, Ran had left Tristar to join Soleil with Aoi and Ichigo because it made her more happy.

Season 2
One year after Ichigo's departure to America, Aoi's new movie "Naughty Inspector" becomes popular and is a success. This leads Orihime to choose her as Starlight Academy's representitive in a constellation battle between Starlight Academy and Dream Academy. Her opponent is Otoshiro Seira, a new idol from Dream Academy. Later on, she over hears the headmistress and Johnny talking. She is shocked when she hears that the headmistress will resign if she loses to Dreamaca. It was announced that Seira would be going first.

At her debut concert, Seira performs a new special appeal that no one has ever seen before: a constellation appeal. The pressure gets to Aoi when she hears that she must perform one and that Starlight will be in trouble if she doesn't. In the following episode, Ichigo returns to Japan after a year in America. Aoi is overenjoyed that her bestfriend has returned. As Ichigo tells the girls about her adventures, Seira and Kii sees them and talks to them. Seira points out that she wants to see Ichigo do a constellation appeal. The girls are amazed that Ichigo wants do one without any thought. Aoi then announced that she wants Ichigo to be her replacement for Starlight's representitive because she believes that with Ichigo performing, there's a better chance that they'll win.

Etymology
Kiriya (霧矢?) Kiri (霧?) means fog and Ya (矢?) means arrow. It's considered that surname Kiriya takes from Hiromu Kiriya (霧矢大夢?) a top star of Takarazuka Revue.

Aoi (あおい?) usually means hollyhock. A part of the name Ao (あお?) means blue. This is a reference to her being a blue idol.

Trivia

 * Her sign is Aquarius.
 * Her favorite food is sandwiches.
 * She dislikes hot food because of her sensitive tongue.
 * Her special skill is to never forget an idol she's met.
 * Her aura is composed of stars and snowflakes. In Episode 40, tiny purple, green, *and blue stars are added to it.
 * Her catchphrase is "Odayaka janai wa ne", a phrase which has multiple translations.
 * She is the the third idol to have her second Premium card.
 * She writes beautiful and regular letter, since she learned calligraphy when she was little.
 * She shares her singing voice with Seira Otoshiro.
 * Aoi is one of the only/few characters to have their hair color matching their theme/stage color. But not counting when she performs in Soleil as she uses an orange theme.
 * In the novel, Aoi seems to have very light blue hair.