History Anime / LoveLiveSunshine

* OneGenderSchool: Just like Otonokizaka, Uranohoshi is an all-girls' school.

*** Creator/ShigeruChiba as the narrator references his famous role as the narrator for ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', even parodying Kenshiro's [[MemeticMutation "You are already dead"]] {{Catchphrase}} at the end of the video.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Part of winning Love Live in Season 2 involves Aqours needing to beat Saint Snow. However, unlike ''SIP'', where μ's outvotes A-RISE in a fair fight, it ends up as [[spoiler:Leah developing a sudden case of nerves then botching their performance, forcing the duo to retire]]. The bizarre part is that there is no indication that this should have or would have happened in advance, and mostly serves to 1. Ensure Aqours doesn't have to directly compete with Saint Snow and 2. Kickstart their character development.

** In Episode 7, Hanamaru buys a snack called [[Film/BackToTheFuture "Back to the Piyoko Manju"]], which is accompanied by a picture of a piyoko with flaming trails behind it. In case the reference flew over your head the first time, this is later followed up by [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII "Back to the Piyoko Manju Part II"]] in Season 2 Episode 12, which adds a smaller, white piyoko in a familiar striking red vest behind the first piyoko.

* TheMovie: ''[[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo Love Live! Sunshine!!: The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow]]'', in which Aqours travels to Italy in much the same way µ's traveled to New York. Bonus points for veering into both ColonCancer ''and'' LongTitle territory thanks to inheriting the title of the previous movie and just tacking new subtitles onto it.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Frequently invoked as a theme in the show to instill the beach and summery feeling. Aqours members are often appropriately shown going barefoot on the beach in their school uniforms with their footwear set aside, especially Chika. In the case of the promo music video for the first season, Chika actually runs off barefooted to catch curious Mari straight from cleaning the school pool (traditionally in Japan, the norm is no footwear at the pool or while cleaning one) without bothering to grab her shoes or socks. In the show proper, it doesn't seem to crop up much, although Kanan does shed her footwear by the beachside in Season 2 Episode 12. Chika's barefoot moment in the very first episode doesn't count because she fell in the water trying to protect Riko and her footwear needs to dry off, but the scenes do draw attention to her feet on the beach.

An anime adaptation of a spinoff series featured in the ''Love Live! Days'' magazine titled ''Anime/GenjitsuNoYohaneSunshineInTheMirror'', which reimagines the members of Aqours and several supporting characters in a fantasy setting with Yohane as the main character, was announced in June 2022 at the Tokyo Dome leg of Aqours 6th Love Live concert tour and will premiere in July 2023.

An anime adaptation of a spinoff series featured in the ''Love Live! Days'' magazine titled ''Genjitsu no Yohane -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR-'', which reimagines the members of Aqours and several supporting characters in a fantasy setting with Yohane as the main character, was announced in June 2022 at the Tokyo Dome leg of Aqours 6th Love Live concert tour and will premiere in July 2023.

*** Anju Inami, who primarily does musicals and stage plays outside of seiyuu work, tends to get Broadway style solos for Chika.

** And just like its predecessor, there's also the "One of the tallest girls is voiced by the shortest seiyuu, and vice versa" trope applying here (Mari and Ainya, Hanamaru and Kinchan, respectively).

* ExcitedShowTitle: The exclamation point from the franchise name, plus two for the subtitle, giving it three exclamation points total.

** And just like its predecessor, there's also the "One of the tallest girls is voiced by the shortest seiyuu, and vice versa" trope applying here (Mari and Ainya, Hanamaru and King, respectively).

* BareYourMidriff: The costumes for "Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM", "MIRACLE WAVE" and "Mitaiken HORIZON" as well as the Cheerleader set in SIF.

* OffModel:
** There's a particularly bizarre continuity error in Season 1 Episode 1 during the pier scene. Riko jumps straight off the pier, running full tilt, and Chika catches her... with both of their feet planted firmly on the ground. This later gets a reference in Season 2 Episode 1, in which Chika jumps off the pier and is caught by Riko, but suddenly went from facing the sea to facing ''away'' from the sea and appears to have never jumped despite doing so three seconds ago.
** There is a scene in Season 1 Episode 9 where Mari's tie is mistakenly colored yellow like the first year tie, instead of being teal.
** In Season 2 Episode 8, while the three unnamed idols ask Aqours for a picture, Mari's white winter coat becomes the same shade of brown as the rest of the girls' coats. The coat turns back to white for the picture itself and afterwards. This was fixed in the Blu-ray.

An anime adaptation of a spinoff series featured in the ''Love Live! Days'' magazine titled ''Genjitsu no Yohane -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR-'', which reimagines the members of Aqours and several supporting characters in a fantasy setting with Yohane as the main character, was announced in June 2022 at the Tokyo Dome leg of Aqours 6th Love Live concert tour and will premiere in 2023.

* AbortedArc: Pretty much everything regarding Chika and Riko's relationship, an integral part of Season 1, all but disappears in Season 2 (bar one callback in its first episode) without explanation. To add to the weirdness, it suddenly comes ''back'' in full force in TheMovie.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The dance scenes are once again partially animated in CG, though unlike the original ''Love Live!'', improvements to CG animation means that the 2D/3D transitions no longer invoke UncannyValley and look ''significantly'' more fluid. Most moving vehicles, like the buses and Mari's van, are also animated in CG.

It began airing on July 2, 2016 in the Summer2016Anime schedule, licensed by Creator/{{Funimation}}, and was also dubbed as a part of Funimation's Summer Broadcast Dub line-up. A second season aired from October 7, 2017 as part of the Fall 2017 Anime lineup. Much like its big sister, [[TheMovie a movie]] titled ''[[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow]]'' has been produced, premiering on January 4, 2019 in Japanese theaters.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Mari gives one to [[spoiler:Kanan for never telling her the real reason why she refused to perform at the Tokyo live two years ago and how she really felt.]] Mari prepares to receive one in turn to make it even, but [[spoiler:Kanan offers her a hug instead.]]

* FracturedFairyTale: The PuppetShow opens with a parody of ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'', where the second-years are chased by a coelacanth, with the former as the pigs and the latter as the wolf. The story then goes on to parody various Japanese folktales such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Tar%C5%8D Urashima Tarou]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachi-kachi_Yama Kachi-kachi Yama]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momotar%C5%8D Momotarou]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The walrus mascot that You dresses up as in "Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM" and Season 2 Episode 4 is [[https://twitter.com/Uchicchii a real mascot named Uchicchi]], who serves as the friendly face of the Izu-Mito Sea Paradise.
** Grilled mikan and mikan stew are real dishes, contrary to popular belief outside of Japan.

** Unlike Otonokizaka High, which was situated in the middle of Tokyo, Uranohoshi Girls' High School is in the middle of a rural fishing town, situated far from other cities, and requiring a lot more effort to go to school there. Which means it's no wonder that, even with Aqours' growing popularity, many people would be reluctant to go to such an out-of-the-way area just to go to school. [[spoiler:Ultimately, even though Aqours is able to pass the preliminaries and enter the Love Live! finals, they are unable to get the 100 perspective students they needed in the time required and thus Uranohoshi will be forced to merge with another high school and shut down.]]

*** In Season 2 Episode 3, Kanan accidentally broke the lever of a mikan plantation trolley. That broken lever is something that can be useful for Series/KamenRiderKuuga in his Titan Form.
*** The technique Kanan passed on to Chika in Season 2 Episode 6 looks like a set-up for [[Series/KamenRiderWizard Kamen Rider Wizard]]'s Kick Strike FinishingMove.

** At the end of Season 1 Episode 2, the scene where Chika and Riko are reaching each other is a homage to Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed, also made by Sunrise.

** Mari's "[[CallingYourAttacks Shining Tornado]]" throw in Season 2 Episode 2 references Anime/CrushGearTurbo, another MerchandiseDriven, Sunrise-made anime, particularly the throw's name being similar to the Shining Sword Breaker FinishingMove of Kouya Marino, the latter show's protagonist, and the Gear Fighters' main method of deploying their Gears via DynamicEntry, which is absolutely, not advisable in real life due to the inevitable result of them breaking if actually done.

** The [[http://gs.dengeki.com/ss/gs/uploads/2018/04/c9e7d127da289aeed9e4d8e3d38a2fb5-e1522816946902.png 3rd comic strip]] from the April issue of Nakane Nata's official [[http://gs.dengeki.com/news/115585/?fbclid=IwAR13Wnz2o0h38WZtQxRWkWTJCgCEMHJJ8JGQqNZvMy_3xTxSO0pwgvJlXG4 Sunshine 4komas]] '''has''' one of the statues striking a [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure familiar-looking pose]].
** The coin toss that Sarah does at the start of the "Dazzling White Town" MV is very similar to the one seen in Music/MichaelJackson[='s=] "Smooth Criminal". Incidentally, the coin seen in the shot is a Hakodate tsuhou, a 19th century Japanese ''mon'' that was produced specifically for the region.

An anime adaptation of a spinoff manga featured in the ''Love Live! Days'' magazine titled ''Genjitsu no Yohane -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR-'', which reimagines the members of Aqours and several supporting characters in a fantasy setting with Yohane as the main character, was announced in June 2022 at the Tokyo Dome leg of Aqours 6th Love Live concert tour and will premiere in 2023.

* TheChessmaster: It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:''Dia'', in part, played them all; she was the one who wrote "Aqours" in the sand in Season 1 Episode 2, likely expecting Chika and her friends to find it and make "Aqours" the name of their group.]]

* TheGhost: Mari's father becomes this for most of the second season. She regularly gets phone calls from him about the potential shutting down of the school and his condition that they gather a hundred applicants in order to keep it open, but due to this show having [[ChromosomeCasting an overwhelmingly female cast]], he is unseen until a flashback in Season 2 Episode 10 (though with most of his face obscured) and still remains unheard.

* GratuitousEnglish: Mari does this a lot as a VerbalTic. If ''Over the Rainbow'' is anything to go by, she gets it from her mother.
* GrayRainOfDepression: It's raining when [[spoiler:Dia reveals the truth about Kanan not singing two years prior and when Mari goes to confront her about it.]]