Anime / Love Live!

"μ's, Music Start!"

Love Live! School Idol Project is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's magazine, music label Lantis and anime studio Sunrise. It launched in the August 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, and went on to produce music CDs, anime music videos, two manga adaptations, and video games. An animated film titled Love Live! The School Idol Movie was released in June 2015 and serves as the Grand Finale of the series.

Otonokizaka High School, which borders the three Tokyo neighborhoods of Akihabara, Kanda, and Jinbouchou, has been seeing major decreases in applicants, to the point that there may not be enough for the next year to create an entire class. And unless something changes, the school may cease admissions and close its doors once its last remaining students graduate.

Eleventh-grader Honoka Kousaka wants to prevent the school from closing, and she comes up with an idea — form a school idol group and become an overnight sensation, thus giving her alma mater the exposure it badly needs. Of course, things can't possibly be that easy, and she's going out of her way to get as many people as she can to join her cause. Luckily she has help from her old friends as well as some new ones, and together they form the school idol group "µ's" (pronounced "muse")^note No, not them.

The anime has been licensed by NIS America for North American audiences, who then sub-licensed the simulcasting rights to Crunchyroll.

The TV series received an English dub, which aired on the US cable network Mnet America.

In addition, the first few chapters of the manga version were released worldwide in English digitally via ComicWalker.

Last and First Idol was originally a Love Live! fanfic before going on to become a Seiun Award-winning short story.

Tip: To type "µ's" on this wiki or anywhere else that uses Unicode, type "µ's".

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Love Live! School Idol Project provides examples of:

A - H

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Scenes where characters are performing tend to use this quite a lot; most of the dance sequences switch between animating the characters traditionally and then to CG at least every ten seconds.
• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Subverted. Eli's decisions can and do get overruled by the director.
• Against the Setting Sun: In Season 2, µ's goes to the beach some time before the end of the school year to proclaim their intentions of disbanding upon the 3rd years' graduation.
• All Just a Dream: At the beginning of Season 2 Episode 4, Hanayo is reading to the girls who made it past the first round. A-RISE made the cut, along with some other groups. Then Hanayo keeps the tension up as she slowly reads the fourth team that made it, and it wasn't μ's. Then it cuts to another scene, and Honoka says that's the dream she had. It becomes a case of deja vu where after the opening credits, the same exact scene happens again. Other than Honoka telling Nico to drink her juice box to make it different (and she doesn't drink it), Hanayo once again drags out the 4th team to make the cut, only this time she says their group.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: To AKB0048.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Nico's mother, whom several of the girls again mistake for Nico as they did with her sister, shows up in Season 2 Episode 13. She does the "Nico-Nico-Ni" act when introducing herself to Honoka and the others. Nico then tries to get her to head towards the auditorium while throwing a childish tantrum, before seeing the others and acting slightly more composed.
• Amusing Injuries: After Nico flicks her finger on Honoka's forehead, the latter stumbles backwards and apparently gets knocked out by it. In the next scene, she has a band-aid on her forehead.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Honoka is on the receiving end of no less than two of these:
  • Eli gives a very effective one to Honoka in Season 1, Episode 2, which causes Honoka to realise that she hasn't been taking the whole idol thing seriously up until that point, and that her plan may have the opposite effect of what she intended:
    Eli: Just think about it. We've never had a school idol here before. How is it going to look to everyone if we try and end up failing miserably at it?
  • Honoka gets another one from her sister Yukiho in Season 2, Episode 11, with the latter wondering what the girls plan to do with μ's when three of the members graduate. This question then is on the mind of all of them for the rest of the episode as they wonder about what to do after the Love Live contest.
• Artifact Title: The group of nine (characters and their respective voice actresses) was initially introduced by the name "Love Live" and the first single, "Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE", was also released under that name. Following an invitation in the November 2010 issue of Dengeki G's magazine for readers to submit suggestions for the name of the group, and a poll in the December 2010 issue, they became known as μ's. After that point, "Love Live" appeared to have no particular significance aside from being the name of the franchise. However, the anime then re-introduced it as the name of the school idol competition which serves as a plot point for both seasons.
• Art Evolution: There are changes in character designs in all five pre-anime PVs, post-anime illustrations are much more consistent.
• Ascended Fangirl: Hanayo and Nico are both huge idol fans, and eventually both become members of µ's.
• Ascended Meme:
  • Umi's "poker face" expression, which is part of the second volume of Love Live! LINE stickers.
  • At live concerts, fans began breaking out the high-intensity Ultra Orange glowsticks for the final chorus of "Snow Halation". In the anime, when "Snow Halation" is performed, the lighting switches to orange as the final chorus begins.^note The original PV used yellow lighting for the final chorus.
• Asleep in Class: After waking up early for practice, Honoka would just sleep in class to make up for it.
• Bait-and-Switch: Episode 4 of season 2 opens with the girls reading off the top ranked groups in the preliminaries, with µ's failing to make the cut. It then cuts to Honoka, explaining the details of a dream she had.
• Ballet Episode: Episode 8 has Eli teaching the rest of μ's ballet.
• Beach Episode:
  • Episode 10 of Season 1.
  • Episode 5 of Season 2 for Honoka, Umi, and Kotori, though it gets subverted because a typhoon hits shortly after they get there, forcing them to stay in the hotel for most of the trip, and their flight home gets canceled as well.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: By year:
  • First years: Maki is the brains, being the group's main song composer whose intelligence and excellent grades are her Charm Point; Rin is the brawn, being the tomboyish Genki Girl who is Book Dumb yet very athletic, and Hanayo is the beauty, being a cute, delicately pretty Girly Girl, with a kind, meek and shy personality.
  • Second years: Honoka is the brawn, being a somewhat Book Dumb Genki Girl who is nonetheless very passionate about idols and gives her best in her performances; Kotori is the beauty, being a pretty, adorable and sweet Girly Girl with a taste for fashion and the group's main clothes designer, and Umi is the brains, being intelligent, academically excellent, levelheaded and calm and collected (most of the time, anyways).
  • Third years: Nozomi is the beauty, being an attractive, kind and sweet Cool Big Sis type of girl; Eli is the brains, being the academically gifted, intelligent and level-headed Student Council President, and Nico is the brawn, being the brashest and most competitive of all the girls (and she starts out as The Bully towards the others, especially physically abusing Honoka).
• Big Damn Heroes: Honoka, Umi, and Kotori have to reach the location where their concert is being held in Season 2 Episode 9. Unfortunately it snows all day, and gets worse by the time the three are done at school, causing both the trains and traffic to come to a grinding halt. The three girls decide to simply run there, since they really can't afford to miss this concert, but the wind blows even harder as they try to leave the school grounds. Then Honoka and the others find out the ENTIRE student body came in, and shoveled a route to the location for them, in addition to giving them snow boots to help them make it in time.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Played with during the movie. Umi doesn't actually say, "Shut up!" but the spirit of the trope is there when she interrupts Honoka when she pretends like nothing serious happened as a result of her getting lost in New York.
• Bittersweet Ending: In the anime, μ's wins Love Live, thus giving further exposure to Otonokizaka, but with Eli, Nozomi and Nico graduating, and with none of the remaining girls willing to keep the group going without them, μ's formally disbands (even when the Idol Research Club will continue to exist, with Nico Passing the Torch to Hanayo as Club President).
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Several episodes have characters playing an arcade Rhythm Game called Dance Explosion, which is totally not DanceDanceRevolution.
  • The 3rd PV (Natsuiro Egao de 1, 2, Jump!) features an English book called Now Horizon◊, which is totally not New Horizon.
  • In Season 1 Episode 8, just as Hanayo states that Rin was being silly for thinking that Eli might've been working for A-RISE this whole time, behind her was a sign saying Burger Queen, which is totally not The Burger King.
  • In the movie, just after Honoka takes the wrong train in New York, a poster for The Tiger Queen, which is totally not The Lion King, is visible.
• Book Ends:
  • The final episode of Season 1 brings back the song from the first episode's ending sequence.
  • It then follows this up by having the entire group sing START:DASH!! from Episode 3, but with the entire auditorium full this time, which makes the song both the first and last song performed by μ's in Season 1.
  • Then there's the episodes "First Live" and "Last Live", referring to the first and final μ's performances.
  • A scene of the nine members holding hands at an empty beach and staring into the ocean as the sun rises/sets accompanies both the group finally becoming cohesive and the decision to disband when the older members graduate.
  • Aishiteru Banzai is the first song heard from the main characters (in this case Maki) in the very first episode of Season 1, as she plays it on the piano. The same song is used as the graduation farewell song in the final episode of Season 2 as μ's last song, with all of the members save the graduating third years singing, with Maki once again on the piano.
  • The final song performed at Love Live is "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de", the same song used for the opening of Season 1.
  • The outfits worn for the cover illustration of μ's' final single, "Moment Ring", are the same outfits they wore in the PV for their first single, "Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE".
    • All sub-units's outfits for their final singles are also the same one from their first singles.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Happens in Season 1 Episode 12 and the first part of Season 1 Episode 13, after various members leave the group for personal reasons.
• Breather Episode: Season 1 Episode 10's Beach Episode, where the girls just goof off instead of practicing like Umi had wanted them to.
• Busby Berkeley Number: "Sunny Day Song" from the movie features a performance by a huge number of school idols from all over Japan.
• Call-Back: Enough for its own page!
• Can't Catch Up: The girls are at first excited at the prospect of another Love Live contest in the second season. However, they begin to doubt their chances when they realize they have to go up against A-RISE again, who won the first Love Live contest. Eli however, manages to cheer them up, and after they convince Honoka, she says they're going for the win this time around.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Inverted with student council president Eli, who coldly works against Honoka forming an idol group, and her vice president Nozomi, who serves as both a guide for Honoka and a friendly intermediary between her and Eli. Come season 2, it's played straight when Honoka and Umi succeed Eli and Nozomi respectively.
• Characterization Marches On: Some of the characters had different personalities when they were first introduced through their first PV in 2010; for example, Umi was more outgoing, Nozomi was more of a Cloudcuckoolander, and Nico was more of a genuine Cutie than The Fake Cutie she ended up being.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Every member of μ's is shown in every episode, even before they are introduced. This is a little bit downplayed as the complete member list were still spoiled by the opening, ending and franchise...
  • Most notably in Season 1 Episode 3 when the first three members of μ's take their first concert. Besides Hideko, Mika and Fumika, who start supporting the group, all the girls shown in the audience will be later members of μ's. Three of them (Hanayo, Rin and Nico) had absolutely no influence on the story until this scene.
• Cherry Blossoms: It marks the beginning of the school year during the first three episodes of Season 1, and time for the third years to graduate in Season 2 and the movie.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Honoka (pink), Umi (blue), Kotori (green) when they perform for the first time in Season 1 Episode 3.
• Chromosome Casting: The main characters are all female, the setting takes place at an all girls school, and in the anime the only notable male characters are Honoka's (unnamed and faceless) father and Nico's little brother Cotaro, both of whom have very minor roles.
• Color-Coded Characters:
  • The official image colors are orange for Honoka, blue for Umi, gray for Kotori, green for Hanayo, yellow for Rin, red for Maki, cyan for Eli, pink for Nico, and purple for Nozomi. These colors are only loosely adhered to though, and Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari is the only song in the series where every member has the correct color.
  • The only episode in the anime that actually has the full group wearing color coded outfits is in Season 1 Episode 11. When performing "No Brand Girls", Honoka wears red, Eli in light blue, Hanayo in orange, Rin in light green, Kotori in dark green, Nico in pink, Maki in cerise, Umi in blue, and Nozomi in violet.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Students at Otonokizaka wear different coloured ribbons depending on what year they're in; first-years wear blue ribbons, second-years wear red, and third-years wear green.
• Comically Missing the Point: Honoka tends to do this, which causes Hanayo to retort.
• Cosplay Café: Kotori is revealed to have a secret part-time job at a maid café in Akihabara. After the other girls find out, they all work there as maids for a day. The café itself is based on a real maid café in Akihabara, Cure Maid.
• Couch Gag: The ending credits of the second season concludes with one of the girls catching a feather. The girl who catches it is different for each episode, usually whichever girl had the most focus that episode.
• Dancing Theme: The girls dance in the opening as well as during their songs.
• Debut Queue: The first few episodes introduce the girls who join the idol group, and Honoka usually does whatever it takes to get them to join.
• Department of Redundancy Department: One of the songs is called "Angelic Angel", which μ's performs in The Movie at New York's Times Square and Central Park.
• Did I Say That Out Loud: In the first episode of Season 2, Nico brings a camera to a dance rehearsal. Some of the other girls wonder what she plans to do with it, and Nico says she wants to upload the footage online to gain popularity at showing them doing everyday training. She then starts muttering that she plans to make herself look good so that people would insist she be the lead, only to then have one of the girls mention that they can hear her. Nico then plays dumb and attempts her cutesy schtick.
• Distant Finale: The last scene of the movie shows Yukiho and Arisa as third year students, welcoming some first years to the Idol Research Club with the story of μ's (who by that point have all graduated).
• Drama Bomb Finale: The anime jumps immediately from happy events into a string of bad news (with some good mixed in) starting from Season 1 Episode 11.
  • To summarize: Kotori receives an opportunity to study fashion overseas, but can't decide whether to go or not. Meanwhile, μ's is finally in a position that qualifies for Love Live, but Honoka overworks herself and collapses with a fever in the middle of a performance, when Kotori intended to tell Honoka about her going overseas right after. As a result, μ's withdraws from Love Live without Honoka's input while she's recovering and Umi informs Honoka about Kotori's plans too late for her to change anything. They then find out that their past performances were enough to save the school, but ultimately all this does is remove the last of Honoka's motivation. Seeing these events as being entirely her fault, she decides to quit being a school idol. μ's then goes on indefinite hiatus because they're down two important members. The season does end with Happy Ending as Honoka stops Kotori from leaving, μ's ends up back together, and they fulfill every goal except for entering Love Live.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady / Lady Looks Like a Dude: A rare animal kingdom variant of this trope: The school has a stable with a pair of alpacas◊, one cute, friendly looking with fluffy white fur and an ugly feral looking with disheveled brown fur. Guess which one's the male and which one's the female.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • For a franchise so full of Les Yay, it is a surprise that several of the girls lament not having boyfriends in the audio drama of the second single.
  • During the first Real Life concert, Sora Tokui used a double V-Sign while doing the "Nico-Nico-ni!" catchphrase instead of double ILY signs.
  • Their school uniforms sometimes weren't... uniform.
• The Faceless:
  • Honoka's father. The top half of his face is always obscured every time he appears on-screen.
  • Umi's and Nico's father in the School Idol Diary novel/manga adaptations as well.
  • Averted on Maki's father: He is shown faceless in the very early chapters on the manga, while the manga adaptation of the Diary novels has his face fully shown. (His eyes are shown in several close-ups.)
• Fanservice: In little moments throughout the anime, some blatant and some less so.
• Feather Motif: From the second season onward, falling white feathers have been used to represent character "turns" in the story. Interestingly, when they are used for µ's, they tend to symbolize the end of a character's turn, while for Aqours they symbolize the beginning:
  • The Couch Gag in the ending credits for the second season has the episode's focus character catch and hold a falling white feather.
  • At the final moment of the movie's credits, a white feather falls on Honoka's practice shirt.
  • The illustration for the cover of MOMENT RING, µ's last single, features white feathers falling around the group.
• Filching Food for Fun: In Season 1 Episode 5, Nico swipes Honoka's and Umi's fries while they aren't looking out of sheer pettiness, but is caught when trying to steal Honoka's hamburger. When Honoka demands her fries back, Nico defiantly opens her mouth, causing the former to clarify by having her buy new fries.
• Finger Framing: Part of the dance for "No brand girls", it's even part of the official fan light-stick movements taught by the voice actresses during the 4th live concert.
• Foreshadowing: At the beginning of "The Greatest Concert", Yukiho has her homework spread out on the table, and under it is a pamphlet for admissions to Otonokizaki High showing the roof where µ's will have their concert. And right next to the pamphlet, her English textbook is open to the sentence "[...]ld not go out because of the rain."
• Freudian Excuse: Hanayo wonders if Rin's refusal to be the leader in Season 2 Episode 5 stems from boys making fun of her back in grade school anytime she tried to wear a skirt. Rin tries to claim she's not cute and girly enough to be the leader, but the others eventually manage to convince her to do it, and at the end of the episode she finally works up enough courage to try on a regular skirt with her street clothing.
• Freudian Trio: By year:
  • The first years:
    • Rin: the Id. Energetic, extroverted, playful and mischievous.
    • Hanayo: the Ego. Shy, quiet and very gentle, yet has a very passionate side, mainly reserved to idols and anything related.
    • Maki: the Superego. Stoic most of the time, quite cynical and aloof, and a tsundere with a Sugar-and-Ice Personality.
  • The second years:
    • Honoka: the Id. The eternally optimistic Determinator who is passionate, energetic and extroverted, yet lazy when it comes to schoolwork.
    • Kotori: the Ego. Very selfless, kind, sweet and also clever and well-balanced, although she can be indecisive and insecure.
    • Umi: the Superego. Quiet, very reliable, the most serious in the group and can be strict, though she's very kind and caring and a loyal friend.
  • The third years:
    • Nico: the Id. Irritable, impulsive, mischievous and self-centered, yet ultimately caring.
    • Nozomi: the Ego. Kind, well-balanced, quiet and a good mother figure, yet not without a playful and mischievous streak.
    • Eli: the Superego. A disciplinarian, mature, serious, and comes across as strict as aloof initially, yet she's ultimately kind and caring.
• Friendly Enemy: A-RISE towards Honoka's group as seen in Season 2 Episode 3. They at first compliment Honoka's group members, and offer the use of their stage being built on their school. And after μ's performs their song, even A-RISE's group leader seems impressed by it.
• The Glomp: Honoka does it to Umi in Season 1 Episode 3 after the latter is guilt-tripped into taking part in the concert despite objecting to the skirt on their uniforms.
• Got Volunteered: Rin is chosen to be the temporary group leader in Season 2 Episode 5. Naturally she doesn't want the position, but Honoka is away on a school trip, and Eli is overseeing student council activity, so they need her to take control for that week.
• Graduate from the Story: Discussed by the members in the final three episodes of Season 2. They talk about what to do regarding μ's, and what their plans are for the future. Eli, Nozomi, and Nico then graduate in Episode 13, although Hanayo gets a text before they go their separate ways, and says she needs to tell them about it in the clubroom.
• Heroic BSoD: Honoka suffers through a couple in Season 1 Episode 12. First, while recovering from an illness due to overexerting herself, she learns their group has withdrawn from the Love Live contest. She snaps out of it after hearing that the school has a lot of interested prospective students, which will prevent them from closing down the school. But then Umi delivers a Gut Punch to her when she tells the group Kotori is leaving to study overseas.
• Hope Spot: In Season 1 Episode 12, one is sandwiched between two bad things. While the group isn't taking part in the contest due to Honoka overexerting herself and getting sick, their school also won't be shut down because they managed to get enough middle schoolers interested in applying for their school. Then as they celebrate, Kotori and Umi finally tell the group that the former is going overseas to study fashion design, which throws Honoka into a Heroic BSoD.
• How We Got Here: The first episode opens with Honoka performing "Susume→Tomorrow", while introducing herself in the middle of the song. The scene then suddenly snaps back to the day prior to explain the dire situation Otonokizaka High is in.

I - N

• Idol Singer: The premise. However, as the subtitle "School Idol Project" implies, they're female high school students who are trying to promote their school through singing and dancing, not professional idol singers signed on to a company.
• Infectious Enthusiasm: This is what made Honoka, and the entire group by extension, succeed.
  • Backfires horribly on Honoka in Season 1 Episode 11, as it leads to her getting sick and making the group drop out of Love Live as a result.
  • In the second season, the members of A-RISE bring up that they noticed this and compliment Honoka for it.
• Irony: Despite her Animal Motif, Rin is actually allergic to cats and dislikes fish.
• Japanese Ranguage: Maki's solo song "Daring!!" is actually supposed to be spelled "Darling!!", but was typo'd during production and now permanently has a typo'd name.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In contrast with most of the members of the group who are Nice Girls, Nico and Maki qualify as this.
  • Nico is pretty much a two-faced Fake Cutie, as she's envious, self-absorbed, childish, irritable and mischievous, yet despite her flaws, deep down she does have a good heart, and cares a lot about her family and friends.
  • Maki is standoffish, blunt, aloof, abrasive, cynical and prideful even to the point of being arrogant. That said, she's a genuinely good person with good intentions - not that she'll admit it, though; she's even exaggerated with her tsundere mannerisms, and often outright denies when she does something kind.
• Last Episode, New Character: Nico's mother shows up at the end of season 2. Due to Strong Family Resemblance, the girls are confused at first as to who she is at first, until she does Nico's trademark "Nico-Nico-Ni" chant while also telling them she's Nico's mom. Nico also throws a very cute and childish tantrum begging her mother to hurry up into the auditorium, which several of the girls catch a glimpse of.
  • In the movie, Hanayo, Rin and Umi's mothers briefly appeared near the end of the film.
• The Leader:
  • While Honoka would prefer to say that μ's has no leader, the rest of the girls unanimously agree that she's a Type III example (with some Type IV mixed in).
  • And, just in case people don't get it after Season 1 Episode 6 was devoted to this point, Season 1 Episode 8 has Honoka single-handedly change everyone's mood and opinion to match hers not once, but three times, which is the only reason anything even got done in said episode.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After the All Just a Dream moment in Season 2 Episode 4, the members of µ's collectively scream "IT WAS A DREAM?!" at Honoka. Obviously, they would all know the events she's describing were just a dream, but they mirror the feelings of the audience for getting a Bait-and-Switch.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Maki was friendless before she met µ's.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • In Season 1 Episode 7, the girls learn about the national Love Live idol contest. They want to enter, but realize that Student Council President Eli will probably refuse their request. Umi then mentions that they could just ask the school director for permission, and go over Eli's head. Unfortunately Eli is talking to the director at the time, and voices her opposition to the contest. However, she is overruled, and the director approves, on the condition that none of them fail their upcoming tests. Rin, Honoka, and Nico suddenly look worried once they hear that, since their grades aren't the best to begin with.
  • During Season 2 Episode 12, Honoka suggests they do a sleepover at school. A Flash Back then shows Kotori asking her mother for permission, and she's told that she needs to submit the paperwork two weeks in advance, which throws Kotori off. Her mother then states that perhaps she did get the papers, and simply overlooked it. She then approves their request.
• Low Clearance: A horizontal variant in Season 2 Episode 4. Nico gets away between two parked cars, and when Nozomi, who is much bustier, tries to follow...
• Lyrical Dissonance: "after school NAVIGATORS". It's a heavy metal song... about food.
• Magic Realism: It is a mundane setting for the most part, but then you get things like Nozomi's accurate tarot card fortune-telling, Maki's supernatural display in 6th PV, and Honoka making the rain go away by yelling really loud. Taken a step further in The Movie where one character is strongly suggested to be Honoka from the future.
• Magic Skirt: The short skirt that they wear in the PVs with their dance movements should have them flashing multiple times, especially with how low the angle of the camera can be.
  • Averted in the 2nd PV as they're wearing black shorts underneath, and the 3rd, where the camera zooms in on Nico's butt for a split second, and shows how it would actually turn except they're already wearing bikinis.
  • Exaggerated in the 5th PV where they stay covered despite the multiple low-angle camera shots and strong wind.
• Male Gaze: Generally averted, although Season 1 Episode 2 has the camera zooming in on Maki's legs◊ as she crosses them.
• Manly Tears: Whenever Honoka's father sees one of μ's performances, it always results in this.
• Meido:
  • The group's costumes for their fourth single, "Mogyutto Love de Sekkin Chuu!" have a distinct maid theme.
  • Kotori works as one at a maid cafe in Akihabara. Naturally, the rest of the group gets to dress up as maids in the same episode that this is revealed.
• Miko: Nozomi works as a part-time one at Kanda Shrine, where Honoka, Umi and Kotori first start their fitness training to become school idols. In Season 2, Eli and Nico also briefly work as miko to help Nozomi at the shrine for New Year's.
• Mood Whiplash: Episodes 11 and 12 of Season 1 end on rather downbeat notes, followed immediately by the fairly upbeat and cheerful ending song.
• More Deadly Than the Male: That alpaca with brown fur who's prone to lashing out at the girls? That's actually the female half of the alpaca couple.
• Mundane Made Awesome: The best example is "after school NAVIGATORS", a song about hanging out and eating with your friends...done in a heavy metal style.
• Musical Episode: While, being an idol show, every episode features a musical number, The Movie goes into full Broadway musical mode.
• My Rivals... and Zoidberg: During her first meeting with μ's, A-RISE's Tsubasa points out the strong qualities of all members of the group, except Nico, who gets a Stealth Insult instead.
  • Nico receives a Zoidberg treatment not just from A-RISE, but also from her friends at the Idol Research Club, tolerating her rantings and antics, mainly because she had experience as a school idol during her first high school year, which easily won her the Club President position. Hell, even at Season 2 Episode 7, during a Student Council meeting with the Club Presidents, they totally forgot she was the President of THEIR club!
• Mythology Gag:
  • "A song for You! You? You!!" has these in spades, given its status as a comeback single that celebrates the franchise's (and μ's') 9th anniversary.
    • The song opens with a curtain with the Love Live! logo dropping as it did in the anime's first opening, "Bokura wa Ima no Nakade".
    • The opening dance sequence takes moves from several previous songs.
    • The song takes place on the path in front of Otonokizaka with the µ's symbol drawn on the floor, mirroring the setting for the anime's final insert song, "Happy maker!". The balloons in the trees also resemble the balloons seen during the song.
    • Each member has a solo shot backed by flowers and character symbols in their image color, referencing the solo shots used by "Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari" in The Movie.
    • Rin is seen attempting to read an English textbook as in Season 1 Episode 7.
    • Umi is seen at the archery range as in the first episode.
    • Nico is seen with her sewing machine with Kotori, replicating a shot from the PV for their first single "Bokura to LIVE, Kimi to no LIFE". The outfits they are handling are also from "No brand girls".
    • The cast is seen wearing their clothes from "Wonderful Rush" when they meet Eli at the airport.
    • The bridge has the cast performing all of their catchphrases in sequence.
    • During the instrumental, shots of the settings for all six previous animated singles are shown, including "Bokura no LIVE, Kimi to no LIFE", "Snow Halation", "Natsuiro Egao de 1, 2, Jump!" (including the scene of the cast watching the sunset), "Mogyutto 'love' de Sekkin Chuu!", "Wonderful Rush" (including the shot of the plane from the PV), and "Music S.T.A.R.T.!!".
    • A special solo shot for Rin has her shaking her maracas from the ending of the first season.
  • The B-side of the single, "Natte Shimatta!", is an homage to "Snow Halation", featuring the same composer/arranger and having the girls in the same groups.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While not really a villain, we find out that Eli was the one that uploaded the video of μ's first performance, with the idea that no one would like their songs or dances and the group would break up or quit. This plan backfired however and μ's became much more popular as a result, with all the positive feedback from the video causing more people to join the group, including Eli herself.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Nozomi explains to Maki in Episode 8 of Season 2 in her Flash Back how she came from a Friendless Background because of constantly switching schools due to her parents' work. But then she meets Eli, who acted like a loner as well, and ends up befriending her. They also notice the other girls in similar situations, such as Nico when she first tried to form an idol group, but until Nozomi saw Honoka's group, she wasn't sure how to reach out to them. Hence, why she was hoping they could sing a song they all contributed to for the next performance, but she was okay with just singing ones they already did. After hearing Nozomi's reasoning, Maki then insists that they come up with that song together.

O - Z

• One-Gender School: Otonokizaka is an all-girls' school.
• Oh, Crap!: All of the girls have this look in their face in Season 1 Episode 10 after they accidentally hit Umi during the pillow fight and wakes her up. Even Eli and Maki seemed kind of fearful, particularly after she throws the pillows back rather hard.
• Parental Abandonment:
  • Averted. Several of the girl's parents can be seen or heard from time to time, such as Honoka's or Maki's. Kotori's mother is also the director of the school.
  • Played straight with Nozomi. Due to the nature of her parents' work, she ended up moving quite a bit, so she couldn't make any friends as a result. And when she reaches high school, she ends up living alone in an apartment.
• Passing the Torch: Nico nominates Hanayo as the new idol club president in Episode 13 of Season 2. The latter tries to object, but is overruled by the others, and Nico states she's the most knowledgeable one regarding idols.
• Performance Anxiety: Umi, during their first live concert.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Both Eli and her sister have blonde hair and blue eyes.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Honoka towards Kotori in Season 1 Episode 13, when she catches her before leaving for her plane, and tells her not to leave. Kotori, for her part, never really did want to leave, and was hoping Honoka would stop her before she got on the plane.
• Previously on…: Each episode begins with a recap of the previous episode, narrated by one of the main characters.
• Race for Your Love: Well, they're not lovers, but Honoka does this in Season 1 Episode 13, for Kotori, and pleads with her not to go.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Kotori's mother, the director of Otonokizaka. She lets μ's perform on the opening campus as long as they pass their final.
• Refusal of the Call:
  • In the first season, several of the girls initially refuse to help or join Honoka's school idol group. However, The Power of Friendship gradually wins them over, even Student Council President Eli who acts as an Obstructive Bureaucrat through much of the series.
  • In the first episode of Season 2, Honoka, of all people, doesn't seem eager at the prospect of another Love Live contest, and says they don't really need to enter it. This obviously shocks every single girl there, as they expected her to be the most excited. Fortunately, several other characters manage to make her remember how she felt when she wanted to enter the first one, along with the fact that this would be the last time the third years could participate in a school idol group.
  • In Episode 5 of Season 2, Rin is made the temporary leader while Honoka was away on a school trip. She at first reluctantly accepts it, but doesn't feel she's worthy enough, and is more happy being a support character. However the other girls, especially Maki and Hanayo, try to encourage her, and Hanayo also tries on the dress Rin was supposed to wear for their song since she realized her friend was under a lot of stress at the moment.
• Santa's Existence Clause:
  • Discussed in Episode 2 of Season 2. When the girls arrive at Maki's family home in the mountains for a song brainstorming session, the latter asks them not to use the chimney, partly because it's still too warm outside to use it, and partly because her father told her Santa won't visit if the chimney isn't kept clean. She then shows some writing and drawings from "Santa" inside the chimney, prompting Nico to laugh at her for still believing in Santa. However, the other girls don't want Maki's belief to be shattered, so they try to keep Nico quiet about it.
  • According to the Secret Shortcuts, Honoka believes in Santa too.◊
• Saving the Orphanage: In this case, saving the high school. They manage to save their school from shutting down due to an unexpectedly high number of applicants after their school idol performance.
• Schoolgirl Series: The series follows the adventures of the school idol group μ's.
• School Festival: In the audio drama that comes with the fifth single, it features a maid cafe run by the first years, a Haunted House prepared by the second years and a fashion show (of a sort) hosted by the third years.
• Second Place Is for Winners: In the novel, Kotori tried to win the Second Prize of a swimsuit contest. Because a 50000-yen shopping coupon would help her buy materials for new costumes, but a 100000-yen rice cooker would not. To Hanayo's delight, it did not work.
• Sequel Hook: Season 2 Episode 13 announces the upcoming movie right before the girls go their separate ways.
• Serious Business: When Umi claims she has some experience in love during Season 2 Episode 8, Honoka and Kotori suddenly take a very big interest in it. Several of the other girls end up wanting to know as well, causing her to collapse from the pressure and state that she's never dated a boy or experienced love in that form.
• Shout-Out:
  • A particularly bizarre one for an idol anime, at the start of Season 2 Episode 4; one of the groups said to have made it past the Love Live preliminaries, Mutant Girls, is made of four girls in ninja outfits with color-coded masks in blue, red, orange and purple. Sounds familiar?
  • In Season 2 Episode 6, the girls try to change their image to something more rock and dress up like KISS. Screenshots of the episode were found and retweeted by Gene Simmons.
  • Rin playing the maracas during the ending harkens back to the ending of Kamichu!.
• Sick Episode: Due to the events of the previous episode, Honoka ended up resting at home in the first half of Season 1 Episode 12.
• Smashing Watermelons: Hanayo tries to smash a watermelon in Season 1 Episode 10, which is also a Call-Back to the "Natsuiro Egao de 1,2,Jump!" PV.
• Snow Means Love: The song "Snow halation" is basically all about this trope, as the lyrics are about falling in love with someone while it's snowing.
• Snowy Sleigh Bells: Heard in "Snow halation", to go with the song's overall Snow Means Love theme.
• Spell My Name With An S:
  • Eri vs. Eli, Arisa vs. Alisa, and Niko vs. Nico. Official streams use the latter, the former and the latter, respectively.
  • Season 2 then repeats the discrepancy with Nico by replacing what would normally be Ks in her siblings' names with Cs. That means Cocoro, Cotaro and Cocoa instead of Kokoro, Kotaro and Kokoa, respectively.
• Spoiler Opening: The opening should give away who joins μ's almost immediately even though they don't fully form until Season 1 Episode 8. Justified as there have been music videos prominently showing all nine members starting from their debut in 2010, including live events where the voice actors sang and danced to the group's songs, so this is a simple case of a Late-Arrival Spoiler that could not have been avoided.
• Spontaneous Choreography:
  • Happens in the first episode of Season 1 during "Susume→Tomorrow".
  • The first episode of Season 2 also has one as Honoka, having become the new Student Council President, goes up on stage, then throws the microphone up high, catches it, and busts into a song and dance sequence. Then it's hilariously subverted in that said sequence never really happened, and instead she developed Performance Anxiety shortly after going up on stage. To be fair, she does say making up a speech as the student council president on stage isn't the same as singing a song.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Almost everyone of the main cast looks a lot like their own mother.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Nico does this in Season 1 Episode 5, when she stalks Kotori. Honoka arrives and the latter strongly suspects having a stalker watching her. She goes to investigate, but doesn't see anyone, then Nico suddenly appears next to her, and flicks her finger at Honoka, causing her to fall back and knocking her out for a short while.
• Take That!: At least in one of the live shows reveals that Nico mentions that they will try to fight back the "monsters" in the crowd (She probably mentions about the (male!) fandom).
• Tempting Fate:
  • Kotori receives a letter that offers her the opportunity to study fashion overseas right after a conversation where she, Honoka and Umi agree that they want to be together forever.
  • In Season 2 Episode 9, it starts to snow on the day of the final preliminary round. Several characters state it's supposed to stop snowing by the afternoon, giving Honoka, Umi, and Kotori plenty of time to get there after their presentation at school as the student council. Naturally, their presentation is delayed by an hour, and when it wraps up, it snows even more, causing both the trains and traffic to stop. The three girls decide to just hoof it to the venue, but then the weather worsens as they attempt to leave the school grounds, forcing them to stop momentarily against it.
• Third-Person Person: Rin. Honoka and Kotori also refer themselves in third person from time to time while Nico only do this whenever she tries to act cute.
• Those Three Girls: Hideko, Mika and Fumika who supported μ's from the very beginning and who helped them during their first concert and cheer up a depressed Honoka. They also show up throughout Season 2 in various supporting roles.
• Title Drop: The anime reveals that Love Live is the name of an idol competition.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Rin and Hanayo respectively.
• Too Dumb to Live: A non-fatal example happens with Honoka in Season 1 Episode 11. Having finally broken into the top 20, the group decides to do a big performance at the school's upcoming festival to keep them there and qualify for Love Live. Sadly, the performance is ruined when Honoka collapses after the first song, since not only did she insist on jogging every night on her own instead of getting proper sleep, she even did so the day before the performance, in heavy rain.
• Training from Hell:
  • Honoka, Rin, and Nico are subjected to an academic variation of this during Season 1 Episode 7. Since their grades are bad, they have to study a lot for the upcoming exams, or else they won't be given permission to enter Love Live. Umi even goes so far as to stay over at Honoka's house for a few days to ensure she's studying. In the end, they all barely pass.
  • A more straight example occurs in Season 1 Episode 8, when Eli agrees to teach them to dance, and has them start out with the basics, such as stretching and balancing their weight while standing on one foot. Despite her harsh regimen, the girls don't waver too much, as they're motivated to keep the school from closing.
• True Companions: μ's eventually becomes this in-universe and out of character. An often-told story is of how all nine members of the main voice cast would stick around to wait for each other to finish recording their lines for the anime's first season before leaving the studio, even if it was late at night to the point where no more public transport was running. The close bond between the real-life μ's has, in turn, encouraged large amounts of Actor Shipping.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Averted in the first season, played straight in the second. Made more difficult by the fact that they have to go up against A-RISE, who won the Love Live contest the last time.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Rin's voice acting becomes more smooth and natural as the franchise progress.
  • Hanayo as well; try comparing her current voice and her early introduction comment and notice how her voice has gotten lighter and softer.
• The Voiceless: Honoka's father doesn't speak at all. If you count him speaking (albeit mentioned by Honoka) in School Idol Diary.
• Wham Episode:
  • In Season 1 Episode 3, their first performance has almost no students in the auditorium. However, a few do eventually show up.
  • In Season 1 Episode 11, Honoka collapses at the end of their first song at the school festival.
  • In Season 1 Episode 12, a few things occur. First, Honoka's group isn't taking part in Love Live due to her illness. Secondly, their school won't be shut down due to interest from middle school students applying there. Third, Umi tells the group that Kotori is going overseas to study fashion design. The combination of the first and third incidents causes Honoka to suffer a severe Heroic BSoD, and tells the other girls she's going to quit becoming an idol.
• Wham Line:
  • The school director tells Eli, with Honoka overhearing, that their school will stop accepting applicants the following year and later be closed down. Which was the worst thing that could happen for them, and the main reason why Honoka tried to form a school idol group to begin with.
  • A couple are given in Season 1 Episode 12. First, Honoka hears that their group won't be participating in the Love Live contest due to the Principal's concern that they may be overexerting themselves after she falls ill during the school festival. Secondly, Umi tells the group that Kotori is going overseas to study, and will probably be gone until after high school graduation. Third, Honoka, suffering from a Heroic BSoD due to the first two lines, tells the group she's quitting being an idol.
  • Honoka says that they don't need to enter the second Love Live contest during the first episode in Season 2. The rest of the group does a collective Big "WHAT?!" at her response, followed shortly by another What the Hell, Hero? moment.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • In Season 1 Episode 12, when Honoka says she's quitting due to the Wham Line of Kotori studying overseas. It shocks all of the other members, and causes Umi to slap her.
  • Maki is suspicious of Nozomi and Eli in Season 2 Episode 8, particularly due to Eli's insistence that they create a love song for their next performance despite not having any experience or references to draw on in it. At first, the latter two says they'll just stick to a song they know after failing to come up with any good ideas. But Maki follows Eli and Nozomi to see what was going on, and then learns that Nozomi was hoping they could all create a song together. Once Maki finds that out, she then reconsiders her position on not making a new song, and gets the other girls onboard as well.
  • Umi royally lambasts Honoka for getting lost and causing everyone to completely stress out with worry during the movie, especially when Honoka had taken no precautions on what to do in case it happened.
• Writer's Block: Umi, Kotori, and Maki all suffer from this in Season 2 Episode 2. They're unable to create any lyrics, outfits, or music due to the immense pressure they feel to having to come up with a new song for the second Love Live preliminaries. Fortunately the other girls help them and allow them to spend some time relaxing, after which they come up with some ideas.

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