Franchise/Love Live! School Idol Project

This episode felt very Sunshine—A focus on overcoming failure and an actually antagonistic rival. Sunshine is my favourite LL series, but I'm not sure we need a repeat of it

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...So, I've been wondering if we might get a third Superstar season (one for each year of high school), and Wien is a middle schooler...

Edited by Hylarn on Aug 1st 2022 at 5:12:59 AM

Episode 4 leaves me with a major question: When do Mei and Shiki kiss?

The funny part about episode 5 is that, IRL, ad revenue is awful. That deal would be one-sided in Liella's favour, as long as they had any merch

Edited by Hylarn on Aug 14th 2022 at 8:20:33 AM

Yeah, the romantic tension between Mei and Shiki is palpable. When Mei was telling Shiki was cute I would have believed you if you told me she was seducing her. They’re much more enioyable as a duo than on their own.

Yeah, I kinda missed episode 4 last week, somehow. Pleasantly surprised that Chisato decided to become the prez, because Kanon always seems to be bullied with democracy, and I’m always for more spotlight on Chii-chan!

Anyway, on to episode 5: oh dang Mei can play piano. And her idol otaku side plays well with Keke’s. She’s seriously earning some brownie points with me. On the flip side, Onitsuka has… not. Yeah she wouldn’t earn much from ad rev hahaha.

Keke has further dragged Ren down into degeneracy, she’s turned her into a gamer.

I’m enjoying how much this season is emphasizing how physically taxing idol work is. Partly because the exhausted moans of the first years are so funny.

S2E6: Okay, fine, I've warmed up a bit to Oninatsu.

We kinda glossed over the first years' training camp, but that's alright. I assume they're in the same league as their senpai now, skills-wise.

Loved everything about the performance in this episode. Loved the party energy of the song, their dance was frantic and chaotically fun, and their costumes are colorful confetti confections.

S2E7: Hazuki’s dorky side has always been funny and her becoming addicted to gaming is a welcome development. She even became an achievement hunter. What a dork.

Also Shiki and Mei just make out already.

S2E8: Where the group somehow ends up selling rainbow takoyaki smoothies. Talk about cursed.

Oninatsu is ready to collect votes from simps by promising private pictures. No, lady, stop.

I’ve said it multiple before, but the group songs tend to not be my jam. So I’m pleasantly surprised that Liella blessed me with another bop of a tune. The Japanese festival stylings of the song is soooo good.

Superstars S2E9: Keke and Sumire won’t let themselves be upstaged by Shiki and Mei.

Anyway, I liked the drama. Sumire playing the bad guy in order to increase Liella’s chances of winning so Keke won’t have to return to Shanghai. Way better than the usual “we need to save the school!” conflict. Also props to the voicework, their arguments had bite, which made the making up all the more cathartic.

Really not feeling Margarete. I usually prefer the songs of the rival singers in this franchise, but Margarete’s one performance, while good, I’d consider a couple notches below several of Liella’s performances, and heck even Sunny Passion’s. Right now her talent is an Informed Ability for me, and her attitude isn’t helping my impression of her.

Edited by fillerdude on Sep 19th 2022 at 4:46:01 AM

Superstars S2E10: Margarete once again fails to impress me. Her song was even more boring than Liella’s song this episode which was a standard honeyed ballad. Also from a PR perspective I can imagine she’d lose quite a few votes for indirectly dissing the audience of the show she’s starring in. Gonna guess Margarete is disappointed in Kanon for pursuing a school idol path when Kanon can sing for the big leagues, so to speak. Maybe it was Kanon that inspired her to sing, even.

Love Live is getting a musical with new characters and story. Odds on these girls ending up with an anime?

Feels inevitable. Could be a lower budget production like Nijigasaki.

Superstars S2E11: Sorry Margarete but I’m kinda glad you’re getting a beating right now.

I know they’re making a big deal out of Kanon leaving for Vienna, but I feel like Kanon staying for high school and going abroad aren’t two mutually exclusive concepts, especially since Love Live is apparently a big enough deal that you can get recommendations for elite music academies just by qualifying for nationals. I figure Kanon can stay, and maybe Margarete joins Liella the next year, then they win Love Live together, and get yet another rec.

Superstars S2E12: The final performances of Love Live anime have traditionally not impressed me and this one was so different. What a boring ballad, waste of that short Spanish guitar segment at the beginning.

Also not a fan of how Kanon’s trip to Vienna was cancelled. Like I already thought it was pointless drama in the first place, then they decide to further turn it into a waste of time. Boo.

Kind of ended on a whimper, basically. Also I’m definitely not as fond of the four freshmen than I was with the original five, but they did grow on me a bit.

Probably the most surprising part is that there is going to be a third season. I’m guessing the Vienna school officially partnered with Yuigaoka, hence Margarete enrolling there. And of course, she’s also gonna join Liella.

I was also a bit disappointed in the ending, but I liked everything up until that point. This and Niji S2 have been the first times I've not liked the second season more than the first.

I think it would have been nice if Kanon did go to the Vienna Institute, and they put the conclusion in a movie instead.

It just didn't feel like this Love Live had any gravitas. It could have been really cool if they tweaked the timeline to have Kanon accept the offer, and just visit for the actual performance, then spend the rest of a movie on them working out dynamics without her.

I did think with the reveal about why she received the offer, that getting roped into family drama might backfire anyway.

Also Love Live continues the tradition of making each season just a centimeter gayer, but without crossing the line into text.

Pretty much. This was probably the least invested I was in seeing the group try and win Love Live, between my lesser adoration for the newcomers and my dislike of Margarete. I also would have liked it better if Kanon had continued on to Vienna.

Sunshine in the Mirror Episode 2: Now that's a struggle most young adults can relate to. It's hard finding a job you can pour your heart into. Though Yohane, you should really have tested your powers before you went for that crystal ball.

Glad to see Chika, Dia, Riko, and that wonderful short glimpse of You soaring through the air. And Ruby too. I wonder if she's still Dia's sister in this world.

Wait, the ones in the town protector biz are Chika and her sisters? Huh!

Haven't watched the new episode yet but Dia and Ruby are still sisters, yes. I don't know why they wouldn't be.

Because in this verse Dia is a human and Ruby is a fairy?

Sunshine in the Mirror Episode 3: After barely showing any of the magical girl stuff in the past two episodes, here comes Chika as a masked vigilante, Dia as Kamen Rider and Ruby as... a fairy that can possess motorcycles? Okay, sure!

I really appreciated the sudden jump into random nonsense. The last two episodes were boring. And Mari's place is actually quite pretty

Edited by Hylarn on Jul 9th 2023 at 11:13:14 AM

Mari's place was incredible. If Yohane had visited there before, she would have never thought Numazu was boring.

Genjitsu no Yohane Episode 4: Best girl You is here in all her glory.

Wait, the insert song for this episode is great. I dig the rapping.

Yohane is steadily collecting those magical marks on her staff, whatever they’re supposed to do.

Even in a spinoff with a tenuous grasp of the characters' personalities, You remains the most boring

Surprised we're not going back to Riko next episode— She's barely done anything

Them’s fighting words in a group that has Dia, Ruby and Kanan

I mean Kanan's my worst girl but she's still more interesting than You, I just don't like her (Well. In the OG universe. She's not as bad in this fantasy universe.). Dia's my best girl (At least in the OG. She's not nearly as good here.) so I'm biased in her favor. Ruby's cute but honestly her relationships with Dia and Hanamaru carry her and she's the driving force behind Awaken the Power in universe so she gets points for that. Shame this anime doesn't do her or Dia any justice.

Genjitsu no Yohane episode 5: Socially awkward chuuni helps socially awkward demon lady with social awkwardness. Very wholesome stuff. The sea slugs playing with Ruby was so adorable.

Genjitsu no Yohane episode 6: The Aquors girls have a girl’s night out. Though in the context of this setting, it feels like a really random gathering of people haha. But it’s all good, it feels like a classic Sunshine happy-go-lucky feature.

Ruby has a big mode. Nice.