History YMMV / LoveLiveSunshine

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** While Chika using a lollipop to lure Ruby out of hiding was intended to be PlayedForLaughs and [[{{Moe}} cuteness]], some viewers were disturbed by the fact that it is a common tactic used by kidnappers and child predators to attract children.
** In Season 2 Episode 9, a special effect consisting of dog ears and nose is added onto Ruby's photo. In real life; the filter is mostly (over)used by most young women, which is controversially dubbed as the “hoe/thot filter” .
** Although this is more of a coincidence than intentional, the [[https://imgur.com/a/cVatX torn-off poster]] on the punk-rock-themed Yoshiko UR card released on February 28, 2018 may reference the infamous Shanghai Happy Party Train FMT.
** A scene of Yoshiko holding her ice cream in Italy looked normal, but eating in [[https://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/europe/italian-city-to-fine-tourists-800-for-eating-in-public/news-story/32430d55c19ddbeed7f73be120655d09 Italy's public streets will be threatened with fines of up to €150-€500 ($240-$800).]]

** Riko's backstory features her having an anxiety attack on stage at a live piano performance. During Aqours first live concert, Riko's seiyuu, Rikako Aida, ended up suffering a panic attack during her piano performance on "Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare".

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Dia's overall wary attitude towards Chika's initiative of starting an idol group inspired by μ's, her annoyance when details of the group aren't properly addressed (such as their name being pronounced wrong by Chika) and her speech about how Aqours' first live was only successful [[FollowTheLeader because of the efforts of previous school idols]], all combined with her own {{Fan|boy}}girl feelings for the ''School Idol Project'' group, can easily be interpreted as the writers' attempts to have [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks fans who weren't all too happy]] about [[ReplacementScrappy Aqours' arrival]] relating to Dia, [[AudienceSurrogate since her own point of view on this matter isn't much different from theirs]].
** Sarah Kazuno's comments to Aqours about their imitation of μ's can be interpreted as a response from the writers to viewers irritated by the frequent references to the previous series and fan criticism that Aqours leans too much on μ's and doesn't make sufficient effort to establish their own identity, showing that they had deliberately done this with Aqours so that it could be PlayedForDrama when it fails, [[CharacterDevelopment forcing Aqours to develop on their own out of μ's shadow.]]
** A major complaint with TheMovie for the original series was it did far too little new for the story, and instead felt like a retread of the series conclusion. ''Over the Rainbow'' meanwhile is built to function far more as a proper continuation and conclusion to the story, and has ''much'' more content that can be called original.
** TheMovie also brought back some focus on Chika and Riko's relationship, which was a major part of Season 1 but then drastically reduced in Season 2, which prior to the movie had garnered much criticism.

** '''You''' gets hit with this the hardest. She ends up being one of the least developed characters in the entire series, thanks to a combination of factors such as [[SpotlightStealingSquad the show pushing Riko's screentime at You's expense in Season 1]], a lack of defined motivation for joining Aqours beyond wanting to do something together with Chika (which also makes her a SatelliteCharacter by extension), a minor CharacterFocus that ''accomplishes nothing'', and a straight-up lack of meaningful screentime or dialogue in Season 2 (which lead to the fandom joke that "You is the new Kanan"). It says something when Saint Snow, the ''rival group'', not only got a better CharacterFocus than her, but it actually gave them more character development than her. This has led to many fans perceiving her as one of the ''most underutilized characters'' in the franchise, especially jarring considering she is also one of the most popular characters in Aqours (and probably the most popular character in the franchise).

*** Hanamaru ends up DemotedToExtra and gets little to no CharacterFocus ''at all'' after the episode where she joins Aqours, reducing her to being a StraightMan for Yoshiko. Noticeably, despite one of her basic character conceits being that she's Ruby's best friend, their bond isn't addressed at all in Ruby's spotlight episodes late in the series, instead developing a relationship between Ruby and Leah. Ironically, her relegation to being a background character is the exact reason she joined Aqours to avoid! And again, it doesn't help that her BigEater status is still remained from Season 1 till TheMovie.

* CommonKnowledge: In many corners of the internet, even this very wiki, it's often said that Season 2 shifted away from Chika/Riko and toward Yoshiko/Riko in a case of PanderingToTheBase. However, Riko and Yoshiko's interactions are almost entirely confined to Season 2, Episode 5 and one scene in the immediately following episode. Otherwise, Riko's interactions are mostly with Chika and You [[ThreesomeSubtext as a trio]], ditto for Yoshiko with Hanamaru and Ruby.

** Is Season 2 an improvement over the first? Many feel it did, namely in telling a far more dramatic and emotional story that additionally averted the franchise's much hated penchant for PoorCommunicationKills. Others however criticize the season for completely altering character relationships in the name of PanderingToTheBase (most infamously in regards to Riko), as well as completely side-lining several characters (with You, Yoshiko, and Hanamaru - and even Riko to a smaller degree - all being DemotedToExtra) in favour of focusing on [[SpotlightStealingSquad Chika and the third years]].

** One of the issues fans had with the Riko/Yoshiko ShipTease in the second season was that it was forced and unnatural, and was only put in [[PanderingToTheBase because a lot of fans shipped them together]]. The original series, however, rocketed up the Maki/Nico ShipTease between seasons when it was noticed how much of a popular pairing they were. The difference is, neither Maki or Nico were heavily teased with anyone in their series' first season, so even though there's little explanation as to how or why they got so close, it's at least plausible. In contrast, during the first season of ''Sunshine'', Riko's character largely revolved around her relationship with Chika while Yoshiko spent the most time with Hanamaru. The Riko/Yoshiko pairing then comes off as being a lot more noticeably strange and forced because it basically replaced another character dynamic that was a focal point of the entire first season (and re-established in TheMovie, making things in Season 2 even more awkward.)

* PanderingToTheBase: The show usually provides easy shipping fuel for ships that are most popular with fans. This is most prevalent with Riko; in the first season, [=ChikaRiko=] was pushed quite heavily, but upon entering Season 2, seeing that [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Yoshiko x Riko]] was gaining ground, the anime suddenly stopped pushing [=ChikaRiko=] quite so heavily (though there were still moments) and instead started pushing Yoshiko x Riko. [[spoiler: Only to throw a curveball at the end with ''You x Riko''.]] Add the fact that [=YoshiRiko=] might not even be ''that'' popular[[note]][=YoshiMaru=] fanart on Pixiv outnumbers [=YoshiRiko=] by 50%, and a lot of [=YoshiRiko=] fanart only came out '''after''' Season 2 Episode 5.[[/note]], and Season 2 Episode 5 becomes an appeal to the ''very'' {{vocal minority}}.

** Yoshiko x Riko was formerly this, as the ship gained traction long before Yoshiko and Riko had any significant interaction in the anime, largely because of the subtext that exists in other official media and the teasing between their voice actresses. The most popular implication that started off this ship is Riko calling Yoshiko [[AffectionateNickname "Yocchan"]] [[note]]Note that Ruby, You and Chika has called Yoshiko by this nickname as well, also before the second anime season aired[[/note]]. Season 2 rectifies this by establishing early on that both of their families [[SecondHandStorytelling have gotten closer in-between seasons]], showing the two interacting with each other a lot more, and giving the pairing a dedicated episode. [[BrokenBase Although whether or not their increased interaction was handled well is another matter of debate entirely.]]

*** How many feel Riko suffered in Season 2. She was the closest thing to a {{Deuteragonist}} in Season 1, as well as receiving ''lots'' of ShipTease with Chika. Due to said pairing not exactly taking off in Japan though, their relationship was largely ignored save for moments [[ThreesomeSubtext that were always shared with You]], and consequently stripped her of her role in the story, leaving her with little besides a bunch of ShipTease with Yoshiko (which most fans found to be forced and unnatural) and a half-hearted arc about her overcoming her fear of dogs. Seeing how important she was in Season 1, most felt this more than a bit of a downgrade.

** Chika/Riko as a pairing has a much larger following in the west, whose exposure is mostly through the anime. Needless to say, those fans were rather irritated when the relationship was ignored entirely in Season 2 following its first episode.

** Similarly to fellow DefrostingIceQueen Eli in the original ''Love Live'', '''Kanan''' has become the biggest example of this as time has gone by. She is liked by many people for being genuinely kind and selfless, sort of a CoolBigSis to the Second Years during the first episodes, for being a [[OnlySaneWoman pretty mature person that doesn't work herself up about stuff]], and for being a CuddleBug. The LesYay moments she shares with [[ChildhoodFriends Mari]] are also interesting and fun, whereas her status as the resident MsFanservice has also attracted some people. There are, however, a big number of detractors that [[NeverLiveItDown never lived down]] Kanan's refusal to reconcile with Mari during the first episodes, being a {{jerkass}} to her for no real reason; even after the reasons for this come afloat [[spoiler:(not wanting Mari to hurt herself further during a qualifiers' performance, and forcing her to accept her chance to study abroad)]], although it was a moment of GoodIsNotNice, people feel it was too much of a DisproportionateRetribution. Although [[WhamEpisode season 1 episode 9]] [[spoiler:(on which Kanan takes [[ArmorPiercingSlap a huge slap to the face]] from Mari [[WhatTheHellHero when the latter learns what happened]], but refuses to hit her friend and '''finally''' reconciles with her)]] had most fans genuinely forgiving Kanan after all what happened, some people thought her "HeelFaceTurn" to not be credible enough. Finally, while she does {{subvert|edTrope}} CharacterRerailment later on in season 2 episode 6, the fact there were implications she would go back to her old GoodIsNotNice ways didn't help matters, either (though it did ''not'' happen, as she was understandably fed up and her intentions were kind).

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Similar to the original ''Love Live!'', and evidently just part and parcel for idol groups in general, almost ''all'' of the nine protagonists can be this, [[BrokenBase depending on who you ask]].
** Yoshiko is the largest example of this trope, similarly to Nico. She's one of the most popular characters, but also one of the most divisive, for her {{chuunibyou}} behavior; some people love and find her as a very interesting character as a result of this, others downright hate her (or just like her the least among the main cast) for it, since she doesn't break out of it a lot. This mostly has to do with the way she was handled in Season 2, as it [[{{Flanderization}} exaggerated her chuuni persona]] compared to Season 1. Following the conclusion of Season 2, many fans were split about her; one side still appreciates her [[ContraltoOfDanger dynamic singing voice]] and like her RunningGag, while the latter feel that her running gag was overused and caused her to fall victim to the worse side of flanderization, with [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter no meaningful impact on either the plot or any of the other characters]].
** Kanan is a complicated example. She is liked by many people for being genuinely kind and selfless - sort of a CoolBigSis or a TeamMom to the Second Years during the first episodes, for being a [[OnlySaneWoman pretty mature person that doesn't work herself up about stuff]], and for being a CuddleBug. The LesYay moments she shares with [[ChildhoodFriends Mari]] are also interesting and fun, whereas her status as the resident MsFanservice has also attracted some people. There are, however, a big number of detractors that dislike her for refusing to reconcile with Mari during the first episodes, and being a {{jerkass}} to her for seemingly no reason; even after the reasons for this come afloat [[spoiler:(not wanting Mari to hurt herself further during a qualifiers' performance, and forcing her to accept her chance to study abroad)]], although it was a moment of GoodIsNotNice, people feel it was too much of a DisproportionateRetribution. Although Season 1 Episode 9 [[spoiler:(on which Kanan takes [[ArmorPiercingSlap a huge slap to the face]] from Mari [[WhatTheHellHero when the latter learns what happened]], but refuses to hit her friend and '''finally''' reconciles with her)]] had most fans genuinely forgiving her after all what happened, some people would {{never live it down}}. Finally, while she does {{subvert|edTrope}} CharacterRerailment later on in Season 2 Episode 6, the fact it implied (though it did ''not'' happen, as this time she was kind and her intentions were just good) she would go back to her old jerkass ways didn't help matters, either.
** Fortunately for the second years, unlike the original ''Love Live!'', they aren't hit with this as a group as much as the former second years were due to the anime focusing more on Aqours as a whole. However, they're still divisible in their own right.
*** Chika is liked for being even more of a GenkiGirl than Honoka was, and for having a pronounced CharacterDevelopment throughout the anime; she learns to become a school idol while differentiating her group from µ's, and is considered by some fans to be a better leader than Honoka was. She is, however, disliked for still being too similar to Honoka while trying to copy from her at first; this feeling comes more from both Honoka fans and haters, some of which have called her a worse and more selfish leader than the former. Some other people also find her genki girl tendencies to be overbearing, and her "kagayaki" speeches to be tiresome by the umpteenth time she makes one in the second season.
*** You is widely liked by the Eastern fanbase for being charismatic, for [[InstantExpert her innate ability to pick up skills from others]] and [[TheAce do it at the pace they can]], and for being a subtle MsFanservice. The charisma of her own seiyuu, Shuka Saito, also helps. As seen above, however, due to the Western fanbase's exposure to the character being mainly through the anime, [[AmericansHateTingle she has much less fans there]] because of her [[OutOfFocus lack of overall focus]] aside from one episode that didn't accomplish much, being seen as a SatelliteCharacter for Chika, and causing her to [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter not be seen as interesting as the rest of the group]] due to her heavy underutilization.
*** Riko is liked for pretty much being the OnlySaneWoman among the Second Years while also being the biggest ButtMonkey of the group, for having moments where [[NotSoAboveItAll she clearly loses her calm and starts acting like her friends]], and for the LesYay moments [[LoveConfession she shares with her best friend Chika]]; overall, she's seen as a good {{deuteragonist}} to the anime and a good foil to Chika (as, while both are nice girls, she's the polite ElegantClassicalMusician and ShrinkingViolet to Chika's goofy GenkiGirl). Others, however, don't see her [[TheGenericGuy as interesting as the rest of the group]] anyways, and she is widely disliked by most You fans due to her likely [[SpotlightStealingSquad taking the spotlight off of You]], as well as [[DieForOurShip taking away Chika from her]].
** Dia has her fair share of fans due to being [[CoolBigSis a very good sister to Ruby]] and an incredibly LargeHam whenever [[HairTriggerTemper she loses her temper]] (which by extension hugely subverts her YamatoNadeshiko image and is just fun to watch), as well as a {{Tsundere}}. On the latter point, some people like how she's a different type of {{tsundere}} from [[SugarAndIcePersonality Maki]]; although both are Harsh types, Dia is a ''classic'' tsundere rather than a ''modern'' one like Maki, and is generally nicer despite her harshness. She also got a cult following from [[AudienceSurrogate people that went through the first episodes thinking the anime and the future school idol group would likely never surpass µ's]]. Still, a bunch of people do dislike her hair-trigger temper and overreactions (which happen very, ''very'' often), finding them unnecessary at best and exaggerated at worst.
** Ruby is liked for her {{Moe}} personality, her high adaptability despite being [[ShrinkingViolet pretty shy]] and having HiddenDepths to her character as the younger sister of Dia. However, she is also criticized for being the "generic Moe" character of the group, for having the tendency of saying "Pigii!" each time something happens that she doesn't like, and for [[ExtremeDoormat not being able to stand up for herself]]. Episodes 8 and 9 of Season 2 managed to subdue the lattermost point by giving her some genuine CharacterDevelopment though, which [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap saved her for some fans]].
** Mari, to a much lesser extent than her fellow third years. Some people find her {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and [[TheGadfly gadflyish personality]], fluent {{Engrish}}, and character tics as pretty funny and endearing. Others, however, find them as well as her voice rather annoying, similar to Rin.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** A significant cost of the greater focus on an overarching narrative is that a number of characters are largely pushed to the side due to them being unable to contribute to it.
*** '''You'''. She ends up being one of the least developed characters in the entire series, thanks to a combination of factors such as [[SpotlightStealingSquad the show pushing Riko's screentime at You's expense in Season 1]], a lack of defined motivation for joining Aqours beyond wanting to do something together with Chika (which also makes her a SatelliteCharacter by extension), a minor CharacterFocus that ''accomplishes nothing'', and a straight-up lack of meaningful screentime or dialogue in Season 2 (which lead to the fandom joke that "You is the new Kanan"). It says something when Saint Snow, the ''rival group'', not only got a better CharacterFocus than her, but it actually gave them more character development than her. This has led to many fans perceiving her as one of the ''most underutilized characters'' in the franchise, especially jarring considering she is also one of the most popular characters in Aqours (and probably the most popular character in the franchise).
*** [[BaseBreakingCharacter Depending on who you ask,]] Yoshiko went this way in Season 2. Put simply, Season 2 ''severely'' slammed Yoshiko with the {{Flanderization}} bat and reduced her character by large into a gag, and she got a ''second'' CharacterFocus episode that, bewilderingly, almost entirely retraces her character development from her first CharacterFocus in Season 1, except it has ultimately zero impact on her character going forward.

*** How many feel Riko suffered in Season 2. She was the closest thing to a secondary main character in Season 1, as well as receiving ''lots'' of ShipTease with Chika. Due to said pairing not exactly taking off in Japan though, their relationship was largely ignored save for moments [[ThreesomeSubtext that were always shared with You]], and consequently stripped her of her role in the story, leaving her with little besides a bunch of ShipTease with Yoshiko (which most fans found to be forced and unnatural) and a half-hearted arc about her overcoming her fear of dogs. Seeing how important she was in Season 1, most felt this more than a bit of a downgrade.

** (Ultimately) '''''averted''''' to Ruby, as lewd fanarts of her only attract even more enforcement-themed responses (At least for English-speaking fans), unlike the other [[SugarAndIcePersonality red-haired first year]] in the [[Anime/LoveLive previous series]].

* ActorShipping: Continuing from the previous series, the voice actresses are once again often shipped with each other. Some of them even take the teasing [[UpToEleven up to eleven]] by getting near each others' faces, or in some cases: a kiss on a cheek in a live show (Aina Suzuki to Anju Inami), which makes you wonder if any of them are straight ''at all''. What makes it even better as some of them didn't actually bother to hide it.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Similar to the original ''Love Live!'', and evidently just part and parcel for idol groups in general, almost ''[[UpToEleven all]]'' of the nine protagonists can be this, [[BrokenBase depending on who you ask]].

** As with the previous series, and due to the series' fairly strong subtext; the fandom once again treated '''''all''''' of the main characters (Riko is one of the recurring examples, due to her AmbiguouslyGay status) as ''[[UpToEleven genuinely]] [[StraightGay queer]]'' lesbians, and the ShipTease moments as genuinely [[RomanticPlotTumor romantic]].

* FriendlyFandoms: As with the previous series, the anime's fandom also get along well with the fans from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure''. It ultimately took UpToEleven due to many fans pointing out ''actual'' (and coincidental) references in the show (while creating a shared universe fanfiction) and also finding out that ''The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow'' taking place in '''Italy''' as Vento Aureo is still airing until 2019.

** Dia and Ruby is pretty much this. The ship has later taken UpToEleven due to their respective songs: Manatsu wa Dare no Mono? (Due to the live play at ''HAPPY PARTY TRAIN TOUR'') and possibly WHITE FIRST LOVE.

** Due to voice actresses taking their own [[ActorShipping shipping]] UpToEleven, almost everyone in the fandom refuses to acknowledge the [=VAs=] as straight people thanks to that.

** Aqours collaborating with Hatsune Miku is pretty fitting considering Ai Furihata [[VideoGame/ProjectSekai already has experience singing with Miku.]]

* UncannyValley: The 1/1 statues displayed at the ''Love Live! Sunshine!! Showtime at Shanghai'' event looks fairly decent on their own, but the lighting that flashes the statues (notably [[https://imgur.com/ZpZ9CYv Chika]] and [[https://imgur.com/zWgntbD You]]) gave them an expression of having a {{Yandere}} look.

* FanPreferredCouple: It remains that no pairings are canon in ''Love Live'', but by series standards, [=YoshiMaru=] is this. They surpass more canon-backed ''Sunshine'' pairings in terms of popularity by a notable margin, especially in the Japanese side of the fanbase. The results of the "Nakayoshi Poll" (controversially called the "official ship war") [[https://lovelive-sif.bushimo.jp/6thproject/nakayoshi/result made this very clear]].

** One of the issues fans had with the Riko/Yoshiko ShipTease in the second season was that it was forced and unnatural, and was only put in [[PanderingToTheBase because a lot of fans shipped them together]]. The original series, however, rocketed up the Maki/Nico ShipTease between seasons when it was noticed how much of a FanPreferredCouple they were. The difference is, neither Maki or Nico were heavily teased with anyone in their series' first season, so even though there's little explanation as to how or why they got so close, it's at least plausible. In contrast, during the first season of ''Sunshine'', Riko's character largely revolved around her relationship with Chika while Yoshiko spent the most time with Hanamaru. The Riko/Yoshiko pairing then comes off as being a lot more noticeably strange and forced because it basically replaced another character dynamic that was a focal point of the entire first season (and re-established in TheMovie, making things in Season 2 even more awkward.)

** Yoshiko is the largest example of this trope, similarly to Nico. She's one of the most popular characters, but also one of the most divisive, for her {{chuunibyou}} behavior; some people love and find her as a very interesting character as a result of this, others downright hate her (or just like her the least among the main cast) for it, since [[StaticCharacter she doesn't break out of it a lot]]. This mostly has to do with the way she was handled in Season 2, as it [[{{Flanderization}} exaggerated her chuuni persona]] compared to Season 1. Following the conclusion of Season 2, many fans were split about her; one side still appreciates her [[ContraltoOfDanger dynamic singing voice]] and like her RunningGag, while the latter feel that her running gag was overused and caused her to fall victim to the worse side of flanderization, with [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter no meaningful impact on either the plot or any of the other characters]].

*** Chika is liked for being even more of a GenkiGirl than Honoka was, and for having a pronounced CharacterDevelopment throughout the anime; [[DynamicCharacter she learns to become a school idol while differentiating her group from µ's]], and is considered by some fans to be a better leader than Honoka was. She is, however, disliked for still being too similar to Honoka while trying to copy from her at first; this feeling comes more from both Honoka fans and haters, some of which have called her a worse and more selfish leader than the former. Some other people also find her genki girl tendencies to be overbearing, and her "kagayaki" speeches to be tiresome by the umpteenth time she makes one in the second season.

** Some fans of the original series have voiced complaints about ''Sunshine!!''[='=]s [[DarkerAndEdgier far more bleak tone during its drama episodes]] when compared to ''School Idol Project'', claiming that it results in DarknessInducedAudienceApathy and that the drama has a tendency to be shakily written at points. Other fans welcome the darker tone of ''Sunshine!!'' and treat it as a way for the series to explore a level of realism to its drama that ''SIP'' rarely toyed with.

** Kanan is a complicated example. She is liked by many people for being genuinely kind ans selfless - sort of a CoolBigSis or a TeamMom to the Second Years during the first episodes, for being a [[OnlySaneWoman pretty mature person that doesn't work herself up about stuff]], and for being a CuddleBug. The LesYay moments she shares with [[ChildhoodFriends Mari]] are also interesting and fun, whereas her status as the resident MsFanservice has also attracted some people. There are, however, a big number of detractors that dislike her for refusing to reconcile with Mari during the first episodes, and being a {{jerkass}} to her for seemingly no reason; even after the reasons for this come afloat [[spoiler:(not wanting Mari to hurt herself further during a qualifiers' performance, and forcing her to accept her chance to study abroad)]], although it was a moment of GoodIsNotNice, people feel it was too much of a DisproportionateRetribution. Although Season 1 Episode 9 [[spoiler:(on which Kanan takes [[ArmorPiercingSlap a huge slap to the face]] from Mari [[WhatTheHellHero when the latter learns what happened]], but refuses to hit her friend and '''finally''' reconciles with her)]] had most fans genuinely forgiving her after all what happened, some people would {{never live it down}}. Finally, while she does {{subvert|edTrope}} CharacterRerailment later on in Season 2 Episode 6, the fact it implied (though it did ''not'' happen, as this time she was kind and her intentions were just good) she would go back to her old jerkass ways didn't help matters, either.

** Kanan is a complicated example. She is liked by many people for being sort of a CoolBigSis to the Second Years during the first episodes, for being a [[OnlySaneWoman pretty mature person that doesn't work herself up about stuff]], and for being a CuddleBug. The LesYay moments she shares with [[ChildhoodFriends Mari]] are also interesting and fun, whereas her status as the resident MsFanservice has also attracted some people. There are, however, a big number of detractors that dislike her for refusing to reconcile with Mari during the first episodes, and being a {{jerkass}} to her for seemingly no reason; even after the reasons for this come afloat [[spoiler:(not wanting Mari to hurt herself further during a qualifiers' performance, and forcing her to accept her chance to study abroad)]], people feel it was too much of a DisproportionateRetribution. Although Season 1 Episode 9 [[spoiler:(on which Kanan takes [[ArmorPiercingSlap a huge slap to the face]] from Mari [[WhatTheHellHero when the latter learns what happened]], but refuses to hit her friend and '''finally''' reconciles with her)]] had most fans genuinely forgiving her after all what happened, some people would {{never live it down}}. Finally, while she does {{subvert|edTrope}} CharacterRerailment later on in Season 2 Episode 6, the fact it implied she would go back to her old jerkass ways didn't help matters, either.

*** Riko is liked for pretty much being the OnlySaneWoman among the Second Years while also being the biggest ButtMonkey of the group, for having moments where [[NotSoAboveItAll she clearly loses her calm and starts acting like her friends]], and for the LesYay moments [[LoveConfession she shares with her best friend Chika]]; overall, she's seen as a good {{deuteragonist}} to the anime and a good foil to Chika. Others, however, don't see her [[TheGenericGuy as interesting as the rest of the group]] anyways, and she is widely disliked by most You fans due to her likely [[SpotlightStealingSquad taking the spotlight off of You]], as well as [[DieForOurShip taking away Chika from her]].
** Dia has her fair share of fans due to being [[CoolBigSis a very good sister to Ruby]] and an incredibly LargeHam whenever [[HairTriggerTemper she loses her temper]] (which by extension hugely subverts her YamatoNadeshiko image), as well as a {{Tsundere}}. On the latter point, some people like how she's a different type of {{tsundere}} from [[SugarAndIcePersonality Maki]]; although both are Harsh types, Dia is a ''classic'' tsundere rather than a ''modern'' one like Maki. She also got a cult following from [[AudienceSurrogate people that went through the first episodes thinking the anime and the future school idol group would likely never surpass µ's]]. Still, a bunch of people do dislike her hair-trigger temper and overreactions (which happen very, ''very'' often), finding them unnecessary at best and exaggerated at worst.

** Sarah Kazuno's comments to Aqours about their imitation of μ's can be interpreted as a response from the writers to viewers irritated by the frequent references to the previous series and fan criticism that Aqours leans too much on μ's and doesn't make sufficient effort to establish their own identity, showing that they had deliberately done this with Aqours so that it could be PlayedForDrama when it fails, [[CharacterDevelopment forcing Aquours to develop on their own out of μ's shadow.]]

** Song centers are a particular sore spot for the fanbase since the anime tends to [[SpotlightStealingSquad give a lot of focus to Chika]] on the insert songs, with Lantis/Sunrise also giving her a lot of focus in the promotional videos. One side argues that she steals the focus that other characters should have (especially with songs such as "Mijuku Dreamer" and "Awaken the power" - that are the climax of the character development for the third years and Ruby/Leah, respectively, so it's argued that Chika shouldn't receive any focus to begin with); add to this that characters like Ruby, Mari and Hanamaru have barely had the opportunity to be the center in songs. The other side argues that Chika's prominence in songs isn't that extreme (for an example, she ''does'' have a few more lines, due to repetition, in "Mijuku Dreamer" than the other girls who ''aren't'' the third years, who are very obviously the focus of the song); there is also the fact that Chika ''is'' the leader of the group and is pretty much guaranteed to get more centers than the others, much like Honoka leads the number of song centers in Muse.

** Also, in a rather degrading example: Chika is often seen as a dominator of ''all'' centers for ''every song released''.

* MisaimedFandom: Before the movie was released in the US, several American fans assumed that Aqours will eventually disband in the film like Muse did, [[spoiler:though this turns out to be false as Aqours continues without the third years.]]

** Chika/Riko as a pairing has a much larger following in the west, whose exposure is mostly through the anime. Needless to say, those fans were rather irritated when the relationship was ignored entirely in Season 2.

** One of the issues fans had with the Riko/Yoshiko ShipTease in the second season was that it was forced and unnatural, and was only put in [[PanderingToTheBase because a lot of fans shipped them together]]. The original series, however, rocketed up the Maki/Nico ShipTease between seasons when it was noticed how much of a FanPreferredCouple they were. The difference is, neither Maki or Nico were heavily teased with anyone in their series' first season, so even though there's little explanation as to how or why they got so close, it's at least plausible. In contrast, during the first season of ''Sunshine'', Riko's character largely revolved around her relationship with Chika while Yoshiko spent the most time with Hanamaru. The Riko/Yoshiko pairing then comes off as being a lot more noticeably strange and forced because it basically replaced another character dynamic that was a focal point of the entire first season.

** One of the issues fans had with the Riko/Yoshiko ShipTease in the second season was that it was forced and unnatural, and was only put in [[PanderingToTheBase because a lot of fans shipped them together]]. The original series, however, rocketed up the Maki/Nico ShipTease between seasons when it was noticed how much of a FanPreferredCouple they were. The difference is, neither Maki or Nico were heavily teased with anyone in their series' first season, so even though there's little explanation as to how or why they got so close, it's at least plausible. In contrast, during the first season of ''Sunshine'', Riko's character largely revolved around her relationship with Chika. The Riko/Yoshiko pairing then comes off as being a lot more noticeably strange and forced because it basically replaced another character dynamic that was a focal point of the entire first season.

** Enjoyment of the series compared to ''School Idol Project'' tends to depend heavily on whether you prioritize story or characters more. The plot is generally seen as an improvement over the original, but the characters are noted to be sloppily written and/or underutilized, which turned off fans who preferred the character-driven aspect of the original.

** Sarah Kazuno's comments to Aqours about their imitation of μ's can be interpreted as a response from the writers to viewers irritated by the frequent references to the previous series and fan criticism that Aqours leans too much on μ's and doesn't make sufficient effort to establish their own identity.