Cover art of the second Nijiyon compilation book
Nijiyon (にじよん) is an official Yonkoma Webcomic series by Miyako Hito
that depicts the daily lives of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.
Season 1 is composed of Chapters 1 to 60. It can be found on the Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS website.
Season 2 continues the series with Chapter 61 and ends with Chapter 110. It can be found on Dengeki G's website.
A physical compilation book, containing Season 1 and 2, were released on July 15, 2020.
Season 3 is a Soft Reboot of the series and can be found on Love Live!'s official YouTube channel and were released every Tuesday from June 2, 2020 to December 29, 2020. Unlike the previous seasons, Season 3 is in Motion Comic format with background music and voice acting.
Season 4 continues from Season 3 and introduces Shioriko (and later on, Mia and Lanzhu) to the cast. It was announced to be in production on December 26, 2020. The season ran from July 6, 2021 to January 18, 2022 on the official YouTube channel.
The second compilation was released on June 16, 2022.
An anime based on the series called Nijiyon Animation was announced at Nijigasaki's 5th Live and premiered on January 6, 2023. Yu Takasaki from Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club makes her full Nijiyon debut in the series. A second season was announced and premiered on April 5, 2024.
Nijiyon provides examples of:
- Art Shift: In Nijiyon Animation, some characters will shift to their regular 2D design from 3D chibi models when making their poses.
- Ascended Meme: The theme song for Animation has Yu shouting "Hitori dake nante erabenai yo!", one of Hinaki Yano's famous catchphrases from the Nijigasaki anime livestreams. Her phrase also ends episode 1 of Animation.
- Amusement Park: Ayumu, Shizuku and Setsuna go into one in Season 3 chapter 21 and 22.
- Bishie Sparkle: Shioriko gets one (from Setsuna's perspective) in Season 4 Chapter 39.
- Book Ends: A common structure to related chapters. Some examples:
- Season 3 Chapter 1 begins with Ayumu describing the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, only for her to trail off as she becomes unsure about it. Chapter 12 has her do the same thing except she talks about the club more confidently.
- In Season 3 Chapter 40, Shizuku has to act mad at someone for a play. However, she does not know how to so she asks Ayumu to scold her as an example. In Chapter 42, Shizuku does the exact same thing Ayumu did, and reveals that she used it for another role.
- The Cameo: Yu Takasaki appears on one of the Odaiba Tokimeki Stamp Rally comics from the second Nijiyon compilation book.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Notable for being the first Nijigasaki song to feature Hinaki Yano as a performer.
- Dream Sequence: Commonly used when focusing on Kanata.
- Season 4 Chapter 15 is one featuring Shioriko and Kanata, who had fallen asleep in the previous chapter. The last panel reveals it's actually Shioriko's dream (who had fallen asleep in-between chapters) while Kanata is awake and continuing Shioriko's work.
- Season 4 Chapter 36 features Kanata and Rina. Unlike the previous example, this one is just bizarre.
- Eleventy Zillion: Episode 2 has, as a Running Gag, Emma giving scores like this.
- Everyone's Baby Sister: In episode 9, the girls have a competition to decide who is the best little sister (with Kasumi aiming to win since she equates it with being the cutest). Its then unanimously decided that Rina is the best little sister.
- Gilligan Cut: Animation episode 3:Ayumu: (about watching a horror movie together) Mia-chan, you don't have to force yourself if you're afraid.Mia: What?! Don't look down on me! Stuff like this is nothing! I'm a third-year, y'know!(watches movie)Mia: (trembling) I-I-I'm only fourteen, y'know?! Go easy on me!
- Lap Pillow:
- In Chapter 3, Kanata proceeds to nap on the laps of (in order) Setsuna, Karin and Ayumu before settling for Emma.
- Rina and Kasumi sleep on the laps of Emma and Kanata, respectively, in Season 3 chapter 24.
- Lanzhu gets to be Kanata's Lap Pillow in Season 4 chapter 46.
- The BD-exclusive Episode 14 of Animation has Emma sleep on Yu's lap after having a small conversation.
- Yuu gets her turn as Kanata's pillow in the ending for Animation season 2.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler:
- Season 3 assumes that you know what happened in ALL STARS Chapter 9 as it freely spoils that Setsuna and Nana are the same person, and that she doesn't wear the Red Armband of Leadership anymore as she lost the Student Council President role to Shioriko.
- Season 4 adds Shioriko Mifune to the cast, spoiling anyone who has not finished ALL STARS Season 1 that she joins the Club.
- Season 4 introduces Mia Taylor and Lanzhu Zhong as members of the Club in Chapter 40 and Chapter 44, respectively, which spoils that they do a Heel–Face Turn.
- Lighter and Softer: There's very little conflict involved at all, with most of the chapters and episodes just having the girls bond together.
- Motion Comic: The format for Season 3 and 4.
- Mythology Gag:
- Season 4 Chapter 2 has Shioriko doing a cat version of Ayumu's "Ayu pyon da pyon!" from the anime.
- Season 4 Chapter 23 has Kasumi eating macarons and Show Candy, items used to enhance cards and restore LP in ALL STARS.
- Nijiyon Animation: In episode 6, Rina's mobile game is "Rina-chan RunRuns", similarly named after the mobile game "TOKIMEKI RunRuns". In her game, player avatars are shaped like Rina's cat avatar from Nijigasaki anime Season 1 Episode 6. A flying enemy Rina-chan Board shoots a laser beam with the "bi-bi-bi-no-beam" lyric from "Doki Pipo Emotion".
- Animation episode 7 has Lanzhu playing Old Maid. Like Umi, she fails to hide her poker face against Ayumu. However, Lanzhu thinks she'd win with the Joker card and doesn't gasp in surprise when she's left with it.
- Animation episode 9: At the end, the screen shows mascots from other Nijigasaki media, such as Rina's cat avatar, the Kasumin Box, Ayumu's snake Sasuke, and the Kanata doll.
- Animation Season 2 episode 1 pokes fun at the delinquent/gangster memes around "Ryouran! Victory Road!", as well as the sentient evil Ayumu hairbun from Season 1 episode 3, among other things.
- Animation Season 2 episode 5 has Karin catching Kasumi practicing her cuteness with a window reflection. Karin did the same with Ayumu in episode 2 of the main anime.
- Recycled Soundtrack:
- The background music in the web episodes are taken from Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS.
- The Animation plays the background music from the Nijigasaki anime series.
- Rotating Protagonist: The series does its best to ensure everyone has their focus chapter. Downplayed with Season 4 where most of the focus is on Shioriko, who joined late.
- Sex Sells:
- In Season 3 Chapter 4, Karin suggests that they make their introduction movie wearing swimsuits. Kasumi rejects it as it's against school rules.
- Shioriko scolds Karin for attempting to do this in Season 4 Chapter 18.
- Ship Tease:
- Season 3 Chapter 19 and 20 involves Ai and Karin going to the planetarium for a date.
- In Season 4 Chapter 39, Setsuna and Shioriko are seen holding hands while the former is stuttering and blushing as a result of Shioriko's coolness in the previous panel.Setsuna: My heart pretty much skipped a beat there... I guess that was one of those gap moe right? Hehe...
- As expected of Mia and Rina's relationship, Season 4 Chapter 40 starts with the teasing immediately. The chapter opens with Mia doing the bare minimum for her introduction. Kasumi gets angry at her for not putting in effort and they start to argue. It's only when Rina asks (since she wants to know more about Mia as well) that Mia perks up and asks for a redo. Kasumi even says that Mia only listens to Rina.
- Slice-of-Life Webcomic: The series depicts the everyday life of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.
- Soft Reboot:
- Season 3 starts with a series of introductory comics about the club and its members. Justified as the move to YouTube gives it a wider audience (especially overseas fans) that probably has never read the previous seasons.
- The Animation rebooted the whole series with addition of new members from ALL STARS and Yu's debut into Nijiyon.
- Sophisticated as Hell: In Season 2, episode 1, Shizuka acts as a wild delinquent like many of her clubs mates. However, she still speaks in the same formal dialect mixed with Yankee phrases, which Kasumi lampshades.
- Super-Deformed: The series is illustrated by Miyako Hito, who has a very distinct super deformed art style.
- Title Scream: Starting from Season 3, one of the school idols will say "Nijiyon!" at the end of each chapter.
