Love Live! Superstar!! – 04

「街角ギャラクシー☆彡」 (Machikado Gyarakushī☆彡)
“Street Corner Galaxy☆彡”

All jokes aside this was Sumire’s episode, and dare I say the writing was spot on, the plot went places and did a lot with very little. A lot of things happened in this episode, but mainly it was focused on the drama and tension between the characters. After hearing Keke, Kanon and Chisato talk about their recent win, and the fact they’ve reached over 2K followers on SNS, aka Twitter. She becomes extremely interested in joining their group, after only getting dirt roles since she was little in the tv show business. Sumire thinks she has a leg up on the rest of the cast cuz’ she has formed part of the entertainment industry since her younger days. When asked to dance by Chisato, she is able to copy her moves, but something about her just screams soulless. While school idols are the exact opposite. As Keke puts it, they’re full of energy and scream youth to their audience. Consequently when hearing Sumire’s words spoken at the shrine after Sumire basically kidnaps Kanon, and prepares to conjure up a memory-erasing spell. However, it looked more like she was ready to summon a demon at Kanon’s expense. Truly a hilarious moment.

There were a lot of those this episode, moments that resonated profoundly with me, and made me seriously – for lack of a better word – laugh out loud. But at the same time, moments with very serious dramatic undertones weighed heavy on the characters. And came through the screen for the viewer. The final product coming together and transmitting emotions to its audience.

I’m glad the girls are officially pushing for the Love Live sort of the like the final end all be all of the school idols, a giant production that thousands of viewers and stage goers get to experience. A sort of larger-than-life type of thing.

Then when Kanon builds up the courage to stand up against Sumire in a way that makes Sumire actually take up the challenge. ‘You want it? Come steal it from me!’ The best part of the episode and the way Kanon just takes action is very satisfying to watch. Finally, a genki-girl who takes action, holds the reigns, and stirs the ship. Even if she has to have a little help from her friends, but isn’t the power of friendship always the best kind of power? The rest of the cast can really place her trust in Kanon now because she’s willing to take up that responsibility, more than that, she’s willing to take the pressure that comes associated with being the center.

At this point, I feel watching this show is more purposeful if you are invested in the lives of these characters, if you connect with at least one of them, and see yourselves in them. Or at least if you want to be in the audience cheering for them. They are willing to go the extra mile to get this done, they want to truly go to nationals (aka the Love Live!) so to speak, and to get there they have to put an incredible amount of work that is not meant to be disregarded, and this episode showed that. A reminder of where they are going, the steps they are taking, and the effort they are putting in, to make this a reality! Come back next week for another episode of Live Live! Superstar!!

(p.s. Next episode beach episode?!)

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