First Impressions / Love Live!

「ＰＶを作ろう」 (PV wo Tsukurou)
“Let’s Make a PV”

Even when things are looking grim, we can count on Chika to keep the group looking forward.

School Shutdown?

When you really think about it, you can’t really call Sunshine a successor to original Love Live unless there was some kind of school emergency plaguing the idols. And in true Love Live fashion, it was revealed that unless something drastic happened to enrollment numbers, Uranohoshi would be closing. And as much as I wanted to bag on Sunshine for being so nonchalant about revealing this information, the way the show runners executed it and subsequently showed us a little failure with a splash of success felt nearly perfect.

Specifically, I nearly died giggling seeing just how ecstatic Chika was when she realized just how similar her situation was in comparison to μ’s and Otonokizaka’s possible closure. Tossing aside (at least at first) all the negatives to her school closing, I really appreciated the different tone that Sunshine was aiming for. Not wanting to completely ignore the severity of the situation though, we had our mature third years rounding out things with a more realistic view of the whole ordeal. From Mari and Kanan discussing plans to Dia opening up just a little more than usual, there’s no denying you could feel the join Aqours ball moving.

Finding Your Muse and Looking Ahead

While this episode didn’t have anything remarkable to talk about, it was awfully soothing seeing Chika and the group discover just what makes their little seaside town special. With everyone working together hand-in-hand for a shared goal and an amazing landscape serving as an excellent backdrop, I think it became pretty clear just what Aqours should be focusing on if they wanted to save their school from shutting its doors.

That said, it looks like our last three members are still stubbornly refusing to join. But can you really blame them? With some kind of traumatic experience haunting them to the point that someone like Dia would renounce her love for school idols, maybe the threat of Uranohoshi closing will kick them into gear. Unfortunately, it looks like next week’s episode is going to be more of a fun one with the girls heading to Tokyo. I did see Mari in the preview shot though, so maybe there’s still a chance one of the third years will join!

Catch you guys next week!

  • Insert Song: 夢で夜空を照らしたい performed by 高海千歌（伊波杏樹）、桜内梨子（逢田梨香子）、渡辺曜（斉藤朱夏）、津島善子（小林愛香）、国木田花丸（高槻かなこ）、黒澤ルビィ（降幡愛）
  • Current favorites no change! Still: Hanamaru, Ruby/You, Yoshiko, Chika, and Riko. The slashes just means I couldn’t pick between the two and they share the same spot. Let me know your favorites down in the comments! And it’s cool to change them later, I know mine might :’)
  • Hanamaru was so adorable this week. God this show knows how to appeal to the Hanamaru fans.

 

Preview

32 Comments

  1. Really, can’t they get something different than “school closing”?

    That was what I thought.

    And then I get Chika happy over the situation. Really, this girl is adorable and stupid in cute ways. I feel like my opinion about this series is up and down

    Shiro
    Reply

  2. Well I never actually watched the original Love Live so I’m not so annoyed by using the whole “school is closing down, idols will save the day!” plot.

    But wouldn’t it be interesting if Aquors actually wins the Love Live but the school still ends up shutting down?

    xxvan
    Reply

    2. I can sympathize with you — I’m also interested in what a darker Love Live series would be like.

      That said, I’m loving the direction Sunshine is going. With a little bit of “darkness” sprinkled about, it gives the story some character without going all #darkknight on us.

      Plus little things like Dia not joining the group since we haven’t gotten a proper explanation yet helps round things out imho.

      Takaii
      Reply

  3. I was never in “ARGH THEY ARE REUSING THE SAME PLOT THIS SUCKS” camp so that could be why I found how they handled the school closure to be brilliant! From Chika, to Hanamaru and Yoshiko, their reactions were perfect. Use something similar but change it enough to make it stand out. I love it.

    Another great insert song with nice costumes (Although I still really liked the Fallen Angel one and hope it makes a comeback one way or another)

    All in all another good episode of LLSunshine and looking forward to TOKYO!

    WildKaiser
    Reply

  4. Well, the “school closing” plot was in the synopsis so I wasn’t surprised.

    Okay, I’ve been trying to summarize the things I want to write about this episode, and it’s still jumbled up. So I’ll write down anything that I think of then.

    – So Mari, Kanan, and Dia are what Honoka, Kotori and Umi would be if they failed on their first debut, right? I guess Kanan was the one who took it the hardest out of the three girls.

    – Mari’s bet with Chika wasn’t just a random suggestion. Was she testing if Chika can do the things that she couldn’t do back then? The third years were there to see whether Chika & friends can overcome the things they couldn’t do, right?

    – Seems like the school merging has going on for a while already. Is that what propel the third years to become school idols? They thought doing something like μ’s would help save the school as well, but it didn’t work. That might be the reason why Kanan left school, Mari went somewhere for a while, and Dia renounced her love for school idols.

    – The third years … sigh. They’ve been through quite a lot, weren’t they?

    Seorori
    Reply

    1. So Mari, Kanan, and Dia are what Honoka, Kotori and Umi would be if they failed on their first debut, right? I guess Kanan was the one who took it the hardest out of the three girls

      I didn’t think of it that way! Good point, Seorori!

      On another note, I enjoyed seeing the beautiful backgrounds of Uchiura throughout the episode. Watching Aqours perform the insert song also made me smile, especially the lanterns spelling out their group’s name. (Thank you for providing the song title, Takaii!)
      https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2041.jpg

      If the girls are heading to Tokyo in next week’s episode, I wonder if the members of μ’s will make special cameo appearances. How long has it been in the Love Live! timeline!? Five years?

      ichigo
      Reply

  6. https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
    Suave Chika is Suave.

    As for the “Save the School” plot, I would like to point out that was established way before the Sunshine anime even aired throughout the various supplementary materials. But then again I’m the guy who spent way to much time in SIF and read most of the side materials.

    And still, I think it was worth it just to see Chika hilariously hang a lampshade on the coincidence of being compared to µ’s. I do enjoy that kind of meta humor.

    fragb85
    Reply

      1. i think the candle in this “things” are short calculated that they just burn for some minutes or hours, and then come slowly down, because there is no more heat for uplift

        In my home country they had something similar to this, but they can be the source for many forest fires in summer or autumn

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

      2. so i assume, here in this they choose on purpose the beach, so that they drift into the open sea. as long the wind do not push them back inside the country…

        That could also be the meaning to do it at night, because of the wind

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

  8. After not bringing it up for five episodes I was really hoping it was a sign the “save the school” plot wasn’t going to show up. Though I suppose Chika’s glee at the news made up for it. I had to pay attention to Mari’s speech this episode. Wonder if her one scene with her heavily accented Japanese is her “helping Aqours” mode or if she’s just seeing how long she can get the group to believe it?

    https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    Just to get this off my chest: As someone who used to react the same way around dogs I sympathized with Riko here

    Arche
    Reply

  9. I’ll allow them recycling the old “school is closing” angle since I personally like the cast of Sunshine more than the original.*

    *Mostly because of Hanamaru and a little bit of Yohane

    legwkio
    Reply

  10. https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2005.jpg

    Been loving the GIFs that have shown this, like an “on” and “off” switch, lol.

    https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2012.jpg

    Kotori would be proud, lol.

    And honestly, I feel the “school shutting down” plot actually works out better here than it did for the first anime largely because of the location – being a more out-of-the-way spot in a less populous area compared to the first one being in the city. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if the success of Muse played a partial role in this school getting the problem due to more girls wanting to go to more urban-based schools, even if it means a longer commute, in hopes that they would have a better chance of becoming school idols themselves.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

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