First Impressions / Love Live!

「くやしくないの？」 (Kuyashikunaino?)
“Isn’t It Frustrating?”

Episodes like these are what I live for. A combination of anger, frustration, and a tiny bit of tears all wrapped up in a neat twenty or so minutes.

Saint Snow, Part 2

Okay, as biased as I am, I do have to admit that the two girls that make up Saint Snow were pretty cool. Too lazy to look up their names since I just don’t care for them all that much, their performance was actually really cool. Popping their bodies to the beat with a song that would definitely be blue in the game, there was really nothing to fault about their stellar performance.

However, I still can’t give them a pass because of just how fucking rude they are. I’ll dive into a great example of tough love in a moment, but listening to the way they addressed Aqours and their comments toward them got my blood boiling. Seriously, I was about to have a total 180 when Seira went out of her way to actually compliment Chika and the others. Instead, I had to listen to a load of crap from two girls we know nothing about nor do I want to know about. Hazing and plot building be damned, I didn’t appreciate how the show used Saint Snow and wished someone would have just hurled a water bottle at them or something. That said, I guess I have to give some credit to the show for creating such a polarizing group. Because now more than ever, I can’t wait to see Aqours return the favor by knocking them out of the running in the future.

Mommy Dia

If there were a saving grace for this episode, it’d have to be Dia. Having supported the group in her own roundabout way while also providing a ton of tough love, the payoff of listening to her console her underclassmen felt so good. Without being condescending and dropping a few honest compliments at the expense of her own image, Aqours couldn’t have asked for a better senpai.

Now, if Kanan and Mari could figure out what the heck they’re doing. It’s really sad thinking about just how strong their friendship used to be and what it turned into after the group encountered their first wall.

Inspirational Chika and Looking Ahead

I’ve never been a huge Chika fan, but this week’s ending might have changed that. Seeing how she’s stuck in the leader role and has to deal with all the tough parts of failure, I loved how she tried to stay strong to keep everyone else’s mood up. Even with You prodding and Ruby bursting into tears in-front of Dia, Chika managed to keep her head up even with the weight of the world pushing down on it. Good on you Chika for finally in my eyes becoming something more than just a simple Honoka clone.

Overall, I thought we had a fantastic episode. Some hardship has been long overdue and its delivery felt right on the money without feeling too short or too drawn out. And with Aqours looking to find their groove, hopefully the story will shed some more light on our third years who have apparently seen some shit. See you next week!

  • Insert Song: SELF CONTROL!! by Saint Snow
  • Current favorites have had a slight change. I combined Yoshiko, Chika, and Riko into all third place since they’re all just that good :3 and tossed in Dia because bestsenpai: Hanamaru, Dia, Ruby/You, Yoshiko/Chika/Riko.
  • Even though I accidentally erased them, I had “bye felicia” in my show notes around when I wanted someone from Aqours to smack Saint Snow.
  • I LOVE that Hanamaru is a snack monster. Just like me :’)
  • SIF EN LL PLAYERS! With the first EN Sunshine event ending soon (Chika x Rika), how have you done? Do we have any players here who are shooting for T1 or T2? I’m around 14k and I’m debating whether or not I should blow some loveca to idolize Chika. Arghhhh.

 

Preview

35 Comments

  1. “I LOVE that Hanamaru is a snack monster. Just like me :’)”

    It’s a good explanation why she’s rather stacked despite not looking like it. XD

    Anyway…

    Dia smiling and acting genki… HNNNGGGGG!

    And I also liked Kanan’s PG-friendly version of Nozomi’s “washi washi max”… (Yes, Nozomi is best μ’s girl for me, with Kotori, Maki, Umi, and Eli making the rest of my Top 5. And speaking of Top 5s, I might need to revise my Aqours Top 5…)

    Incognito
    Reply

    2. Last week was a turning point for this show and this week made its impact bigger. This new LL has a slower, more serious, and more real take on the original’s plot. Saint Snow is looking to be a colder version of A-RISE. Poor Chika getting struck by cold harsh reality but good for her that she got her spirits up. That zero score makes me want to see a LLSS x Re:Zero crossover, though. I can pretty much see S2 in the horizon, most likely next year.

      https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2015.jpg

      https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2030.jpg

      Goodness, this show is not even trying to be subtle anymore. I am happy to see some DiaRuby, one of my preferred couples. MariKanan and ChikaRiko get more canon every episode. When I watched that MariKanan and ChikaRiko yuri, I felt like I was watching Citrus: The Anime.

      John Hayabusa
      Reply

      1. Ehhh I’m starting to really resent Riko tbh, I feel like the writers are pushing ChikaRiko to the point where I don’t think she’s interacted with everyone else for more than a few seconds. Btw Takaii, have you seen that reddit theory about the last arc focusing on You’s jealousy over Chika and Riko’s closeness?

        A-Rise
        Reply

  2. I was actually a little scared to watch this episode at first, because I was a little scared to see the disappointment on their faces. But that zero shocked me quite a bit, that’s quite harsh.

    Saint Snow …. no comment for me. The song’s pretty good, but I still prefer A-rise’s “Shocking party”. I doubt that we would dig into Saint Snow’s history in this season, so i don’t really care about them that much. One good thing that they did was pointing out how competitive LL has become, and Aqours should take it more seriously than before.

    As for the third years, the scene where Dia consoling Ruby was heartwarming, while Kanan refusing to return Mari’s hug was heartbreaking. Kanan might be the person who was hurt by that incident, but Mari is definitely the one trying the most, and hurting the most, out of the current situation as well.

    I like Chika’s character. She’s not as strong as Honoka and she obviously knew it, but she has the determination to see it through. What really warms me is that her friend knew about it and will support her when she’s down.

    Looking forward to next week! I hope we’ll get to see Kanan’s real personality before the end of this season.

    PS. I was planning to give up on this event since I only got 8k, but I’ve change my mind after this episode. I’m definitely getting Riko before the event ends. 🙂

    Seorori
    Reply

  3. This was a good episode with Aquors facing their first reality check on their way to becoming a respectable school idol group. Although I have to differ with you there Takaii regarding your opinion on Saint Snow. I don’t think they were really that rude, instead they gave the facts straight that although Aquors had a good performance and a good song, the truth of the matter was that Aquors clearly haven’t done enough to stand out as school idols in this post-Muse era. The competition is getting tougher with even more groups gunning for the top, and Aquors current abilities are clearly lacking compared to the other groups invited to that event. Although I do agree that their tone did feel rather antagonistic, I can understand why they had lashed out a bit at Aquors. They had clearly worked hard on their performance, with slick choreography and an upbeat song, yet still missed out to rank highly enough at the event. To watch Aquors who just came to the event just to perform their song normally must have made them feel that Aquors was really underestimating the Love Live! competition.

    Regarding the third years, the story of their failure to perform at their first performance wasn’t that surprising, although it was still heartbreaking to watch. Kanan seems the one most affected by their failure, and Chika will have to do her absolute best to convince her that Aquors can do still stand back up after their ‘failure’ if they are to get her to join. Looking as the preview seems to show a focus on the third years, hopefully the time they’ll officially join the group won’t be far off and we can get a performance with the complete group soon.

    I’m also a LL SIF EN player. Currently in tier-3, but I don’t think I have the energy to fight for tier-2. I’ll probably just aim for getting a second Chika card to idolise her, and be happy with that as I want to stock up on love gems in preparation of the Eli Christmas set. I’m still looking for my first UR Eli and that card looks so sweet.

    gandalf8
    Reply

    1. Good luck with the UR man!

      Yeah, somehow Saint Snow just didn’t vibe well with me for some reason. I want to like them, but I just can’t seem to shake this impression I have :/

      But yeah, competitive LL and all that jazz, it does make sense :T

      Takaii
      Reply

  4. Geez, I predicted last episode that Aqours wouldn’t have the best performance and have to go through the hardship of not being the best right out the gate, but VERY LAST PLACE and with ZERO votes? Damn, they just threw them to the bottom right off the bat instead, and to learn that Dia, Kanan, and Mari COULDN’T EVEN SING out of sheer nervousness when they competed? Oy…

    Also feels weird to see Kanan seeming to be the toughest to bring around when, in the flashback, she was clearly the You / Kotori to Dia’s Honoka / Chika while Mari was the Umi / Riko and had to be convinced to join and yet Mari is the one the most determined to reignite the fire they had before and Kanan is keen on just giving up. It makes me wonder if You could have ended up like that if Chika had chosen to give up being a school idol rather than continuing…

    As for St. Snow, I do agree that there’s not much to like about them (which is the point), though I do somewhat agree with Ria’s statement about Aqours treating being a school idol like fun and games. While Aquours definitely weren’t doing that, and were practicing hard, it was quite clear that they didn’t really have that good an idea on just how difficult being a school idol was going to be outside of their own area, especially at present after the success of Muse and such. And they quickly realize that this competition is still VERY small compared to Love Live! and beyond.

    At least they learn these lessons now while they’re still fresh and can work on improving themselves rather than luckily getting through various competitions, only to crash and burn on a big stage later on.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

  6. Aqours’ performance (or lack thereof) had me feeling relieved. I thought we were going to see them recreate the third years’ failure and the secondhand embarrassment would’ve destroyed me.

    Loved Saint Snow’s song. After the episode ended I must’ve listened to it another five times (Same deal with Shocking Party. Still my favorite song of season 2). Shame the full version will likely be relegated to the OST…

    Speaking of Saint Snow, at the risk of sounding like I only want to say nice things, I can’t bring myself to agree. Seira didn’t strike me as rude and Ria had a point if you compare her words to how Aqours keeps going for the µ’s comparisons (Right down to Chika’s joy at the school closing).

    This leads to why I think this was overall a great episode: With the reality check that Aqours needs to work harder, this could lead to a moment where they realize they don’t need to follow µ’s example and truly lead to Aqours being built as their own group.

    Wish I could hug Mari in Kanan’s place…

    Arche
    Reply

    1. It’s cool — we don’t need to agree! I’m trying my hardest to really see it from their perspective, but I guess the Aqours fanboy in me is growing ever stronger.

      Also, even if we don’t agree, doesn’t make your opinion any less valid either. They definitely have that “cool beauty” vibe going on and maybe they’ll grow on me in the future?

      That said, their song was good!

      Takaii
      Reply

      1. I am so glad this EP went the way it did taking the crash and burn route

        And I too liked Saint Snow that song rocked ! ( BTW they are both sisters ! )

        I think being so harsh on Aqours / ST SNOW ( Ria ) for the realitly check she gave to was not bad ! In fact she had tears in her eyes for just missing the winners place. Maybe she senses that they have potential and not doing it right! I think we just got a brief glimpse. Somebody told the official to call them back . Just a silly thought !

        Otherwise you called the EP as I saw it!

        15FAN
        Reply

      1. See that was the first thing I thought of when this episode ended :’)

        I have to say that I never watched the first Love Live series but I’m in love with Sunshine. These girls are all great and You is my personal favorite. Yousorooooo~

        xxvan
        Reply

  8. Not quite sure how I would’ve preferred the event organizer had handled the results myself. On one hand, giving them the full results like this keeps Aqours from being delusional about where they currently stand, but it absolutely crushed them to know exactly how far away they are. They could have just let Aqours know they ended up last without revealing the 0, and maybe they could feel a little better about themselves. They could rationalize it to themselves as still being up-and-comers, since they were the least established group at the event, while still giving them notice that they aren’t on that elite level yet.

    I figured something bad had happened to the now 3rd years, but didn’t think it would be completely freezing on stage. I feel like that trauma could pop back up once they eventually join Aqours. Quitting after an incident like that should make it embedded even deeper when they do get back on stage.

    https://randomc.net/image/Love%20Live/Love%20Live%20Sunshine%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    Kanan’s clearly the one who they need to convince, they need to bring this side of her back out. Even if it was obvious she wouldn’t jump into Mari’s arms, it still hurt to see Mari break down afterwards.

    I’m guessing this 0 is the genesis of the song “Step! ZERO to ONE”

    As far as the event in SIF, I’m probably just gonna grab the one Chika since I’m nowhere near the second copy or getting high enough in the rankings for Riko.

    SK
    Reply

    1. ;___; Good luck with getting the single Chika!

      I hope Kanan has a change of heart soon. She was my favorite character before we learned anything about them and the way she behaved in the flashback was EXACTLY what I was wanting haha.

      Takaii
      Reply

  9. I did not like this reveal at all.

    It’s particularly stupid for the fact that the show tried to hype up whatever the reasons the 3rd years went into to stop going into the idol stuff, only to show that they actually choked and gave up after only one/two failure/s. It was a big letdown.

    The show made Kanan look unbearable in this. Moreso than Dia. The 3rd years for the past 7 episodes kept talking one-liners, acts like they experienced something so deep and profound, acts like they have done a lot and talk like the’ve been there, and lost a lot, while hamming up every episode with them doing potshots and one-liners while walking off-screen like they are so goddamn cool or something. Only to show this?

    It would have been more understandable if they showed their failure at around episode 4 and then do the subsequent build up to its culmination by this episode.

    Instead, it looked like they built the whole mystery up and this is the conclusion of it. A pathetic reason for giving up.

    Even if they do show more reasons on why they gave up, this one just really was a very bad way to do it. 8 episodes, and they showed nothing. Only 3 people acting like they’ve been through a WHOLE lot, when they actually haven’t even moved from the starting line.

    Mihreal
    Reply

  10. So did anyone notice one of the Idol Groups name was “Sub-Title”? I have no idea why, but I found that hilarious.

    As for the drama, I thought it was a bit overwrought. I get the point of putting Aqours on last place, but the fact that they didn’t even land a single vote is just statistically implausible it stretches my suspension of disbelief. Still this situation is likely to reference one of their songs “Step! ZERO to ONE”. I also like the world building they did, especially that the Love Live competition has become so popular the competion has gotten more intense (SEVEN THOUSAND IDOL GROUPS WTF!)

    Of course the real meat of the episode is the characters, it was nice to see Chika in a moment of vulneratbilty. And I like that Riko was the one to get her to show her true feelings.(ChikaRiko FTW) Less impressive are the third-years, whose sub-plot is getting annoyingly too long to resolve. I can only feel sorry for the Kanan fans who were expecting to see the happy, sporty and fun girl only to get this boring piece of angst.

    For the SIF EN event, I already got all the event rewards (Including the 3 Chika’s) and are already placing for the T1 rewards (including 3 Rikos). When I said I spend too much time in SIF, I freaking meant it!

    fragb85
    Reply

    1. LOL I didn’t notice. “Sub-title” lmao

      While it might have been a bit harsh (and a little unbelievable), I’m just glad we got some sort of “drama” for the group to face.

      I also pray for the safe return of Happy, Sporty, and Fun Kanan. IIRC, Eli wasn’t all that spunky until later on too.

      Takaii
      Reply

    2. It’s not completely unbelievable that they got zero votes. I would think that every other competitor would have their own supporters/schoolmates in the audience who would be guaranteed to vote for them. Aquors didn’t bring any supporters along with them to Tokyo.

      What I liked about their performance was not that they bombed, but that they performed adequately but adequate is not enough. Awesome episode and really looking forward to see what the seniors bring to the group when they finally join.

      Scruffy
      Reply

  11. It was a brutal reality check but it was the very thing this series needed. Hopefully Aqours will start to develop their own distinctive identity instead of being a group of Muse fans.

    ET
    Reply

  12. Still maintaining t1 at 50k

    Did a yolo 10+1 from the first year box and got Cheerleader Rin, and pulled a White Day Umi from blue coupons less than an hour ago. come at me bros!

    seriously tho haven’t been lucky in a while. even got Animal Maki from a yolo 10+1 a few weeks ago

    Alec
    Reply

  13. only good thing about Smug Snow was their song, hated the way they were talking down to Aquors, it was really off putting

    seeing Kanan reject Mari’s hug really hurt, clearly Kanan’s the one that needs to be convinced the most to join

    Dia just might become my favorite senpai but no one will top Nozomi for me

    as for LLSIF, I’m resisting the urge to play again. Finally got out of idol hell and I’m afraid to reenter

    Wraith
    Reply

  15. Self Control and Shocking Party are now officially my favorite non-Muse/Aqours songs. I got really motivated to play until the last few seconds before the event ended Takaii, just to get Chika and Riko, and it’s all because of this episode. There was so much to like, from Chika really taking her leader role seriously by trying to be strong for everyone to Riko and everyone being there to console her. I’m actually impressed how calm Yoshiko is during all this. I’m pretty sure she’s also affected by the results but she still acts like the same Yohane we know. And I couldn’t agree more how Dia shined in this episode, both as a big sister and a senpai. And that Kanan/Mari scene. You know it’s serious when even Mari drops the bubbly act and breaks down crying. Right now I still can’t dislike Kanan since she looked to be affected the most and I’m sure she’ll come around, though walking past Mari is still really cold. Also for a minute there I thought there wasn’t any cute Hanamaru moments but they managed to sneak one in the preview. Making Hanamaru a snack loving character was a great idea.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  16. After burning my lovecas like crazy for Riko in the SIF event, just watched this episode. And wow, I mean I said before that I hoped Chika gets a reality-check, but damn, zero votes? The group in 29th place had more than 20. That’s harsh. And speaking of harsh, Kanan just practically stabbed Mari with her coldness. I thought Dia would be the one that would be the most difficult to recruit (like Eli), but Kanan is going to be a boss they will need to beat. Dia on the other hand, was adorable in her big sister role and was surprising to see how similar was she to Chika. It is funny seeing how the one that wasn’t that convinced (Mari) is now trying to push the school idols idea forward. I felt a bit bad for her when she broke down. I mean, seeing Ruby and Chika crying was bad, but for some reason I really felt sad for Mari.

    Saint Snow was awesome. Not A-Rise levels awesome, but I loved Self-Control more than any of the current Aquours songs (except maybe Strawberry Trapper, but I might be biased since I love both Riko and Yohane and Mari grew on me on this episode). I hope we see more of them, I wished A-Rise had more exposition in the original series since they were kickass. I also thought they would be more smug and assholes (like the dudes in Jupiter in the original Idolmaster series) but so far, they are somewhat nice, even praising their performance and warning them to take things seriously (which was a bit my issue with Chika’s character in that she just took things not that seriously).

    Anyway, that was a good episode. I’m really hoping for a second season since I think it would be rushed to solve the whole Kanan/Dia/Mari issue in 4 episodes but who knows.

    haitechan
    Reply

  17. This was such an amazing episode, the show deseprately needed the tone shift. It’s only with truly realizing how tough the competition is and struggling to cope with their loss can you truly shine. I admit I was holding my tears just like Chika until she finally cried at the very end. Something about her trying so hard to be strong but breaking down in the end really nailed it for me.

    Yeah, and like many other commentators, I really can’t bring myself to hate St. Snow anymore. At first they were kind of rude for no reason, but their performance and narrow defeat put it into perspective. This is a fierce competition, and MANY people are going to lose and be heartbroken. They’re truly serious about it, and what they told our main characters was the pure truth, something they had to understand eventually.

    It’s funny how “zero” can be such a powerful word. You’re at the bottom, so you can only go back up from here. It worked really well with Re-Zero, and it works well here too 🙂

    ChromeNova
    Reply

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