Love Live Superstar!! S2 – 08 & 09

Episode 08

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“Chance Way”

Note: Sorry for the delay in bringing you coverage of these two episodes, last week was sort of hectic with work and trying to get the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners review out in a timely manner; Not matter, Love Live gets a double review this week.

Oh man, I’ve been slowly falling off the Love Live wagon this season, physically I had to push myself to catch up with these two episodes, I’ve been more interested in spending my free time with more western live-action shows like the new LOTR show, and a little bit of House of the Dragon. I’m enjoying She-Hulk even if they made her twerk. And S2 of Star Trek Lower Decks is airing weekly as well. I love this Star Trek bug that is going around this year with nonstop content. Rick and Morty is back being crazy like always, with plots that only that show can pull off.

On the anime side, Parallel World Pharmacy has to be my guilty pleasure show this season. I watch an episode or two of GS Mikami whenever I feel like I need that 4:3 nostalgia. The Pokemon anime is evergreen ever binge-able anime. Black Summoner is also quite enjoyable, and hey even Chimimo is kinda cute with its different aesthetic. Isekai Ojisan was also quite good, but COVID be dammed and that production got rescheduled for Fall, competing with the likes of Bleach and Chainsaw Man, I’m not exactly sure it’s going to get the light it deserves once again. Man, this Fall is going to be crazy! Oh, of course, I must not forget to mention S2 of MiA.

So among the many things I’m watching this season, Love Live is sort of the backburner show, even though I don’t want it to be because I certainly enjoy the girls struggling to keep that level of performance that they set their bar so high too. Unfortunately this year there’s a rival in the form of Wien Marugarete, which has been mentioned before, who is also competing for the top spot in the Love Live, even though I kinda despise her since all she ever does is trash Leilla. And I’m still kind of sad Natsumi didn’t get proper treatment in her backstory and now is relegated to the camerawoman of the show. Even though it is helping since Leilla is getting more and more views on their SNS.

Okay – so this episode sees the girls taking the helm of the student council, and getting help from their official/unofficial groupie who is always ready to help them. In this case, they allocated some of the responsibilities of the student council to themselves helping Leilla girls focus on their prelim performance, everything about the episode seemed rather irrelevant, since it was only the performance at the end that was rather important. Nevertheless, Chance Way was catchy and with Japanese new age traditional flare, I couldn’t help but fall in love at first listen. Love at first sight you could say.

Watch their performance below!

Episode 09

「勝利のために」 (Shōri no Tame ni)
“For Victory”

Continuing along – Episode 09 sees some trouble on the horizon, the girls get a startling message as Keke reviews the list of those that are participating in the second prelims of the Love Live. Sunny Pa is not actually on the list! Big shocker – not. Sunny Pa never actually performed once, we just got snippets here and there but not an actual performance of any kind, so that came as a surprise but not as a big shocker. Nevertheless, the drama is full-front this episode as Keke and Sumire get down! And are ready to throw hands.

Keke is such a hardboiled character, she keeps her pride upfront and that can cause problems here and there with other people, who are also kinda maybe really prideful, in this case, Sumire. The problem was that Sumire didn’t know how to tell Keke that she didn’t want her to go back to Shangai, and that ends up boiling into one big hot pot of drama. Where both girls end up clashing in their own little ways, Keke basically says to Sumire to mind her own business. Which Sumire is unable to do so. So things get heated until they both just explode in front of Sumire’s family shrine.

There’s certainly something to say about the growth of these two characters, even though Sumire sort of plays the bad guy, it’s for Keke sake that she does. The typical aloof Sumire also cares for Keke in her own little way that she doesn’t necessarily show that affection in big ways that might register immediately for Keke. And they both despise each other very publicly. Keke, all she really wants to do is sing and dance with the girls and have fun while doing so if that dream ends at the Love Live so be it she is bound to go back to Shangai since coming in second place last year gave her a year’s extension. Now Keke is dealing with it in her own little way.

As much as I love music anime, all of this drama without any real payoff is starting to get to me, the girls hate each other, then they cry it out in a big anime moment because in reality they are super stressed because, they are really trying very hard to win this thing! But what can I say – I signed up for this of my own volition and now I have to see it through all the way to the end, thankfully the ending is in sight. Hopefully, next week brings a new performance, since this one-episode wait is not really my thing and I didn’t know it was going to burn me out to such a degree. Whatever the case here’s hoping for a satisfying conclusion where Leilla actually gets to beat Wien at her own game!

Full-length images: 36.

Preview