This episode begins with Yu and Kasumi pitching the school idol festival to Nijigasaki’s student council. The proposal gets rejected due to a couple of issues though the Idol Club irons these out over the course of the episode so that it gets approved the second time around. I was very curious what role Setsuna would play here, what with her and student council president Nana being the same person. Aside from letting it slip that she likes school idols, Setsuna doesn’t interject all that much and she waits for the entire council to approve the festival before officially doing so herself. The most Setsuna does is help Yu work on the second proposal behind the scenes. It’d be nice of Setsuna to pull some strings but it’s for the best that the festival be approved as legitimately as possible.
While refining their pitch, the Idol Club does some preliminary work in the event that the festival gets approved. The first is scouting for a venue. It’s a bit of a trip down memory lane as the girls revisit places that they’ve publicly performed at. Ultimately, the girls decide to have performances at all the places they’re considering, giving both the idols and concert goers a lot of agency. Between the different schools and the different venues, I find it silly that the club is only concerned with the approval of one student council. Then again, this is a student council, the most powerful body of government according to anime.
Next, we have Yu, Setsuna, Kanata, and Karin meet with Shinonome and Touou’s idols about the proposed event. Both groups agree to participate in it. This is off topic but I’m glad that Himeno shows up again and that Karin finally finds out about the girl’s fangirling. In hindsight, the whole villain fakeout with Himeno meant that we didn’t get to see Karin be playful with her so thank goodness that this episode rectifies that.
After that, Kasumi unveils a suggestion box she created. In true Kasumi fashion, no one pays the box much attention. It’s only when Ai slaps a new message on it, defacing the box in the process, that responses pour in. I like that the responses are from the myriad of extras that the Idol Club has met throughout the course of this show (a lot of whom I didn’t mention beforehand but in my defense, I didn’t think they’d be important). I find it a bit odd how they’re all conveniently in clubs and are therefore doing stuff on school grounds during summer vacation but I’ll let it slide as it’s nice to have a visual for much support and popularity the Idol Club has obtained.
The last bit of preliminary work is Rina designing a website for the Idol Club to promote the festival. This ends up being a throwaway bit of lore however as the episode doesn’t bring it up again. If Rina does get the website up and running, all I got to say is that this is yet another example of how overqualified Rina is for the club. Someone please hire this girl for a job.
Along the way, we have Ayumu continuing to mope over Yu. She does her work like everyone else but it’s clear in some scenes that she still isn’t that enthusiastic about the festival, primarily because it’s making Yu so busy. Like with the last episode, Ayumu grows jealous or at least worried of Yu spending time with Setsuna though this episode does make a stronger case for Ayumu for feel that way. As mentioned earlier, Setsuna helps Yu with revising the club’s pitch. Being the student council president, she’s bound to provide some valuable input. I can see Ayumu feeling less qualified to help when compared to Setsuna. Things come to a head when Ayumu learns from Setsuna about Yu practicing the piano. Apparently, this is something Ayumu didn’t know about. There’s a bit of a misunderstanding here. Technically, Yu hasn’t told anyone, not just Ayumu, about her new hobby and Setsuna only found about it by complete coincidence. Also, I’m not sure why Setsuna tells Ayumu that Yu was playing the piano for her. Yu does play one of Setsuna’s songs but that was really for herself. Regardless, the fact that Yu neglected to share something to Ayumu is shocking enough to make the latter question if the former really is drifting away from her.
I’m glad that Ayumu confronts Yu over this at the end of the episode. Ayumu isn’t the most assertive person out there so I appreciate her willingness to speak up, even at the risk of damaging things between her and Yu. It goes to show the gravity of the situation. I also like how quickly the whole conflict with Setsuna is resolved. Yu doesn’t really get what’s going on but when Ayumu asks if Setsuna is a more important friend than her, Yu isn’t taken aback and is quick to deny it.
That said, I’m not quite sure how I feel about the very last part of this scene. For starters, I don’t know how you can Ayumu pinning Yu to her bed, asking to be her one and only school idol, and call that platonic. I’m well aware that Love Live! yuri baits all the time but come on, this scene is really blurring the line. Joking aside, I am losing a bit of sympathy for Ayumu. I understand that she’s afraid of growing distant from Yu but her request and her unwillingness to see Yu pursue her own thing is awfully selfish and even a bit possessive. Hopefully, the next episode can rectify this and Ayumu can reach to an understanding or compromise with Yu.
Watch Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and VRV (via Crunchyroll)
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