Aqours just can’t catch a break, huh? Season 2 began with the school open house getting canceled. Then it gets revived. Now, the girls find that it’s been delayed by a week due to road repairs, placing it on the same day as the Love Live qualifiers and complicating the girls’ plans for both. It would’ve been smooth sailing if there wasn’t a wrench thrown in but given the setbacks as of late, I can’t help but think that these girls have been awfully unlucky.
After the OP, we have a fun scene where the girls rack their brains over how to tackle the two events. Technically speaking, some of the girls could provide transportation so this scene addresses why they’re off the table. For example, Mari’s family has a helicopter but Mari decides against it as she promised her father that she would not ask for any favors in her endeavor to save Uranohoshi. All of the excuses provided are contrived though I understand writing them off as they would instantly solve the conflict created for this episode. I’m also willing to give this part of the script a pass because what the girls ultimately settle on is really darn funny; more on that in a bit.
While brainstorming, Dia reveals that Aqours can attend both events on time if they perform early in the Love Live qualifiers and catch a very specific bus back to town. The only catch is that the order in which school idols perform during the qualifiers is decided entirely by lottery. Naturally, the girls debate on who should gamble for the whole group. You is one of the top candidates and I’m honestly convinced that she’d actually win the first slot. This show has established that You is good a lot of things, it would not surprise me if gambling is one of them. For whatever reason, the girls hedge their bets on Yoshiko (Aika Kobayashi), which I’m convinced is a cheeky move considering that her fallen angel persona. They’re pretty much asking for bad luck. And lo and behold, they end up with the twenty-fourth slot on the schedule.
Since the bus is a no-go, the girls make the tough decision of splitting the group across the two events. Chika, Riko, You, Ruby, and Dia will perform at Love Live while Kanan, Mari, Yoshiko, and Hanamaru will perform at the open house. However, some of the girls feel uneasy with this decision and by the day of the events, the open house group decides to join the performance for the qualifiers. I honestly did expect everyone to commit to the decision. Last episode had them divide and conquer so I figured that theme would carry onto here. That said, I get the girls wanting to perform together. A lot is resting on these two events. The girls have to give them their all and they technically can’t do that if they split up.
Fortunately, Chika provides a last minute solution that allows Aqours to attend the open house after the Love Live qualifiers. As it turns out, the qualifiers are taking place near a mandarin farm and said farm has a monorail that’s normally used to for gathering and delivering mandarins. Chika has everyone board the monorail and in doing so, the girls are within running distance to their school. It’s a really silly and fun moment, especially when Kanan accidentally tears out the break and the monorail becomes a makeshift rollercoaster. I don’t know what the rest of Sunshine!! has to offer but I think they’d be hard press to top this scene for the most absurd one in the show. One detail that I also really like is how some of the Aqours’ classmates help them out in this plan such as getting the monorail ready for them and providing them their outfits for the open house as they run back to Uranohoshi. That’s a much more interesting use of the student body compared to gathering around the stage in the Season 1 finale.
For the qualifiers and the open house, the girls are presumably using the two songs they created last episode. If not I’m not mistaken, I believe this is the first time Sunshine plays two insert songs in the same episode. Had the show commit to Aqours splitting up, I think it could’ve had fun with that by switching between the two songs in a sort of mashup. However, it would be weird to have a mashup for songs that the characters haven’t performed before so I get why the staff did not go that route. Something to note about the songs is that they differ in tone and aesthetic. The first one somewhat incorporates a more traditional Japanese flair while the second is more your modern-day pop. That’s a smart move on the staff’s part. It lessens the risk of repetition and it allows the performances to stand out apart from each other. I think I prefer the first song, if only because the instrumentals and the fashion are some of the most unique ones presented in the show so far. However, I can see this in a toss up with the second song, which is also pretty good.
Watch Love Live! Sunshine!! on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Tubi
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