Since this is the last TV episode of Love Live! Sunshine!!, I’m labeling my review for it as the “series finale”. That said, calling this episode the series finale isn’t 100% accurate, what with the movie and Yohane The Parhelion (though I don’t know where either of these fall in the canon, especially Yohane).
Let’s first talk about the Love Live results. Obviously, Aqours wins the competition. I think the writers could take a positive spin out of them losing but having them win is obviously more straightforward and more satisfying. It’s been two seasons. The girls earned it. I will say however that it’s pretty funny how anticlimactic the big reveal is. As obvious as the the victory may be, you’d think there’d be some fanfare but nope, one of the very first shots in this finale is the victory flag Aqours gets for winning. I guess the gang left the flag in Chika’s care; makes sense since she’s the leader. I do question Chika’s decision to leave it at the beach. Like, I get that she wants people to see it but someone is going to steal it if it’s out in the open. Either that or a high tide takes it away.
Oddly enough, the show later plays the Season 1 OP with new footage of the girls reacting to the results. I kind of get the decision to use the Season 1 OP for sentimentality. What does confuse is that the new footage has the girls wearing the outfits they use in the Season 1 OP and not for the Love Live finals. Maybe the girls did perform the OP in the finals but that’s weird in and of itself. Last episode didn’t reenact that performance. Anime OPs are almost always self-contained from the actual show so how could I have assumed that it does happen within the narrative? I know this is more of a nitpick, and this is somehow not the most baffling moment in this episode, but I can’t help but get confused at the lack of continuity here.
Alongside Aqours’ victory, another reveal shown in this episode is that Riko got herself a pet dog, giving it the name Prelude. I can’t believe this is a legitimate arc but I appreciate that the show gives such a proper conclusion to Riko’s phobia. Just as Riko shows Prelude off to Chika, we also find out that Shiitake has given birth to some puppies. I’m only now realizing that Shiitake is a girl this entire time. I wonder if the show specified her gender and I somehow missed it. Then again, Riko didn’t realize this either so I guess this reveal was saved for the end.
I think a major criticism I have for Season 2 is that its final stretch of episodes gets heavy on sentimentality. Episode 10 had the girls affirm that they’ll stay friends after everything is said and done. Episode 11 had the school closing festival, allowing the girls to make some piece with their school shutting down. Episode 12 had the girls talk about their resolve to win. This episode adds onto the sentimental train by having the girls get all teary-eyed as they close up the school (why the faculty doesn’t do that like they’re supposed to is beyond me). I don’t think any of this is godawful. There’s plenty to like with these episodes. That said, having these episodes back to back does make the emotional weight feel a bit tiring. Add onto the six episode wait for the Love Live finals, it also comes across as padding.
Part of me still enjoys seeing the school shut down for good. Mari allows all the students vandalize paint messages all over the courtyard. The auxiliary students make a nice drawing of Aqours on one of the chalkboards. All the familiar locales get emptied out. Chika grabs the idol club room sign as a memento (hopefully, she doesn’t stick that into the sand). Aqours closes the front gates, with the original trio towing the last one. It all effectively conveys the finality of the situation, that Uranohoshi is no more. I just can’t help but find it a little repetitive after a whole stinking episode where the girls try to find peace with the situation with a whole damn festival. Was the bonfire not enough for them?
What really gets on my nerves is seeing Chika pay the campus one more visit after its closure. I get that she’s super attached to the place but can she please let it go already? At this point, she might as well strap herself to the front gates to protest against the bulldozers that’ll inevitably tear the place down (that better not be the plot of the movie). Maybe this would be a lot of work to do last minute but frankly, I would’ve preferred to see the supposed new school everyone in Uranohoshi gets transferred to instead of yet another scene bidding the school farewell.
I thought for sure the penultimate episode had the last music performance but thankfully, the show offers one more for the finale. Mind you, the logistics here don’t add up. Like, the entire student body gather around for a final performance but for whatever reason, no one bothered to tell Chika about it. They just figured by sheer coincidence that she’ll show up. More baffling than that is Kanan, Dia, and Mari coming back to Uchiura when Chika explains in an earlier scene that they just left the town for their studies. Did they change their minds at the last minute or something? Did Mari burn her money again so that she and her best friends can travel back? Wouldn’t the simpler approach be that they’re still in town and they’ll leave after the concert? Why don’t the girls just do the concert during their final day at Uranohoshi? Nothing will top the flying car but this moment does confound me. At the very least, the song is nice capper to the show’s soundtrack and I like the stylistic run down memory lane with the girls recreating all of their past performances (even if I do have the look the other way for umpteenth time).
If I had a nickel for every time this show had a flawed finale, I’d still have two nickels but I am stunned that this show hasn’t been able to stick the landing for either of its two seasons. The Season 1 finale is rougher (that recap scene…) but this one has its fair share of issues. Here’s hoping third time’s the charm and the movie finally lets Sunshine!! on a good note. That said, I still think the show has been a fun ride, with Season 2 being on par and sometimes better than the first one.
Watch Love Live! Sunshine!! on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Tubi
Xenodude Scribbles 