Continuing off of last episode, we see the Yuigaoka idols training alongside Sunny Passion for the upcoming concert in Kozu-shima. In the process, Kanon manages to write the lyrics for the new song. The impetus appears to be when Kanon is about to send Chisato a picture of a full moon, only for Chisato to coincidentally share one herself. This seemingly sparks a lightbulb in Kanon on how to articulate her feelings towards Chisato (which may or may not be romantic depending on how much you ship them). I’ll admit that I’m not completely confident here as the scene isn’t really played up as this big turning point in the story. On the off chance that Kanon simply gets over her writer’s block or all those stretches she does actually got her gears turning, I can’t really fault that as contrived. Sometimes, writing really does play out that way.
Meanwhile, we see Chisato practicing for the dance competition. Ren pays Chisato a visit and she accidentally discovers a form Chisato has filled out to withdraw from Yuigaoka. Later, Chisato confides in Ren that she used to get bullied and she needed Kanon to protect her. She pursues dancing in the hopes that getting good at her passion will make her more confident and less dependent on Kanon. As for the withdrawal form, Chisato explains that if she loses the competition, she’ll withdraw from Yuigaoka to study abroad. There’s a big risk to this endeavor. The more time Chisato studies dancing, the less time she has to spend with Kanon and the more likely they’ll drift away from each other. That said, I understand where Chisato is coming from. Looking back at the past five episodes, it’s clear that Chisato has grown out of her meek shell and there’s hardly an instance where she’s leaning on Kanon for support. If anything, her expertise in dancing makes her a vital part to the idol club’s success, to the point that it’d be best that she join them full-time.
Making the dance competition the be-all and end-all feels a bit arbitrary at first. Then again, I don’t think Chisato has previously put much thought into when she should stop. I suppose a much better endpoint would be graduating from Yuigaoka music program or even graduating with a music major but at that point, Chisato and Kanon would be busy with adulthood and Chisato’s goal might feel meaningless at that point. There’s also the fact that Chisato has been helping out with the idol club. She’s more or less a member of the club and she’s been invaluable to their efforts. Based on that, I’d wager that Chisato has achieved her goal. Perhaps Chisato realizes this and that’s why she choses the conveniently upcoming dance competition as her final test for herself.
I had expected Kanon to play some role in resolving Chisato’s arc and you sort of get that with Kanon returning to the mainland to support Chisato and tell her that she inspired her to pursue singing. It turns out that the friendship between these two wasn’t as one-sided as Chisato thought. They’ve both been lifting each other up this entire time. This does lead into Chisato joining the idol club though this doesn’t result in her packing her bags and heading straight to Kozu-shima. She still goes through the competition. To be fair, she’s made it this far, she might as well stick with it to the very end. Even if she no longer needs to validate her self-confidence, winning the competition is still good proof that she’s accomplished what she set out to do. That and it’s a good opportunity to show her best friend how far she’s come as a person.
Naturally, Chisato comes out on top with the dance competition. That’s the most fitting conclusion to this plot thread. I don’t know if she’d still go through with studying abroad after her heart-to-heart with Kanon but it’s best that the show doesn’t leave that as a possibility. If she lost and left, we’d have no show. What is surprising is the form Chisato hands over to the school director after she wins. It’s not translated in the subtitles but it’s apparently a from to transfer from the music program to the general curriculum. That’s a very bold decision to make as Chisato will lose out on a lot of resources and opportunities for her dancing career. Then again, doing this will make it easier for her to hang out with Kanon and the others and it will show how Chisato no longer feels the need to distance herself from her best friend. Being an unpaid school idol is apparently a very lucrative career anyway so I’m sure things will work out with this change.
Ren being the one Chisato confides in is a little surprising. Given the locations of everyone, Ren is the default choice but she and Chisato aren’t that close to each other at this point in the story. Where this creative decision starts to click is when Chisato requests to transfer to the general program. Ren does acknowledge and respect Chisato’s dancing skills so seeing the latter switch curriculums just so that she can be a school idol with her friends might come as a shocker for her and it might lead into her inevitably joining the club.
While Chisato and Kanon’s relationship takes the lion’s share of attention this episode, there’s still some good material with Keke and Sumire’s. Seriously, I love seeing these two together. It’s only been two episodes since Sumire joined and already she and Keke bicker as if they’re a married couple who’s only staying together for the kids. I think the funniest scene in this episode is when Keke tries to cook some Shanghai delicacies to thank Sunny Passion for their hospitality and fails, only to then have Sumire cook them flawlessly. Sumire pretty much beats Keke in both her culture and her fangirling. That’s more of a burn than the burnt food Keke cooked.
The dance competition and the concert are apparently a day apart so I can buy all the last minute traveling Kanon and Chisato pulls. Conversely, I don’t entirely buy the club rehearsing through everything within the span of a day. It does feel a little unrealistic given all the last minute changes brought on by Chisato joining the club and the fact this technically the club’s second performance in-universe. But whatever, this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
As for the concert/MV itself, I quite enjoy it. I like the tropical affectations to the stage, costume, and instrumentals; that’s fitting given the location of the concert. Maybe I’m mistaken here but I like how lively and more elaborate the dancing is here compared to last MV. It really conveys the effect Chisato has in actually being part of the group. It’s kind of a shame that we never got a song performed by the first three members but I can live with that. I do find it hilariously that Superstar!! spent a whole episode where the girls debate on who the center of the group should be, only to then have the next MV feature an even number of idols with no defined center. It can’t be helped but yeah, there isn’t really a center until Ren joins. When that inevitably happens, I hope Sumire campaigns for the role again. That’d be hilarious.
Watch Love Live! Superstar!! on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
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