While preparing for Love Live Round 2 with her friends, Ren gets called up by the school director. And no, it’s not because of her browser history (the girls are never going to let that go, huh?). The director just wants to share some good news. Thanks to Liella’s recent success, Yuigaoka has received a surge of applicants and that Ren’s father has changed his mind on the school and has decided to donate the necessary funds to keep it afloat. That’s right, Liella! didn’t even get to the Love Live finals and their school has already been saved.
I can’t help but find this funny. I mean, Love Live! used to spend entire seasons on this plot. Compare this to Superstar!!; not only is saving the school barely a thing in this show, it also gets dropped pretty quickly. Even as someone who didn’t really want a third series with this plot, I question its inclusion in Superstar!!. It is a tradition in the franchise but at this point, it feels very vestigial. Also, I find it hilarious that Ren’s father has decided to help out after all this time. The school being his wife’s lifelong dream? Whatever. His daughter being very good at pop music? Time to grab the checkbook. Granted, I haven’t gone to Season 2 so it’s possible that Yuigaoka will be at risk of closing down again. Given what happens later in the episode, I honestly figured the applications and funds would get rescinded but there’s no mention of that happening so who knows. Maybe the school really is fine.
Rather than have everyone compete in one location, Love Live has all of its contestants perform live-streamed concerts. This has probably been done before in the franchise but what an insane mandate to put on the contestants. Is it really a good idea to make the school idols do most of the work for them? The poor girls are already spending time and money on this hobby. Actually, maybe this really is the competition’s way of curating the contestants.
Regardless, Liella! has to find a stage for their livestream. Kanon considers decorating Yuigaoka’s gymnasium to resemble a starry sky and her classmates offer to handle that for her. On the day of the qualifiers, Liella! finds the gymnasium completely empty. Right as Kanon is about to murder someone, the girls find out that Yuigaoka’s student body has actually built an entire stage by scratch and got permission to set it up downtown. I take it back, maybe school idols can do most of the work for Live Live. I really like the buildup to the stage’s reveal, with the extras holding up candles to set a path for the girls to take to the stage. That goes well with the starry aethestic Kanon wanted and it’s a good visual to convey the school’s faith in Liella!.
The stage itself is frankly a bit traditional. It’s just another colorful, brightly lit, nightime platform that Love Live! typically does for MVs set during the winter/holidays. That said, I still find it super pretty so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The show does get a little creative with the lights in that some of them have the same color as each girl’s outfit (which all look great) and they light up depending on who’s singing during the song. It ties nicely with an analogy Kanon made in Episode 9 – that each member of Liella! is a different light that’ll combine into something greater.
As for the song itself, it’s pretty good. I don’t think it’ll rank as my favorite but Superstar!! has developed a very solid portfolio over the course of Season 1 so that admittedly can’t be helped. I do find it funny that in the last episode, Kanon was unanimously elected to have a solo verse in the song but then, you get to the actual song and everyone has their own solo. Kanon is still the center, because of course she is, but she doesn’t really have the lion’s share of the song. It’s odd but it’s really just a nitpick. Seeing as Kanon just had a song to herself and that this song is the last one for Season 1, I get the decision to split the latter more evenly among the girls. If you do want to argue semantics, the girls technically still fulfill their quota. They definitely make a stronger case here than they did with the rap assignment.
Seeing as there’s two more seasons of Superstar!!, I’m not surprised that Liella! doesn’t win here and that they’ll have to try again in the next Love Live. Sunny Passion being crowned the victor does feel pretty cheap, if only because we never actually saw those two perform this entire season (and that’s a baffling move in and of itself). I suppose however that it’d be even cheaper if it was some nobody instead.
While it sucks that Liella! lost this round, this at least gives them something to do for Season 2. This is especially true for Kanon, who is need of a new arc now that she’s overcome her state fright. Earlier in the episode, Kanon confides in Sunny Passion that she’s just interested in singing and that she doesn’t feel too strongly about winning or losing. Mao and Yuuna then assure her that she’ll understand why school idols feel the need to win Love Live after the qualifiers. Fast forward to the end and Kanon realizes what her peers meant. By losing in Love Live, Kanon feels she’s left all of her supporters down and that in turn makes her want to win the next time around. It’ll be interesting to see where this determination takes Kanon and her friends (be the current ones or the ones who join next season).
With that, I conclude the first season of Love Live! Superstar!!. Honestly, this might be my favorite season of Love Live! so far. I largely attribute that to the general cast changes. By reducing the main cast from nine to five, Season 1 had a lot more room to work with in giving the spotlight to everyone. You can make the argument that it’s still a bit uneven but I think the show did a solid job giving everyone a moment to shine. I also approve of having everyone in the same grade. That allowed for the characters to act informally with each other from the get go and it made what relationships the show has the offer more meaningful or more pronounced. Combined with the size reduction, Liella! really felt like a closely-knit group of friends. Other than that, Season 1 is just a really fun show, as I often find to be the case with Love Live! in general. The story has some odd moments but for the most part, it delivers in both comedy and drama. As always, the music is some of my favorite in CGDCT/idol/musical anime.
Since I’m going by release order again, the next season on the to-do list is Nijigasaki Season 2 so it’ll be a while before I resume Superstar!!. That said, I’m very interested to see where this show will go and I’ll definitely continue blogging about it. See you all in Season 2.
Watch Love Live! Superstar!! on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Xenodude Scribbles 