Seeing as Nijigasaki made Qu4rtZ canon, it pretty much has to do the same for the other subunits. It’d be weirder if it doesn’t. Evidently, the next one on the list is DiverDiva, a duo comprised of Ai (Natsumi Murakami) and Karin (Miyu Kubota).
Ai and Karin aren’t particularly close to one another so this episode jumpstarts a friendship between the two by having Ai invite Karin to hang out with her and her neighbor/surrogate sister Misato Kawamoto (Yui Ishikawa) at the mall. The hangout proves to be fun, though Ai and Karin notice that something is off about Misato. It’s soon revealed that Misato has spent much of her life in the hospital and as a result, she’s drifted away from almost of her friends except for Ai. After making a full recovery from…whatever was ailing her and seeing Ai find success as a school idol, Misato can’t help but feel she has nothing. Ai feels dejected and contemplates quitting her school idol career though she changes her mind when Karin jokes that she’ll perform in her stead at the next concert and steal all of her fans, including Misato. Motivated again, Ai asks Karin to perform with her, resulting in the creation of DiverDiva.
Coming off of Qu4rtz’s two-parter, DiverDiva’s featured episode feels a bit rushed by comparison. It not only has to establish the subunit but it also has to build some rapport between Ai and Karin as well as establish Misato, a character we’ve never seen or heard of before. I think the episode does a decent enough job getting through its to-do list and having it feel affecting but part of me thinks it’d work more if more time was allocated for it. It also doesn’t help that this episode feels self-contained. Quartz’s introduction manages to involve one of the new characters and Yu’s storyline. This episode on the other hand barely involves anyone else, old or new. It can feel like a filler episode with how disconnected it is from the overarching narrative.
I like Ai’s character development. Normally, she’s the happy go lucky girl who wants to get along with everyone so it’s interesting to see it challenged, especially by a close friend no less. Karin’s role is a bit confusing at first. For a while, she only acts as a viewpoint character and if you didn’t know about DiverDiva ahead of time, you’d probably wonder why Karin is the second featured girl in the episode. Towards the end of the episode however, Karin’s involvement starts to make sense. She’s a pretty good choice to joke about taking Misato and Ai’s fans away and to tell Ai the truth that you sometimes have to give a friend a push instead of accommodating for their feelings.
Back in Season 1, Ai was a little unsure about operating as a solo idol so it’s to be expected that she’d be keen on forming a subunit and inviting Karin. Karin’s stance on teaming up is a bit silly. She only agrees to it after Ai suggests that they make their collaboration a friendly battle between rivals. I guess that’s fine but it feels underdeveloped. The girls don’t publicly state that they’re competing and they don’t encourage their fans to pick a favorite or anything (to be fair, it’d probably wouldn’t go very well). The MV, which is pretty good in its own right, does give an impression that Karin and Ai are competing to be the dominant performer with how quickly it alternates between the two. Sometimes however, it just feels like a typical duet, especially when the girls reach the chorus.
Banking on Misato to watch the concert is a bit of risk. I mean, if Ai’s success as a school idol makes Misato lose hope on herself, there’s a good chance that the concert might do the opposite of what Ai and Karin intends. Then again, that’s Karin’s point. Sooner or later, Ai has to give Misato a push. Fortunately, the concert goes according to plan with Misato feeling inspired to keep going forward. I do question Misato’s claim that she wants to be more like Karin. Like, in what way? Certainly not as a fashion model or a school idol. If Misato doesn’t show up again, what’s even the point of establishing this?
As mentioned earlier, this episode barely features any of the new characters. That said, you do get a bread crumb featuring Shioriko after the ED. After attending one of Lanzhu’s surprise concerts, Shioriko is greeted by her older sister, who appears to have return home after traveling abroad. I’m not really sure how this new character will factor into the plot though clearly, she must be important if she’s appearing in a post-credit scene. At the very least, she has one of the best character designs Love Live! has done for a supporting character.
Watch Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club on Crunchyroll and Funimation
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