As always, I label the final TV episode as the “series finale”. That said, the show does go on past this episode with the Next Sky OVA and presumably the upcoming movie trilogy that got announced while I’ve been trying to catch up on this darn franchise. There’s also the Nijiyon shorts though I don’t know if those are canon with the main show.
The Season 2 finale is all about the idol club’s concert. Back in Season 1, I wondered if the finale would have nine new insert songs, one for each idol. It ended up reusing all the insert songs the first season used throughout its run. I wonder if fans complained about that as the Season 2 finale actually has a whopping total of 13 insert songs, twelve solo songs and one final one performed by all twelve idols. Save for the last song, all of the music here is borrowed from older Nijigasaki albums that were produced outside of the anime. Technically, the show is still recycling some music but at least it’s music that it’s never used before.
I like Love Live‘s music so it’s kind of awesome to hear so many songs back to back. That said, there’s a lot of music to go through so, with the exception of the last song, it has to play very abridged versions of every song. Animating every performance would be too much work so unfortunately, you have to deal with some basic animations and even some still frames from time to time.
Most importantly, this marathon gives very little room for the show to do other things with the characters. You get Rina opting to perform her solo song without the Rina-chan Board, due to the device malfunctioning and to be fair, it is a heartwarming scene. I really like that Rina feels comfortable enough to temporarily forgo the board. Also uplifting is her fans not minding the technical difficulty and using their glowsticks to emote for her. There’s also Mia feeling the pressure of performing onstage again. That’s partly why Rina performs without her board. The conflict is very brief however as Mia pretty much gets over her fear the second she performs. Other than those moments, it really is just a marathon of insert song after insert song.
One really odd choice is that sometimes, you see the characters perform with their subunits but the song in question is still performed by one character. I’m fine with some of the girls being backup dancers for someone but you’d think if the show would bring up the subunits, it would play new songs by them. Frankly, all this does is make me realize that Season 2 did nothing with the subunits after each group’s featured episode. Also, I find it funny that this episode is where it establishes Lanzhu, Shioriko, and Mia’s subunit but they don’t sing a song together and this is the end of Season 2 so there’s no time to build on this development.
There’s a very heartwarming moment where a surprised Yu receive some flowers with encouraging messages from fans during an intermission. While I don’t know how publicly known Yu’s contributions are, I think she deserves the gift. Even though she operates more in the background, Yu is just as much a member of the club as the actual school idols. Hell, she’s contributed a fair amount to the club this season by composing music for them and that’s while she’s busy with her studies in the school’s music program. All of her friends already tell her that she’s important to the club but it’s refreshing to learn that people outside of the club also feel the same way.
After the intermission is the thirteenth and final insert song. This is the first and only time all twelve idols perform together outside of the OP and ED and it’s a nice little ballad to cap off Season 2. While the episode cut corners with the earlier songs, it does not hold back here. It’s a legit MV with some really good CGI animation and very dynamic “camerawork”. One very cool effect here is how the stage briefly assumes the appearance of the background from every character’s first MV. I’m so glad that the girls are wearing matching outfits this time around. After two whole seasons and two group performances, it finally happened!
The episode then fast forwards by an undisclosed period of time. Shioriko is now the student council president. Ayumu has traveled to London as part of Nijigasaki’s exchange program and she meets the two friends who wrote to her via email. Curiously, we do not see Yu partake in the music concert. Maybe it hasn’t happened yet but you’d think the episode would show it in parallel to Ayumu’s trip to London. And if it has happened, why didn’t the episode show the results?
With that, I conclude the second season of Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club. Personally, I think this show has gotten a bit messy. It has a lot on its plate due to the increased cast size from ten to thirteen and sadly, the writing sometimes fumbles in giving everyone their due. The larger cast is also at odds with the music. One of Nijigasaki‘s selling points is the solo idol stuff and it couldn’t do much of that with twelve idols. Making the subunits canon is a smart workaround but the show pretty much ditches that after each subunit’s featured episode. As messy as this season has been, I wouldn’t go as far as say the show has jumped the shark. The story has its moments and there are some standouts within the cast and the soundtrack. I still had fun with the show and I’m looking forward to its next couple of projects.
Watch Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club on Crunchyroll and Funimation
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