Well, I overthought this. Superstar!! doesn’t acknowledge the fact that Chisato dialed her ambitions down in Season 1 so the confrontation that last episode started is just Chisato encouraging Kanon to go to Vienna. I still think that’s a plot hole to not call Chisato out on a potential bit of hypocrisy but as I just said, I probably put too much thought on this. It’s not like I’m not on Chisato’s side anyway.
Thanks to Chisato, everyone else comes around to the idea of Kanon studying abroad and Kanon decides to give her admission to the Vienna National Academy of Music some more thought. Wien also drops by the Shibuya family’s cafe to give Kanon the exact details. Ironically, Wien might actually be the one who convinces Kanon to go ahead with the opportunity. As Wien points out, if Kanon attends the world renowned academy and she has a big breakthrough over there, she’ll make Yuigaoka famous by extension. Kanon wouldn’t necessarily be the only one who benefits from studying at Vienna and knowing that, she decides to go through with accepting the school’s invitation. It’s funny; Wien isn’t the most keen on piggybacking off of Kanon’s transfer and she seems content if she has to get accepted by the academy in some other way but she ultimately contributes to the push that Kanon needs and secures her own admission into the school.
You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would think this episode truly is the end of Superstar!!. Kanon tells her friends her final decision about studying abroad and she has the gang promise to continue operating as Liella! without her. They then perform a very sentimental song at the Love Live finals (which I enjoyed). It contrasts with the bright colors in the stage and the girls’ outfits, giving a very bittersweet tone and conveying that this performance could very well be the last one by all nine main characters. The girls come out of the final round victorious, which is to be expected but it’s earned after two seasons and it means that Kanon can go to Vienna with no regrets. Everything about the latter half of this episode just screams finality to me. Thing is though, this is not the lats episode of Superstar!! and the show is getting a third season.
I said this in the last post and I stand by this: having Kanon leave Yuigaoka could have been a really interesting shakeup to the plot. Knowing that there is a third season however, it’s pretty much a given that the show would want to keep its main characters together so in the end, the show reverses course. The Vienna National Academy of Music seemingly cancels their invitation to Kanon and rather than attend the school with Kanon, it’s decided that Wien should stay in Tokyo and transfer to Yuigaoka for her first year of high school.
To be fair, this is a necessary move for Season 3. It’s also downright hilarious that Wien’s family and the academy went out of their way to recruit Kanon, only to then realize that it would actually be more efficient (not to mention cheaper) if Wien simply transfer to Kanon’s school instead. And yes, Wien studying at Yuigaoka pretty much sets her up to join Liella! and that prospect has a lot of potential. That said, this reversal is a massive copout. It undermines the interpersonal drama in the season’s last two episodes and it robs the viewer of something that could’ve been really riveting. I might be able to let it pass during Season 3 but that depends on if Season 3 is good enough to make up for it.
So yeah, Superstar!! is coming back for one more season. It’s an unprecedented move for Love Live! as no other series has ever gotten a third one. Even Nijigasaki, which is still ongoing, has gone the movie route that School Idol Project and Sunshine!! went with (though it is getting three movies and that itself is also unheard of). It’s uncharted territory for the franchise but I’m all for it. I’ve really enjoyed Superstar!!, it’s currently my favorite iteration in the franchise. Out of all the series I’ve seen (and I’ve seen almost all of them), Season 1 is still my favorite individual season. I don’t know if Season 2 is as tightly written as the first one but it does have its own strengths. It does a solid job integrating the four new girls into the main cast and making a legitimate and compelling plot thread out of the fact that they’re newer members of the group. At the same time, the original five still get plenty of attention and the show introduces what is currently my favorite rival character in the entire franchise. Even with the stupid copout at the end, I’m very much looking forward to seeing where the show will go next. If any iteration of Love Live! deserves a third season, it’s Superstar!!.
Watch Love Live! Superstar!! on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
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