Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club lives on but whereas Superstar!! is getting a proper third season, this iteration is opting for a more infrequent output, starting with this OVA titled NEXT SKY. I figured since this is one-off installment, NEXT SKY would be a fancy foll0w-up to Season 2 but honestly, it feels like a very regular episode of the show. Hell, it’s only a few minutes longer than the average run time and all the extra time is used for a lengthy end credits sequence. It’s surprising considering that this OVA got a theatrical release in Japan but then again, it’s pretty common for OVAs and specials to get one so it’s my fault for expecting something grander.
We of course need to address the elephant in the room (that I’ve admittedly already addressed in previous posts but it bears repeating just in case). Following her diagnosis with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in 2022, Tomori Kusunoki retired from voicing Setsuna in early 2023. Her last outing as the character is the first season of NIJIYON so starting with NEXT SKY, Coco Hayashi serves as Setsuna’s CV. It still saddens me to see Kusunoki leave the role, she’s a heck of a talent and she was a damn good find for the franchise, but she needs to do what’s best for her health so her decision is completely understandable. I’m just glad that she’s still voice acting and singing in other projects.
As for Hayashi, this OVA is currently her only performance as Setsuna in the anime and Setsuna isn’t that prevalent in this episode (it’d be unfair for Hayashi if she was) so this isn’t a sufficient portfolio for her tenure in the role. You can definitely tell that Setsuna sounds a bit different but you get used to it by the end of the OVA. The insert song this time around is a group act so it’s hard to judge Hayashi’s singing on that alone. She has done some live performances however and she sounds pretty good in those. I recommend checking some of them on YouTube.
In this episode, Ayumu (Aguri Onishi) returns to Tokyo from her two week exchange program in London, bringing along one of her two new friends, Isla (Nao Toyama), who is attending Nijigasaki for two weeks as per the exchange program. I’m shocked at how short the exchange program is. I mean, Season 2 made a big deal about Ayumu going her separate way from Yu (Hinaki Yano) but they clearly weren’t gone from each other’s lives for very long. Also, it’s very disappointing that Nijigasaki barely depicts Ayumu’s time in London. Dang it, I wanted to see that. I get it though. This show needs Ayumu back with the gang so it has to skim through her little trip. At least Ayumu got to study abroad. I can’t say the same for Kanon.
While Isla studies at Nijigasaki, the school idol club shows her around Tokyo during her two weeks there. I like how this tour gives the episode an excuse to show some easter eggs relating to other Love Live! series but the episode refuses to refer to any of them by name. Like, we see some previous locations such as Kanda Shrine (shown in School Idol Project and Sunshine!!) and Takeshita Street (shown in Superstar!!). There’s also a mention of Numazu (where Sunshine!! takes place) and a nod to the maid cafe Kotori worked at. These are all definitely callbacks but there’s no direct mention of μ’s, Aqours, or Liella!. I wasn’t too fond of Sunshine‘s myriad of School Idol Project references but it is weird to go from that to the later series barely acknowledging the other series. Honestly, you’d think the Nijigasaki idols would name drop the other groups since Isla is so interested in school idols.
An interesting dilemma arises when Shiorioko (Moeka Koizumi) notices how glum Isla is between her hangouts with the Nijigasaki idols. With a bit of digging, Shioriko learns that Isla failed to get a school idol club going in her school and she realizes that latter will give up on being a school idol after the exchange program. Fortunately, Shioriko and everyone else at the club comes together and encourage Isla not to abandon her dream. Considering the club’s own rough beginnings, they’re perfect for this pep talk. I would love it if the staff expanded on Isla’s plot after this OVA. I mean, a school idol club in a country where idols in general aren’t really a thing? That could easily be its own TV show. Don’t just end this arc with Isla’s PV. Have her start her club with her friend Penelope (Karin Kagami) and gradually gain more members until they’re a fully fledged idol group. That would be really cool to see. Too bad it won’t happen.
I guess this episode is a Shioriko-centric one but I don’t know, it feels a little unrealized. Shioriko is the one who notices Isla’s dilemma and she does lead the club in giving the latter some words of encouragement. As the show notes, there is a parallel to draw between these characters in that Isla automatically decides her school idol dream is over, much like how Shioriko felt about hers during her featured episode in Season 2. What I don’t really get is what helping Isla does for Shioriko, apart from helping a friend I mean. Throughout the episode, Shioriko feels she’s too rigid to be a school idol. But other than the vague notion that anyone can be a school idol, helping Isla has no real correlation with this issue. You could have Rina handing one of her electronic masks to Shioriko and that would resolve the latter’s issue more than Isla’s arc.
It’d be a crime not have an insert song in a one-off installment so we get two in NEXT SKY. The first one is at the beginning, performed by sub-unit comprised of Shioriko, Lanzhu (Akina Homoto), and Mia (Shu Uchida). That basically confirms their sub-unit, R3BIRTH, is canon in the anime. I dig the song for its hip-hop nature and the character’s use of different languages though I’m disappointed that the song plays during a montage of Tokyo locations as opposed to a legitimate MV. I figured the second insert song would be solely performed by Shioriko, it certainly appeared to be the case for a few seconds. But no, it is in fact performed by the entire idol club. I get that the OVA needs everyone to sing at some point but it does worry me that the show is barely able to do any solo songs these days. That used to be one of its main draws! I’m not fond of the dubstep drops at the middle but other than that, I enjoy the song. The respective MV also has some of the most interesting visuals in Nijigasaki‘s portfolio and I think it nails the neon-colored aesthetic better than that one time Superstar!! did it during its second season. I’m very disappointed that we don’t get an insert song with Isla. I know from her previous works that Nao Toyama can sing so it’s so strange to cast her in the OVA and not record a song with her.
There’s a post-credit scene showing an invitation for the idol club to perform at the “School Idol GPX”. It sounds like an competition akin to Love Live though it may be geared more towards solo acts, which would be perfect for the cast of Nijigasaki. I didn’t mind that the gang didn’t go to Love Live but there’s no denying that their show lacks a competitive element so perhaps the staff is aiming to rectify that. We’ll probably know more about it with the movies.
So yeah, Nijigasaki is getting an unprecedented film trilogy, as opposed to the single film School Idol Project and Sunshine!! got. There’s no word on when the first movie will release, let alone here in the US. With NIJIYON returning in Spring 2024 and Superstar!! presumably returning after that, I’m guessing the first movie will arrive pretty late in the year. Maybe the production committee will let it overlap with the other releases but I don’t think that’s a good idea. The franchise would basically be competing with itself if they do that. I don’t know when the movies will release but when they do, I’ll check them out. Nijigasaki isn’t my favorite Love Live!. I prefer Sunshine!! and especially Superstar!! over it. Still, it’s a fun series that’s unique within the franchise so I look forward to seeing it continue.
As for catching up on Love Live!, I’m fully up to date with both Nijigasaki and Superstar!! so I’m more or less done here. That said, I will be covering School Idol Project as a bonus series of sorts, after the Winter 2024 premieres at the earliest. It’s the only mainline Love Live! that I haven’t finished or covered here on the blog. I might as well. Having seen all of its successors, it’ll interesting to go all the way back to the original and see how this entire franchise began.
Watch Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club NEXT SKY on Crunchyroll
Xenodude Scribbles 