So at long last, in the halfway point of Season 1, School Idol Project finally brings up Love Live, the nationwide school idol competition and the namesake of the franchise. This is in fact the very first instance it’s mentioned in the anime so suffice to say, the first iteration took its sweet time. I imagine anyone watching this or any of the other series for the first time will be like, “What the hell is Love Live?” and I wouldn’t blame them. I probably asked that question when I first got into the franchise.
Given Love Live’s prestige, μ’s realizes that competing in it is their best shot at saving their school. And thanks to some momentum they’ve garnered on the internet, they have a decent chances of winning the competition as well. Before entering the tournament however, the girls need their school’s permission and obviously, they won’t get it from Eli. To bypass Eli’s authority, the club decides to ask the director instead. The show does point out that the director is Kotori’s mother but fortunately, that doesn’t play much of a role during the negotiations.
The director approves of μ’s entry into Love Live but she does issue one condition: all seven members of the group must pass all of their upcoming exams in order to compete in the tournament. This is easier said than done as Honoka, Rin, and Nico all have one subject that they’re particularly weak at. Since they’re in the same grade, Umi and Kotori help Honoka study. Likewise, Hanayo and Maki does the same for Rin. None of them can help Nico since she’s a third year but fortunately for the club, Nozomi volunteers for the job. It’s a good excuse to get Nozomi to hang out with everyone before she joins the club though this also enables Nozomi to grope Nico and the others. It’s a teeny bit funny that this keeps the girls motivated to study but I am mostly baffled that this is Nozomi’s go-to gag.
At some point, Umi bumps into Eli’s little sister Alisa (Ayane Sakura) who, unlike Eli, is a big supporter of μ’s. Alisa reveals that Eli is the one who recorded μ’s first concert and uploaded it to the internet. When Umi confronts Eli about this, the latter reveals that she made the recording to deter μ’s from continuing their school idol careers. It just so happens that the internet’s reaction is the exact opposite of what Eli had in mind. We also finally learn why Eli is so hostile to the club. Eli practiced ballet when she was little and she was apparently very good at it. Because of her background, she sees school idols as nothing more than a bunch of amateurs. Retrospectively speaking, the funny thing about this is that Love Live! has now given a couple different explanations as to why the student council president is initially against the idol club. And yet, Eli might still have the simplest and most straightforward justification which is that, she just hates school idols.
Oddly enough, Eli is exactly what μ’s needs. Admittedly, idols don’t exactly pull the same moves as ballerinas but regardless of that, Eli is knowledgeable when it comes to dancing and μ’s currently doesn’t have an expert in this department. Evidently, Umi realizes this after she learns about Eli’s background. If it wasn’t for the fact that she needs Honoka to pass her exams, she would’ve asked Eli to teach μ’s how to dance at the end of the episode. Between this and Eli’s video, it’s easy to see how Eli would eventually stop being the show’s antagonist. She unintentionally helps μ’s big time and before even joining the club, she already has a specific job for her to take.
The prospect of Eli finally joining μ’s appears to be on the horizon. Everyone in μ’s manages to pass their exams so they’re pretty much ready to enter Love Live. On her way to the director’s office however, Honoka learns that Otonokizaka will shut down and no longer accept any more new students. It sounds like the deadline for which the characters must save the school has gotten a closer than they’d like. The clock is ticking for both Eli and μ’s and that sounds like a great opportunity for the former to join the latter.
Watch Love Live! School Idol Project on Crunchyroll
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