After the director revealed Otonokizaka will shut down sooner than initially planned, she clarifies to Eli and the second years that this decision will be final if an upcoming open house doesn’t go very well. The girls have a chance to keep the school afloat but they’ll have to make it count and that’s easier said than done since the open house is in two weeks’ time. While μ’s prepares to perform at the event, Eli tries to think of ways to attract prospective students. I love that all of her lackeys eventually and unanimously propose that they get μ’s to perform. Other than that fact that μ’s is going to do that anyway, this is the very last thing Eli wants to do. I kind of feel bad for Eli here. This poor girl helped create a monster and she can’t escape it.
Following the last episode, Umi proposes that μ’s ask Eli to be their dancing instructor. Naturally, most of the girls are opposed to the idea due to their poor relationship with the student council president but they come around to it after Honoka approves it. I can’t help but find this a little funny after Episode 6. For someone who claims she’s not a leader, Honoka sure acts like one. Having run out of options, Eli agrees to teach μ’s how to dance. The next day, she subjects the club to a difficult training regimen to get them to meet her high standards. This also serves as one last attempt to dissuade them from continuing on as school idols. To her surprise however, everyone is willing to put up with the difficulty. The past couple of episodes, Eli has looked down on μ’s as nothing more than a bunch of amateurs. And yet here, the club proves to her that they’re adamant about improving themselves and saving the school.
I really like the dilemma Eli has here. The spark μ’s displays in this episode as well as comments from some other characters forces Eli to realize something about herself: she hasn’t really done anything for herself. Ballet was her passion but she gave up on that path after she failed to climb the ladder. Right now, she’s working to keep her school open but she doesn’t completely want to do it. She’s the student council president and her grandmother attended Otonokizaka so she wants to save the school for her sake but both of these things are obligations. She feels compelled to achieve her goal because she’s expected by others to do so and not necessarily because she wants to it herself. μ’s also wants to keep Otonokizaka open but they don’t have any obligation apart from simply wanting to save it and they’re achieving it with their school idol careers because they also just want to be school idols. Ultimately, Eli realizes this difference between her and the club and she can’t help but want to pursue something she wants to do. And after learning more about idols and getting to know the club, Eli discovers that what she really wants to do is be a school idol herself.
At first, Eli is hesitant to go through with her newfound desire, presumably because it’s a gamble and because she still feels the need to do what’s expected of her. Thankfully, her doubt dissipates once Nozomi tells everything to the club and Honoka offers a formal invitation to Eli. With that, we see Eli finally join μ’s. It took a while but it’s as satisfying as one would hope. What is lame however is Nozomi joining shortly after Eli. Yes, it turns out that this episode has both of the show’s remaining holdouts becoming official club members. I suppose Nozomi has already acted like she’s part of the club but her casually saying she’ll join too feels very anticlimactic compared to the two-parter the show spent to get Eli to join. Honestly, is there any reason Nozomi didn’t join earlier? The only explanation the show gives is that she was told by her Tarot cards to wait and make sure everyone else joins (which would also imply that she knew who will join μ’s).
The show does make up for this by revealing that Nozomi is the one who gave μ’s their name. Her insane fortune telling skills told her that this group will ultimately be comprised of nine idols so she named the group after the nine Greek goddesses of music. The foresight displayed here is absurd and it’d probably make more sense for the group came up with the name after they’ve all been assembled but even so, I think it’s a cute bit of etymology.
With that, the gang is all here now. It’s a little funny to say that again after watching Nijigasaki and Superstar!! add more characters to their rosters. Oh how times have changed. We of course get the first ensemble MV at the end of the episode. I would have preferred it if Eli served as the center, this episode is mostly focused around her after all, but I’m not terribly surprised that Honoka takes the role instead. I admit that I’m only harping this more because of the muddled discourse in Episode 6. One thing I particularly like about the MV is the montage of Eli bonding with her new friends. It can be interpreted as the show running out of time but I think it’s a nice touch. Besides, there’s plenty of episodes left for this show. The tone of the insert song is interesting to me. Sunshine!! and Superstar!! goes for a more sentimental approach when their respective idol groups perform together for the first time. School Idol Project‘s equivalent instead feels more celebratory to me. I think I prefer the successors’ approach but I still dig the route the original series opts for.
Watch Love Live! School Idol Project on Crunchyroll
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