For the Love Live preliminaries, participants are free to perform at any location of their choosing. This ultimately happens every once in a while throughout the franchise. I’ve come to find this rule both neat and absurd. It’s neat in that it gives school idols agency and it allows the show to better vary the locations in which its main characters perform. That’s said, it’s absurd because this would require contestants to do a lot of location scouting and dump a lot of resources towards creating their own stage. It just seems extremely demanding to me. Then again, what I am doing trying to nitpick the logic in Love Live?
Before they go location scouting, μ’s decides to use their school’s broadcast system to promote their concert for the preliminaries. Another purpose to this endeavor is to get used to talking to crowds, which I find to be really strange. Since they’re in the broadcasting club’s room, they can’t see any of the people they’re talking to. On top of that, they don’t even talk to any audience later in the episode, during the preliminaries so this entire scene is just padding. Oh well, at least it’s entertaining padding. I like how even when the audience isn’t in front of them, Umi and Hanayo are still super shy.
At first, μ’s can’t settle on a particular location. Hanayo and Nico advise that the club chooses something fancy to keep things fresh and this far into the show, they’ve used every viable part of Otonokizaka’s campus. The girls consider performing in Akiba but they decide against it since that’s A-Rise’s turf. The last thing they want to do is provoke the favorite and their fans. Boy does this become ironic later in the episode.
While at Akiba, μ’s visits UTX and at long last, both the main characters and the viewer gets to formally meet A-Rise’s three members – Tsubasa Kira (Megu Sakuragawa), Erena Toudou (Maho Matsunaga), and Anju Yuuki (Ayuru Ohashi). I’m kind of amazed at how long it’s taken for A-Rise to make an actual appearance in the show. The later shows definitely take way less time with introducing their rival characters. To be fair, the long wait works in School Idol Project‘s favor. By keeping A-Rise in the background, the show gets to treat them as this inevitable threat for the main cast to eventually take on. And when A-Rise finally does introduce themselves, it feels pretty hyped. Tsubasa’s first appearance certainly comes across that way, with how she waltzes right up to Honoka and then whisks her away from the crowd, showing that she and her groupmates really are that big of a deal.
Mind you, it’s still too early to say how A-Rise fares as actual characters. Right now, I must admit that all three girls’ personalities feel pretty homogenous to me in that they all act very mature, even when around a rival school idol group. I also can’t help but notice that A-Rise aren’t actually that hostile. Like, they see μ’s as a rival and they do make the passive aggressive comment that they’ll kick their butts in Love Live but for the most part, they’re pretty darn polite to our main cast. I can’t say I’m that surprised, however. That’s a recurring nitpick that I have with Love Live‘s rival characters.
Since A-Rise declares they’ll win, it’s only natural for Honoka to say that μ’s won’t go down without a fight. Impressed by Honoka’s response, Tsubasa offers to left μ’s perform on A-Rise’s stage at UTX, during the preliminaries. So yeah, shortly after μ’s decided against performing on A-Rise’s turf, they get permission from A-Rise themselves to do just that. I’m very curious about Tsubasa’s thought process here. Like, is she just being courteous here or is she hoping that having μ’s perform on her stage will cause them to be overshadowed or be perceived as less talented as A-Rise? I’d be shocked if Tsubasa is toxic, however. From what little we’ve seen of her and her groupmates, it sounds like they want to beat μ’s in a fair match.
It’s just as surprising that μ’s agrees to the proposition. Surely, one of them thinks this is a potentially bad idea. Then again, I can see how this might work in their favor. By performing on A-Rise’s stage, they’ll get a lot of eyes on their concert. If they perform well and manage to pass the preliminaries, they’ll cement themselves as a top rival against A-Rise and a favorite for winning Love Live.
I am so glad to hear a new song from A-Rise. I’m pretty sure Season 1 only had one song by them and it kept repeating that whenever A-Rise is performing. It’s about time for them to do a second song. I really dig the contrast between A-Rise’s and μ’s performances. A-Rise’s outfits and stage have a very dark color palette. In contrast, μ’s uses white and light shades of blue as their aesthetic. A-Rise’s stage has flashing spotlights in the ceiling and neon lights adorning the back wall. Compare that to the simple and modestly lit platform used by μ’s. A-Rise’s song has a techno vibe and it commands for your attention while μ’s song is more of a traditional feel good, pop number.
In hindsight, it’s a good thing that Honoka had a bout with depression at the end of Season 1. She already felt like she had no chance at competing against A-Rise and she has since gotten over that. So when everyone else in μ’s feels intimidated by A-Rise’s concert, Honoka is the only one who is still keeping her cool and she successfully rallies everyone to do the same. I don’t know if the writer’s room planned this all the way back in the Season 1 finale but regardless, this is a really great bit of continuity. And putting that aside, this is an excellent reminder as to why Honoka is the de fact leader of μ’s.
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