At this point in the story, μ’s is a shoo-in to win Love Live so big surprise, they pass the second round. Kind of strange how the show doesn’t show their immediate reaction to the results. This episode instead begins some time after the preliminaries. Even if it is obvious that μ’s will reign victorious, you’d think the show would still go through the expected motions. To be fair, the other series do something along these lines and not showing the immediate reaction has the advantage of making you wonder more about the results.
This episode begins with the first and second years celebrating New Year’s at the local shrine (Maki being the only one wearing a kimono is pretty funny). The gang run into A-Rise, who are still a bit passive aggressive but they nevertheless congratulate their rivals on advancing to the Love Live finals. As for the third year members of μ’s, they’re all busy helping out at the shrine. I think it’s a missed opportunity to not have all nine main characters doing some New Year’s shenanigans together but it is a deliberate move to have the third years work while their underclassmen are hanging out and having fun. It reminds everyone that the third years are graduating soon and it won’t be long before they leave μ’s. Everyone is putting it off to better focus on Love Live but they’ll have to discuss this matter at some point.
There’s a curious moment in the shrine segment where Alisha says her New Year’s wish is to pass Otonokizaka’s entrance exam and join μ’s. I kind of doubt that the show will actually follow through on this. To my knowledge, μ’s roster has never changed and I don’t know of an insert song sung by Alisha (though that is a missed opportunity since Ayane Sakura can sing). I also imagine that the show will end with μ’s disbanding, what with everyone saying that the group wouldn’t be the same without any of its nine members. Still, this doesn’t rule out with Alisha being a school idol in her own right.
After New Year’s, μ’s begins training for the Love Live finals. There are no conditions for them to worry about this round though one thing the girls are thinking of doing is come up with a catchphrase to distinguish themselves from the competition. The timing of this plot is really strange. There are only three episodes and a movie left after this one. It seems really late to give the girls a catchphrase. Also, if it is that important for the girls to distinguish themselves, it’d make more sense for them to do that when the competition was a lot larger. But whatever, the girls want to give themselves one last marketing push.
Amidst all the brainstorming, Honoka is approached by Tsubasa. Tsubasa has grown curious as to how A-Rise lost to μ’s so she decides to talk to Honoka about it, though Honoka isn’t sure either. Maybe it’s the fact that μ’s performed one of the best songs ever and A-Rise didn’t get to perform onscreen but I digress. Joking aside, Tsubasa’s question ties directly into the whole catchphrase dilemma. If μ’s can figure out what makes them so special and so successful, then they’d have some idea of a good catchphrase for themselves. Likewise, whatever catchphrase they could come up with would indirectly answer Tsubasa’s question.
I suppose A-Rise can’t talk about kicking μ’s butt anymore but it is nice to see less tense interaction between the two groups’ leaders. It’s a little interesting that Tsubasa admits that she thought μ’s would win after seeing them before and before the results are even posted. I guess she and her friends are more humble than they let on. Maybe this is just my mind playing tricks on me but I like how you can tell when Tsubasa is genuinely smiling. Usually, when Tsubasa smiles around μ’s, it feels likes she’s faking it. When she’s chatting with Honoka here or when μ’s posts their catchphrase, she actually seems happy for once.
Eventually, after making some mochi for their fans and seeing messages left by their fans at the shrine, μ’s settles on the catchphrase, “A Story Achieved Together”. Considering that this is just nine girls trying to win a music competition, this catchphrase sounds a bit too epic. I don’t know if it’s a snappy tagline or anything but this is a very apt one. “A Story Achieved Together” can refer to the girls own unity but at least in the context of this episode, it also entails the support the girls receive from their fans. After all, they’re involved in the journey just as much as the school idols themselves. I also can’t deny that this is easily one of the better catchphrases shown in the episode. Seriously, one of the other groups’ catchphrase is just “Elegant idols”. I’m sorry to whoever that group is but they might want to brainstorm some more.
Watch Love Live! School Idol Project on Crunchyroll
Xenodude Scribbles 