There’s a bittersweet tone to Season 2’s penultimate episode. It is exciting to see μ’s at the Love Live finals but there’s also no denying that after this event, the group will be no more. As such, the girls are determined to make their time together last as long as possible.
We first see this demonstrated at the very beginning of the episode, where school idol groups participate in a raffle to determine the order in which they perform during the finals. I imagine school idols would want to perform early on, before audiences develop any further bias on who to vote for. For μ’s however, they want to perform last so that they’re school idols until the very end. They are the most likely to win anyway so they can afford to be last. I chuckled when Honoka has Nico pull in the raffle. Last time Nico gambled in this show, it didn’t go very well. Fortunately, the writer’s room decided to be kind this time around and let Nico get exactly what she and her friends want.
After that, the girls practice for the Love Live finals. It’s the usual afternoon for the girls until Hanayo realizes that this session might be the very last one for μ’s. Once everyone is aware of this, they struggle to part ways. It’s a little silly. I mean, the girls will see each other at Love Live and they’ll remain friends after the event (I hope). That said, I really enjoy the solution. Rather than go to their respective homes, the girls decide to have a sleepover at the school. That way, they can hang out at night and wake up the next day for Love Live as a whole group. Props to Kotori’s mother for bending the school’s rules and approving the sleepover on a short notice. Not that I expect her to reject the request but I really like that she understands how important this is for Kotori and her friends.
At first, I expected the sleepover to be a series of CGDCT antics and you do little bit of that. Definitely the funniest moment is when Nozomi exposes Eli’s fear of the dark to everyone in the club. That was brought up in Season 2’s second episode and I honestly didn’t it’d be brought up again. I particularly like that Maki knows exactly what Nozomi is talking about and decides to help rat Eli out. Surprisingly, the sleepover soon takes a more heartfelt direction from there. The girls notice how pretty the view is from the school now that the nearby streetlights are off and they head up to the rooftop to get a better look. Upon seeing all the lights out in the distance, the girls begin to think about all the support they’ve garnered throughout the year and how glad they are to be school idols. It’s a nice little scene to have before the big concert as well as one of the best looking scenes in the entire show.
So at long last, we get to the Love Live finals. Normally, this would be a good time for the leader of the group to give a big speech but this time around, Honoka has no words to say. That’s admittedly a very in-character thing for Honoka to do but she’s also not wrong for thinking that there’s no need for a speech. She doesn’t need to rally everyone to do their best or to win Love Live because that much is already a given and they run such a tight ship now. I suppose in a way, that sentiment is the speech in and of itself. I’m just glad that the girls still do that roll call they do before a concert. That ultimately becomes a tradition in Love Live! and it’s easy to see why. It just feels right.
I adore the outfits used for the concert. They feels like a fancier version of the outfits worn in the very first concert in the show. They basically follow the same basic design of a short dress with a ribbon. Honoka’s, Kotori’s, and Umi’s outfits more or less use the same colors as their first idol outfits. If that actually the intent the art department is going for, I say it’s a nice way to bring the story full circle.
As for the insert song itself, it’s good but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t underwhelmed. That’s partly not the song’s fault. It’s succeeding “Snow Halation” of all songs. I don’t know if “Snow Halation” is my favorite μ’s song but it’s up there and it’d definitely be a tough song to beat. Also, as far as final songs go, this one doesn’t really scream “finality” to me. Like, if it wasn’t for the lyrics and the context provided by the story, I’d probably think this is one of the upbeat songs you hear earlier on in a given season of Love Live!. To be fair however, this isn’t actually the last insert song in this season.
Just when you think μ’s is done, the whole crowd cheers them on to do an encore. Having μ’s performs feels like a huge rule violation but I also imagine the people running Love Live aren’t in the mood to oppose a bunch of rabid fans. The semantics hardly matter anyway because this is a really satisfying note to end the episode on. When μ’s started out, they had virtually no fans rooting them on. Fast forward to here and it almost feels like the whole world is supporting them. This scene also compliments the girls’ desire to be μ’s for as long as possible. Just when they think they’re done and μ’s is finally no more, they get the opportunity to be μ’s for a little bit longer. This moment might get undermined by the next episode and/or the movie…but I’ll worry about that when I get to those chapters.
The second MV isn’t anything new. In fact, it’s actually Season 1’s OP, with the show even reusing most of the old “footage”. Like with Season 1’s first/last insert song, there’s an argument to be made that repeating a song takes some excitement away. You can even argue that it’s a bigger issue here because unless you’ve been skipping the OP (like some monster), you’ve most certainly heard this particular song thirteen times already. That said, I wouldn’t call this retread lazy. Incorporating the OP in the story is a really clever move and while it originally wasn’t canon per se, seeing the OP again helps bring the story further into full circle. Bonus points for actually explaining how the girls have access to the OP’s costumes. Apparently, Honoka’s classmates grabbed them from the clubroom ahead of time. Honestly, can I really call them a bunch of randos when they’ve actually been the MVPs a couple of times this season?
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve assumed that this episode is the last one. The show does need to reveal the results of the Love Live finals, as obvious as they might be, but if it did end with the encore scene, I’d be more than satisfied with that. That said, there is one more episode to go as well as a feature length movie so School Idol Project isn’t technically over just yet.
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