Note: This post is considered an episode review and it dives into spoilers for the movie.
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is capping off its run with a three-part film finale. There technically isn’t an official translated title but some places call this series the Final Chapter so until otherwise, that’s the name I’m going with. At the time of writing this post, Part 1 has been released. Technically, this movie was released before Love Live! Superstar!! Season 3 but since I don’t live in Japan, I was obviously going to miss the theatrical release and instead wait for streaming or a fansub (the latter of which happened first). Oh well, it’s not like this is the first time I’ve gone through Love Live! out of order.
Since the NEXT SKY post, I’ve now seen every major Love Live series and I must admit that if you ask me to rank them all, I’d likely put Nijigasaki last. I still like it a bunch for the characters and the music but there are some cracks to the series. While I really appreciate that the show tells a different tale from the rest (this franchise is due for a revamp), not using stuff like the school shutdown or Love Live itself leaves the story feeling more aimless. Something that I noticed after watching Season 2 is that the more unique elements don’t always work. The solo idol gimmick, for example, falls apart as the cast expands from nine idols to twelve (something which the show also struggled to handle). Compared to the other Love Lives, Nijigasaki doesn’t click for me as much these days. And out of the two recent iterations, I prefer the seemingly less popular Superstar!! over it. Will the Final Chapter leave me with a more positive impression on the series? Hard to say until all three movies are out but I am hopeful. I’ve noticed from covering the whole franchise that I tend to enjoy the later parts more than the early ones so who knows, maybe that’ll be the case with Nijigasaki. It helps that this multi-part finale is off to a solid start.
For the Final Chapter, the Nijigasaki School Idol Club gets invited to participate in the School Idol Gran Prix (GPX), a tournament where solo school idols engage with fans and perform live at designated venues with a streaming app. The idol with the most votes by the end of the event is declared the winner. Pretty neat that these characters finally have a tournament of their own to compete in. Plus, it gives them something to do other than hold a school idol festival again.
Part 1 stars Ayumu (Aguri Ōnishi), Kasumi (Mayu Sagara), Shizuku (Kaori Maeda), Kanata (Akari Kitō), Emma (Maria Sashide), and Lanzhu (Akina Homoto). The other six school idols will be featured in Part 2. Yu (Hinako Yano) stays behind at Nijigasaki for a couple days, in order to better focus on an upcoming songwriting contest, before joining her harem friends. While it’s kind of a bummer not seeing the whole group dynamic for the time being, this split is probably for the best. At least with Part 1, it’s more digestible to concern ourselves with six main characters, as opposed to all thirteen. It also allows each main character their own insert song and space them out so that the music doesn’t feel exhausting.
The main cast of Part 1 head over to a venue located in Okinawa, beginning their trip at an indoor pool run by one of the GPX’s sponsors. Lanzhu is particularly fired up for the event as she’s been wanting to compete against Ayumu for a reason explained later in the movie. That said, the one who gets the ball rolling and performs first in the movie is Shizuku. Right off the bat, you can tell that the MVs in this movie have some of the best art and animation in Love Live!. Movie level budgets and production schedules sure have their perks. As always, Nijigasaki features the most stylistic MVs in the franchise. It never really makes sense in-universe but I’ve learned to accept that and just enjoy the fancy visuals and editing for what they are. I really like how upbeat Shizuku is in her concert and that she’s singing about stealing the show from everyone else. Shizuku had some self-doubt issues during her two featured episodes so seeing her act so confident now is really nice. I kind of find it odd that the theatrical or whimsical aesthetic common in Shizuku’s concerts is secondary this time around. However, the main element being a beach-themed stage does suit the energetic tone of the performance and the insert song and it adds a festive flair fitting for the GPX.
After Shizuku’s stream, the girls decide to split up to sightsee and scout for locations for their concerts. Definitely the funniest part of this montage is Kasumi failing to find a stage for herself so she settles on filming a quick PV in some alleyway. This girl’s desperation never ceases to amaze me. Kanata meanwhile lucks out, thanks to Shizuku suggesting that she perform at the local aquarium. It’s a very fitting location. Shizuku figures the place would suit the dreaminess of Kanata’s idol persona. The serene atmosphere of the aquarium also happens to compliment Kanata feeling more ambitious and less stressed nowadays, thanks to her sorting things out with Haruka and figuring out a work-life balance.
Kanata proceeds to stream her concert and I must admit that it kind of does blow Shizuku’s out of the water (pun not intended). The aquatic aesthetic really does suit Kanata but what actually grabs my attention is the MV combining that with outer space all of sudden. It feels very random for a second but the space theme does gel with Kanata feeling like she can do anything now. Plus, it allows for some whacky visuals, the kind that you would conjure up in your dreams, which is perfect for a Kanata MV.
Following Kanata’s concert, the movie proceeds to establish a couple subplots. The Nijigasaki club meets two Okinawan school idols: a sanshin player named Ten Akamine (Miyuri Shimabukuro) and her best friend Koito Ishime. These two have an estranged relationship after Koito blames herself for her unit’s poor debut concert. Around the same time, Lanzhu runs into her mother (Yukina Nogami), who reveals herself as one of the GPX’s sponsors. When her mother offers to upgrade her hotel room, Lanzhu suspects her of favoritism and considers dropping out of the GPX to keep things fair with her friends and the other school idols. Amazed by Lanzhu’s integrity and resolve, Ayumu begins to wonder if it’s alright for her to compete in the GPX, when her only stake in it is simply building her audience. Meanwhile, there’s a growing concern in the group that the GPX might eventually result in everyone drifting apart from each other.
Everyone manages to convince Lanzhu to hold off on quitting and instead spend the first night of the tournament at a local inn run by Ten’s family. Emma decides to stay at the inn to keep Lanzhu company and in the process, she learns about Ten’s situation with Koito. At the risk of bending the rules and losing votes, Emma offers to do a joint concert with Ten, the publicity of which will get Koito’s attention and hopefully reignite her passion for school idols. I imagine Emma is specifically the one resolving this subplot because it somewhat echoes her trying to convince Karin to be a school idol back in Season 1, albeit with different circumstances.
I admit that Emma and Ten’s MV irks me to a degree. While it technically is a collaboration, it is actually just a solo act performed by Emma. The sanshin is a prominent instrument in the insert song and you do see Ten throughout the MV but the character doesn’t sing at all so her contribution is only through context provided by the movie. I can understand that it’s maybe more practical to only have a main cast member perform, more so for Love Live‘s real-life concerts. At the same time, it’s confounding how Nijigasaki and the others introduces us to auxiliary idols, even casting them with actresses who can sing, and then not have them do a song at all. On the flipside, I really dig the concept of Emma performing in a kimono and alongside a Japanese instrument. It’s a neat contrast from her first MV evoking her home country of Switzerland and it’s fitting for one of Nijigasaki‘s exchange student characters. I also appreciate that while Ten gets the short end of the stick in the MV, the movie at least bothers to give her and Koito a lengthy resolution afterwards.
Meanwhile, Kasumi grows alarmed over her low ranking in the GPX and begins to suspect that Lanzhu’s mother really is rigging the tournament. Kasumi decides to investigate and discovers that Lanzhu’s mother is constructing a new stage for the venue. Since Kasumi is a Love Live! character and stealth isn’t exactly their forte, she blows her cover in a manner of seconds. Funnily enough though, Kasumi hits it off pretty darn well with Lanzhu’s mother, to the point that the businesswoman invites her to the planning committee for the stage. Good for Kasumi for finding an alternate career path in case being a school idol doesn’t pan out.
Joking aside, this scene allows Lanzhu’s mother to clarify a couple of things. The purpose of the new stage is to provide more space for the idols competing in the venue; it’s not exclusive to Lanzhu. The hotel room is actually for Lanzhu and all of her friends present at the venue and its only intention to treat the girls to something nice. Lanzhu’s mother had no intention of playing favorites, having figured that Lanzhu would have a strong chance at winning the GPX by her merit alone. As for the rankings, Kasumi checks again and is shocked to learn from a more recent update that she’s now in the Top 10. What’s especially hilarious is that Kasumi ranks that highly because her streams kept getting hijacked by animals and that attracted people from outside the school idol fandom. In other words, Kasumi is willing because of some dark horse strategy that she didn’t even mean to use. It’s simply amazing.
Realizing that the conflict is just one big misunderstanding, Kasumi helps patch things up between Lanzhu and her mother. Kind of funny that Kasumi of all people is being the mediator but I kind of buy it. Given the fallout of the original Nijigasaki idol club, Kasumi knows that it’s best to talk things out. As much as I love seeing Kasumi be the butt of every joke, it’s satisfying to see her act as club responsible for once. It’s also just worth it for Lanzhu wondering how Kasumi even got so involved in her situation. As for Lanzhu, this subplot is a solid continuation to her arc in Season 2. I really like how the movie puts Lanzhu’s competitiveness on its head. The fact that she wanted to drop out of the GPX for the sake of her friends really shows how much she’s come to care about the club. Lanzhu misreading her mother’s actions feels silly in hindsight but in her shoes, I get why she jumped to that conclusion and it’s plausible given how similar the two are in personality. I also don’t mind it as it is interesting to see Lanzhu still struggle with conveying her feelings after she joined the club.
Now that she’s reconciled with her mother, Lanzhu decides to perform on the new stage but she requests for its first concert to be configured for both her and Ayumu. Parallel to this, we see Yu finally arrive at the venue to cheer Ayumu up. While Yu shares the concern about everyone drifting apart, she reckons that the GPX will allow them to collectively move forward as school idols and as friends. The sentiment is more or less vindicated by Lanzhu, who explains that she’s been eyeing Ayumu as her rival after the latter’s trip to London, as depicted at the end of Season 2 and during NEXT SKY. Having studied abroad herself to become a school idol, Lanzhu respects that Ayumu went out of her way to meet Isla’s school idol club and she thinks Ayumu will inspire many others across the world to become school idols. Lanzhu therefore wants to know Ayumu more and she’s motivated to do better as a school idol, hence the sudden rivalry she started between them. I really like how this also ties into Ayumu’s arc for the movie. Ayumu feels that reaching out to fans isn’t a strong reason to compete in the tournament but Lanzhu, one of the club’s most competitive members, pretty much tells her that it’s a good enough reason, certainly for her at least.
Lanzhu and Ayumu agree to a joint concert, with each of them performing their own insert song back to back. Lanzhu’s song is probably the more memorable but Ayumu’s MV has cooler flourishes by comparison. I really like how the two differ in tone, with Lanzhu sounding more vulnerable and Ayumu sounding more confident. That’s not what I’d normally expect from either character but it does fit with their current headspaces. Despite the differing approach, the songs do connect thematically, with both girls singing about their growth, ambition, and future. I particularly like some of the introspective shots thrown in to compliment the lyrics, such as Lanzhu being guided by her younger selves and Ayumu looking back at all her different appearances throughout the series. Another detail I like is that both girls are wearing matching pins Kanata made out of coral and handed to everyone right before the concert. That’s a cute symbol to convey the club’s unity in face of the competition.
Something that you may have noticed by now is that Kasumi has yet to perform her obligatory music video. Well, as it turns out, she doesn’t get her chance at all and the movie cuts to the credits the second she realizes she this. I doubt the staff would go as far as to prevent Kasumi from performing at all in the Final Chapter but it does look like we’ll have to wait until Part 3 for it to happen. While potentially frustrating for a Kasumi fan, I can’t help but admire the sheer commitment to the bit. This movie capitalizes so much on Kasumi being the joke character that it even went with the best punchline it could do with her, which is run its entire course without letting her perform a single song. That may go down as one of my all-time favorite jokes in the entire franchise.
Unfortunately, it’s going to be a while before I continue covering Final Chapter. Part 2 is confirmed for a theatrical release in November and it’ll take even longer for a fansub or an official stream to release. Not much I can do about it but the wait is going to be tough. I think Part 1 is a solid start to the finale and while I have some nitpicks, I really enjoy where the movie went with its six featured characters. I really want to see what Part 2 will do with the others.
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