Love Live! School Idol Project Discussion Thread

[Fencedude]

Girls saving their school by forming an Idol Group

ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=14062)
Official Site (http://www.lovelive-anime.jp/)

Note
As usual, please try to follow these three easy forum courtesy habits when replying:
1) If you're the first person to post about an episode in any given week, please respond to the root post (this post) and indicate in the subject line which episode you're posting about.
2) If someone has already posted about an episode before you, please respond to that post (or a relevant reply to that post). Keep in the right subthread.
3) Don't use the blue "Post Reply" button because it causes your reply not to correctly inherit the subject line of the post you're replying to. Just click "Quote" to the post you want to reply to.

[Fencedude]

Wow. That was very good.

Absolutely gorgeous art and animation, and even the 3D dancing is head and shoulders over AKB0048's.

Honoka's a great lead, and the rest of the girls (that we've met) look to be a lot of fun as well.

[superdry]

That was very fun to watch. Not much else to say, really.

I should know more about the series since I've bought and flipped through many a Dengeki G's Magazine, but never made the effort to look more into it. It's been around since 2010! While the anime has piqued my interest in the franchise, I think I'll just stick to watching the anime.

[HitokiriShadow]

Wow, that was a great first episode.

I expected this to be a decent to moderately good show and the first episode vastly exceeded expectations. The three lead girls are all great and while Umi is my favorite (loved her skipping out in the middle of Honoka trying to sell her idea, her reactions to Honoka and her imagination), Honoka particularly impresses me as the "genki girl" lead. Like Robotics;Note's Aki, she's chipper, but has a brain and behaves like a relatable human being and doesn't run on pure genki power like a lot of such leads. Cute and a bit of a spaz, but not overly so.

That ending sequence was fantastic. Also really loved the UTX idol song around the middle.

Episode 2 can't come soon enough.

[Ingraman]

Wow. That was very good.
That was very good? Well, I haven't been watching any of the idol shows, so I don't have any points of comparison.

I could only keep thinking that idols are everywhere, and that sensha-do would be better. ^^;

Absolutely gorgeous art and animation, and even the 3D dancing is head and shoulders over AKB0048's.All the back-and-forth between the close 2D and wider 3D during the singing was a bit annoying. I don't think that I would have minded if they'd stuck with one style or the other. It felt indecisive. ^^

Honoka's a great lead, and the rest of the girls (that we've met) look to be a lot of fun as well.I'll cast another vote for the dark-haired girl (only 20 minutes of exposure wasn't able to get their names to stick in my head). The main girl's a bit too energetic and squeaky for me.

[HitokiriShadow]

Honoka's a great lead, and the rest of the girls (that we've met) look to be a lot of fun as well.I'll cast another vote for the dark-haired girl (only 20 minutes of exposure wasn't able to get their names to stick in my head). The main girl's a bit too energetic and squeaky for me.

If you mean the main girl's friend, that would be Umi (http://www.lovelive-anime.jp/member/member04.html). The one on the student council is Nozomi (http://www.lovelive-anime.jp/member/member07.html).

[FUNiOP]

Well I wasn't going to watch this because idol-related shows usually don't do it for me, but this actually ended up being pretty good. Looks like I'm going for it. The only real problem at this point is the CGI, especially with how poorly it's blended. I probably won't enjoy it as much as it deserves because of my preferences, but maybe this will open up my mind to this kind of show in the future.

[HitokiriShadow]

This show continues to be really, really, really good. Please pleas please pleeeeeeeease keep this up and don't fall apart.

Umi pretty much won the episode with her string of amusing reactions, particularly her facial expressions, as she dealt with her friends. Honoka continues to be a fantastic leading girl, really putting in work to get this thing going and she isn't making it happen *purely* on raw genki enthusiasm. She actually does, occasionally, have to use her brain. Even if its just stealing what someone else did to her.

Nozomi's screentime was brief but she impressed with what she had, between her LOLWTF window scene at the beginning and her scene with Maki at the end (boob groping for fanservice tends to annoy me; this is an example of how to use boob groping in a way that works).

Niko, alas, only appeared for about 20 seconds and 80% of that was the ED.

And what a lovely ED it was. Not the music, which was pleasant and nice enough but nothing memorable. But the animation, htat I enjoyed very much. Seeing all of that daily life stuff with the girls and fully animated was so nice. Most EDs are barely animated at all. I especially loved Rin rocking those maracas at the end. And Niko wiggling her butt for most of that part.

The preview was only 5 seconds long but it crammed in a whole lot to entice me, particularly the first with Honoka hanging over Maki, and Hanayo watching.... something or someone.

[FUNiOP]

I wonder why this is the one show that doesn't have a 1080p option on Crunchyroll.

So yeah, I'm still enjoying this series. Some pretty standard material both for trying to get a club going and becoming idols, but it's all executed very well. I'm pretty optimistic about seeing when things really take off at this point. Of course, the really great performance scenes will be balanced out by the painful CG, but you can't win them all.

That would be cool if we got a different ED song every episode. The visuals from this one seem like they're here to stay, but as much variety as possible is always a good thing.

[William K]

Umi is what you get when you combine Mio and Chihaya :D

[HitokiriShadow]

Umi continues to provide lots of entertaining faces.

And then.... no one shows up for their performance. Uh, okay. That seemed to be stretching things a bit. Not a bit deal, but a bit on the forced side. A little hard to believe that absolutely NOBODY except the three classmates that offered their support and the future idols showed up. You'd think at least a few people would show up out of curiosity or because they were bored and had nothing better to do (there's always some people in the "going home" club, right?).

But its a minor misstep at most. It still worked. When Honoka starts to break down on stage, your heart just breaks for her.

And then all of the future idols show up one by one. Er, mostly (since Rin and Hanayo came together). Nico sneaking in was one of the highlights of the episode. Here's hoping she actually does something next time!

[HitokiriShadow]

Umi is what you get when you combine Mio and Chihaya :D

I love your avatar.

[William K]

Umi is what you get when you combine Mio and Chihaya :D

I love your avatar.

Thanks. Plenty of Umi choices from Ep 2 alone :)

[William K]

Man, Start:Dash is a good song and the animation was very well done. Kotori's voice is a bit too squeaky during her solos, but the three of them harmonize nicely in the chorus.

[TheGreenMan]

In this episode, we get Umi doing best Mio impression. Umio! That's your name from now on.
Megane-chan really, really, really wants to join, but seems to be a bigger wuss than than Umio.
And of course, the girls get an empty auditorium...but the future girls of the group show up.
I hope megane-chan joins next time.

[FUNiOP]

Well as depressing as it is, at least they went for some amount of realism with nobody showing up for the show. Of course, their actual performance was unrealistically amazing, but it was very nice to watch, so I can't complain. It was nice to see a few people show up over the course of the song, but they better get more than that in the future, considering the entirety of the audience this time is apparently going to be the rest of the group, and that would leave them with no audience. Obviously they're going to have to keep giving it their all as much as possible to make sure that's not the case, though. Seeing how they get all these girls to join should be fun.

Also, I liked how pressing the play button went into the OP.

[Damius]

Well, that was actually really good except for the CG... The CG was annoying.

[HitokiriShadow]

Very cute episode. Lots of Hanayo being very, very cute. And building a harem. Anyway, she's cute in general, has a very cute voice and is pretty darn good at pronouncing English. She made a good viewpoint character and played a pretty significant role in bringing Rin and Maki into the group.

Maki and Rin fighting over who would bring Hanayo to the idol trio was hilarious.

And Nico is apparently a stalker. Who is now shit-talking them on message boards. Next time is clearly focusing on her, and it will surely be amazing.

Nico is also apparently a 3rd year, as Fencedude noticed, which is surprising because she sure looks like a freshman. Kinda makes sense though, because that means there will be an even balance of three girls from each year in the group. Rin, Maki and Hanayo for first years, Honoka, Umi and Kotori for second years and Nico, Nozomi, Eila for third years.

Also, look forward to the hit new single "My Boyfriend is an Alpaca" by Minami Kotori later this year!

[FUNiOP]

I'm pretty fond of Hanayo's character. I can definitely understand being passionate about something and wanting to be a part of it, but being too shy and insecure about the potential detriment you might have to build up the courage needed. Fortunately, Hanayo has what anyone in that situation deserves, some much less introverted people who are willing to help out.

I like Maki for a lot of reasons, with how talented and together she is, but also how she does her best to help Hanayo, even though she doesn't want it to seem that way. Some of what she says to try to put on this front is a bit more harsh than I wish Hanayo had to hear, but at least Hanayo knows what Maki's really thinking, so it all works out.

Rin is very fun and a great support for Hanayo, but I hope she gets some more significant development for her own character in the future.

Well that takes care of three more. We're making pretty good headway. Next time they'll have to change Nico's mind and get her on-board. I guess if they can do that in one episode then the student council girls in the next, they'll have the full group ready to work toward the greater goal by episode 6.

[DenpaWa]

Only partly into episode 2 but I wanted to take a break to say that the Vice President is great. She's like the mature imouto to the President's onee-chan.

[Damius]

- She is letting them use the auditorium, because that’s what the cards are telling her to do!
- Honoka announced it on the bulletin board… which results in another priceless reaction from Umi.
- They can’t decide on a group name? Let’s the others decide!
- Let’s practice singing… what song? They don’t know!
- Kotori sure knows how to ask Umi.
- Other students encourage Honoka, that’s exactly what she needed. Thanks to them.
- Nozomi at the end with Maki... Eh.
- And they have their song.

This show is really good. Better than I thought it would be. Awesome!

[Fencedude]

Hanayo gains new title: Harem Lead (http://www.seaslugteam.com/2013/02/03/love-live-school-idol-project-04/)

[Fencedude]

Nico-Nico Rin!

>dying

Really fun episode, finally getting to see Nico in full bloom was...something else.

Now for Nozomi and Eli...

[HitokiriShadow]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiicooooooooooooooooooooo~!!!!

That was everything I could have hoped for from Nico's intro episode.

Nico, master thief.... of disguises, not so much. Nico getting caught stealing the burger just killed me.

Not that some of the other girls didn't get some great parts, particularly Rin's moves on the roof and chasing Nico, and Hanayo's hidden fangirl coming out in full force in Nico's club room. Her suggesting watching the DVD set when the group was Kouhai Powering Nico was especially cute. And there were a number of great Kotori and Honoka faces and a particularly great Umi face courtesy of Maki as well.

So just Nozomi and Eli left and they'll surely join together next time.

[FUNiOP]

Oh god Nico is fantastic. I was a little surprised they decided to recruit three girls in one episode than dedicate the next to only one, but she absolutely deserved it. Now it's time for the last two.

Also, Rin is definitely sufficiently awesome.

[Damius]

- In this show, to be less nervous you need to pretend the audience members are vegetables!
- You can do it Umi!
- Good, people are voting for them!
- She sure knows how to make Umi change her mind.
- It’s time for their first concert!
- Wait… WHAT??? No one shows up? I mean people even vote for them when they saw their flyers, but no one shows up? That doesn’t make sense at all.
- At least, the future idols show up afterward.
- Like if they would not keep going!

That was a nice song.

[HitokiriShadow]

Somewhat surprisingly, Muse doesn't get any new members this time (though its clear next episode will focus on Eri).

I'm highly skeptical of Nozomi's claim that that was something she was doing with all of the clubs. That was a looooot of time to be spending on just one of dozens of clubs, especially even interviewing the families.

Nico being completely ignored as a consideration for leader was pretty funny, as were her failed attempts at rigging the selection process in her favor. And the "serious situation" music during the meeting was hilarious.

And we got several more teases about Kotori's secret life/side-job.

Then we got another dance scene and, surprisingly, the CG actually worked pretty well here.

Really hope this is going to be a split cour show, since we are now halfway through the season and the whole group isn't even together yet. Which is fine, I like how things have been paced, it just isn't really a good spot to be in if they really want to reach anything resembling an ending in just 6 more episodes, one of which will still be spent on obtaining the last 2 members.

[Fencedude]

Haha, I almost felt sorry for Nico, but then I remembered that she's a horrible person. She kinda looks like Kuroyukihime when she puts her hair down though.

The PV was pretty fun, nice to see some NicoMaki service.

Looks like Eli's next, and Nozomi may finally have to admit she wants to participate, and not just watch from the sidelines.

[FUNiOP]

So we don't get Eli and Nozomi quite yet. Nozomi is extremely present and supportive throughout the episode, and it's obvious that it's not just because of her student council duties.

Other than that, though, it's still The Nico Show in my book this episode. Her comical failures make for the best running gag this show has so far.

The PV was quite nice. Some of the CG was blended a little better than before. Obviously it's still a drag, but it's not you can get this far in the series without accepting that this will continue being the reality of the situation.

Now it's time for the last two. This time, I'm sure! (Well, at least Eli, but I can't imagine Nozomi won't come with her.)

[Damius]

Another really good episode. I really like the the new trio. The part where Maki and Rin were fighting over who would bring Hanayo was really nice. They gave Hanayo a "double little push" which gave her the courage to ask to be an idol. In the end, the three of them are! Next episode is all about Nico? Amazing that will be!

[HitokiriShadow]

Rin's impression of Eli was cute. Lots of great Nico moments as usual. Hard to pick just one between her getting shut in the room by Maki, trying to pretend her grades weren't a problem and being "tutored"/traumatized by Nozomi.

Nozomi has some damn high level groping to drop three girls to the ground in about five seconds. In general, I've grown quite tired of boob groping but I don't mind it at all here. NOT seeing it for the most part really helps. Here it really is used for comedy, there is very little fanservice to be had from it, and the show is having a lot of fun with it.

I also like how this show uses a mix of girls to move things forward. Hanayo was the one that got her fellow first years to come on board and she starred in that episode, and here its Umi that's doing the lifting to recruit Eli.

[FUNiOP]

No Eli recruitment just yet. In fact, no visible progress made, although the precedent for her being interested in dancing is obviously there, and surely she'll feel that it's her responsibility to make up for these amateurs and bring some real dancing into the group. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Eli.

I wasn't necessarily expecting the title to be something in the story itself, but that obviously makes for a main goal for the story.

This really has to get another season to amount to anything. Episode 7 and we're still lacking 2 members, and the group has only just gotten permission to apply to the competition that will surely be a focus of much of the story. I could see it maybe starting right as this cour ends.

[Damius]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicooooooooooooooooooooooo o!!!!!!!!!!! She is definitely the best thing that could happen to this show, the best addition. Love her so much!!!

[HitokiriShadow]

Well, that was a cheating cliffhanger ("oh wait, I meant it WILL be closed if things don't improve in 2 weeks"). Anyway, now we finally have all 9 members and get to see their first full group performance. Once again, I thought the CG here worked out pretty well.

Really liked that Eri/Nozomi scene right before she joined the group, when she teared up talking about how she really wanted to join but she just couldn't after all she'd done to oppose them.

This Nico/Nozomi shot was very cute. (http://twitpic.com/c6o2a4)

Oh, and it turns out Honoka's sister is friends with Eri's sister, Arisa. That sure was a surprise.

[Nico87]

Thanks all, I appreciate the support o/

[FUNiOP]

And that's everyone. The time between the final members joining and the performance with all of them was a lot more rushed than this show has been, but as I've been noting, it can't really afford to take its time so much for everything.

I guess we'll find out if the school will close at the end of this, and maybe set up a possible second season for the actual Love Live? Or maybe find out sooner and get them started on Love Live for the end of this. Or maybe we won't even know for sure by the end of this? Not quite sure how it will end up at this point.

Good to finally have everyone together, though. Nozomi revealing to everyone that she came up with their name, and that her and Eli joining is what made it finally fit was really nice.

[Damius]

- Every time Umi is embarrassed, shy… I can’t resist… Awww.
- “I don’t want to be filmed” But you have no choice. Actually, saying it makes you even more adorable!
- Hidden camera is so fun!
- “Nico-Nico-Ni” So adorable!
- Nico with her hair down, she looks different. Love her hair like this as well.
- Oops… they all left Nico behind…
- Maybe, introducing her to her Imouto first was not the best idea, just saying.
- Who is better fit to be the leader? Well, Nico didn’t hear the name she would have like to hear.
- Nico doesn’t like to be ignored… she could break your arm if you ignore her.
- No leader is needed, every will sing… like that they will run to the top. Well, roof for now!

This show is so good.

[Damius]

Really hope this is going to be a split cour show, since we are now halfway through the season and the whole group isn't even together yet. Which is fine, I like how things have been paced, it just isn't really a good spot to be in if they really want to reach anything resembling an ending in just 6 more episodes, one of which will still be spent on obtaining the last 2 members.

I definitely hope it will be the case. Just like AKB0048. The pace is perfect, I would not want them to rush things at the end.

[HitokiriShadow]

So Kotori's secret is already out. Her pathetic attempts to deceive her friends when caught was pretty hilarious.

This was a pretty amazing episode for Nico faces, lots of hilarity on that front, especially her poking her head up behind the others as they looked at their own character goods.

And Umi/Eli's sister make a cute couple.

[William K]

Lots of funny faces in this episode. Nico had a lot of them of course. There was Umi getting teary-eyed at having another dependable person in the group, and Honoka's reaction to Umi staying in the kitchen to wash dishes :)

But my favourite is probably Eli's expression to Kotori pretending to be a foreigner :) Reminds me of Lynne's reaction to the Hanna X Shirley competition in Strike Witches 2

And Kotori ships Maki X Nico too!

This is looking more likely to be a split cour. It should be the best-selling Winter series and as I've mentioned before, Sunrise very rarely does single cour shows.

[William K]

Random thoughts :

If A-RISE decides to release a joint single with μ's, would the crossover be called A-μ's?

[mk2000]

Random thoughts :

If A-RISE decides to release a joint single with μ's, would the crossover be called A-μ's?

*badum tssssh*

[William K]

Random thoughts :

If A-RISE decides to release a joint single with μ's, would the crossover be called A-μ's?

*badum tssssh*

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week (or at least until the next episode airs)

[FUNiOP]

Fun times in Akiba. Finding merchandise of yourself would definitely be pretty surreal. I guess it's flattering enough that they didn't bother pointing out that they were unlicensed bootlegs.

And lots of Kotori. Some nice moments with her.

[DenpaWa]

Fun times in Akiba. Finding merchandise of yourself would definitely be pretty surreal. I guess it's flattering enough that they didn't bother pointing out that they were unlicensed bootlegs.

And lots of Kotori. Some nice moments with her.

I suppose the bootlegs are balanced by the free publicity. It was a pretty prominent display and they're trying to up their ratings. If Nico teared up at finally having kohai who look to her for guidance in being idols, this must have gone straight to the heart.

I love the shot of a frozen Kotori. It went on just long enough that you know she must frantically want to think of a way out but her brain is just as frozen as her body.

And where in the world did she get the inspiration for "Minalinsky"? Was pretending to be a foreigner the idea from the start rather than a spur of the moment attempt to fool the girls? :sweat:

[FUNiOP]

Fun times in Akiba. Finding merchandise of yourself would definitely be pretty surreal. I guess it's flattering enough that they didn't bother pointing out that they were unlicensed bootlegs.

And lots of Kotori. Some nice moments with her.

I suppose the bootlegs are balanced by the free publicity. It was a pretty prominent display and they're trying to up their ratings. If Nico teared up at finally having kohai who look to her for guidance in being idols, this must have gone straight to the heart.

Yeah, I don't think it's too unrealistic to think that a group of enthusiastic high school girls trying to help out their school would be pretty happy with some unexpected free publicity. But if they decided they needed some extra cash, they could demand some royalties.

[DenpaWa]

This isn't episode specific, and may be a question best left unasked, but... Where does the music come from? Obviously none of them are playing instruments during the performance, nor has anyone been introduced who would do that.

My best, admittedly very ignorant, guess, is that the music is recorded one instrument track at a time, probably from a synthesizer. Then they time their performance to match the playback.

Does that seem at all plausible? Is there some very obvious explanation that I've missed?

Certainly there are shows that ignore such niggling things. For example, in Vividred, Himawari pulls a massive book out of nowhere. But this show, aside from Nozomi's cards, seems to be trying to make the idol process itself realistic.

Thanks

[William K]

Certainly there are shows that ignore such niggling things. For example, in Vividred, Himawari pulls a massive book out of nowhere. But this show, aside from Nozomi's cards, seems to be trying to make the idol process itself realistic.

The first episode ended with Honoka, Umi and Kotori breaking out into song and dancing while weaving speeding cars, so I don't think realism is a major goal of the show :D

Anyway, I just assume that Maki with her rich family has a studio in her house basement. Remember that she was the one who turned Start:Dash into a song complete with all the arrangement and mailed it to to Honoka in a CD.

[Damius]

- Love live this summer!
- They are more and more popular.
- You were too late on the news Nico.
- While Nico was speaking she closed the door, now Nico is looking by the window. ^_^
- They got the Director approval.
- Oops… there is a condition… it can be a problem.
- The President can’t hide anymore; she knows that Student Council President filmed the concert!
- They are skipping studying to practice, practice is way more fun, you can’t blame them.
- It's official they can apply!

[HitokiriShadow]

Oh man, that was a really fun pillow fight. Fear teh sleep deprived Umi. Honoka's terrified face and Eri's horrified "harasho" were particularly amusing. Also enjoyed seeing Nico being the main target, getting pelted in the head far more than anyone else.

Maki gets there character focus here, which was very nicely done and I really enjoyed since she's one of my favorites. That scene with her and Nozomi at the end was particularly nice.

Also, bikinis, Eri's lovely bikini-clad ass, harasho, Nico turns out to be a surprisingly good cook, and lots of funny faces, particularly from Honoka and Nico.

[William K]

That was an epic pillow fight. Reminded me of the dodgeball game from Hyakko. No blood but just as much damage. Never anger a person who is deadly accurate with projectiles like arrows, darts and pillows.

As usual, the show is a refreshing breeze of drama and comedy. More comedy than drama now that Eri is totally committed to the cause. Seeing her smiling and winking is a big improvement. And Nico is always available to be punished for our amusement :)

The drama in this episode was provided by Maki and I like the way Nozomi got her out from her shell. Nozomi is a scary manipulator. It helps of course that the animators totally love drawing Maki. The scene of her reclining under the parasol was nosebleed inducing.

I also like how they're using scenes from the earlier PVs in the anime. The airport scene and some of the beach scenes were familiar.

Edit : Oh yeah. And I wonder how long it will take before "Harasho" becomes a meme :D

[FUNiOP]

A beach episode largely centered around Nozomi trying to get Maki to be more open with herself around the other girls following Eli's insistence that everyone be treated as equals, and of course it ends up working in a subtle enough way that it doesn't completely rewrite her character.

I'm actually surprised that Eli basically immediately became so open and friendly toward everyone once she joined. She's really just like a warm older sister, despite being the biggest opposition for the first half of the series. I guess it makes sense considering how much drama was present in the process of her joining the group compared to Maki.

And yes, the supersonic pillow fight was surprisingly epic.

Three episodes left. I wonder where things will end up. It looks like the next episode may be a little more plot-based.

[HitokiriShadow]

Edit : Oh yeah. And I wonder how long it will take before "Harasho" becomes a meme :D

Between this, Little Busters, and Metal Gear Rising, I've been hearing that word a lot recently. I don't know that I had ever heard it before a few weeks ago, but it seems to be a popular phrase for Russian characters.

[Fencedude]

Harasho!

And dem Maki thighs (http://www.seaslugteam.com/2013/03/16/love-live-school-idol-project-10/)

[HitokiriShadow]

That was probably the best dance yet. Very fun to watch (but so much going on; I can't watch everyone at once!) and low on the CG.

Also, most epic Japanese lottery roll ever, that was hilarious to watch. And that was and adorable poster. And Honoka seems to have become the class pet.

Need more Yukiho and Arisa.

[FUNiOP]

I actually wasn't sure if they'd even get to perform, but they get through their first song perfectly and Honoka passes out immediately after. It seemed a little hard to believe that she'd be able to pull that off so perfectly after barely being able to function at the beginning of the day, but getting to see a very nice dance sequence and then addressing the issue is probably the best way to present it.

Kotori's big chance seems like it must be to study overseas, but I was hoping we'd get confirmation by the end of the episode. Obviously we'll find out soon enough, though, since we'll have to see everyone convince her otherwise.

And Nico's epic failures in life continue to be greatly amusing.

[HitokiriShadow]

Well, we knew there'd be some drama, but I sure wasn't expecting Honoka to take it that hard. Goddamn.

They mention trying for the next Love Live, which brings up the issue of how often these things happen, since if its the next school year, 1/3 of the current members would no longer be there. I assumed it was a yearly thing and so they had to get to it this year, so I was quite surprised when it was confirmed that they would not make it.

On the bright side, we got a pretty great Nozomi face (http://twitpic.com/ce65ls), and the scene was made all the better by Nico siccing Nozomi on Honoka's boobs. The holiday cheer alpacas cracked me up (http://twitpic.com/ce68cj) and then we got the best Nico-nico-niii~! (http://twitpic.com/ce68y9) of the series.

Also, seems like Nico and Ericchi are close enough to share the same bottle of water and straw (http://twitpic.com/ce666u) now. But yuri ships aside, I did think it was cute how Nico casually handed Eri the bottle without being asked right before that.

[something]

Episode 1:

- Honoka is kinda cute I gue--OH GOD EYES BURN, SKIP OP SKIP SKIP SKIP. Holy shit it somehow looks even worse than I thought from the trailers. I'm obviously never going to be watching that OP.
- Silly anime, real high school students don't like their schools.
- Honoka's sister looks older than her.
- Umi knows where Honoka is going. Umi wants no part of this. Umi is sensible.
- "Daisuki da banzai!" Uhhhhh. That chorus is very silly sounding. Drop the banzai please.
- Blonde-chan you're not fooling anyone. Least of all your very vice president-like vice president.
- Conveniently the girl who knows nothing about idols can sing like a professional with no training. Yeeeeeep.
- Ugh, ED skip skip skip.

It's okay, though having to skip scenes always drains something from a show. I think I'll care more after they pick up two members (preferably Niko) and form the club. On to ep 2.

[something]

Episode 2:

- Normally I should like Kotori-type or Honoka-type characters more than Umi-type, but so far Umi interests me much more than they do. Which is weird because her position in the dynamic is very Mio-like, or Chihaya-like, and as much as I like them, they were not my favorites in their respective shows.
- Idols und panzer?
- That's a Niko. For like 2 seconds.
- Why of course Umi wrote embarrassing poetry when she was younger. Umi is also weak against an erokawaii Kotori. I'm going to be so mad if they don't explore that more.
- I don't think you're supposed to just introduce yourself as a school idol, Honoka.
- Kayo must have left the name suggestion. I guess she'll be the next recruit?
- ...Kayo's voice is bizarre. Man she sounds like Ogura Yui and Hidaka Rina had a baby together. But what the hell she also voices Moritani in Kotoura-san?
- Music room girl reminds me of someone else quite a lot, visually.
- Boob gropes solve all problems.
- Uh and she turns it into a song in like one day? And they're the 999th ranked school idol group now. That's... a lot of high school idols jeeze.

Better than episode one since it's nice to see most of the school back them up, rather than waste time watching them fight against internal adversity. Student council won't hold out long with vice pres (what's her name... Nozomi) working on, uh... ::checks:: Eri. Oh and thankfully the real ED has no dancing. Just the OP I need to skip then.

[something]

Episode 3:

- Umi's delusions make her still best girl. She's leaning more on the Mio quotient than Chihaya now, since Chihaya has no natural stage fright, given how confident she is in her skills. Looks are closer to Chihaya though.
- Niko is mean.
- There's no way Kotori "forgot" about the skirt demand. She just wants to see Umi's thighs.
- "There's no rule saying idols have to wear short skirts." Let me tell you something about "unwritten" rules, Umi.
- μ's has groupies.
- Good, they reemembered zettai ryouiki is essential.
- Oh come on, literally zero people show up? Jeeze, exaggerate for melodramatic effect much? I guess it was still kind of a sad scene but c'mon now.
- Aaaaaaaand CG ruins what it supposed to be the climactic moment of the opening arc. I stuck it out about 10 seconds before giving up in utter irritation. Thanks a whole fucking bunch, Sunrise! This is precisely the shit I knew would happen if I watched this. I'm trying to enjoy a show where the big payoff everyone is working so hard for is rendered unwatchable garbage. Fuck that pisses me off on such a visceral level.

Meh. I'll watch for the amusing off-stage character interaction but Love Live can never be 1/10th the show iDOLM@STER is because of this.

[something]

Episode 4:

- Umi is right, llamas/alpaca are nasty creatures. Kill them all.
- So their performance was uploaded online. From Maki I guess. Or Eri. Or maybe the stupid scene I had to skip showed who it was, whatever.
- Maki's seiyuu can sing but she can't act.
- Kayo-chin has entered a house of horrors.
- And suddenly we have a Rin-Kayo-Maki love triangle.
- Kayo-chin GET.
- And the love triangle has become a mutual threesome. That's the way to do it, girls.
- They continue to tease with Niko. Next time is finally her episode though.

[HitokiriShadow]

- Aaaaaaaand CG ruins what it supposed to be the climactic moment of the opening arc. I stuck it out about 10 seconds before giving up in utter irritation. Thanks a whole fucking bunch, Sunrise! This is precisely the shit I knew would happen if I watched this. I'm trying to enjoy a show where the big payoff everyone is working so hard for is rendered unwatchable garbage. Fuck that pisses me off on such a visceral level.

Meh. I'll watch for the amusing off-stage character interaction but Love Live can never be 1/10th the show iDOLM@STER is because of this.

I've found myself with a bit more of a tolerance for CG in the past year or so, mainly because they've done a better job of making it not look like total ass, but its still a big problem and I hate that its such a blight on idol anime. I find AKB0048 and Love Live to be vastly superior to Idolmaster but they're both plagued by CG in the dancing sections (and then there's Aikatsu, another fun show though not as good as those two, but by far the worst at the CG).

[HitokiriShadow]

- So their performance was uploaded online. From Maki I guess. Or Eri. Or maybe the stupid scene I had to skip showed who it was, whatever.


No, they didn't show who did it.

[something]

I've found myself with a bit more of a tolerance for CG in the past year or so, mainly because they've done a better job of making it not look like total ass, but its still a big problem and I hate that its such a blight on idol anime. I find AKB0048 and Love Live to be vastly superior to Idolmaster but they're both plagued by CG in the dancing sections (and then there's Aikatsu, another fun show though not as good as those two, but by far the worst at the CG).
On a relative (not absolute) basis, my tolerance has gotten a lot higher too, in the sense that I can watch something like Vividred and "only" shudder/cringe when the animation cuts to long-range character CG shots, rather than ragequit the show full stop. But it's still nowhere near what would be needed to watch this scene without wanting to punch my fist straight through my monitor - and it never will be. It's great for watching a Vocaloid concert/MMD video or playing a videogame, but in anime I want absolutely no part of that.

[Damius]

- After a lot of drama, Eri finally joins… and Nozomi is in too. Nine members achieved.
- And then… the song…dancing… which means atrocious CG… Nnnnoooooo. BOO.

Oh well, now that all 9 members are in; let’s see what route this show will get.

[Damius]

This Nico/Nozomi shot was very cute. (http://twitpic.com/c6o2a4)

There is not a single doubt about that. So adorable.

[something]

Episode 5:

- Do we really need a recap every episode?
- Stealth on stealth. Honoka couldn't beat Niko in a hundred years.
- Kayo should be #4. She brought Maki and Rin along with her.
- Rin is going to break her neck...
- Niko, I hope your fashion sense with disguises doesn't carry over to idol costumes. I think we'll leave that in Kotori's hands...
- Apparently it takes days for Honoka's brain to process the calculation that 6 > 5.
- Oh god Eri is so full of shit. Stop looking for stupid reasons to prevent the formation of the club. I'd like to give her some credit and say she's doing it so they can rehab Niko, but that seems more like Nozomi's angle.
- They really should have taken a page out of Minami-ke's book and had the eyecatch voiced by specific characters in ways reflecting their mood in the prior scene. I wanted to hear Niko say "Love Live" in an annoyed voice.
- Look like you have some stamina training in store for you, Niko.
- I think Kayo-chin is in love. You lustful woman you, is your appetite never sated?
- Oh wow, Niko. I thought she was going to be typically embarrassed after that Niko-niko-ni! bit but I underestimated her. She's deadly serious.
- Niko is playing hard to get, so Honoka just declares TOTAL WAR. I think Niko just walked into a carpet bombing.
- Poor Maki just wasn't made for niko-niko-ni-ing.

Zero surprise that Niko is the best girl.

[FUNiOP]

On a relative (not absolute) basis, my tolerance has gotten a lot higher too, in the sense that I can watch something like Vividred and "only" shudder/cringe when the animation cuts to long-range character CG shots, rather than ragequit the show full stop. But it's still nowhere near what would be needed to watch this scene without wanting to punch my fist straight through my monitor - and it never will be. It's great for watching a Vocaloid concert/MMD video or playing a videogame, but in anime I want absolutely no part of that.

I was surprised by how relatively well everyone seemed to have taken to the CG in this show, so I guess I'm glad I'm not alone in finding it unbearably painful to watch.

[something]

Episode 6:

- It's time to reveal embarrassing secrets. I want to see what was in Kotori's bag. (Though given her earlier reaction to that autograph...)
- ...Niko, you're really kind of terrifying.
- Wait, Honoka has a father?
- Looks like you're just a washed up former idol, Niko. The younguns have surpassed you. Poor Niko.
- And now to skip the PV.

::shrugs:: Not a whole lot to say about that episode really. Not "bad" but not that great.

[Damius]

On a relative (not absolute) basis, my tolerance has gotten a lot higher too, in the sense that I can watch something like Vividred and "only" shudder/cringe when the animation cuts to long-range character CG shots, rather than ragequit the show full stop. But it's still nowhere near what would be needed to watch this scene without wanting to punch my fist straight through my monitor - and it never will be. It's great for watching a Vocaloid concert/MMD video or playing a videogame, but in anime I want absolutely no part of that.

I was surprised by how relatively well everyone seemed to have taken to the CG in this show, so I guess I'm glad I'm not alone in finding it unbearably painful to watch.

I'm definitely in the group too. It's definitely painful to watch, it makes it even more painful when you think about how it could be if they would eliminate the CG completely.

[something]

Episode 7:

- Oh god a tournament. There's going to be so much bad CG for me to skip. Maybe I'll finish watching this faster than I thought.
- Maki has fangrls.
- Niko's pride is this show's favorite punching bag.
- No club activities unless you pass your tests yadda yadda the usual. I like Nozomi's way of encouraging Niko though.
- Eri confirmed for mystery camerawoman. Kinda expected at this point. They better get her into the group soon, so far she's just been annoying. At least she has Sakura Ayane for an imouto.
- Gotta love how in anime so many teenagers have had time to develop tragic/mysterious backstories...

That was a bit better than ep 6.

[something]

Episode 8:

- Oh silly cliffhangers that are really just someone mishearing something. That's cheap.
- Well Eri, your options are μ's or alpacas. Your school is screwed.
- (Come on Crunchyroll, this isn't even 1080p, just play the stupid episode. So many problems today.)
- Eri finally comes around, to be the "tough senpai" that Niko is not.
- So I get that Eri will be able to jump right in because she's already about pro-level, but if Nozomi doesn't have some kind of prior training, she's really cutting it close.
- Uh or I guess she could just know how to do it almost immediately with no explanation whatsoever. Er, okay.

I was about to praise this episode for being what I considered the first really great one - less for Eri herself than for how everyone interacted with her - until the last few minutes. Not just having another CG scene to skip, but also it's silly that we get absolutely nothing between Nozomi/Eri joining and their next performance/open campus event. The jump is presumably necessary for a one cour show, but it still feels like bad pacing and I don't like how it was executed.

[Damius]

it's silly that we get absolutely nothing between Nozomi/Eri joining and their next performance/open campus event. The jump is presumably necessary for a one cour show, but it still feels like bad pacing and I don't like how it was executed.

I was definitely looking for some of the training. They only gave us couple of seconds of it while that atrocious CG dance...

[something]

Episode 9:

- "Someone with sense has finally joined the club." Yeah...
- I guess we finally get magical Akiba maid Kotori-chan this time.
- Niko's face when Honoka is fangirling over Eri.
- ...Okay, Kayo-chin's orgasm voice is kinda disturbing.
- Niko's face when she's looking for merch.
- "I can't find any of my goods!" ...Are you blind, Niko?
- Nice gaijin-speak, Kotori. >_>
- So wait, she just started working a couple months ago and she's already the "legendary" maid? Not only that she was a legend back before they even recruited Niko, going by that autograph. Uh, ok.

Okay episode, but kinda treading water considering they felt it necessary to jump so far at the end of the previous ep. Niko faces were the best part though. At least we get swimsuits next time.

[something]

Episode 10:

- Every group of cute girls requires one filthy rich member to serve as a plot device. Though it's unusual it's someone like Maki instead of Kotori, Nozomi, or Eri.
- "I thought she was our mascot." And you were right, Nozomi.
- Honestly I think even Niko forgot she was the club president. I sure did.
- Yay swimsuits. Nozomi is in her happy place, surrounded by boobs of all shapes and sizes.
- Eri, I'm not sure khorosho means what you think it means.
- So when do Eri and Nozomi adopt Maki as their daughter?

[something]

Episode 11:

- Honoka's groupies need to pet her more.
- Outdoor concert means likelihood of rain.
- And oh, I'd already forgotten about the letter that came in Kotori's episode. The usual study abroad thing I guess?
- Okay so the expected rain, and Honoka is sick and lost her voice, and Kotori may be moving away or something.
- Skip skip skip.
- Honoka collapses. Well yeah couldn't you put a stupid tarp up or something? Who just dances in the pouring rain? >_>

Well, caught up. It's an okay show, but not great or anything. Losing all the performance scenes hurts a lot, but even that aside I'd just say it's "decent". Not something I'd import even without any CG. It simply lacks the emotional punch that makes me really love a show.

[Fencedude]

Episode 5:

- Do we really need a recap every episode?

ITS NOT AN EPISODE OF LOVE LIVE WITHOUT ZENKAI NO RABU RAIBU!

[Damius]

- Akiba time!
- Kotori-chan you can’t deceive your friend, but it was fun watching you trying to do so.

This episode was all about faces. Especially Nico’s faces of course!

[FUNiOP]

Whoa, very emotional stuff here. Probably the best episode yet as a result. And while the dance scenes are the big climaxes, the CG kills, so having an episode with such strong material and none of that is a very nice thing. One more episode to get this all resolved, and obviously there will be some dancing, but it should be alright overall.

[Damius]

- No Senpai allowed.
- Swimsuits time!
- And here is the… beach!
- She sure knows how to play with Nico’s mind.
- Nico… you sure knows how to cook… they got you there.
- Pillows fight time!

[Fencedude]

Bright Slap! (http://www.seaslugteam.com/2013/03/29/love-live-school-idol-project-12/)

Love Live: School Drama Project.

[Damius]

- Nico is so much fun.
- Concert will be on the roof…
- What is letter about exactly?
- And yeah… rain.
- Honoka is sick… why she went to run outside under the rain?
- In addition, Kotori needs to say something to everyone after the concert… she is probably going away…
- Honoka collapses.

[HitokiriShadow]

Very nice ending, even if it was low on funny faces. (http://twitter.yfrog.com/jmuleyj) It did provide me a nice out of context screenshot (http://twitter.yfrog.com/nh4xzj) though.

And Kotori's mother sure was really happy to see Maki's mother, wasn't she? (http://twitter.yfrog.com/mb3gsbj)

[FUNiOP]

That was all quite predictable and a little hard to believe that Honoka seemed to teleport to the airport, but seeing most of the characters helping each other out to get back together at the end was very nice. It was a great display of how much they've all grown both in their individual personalities and their relationship with each other over the course of the series. And ending it with the full group performing START:DASH for the filled room was the perfect way to end it. I still couldn't appreciate it as much as I'd like to because of the CG, but it was still decent enough.

Since this has been doing well, I assume a second season is likely, and I'll watch it. It ended seeming a little silly that, despite the title, the Love Live didn't end up being a part of it beyond one temporary motivator. With this series having spent much of its time gathering together these nine girls and strengthening their bond and a third of them in their last year of high school, I'm not sure how realistic it is to think that they'd be able to perform in a future Love Live.

[stardf29]

I see this show is less of an "aww an important character is going to study abroad let's make the most of our last moments together" show and more of a "oh no, an important character is going to study abroad let's stop her" show. I actually kind of like that, for this show in particular. The first just feels a bit too disruptive to a cast as close-knit as this.

Anyways, we get a good dance scene (3DCG notwithstanding) at the end, and the possibility for more. I too hope that a second season would actually have them participate in the Love Live!, since that's still the title of the show and all...

Final Thoughts

This show was great through the whole thing. Disappointment over the title aside, the show did well in showing the girls rise to the challenge of becoming school idols. The cast is great, too. All in all, Love Live! became a very enjoyable part of my Tuesdays.

Final Score: 9.6/11.0 - Excellent. Looking forward to NISA's release... and, of course, Season 2.

[William K]

And Kotori's mother sure was really happy to see Maki's mother, wasn't she? (http://twitter.yfrog.com/mb3gsbj)

They, along with Honoka's mom, used to be members of a death metal band during their highschool days

[Damius]

- They won’t make it for Love Live…
- That Nozomi face is EPIC!
- The school is saved.
- Kotori… will you tell them?
- Sadly, she was not able to tell them herself…. she needed help…
- And ouch… Honoka sure take it hard.
- She even wants to quit… but then… Umi’s slapped her.

[Damius]

That was a nice ending. What I would have like to see more in this series is more practice. More practice to show us how hard they did work to be where they are. A single cour doesn't give them the chance I guess. This show was good, but is missing something, something important for the characters to grow on me like they should have.

[something]

Episode 12:

This show is not all that great at drama. I mean, it starts to get there and all, because some of this episode was actually done pretty well. But the music playing during the last scene on the roof just made me laugh. I guess I really can't take this show seriously enough to get emotionally invested in Honoka quitting. It's better when it's just Niko niko-nikko-nii-ing. Glad someone slapped her though, and that it was either Niko or Umi.

One thing I did like is how they drop out of the Love Live. That's just a smart plot decision, because they don't need to rush towards a miracle comeback win. Of course if it means we get this weak drama instead, then, uh, maybe it's not actually that great.

And of course from a business perspective, it's an easy setup to make a sequel to a show that's making loads of money. But personally, I don't think I'd be interested in watching a sequel. Maybe if it's a slow season without much else to watch. (But when does that ever happen?) But I might as well finish it, only one episode left.

[something]

Episode 13:

I was honestly hoping for Muse to disband for good and Niko to scrape up a few members and just go off and take the idol world by storm off on her own. Oh well.