Love Live! School Idol Project Review (Anime)
Nico-Nico-Ni~! Love Live! may have only seen the light of day in the last couple of years, but since then it’s managed to blow up in Japan and become a consistent chart-topping seller with countless merchandise to boot.
So I was laying in bed with the Crunchyroll app on the Wii U and I was thinking of what to watch; there’s so much I’ve wanted to watch and so I spent ages considering, but in the end Love Live! won because it’s adorably cute, colourful and I fancied something light-hearted. It’s huge for a reason, and I wanted to find out what that reason is.
There’s a multitude of reasons behind the success of Love Live! but I think most of it can be attributed to the nine loveable girls of school idol group μ’s (pronounced muse), all of who play equally important roles in the show and in the songs. The other factor is the animation with studio Sunrise animating it, who’ve animated some of my favourite shows including Accel World and Tiger & Bunny, and their use of 3D CGI for μ’s’ performances is top-notch and manages to not poorly contrast against its sublime 2D animation.
Love Live! begins with μ’s’ school, Otonokizaka High, announcing that it’ll be closing due to a lack of new prospective students, and unless they can find a way to bring more students to the school then there’s no way it can remain open. School Idols have become all the rage in the world of Love Live!, and so three girls by the names of Honoka, Umi and Kotori decide to begin their own group in an effort to save the school. As advertised, there are nine girls in μ’s and they join over the course of the show.
Like I said, I can’t dislike any of the girls as they’re all likeable, although my favourite girl has to be the red-headed Maki. There’s an argument in the show about who should be the leader, which had them face-off in a dancing and singing competition to see who’s the best and it’s just, well, I thought only viewers argued about who best girl is but it seems to be an important thing for idols, too! Their friendship comes first though, and although it’s a show about saving the school and becoming idols, friendship is a key theme and is the true driving force of the show.
All the girls have their own personal issues to overcome, making them relatable even if we couldn’t hope to become idols like they do (I mean I could be, but eeeeh, effort, you know?), and I was interested to see how the idol group would be able to help some of its members with their own fears such as stage fright, struggling to be around big groups of people and a lack of confidence in their own abilities; μ’s wouldn’t be anything without eachother and it’s nice to see that there’s a heartwarming tale underneath the colour and sparkle of the idol performances.
Sunrise have handled the animation brilliantly and I can’t fault it. So many shows include CGI elements that look disjointed from the 2D animation, but it blends perfectly in Love Live! and I can’t imagine it any other way. Love Live! kept a smile on my face from beginning to end, and I felt the tension and nervousness that they felt before going on-stage and love how it was portrayed; I used to do acting at theatres during my school days, and I understand the mixed emotions before going on-stage too well, although whereas they held hands before their performance, I was running to the toilet every five minutes until showtime!
The audio is another big reason to check out Love Live! There’s no English dub but the songs will always be in Japanese now and so the characters speaking in Japanese keeps it consistent, and also amazing. They’ve gathered many well-known Japanese voice-actors together for Love Live!, and the best part is that many of them are already part of famous groups and have singing experience, making Love Live! absolutely beautiful to listen too; I want to buy all the songs, damn it.
Love Live! has an abundance of tunes that’ll stick in your head for ages, in the same way that if you play the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F games you’ll have those songs bouncing around your head no matter what, and I’m happy for this. Love Live! may be biggest due to its anime, but it’s the songs that also help to keep it a prominent and well-spoken about project. The music is varied but all of it is catchy and well-composed, and I know I’ll be listening to these tunes for a long time as they constantly put a smile on my face, but many of them are oozing with emotion, too.
Right, I’m going to wrap this review up because my Maki shrine isn’t going to build itself, and if you don’t see me again then I’ve mostly likely drowned in piles of Maki merchandise. I’d wanted to check out Love Live! for a long time and I’m glad I finally got round to it, and now all I can think about is starting Season Two as soon as possible – both of which are thirteen episodes each. It might not sound like your cup of tea, but if you have even the slightest interest in seeing what the fuss is all about, then please do give Love Live! School Idol Project a go. You won’t regret it.
“Listen, an idol’s job isn’t the show people their smiles. It’s to make people smile! Never forget that!”
- Super Mario Odyssey Celebrates its One Year Anniversary - October 28, 2018
- Dragon Ball Z KAI Final Chapters Review (Anime) - October 28, 2018
- Resident Evil 2 Remake Gets a Steelbook Edition in Europe - October 24, 2018
