Now that Kanon finally gotten over her lingering anxiety issues, can she and her friends make it to nationals? The answer becomes obvious.
With the solo performance out of the way, they have the regionals as the girls prepared. Of course, the headmistress of the school eventually calls Hazuki into her office. I find it funny how Kanon still brings up the naughty things that Ren saw on the laptop computer. Of course, Ren wants to forget about that glorious moment.
As expected, it seems that the headmistress shared what we knew all along. The enrollments are now enough that the school won’t shut down. Not to mention, Ren received a letter that he will be sending the funds necessary for the school. Yep, it seems that forming a school idol club did the trick and averted a crisis.
This of course leaves the girls preparing for the nationals. This of course finding a venue to perform at. After all, the performance has a Christmas theme and performed live. Keke really want to go big and perform at a big arena. Of course, her plan failed since the venue owner rejected her requests. Not too surprising since they aren’t going to let some school idols perform there.
Of course, Kanon just wanted to perform in the gym, which her friends find lame. However, after Kanon walked down the city sidewalk, she sees the Christmas lights turn on. This gives some ideas of what venue to perform at and the school body along with others in the town helped them make it happen.
While the performance was the best from Liella so far, it wasn’t enough to take down Sunny Passion. Not too surprising since they are already popular. It’s obvious when they told Kanon that they will win no matter what.
It seems that Kanon finds out firsthand that losing in Love Live is frustrating, especially how much effort the students and everyone who helped them. Thankfully, since they are first year students, they still have another chance at it. At best, Sunny Passion only has one more year left to try and pull another win before they graduate. With the enrollment crisis over with Liella gaining 52,000 followers, I think they can focus their energy not only creating music that others will enjoy but focus on improving so they can find the answer they are looking for, besides winning of course.
Final Thoughts
Like with the previous installments, Love Live Superstar is enjoyable. I think the character development is a bit stronger since the main cast is a lot smaller. I guess in a way, this allows the characters to receive more character development, allowing the viewer to get to know them more and grow a connection to them. After all, most idol anime in general has a boatload of characters, which of course only leads us to the girl of the week scenario. Probably the only other idol anime I know that has a similar unit size is with Kirare with Re:stage.
As expected, the performances in the recent Love Live installments look even better than of course Sunshine and the original series. I guess my only complaint is attempting to rehash the save the school thing.
Sure, only a hint of this drama is there to develop Ren’s character and why she was initially against school idols, but it feels cliched. After all, you have the original series and Sunshine run with this plot point. Thankfully, saving the school plot wasn’t a major part of the story as after a few episodes, they don’t mention it. As expected, it resolves itself in the last episode, so there is that.
Overall, Love Live Superstar is an enjoyable installment to the ever-growing Love Live franchise thanks to the characters. To me, this latest installment is probably the most enjoyable compared to the other installments. Of course, it may change after the second season of Nijigasaki airs. We’ll find out soon enough.
Liella keeps the streak of awesomeness that is the Love Live! anime franchise alive and well. Their journey felt familiar but they added their own brand of flavor to make it their own.
Best girl of mine was Ren and best potential couple are Kanon and Chisato.
Kanon was a refreshing new kind of protagonist. Absolutely nothing wrong with her previous protag senpai of course. Kanon’s style was different and very compelling. Plus her eyes are beautiful.
There’s room for another season or movie so hopefully we get one or both as is tradition.
Just like that, a second season is already announced. Still, I think Kanon is a nice change from the usual protagonist, who is usually a cheerful and energetic, especially with her anxiety issues. Still, it should be interesting what comes next in the sequel and if they will win in the next try.