Love Live! School Idol Project

When asked, a lot of people don't like idol anime or anything similar, or in other words, anime based on music and stuff. I'm one of these people. I don't usually watch idol anime, but I wanted to try this out because of the outstanding art that this anime offers.

At first I was really hesitant, even to the point where I removed it off my PTW list because I would feel embarrassed having watched something like this. Sure this anime might be targeted towards children rather than teens/adults, but it doesn't mean that teens/adults wouldn't enjoy this. This anime taught to me that hard work ... actually does pay off, that if you try your hardest, you will eventually arrive to your destination point.

There are a lot of things I liked about this anime, but the thing I liked most was probably the art. Yes, I'm a very picky person when it comes to art, and this anime reached my expectations when it came to the art. All the characters were nicely designed and all of the 9 girls are cute. In other words, the art was what some people call it, flawless.

The only thing I disliked about this anime was the fact that they were taking too long to prepare for the live shows and stuff like that. The producers should have shown the girls in action more (I don't literally mean in action, I meant that they should probably have shown more of their songs).

In terms of characters, all of them are easily likable, none of them are really that bland. There are 3 main characters in this anime, Honoka, who is seriously hyper and energetic, Umi who is very shy and was reluctant to become a school idol at first, and Kotori who is a very calm, and a little shy.

We have these 3 main characters make an school idol group in order to save the school from closing (because they aren't reaching the applicant quota). They name this school idol group 'Muse' (sorry I don't want to look all over the internet just for a greek character). Eventually they reach 9 members by around episode 6-9, forgot. That's basically it for the story since I don't want to spoil a lot.

The sound is the second thing I enjoyed a lot in this anime. The opening was just straight up amazing, I almost watched it every episode. I don't usually watch endings because they're usually dull and boring, but I really loved the ending song this time, I ended up watching it every episode. The insert songs were amazing too, I ended up downloading that 'Dash' song too (it was that good :>).

I could probably say that I felt embarrassed inside while watching the first few episodes due to this being my first idol anime, but eventually I got used to the feeling and I opened myself up to this anime. All in all I could say that I enjoyed this anime a lot for my first idol anime, and I would suggest this to anyone who is looking for an idol anime.

Thanks for reading :>
- Peten00b

Trashy Pandas Love Live! School Idol Project Review May 22, 2014

*THIS ONLY CONTAINS THE FIRST SEASON I WILL EVENTUALLY GET AROUND TO WRITING THE REVIEW FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES BUT SCHOOL IS TAKING UP ALL OF MY TIME*

“Datte kanosei kanjitanda. Sou da susume. Kokai shitaku nai me no mae ni bokura no michi ga aru.”
“I feel we have a chance. Yes let's push forward. I don't want to regret it later. Our future lies right ahead.” from the song Susume by Muse.
Hope. Desires. Goals. Perseverance. Friendship. Love. Music. The girls of the school idol group Muse share all of these wonderful things as they give ... it their all to be a part of the most popular event for high school idol groups: Love Live. The nine girls strive to save their school from closing by trying to attract perspective students through the formation of a school idol group that, they hope, will one day be a part of Love Live. Honoka Kousaka leads her group of eight other cute, talented high school friends towards Love Live. The anime Love Live! School Idol Project has become my #1 favorite anime because of the wonderful, loveable, and memorable characters, the outstanding animation style, and, most importantly, the best, most addictive, and energetic soundtrack, which all culminate into one amazing story of friendship, love, hope, and music.

I Plot
The plot for Love Live! Is very straight forward, easy to follow, and enjoyable. The story goes as anyone would expect after watching the first episode: the main character and her friends work to save their school from closing by trying to attract new students by gaining popularity through the formation of a school idol group which becomes known as “Muse”. This formula is followed for most of the story, however there are several complications that are not expected and some twists. I'm not going to spoil it, even though this is a review. While being not very complex, the plot forms a solid foundation for the anime, is consistently present, and keeps the story progressing. There is not much else to say without spoiling the twists and turns. The plot fits well and proves fairly interesting.

II Romance?
There are no “official” romances in Love Live!, however, there are subtle and clear hints at possible relationships that could be. My favorite of the possible romances is Honoka x Maki. Honoka is the energetic, lively leader of Muse while Maki is very level-headed and reserved. I love the contrast that would make their relationship work like a charm. Other than this, there are no relationships to expand on, you just get enjoyment from shipping the girls together.

III Theme
The main theme of Love Live! Is never give up despite how impossible the road ahead may seem and always remember that your friends are there with you every step of the way. Friends are there to stick with you through thick and thin, good and bad weather, shit storms and double rainbows. Also, be aware of your friends and their feelings. Another key part of the theme is to never give up on your dreams. No matter how many setbacks and roadblocks are in the way, the prize at the end of the road is worth the experiences that are encompassed by the journey. The theme is not much more complex than this.

IV Animation and Art Style
The animation for Love Live! Is mind-blowingly amazing. For the most part, the animation and art is in 2D, but when the girls put on their performances, the animation switches over to 3D character models for exciting, energetic dance routines. Starting with the 2D aspect, the girls have extremely cute, distinguishing physical appearances. I love the designs for the girls' eyes; the eyes are realistically proportioned and detailed. The girls' bodies are realistic and resemble what actual high school girls would look like, i.e. they don't have obnoxiously large breasts and overly exaggerated sexual features except Nozomi, who has large breasts but not to the point that it's the only thing the viewer cares about or notices. I love that the girls aren't sexualized like in a lot of anime such as Sekirei or High School DxD; I feel the anime would have been totally different if that were the case. As for the surroundings and environment, it's pretty standard. NOW, for the 3D animation. Wow, wow, this hits it out of the ballpark: 3D song and dance routines that will make you sit in awe while watching these amazingly cute girls have the time of their lives. I wish that there were a lot more of these, but I highly doubt the animation budget could have incorporated them. Still, I digress, the 3D animation makes a massive impact on the viewers and is just spectacular.

V Characters
The characters in Love Live! Are some of my favorite characters of all time because of how unique, well designed, and beautiful they are. Honoka Kousaka, the protagonist, is an extremely lively, spontaneous, and strong willed girl who will do anything to achieve her dreams. Honoka forms Muse with her friends, Umi and Kotori before reaching out to get more girls to help with reaching their goal. Honoka is so lovable; she is so determined to do everything she can to keep her school from being closed down. There isn't anything bad to say about her. Umi Sonoda, one of Honoka's best friends from childhood, is a very calm, sensible, and serious girl who does archery at the high school while being a part of Muse. Umi is very talented with poetry and has superb writing skills; she writes mostly all of the lyrics for Muse's songs. Umi is just as determined as Honoka, but a lot more forceful when it comes to accomplishing things. She is a very lovable and is attractive in as a strong female character. Kotori Minami, who is my favorite character and my #1 waifu, is probably THE most adorable character I've ever seen. I love her hairstyle; it's a champagne blonde color, sort of more ash colored (I don't know how to adequately describe the various shades of hair color). The way she wears it is straight down in the back with a shoulder length pony tail that is combined into a folding thing. I don't know how to describe it, but it's absolutely adorable (look it up on google images). Kotori is a very shy girl who loves her friends, and the members of Muse, more than anything. The other members of Muse are Eri Ayase, Nico Yazawa, Nozomi Tojo, Maki Nishikino, Hanayo Koizumi, and Rin Hoshizora. Eri is the leader of the high school's student council; she was apposed to the idea of Muse, but ended up joining and loving the experience. Eri is very kind, hardworking, earnest, and the best dancer in Muse. Nico Yazawa was the head of the School Idol Research Club at the school, who had previously been a part of the school's former idol group. She is extremely passionate about the group's success and wants more than anything for Muse to be a part of Love Live. She is a very tsundere-esque character but has a very sweet side that makes up for the annoying side. Nozomi Tojo is the manipulative student council vice president who indirectly helps Honoka form Muse. Nozomi also gives Muse it's name. Nozomi is very rational and the most caring member of the group; she sees deep into the other characters' feelings and does whatever she can to help them out. But she loves boobs, a lot... she grabs the other characters' breasts all the time. Maki, is the beautiful girl with dark red hair whose musical talent exceeds anything that I could ever hope to do. She is an amazing composer and does most of the work to set Umi's lyrics to a dynamic, lively tune. Similar to Umi, she is very reserved and has a lot of trouble being open with the other girls of Muse. Maki is a genius whose family wants her to become a medical doctor and inherit the family's hospital. Hanayo Koizumi is one of the three first years who is Muse's biggest fan before she joins the group. She is the most shy girl of them all who share's Nico's obsession with school idols and Love Live. Hanayo has a very kind heart, but I don't think she has a whole lot of depth from what I remember. Rin Hoshizora is the last first year and Hanayo's best friend from their childhood. Rin has the same liveliness as Honoka and has that cat-like cuteness that some anime characters have: the cute cat smile, high pitched and playful voice. Again she doesn't have a ton of depth but I still love her character as much as all of the others'.

VI Music
The soundtrack for Love Live! Is just... I... I don't have a large enough, or refined enough vocabulary to do the music justice. Spirited, lively, energetic, peppy, bubbly, and beautiful is the best way for me to explain the music. I'm not a musical expert, I play bass guitar a little bit, and I love the music. The girls have the most gorgeous, beautiful, resonant voices that I've ever heard and I can't get enough of hearing all nine of these adorable girls sing. Each song is so full of energy that I want to start dancing with them, even though I'm a guy. On another note, I mainly listen to heavy metal, thrash metal, metalcore, hard rock, and classic rock but I love Muse's songs just as much as I love AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold, and Disturbed. If that doesn't say something about how amazing these girls are, then I don't know what does. The lyrics aren't as shallow as I thought they would be. The lyrics aren't very deep at the same time, but it's not easy to have deep lyrics for a peppy school idol group and keep the songs and performance entertaining and lively, now is it. I regret my lack of musical expertise and knowledge of musical jargon; I can't give Muse's musical talent the justice it deserves, so please go and check out the songs available on YouTube or watch the anime yourself so you can experience this amazing work of art.

Conclusion
I give Love Live! School Idol Project an 11/10 for its beyond outstanding ability to spread cheerfulness, the amazing and lovable characters, the jaw dropping animation sequences and the spectacular music. Love Live! Receives the Pandas Seal of Approval, a gold medal, and the #1 spot on my top ten favorite anime list. I would highly recommend this to anyone, of any age, because of how open it is to everyone. The second season is currently airing and episode 8 is scheduled to be released within the upcoming week.

"Love Live! School Idol Project", I have never fully watched any idol series before, so this one was my first, and I ended up enjoying it a lot. I've tried to watch IdolM@ster when it first aired, but I just couldn't get into it. I watched Love Live after it was finished airing. I honestly don't know why I decided to watch Love Live, but I'm so glad I did.

Story
There was a clear story, which was good. School is gonna get shut down if they don't get enough students, Honoka (main character) decides to become school idols to stop the school from closing. The story ... was simple, and I didn't have any problems with the pacing. Throughout the show, they include showing what the characters need to endure to become idols which include stamina, vocal, and dance training. I thought that this was a nice toutch to include and helped with character development quite well

Art/Animation
I liked the overall art style, which fit the mood of this series, it was bright and colorful. But the one thing that I didn't like was the CG's. Luckily, they were only used during the insert songs and in the opening. They didn't use CG's for the whole song either, it switched between several times, sometimes, the CG wasn't too noticeable, which is why I didn't mind it too much. The animation looked smooth and was very well executed. No complaints about animation. I loved the choreography during the songs, sometimes, I had to rewatch one of the performances twice. Once to focus on the song, and another to look at the choreography.

Sound/Music
Being an idol anime, I guess I kinda expected good music. I am glad to say that I was not disappointed. All of the songs were catchy, memorable and fit the situation very well. Even the background music stood out to me (in a good way). It always fit with the events that happened and set the tone of whats gonna happen. The opening song was amazing, I never skipped it, not a single time. The ending song was the same, never wanted to skip it.

Characters
Each character had a very different personality and were all likeable in their own way. There weren't any characters that I hated. I found that I could summarize the personalities of the characters in just a few words, which isn't necessarily bad. The characters had a very human like mindset in my opinion, which enhanced the drama scenes in the show.

Conclusion
I really liked this anime and am glad that I gave it a go. I have never fully watched an idol anime before this one. When I was watching, I was completely immersed in the show. I never felt bored or wanted to skip over a scene during the show. The music was amazing, I cannot stress that enough. If you haven't watched this, I highly recommend that you give it a shot.

So, you want to become a superstar?

It's not easy. In fact, it takes more than just skill. It takes the will, determination, support, technique, integrity, and a little bit of luck to reach success. In fact, reaching that point of success is especially hard when there's competition. Among other things, being an idol also means to shine and make yourself a name in the industry. You have to embrace what you do and no matter what, always aim for success.

At least, that's what the girls at Otonokizaka High School wishes to do...

Alright, this series known as Love Live! School Idol Project is actually ... an anime project co-produced with the music company Lantis Co., Ltd and studio Sunrise being involved. Not many people may know of the franchise but it already has achieved success in other fields of music CDS. Well, success doesn't come easy like I mentioned before and in this series, it definitely is something that's hard to achieve.

At first I was skeptical whether to check out this series or not. I mean, there are so many idol themed series already in the anime industry. Hell, even this Winter season of 2013, there is not one (Akb4OO8 Next Stage) but two (Akitasu) ongoing series involving music and idols. In fact, I sometimes get bored of watching this stuff because initially, I thought the show would just be about cute girls doing cute things. I wasn't too wrong either especially with our main female protagonist, Honoka Kosaka.

Just look at her, she's a cute little button with a cute little bang on the side of her head along with that bubbly personality.

However, beyond that outer image is a girl who is determined to prevent the shutdown of her beloved school. How? Form an idol group of course! But that's a lot easier said than done in reality. The series takes this idea and transform it into a more of a slice-of-life story in the beginning. At first, there's Honoka. Then later comes the rest of the characters, or rather girls who all becomes associated with the group. Oh and the group is called Muse represented by the "μ's" symbol. Obviously, it's a reflection of what the group stands for – a music ensemble of girls who wishes to show the world who they are and make a name for themselves while at the same time to prevent the destruction of their beloved school.

Thus, their journey begins...

The initial episodes (first half of the series) makes prominent highlights of some of the other girls in the series. Among these girls, they all have different personalities. There's the timid girl with the stage freight (Umi Sonoda), the cool chick (Nozomi), the tomboy (Rin Hoshizora), the cold heart (Eli), the gentle girl (Kotori Minami), and the childish (Niko Yazawa). Of course, I'm not naming all the characters here but you get the idea. From the initial premise of becoming superstars, these girls come together. However, I find the first of the episodes in this series to be dull and not done right. In fact, I find most of the girls' backgrounds to be stale and lacks any real characterization besides who they are. Perhaps the lack of a general background with the girls is the weakness here but regardless, the first half of the series is a bit mediocre in my book. Well, thanks to Niko, I did have some fun and enjoyed part of her performance. NIKO-NIKO smile~

However, the series becomes more lively later on especially with Honoka. I will say right now that her mood brightens this series quite a bit and can easily bring a smile to a viewer's eyes. If you're having a bad day, just watch her and that cloud of grayness will brighten. That's probably a weak analogy but her enthusiasm is what unites the group she works so hard to create. In fact, as the unanimous leader of the group, it is up to Honoka to save the school and make a name for themselves with the face of music. Perhaps, I feel she tries too hard though. I mean, in one episode, she particularly puts her own life at risk. It's how hard she tries to bring their ranks together especially when going up against competition. That' s the thing too because when you become a superstar, expect media attention and rivals heading your way. It's a tough, tough world Honoka-chan.

The story of the series remains weak but simple. It's about a group of girls coming together united as a music group to bring media attention. By becoming idols/superstars, they can spread their names and hopefully with what they can achieve will save their school. As simple as it is though, it is VERY easy to guess who will join Muse. It's not even foreshadowing but rather given directly with the opening song and poster. The series also doesn't avoid the typical "beach episode" that seemingly becomes one of those relaxing break. Furthermore, the seemingly focus on the idols themselves rather than what they hope to achieve becomes a backstabber in my opinion to the initial premise. Also, it seems that the competition isn't as intense as it originally looked.

Despite this though, I find the series to be a fun and entertaining watch with a cherry atmosphere. It's nice to see the girls tries so hard on a profession that is extremely difficult to make a name for. But what they're doing it for is not only for themselves but to save their beloved school. Now that my friends is what I call good-hearted. The performance themselves are also quite real and done well. In fact, some of the songs played in many of the episodes has that idol-like feeling. With those cute outfits, personalities, and outfits, these girls really do have what it takes.

In terms of visuals, Sunrise does them. And hey, who knew, they actually pulled a nice one out of their hats this time. From the outfits, character designs, and the way the girls dances, the visuals almost feel like they are coming to life at many occasions. I find this to be quite pleasing and interactive to watch as opposed to some CGI movements or forced movements. No, it's natural and the girls are putting on a live show.

The soundtrack, music, and voice acting is perhaps the most prominent feature of this series. After all, music is the main feature and premise of Love Live! The sound director, Yukio Nagasaki puts effort through and it's easy to hear and visualize what it's there. Of course, the performance that I mentioned before are also done beautifully. It looks natural, realistic, and the girls have fun doing it. At some occasions, viewers may wish they were right there with them on the stage. Then opening song, "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de" by μ's is performed by the idol group themselves and shows to the audience that they're serious about what they do. The many ED songs brings together a collage of various fun tunes featuring different mood settings. It's beautiful~

Overall, this underrated series is worth some time to invest into. In my opinion, this show is charming and so is Muse. Although its initial episodes were like a chore to watch, it later makes it up with the enthusiasm of the group along with the all cheerful Honoka-chan. It's also fun to watch the girls perform and hope that they succeed especially when they see some results on what they worked so hard for. Yup, they are aiming for success but at the same time having fun while doing it. Well, I hope you have fun while you relax, sit back, and enjoy what Muse do their best:

Entertain you.

Love Live! Is a School Idol Project, hence the name of course. I tried to get into Idolmaster, but something just wasn't blowing my skirt up.

However, Love Live! Jumps into things a little bit faster and it's funny and such a guilty pleasure. It's not bad but it's not excellent either. It's something to watch to make you smile and hum along when they sing and to laugh at the characters. It's not here to blow your mind, it's an Idol anime after all.

Story - 7

The story is about this all girl's school (at least I don't remember every seeing any boys), Otonokizaka High School, ... and it's going to be closed down in a few years because it's not attracting any new students. So, three students decide to start an Idol club because school idols are really popular at the time. Now with determination they are working to recruit more members and become one of the best school idol groups.

It's not a bad story, but it's not that big of one either. It's just a simple little thing to get the anime going.

Art - 8

The art is not bad in anyway. The dances are laid out very well and the characters look nice. Everything is appealing to look at and nothing makes you cringe about how poorly drawing things are. The characters are cute and all is well.

Sound - 9

The sound is VERY good. The singing matches the voices, by that I mean it sounds like the singing voice matches the characters voice. I'm not sure how this works (pardon my fail research skills) but it doesn't sound like different singers for the characters, which is great. The sounds are catchy and sound really nice. The OST isn't bad either.

Characters - 8.5

I feel like the characters are lacking a bit. We know who is who and how their basic personalities are, but you don't really know much about history - SO FAR. I'm caught up with the current episode and I'll update this later, but we know very little of some of the characters. Some of them we know a little more about, however it isn't much. Each character seems to have a distinct personality though, and we already have seen a tiny bit of character development.

Enjoyment - 9

I have been really enjoying this anime. I love girly things like this, it makes me feel so young again and I love singing and music. Enjoyment is hard to write about because it's how the viewer feels. I personally like watching all of the characters and their different ways, however some may feel differently.

Overall - 7.5 ( 8 )

I give this anime a 7.5 rating, but since you can't do that on here, it's an 8. The story is simple and kicks off the anime giving it a good start. The art isn't bad, but its not amazing either, and the characters are cute and hilarious. The sound is very nice, OST and the idol's singing and dancing. My enjoyment of this is high and the overall is decent. I say give this a shot, if you don't like it, oh well. To each his own.

I know what you're thinking...And stop it.
Recently I've been on a sort of 'binge watch' of anime; but not just any anime, I'm talking about the type with no plot, high school girls doing crazy things, minor fan service, why? Because after a tough day of college the LAST thing I want to do is put on an episode of Serial Experiments Lain, right?

But what if I told you that there exists a moe idol show with so much more to offer than meets the eye? A show with so much heart, passion and hard work put into it, that it has actually bustled its ... way into my shortlist of favorite anime of all time?
Well, such an anime does exist, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, my review, of 'Love Live: School Idol Project' as well as it's second season.

Story - 8/10:
A lot of people like to compare this anime to a little known anime known as K-On! , but in reality, Love Live is so much more.
Our main character, Honoka Kousaka, finds out that her beloved high school will be shut down next semester due to poor application rates, and discovers the reason for this is because of a brand new high school called 'ITX' which is home to Japan's biggest school idol group known as 'A-RISE'.
Naturally, Honoka sets herself with the goal of creating her own idol group, not to rival the behemoth that is A-RISE, but to simply keep her school relevant for another year. From then on, we journey with Honoka through the trials and tribulations, hard work, and sad moments everyone must go through to finally see their goals come to light.
Personally, my only 'problem' with the pacing of K-On! Was just how seamlessly quick and easy a group of moe blob ditzy girls became a famous girl band, no emotion, nothing. On the other hand, even the latter third of Love Live's 3rd episode comes filled with sadness, helping you understand what it is you're getting into, and for that, I am thankful.

Art - 10/10:
I just...
Okay, it's pretty much standard fare that every idol has to look vastly different to the others in order to check off the anime girl stereotype check list and appeal to as many fetishes as possible - I'm not into that.
What I AM into is great ANIMATION, and Love Live does not let me down on that part! You can expect some sort of high production value from a studio like Sunrise but this was just ridiculous. Each and every scene looks beautifully colorful, vibrant, and all round pleasant to look at, but where the animation goes above and beyond is during the performance scenes; masterfully executed scenes of CGI inter-spliced in between animated frames make the choreography look unbelievable, arguably the best and most appropriate use of CG in any anime ever.

Sound - 10/10:
As I stated in my previous review, I'm fluent in both English and Japanese; and therefore I can give a more accurate viewpoint on the dub than others who don't blah blah blah.
We'll start off with the voice acting. As it stands, there is no English dub, and for a show like this, I don't think there will ever be one, every character is voiced by their real life counterpart which I thought was a nice touch, and so I don't think anyone can criticize the choice of voice acting.
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, the music, ah yes, the music!
My god.
Basically, all you NEED to know is that the singles they used for the anime was perfection, and each song kicks major ass, a song is rarely ever repeated in the same season which means you get fresh off the batch music nearly all the time.

Character - 10/10:
NICO NICO NII~
The series has a mere 26 episodes to fully develop and extract emotion from 9 whole main characters, which averages out at less than 3 episodes per character, but you know what? Even though characters like Hanayo and Rin don't even get that many episodes, their stories are all beautifully executed, some even managing to force a tear from me.
The one character that I felt wasn't developed as well as I would have liked was that of my favorite girl in anime, Nico Yazawa.
You see, you see small flashbacks of how tough her life has been, such as a brief 5 second time skip of all of her club members leaving her to be alone for the entirety of her high school life, and I'm sure some of us here know how tough THAT is.
I wish some things were better explained, but what we did get was beautiful, and managing to do what they did with such a large cast was a masterstroke.

Overall - 9/10:
This show caught me off guard, I wasn't expecting to got what I got at all, a show with so much more than it's genre will let off, a show that leaves pretty much every other music-based anime in the dust.
What Love Live accomplishes is a heart-warming story of friendship, hard work, failure, perseverance and most importantly, passion. The characters aren't just cardboard cut-outs, however some of the things they do and say can be somewhat cheesy.
This show is not perfection, however. As I mentioned, the story is very basic, and while it does expand upon it's initial goal, I still feel like there is more to come, and more that could have been done, in a story with 9 girls who successfully played with my emotions.
Watch it.
Love it.
Never regret it.

I'm a big fan of the Love Live franchise, so I'm sorry if I look like a mired person or with bad judgment, but the truth is that I like all seasons of Love Live (including Sunshine and the movie). But that does not stop me from wanting to give my opinion about this anime.

History:
Love Live is an anime that does not have a deep, ingenious or innovative story. This does not make this point weak or anything like that, the series creates a simple story for the characters to "develop" the way they see fit. The story is developed based on training and training ... until you can perfect a choreography. The story is not more than that, a day by day of 9 girls who give their best effort to achieve a goal, but it is more than that, the events that arise in history make it good in my opinion.

There are moments like the first concert they do that showed me how serious the girls were, the story does not want them to be the best ones singing automatically or because they are school idols stand out in a first concert, that's why the first concert was a total disaster (although Star Dash is one of the favortias songs of the fans), because it has to be, a group of idols is not done from one day to the next, that would be totally illogical. Although the time spent in choreography, costumes and calling people for the concert was totally useless they did not give up, they had a credible goal and an "answer" to their problem also credible, it was admiracion and hard work, it has not but, at no time I find it strange that being school idols was something stupid or irrational, the world that presents Love Live makes it totally clear that school idols of that age are very normal and attract public, being a school idol is simply something that would assure (for Honoka) attract public, under that point of vsita it sounds very credible that she has been serious about being a school idol and convince her friends to do it, because that way the chances of saving the school increase significantly and, something that I consider important even in real life, they could turn their responsibilities into something special and very comfortable for them.
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Characters:
The characters (along with the music) is what gives Love Live the essence, since the main objective of Love Live was always to produce good music and create very "beautiful and tender" characters to make the aesthetics of music have cohesion and so make both components are in a way that the public likes and can make any of the 9 girls in the group are liked by someone. And the 9 girls together form the group u's

The Love Live characters share the same goal or main objectives as the others, this is something that is obvious taking into account that all live in the same school and that same school will close.

Honoka Kousaka: she is a character who has the character of a boss, not because of being bossy or being a kind of drastic boss, she is simply determined and cheerful, which I like, is like what I said before; she transforms her responsibility into a way to get closer to her friends and a way to have fun. Honoka is the typical person who is always happy and knows how to make her group happy, and there is the grace of the characters, to take types of people to make a group of idols more diverse and with different and at the same time similar personalities. Honoka works very well as head of the group, I do not have much more to say about her; She is friendly, kind, often funny and very determined to fulfill her goals (although in a certain part of the Honoka series she became very depressed and left the group for a while). Simply a character with good function of boss and who manages to become more responsible in the second season to be president of the student council, so she learned to tormase more seriously their responsibilities.

Umi Sonoda: is the typical girl who is good at sports and academically, Umi is the childhood friend of Honoka and Kotori, so their closeness with both characters is very present in the series, Umi despite being another type of common girl in animes does not take away the merit, this is due to his participation in the group and his way of helping the group.
Umi is a very shy girl who dislikes wearing mini skirts for concerts, but due to the insistence of her best friends she decides to put on the clothes she thought was shameful, Umi demonstrates in the first instance to be a good friend and shows it With all the other girls that join the group, Umi is a character that is distinguished from the other characters because of how indecent finds things like kisses or that indole, this causes pretty funny moments in the series (like when they are watching a novel), Umi has a very strong personality and fulfills his goal of trying to be different from the other characters (although it looks like Maki, they turn out to be very different), it shows the love that has Honoka and Kotori for be childhood friends,and Umi likes to practice archery.


Kotori Minami: she is in charge of the creation of the costumes for all the concerts, so it can be said that she is one of the most important in the series. Kotori shows (just like Umi) the affection she has for Honoka, I emphasize this because it is very important, it would not make sense if they are friends from childhood and they do not show a credible friendship for what they have been together, their friendship It has to be made credible, this is achieved through their friendly dialogues and the memories they have of their childhood (especially the one that show a time when they climb a tree and Kotori and Umi scares them), I consider the friendships of these 3 girls very well achieved, many people may say that cliche, but that is irrelevant, taking into account that the story tells the day to day of a group of idols and adding the fact that they are normal people is a cliche well implemented, is that they simply showed their relationship in a simple way as people in their day to day, the moment that Kotori has to go proves it even more, Honoka gives all their effort to convince Kotori to stay in Japan , And it is Kotori has other motivations besides saving the school, she wants to be a designer, that would give her reasons to join the group of idols. Kotori is the personage of the series that demonstrates to have more motivations in addition to saving the school and it is possible to appreciate his great friendship with Umi and (especially) with Honoka. despite that she does not have a personality "as" marked as the other girls, Kotori is more responsible and somewhat more shy than the others (she is almost as responsible as Umi), but what differentiates her from the others are her goals and things what she does (make the wardrobe, want to be a professional designer and be a kind of "maid" in a local).

Rin Hoshizora: Rin is a first year at the Otonokizaka academy, it is one of the smallest members of the group, it is often childish (but without falling into stupidity imensa). Rin is quite extravaganten his mania to finish his sentences with "nya" also comes to be a type of girl known in Japan (come on, the typical "Neko girls"), so they did the right thing by making Rin the most childish member and the smallest of the group, because although it is unnatural to listen to someone finish the sentences with nya, the series wants this to go more unnoticed and not feel forced, this because the series does not give emphasis to its strange mania to say nya, so if someone came to dislike it would be very easy to ignore.
Rin is also one of the members of the most sensitive group (only surpassed by Hanayo) and that is noticeable since she was little, because she was annoyed to look like a man, which caused a constant denial when talking about her beauty, even saying that She was not pretty enough to be able to enter a group of idols, it's not a traumatic past or anything like that, it just caused her great insecurity, the bad thing is that it may seem quite exaggerated. Rin manages a good relationship with almost everything (if not all) the group, this is because she always tries to have fun and it feels good to have that support in the group, it is as if she often raised spirits (despite the fact that she often gets sad), but she proves to be mature when she has to be mature (especially when she had to be the center in a song).In spite of everything, it takes time for Rin to find a real reason to belong to the group, since she joined the group only because Hanayo did it.

Hanayo Koizumi: she is the most timid member, that is the basis of her main charm, we must give special emphasis on her shyness, because that is what stands out the most.
Hanayo has several good relationships with Maki and Rin (those of her school year), Hanayo had a great affection for school idols, even she was one of the few that came face to face in the first concert of the u's (since all the others were hidden). Hanayo is a friend of Rin since they are small, that is why they are always together and that several times they meet together, often both find themselves progressing to be better school idols, but that is not why Hanayo does not have good relations with the others members, Maki is someone who can hit Hanayo a lot in terms of personality, but that does not distance them or anything like that, both, being first year, they get along very well, it is natural that in Love Live the members that belong to the same year get along, because they have the same class in common, but outside the school, Hanayo still gets along well with Rin and Maki, Hanayo being shy does not speak much, but with Maki and Rin speaks a lot, that She already says a lot about her relationship as friends.
After a while, when Hanayo gets used to doing concerts, she changes her attitude and does not feel ashamed to sing and dance in front of many people, on the contrary, seeing things from her in stores is joyful and emotional, so in the story could leave his shyness aside

Maki Nishikino: she is very mature, has different hobbies than other members since she knows how to play the piano and is often busy as a resource to make songs, Maki is intelligent, but despite that she believes in things that are childish at her age (Maki believes in Santa), but that does not make her silly, obviously. Maki is the daughter of a millionaire father, although this does not have much relevance in the series it has to be said that at a certain moment the u's go to the summer house of Maki's parents to spend some time (it must be said that in that part they occur many fun moments).
Maki also has a great relationship with (besides her school year) Nico, Maki often has funny conversations with Nico because she can turn out to be very crazy, is how Rin, despite that Maki never says he dislikes being with Nico and Len at certain times are treated very well as friends, Maki manages good control of their friendships.
a very remarkable attitude of Maki is that it seems "tsundere" and in a moment even Nozomi tells him a comment of that type to laugh at her for a while. This attitude causes that Maki often reacts of graceful form or that says phrase that, at least the fans, consider memorable

Eli Ayase: is the president of the student council and one of her first actions in the series is to ban the group that Honoka was planning to do, and at the beginning Eli demonstrates an absolute denial of the formation of the idols club, but through the story advances and due to the determination shown by Honoka, Eli decides to help the group so that they can dance well, Eli changes her mind in a way that is well constructed, she simply decided to help the last hope of her high school (since she was the president then logically it was the most worried).
Eli has a very good relationship of friendship with Nozomi, the viscepresident of the student council, Eli knows Nozomi since they are small and in short, it happens the same as with the other members, when they know each other since childhood their friendship is very well achieved and demonstrates in a very credible way, especially by the way they help at certain times.
Eli also has a more firm and responsible personality, she is not strict (the strict one of the group is Umi), but she often shows her great concern for the group, even though at the beginning she wanted to prohibit the club of idols

Nozomi Tojo: is undoubtedly the wisest and smartest member of a group, even before joining the group of idols she helped giving advice, as I said, Nozomi has a close relationship of friendship with Eli since they are small, but all members of u's have a lot of respect for Nozomi, that's not why they have a more formal relationship, but they do estimate it a lot (in a chapter Maki finds out about Nozomi's past and feels that she can get along better with her).
Nozomi also has a very strong personality, as already mentioned is wise, but besides that she likes to joke with the members of the group, thus playing a good role of "counselor" and how a very good friend to have fun.
Nozomi, has a past that is not the big thing or something deep, but it serves to better understand the reason that gets along so well with Eli, Love Live in general stands out for the relationships formed by the characters and how they are shown Throughout the series, with Nozomi they chose to use another flashback to demonstrate the beginning of their relationship.
Nozomi also has the habit of grabbing other people's chest, it's weird, but when he used that it gave me grace

Nico Yazawa: Nico is the member of u that most admired by the school idols has, at first part hating the group of idols saying they are mediocre, but then he has to give the club to Honoka, Nico felt the same as Eli, he disliked the fact that there was an idol club, but for totally different reasons. Nico had previously formed a group of idols that had come far and Nico was emotionally excited by the fact that his dream was becoming reality, but the other members left, because of that she denies the fact that there is another group of school idols.
Nico has a more than justifiable motivation to join the group of idols, she admires the idols in the same way that Hanayo does, that is precisely why Nico and Hanayo become good friends, Nico is the most open member to express herself , she does not feel ashamed when it comes to being idols and that is noticeable when she makes her "Nico Nico Nii" to show that she "knows" to be an idol.
Nico in general is more similar to Rin, both are very crazy and funny, but Nico takes his idol job very seriously.

Being Love Live a series that focuses a lot on the charm of the characters is normal to try to make them more distanced in terms of design is concerned (and if it does not do so by personality). This is an excellent factor taken by the series, since, regardless of whether his personality is distinctive or not of the character, his design will make him feel more detached and special.
In Love Live the designs of the 9 girls is done in a very good way, they did not try to make the designs very strange, they put an exact amount of intonation to the colors to make the hair and the eyes of a color neither realistic nor unreal.
It is also worth mentioning that the characters are also distinguished by the excellent work of the dubbing actors (or seiyuus) that make the voice feel different from the other members (which was to be considered taking into account the budget behind it). ). In my opinion as far as designs are concerned, Love Live did it very well, knew how to create a nice design for the view and knew how to take advantage of the lyrics or "aesthetics" of their songs to make characters that in my opinion are very charismatic and distanced from others, very good characters.
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Rhythm and events of the story:
Leaving aside that which I just told about the ed u's members, it is also worth mentioning how to develop the story based on them, they constantly have scenes that demonstrate their passion for what they do and their bonds of friendship achieved with time together.
Such ephemeral scenes as the flash-backs that have until more transcendental moments like when the u's present their first concert, all those parts are important for the plot, not only because they cause a change in the way of training or to see the work of being idol, but also because you can get to emphasize more with all the members of the group, that's why they have so many different hobbies
and they get to know each other throughout the series. With everything said then you can see a very good convinacion or "synergy" on the part of the members demonstrating that although the work of idol is difficult, they continue to strive and continue to advance naturally, they simply combine with each other, all are different, but try to fit for the same goal, become school idols

Events happen at a good speed for what is normally offered by a series that presents the day to day of a group of idols.
The series is well accompanied by moments where the u's make concerts, making the soundtrack good and the series is not monotonous, there will always be a song to raise the mood at certain times.
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animation and soundtrack:
How I mentioned the soundtrack is very good in the series due to how the series makes the u's have a workout and then a dance, try to make the different songs, the soundtrack of Love Live is good because that's what the series is based on, music.
The animation is in CGI due to the difficulty to animate dance movements, but the scenarios in which the dances take place, the same dances that make tune with the music make it something remarkable, it is not at all an easy job to animate dances and final does not end badly. Animation is well achieved for how complex it is.
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Enjoyment:
I enjoyed the series very much, it calms me a lot listening to the songs of the u's
are songs presented in the anime or not, hopefully someone feels the same as I feel with this series, I do not want to sound dramatic, but it generates mixed feelings. Undoubtedly enjoy them, you will especially like if you disriutas the music and you like the characters that go more to the "cute and tender" than anything else, but for me no doubt Love Live fulfilled its goal

This show is a sad guilty pleasure of mine. I shouldn't like this, but I did.

It shows what hard work can really achieve. Especially with so much competition out there. It can really motivates you to be successful. With all that aside the show is very shallow and simple.

Cute girls dancing and singing to save their beloved school.

Story: Based around nine girls working to become idols and save their school. The initial story is okay, but nothing ever goes past that. The plot is weak and suffers from this, but what can you expect from a 13 episode series. The story can only ... be comparable when you take a slice-of-life. Each episode itself has it's own story. Don't expect much from it. I simply watched it for fun, nothing more or less.

Put aside potential flaws it gave a calming and easygoing atmosphere. This made the show feel comfortable. Like laying in your bed at night, nothing really changes, but it doesn't ever feel uncertain.
Sorry fans of this show but I'm going to give the story a 6.

Art: It wasn't bad at all. I didn't even know sunrise could make this high of quality. All aspects of the girls stage, and clothing were unique and changed often. This kept me waiting to see the next outfit.
Watching in HD i could tell some of the drawings during performances almost looked 3d. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At times it got weird to watch and i almost wished it would just stay 2d. It was more likely done because of budget. Much better than other shows *cough cough* .
Art is an 8.

Sound: I can't say much since i watched it in subbed and not many emotions were expressed through the characters. Other than that as far I could tell they fit the characters, nothing oddball my ears could hear.
Who could forget about the music. Most of the songs picked were very catchy and often found myself bobbing my head.
This deserves an 8.

Character: This is where the show failed to deliver on. For the first couple of episodes I didn't even know Kitori's mom was the principle. By this time almost the whole group had been already established.
when looking back at it most of the group was very 2 dimensional. Backgrounds never spoken, wondering even if some of the girls said a word after wanting to join Muse.
Although the ones that were shown some light had different personalities. All these differences make them very lovable. You could basically read all these characters, like the back of your hand.
This was very traumatizing to characters, and made it almost boring.
What could be more wrong? The fact that not once did they develop really in much of a way.
-The over dramatic sad scene at the end didn't prove anything.
Character, gets a 5.

Enjoyment: Like i said i really enjoyed this. Probably much more than I should have. Just the cuteness of everything kept me going. What does that say about me? I am a sucker for cute girls dancing in cute costumes. Hell Yeah!
A 7 for enjoyment.

Overall: Don't set goals high, at best don't set any. With that type of thinking you might like it.
Their are many shows of this variety, that said the originality is near zero. I don't recommend this if you look for deep plot inducing anime. I am forewarning you that their is not one guy in this. The rest is your choice at this point, is it worth watching or not? I would respond with yes. My hormones kept me going. I conclude my official first review with a 7.

I have to admit that when I first started watching this show, I wasn't expecting a whole lot. I decided to give it a try because I had recently gotten hooked on the mobile app, but I figured that it would be little more than a feelgood story about some friends getting together and singing some catchy songs. Nothing groundbreaking, and definitely nothing too serious. Which is probably why I was so impressed by what it ended up being.

Story: 10/10

What I appreciated the most about Love Live was that it didn't try to pretend that the girls would be able to get up right away ... and become the top school idols in the nation. Rather than using the typical "Character gets by on sheer luck and natural talent" plotline, it's made entirely obvious that μ's is starting from the very bottom- The group isn't even fully formed until more than halfway through the series. The initial founding trio is shown multiple times at the beginning of the show running up and down stairs and stretching, just so that they can be in shape enough to perform. The road they take to reach their goals is a long one filled with physical, mental, and emotional hardships, and even if it's obvious to most viewers that everything will ultimately turn out well for them, it's still tear-jerking to watch them in their darker moments- and even more satisfying to watch as they gain their first fans, put on their first live performance, and slowly but steadily watching them grow not just as performers, but as a team.

Art: 10/10

The art style in this anime fits the overall tone perfectly- There are a LOT of bright colors, and the girls' eyes are almost constantly sparkling. The animation is generally pretty beautiful to look at. The normal, everyday scenes are above average, but nothing overly special. But whenever there is a performance by μ's (this includes the OP theme), the show upgrades its animation to a more 3D-type style in order to more fluidly portray the dancing and expressions. Those bits are absolutely stunning, even if they take a bit of getting used to.

Sound: 9/10

Of course, as an anime centered around a (school) idol group, there are bound to be some catchy songs, and Love Live doesn't disappoint on that front. Of course there's the bright OP song "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de" and the upbeat ED "Kitto Seishun ga Kikoeru," but each episode usually has at least one insert song that μ's performs as part of the story. They're all about the same in terms of quality, which is to say that they're all really good. I'm not a big enough fan of the style to listen to them on a regular basis outside of watching the show, but none of them are annoying to listen to, and they're all fitting for the mood of the show- that is to say, incredibly optimistic and, for the most part, upbeat.

Character: 8/10

For the most part, I absolutely loved the characters in Love Live. I have a soft spot for first-year member Hanayo, the soft-spoken girl who is extremely shy until she starts talking about her incredible, lifelong passion for idols (her best friend, the ever-energetic first-year Rin- another favorite of mine- comments that she's an entirely different person when someone brings up idols). The other first-year, Maki, was okay, but she never stood out to me as much more than a standard tsundere. The second year trio- arguably the main characters, seeing as they were the initial founders of μ's- were generally pretty likable as well. Honoka was cheerful through the majority of the series (barring one of the more dramatic episodes toward the end), Umi started off a bit frigid but quickly warmed up into one of the more well-rounded characters, and Kotori was usually pretty happy, but didn't play a very critical role until the end. As for the third years, well... they were probably some of my least favorite characters. Nico was a bit annoying (basically a second tsundere, albeit a much LOUDER tsundere than Maki), Nozomi was just sort of bland, although she did grow on me, and Eri, the student council president who is initially opposed to the very existence of μ's, was undoubtedly my least favorite character in the series. Even after she joined the group and mellowed out a bit (This isn't a spoiler, as the OP shows all nine girls together from the very first episode), I just couldn't find it in me to like her.

Basically, I don't think any of the characters are particularly strong on their own. But I still gave them an 8/10, because I loved the way that they all complemented each other, and they all showed at least a little bit of growth at the end of the series.

Enjoyment: 10/10

Based on the scores I gave this anime, I think it should be fairly obvious that I enjoyed it. The sad scenes are only sad for long enough to make the mood upswing that much more satisfying, and the happy scenes are strong because after a while, it's impossible NOT to feel something for the hardworking characters. It's an emotional roller coaster, and it's so much more satisfying than it seems like it's going to be.

Overall: 10/10

Like I said at the beginning, I got a whole lot more out of this anime than I ever expected. I would recommend giving it a watch, even if it doesn't look all that special or interesting at first glance- before I watched Love Live, I had absolutely no interest in idol-themed anime. The music bored me, and I expected it to be yet another "cute girls doing cute things" slice-of-life show. But it's SO much more than that, and I've found a new favorite anime to add to my list.

This is my first review, so please bear with me.

Story: 9/10
The story is easy to understand. School closing down due to a lack of applicants, and three girls decide to form a school idol group to gain popularity. They name this idol group "μ's" and eventually end up with nine members in total. I had no problems with pacing of the story - it wasn't too slow or fast - and found each episode very interesting, making me want to watch more.

Art: 8/10
The art is, in a word, flawless. The characters, although looking very different from one another, are all cute. In fact, I was ... once asked "Who do you think is the prettiest member of μ's?". I couldn't choose. They were all beautiful in their own special ways. The one thing I wasn't a fan of was the CG used when songs were performed, but I got used to it later on.

Sound: 9/10
Because this is an idol anime, there'll have to be lots of music, right? The songs in this anime were amazing, especially the opening, "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de". Normally, I would skip openings, but I didn't skip this one. Not once. The other songs were amazing too, my personal favourite being "START: DASH". The songs are catchy and upbeat; it's next to impossible to dislike them.

Character: 9/10
There are nine members of μ's. Each of them had their own personality - and they were all lovable personalities.

Honoka Kousaka: The protagonist. The one who decided to start μ's. An optimistic person who isn't scared to take risks, and her determination is what makes her lovable. Seriously, though. When she was happy, I was happy. When she was upset, I was upset. She made a perfect main character.

Eli Ayase: The Student Council president who seems a little antagonistic at first, but as you watch more, you find out that she has her own reasons for seeming like this. She, at first, was against Honoka's idea of creating an idol group, but later on became the 8th member of μ's.

Kotori Minami: Honoka and Umi's childhood friend. She is very caring, and has a hard time expressing her feelings because she is thinking about others as well. It took me a while to like her, because I found her weak at first, but I started liking her more after realising how kind she is, because she takes other people's feelings into consideration.

Umi Sonoda: Honoka and Kotori's childhood friend and μ's lyricist. A shy girl who is always thinking logically. She is extremely modest, and isn't a fan of short skirts, but gets used to them later on. She also has a strong will. She is my personal favourite because I adore both her shyness and her strong will.

Rin Hoshizora: An energetic tomboy who is a little self-conscious when it comes to wearing skirts, as she was made fun of for wearing them as a child. Rin is, in a word, adorable. Like Honoka, she is always looking at the bright side of things. She can be a little idiotic at times, but she is still lovable. How can anyone hate her?

Maki Nishikino: A tsundere who is μ's composer. I normally dislike tsunderes, but not Maki. Maki is a little stubborn, but also finds it hard to admit her true feelings. She's talented at playing the piano, and is also described as being beautiful. I am someone who usually hates tsunderes, but Maki was different to all the other tsunderes I've ever seen in anime.

Nozomi Toujou: Nozomi is the Student Council Vice-President and Eli's best friend, although her personality is very different to Eli's. She helped μ's, even when she wasn't a member of the group. She's kind and wise, which is one of the reasons why I love her as a character.

Hanayo Koizumi: Rin's childhood friend who had a passion for idols for a long time. However, being very shy and reserved, it took her a while to gather up the courage to join the group. Hanayo is one of the cutest members of μ's in my opinion. Her two personalities - her shy one and her "ohmygodIloveidolssomuch" one - are both very lovable.

Nico Yazawa: Like Hanayo, Nico has a passion for idols. She is also a bit stubborn like Maki, but she is also very caring. I honestly don't see how this character can be disliked. She is definitely one of my favourites.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I enjoyed this anime a lot. The characters were all unique and special, the art was beautiful, and the songs and story were just fabulous.

Overall: 10/10
I can easily say that this is one of the best anime I have ever watched. Seriously, the worst thing about the anime was probably the CG - and they weren't even that bad! This anime is a must watch.

Love Live! is a Comedy, Idol anime co-created by music label Lantis and animation studio Sunrise in 2010. The story is about Honoka Kōsaka, girl who loves her school and after she hears that it plans to close down because of lack of first year applications, she becomes determined to save her school. After see how popular school idols are, decides to create a idol group called μ's (Muse) with her friends to attract new students and save the school. So that the plot of Love Live, as i normal don't write spoilers, all i can say that the writing and flow of the story ... is very well done as every episode is interesting and funny.
Now on the characters, there is nine girls that make up the idol group μ, so i only going to be brief about them.
Honoka Kōsaka (Voiced by Emi Nitta), is the main character and leader of μ's, her family owns a sweet shop. She is very cheerful and never gives up on anything,
Eli Ayase (Voiced by Yoshino Nanjō), is the student council president who is also trying to save the school. She doesn't like school idols, but joins μ's when she sees how hard they are trying to save the school.
Kotori Minami (Voiced by Aya Uchida), is a childhood friend of Honoka and the daughter of the school's Chairwoman. She normally have her head in the clouds but she is kind hearted. She is μ's wardrobe designer and one of it's choreographers.
Umi Sonoda (Voiced by Suzuko Mimori), is a childhood friend of Honoka and Kotori, and a member of the school' Kyudo (Japanese martial art of archery) club. She acts as the voice of reason to group and she leads the practice sessions.
Rin Hoshizora (Voiced by Riho Iida), is a very athletic girl and has a very cheerful personality. she is a bit it of a tomboy and has a habit of acting as cat.
Maki Nishikino (Voiced by Pile), is a talented singer and Pianist. she is the main composer and vocal coach of μ's.
Nozomi Tojo (Voiced by Aina Kusuda), is the student council vice president and the μ's spiritual leader with her almost all knowing vibe she has. She also has a very unique way of cheering up the other group members.
Hanayo Koizumi (Voiced by Yurika Kubo), she is a shy girl who allows dreamed about becoming an idol since she was young. She joins μ's wit her childhood friend Rin to follow that dream.
Nico Yazawa (Voiced by Sora Tokui), is a girl who looks up to idols and wishes to become one herself. She is μ's wardrobe supervisor with Kotori.
That is all nine characters out of the way, next is presentation.
Love Live! is a very colorful and brimming with life. The art style is well designed with attention to detail with it's character design. The animation is beautiful created especially the song scenes which as been designed in a different animation style to make it look more better. the character animations and facial expressions are well made and look very believable. The voice acting is great and singing is well done as seems that they had a lot of work put into them and it shows wonderfully. The music is beautifully created and some are very catchy. The topics used in the anime are well as they fit the story and don't seem out of place.
Lastly, my opinion.
Love Live! is one of those animes that can bring a smile to my face. i love how Sunrise has created a wonderful story what captures your attention and makes you fall in love with the characters with me loving Nozomi because how funny she is and of course her hair. The songs really makes this anime, one of my favorites to watch and i really enjoy. The animation itself shows me how much hard work has been put into this and i like to say it probably one the best looking animes i ever seen.
Now for the Verdict.
Love Live! is a wonderful created animes that shows you that you don't need over the top story to make a great story. The art design is beautiful created and the songs will make you fall in love with it as they have been created with a lot of care. Love Live! is one anime i can recommend anyone to watch as it can be enjoyed by all and i say one of the best animes out there.

Now, people are gonna think I'm biased, and yes, all reviews are biased, so... I'll try to be fair as possible, but I'll start off with a quite possibly outlandish statement - this is my favourite anime. If you check my list, you may be surprised this is my favourite - but then again, there are a few I'm watching and a few on-hold... I'll get back to them, ANYWAYS..
STORY - Not the best, not the worst. *MINOR SPOILERS* The story revolves mainly around three girls, 2nd years in high school, who want to save there school from closing, as people just aren't applying. Hakone, ... the main protagonist, loves idols, and sees idols are attracting students to other schools. So she, along with her cute friends, the energetic Kotori and shy Umi, after a bit of convincing on Umi's side, make an idol group. They find out from the school council that there is all ready an idol club, and so convince the only remaining member of the club, Yazawa, to let them join. It's safe to say all goes well, but that's the general gist, I'll leave the non-viewers to experience.
ART - I love the art. It's clean and sharp, and very bright and colourful. Some people don't like CGI, but you can't argue with the picture it creates. It's all very beautiful.
SOUND - The sound is outstanding. I mean, it's a musical anime anyway, with it being about idol's and everything, but just listen to the intro theme. That is literally on my phone for the sole reason of being my alarm! And the ending theme! And all the songs in between!
CHARACTER - The characters in this are very personal to me. They are introduced at a reasonable pace, with the 3 main characters being the only 3 of the club for about half the anime, so you get used to them, and the others being recruited for various reasons (previous acting, infuated by idols looks etc). But the 3 main characters remind me, a male, of me and my 3 childhood friends. Sure, that makes 4, but it's still very, very personal, and anyone who is in the same boat as me will understand!
OVERALL/ENJOYMENT - As I stated at the beggining, this is totally my favourite anime, and it comes down to two things: The personal characters and the awesome music. I won't go on any long, but will end with my score, I can't give it anything more than a 10/10.

My time with Love Live! is much like the few members of its nine strong cast who were reluctant about being school idols. I wonder how a pushy, narrow sighted girl managed to rope me into this crazy gig, and then I wonder if this idiot turned friend will drag me to another adventure that was more fun than I ever thought possible. The nine strong cast is μ's (pronounced ‘Muse’), named for the Nine Goddesses of Music. Gods don’t die, and neither can my love for their antics, their struggles, and their story.

But Umi Sonoda would suggest I explain everything before acting sentimental, and ... I wouldn’t expect less from little miss ‘modesty and logic will hopefully win the day (or at least try to guide it).’ She’s the kind of person who tries to keep others on track, sometimes a bit too much when her friends would rather relax at the beach. Thankfully, her sense of discipline is never misguided, as she’ll often pick up her friends after they fall from a mistake. She doesn’t move past being the voice of reason, but she is a major reason μ's goes far.

μ's itself is lead by Honoka Kousaka, whose motive for being a school idol is as crazy as it sounds. Her school is close to closing down due to the lack of new students, and the juniors before her will be the last new students the school accepts. After a chance glimpse at how a concert from a school idol group has brought attention to their school, she has the idea of being a school idol to hopefully attract new students to her school. Enough students to the point where her school won’t close down. Surely such an impulsive idea won’t be where the story takes off from, right?

Well, the story starts there but it doesn’t take off until three episodes into the first season. Reality hits Honoka as her first concert fails, and from that point on the story really begins. Much of season one is about our lively lyrical leader bringing other students to her cause. Despite this, the story doesn’t get serious but doesn’t lack for purpose either. One of the main strengths of Love Live! is an unbridled sense of fun that never loses sight of its story. There’s enough stage practice to make the lead up into every concert believable, but even the antics outside that are always meaningful.

From the change into crazy costumes to reinvent their image for fear of growing stale, to the beach episode that brings Maki Nishikino out of her shell in more ways than one, to the odd responsibility shared by Honoka, Umi, and Kotori Minami in season two, every moment is more than its humor. Despite the fun, there are still times when the story gets serious, and it’s almost never unfounded as even things mentioned in passing come to show their importance later on.

It especially shows with Kotori, whose story deals with the issue of what it means to contribute to a team through humorous bouts of ‘writer’s block.’ Kotori herself hasn’t a single aggressive bone in her body, but that doesn’t mean a sweet and cheerful persona is all she is. She has her doubts and worries, and her reticence at one point truly tests the friendship between herself, Umi, and Honoka. Her story implies the question of what it means to chase a dream, and whether the chase can make someone lose sight of what’s around them.

And for third year student Nico Yazawa, being a part of μ's is another chance to chase her dream. There’s a good, if prideful, reason she wants to become a school idol, and her over the top ‘cute’ persona shows that dedication. In truth, she’s very smug and cynical, but not without good reason. In every jaded person is an optimist waiting to let loose, and Nico does quite enjoy herself as the series goes on, however smug she still acts. Her vast array of idol stuff like concert DVDs also shows her dedication to the art, even before going into her backstory. Much to the pleasure of first year student Hanayo Koizumi.

Hanayo is the old case of how passion can call out an entirely different side to someone. At a glance, she’s timid, and her joining μ's is partly thanks to a small push from her friend Rin Hoshizora and classmate Maki. But from that point on, she’s often energetic, especially in the presence of idols and being an idol fan herself, and of course during μ's concerts. There’s a kernel of truth to how her interests and hobbies suddenly bring out such an involved side to her, but it isn’t over the top to the point of unbelievable.

Then again, the only unbelievable—and weak link by extension—part of the story is Rin. She’s mostly ‘just there’ in season one, while season two messily develops her with an issue that’s never brought up or hinted at save for early in season one. Her time in the spotlight involves being the temporary leader of μ's for…some reason, and wearing an outfit that’s not her style just because. Though still a quite likable tomboy with a penchant for cat speak, the brief change to that other side of her is largely unfounded to the point where likability is all she has going for her.

Compare this to Maki, who doesn’t lack for believability and likability. Despite being as young as Hanayo and Rin, she carries herself with a senior like demeanor to speak level even with third years Eli Ayase and Nozomi Tojo. At the same time, her true self often shows whether she’s flustered or just being a little more open around Nico and Nozomi, and everyone else. And yet, her want to hide her feelings is less about any one of her friends and more about being truly reticent despite her apparent sharpness. Maki is well developed, and not just for her body as Nozomi learns firsthand(s).

For the curious, the big chested Nozomi has a small running joke throughout the series where she gropes the girls of μ's. Nozomi herself is often in the background, but due to her role and reason for being in μ's, it makes sense. Her role is someone who watches over these girls (especially Eli), her reason more than just wanting to watch over them as she befriends them. Mischievous and motherly, Nozomi looks after μ's as if it was her own creation, and the creation of her own person isn’t lacking despite (or maybe even because of?) her lack of screentime.

Of course, her friend Eli isn’t open to μ's being a thing at all. Not at first. Her doubt towards them is rooted in her past success, and doesn’t think they’ll do anything for the school’s future. She has an interesting parallel with Honoka for much of season one, in that despite thinking differently about school idols, they both want to save the school. As student council president, though, Eli works behind the scenes as μ's grows in numbers, ever tempted to let it go and just have fun with them. Her struggle between her duty and desire, despite her pedigree, makes her nothing short of compelling.

But even as Eli becomes a kind of second leader in season two, it’s still Honoka at the heart of μ's. Honoka herself is emotion personified, the sheer range of her facial expressions communicating what dialog can’t. A melancholic gaze, a smile that triumphs over her tears, a crossed scowl, an indifferent but thoughtful gaze, an infectiously energetic smile, and many more faces all serve to perfectly round out her persona. That doesn’t mean she’s without her faults, as she can be focused to the point of losing sight of what’s around her, something that comes up toward the end of season one and the start of season two.

It’s during the second season that Honoka tries to stay aware of what’s around her, partly due to a personal incident in season one, partly from an extra duty as student council president in season two. Yeah. I don’t know how she became student council president either. The best guess among viewers is, after the school was saved, nobody was better fit to be student council president than the school’s savior. Yeah. I don’t know how rallying school idols translates to running a kind of government either.

Thankfully, Honoka eventually, if reluctantly, grows into the role of student council president, and never misses a step as part of μ's as they look to compete at the Love Live! event. During season one, they learned about the Love Live! being a chance for school idols to really show off what they can do. Unfortunately, they had to drop out at the last minute, but they got enough attention anyway to the point where the school was saved. So why would μ's still want to compete at the next Love Live! event?

To which I answer: why must there be a deeper reason to want to do something? Does it matter if passion starts from duty? If they’ve made it this far, why let that effort go to waste? With the introduction of its nine strong cast being largely finished in season one, season two changes the focus from ‘Honoka and the rest of μ's’ to ‘here is μ's as a group of equals.’ Not just Honoka, but all of μ's wants to compete in and win the Love Live! event. Their time in the spotlight much more even, each girl no less passionate than the next. But with their sights set on Love Live!, rival school idol group A-Rise has their sights set on them.

In many ways, A-Rise is the antithesis to μ's. The latter starts as a group of three with Honoka, Umi, and Kotori, and blossoms into nine great performers, while the former is only the trio of Tsubasa Kira, Erena Todo, and Anju Yuki. For how alike these six look respectively, they still take on their own identities, μ's donning frills and youthful vigor while A-Rise sports sleek smooth sensuality in their wardrobe and dance moves. In a refreshing change of pace, though, A-Rise isn’t a conniving group trying to sabotage the main cast. They simply want to win the Love Live!, and truly look forward to facing μ's. There’s mutual respect between both groups.

But as μ's gets closer to the big event, the story becomes less about the actual competition and more about the looming finale they can’t avoid. This plays perfectly into why Nozomi is part of μ's, as the story of nine comes full circle before she, Eli, and Nico are to graduate after the Love Live! event. The thought weighs on their minds, but the show must go on and they rightfully cherish every moment together. Every misadventure, every squabble, every concert teaches them to accept the bitter with the sweet.

Unfortunately, the concerts during season one are mostly nothing sweet to look at. It often looks like a smile plastered on a dancing doll. Thankfully, season two greatly improves the animation during these scenes, blending the 2D and 3D work into a cohesive showcase. The coloring and design makes for vivid variation. Even the darker colors of A-Rise shine brightly, and the thematic unity across costumes still have subtle differences to reflect each person, such as Anju being A-Rise’s only wearer of frills, or Umi’s outfit in one concert rocking shorts instead of a skirt.

So the show looks great, but it also knows HOW to look great. The series knows its girls are the cover attraction to itself, but thankfully it doesn’t overplay its hand. It forgoes sexualizing its cast for an emotional connection through personality and appearance. It’s flattery that induces a star struck state, without objectifying the cast in any negative fashion. Even the swimsuit episode is fairly harmless, while Nozomi’s groping antics miraculously avoid falling into the suggestive moans that are prone to happen in other shows. Early concert scenes aside, I see no reason to call the visuals nothing short of excellent.

Now, no amount of outstanding outfits or lovely lighting will do anything without music. And indeed, Love Live!’s soundtrack is far and away its strongest aesthetic element. There’s music for every occasion, from the quick tempo of a chase scene, to an over the top piece for a joke, to the slow piano keys for matching melancholy, and even the revitalizing recap music at the start of each of episode, all compliment the mood to great effect. And the few moments where music is absent are well chosen, and stand out that much more for it.

But while the instrumentals are good, the real reason Love Live! is a musical treat are the actual songs, which it never lacks. ‘Private Wars’ and ‘Shocking Party’ play hard, fast, and clean, capturing the aura of coolness about A-Rise. ‘Advance Tomorrow’ reflects the spirit of the show, being loud and fun but starting from genuinely heartfelt intentions through a soprano style voice. And of course, the two opening numbers, ‘We’re All In This Moment’ and ‘That Is Our Miracle’ carry lyrical significance with what happens in the story. This isn’t music that’s just a joy to listen to, but pieces that say something more when listening closely.

One of the two songs this is most exemplified in is ‘Start;Dash.’ Unlike much of μ's other songs, it starts with an almost melancholic feeling, starts singing in a defiant fashion, and ends in a manner that says ‘we’re down, but not out.’ It’s the piece Honoka, Umi, and Kotori sing at their first concert, and the piece μ's sings at the end of season one. The other song is the unforgettable ‘Snow Halation,’ testifying to the heights people can reach as they work together and understand one another’s feelings; words do no justice to the power of this track.

There are still more songs than these, from ‘No Brand Girls,’ to ‘Our LIVE, Our LIFE with you,’ to ‘Wonder Zone,’ to ‘The Door To Our Dreams’; the sheer number of great songs, well done instrumentals, and amount of story significance on each piece, makes the soundtrack of Love Live! nothing but a musical masterpiece. And yes, I’m only counting the music the show itself had, tempted as I am to talk about ‘Love Marginal’ among others.

What I DO want to talk about, is how hard it is for me to discuss Love Live! in any critical manner. It’s a series that caught me completely off guard when I was just looking for something to pass the time. It’s a show that makes me wonder just how much aesthetics matter to the viewing experience. It’s a story that forces me to see that even the simplest looking things can be more than meets the eye. And it’s a tale of gung ho dream chasing that’s infectiously optimistic.

Now, some people will surely have problems with the ending, and it’s usually not the kind of finale I go for either. Then again, every rule has exceptions. For those people who’ve already seen both seasons of Love Live!, let me say that I can overlook season two’s ending because I’m not expecting another adventure.

I just want an encore.

So what did I think of School Idol Project... well to be perfectly honest it was surprisingly enjoyable. When I decided to watch the anime I thought of it only as a filler in between my seasonal anime grind. But on my was I mistaken. I was into the show and the Idols performances! Whenever they where getting hyped for a show I felt that same energy! I wanted to grace the stage with Honoka, Rin, You (my fav and the BEST obviously) and all the other Idols. The art and story were not the best but for me it's all how the anime makes ... me feel and wow did this anime make me feel great! Also, I listen to all there music on Spotify and YouTube soooooooo yeah.

On a side note, I play all the games and love all of them!
On a side side note, Roselia is the best group and I know I'm right.

I swear to god, when I tell you this anime changed my life I mean it. It quite literally opened my mind to finding out who I am, introduced me to idol culture, made me realize I was a lesbian, and allowed me to get into a workout regimen all at once. Outstanding writing, character arcs, relatable cast, and adorable character design. Although some of the choreography is kinda lazy, I don’t even care. Such a good anime, 10/10, would recommend even to someone that doesn’t like this genre. Now, although I love this anime, there is but one flaw. The Nico stans that came ... from it. I swear to god those bitches are the most annoying ass fucks. I was watching a lyrics video for a love live song and they were talking about how cute the characters looked in the outfits and this guy has the audacity to come out of his greasy otaku cave and say “But Nico-Nii san is the most kawaii-desu of them all!” now I do not give a flying fuck if this guy was joking or not, it still made me cringe so hard I was sent into the 4th dimension. Also, they ALWAYS have to bring up Nico wether or not the conversations about her. Anyways, let’s get to the point. The point is, although it may have some annoying ass fans, it’s still an incredible, heart-wrenching, fun, funny, emotional rollercoaster of an anime. Please watch it if you haven’t already. - Parker, signing off.

*THIS IS MY FIRST REVIEW, SO PLEASE BE NICE! :D*

(TL;DR version at the bottom)

I stopped watching anime a long time ago (when death note came out and everyone was fonboying about it everywhere, it made me sick) and I though I wouldn't ever watch anime again. A friend of mine told me a couple of months ago "you don't have the amount of kawaii in your life you really need, kinda like Love live" so I decided to watch it.

I went into it knowing perfectly well that this was an idol anime, mainly aimed to teen audiences and fully aware of what kind of music ... I should expect. To put things into perspective, if you haven't guessed by my user name I'm mainly a fan of deathcore, hardcore, all genres of metal and hardcore music basically.

I then started the first chapter at around 11pm in the night. What follows is the total actual truth: next day I went to the office where I work at and watched the whole first season as soon as I arrived.

The story is simple, yet gripping, the school is about to close and the only solution seemingly possible is to start a school idol group to bring more students to the school and stop its closure. What is gripping of this plot is all that the girls involved in the group have to endure to get to their prime and make it so they get their name known to others and bring some joy and happiness to people while being happy themselves.

Each song has a meaning in how the plot has developed so far, and each song has its own unique sound and lyrics that all make sense and leave you thinking on what they mean and what they teach you. A total of 28 songs are played across all seasons/movie and you'll remember each and everyone of them, all the lyrics and you'll end up downloading the songs and having them wether on your smartphone or music player of preference and playing them over and over again (they actually have around 60+ songs, not counting the sub-units songs and they're all amazing).

Now, the characters, they all have their own distinct personalities and artistic direction. Their voices and ways of acting all make you love them more and more (fyi, Rin/Honoka best waifus <3). Some songs have a "main" singer for them which is related to what happened in the episode and you'll say "this is honoka's song" or "this is umi's song". All characters have hilarious reactions when the funny moments happen as well as their own emotional responses when the anime goes into feels land.

You never watched an idols/musical anime? Watch this, and none other will match it after doing so. It's not just a story of 9 girls trying to save their school from closing, it's a story about fighting for your dreams, a story about finding hope and strength when all is against you, it's about not letting anything get in your way and pummel through all the bad reputation, naysayers and making your dreams come true. I watched Clannad, Clannad:AS, Kanon, Angel Beats, etc. and as much as they have taught me valuable lessons, nothing comes close to what Love Live has taught me and what it has done to my life and my way of getting through each day. Perseverance, following your dreams, never back down and above all, love life and enjoy every second of it, wether it is doing what you like or fighting against all odds, cause in the end it's all worth it.

TL;DR version:

(watched LLSIP, LLSIP 2nd season and LLSIP Movie)

The music is impeccable, each song sounds different from each other and the dance routines for each of them will make you learn the lyrics in no time even if you don't know any japanese. The characters are all loveable and not one of them feels out of place (Rin-chan/Honoka-chan best waifus!) as they all have their own stories that are developed during the whole anime. A simple yet convincing and gripping story on how fighting against all odds to make your dreams come true can take you to the top and make your life what you always wanted it to be. Truly a masterpiece that makes your heart warm and happy all the time and leaves you with a beautiful life lesson after finishing it. Don't miss it even if you're not used to SOL animes, to tell you the truth I wasn't into them either, and Love Live! got me into them in an instant.
My only complaint: the 3D is kinda shitty at some points.

"Love Live School Idol Project huh?", that's was I'm asking myself and I think maybe I will give a shot since the movie will be aired on GSC so why not. After finished watching first season, I question myself "why i did'nt watch this anime earlier?". This, my friend is one of the most amazing idol anime,of course there are many more idol anime such as AKB0048, Wake up Girls, Idolmaster and many more. But, LL gives me something that makes me want to jump and clapping after they finished their songs.

Love Live School Ido Project start with main character,Honoka who adore idol since it ... was awesome but the happy moment did'nt stay long after hearing her school gonna shut down. With determination, she and her other two friend,Kotori and Umi decide to create school idol to save school from close. Their fun,sad moment goes on as they reqruit more member and create more songs. I would say, to protect-school-from-close story was not the strong point of this anime but the member of "muse"(their team name) since each of them have different personality with their own backstory.

For animation, I did'nt really sceptical about it and I find it pretty much satisfying seeing them dance and sing with full energetic. The producers did a good job handling 3D CGI when they dance and other scene which are fluid and nice. For music and OST, since this is school idol anime, I'm expecting it more energetic song and it did'nt dissappoint me. Moreover, it keeps getting better and more charater songs keep getting produce until now. One more thing, I recommend to watch with speaker or earphones to feel the music to the max.

Verdict: I would recommended this anime for those who want to watch some freaking cute and beautiful girls dance and sing in stage. To tell the truth, their dance and songs did gives me goosebump and speechless especially episode 3(trust me,you will feel that). For the rating, it easily get 10/10.

Just as much as we need a gateway anime to hook us up into this little world of colorful fights and beautiful blood rain, there comes a time when we have to watch something to remind us why we still like these things. And even if a series like Love Live, whose selling point isn't gore or a super addictive plot, isn't what we expected to end up watching when we started (I think my teenage me would frown If I told him I saw an anime about a bunch of cute girls singing in a stage), I think it has a lot of qualities ... that we don't usually find in anime in general. The problem is that its cover fits a profile that most people (myself included) would deem stupid, either for prejudice or for having actual experience with a show that looks similar to this one. But even though it shares some of the questionable tendencies of other series from a similar ilk (the so called "moe" genre), one needs to call out the fact that this one actually manages to avoid crippling itself with its own clichés and tropes.

Cute girls, sure. But is it as meaningless as the others? We'll see.

-Story:
The story is what you read in the synopsis. There'll be tropes and conventions you've seen before, even clichés sometimes, but it actually tells something. It progresses. It doesn't get stuck in: "Yo, gurl, it's so fun being in a club! All we do is sit an' talk shit, and be cute. No need to practice or deal with life issues. Sure being a teenage girl is a-ma-zing."

The thing's not written to make you go: "what a badass plot twist", but it takes itself seriously enough to follow a logical path to get things done, and there's the feeling that they're actually starting things from scratch and fighting for them, instead of, you know, succes brought forth by magic. This is actually surprising, at least to me, because when I see a title like this the only thing that crosses my mind is "K-On! again", which, for acknowledged people, means that the series will "preserve the flow of everyday life forever", or, in more common terms, focus in unbelievably trivial daily stuff and no character progression. It's hard to tell wheter that situation will suit a specific series or not, but the case being that this format can cause from idle entertainment to hellish boredom, seeing an idol show about idols actually doing idol stuff is refreshing. And when it's handled in a way where it gets its points across: laughter when you have to laugh and emotion when it needs emotion, then there's no way you can deny its quality.

But if all in all you still can't find the story compelling (or you just like to nitpick a lot, like me), at least the humor should make up for it.

-Characters:
In a genre where airhead MCs are the norm (and usually its curse), I believe this is the first time I can say: she's actually useful! Honoka might still be an airhead, but out of all the characters of the show, she does suit the role of the engine that moves the whole team, and she does it perfectly. She even gets proper character development, something that would seem otrageous in many shows like this.

The rest of the cast isn't bad either. It is true that is full of archetypes we've already seen a zillion times, but the writers manage to put a fresh feeling into them, and exploit their inherent qualities. You can complain that compared to other kinds of shows they're really not that fleshed out, but I find it hard to name many shows of this type that actually do this. The only bad thing is that some characters lose the spotlight as the show progresses (and thus become easy to forget), but it at least makes them likeable enough to not get annoyed at their presence.

-Art:
I wouldn't call it great (just cute faces everywhere), but it's very good. I'm not sure if there's a difference between the TV version and the DVDs, but from what I watched the animation is pretty solid, and the character expressions don't suddenly turn into eldritch abominations for a lack of budget. There's also CGI to help smooth things out when they dance and need a more 3D approach to their movements, and it looks good enough. Overall, I think the best animated parts are the ones when they're dancing, which is a HUGE plus considering this is an idol anime.

-Sound:
Opening, ending and insert songs are all pop (which means that if you like pop, you'll probably like them as well). This isn't a surprise considering what the series is about, but the actual OST of the show is also very fitting and highlights the moments in a timely manner. There's even some fantastic piano in some parts, which I couldn't help to like. The seiyuus also do a great job at portraying their characters, all with their incredibly high-pitched voices and token tsunderism in some of them.

-Enjoyment:
This is odd. After watching things like K-On! and other series of a similar ilk, seeing a DVD cover featuring a bunch of cute girls would usually cause me to go "nope, don't want it", not because I didn't like the previous ones (which I probably did), but because I've found myself unable to like more. It might come with age, but these kind of shows, whether they're comedies, club-based stories, or the most ridiculously simple slice of life, become more and more tedious to watch as you get by, and finding something that you can even praise for its actual effort in improving the genre's quality is quite the thing. Personally, I loved it. It was really fun, and all that "cuteness" crap was finally subordinated to the freaking plot.

So, would I recommend it?

Totally.

Have fun!

My first idol based anime was Idolmaster. To be honest I found it very boring and I didn't seem to enjoy the anime at all except for the singing. I quite enjoy their songs. Then I stumble upon another idol based anime, to be percise a school idol based anime. I thought that this anime is the same like idolmaster and I gave up too early on this anime. After being persuaded by my friend I start watching this anime and what do you guys know! This anime is flipping fantastic! The plot, The character everything was perfect, the song, the soundtrack, the character ... of each of the idol. This anime change my whole perspective towards idol based anime. This is by far the greatest idol based anime for me and I really enjoy it! Believe me guys, you won't regret watching this anime, it's a masterpiece

Love Live! is fun and lighthearted, but most of the appeal comes from getting invested in the community (seiyuus, the mobile: “game school idol festival”, and the fandom in general).

The school idol tournament “Love Live” and the plot of the school shutting down are not interesting by themselves, and so the show focuses on the characters. However, there are too many characters to develop so none of them end up getting developed anyway. Of the nine main cast members, Rin and Hanayo are forgettable, Maki, Kotori, Nico and Nozomi are one-dimensional, Umi and Eli are decent and the main character, Honoka, is basically just a ... shonen protagonist shoved into an idol show. Honoka is a complete airhead and just preaches loudly about friendship and idols. For a character-driven show, the characters are poorly developed and do not contribute much to the plot. Although the show is objectively bad due to the (essentially) nonexistent plot and weak characters, I really enjoyed it! It was still a fun show to watch and made me laugh a lot.

Overall, the production quality is good. Despite being poorly written, the characters are cute and quirky with colorful animation to support them, and at least have interesting visual designs. The music is above average, and the seiyuus did a good job singing and voicing the characters.

TLDR; Love Live! is a fun show to watch if you’re bored, and I would recommend it to new anime watchers if you’re into shows that aren’t too plot-heavy and focus more on entertainment. I wouldn’t watch it again but I don’t regret watching it either.