Love Live! School Idol Project OVA

Well, considering no one has written a review of this, I might as well. The Love Live! School Idol Project OVA is a 15 minute descent into madness that was bundled with the sixth single of the anime's μ's idol group and aired on November 27, 2013. Why do I call it a descent into madness? Because the story of this OVA is complete nonsense. There's something about being in a dream, Maki's piano not working, tiny Maki scaring normal Maki for no real reason which is never brought up again, Ayase forgetting a textbook and then chasing after a shadow, it suddenly being nighttime, ... Maki being a child for....some reason, and a fireworks show. Oh, and apparently the entire thing is a dream. Whose dream? I don't know! The show never tells us. I'm assuming it's Maki's, but it's never really explained. Maki as a child tells us that they are indeed inside of a dream, and that it is a "never-ending party", whatever that means. After that, Maki abruptly turns back into her usual teenage self via some sort of alien abduction or divine act of god, and then tells the other girls that she has always liked them.

That is roughly the first 10 minutes. The remaining 5 minutes is devoted to a musical number, a song called "Music S.T.A.R.T!!." If you liked the music in Love Live, it would probably be worth it to you to watch this OVA just for the song. I don't particularly enjoy Idol music, but the same quality of music and animation in the show is clearly present here (for better or worse), so if you're into that go ahead and give it a watch.

Also worth noting: I don't grade OVAs or specials; MAL forces you to pick an overall score to attach to your review. The score I gave this does not mean anything.

Look, this is something, that you'll watch if you're a fan of the show, but should basically steer away from in any other case. We have a story about Maki being in a dream with everyone. Subtle, I know. Anyway, she admits, that she loved everyone else, even from before they turned idols, big whoop.
This is a really materielistic OVA. What you'll get: a new music video, Maki in loli form and the characters interacting. You won't miss out on anything, if you just leave this one be, but it's not offensively bad, or anything. It's just a vaste of an OVA. But since ... the series has an abundance of those, I'm not really heartbroken. This was the first I saw though, so that's kind of lame, but that is really the worst I can say about it.
In the future, please just release the music video and leave out all the rest.

I've discussed the Love Live franchise quite a bit. And we're going to do it again. This little OVA was bundled with the group's sixth single. It's only fifteen minutes. So, we'll see how it goes. 

Story:

We open with Maki having a nightmare where she's being chased by hooded figures. She finishes telling Hanayo about it. Which scares Hanayo, likely making it necessary for her to take solace between Rin's legs. The next day Maki's not at school and the rest of our cast decides to go visit her, leading to a slightly trippy sequence followed by a musical number. So, the "story" is basically ... build up for the music video. 

The issue is that the build up is awkward. It's a bit surreal and has some magical realism shit going on that doesn't really go with the rest of the franchise. It doesn't help that a lot of it is stretches of a character running and it's not that interesting. 

I will say, it does have a few cute moments. Nico's face when they decide to visit Maki along with Nozomi's narration. That's cute. Little baby Maki telling the rest of the girls that she's always really liked them. That's cute. I also do like the music video bit. 

Characters:

The regular μ's cast is all there. The OVA doesn't give us anything new but it is nice to see the group doing their thing. Even in a short OVA. 

Art: 

The OVA looks much like the series proper. About the worst I can say about it is that the running scenes are a little lazy in terms of their backgrounds just staying pretty much the same throughout. Other than that it all looks good. It's well put together. The music video is very much what we're used to from the franchise. With the costumes, choreography, lights and bright colours. 

Sound:

The acting in this franchise has always been well done. The music portion features a really good song in terms of its performance. If you're a fan of that type of idol music, you'll enjoy hearing the song. 

Ho-yay:

It's almost like Sunrise was pandering to me specifically with this one. There's a lot of homo-eroticism in the music video. The girls' idea of a party is, apparently, getting in sleepwear, cuddling up to one another and staring at each other longingly. This isn't a Never-ending party, it's a never-ending Sapphic sleepover. Which is much better. And you might think "But Ktulu, you wouldn't be allowed into a never-ending Sapphic sleepover." Which is true, but I don't go to parties either. The most people I'll be in a room with is about seven other people for D&D. 

Areas of Improvement:

1.Less surrealism in the build up. 

2. Fewer and shorter scenes of running. 

3. Maybe just lose the dream angle in favour of something that suits the franchise better. Like a Sapphic sleepover.

Final Thoughts: 

Is this OVA as good as the series proper? No. Is it going to be enjoyable if you're not a fan of the series proper? No. If you're a fan of the series, will you enjoy it? Very likely, yes. It has its cute moments and the music video portion is great. So, if you're a fan of the franchise, you should probably watch it. If you're someone who likes the music but doesn't care much for the rest, watch the last five minutes. If you aren't sure whether you'd like the series, watch the regular anime first. For myself, I'm giving it a 6/10. The mediocre build up combined with the great music video makes for a decent viewing experience. 

This OVA is...weird. It leaves me with a feeling I can't seem to forget about. I'm not sure exactly why this exists, maybe they wanted to include a storyline for the music video (although it doesn't fit together very well).
Regardless, it's quite an odd experience. If you're a fan of Love Live I do recommend giving it a watch but just be aware that you're in for a wild ride.

(Spoilers)

So the plot revolves around Maki being sick and the rest of Muse going to check on her. However, Eli stops when she sees loli Maki and decides to chase her down. Eventually the girls all ... meet up again and loli Maki tells muse she's always loved them even before they were school idols together (I think I get what they were trying to go for here with the symbolism and the loli Maki but it's just kind of confusing to follow and they never really explain much so you have to make your own inferences). After that she's transformed into teenage Maki and they realize they're all having a dream together (I think they should have told us this from the beginning, it would have made the plot way easier to follow). The episode ends with the music video for Music:Start.
I don't know that I would say this episode doesn't deserve to exist because the surrealism is kind of beautiful, it's a nice contrast to the typical feel of the show and I like how it does, in fact, feel like a dream. But it's hard to follow and just gets a little too weird. So at the end of the day, I feel 6/10 is an appropriate rating for it.