Love Live! The School Idol Movie

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Gekijouban Love Live!, Love Live! School Idol Project Movie

Japanese: ラブライブ！The School Idol Movie

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jun 13, 2015

Producers: Bandai Visual, Lantis, ASCII Media Works, Bushiroad, Graphinica, ILCA

Licensors: NIS America, Inc.

Studios: Sunrise

Source: Original

Genres: Award Winning, Slice of Life

Themes: Idols (Female), Music, School

Duration: 1 hr. 42 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.92¹ (scored by 71,975 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #699²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1624

Members: 126,729

Favorites: 1,200

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

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Synopsis

Hot on the heels of the third year students' graduation, μ's is invited to New York in hopes of spreading the joy of school idols to other parts of the world. Due to the events of the recent Love Live!, μ's has reached eminent stardom which results in crowds swarming them whenever they appear in public. With the increased attention, however, comes a difficult choice.

Having yet to publicly announce the decision they came to regarding their future, the young members of μ's are pushed to continue performing by rival group A-RISE, Otonokizaka High School, and even Love Live! itself. As leader, Honoka Kousaka is left wondering if the path they have chosen is truly for the best, as μ's must re-evaluate their choices and come to a final decision on what they want for the future.

Love Live! The School Idol Movie depicts the final chapter in μ's story as the girls explore just what being an idol means to them as well as the bond that connects the nine of them together.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Love Live! The School Idol Movie ended its 202-day theatrical run in Japan on December 31, 2015. During that time, it earned 2.86 billion yen in the Japanese box office. The movie was nominated for the Animation of the Year award at the 39th Japan Academy Prize. It won the Animation of the Year award in the Film category at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival in 2016.

Episode Videos

Episode 1

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Related Anime

Prequel:	Love Live! School Idol Project 2nd Season
Other:	Love Live! The School Idol Movie: Gekijou Manner CM, Love Live! x Watering KissMint Collaboration CM
Sequel:	Love Live! Sunshine!!

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Nishikino, Maki

Main

Pile
Japanese

Yazawa, Niko

Main

Tokui, Sora
Japanese

Toujou, Nozomi

Main

Kusuda, Aina
Japanese

Minami, Kotori

Main

Uchida, Aya
Japanese

Sonoda, Umi

Main

Mimori, Suzuko
Japanese

Kousaka, Honoka

Main

Nitta, Emi
Japanese

Hoshizora, Rin

Main

Iida, Riho
Japanese

Ayase, Eri

Main

Nanjou, Yoshino
Japanese

Koizumi, Hanayo

Main

Kubo, Yurika
Japanese

Kira, Tsubasa

Supporting

Sakuragawa, Megu
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kyougoku, Takahiko

Director

Hanada, Jukki

Script

ZAQ

Theme Song Composition

Hata, Aki

Theme Song Lyrics

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Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

"Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari (僕たちはひとつの光)" by μ's

More reviews

Reviews

Jan 16, 2016

Veronin

Recommended

Having put Love Live's final adventure off for weeks after weeks, afraid of meeting the end of the series, now, after finally gathering the courage to watch it, I am left with the thought that Love Live may be the best idol series created.

It's surprising how far the series has come over the past couple years. I'm not sure most people thought much about it when the first season aired, other than that it was your typical idol show with some cute girls and some cool tunes. But after the airing of the excellent second season, and now with the movie finally cementing what it ... is that makes the series so special for so many people, Love Live has established itself as one of the most significant series in the anime industry and present-day Japanese culture.

It would be foolish to claim that all Love Live has going for it is its popularity, however. It succeeds at being more than just a fun little idol show. Even if it may have a few minor issues, as all anime do, and even with the large layer of cheese surrounding some of its dialogue, Love Live is a truly heart-warming and excellently crafted anime, and I am very sad to see it end.

Love Live's movie is similar to the K-ON movie in many ways, particularly in its structure, as the trip to New York represents only a portion of the film's screen time. And, really, it is for the better that way. If all we saw were the girls of Muse having fun and singing around in New York City, it's likely it would feel like a mere spin-off rather than a meaningful advancement in the story and the characterisation. Love Live does advance the story-- it does give you something to care about, as it is not only an end for the girls, but also for the fans, as it is unlikely we will ever see anything involving these characters again, at least in the animated form. And that's hard to accept at times; there was a sinking feeling in my stomach that I don't often get from watching anime. But this is the way it should be. I'd be more than happy to see the girls continue their idol activities past high school, but it was the right time for this chapter to end. It is an ending I can be satisfied with, even if I do not want it to be over. And I don't.

While the TV series had a couple characters I wasn't too big on (particularly Nozomi), none of them felt bothersome or out-of-place here. They have all done enough to earn their place... though, certainly, I would not complain if my Nico were to hog all the screen-time instead. It was somewhat difficult to pay attention to what was going on since I would often start laughing like a crazy person whenever Nico appeared. I hadn't seen my glorious Nico in animated form for a year and a half, so it could not be helped. I was also a bit surprised at how damn adorable Kotori was; it appears I may have been blind and deaf when I was watching the TV series.

A great job is done at making New York City feel alive and bustling, with real locations modeled upon and with random pedestrians occasionally having their say. Seeing Honoka and the rest fumble around with their terrible English (ekkusukuzu mii!) in a futile attempt to communicate with Americans, is, unsurprisingly, pretty hilarious. By the way, I have no idea how the hell that one girl knew they were Japanese at first sight. Even I, having seen a whole heck of a lot of Asians in my lifetime, have some difficulty immediately telling a Japanese person apart from, say, a Chinese one. I'll just assume Random Blonde Lady is smarter than me!

It seems Love Live likes to experiment with the idea of being a musical, too, since the characters will sometimes bust out their dance moves all impromptu in the middle of the city, random Americans joining and signing along and all. It certainly adds some... uh, life and energy to the story, even if I would personally prefer they find a less silly reason to showcases their vocals. Love Live is obviously not aiming to be a perfect representation of reality, and that's just fine. Who needs reality, anyway?

The dialogue can occasionally be a bit cheesy (Honoka hopping and twirling around at the end, claiming she "can fly!", yay!), but this isn't nearly frequent enough to be a big deal. If anything, it'll just make you laugh a little bit. I don't expect all scenes to be perfectly mature and believable, because Love Live is a big series with big appeal, especially for young girls who normally enjoy that sort of thing. I don't feel comfortable taking that away from them. Love Live is fine as it is.

The songs are great and their performances well-coordinated (particularly at the very end with Nic-- with Muse dancing and tapping their feet along), but my one complaint is that the movie still uses some CG during these scenes. The CG doesn't look bad, not by any means, nor does it feel out-of-place (especially when compared with rival shows such as Aikatsu), but certainly it would have been nice if fluid 2D animation were used all the time instead, rather than most of the time. The animators could have gone all-out here, but they chose not to, presumably because of deadlines and other business-y things. Instead the movie looks merely good, rather than fantastic, which is something I'm still pretty OK with.

It is also worth noting that, unlike a majority of anime, Love Live actually knows how to time its background music in a way that feels appropriate - sentimental yet not melodramatic. It doesn't go overboard, but it does still make an effort, hitting the key moments of the track as it pans over the girls sitting and pondering their future in the club room, rather than screaming at the top of their lungs as most anime characters apparently have a fixation with. I don't think most people will tear up during these scenes, but it is quite hard not to have at least some sort of emotional reaction. Love Live knows knows how to convey emotion to its audience when it wants to.

There are also a few subtle visual tricks that add to the cinematic feel, like a young Honoka jumping before immediately cutting to present-day Honoka's foot slamming off the ground. These aren't details that are likely to cross your mind as you watch, but they do add up and give the experience more of an impact and a punch. It's clear the animators wanted to set the series off on a grander stage than it started on.

The Love Live movie is a hell of a time, and is easily the most fun I have had with an anime since Shirobako finished airing. I came in expecting nothing more than to see more of my Nico doing her thing and being the beautiful lady that she is, and while there certainly was a decent amount of that, there's far more here, too. Love Live wanted to end on a happy note rather than a sad one, and it did a fantastic job at doing so. I've had a lot of fun with you, Love Live, and while I don't know if I can let go, I can at least say goodbye.

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Jul 9, 2015

TCTriangle

Recommended

I had the pleasure of watching this in theaters in Japan, and the movie is just what you would expect a Love Live! film to be: 1/3 music and dancing, 1/3 anime girls doing cute/funny things, and 1/3 drama - an animated musical comedy. If you already watched the first 2 seasons of the show, you know exactly what you are getting yourself into. However, there is one huge difference between the movie and the show: the first half takes place in NEW YORK CITY.

As a New Yorker, it was an absolute joy watching my favorite group of animated girls take on the great metropolis ...

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Dec 22, 2015

-Remix-

Mixed Feelings

When I started to watch Love Live!, I was extremely skeptical of how the plot would play out. I'm not really into the whole idol culture but I wanted to keep my mind open and give Love Live! a shot. And boy am I glad I did. Now I can at least appreciate what idols have to undergo.

The movie, which builds off plot-wise immediately after the second season, uses the same kind of group dynamic that was present in the second season. Although this form of group dynamic doesn't change much from the second season (or ever, lol) you could almost feel the charisma beaming ...

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Poll: Love Live! The School Idol Movie Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Dodecahedron-O24 - Sep 7, 2015	206 replies	by laaala »» May 6, 12:22 AM
What is wrong with them? (Spoiler) Someone_OwO - Feb 17	6 replies	by Someone_OwO »» Mar 8, 9:53 PM
The way this movie ended gave me depression Kuraya - Dec 31, 2018	3 replies	by rach1m4n »» Oct 8, 2021 10:46 PM
[MOVIE SPOILERS] Who did Honoka actually meet? maskedapple - Oct 4, 2015	49 replies	by Eira_99 »» Sep 25, 2020 6:42 PM
I'm going to NYC, where are the real life locations? Help PoLoBreak - Apr 6, 2018	2 replies	by PoLoBreak »» May 9, 2018 8:13 AM

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Nishikino, Maki

Yazawa, Niko

Toujou, Nozomi

Minami, Kotori

Sonoda, Umi

Kousaka, Honoka

Hoshizora, Rin

Ayase, Eri

Koizumi, Hanayo

Kira, Tsubasa

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