Love Live! Sunshine!!

I had very mixed feelings when I heard Love Live would be starting again with a new cast of characters. Muse had finally gotten to the point where each member had earned their place, and while it made sense for their story to end, I always felt a desire for more. I wanted it to be the beginning rather than the ending.

Love Live Sunshine may not have been the beginning I wanted, but it is hardly a weak addition to the series. It does many of the things that made the original series so special, and more than justifies its own existence. I'm glad ... it exists, and am without any doubt looking forward to seeing more of Aquors.

But Sunshine isn't without issues. It follows the footprints of the original series a bit too closely-- the flaws and missteps of its first half included and ever more so apparent.

Sunshine, like the first season of the original, moves too fast and swims a bit too deep in the drama, rather than giving the audience the main thing they are looking for: reason to like and care for the girls. It sets a nice stage for the inevitable second season, but at the same time, it's hard to not feel a little bit bummed out when Sunshine starts with the same stumbles rather than learning from the original's excellent second season. If it sounds like I am being a harsh critic, you may be right, but part of that is because I have a strong attachment to the original series and want to see its successor reach the same highs. If it can't, wouldn't it be reasonable to lament that there is not just more Muse instead?

Sunshine actually does a pretty admirable job with its drama. It never aims to be something more or different from what it truly is, and what is there is handled with meaning and clarity-- even if its themes are something we have heard a hundred times before-- and its bittersweet and well-timed background music consistently amplifies its message. Sunshine's heart is in the right place. The problem is just that there is just too much of this drama, too soon. Assuming there is to be more of Aquors (and I will bet my non-existent heart that there will be), the climax of their story is not now, but then. This isn't the time to bring them on the big stage, but to prepare them for it. They aren't ready, and neither is their audience.

While Nico's "Nico Nico-nii" catchphrase was silly (and adorable), the original series did not ever attempt to paint that as a genuine part of her character; it was a joke even to herself, and entirely contrary to her personality. Yoshiko, and to a lesser extent, Mari and Hanamaru, are defined to varying extents by these sorts of catchphrases, without the same sort of depth or rationale to it that Nico's character had. Some may find Yoshiko's terminal autism to be amusing (and indeed it can be!), but these sorts of gimmicks do little else but make them feel somewhat artificial, at times even empty. And empty is the last thing a character from Love Live should be.

But nine main characters is a lot to deal with in only thirteen episodes. The original series had yet to accomplish the same by that point, so, I suppose, it is only fair to expect Sunshine will also start hitting those strides from here on. Most of the girls (particularly Ruby) are cute and interesting enough in their own right, even if they have done little yet to stand out from the more outgoing characters. I'm just worried that Sunshine has turned Yoshiko into such a joke that there may be no way of ever doing anything meaningful with her character. Making a serious character into a joke is an easy thing, but a joke into a real character is a much harder process.

Aquor's rival group, Saint Snow, is certainly more interesting than the original's counterpart. Ria and Seira aren't successful because they are 'perfect' idols, but rather because they have their own unique thing going on. There's a neat contrast between the traditional, idol-y nature of Aquors, and Saint Snow's more eclectic Babymetal leanings. Ria and Seira have reason to be hostile-- Aquors is the exact opposite of what they want to be.

If you were to ask me why I have spent so much time comparing Sunshine to the original series, rather than discussing it solely on its own merits, it is because Sunshine itself does so on a regular basis. It doesn't try or even want to disconnect itself, and instead recognises and pays respect to Muse. The girls of Aquors started their group precisely because they were fans of Muse. It's the appropriate turn to take the franchise; if it attempted to be entirely its own thing, never making a reference to the original, it would feel a bit distasteful, considering just how similar a road the two shows travel. The only troubling part of it all is that it makes you long for Muse all the more.

Sunshine continues the tradition of having some of the best music in the entire idol industry. I would argue that songs like "Todokanai Hoshi datoshitemo" and "Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagaiyaiteru kai?" are better than most of what real idol groups (Momoiro Clover et al.) produce. There may not be any real bangers like Start:Dash or Snow Halation, but I do find Aquors sneaking their way onto my playlist every now and then, too. Ruby's voice also may not be quite as lovely as Nico's or Kotori's, but she's still hella cute regardless.

If it weren't being compared to its predecessor, Love Live Sunshine would still be one of the better idol anime produced. I have no problem with it, stumbles and tumbles aside, and can see both Love Live fans and newcomers to the franchise having a great time with it.

Aquors just have yet to convince me that they are capable of standing on the same stage that Muse once did. I'm open to being convinced otherwise-- heck, I want, and I expect to be convinced otherwise. There are certainly worse ways to start.

Last year, we were told that μ's had come to an end and a PV of the new LL! idol group was shown. Their name is Aqours. They are going to continue on the μ's legacy and (try to) become more successful than μ's. They are namely, Chika, Riko, You, Ruby, Yoshiko (or Yohane whichever preferred), Hanamaru, Dia, Mari and Kanan. I had indifferent opinions about them at first. I didn't delve too deep like how I did during the μ's era to be honest. None of them interested me because the brand new LL!Sunshine!! project was too rushed, where μ's was still around and ... had their movie and their Final Live concert upcoming. While the news gave a slap to all the LL! fans, most of us started to worry if Aqours could do better than their predecessors.

Now that it comes to an end with its finale being aired last night. Let's go!

Story: 6/10

Note: In LL!, story, is NEVER ever the selling point. Same goes to LLSS!!.

Reusing and referencing the good ol' stuff from μ's isn't a bad thing if the series is executed well. As a fan of the original LL! I sincerely hope that LLSS!! is better, or at least on par, with the original. Surely, the beginning looked promising and didn't disappoint me, and the rest of the series didn't either. A good beginning makes a good ending, eh? Not happening in LLSS!!, unfortunately.

I am here just going to say, the ending... is not meant for everyone. The way the series ended was, not something I will rate 1/10 but still, bad. It could be done better but man, imagine you are sitting on the LLSS!! hype train all along the journey just to reach a cliff and everything goes downhill and bam.

Art: 10/10

One thing you can never complain in LL! and LLSS!! is their art. It's really good, and the art improves so much coming to LLSS!!. (tho the CG dance may be pretty annoying from time to time)

Sound: 8/10

For OP, OST and ED, they are really good. VAs did their amazing work too.

My only concern goes to the inserts. They ARE good, but not impacting enough in their respective episodes.

Character: 7/10

I have a mixed feeling about the characters itself. 3rd years' (Mari, Kanan, Dia) chemistry is great even though I am not a fan of either one of them. 1st years (Ruby, Hanamaru, Yoshiko) did a great job too though I never like Yoshiko (sorry but chuuni isn't to my liking). 2nd years (Chika, You, Riko) tho, they have the same problem as μ's (Kotori, Honoka, Umi) had. There's too much focus for them, and they aren't that great either.

Enjoyment: 7/10

I swear I really enjoy everything up to the 12th episode, but the finale is.... wew. Let's not talk about the weird skit which I think it's actually okay-ish, I am disappointed by the absence of "Step ZERO to ONE" after being referenced so much in the anime. The question "Why do you not perform it and instead using a new song that doesn't give that much impact as a finale?" will always be in my head from now on.

Overall: 7/10 (Revised score: 8/10)

The series is good, but nowhere better than the original LL! first season imo.

TL;DR: A good start, with a badly executed ending.

Love Live is back with another fresh cast of characters who, let's be real here, are all waifu-worthy judging by their looks alone. I myself was skeptical at first, incredibly worried this may be a case of "milking the cash cow". Thankfully, no. Sunshine has even surpassed the first season of the original Love Live in my eyes. Honestly, I'm quite surprised with the outcome.

Sunshine starts off with a story that sounds undeniably similar to that of the original. Let me clarify-- it's not an exact story copy. I'd say only the base, its starting point, is the same. We won't, for instance, see our ... lovely Nico look-a-like in the same kind of situation as the real Nico. The girls of Aqours each have their own story to tell.

It certainly is hard to make a good anime with this many main characters in such a short amount of time. Love Live Sunshine is no different. Just like its predecessor, the girls did not receive an enormous amount of development. What do you expect from a show with nine main characters and just thirteen episodes? Things could've been handled differently. Sunshine, unfortunately, repeats the same mistakes. A future second season would set things straight, probably, though. Yes, again, similar to the original. Then, why did I give Sunshine a much higher rating? I'll get to that in a bit.

I don't blame anyone with a huge attachment to Muse to doubt the new series, with the introduction of complete new characters. Aware of that, though, I think they should still give Aqours a chance, a chance to shine. And, it sure did shine. Sunshine's cast is a whole lot more likeable and memorable than its predecessor. I had an easy time liking the characters, and even sympathized with them during emotional scenes-- even if I didn't like them one bit initially. Mari and You, just to note a few examples. The new girls are what made Sunshine so much better for me personally.

Talking a little about my favorites; Chika, pretty much an exact copy of Honoka, the side-ponytail being the only difference. I'm quite fond of her positiveness and leadership ability, and basically being the driving force of the group. Honoka was one of my personal favorites from Muse-- it wouldn't be that strange to have Chika as one of my favorite Aqours girl as well. Hanamaru, or rather Zuramaru as I like to call her, is a fun character, too. Not only is her lack of tech knowledge humorous, her zura's are also very charming. "It's the future, zura!" The girls each have their own quirks, some which may be irritating, and some that are genuinely fun. The one character with a disturbing amount of annoyance, though, is Yoshiko. She reminds me of that one Chuunibyou show I didn't like very much. Yoshiko comes over as obnoxious, and feels completely out of place. I'd much rather have a different girl in her stead. Oh well, it can't be helped.

What's more disappointing is the fact that a couple did not receive the screen time they deserved. And by that, I'm actually mostly referring to a certain blue haired, ponytailed goddess. She had so little screen time in the first half of the show, I was starting to question whether or not she'll become a member of Aqours later. I guess that beach episode made up for it... uh, just a little bit. Kanan is a fine-looking lady for sure!

Who is the real star of Aqours? The girl - who coincidentally looks a lot like Nico - with the gorgeous red twintails and aqua eyes, of course! Her name is Ruby, the one who invented cuteness and has the voice of an angel. She certainly stands out the most with her design, cute expressions and such. She made her debut in the first episode unlike the Nico. Ruby has already accumulated quite a reputation by just a couple scenes alone-- and now that I think about it, the show needed more of those. The more we got to the end, the less Ruby we got. Though, I was honestly not that upset about it. It indicates how much I actually liked Sunshine, even with the absence of Ruby in the latter episodes. Keep staying unbearably cute, it makes my life so much better. I am keeping this short, since I do not want this to turn into a Ruby love post. (I love her.)

Now, I do have to mention that none of the new characters have been able to completely fill the gap that's been left behind by Nico. Ruby, though, is the cutest in the whole wide world and tries her absolute "Rubesty" to make up for it. Her efforts, however, were in vain. I still missed hearing the phrase "Nico-Nico nii," but, oh well, I guess "Ganbaruby" is a decent enough replacement. I kind of go a little crazy whenever Ruby says it.

Something that was quite bothersome was that there was no audition process of sorts going on. Chika was captivated by the beauty of this natural wonder, named Ruby. She got an invitation right on the spot. Apparently, looking gorgeous and cute is all that's needed for one to become a true school idol. Singing and dancing skills are irrelevant. Seriously though, this part has been ignored, yet again.

Notable are the outstanding visuals, a huge improvement over the original. The show is very colorful and the background sceneries are very pretty, especially the seaside ones. And yes, there's still the use of 3DCGI during live performances. However, in Sunshine, it's less distracting, more fluid, and should now be on a tolerable level, which makes it more enjoyable to watch.

The sound is what you would expect from the Love Live series. The musical performances are outstanding and definitely worthy of praise. The hardships the girls went through, following their dreams-- you can actually feel the emotions they put into their songs. Mirai Ticket, sung in the final episode, is especially a good example. The vocals are great and the voices of all Aqours girls fit well with each other, not to mention the regular voice acting is admirable, too. Have I already mentioned Ruby's angelic voice? Great background music as well.

If you had any doubts about Sunshine, I can assure you, there is little to worry about. It's certainly an enjoyable show for fans and newcomers alike. Just remember that Ruby is best. I'm very disappointed, though, that the anime did not learn from its past mistakes. Sunshine has the potential of being exceptionally good. And seeing as how popular the Love Live franchise is (especially in Japan!), it will surely get a second season in order to make that happen, and flesh out the characters a bit more. I look forward to the day I see my lovely Ruby animated again.

"Let's change that zero into a one!"

Following up on such a well loved series is no simple task. Whether they're big fans of the original or never liked the series in the first place there's always going to be skeptics who throw around generic phrases like 'milking the cash cow' when an anime studio so much as thinks of continuing a popular series. Sometimes you can win them over, but most of the time they like to stubbornly stick by their viewpoints even it goes against all logical thinking. But regardless of how baffling I find the point of view that these people have, I'm not here to talk about them ... or the fan reaction to this series. I'm not here to make comparisons to the original series either. I'm here to talk about the series.

Love Live Sunshine is a continuation of the original series which I loved very much. But I think Sunshine has its own set of unique strengths. Some have even argued that these strengths make it a better series than the original. But what I find great about Sunshine is that its good points don't detract from what made the original series great. It's a fantastic series that stands out on its own merits. I feel like slovenly comparing the two in that way doesn't do either series justice. As such, I will refrain from making comparisons to the original unless I feel it's absolutely necessary.

Chika Takami is a normal girl wasting away her days going through the motions like any other high school girl. But she's no longer content with living that kind of life. When she sees µ's on the big screen of the UTX building in Akihabara (Which I've just recently found out is called the 'UDX' building in real life. Pretty cool huh?) something in her mind clicks. She's finally found a way to break the mould and escape her normal everyday life. That's the basic setup at least. Obviously their journey isn't as easy as it initially seems, but what makes Sunshine uniquely interesting is the nature of the potholes on their road to success. Pretty much everyone who heard µ's was on their side. It was just a matter of getting people to hear them out. As is natural for a series of that nature there are complications along the way but they're mostly irrelevant to how the people react to their music. The problems they faced were mostly either internal conflict or getting people to notice them. But when µ's put in their best effort and succeeded nearly every time. Sunshine does deal with those very same themes in its own way, but it also deals with heavily a theme that the original series never really touched upon. Rejection. People who heard what they had to say, considered where they were coming from and just said 'no'.

I'm honestly not sure if a theme like that would be a good fit in the original series. But this is a completely new series and Sunrise have taken this as an opportunity to try something completely new. While the show also deals with many of the same themes as the original, it does so in a very different way. The show initially lures you into believing that the impact µ's has had means their journey is gonna be a walk in the park. Right? Right? Wrong! Not only are they outright rejected on a number of occasions, but they have an even harder time getting people to hear them out. School idols are everywhere in this day and age so standing out from the crowd is a lot more difficult. Even their flashy Babymetal-esque rivals Saint Snow have difficulty getting people on their side. Plus unlike µ's, Aqours don't live in the heart of Tokyo and getting people to notice them out in the middle of nowhere is a very difficult task.

To put it simply, they're being brought down by circumstances completely out of their control. You can understand their frustration over being in this situation because these are all problems that everyone has to face at some point in their life. These themes aren't some super complex analysis of the human condition, but they're a perfect fit for the type of series that Love Live Sunshine is trying to be. Not only are the themes relatable to a lot of people regardless of cirmustance, but they're executed really well... at least for the most part. If I had to make a criticism (And I kinda do since this a review and not just a discussion of why I love the show) it's that it takes a while to get really stuck into the themes. The show is very deliberately paced and every episode is filled with great moments, but it's not until the final few episodes where the show really flourishes. That's not to say what comes before it is a waste of time. But even though I thoroughly enjoyed the series from start to finish its finest moments are definitely during the latter episodes. That being said this is admittedly a very weak criticism. I found the show as a whole to be fantastic and I can't imagine those last few episodes being anywhere near as impactful had it not been for everything that came before it.

A new series brings with it a new set of characters and I was really impressed with what they brought to the table this time around. They've all got their cute little quirks and catchphrases as expected but there's a little bit more to them once you get past all that. In terms of comedy the 9 girls all have a great dynamic and bounce off of each other really well when the show wants to make the viewer laugh. But they've also got a wide range of emotions as well as a number of flaws. It's nothing ultra complicated but there's enough to them so that they feel more human and believable than what some would argue (Looking at you Yamakan) is necessary in this kind of series.

When I read the character descriptions I was particularly worried about Yohane since Chuunibyou's are a very stale trope in anime. But the show does a fantastic job of justifying her reasons for being that way and her love of the occult. Ruby is often shy and scared but when the going gets tough she isn't afraid to get assertive. Hanamaru is kind and pleasant to a fault but she's also a goofball and an antisocial bookworm who has trouble making friends. I could go on to describe what makes each and every character great and how they evolve over the course of the series but I'm rambling enough as it is. Though I think what's most important in creating a strong show is a strong lead character and Chika certainly delivers. Chika always wants to do the best she can by her friends but she isn't without her flaws. As much as she tries she's not always capable of making a difference. But over the course of the series she becomes more understanding of her own limitations and more reliant on the people around her. Not only does this make her a likeable character, but a believable one too. And the same goes for the rest of the cast too.

Though there is an elephant in the room that I think is worth discussing. Kanan. All things considered she did get a good amount of attention in the later episodes and the buildup to that point was handled very well. But when you're watching the show weekly you just can't help but wonder 'Where's Kanan?'. Fortunately, the resolution to the conflict between the third years is probably one of the best moments in the entire show. Conflict between characters can make or break a series depending on how it's handled. In Love Live's Sunshine's case, it brings about some of the show's very best moments. The show's world is definitely an exaggerated version of reality but every problem they face arises naturally. They're problems that one can reasonably expect to occur in their situation and they're always solved in an emotionally satisfying way. Simply put, the characters and their interactions are probably Love Live Sunshine's greatest strength.

The animation in Love Live Sunshine is a definite strong point of the series but I wouldn't call it mind blowing. It's a very good looking show that definitely blows the vast majority of anime out of the water. That being said the production quality isn't on the same level as something like Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero or a KyoAni production. Just like the original series the show mixes 2D and 3D animation for its performance scenes and they're an absolute visual treat with a lot of great effects and some very memorable choreography. I've come to accept that the CG animation is an intentional design choice so I'm not going to criticise the show just because they use that style. However it definitely does look a bit wonky on occasions and even at its best it never looks as good as the 2D animation. But overall, when it comes to the visuals the positive far outweigh the positives.

Of course another important aspect in a show like this is the sound. I mean, it is an idol show right? The voice acting, the songs, the sound design, the background music, all of this is very important. The show isn't flawless in every regard but the way the show uses sound is definitely one of its strengths. The songs themselves are plentiful, diverse and very easy on the ears to say the least. The fast paced energy of the opening theme that gets you hyped for the episode, the infectious bouncy melody of Kimeta yo Hand in Hand, the pounding bass drum and soaring vocals in Mijuku Dreamer. Even if you were to detach the songs from the flashy choreography in the performance scenes there's a lot to talk about. Not every song is as awesome as Mijuku Dreamer, but they're all great for their own reasons and not one of them is a dud.

On the topic of sound, voice acting! While there are quite a few well known seiyuu playing side characters every single one of the 9 girls is played by a newbie. That being said, they've obviously been trained very well. The girls all sound distinctive and their acting is on point nailing both the light hearted comedy scenes and the more dramatic moments of the series. There are a few missed lip flaps and awkward line reads, but in the grand scheme of things these are relatively minor flaws. The seiyuu performances are a key aspect of any show like this and Love Live Sunshine does not disappoint. Just like its predecessor, Sunshine does indeed have an English dub. While NIS America handled the first series in conjunction with Bang Zoom, Love Live Sunshine is entirely a Funimation effort. Moving from Texas to LA means there's a whole new talent pool to work with and the dub uses this to its advantage with a good mix of newbies and veterans from the area. In an effort to remain consistent with the original series the English dub is directed by Caitlin Glass who played Maki in the original series. However, just like the Japanese version, there are no returning cast members. There's definitely some awkward line reads and questionable translation choices here and there but all things considered it's a very solid dub handled by a team of people who evidently enjoy working on the show. However in this case I have to say my preference is with the original Japanese version.

Overall, Love Live Sunshine was an unexpectedly great series that follows up on the original in a very big way. Rather than relying on what made the original series great, Sunshine (And Aqours) establishes itself as something uniquely amazing. I could go on forever talking about everything this show does right yet my issues with the show are relatively minor. It's obligatory that I mention the things that bothered me in a review, but honestly I could spend way longer talking about why I loved the show. It's very rare that a show elicits that kind of positive response out of me so obviously they've done something right. Love Live Sunshine is undeniably something special and I would be very surprised if anything else can take its place as my favourite anime of 2016.

So i knew this anime from Love Live! School Idol Festival. LLSIF is a mobile rhythm game that feature all character from Love Live. I decided to watch the anime because the story there is great, so after a few weeks playing it i'm interested to watch the anime. And boy oh boy, i'm surprised that the story is more complicated in the anime.

Story 10/10
Since Love Live! Sunshine!! is the first that i watched in this franchise, i can't compare it to Love Live! School Idol Project. Some people say the story is same like LLSIP. So in here i will review the story based ... on this anime alone and didn't take previous anime to compare. Well as a person who got here from the game, i'm really surprised. I didn't expect it to be like this, i thought it will be like other Cute Girls Doing Cute Thing anime. But no, its more powerfull than that. It has taught me something. That something is never give up, no matter what the situation is, no matter what the problem is, just never give up. It'll done when it is the time.The story make us really feel how hard they work. But this anime isn't all about being a hardworker, this anime also contain about friendship. Not only that, it also has has an emotional episode that will make your heart touched because their wholesomeness.

Art 10/10
I really like this artstyle. Its so colorful and because of that it also bring happiness and cheerfulness mood. Which is good, because almost all the song they sing match with the mood. A bonus point for their uniform, now i like sailor uniform because this anime. Sometimes they make a really weird but funny faces, and it became a memes. The background art is really beautiful because the anime take place in a shore area. They draw all of it really good, from the sea to the hill. The animation is also really smooth. The girls here like to jump everytime something happy occuring and they jump so fluidly. Oh yeah they also have CGI, but it didn't really a big thing because they only use CGI when they are singing.

Sound 10/10
This is a music anime, of course the sound must be good. I already like their music since i was playing LLSIF. And now i knew the story behind the music i was listened, i love them even more. I can't really describe the music, you should watch the anime to feel it. I also have some of their music in my playlist. Beside from the music, the SFX is also really good. I don't think it has problem with SFX.

Character 10/10
They really do a great job making all the 9 main characters here a different personality. Not to mention they really consistent with it. Like their personality never change. So if you want to choose your perfect waifu maybe you can pick one from here. Now we're talk about the side character. In the early episode they just give the spotlight to the first 3 main characters. And the side characters feel so plain because we barely hear anyone talk beside the main character. But as this show progressively move, the side characters is actually as important as main character. They even can make someone personality that didn't appear in the anime, which mean we can't see them but we can feel them.

Enjoyment 10/10
Thanks to this anime, now i'm inside idol hell and can't get out. But i'm not regretting it, even a little bit. I don't think other anime fans will like it, especially that didn't really got into this type of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, because this anime is a little bit over dramatic about almost everything. Even though this anime is like that, it doesn't stop me from rewatching this series in dub. I'll definitely remember this series as 'that school idol anime'. It just so iconic. Oh yeah the group also exist in real life, so you can really enjoy it to the fullest.

If you are wondering why i'm surprised when i watch the anime. It is because the story in the game is so simple, short, funny, and cheerful. While the anime is serious, tense, and more in depth story. But not all the episode like that, usually the first half is filled with comedy and the second half is focused to the story. So yeah, thank you for reading my review.

The second anime installment to the hit music/idol franchise Love Live!, Sunshine follows the story of second year high school student Takami Chika as she chases her dream.

All of her life, Chika has always been normal.

"To have been absorbed in something you love. To have a dream of what you want to become... I never had that."

Chika thought that she had to be special to be like that. But that changed when she saw µ's for the first time.

"Even though they were normal high schoolers like me, they were shining!"

Chika was moved. She realized the wonders of school idols, and decided to do it with ... her friends. She wanted to have a goal, and she wanted to work hard for it. She wants to shine.

Being the most anticipated anime for Summer 2016, many are quick to hate on it. You'll often hear claims that it's just a rehash of the first series, that the plot is the same for both. But what makes up a plot, anyways? Is it how things go, the events that happen; or is it the reason, the "why", to the things that happen? I'll let you decide for your self.

As this is the second anime series under the Love Live franchise, you'd expect it to more or less have the same strengths and weaknesses in the overall animation. Like the clean character designs, and the god awful 3DCG when dancing. Surprisingly, though, Sunshine is all strengths. Sunrise (the animators) delivered an overwhelming upgrade to its aesthetics. The art is really detailed and clean. Characters are refined, and the scenery and background are really spectacular. The animation is smooth and fluid, and the 3DCG now fits into the sequencing with better motion and design. Also, the water is really really marvelous. It resembles more the School Idol Movie than it does the original series.

The sound is understandably outstanding. The voice acting fits the characters personalities, and feels natural to listen to. The sound effects are consistent and doesn't overpower the main dialogue, and the ambient sounds pay close attention to detail. There's always the low and soft sound of water moving and waves crashing when they're near a body of water, and there are random seagull squawks every now and then, as expected of a seaside town. It makes you feel like you''re genuinely there. The background music fits with the atmosphere, and carries the many emotions of the show. As for the songs, you can expect it to be great. The opening and ending themes are catchy and tells the story of them as they start out. The songs are good as it is, but gets even better with the emphasis they put on them.

The concept for the story is pretty straightforward, and that is good for a fun show about girls following their dreams and having fun. This isn't meant to be a deep and complex story. The pacing is perfect. Events happen and change at a decently slow speed, which gives more time for the characters to interact, and for their feelings to show and intentions to take shape. With this, the development of each character is clear. Also, Sunshine goes to great lengths and makes excellent use of its elements in emphasizing their characters struggles and accomplishments, creating these beautiful and touching moments unexpected to the viewer, making it that much more of an enjoyable and memorable show.

I loved the first series, and I went into Sunshine knowing that I would also love it. It could have just been me being biased, or it could have just been them riding the immense wave of popularity left by µ's, so I wondering if they could really do it. But I honestly didn't expect it to be this good. It's been breaking a lot of my expectations, and I have high hopes for this series. I want to see the heights they'll take this golden opportunity to and make a name for themselves. Already, they are shining, but I believe they'll become greater and brighter.

Spoiler-Lite Review:

This started and progressed way past my expectations for a idol/CGDCT type of show. The first episode was super well laid out and showed that it was going to be a lot different than its pseudo-predecessor and I really love that shift in tone, it added a lot of depth and sincerity the genre needed. Chika as a main character is a very self-aware and earnest main character and the rest of the group were very detailed and shaped in such a way as to give lots of similarities and parallels to other known characters in the series.

My favorite narrative tool they used was ... the "Fabled Legend" where you use the previous installment or story that had elements of uniqueness, as a pillar to hold the current story towards and contrast in specific ways. A lot of characters had different levels of familiarity to Muse and the show used these differences to make interesting dilemmas and themes on the idea of purpose and being unique amongst the crowd.

In terms of animation and directing, it was a step up above your standard idol/CGDCT shows. Using really fluid 3D animations in the dancing choreography, alongside great shot composition and narrative structure make for a very enjoyable experience delving into 9 different people's backstories. As a stickler for "good" 3D animation, this is my cup of tea. It felt almost like it was shot as a drama instead of a funny comedic idol show. It gave the much needed sincerity to each character and made their persona shine even more.

Other than the ending, my only negative critique would be how disconnected some of the song/performances felt. Even though they had the right preparation and setting, without some more "leading up to" scenes, they felt out of place. They themselves were done very well though, just didn't feel right in context/in the moment.

As for the ending, I wished it was a little more concrete in its resolution and its progress. It felt as though it was written with having a season 2 in mind, but I would have wished they had written a more standalone ending that you can jump off the back of for another season. What we did get didn't feel very rewarding, compared to all the work they did in changing their motivations and delving into the true reasons for becoming school idols.

Would have rated it higher if the ending was better.

First of all, Love Live! Sunshine!! is a show that needs you to pay attention and to understand it, which is kind of interesting considering most of these types of shows are pretty straightforward, but this one needs you to understand the message it starts building up at the very beginning and that it concludes really well. Hopefully this will erase all the misconceptions about this show that you might have seen anywhere else on the internet. I'll have a TL;DR section at the end if any of you wishes to skip the explicit content.

Also, it is not completely necessary to watch the predecessor series, ... Love Live! School Idol Project, to watch Sunshine since they follow two different groups, but as a recommendation, you should check it out if you still haven't. It presents references that enhance the experience if you have seen the first series. :)



STORY: 8/10

Contrary to what some believe, Sunshine!! does not follow the journey of Aqours after its creation, the entirety of this season shows us the background of the group, the reason why it is created, their motivations, the relationships the members develop, why they are different from Muse, etc. This is a much more character driven plot than the one in School Idol Project S1, which was a bit more story driven.


It follows Chika Takami, a normal high school girl who finds a dream to follow, and that is to shine as a School Idol being influenced by Muse, our protagonist group from Love Live! School Idol Project. Chika creates her School Idol group in Uranohoshi Girls High School, with the goal of being just like Muse and recreating their story, however... will that really wield any good results...?


The story in Love Live! Sunshine!! is simple and yet needs you to understand it. I'm so tired of the "Aqours is just a carbon copy of Muse" thing that makes this show really underrated and that it's been driving me nuts, so let's just get that out of the way first.

Sunshine!! CONSCIOUSLY draws parallels between School Idol Project and Sunshine!! , yes, consciously. They adress this openly and honestly in the anime, Sunshine is intended to reflect and to mirror School Idol Project's setting, just to then get past this comparisons and show us how different the situation is. This is where everything starts to build up, and is at the very beginning of the show, and why? Because the whole message of the show is that "Aqours is not Muse, and they'll never be", and "Be Yourself". Which is explained and shown later in episodes 8 and 12.


"Why did they take so long to acknowledge something like that" you ask? Because the purpose of this show never was to show us Aqours journey right after it is created with all 9 members, but rather to have a season where the torch of the Love Live franchise would be passed from the first generation to the second (done symbolically in episode 12 with Chika catching the feather) and to form the bonds of the members of Aqours. The last shot in episode 13 tells us that the TRUE story of Aqours is beginning now (in the really probable second season and onwards), since the shot replicates the picture that marked the beginning of Love Live! Sunshine!! and Aqours as a multimedia project back in 2015. So, this is the message that the show conveys to us, that they are different, the reasons why they are different, that is important to be yourself and that you can still be influenced by someone but you can walk your own path.

This is a huge misconception in the franchise so I wanted to get it out of the way first, that Aqours and Sunshine are just blatant carbon copies of its predecessors, trust me, they are not. The show consciously draws this parallels and breaks all the expectations they created in the first half of the show by showing us that they are indeed really different (I'll talk about the characters in the later part). That is the reason why I say this show needs you to pay attention and understand it. This plot point can be seen building up since episode 1, and then reaching its breaking point at a certain episode, which is a complete turning point to the series.

This first season servers as a set-up season to kick off with Aqours' Love Live story in the future.



ART: 8/10

There's not much to talk about here, an obvious improvement in terms of animation and art compared to the previous TV Anime seasons and that holds a resemblance with the art used on the movie which is just as good. Granted better budget, more to spend on animation and art, but the experience of the animation team clearly shows here too. Art is subjective indeed, so you can like it or dislike it depending on your standards, but it is clean and crisp.



SOUND: 9/10

Kind of the same as the art, another improvement which is to be expected since the team has now experience and a bigger budget. The OST has some quite nice tracks that can convey emotions really well.

One thing to note is how the series captures the sounds of a small and silent seaside town. The squawk of the seagulls, the sound of the waves hitting the shore, it really helps to the immersion and it sounds clean.

In terms of Music and insert songs, is subjective. I like my idol music, so I enjoyed all of the songs, not only here, but on the franchise as a whole. However, Aqours has a distinguishing feature, and is that their singing voices blend together really well and they harmonize a lot.

Coupled with the music and insert songs is the fact that the musical performances are usually linked to character development and plot progression, which is a constant of Love Live that we've seen in previous seasons. So, if you haven't seen it or you thought of them being out of place, I'd recommend you to watch them with subs or look for the lyrics of those songs, since they usually work as an extension or conclusion to a certain topic.



CHARACTER: 8/10

This. This section is probably the most important besides "Story".

Love Live! Sunshine!! is the successor to Love Live! School Idol Project, and Aqours is the successor to Muse, they are part of the same franchise and as such, Dengeki G's Magazine, Sunrise and Lantis need brand continuity to ensure continued profitability and success. This and the fact that they still have the same artist lets us know why are some of the girls similar in design. Is the same as other brands, for example, how the leader of a Power Ranger's team is always a really strong guy, and he becomes the red ranger, this applies the same way here. Similar character archetype and design, yet definitely different characters.

The girls are intended to be mirrors and reflections of the girls in Muse so people can remember that even though it is a new season, with a new group, it is still Love Live, it is the same franchise, thus, if you come into it looking for similarities in their characters' personalities and design, you will find them on the surface.

HOWEVER, that's all you get, since the show draws parallels between the current cast and the past cast, again, to move past them and then break those expectations and start developing them even further, to the point where they are completely different characters, yet working as a reflection of their predecessors, which is really hard to achieve. And all of them actually have reasons to act how they do which are shown in each girl's character development episodes.

Character development, although there is just a little bit because, again, this is a set-up season, is clean and easy to relate, the drama is well handled and is not forced since all of it has a proper build up, and the character interactions feel natural (except for two characters). Something that helps to this is how the relationships are formed within this group. We have childhood friends in almost every year group, and even between them. We have a pair of sisters as well, etc. All of them, except for Riko, are connected to at least one of the members even before the creation of their group, and it makes sense since they live in a small seaside town, you know that unlike in the big cities, is more likely that most of the population of a small town gets to know each other.



ENJOYMENT: 9/10

This kind of story was really enjoyable to me, giving such a nice message of "Be Yourself", with a cast of funny eccentric characters while still making them relatable due to the realistic and harsh situations they are put in that will most likely make us cheer for them or feel sympathy towards them if we had experienced it before. If Sunshine was your first entry into the Love Live franchise, I'd kinda bet that you may have enjoyed it as well.



OVERALL: 9/10

Love Live! Sunshine!! is a very underated show because it comes after the juggernaut that Muse was (and still is of course), and the huge popularity that they and School Idol Project attained, thus making quite a number of people not wanting to understand it and care for it.

However, that is no reason to just blindly hate on it and give it an unfair, superficial judgement. Its story is sweet and simple, yet it has a really deep meaning to it. Its characters are very lovely, enjoyable and relatable, once you get to know them well on the inside, you can see all the development they go through. The music is on point, the drama is very well handled, and my only complaint with the series would be that they wasted a big chunk of the last episode and how it kept forcing Chika and Riko in our faces, overshadowing and throwing aside the rest of the cast, but it still had some nice touching scenes and musical performances.

Looking and analyzing at how it was handled and executed, Sunshine surpasses School Idol Project S1 in almost every aspect, and that's not a bad thing, fellow fans, that's how it should be. With the extra experience and capital the production team has, they are now able to provide better storytelling, better art and animation, better production values on the whole. If they hadn't grow and learn from their mistakes in the past and improved this second time around, it would have been a big failure for the franchise.

This doesn't mean that you must enjoy one more than the other because it is better made in terms of production, enjoy whatever you want, both series are similar yet different with its own charm, and both are really, really enjoyable. But you should at least acknowledge the effort put into this series to take the anime adaptations of the franchise to a higher level.





TL;DR: Don't trust all the negative bias and superficial judgement this series has. It shows a story of self-discovery and self-appreciation with characters that are enjoyable, lovely and very different from their predecessors when you get to know them. It is by no means a carbon copy as some call it out to be, and the series shows this with facts throughout its run, addressing this openly and honestly, drawing parallels to its predecessor to then break them all and develop their cast and plot even further, and get past those comparisons as the series advances.

Love Live! Sunshine!! is a slice of life musical anime, about nine high school girls trying their hand at becoming school idols, competing with many other schools nationwide in Love Live! Inspired by their favorite and first school idol Love Live winners, μ's, they work hard to become this years best school idol group!

Love Live! Sunshine!! While is very similar to it's original Love Live! School Idol Project anime, still manages to be just as entertaining and charming in this spin-off. The nine girls are again, all lovable in their own way, overflowing with charm and quirkiness. The humor here is even more zany and ... witty, while still allowing each girl to have their own development and desires that set them apart. Myself personally while I love both School Idol Project's μ's group, and Sunshine's Aqours. I love the Aqours here in Sunshine ever so slightly more, but would still highly recommend both respective Love Live anime.

Love Live! Sunshine!! takes place on a remote coast in Japan, where our girls come together from a small town to share their love of school idols together, hoping to be recognized like the more popular groups in more populated areas, and ultimately winning the Love Live competition.

The character cast is rather interesting and by that I mostly mean Saint Snow, Aqours' rival group. Since you could say they are the counterpart to A-RISE in the first season, compared to them, Ria and Seira don't start out as the biggest idol group and are the performers or characters you'd expect them to be if you know what A-RISE is like. Though Aqours faces the same issue as in the first season of the first series, I find them to be quite lovable and special on their own subjectively.

As expected, Sunshine continues to milk out outstanding idol music that's another reason to why I find Aqours to be special on their own. ''Snow Halation'' and ''Start:Dash'' have been quite the songs but I listen to a lot of Guilty Kiss (I have been doing so way before I got into LL actually) and as I go by more episodes, I can see Aqours clawing themselves in my playlist here and there.

I find myself to be comparing the first Love Live! to Sunshine a lot but it's not like the series isn't doing so itself. It isn't disconnecting itself by any means and, as a matter of fact, the series pays homage to μ's often and, to be precise, from the character standpoint, Aqours.

This doesn't exactly appeal to every audience but if you're willing to give Love Live! a try, watch the first series + the movie and come back here. If you want to see more from the series then certainly watch this!

Idol anime aren't really something I've seen too much of, even though I love watching musicals in general. The original Love Live was actually the first idol anime I have seen, so there isn't much of a reference for me on if this actually was any good or not, besides my personal enjoyment of things, so my rating for Sunshine comes mostly from that personal point of view on what makes the show enjoyable for me.

Story (7/10):
The story might be the biggest weakness of Sunshine. Too much of the time is about trying to follow the nine muses of the original and catch the shining ... light of them. Most of the time it's about trying the same things in a different setting and only near the end, they finally try to go their own way.

Art (8/10):
There isn't much negative to say about the look of Sunshine. The 3d stuff finally better and the rest is great to look at anyway, so I would have only prefered less of the 3d stuff in the dance numbers, but it's still really good.

Sound (9/10):
I actually liked most of the songs and the voice actors did a great job. Nothing really to say here.

Characters (9/10):
I believe that the characters are what makes Sunshine better to me. Yes, they don't seem like more than the original girls, but their interactions and reactions to things feel better to me. While µ's always had their happy-go-lucky charm, which made them pretty much win anything, Aquors has it much harder and actually loses at most things. They are sad, they cry, but together they never give up. Fitting the title of the show, the girls shine thanks to their faults and instead of going for the top, they are just happy with turning that 0 into a 1. To me this makes Chika a better leader and her group into something I want to follow and see develop. That's also where most of my enjoyment comes from. Yes there is more drama, but it's always used to have the characters grow and try to become better. It's not about being the best school idol group, but about being best friends.

Overall (9/10):
While I would have prefered the story to be more of its own thing, it's actually used in the end to have the characters grow into their own kind of school idol and I'm looking forward to more of that in Season 2. For now I think that this was just slightly worse than Season 2 of the original, but I was definitely happy with what I got.

Now I know that this is a pretty high review for an idol show. But this little show really changed a lot for me. My attitude, my opinion on certain things, and of course my music taste!
I've never watched many inspirational anime before, so this one was pretty new to me. The story of a bunch of girls trying to save their school seems like a pretty simple one. But this was a truly sweet show. It really helped me out in my personal life, as before I watched it I was a really dark person. But it quickly brought me out of all that ... negativity and gave me a more positive world to look at.

After watching this show, I knew I had found my favorite anime. I'll always look back fondly on some moments like when riko and yohane had to take care of a stray dog they found. Or the third years finally making up from a fight; that left them apart for almost two years. And if you wanna cry, then there's plenty of tear jerking scenes in this show.

The shows graphics are really good, with all the girls looking extra kawaii. If you've heard the music then I'm sure you can agree that the songs sound great. And the enjoyment for it is never ending really, there's basically a whole love live universe to emerse yourself in if you want. They've got games, (that unfortunately take up a lot of space on your phone.) two movies, three shows, music to jam too, and a ton of merch to choose from. A lot of people like the original show, while there's nothing at all wrong with it. I prefer Sunshine's characters over theirs any day. I've fell in love with the likes of kanan, Mari, and my favorite riko.

Riko's been my favorite waifu of all for a long time now. All in all this show is amazing, and if your ever feeling down then definitely give this a watch. Theirs a whole inspirational idol universe to drag yourself down into. Come on down to idol hell with us, the waters fine.

After having a chunk of my soul firmly ripped out by the ending of the Love Live Movie, I heavily debated whether or not I would be able to bear the pain of knowing that the µ's we had come to know and love over these past 24 something episodes and a movie would no longer be the group we follow. After several hours on Reddit, I ultimately decided to continue, I haven't looked back since.

Story
Love Live Sunshine depicts a similar story in a different setting, with familiar aspects making returns while new ones arise. We start with a core trio in their second ... year of high school, with one of them having been inspired to become a School Idol, she quickly gathers her other friends and starts recruiting, along the way, the core trio helps the first years overcome their nervousness, while helping the third years atone for their past mistakes. A conflict of interest inevitably comes up, as well as the risk of the school closing down. The first concert is inevitably one of the more memorable ones, no matter how well it does, and the crew's choreography and song composition inevitably climbs from there. From an outsider's perspective, it would inevitably seem that the Studio itself is clinging to the legacy µ's left behind, as the characters introduced, the sequence of events, and the plotline all paralleled events that µ's went through as a group, until it didn't. It should also be noted that while these events parallel the things µ's went through, they certainly did not parallel the depth of each event. Aquors experienced way more hardship along the way compared to what µ's did, even doing really badly at their first concerts, but eventually slowly climbing their way all the way to the top of the leaderboards. While the majority of the season was basically a carbon copy, around 2/3 of the way through, our new idol group, now affectionately named Aquors, realizes that they aren't µ's, and will no way match what µ's made into a legacy, instead, they split away from the carbon copy plotline to form their own. This obvious copied plotline splitting into a new one makes for an oddly stunning realization to the viewer that that plotline is exactly what their train of thought is. We all started this series pleading for any chance to see µ's again, but we slowly come to know and love each and every member of Aquors. Well Played.

Art and Sound
From the first moment the OP played, it became clear that Aquors was its own thing, while the animation style remained the same, because, duh, its from the same studio. There was an interesting shift of atmosphere. Not because this time the story's set in a coastal town, but because of the namesake. Everything done in this season reflects the name "Sunshine". Everything's brighter, and I mean everything.
Of course, you can't have an idol anime without its music, and this is where Aquors truly shines in its individuality. Their songs are notably brighter, happier, and perhaps shinier than µ's tracks. It makes sense on a physical level, considering that many of the voice actors in Aquors have higher voice registers or know how to sing higher than most members of µ's, but also because of the namesake once again, While µ's specialized in dreamy, sparkling music, Aquors bursts in with such an overwhelming amount of positivity I would honest-to-god recommend their tracks to the more pessimistic people in life. A comparison between the two season's OPs also proves my point. µ's Bokura wa Ima no Naka de is an absolute banger, however, when you hear Aquors's Aozora Jumping Heart, you are instantly filled with more determination than Honoka's ever had in her time spent with µ's. It shows how serious Aquors is about setting their own legacy and how much skill they have to back it up.

Characters
The characters of Aquors and µ's share a lot of similar traits like, a TON of similarities. Here's a few I noticed before diving into the specifics of each character. A few of the similarities were shuffled between characters, possibly to mix things up a bit, but ultimately they show up in both groups
- An extremely upbeat, overly hyper orange haired protagonist
- A grey haired second year who's the protagonist's lifelong friend
- A second year who sacrificed time at her other club to be at the School Idol Club
- An overly shy 1st year
- The best friend of the overly shy 1st year with a signature catchphrase
- A third wheeling 1st year who everyone also likes
- A foreigner 3rd year with a signature catchphrase in their mother tongue
- Another 3rd year who tried starting their own School Idol Group but failed for whatever reason
- A 3rd year who's the Student Council President
- A pianist who serves as the composer for the group

Those were just a few of the similarities the groups have, of course, these listed traits have been shuffled from person to person, but it still bears an undeniable similarity to µ's and therefore an even bigger reason for that hole in your heart to open back up.

Overall, I feel that despite being basically a carbon copy of the original Love Live with some uniqueness to them, it still feels reasonable and not bad. The explanation behind this makes sense too, that Aquors is simply trying to find their own path, what makes them different from µ's, and their own unique musical style. It keeps that hole in your heart open, but at the same time also seals it. Its refreshing knowing that the group that inspired us also inspired them, and I can't wait to see what this group will do

We all know that Love Live! is an economically successful franchise. I admit, I've also sinked some of my money on Love Live! 'cause I'm a big fan of the franchise. So it's no surprise that this got a spin off. I was really hyped for Sunshine and now that I finished the series, did it live up to my expectations?

(This review will contain SPOILERS)

[Story]
When Sunshine got announced, I got really excited because I wanted to see more Love Live!. I was skeptical though because when I saw the 10 minutes character introduction PV for LL Sunshine, not only do some characters of this new ... group look like the original cast from Love Live! (You and Kotori, Mari and Eli, and etc.) but also, some of the characters' personalities are alike. They basically show you the bio of the new characters in the video and that's how I learned about their personalities.

Just like the 1st Season of Love Live!, the story here is relatively simple and fairly similar to the 1st Season of LL. The difference here is Love Live! Sunshine!! takes place about 5 years after µ's disbanded and now focuses on a new group called "Aquors" (pronounced as Aqua) which consists of 9 girls aspiring to become the next famous school idol like µ's. Just like the previous seasons of Love Live though, I don't really give a shit about the story since the school idols are the main focus of the series and the songs.

The aspect that I found a bit annoying, but nothing major, in Sunshine is the constant references of µ's and callbacks. Yes, I get it. They won Love Live and they're very famous but I just found it really annoying that the show constantly mentions µ's this and that. For example, the episode that introduced us to Hanamaru. I got really irritated at the end of the episode because of how much they were focusing on Rin's shot. I get it, she's relating herself to Rin but it was too much. Now, there's a reason why I didn't exactly dislike the said aspect that much.

In the first 7 episodes, Chika was basically following µ's' footsteps and thinking that if she does exactly what µ's did, she and her group would become just as popular as µ's. I'm glad that the 8th episode completely blew my conception of Sunshine being just a "blatant rip-off of Love Live!". I really love the 8th episode because it was reality slapping Chika's face. Aquors got 0 points in the preliminaries and she realizes that ever since µ's won Love Live, the idol competition has become way more competitive than before and she also realized that simply copying µ's won't get them to where they want to go. Man, I am loving this "From nothing to something" concept that I've been seeing in anime lately. Aquors' song "Step!Zero to One!" now makes perfect sense. Btw, that song is really good.

Love Live Sunshine is also aware of the fact that Aquors is copying µ's and that's the reason why I mostly changed my mind about the constant references and callbacks of µ's in earlier parts of the series. In the 12th episode, Chika realized how µ's exactly got successful and also realized that she needs to stop copying µ's, be their own selves and forge a new path, breaking away from µ's. This whole season is basically about Aquors forming and learning about who they truly are. I'm quite excited for the 2nd Season, now that Aquors is heading on their own path towards success.
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[Art/Animation]: (9.5/10)
The art style of the original Love Live was decent, at best and the character designs looked good but was too moe, for my taste, but I got used to it. Also, just like everyone else, I hated the use of CGI in µ's Live Shows. However, in Love Live Sunshine, every aspect of the show's visuals and animation is significantly improved. The art style looks better, the visuals and backgrounds is more superior than the predecessor and the character designs looks like more work was put into it. The Live Shows, for once, doesn't burn my eyes. It's looks like Sunrise learned how to utilize and blend the CGI and 2D Animation perfectly. Seriously, watching Aquors' CGI performance was a lot more bearable than watching µ's CGI performance.
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[Sound]: (10/10)
As a µ's fan, I'm sorry for betraying µ's by saying this but Aquors' songs sounds A LOT better than most µ's songs. Aquors songs sounds more energetic and lively as opposed to µ's dramatic-tune and sometimes melancholic but with a touch of happiness (That's the best I can explain µ's songs). In LL 1st Season, the only songs that I liked was START:DASH and Susume Tommorow. In Sunshine, I love almost every song. Some examples are Kimeta yo Hand in Hand, Daisuki Dattara Daijoubu (which completely shits on almost every µ's song that I've listened to in the past few years), Omoi yo hitotsu ni nare, and more because you get what I'm trying say here. I just wished that they used "Step!Zero to One" in the last episode because it would have fit the show's context.

The OP theme song is "Aozora Jumping Heart" by Aquors. I really love this OP the same reason I love the mentioned songs earlier. It's better than the 1st OP of Love Live but it's on par with the 2nd OP of Love Live.
The ED theme song is "Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou " by Aquors. Just like the first OP, I also love this song but if I have to be more specific, I love the version where only Chika and Riko were singing. I think this is better than the 1st ED of Love Live! but the 2nd ED of Love Live! is still better than Sunshine's ED.

I watched the show in English Dub and Subs but I'm only going to review the Japanese's VA's singing talent. Chika, Riko and You's singing voices are godlike and they're 50% of the reason why Aquors' songs are great. Hell, that's the reason why I think "Daisuki Dattara Daijoubu" is better than most µ's songs. Their voices are just absolutely amazing and I'd prefer if Chika, Riko and You have their own subunit. I still don't know why one of Aquors' official subunit comprises of Chika, You and Ruby. It should have been Riko instead of Ruby :/
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[Characters]: (8/10)
Despite all the good things that I've been saying about Aquors, I still like the members of µ's more than the members of Aquors. It's not because Aquors is uninteresting. It's because the characters from Love Live! has way more screentime and character development than Aquors at the moment. Once Sunshine gets 2nd Season and a movie then I'll love Aquors just as much as I love µ's.

Like the original Love Live!, Sunshine has 9 characters and evenly split into 3 girls per grade. I just want to say that the difference between Aquors having 9 members and µ's having 9 members is that µ's 9 members group had meaning into it and makes perfect sense because of the name of their group while Aquors' amount of members is just....umm..yea.....Who cares, right? Gotta stick with the winning formula and I'm not complaining. Anyways, the first years are Ruby Kurosawa, Hanamaru Kunikida and Yoshiko Tsushima (Yohane). Ruby is Dia's younger sister and she's shy and bit of an introvert girl. To make it more simpler, she's like Hanayo except I found Ruby to be a lot more cuter but Hanayo's extreme love for rice was what made her more likable. Hanamaru is Ruby's best friend and she loves to read books and she has little to no knowledge when it comes to technology since she lives at a temple. She says "zura" at the end of her sentence all the time. To make it more simpler, she's like Rin except she's a bookworm and she doesn't get on my goddamn nerves. Then there's Yoshiko, a chuunibyou girl who thinks she's the "fallen angel" and she prefers to be called by her persona "Yohane". Honestly, I still prefer Nico over her but I can't help but love her "Yohane" persona. I wouldn't mind sacrificing myself to become her little demon.

Then there's the second years Chika Takami, You Watanabe and Riko Sakurauchi. You (Pronounced as Yo) is Chika's longtime childhood friend and has a habit of dressing up in a sailor suit since she's a marine enthusiast. You is currently my best girl of the series. Judging by her appearance, you'd think she's like Kotori except she's not. Besides her designing Aquors' costumes, hers and Kotori's personality are nothing alike. You is more lively and her voice doesn't make my ears bleed while Kotori is the cute girl but with an ear-piercing voice. As much as I want to make a You pun right now, I don't want to because I love "you" and I really don't want to break "you" 're heart by making all these terrible puns xD. Chika is the enthusiastic leader of Aquors. I just want to mention that Chika got way more character development than Honoka did in the 1st Season of LL. In the original LL, it wasn't until the 2nd Season where Honoka got a character development. Even so, Chika's character development is already more impressive than Honoka so even though both characters' enthusiasm and determination to reach their goals are the same, I still prefer Chika over Honoka. Riko is a transfer student from Otonokizaka High (µ's school) and a girl who plays the piano. Riko is like a mixture of Umi and Maki and I really like her Maki side. In other words, I like it when Riko gets all flattered over something.

Then there's the third years Dia Kurosawa, Mari Ohara, and Kanan Matsura. Dia (Pronounced as "Daya" or as in Diamond) is the student council president. She's mostly like Eli, in terms of her being stubborn at times and the way she acts as a student council president. The similarities are there. The difference here is Dia has a legitimate reason for rejecting Chika's application sheet to form a school idol club. I mean, Eli has a legitimate reason too but both of their reasons are completely different. Mari is a rich girl who decided to come back to Uranohoshi after hearing about someone forming a school idol. I really thought Mari was going to be either Nozomi or Eli but boy, was I wrong. I mean, the only similarities between Mari and Nozomi is they both like to grope someone's breast but other than that, their personalities are completely different. I also love Mari's "Engrish" catchphrases. Especially her "It's joke" quote and my most favourite is her "Oh My God!" quote. Fun fact: Mari's "It's joke" quote was kept in the English Dub version but almost every one of her Engrish quotes was changed to an Italian accent. Kanan is that almost non-existent character who barely made an appearance in the first half of the series but had more screentime in the second half. I started liking Kanan more when the third years were getting more focus on the early 2nd half of the series.
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[Enjoyment]: (8.5/10)
Face it people, µ's time is over and it's Aquors' time to shine. The sooner you accept that, the more you'll enjoy this show like I did. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Chika and her determination to never give up even though she got cornered but managed to got herself out of the position. Plus, the songs are better than most songs from µ's. Currently, my Aquors-created playlist in my phone is now at over 13 songs and counting.
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[VERDICT]
When Love Live Sunshine and Aquors first got introduced, I was a bit skeptical at first because I thought they wouldn't live up to µ's' greatness. Now that I finished Sunshine, the series blew away my expectations. As of right now, µ's is still better but Aquors has a lot of potential to overtake µ's and as time grows on, they'll either be on par with them or end up being better than them. I mean, most of Aquors' songs are already better than what the 1st Season of LL offered.
The story is recycled but I kind-of saw this coming since the 2nd Season of LL did the same shit. Also, the µ's references and callbacks were a bit dragged out. The character is where it's at though. The character development for the third years and the 2nd year, especially Chika were really good but just like the 2nd Season of LL, their character development will definitely get better (and hopefully more character development for the first years) once Sunshine gets 2nd Season.


[OVERALL]: (8.5/10)


Pros:
+Aquors turned out to be a very lovable idol group at the end of the series
+Aquors' songs are great and better than µ's songs from 1st and 2nd Season
+Enjoyable characters with amazing character dynamics between two or three Aquors members
+Great character development for Chika and the 3rd years
+Visually Appealing Animation
+CGI in Live Shows is significantly improved

Cons:
-Constant references and callback to µ's got a bit annoying

What does it mean to shine?

In lieu of the mainstream media and audiences embracing 'dark and mature' storytelling in favor of 'childish junk' catered towards 12 year olds, this question shouldn't even be relevant in today's world. Yet here it is, in all of its glory. And for the past six years, only one franchise dared to ever raise that question in the 2010s.

Love Live has enjoyed worldwide popularity, and not just because it has cute girls and really nice songs. If such were the case, then that would mean stuff like Show by Rock! would be popular. Sunrise doesn't just take what it sees ... and rolls with it, adding irrelevant junk and catering to '"realistic", cute-girls-need-to-suffer fags' and 'wish-fulfillment' like IM@S does, but instead, takes the whole package; by creating story about girls striving to shine, and really, that's all it needs to be. "So, how different, then, is it from other idol shit like Aikatsu?" I'll tell you why.

Because Love Live succeeds at it. Especially Sunshine.

I'll be the first to admit that I was downright skeptical when this was first announced. I was worried it was going to be a copy of the first season, making the same formulaic recruitment episodes and drama, and the mistakes that plagued it. And oh boy was I wrong. I mentioned earlier that Sunrise takes the 'whole package', so what exactly is in it? It's everything about idols. From the way they dress, what they sing down to the girl's personalities and the struggles of adolescence. However, they didn't always succeed at using it. Let's date back to the first Love Live season. While superb in its own way, there were things that prevented perfect enjoyment, such as issues with characterization and drama, as well as circumstances that made little to no sense on the part of some character arcs. All of these problems were whisked away with the advent of Love Live S2, which is probably the most inspiring piece of media I have ever watched. No teen melodrama or action-induced fantasy isekai story is able to say "go do something better with your life" better than this particular second season has, filled to the brim with sad and happy moments that touch my heart deeply. And after just one year after Muse ended their story, Sunshine arrived.
Seeing as it'd be another first season, you could understand my fear. But Sunshine does more than just correct the mistakes of the first season. It takes the very concept of creating a school idol group and makes it its own. Sure, the entire ordeal is formulaic on paper, but the way it blossoms is just so spectacular and uplifting, its as though its not Love Live at all. Yet at the same time, it is.

At first glance, the character designs look about the same, with some copied tropes from the previous series (e.g. student council president, the clumsy one, the shy one, the "futsu no onna" one, the groper etc.). I'm not gonna surprise you by saying "OH! BUT THEYRE DIFFERENT!", no. Essentially, they are different takes on the trope, and this is necessary if Sunshine really wants to tell a new kind of story. What makes these characters stand out and shine on their own is the way they are characterized, and this has a lot to do with the involvement of Muse. It's actually amazing how much influence a group of characters that aren't even there have on the story. In Sunshine, Muse have moved on from singing school girls to living, breathing gods. From the way they're only seen through posters to the way the characters talk about them with revere and divinity. Heck, in one of the episodes, one of the girls sends a fan letter to Honoka (from the first 2 seasons) but it sounds more like a fucking prayer than fan mail.
Essentially, Idol anime are character stories, taking the viewer through the journey of a girl to become the number one star. And while some anime require about a hundred episodes to make a story whole, some only need as few as 13.
Sunshine is rich with flavorful characterization, often using visual directing to do most of the talking rather than outright telling. The use of common/cheesy phrases and emphasis of tone help bring out what these girls are, pulling away from the idea that every teenage girl is a dark, wild and emo Chloe Moretz and instead giving the audience something very different. They give them dreams; desires, none poisonous, but awfully human and representative of who the girls are inside and out. From painful outbursts to soft-spoken sympathy, Sunshine embraces the use of imagery and dialogue to tell us who these characters really are without (mostly) words. A girl seeking acceptance taking a stray hand, a girl who hasn't once dreamed of breaking out of her shell witnessing it on a magazine cover, the desire to shine brighter than diamonds with everyone you've met; there are simply so many things to take from these characters, and in only 13 episodes. Sure, it can be lacking at times, but what the series delivered was more than enough. I'm not going to say what exactly was developed and how; that's for you to experience yourself.
Side-characters were also great, but a bit underused. Of course, with idols, you're always going to have competition and just from simply existing, Saint Snow captures that feeling of intimidation almost perfectly. From their music, to the way they walk, they were certainly very captivating, not only in terms of fear for the main cast, but in their outright beauty. The rest of the cast were your supportive sisters and classmates, and were utilized well if to help the series lose that feeling of insularity.

Going technical, Sunshine not only looks better, is animated better or sounds better. It also FEELS better. It's taken the spirit of Love Live and turned it into something so engrossing and captivating to watch. The short moments on stage are always spectacular, showcasing lots of fluid choreography and outstanding cinematography that puts the original series' efforts to dirt. . While newcomers will be engulfed by the simply beautiful direction of these sequences, old time fans will be welcomed again by the feelings and passionate emotion present in the film or even, dare I say, the Final Live. The music is also fantastic. Every track resembled what was happening at the moment of the series and creates a wholly immersive experience when listening to the tune and lyrics. The best example I can give is Saint Snow's performance, 「Self Control」. It was certainly the most memorable moment in the series, not only in introducing Saint Snow as an idol group or a threat, but as professionals; a pair that knew exactly what they were doing and knew how to do it good.
The backdrop work and animating are nothing short of ecstatic. There is more fluidity in the character and mouth movements, use of lighting and colors are beautifully done and the sound quality is great. There is simply no reason not to watch this in 1080p, if only to get the full experience of the series. On part of directing outside of character drama, there is a whole slew of hilarious moments. Some great, some just okay but nothing ever a bad joke. The timing of the jokes and delivery are a lot better than in previous seasons, where it was usually out of nowhere or just downright unfunny at times. Slice of Life moments had great presentation, making use of attractive sea-like colors for reflection and energy of the scene, to drive out the boredom.
This is money very well spent on Sunrise's part.

Love Live! Sunshine!! recaptures the beauty of the original series through different lens and delivers something that exceeded all of my expectations. It is the second series this year that's made me feel so emotionally captivated, enough to make me shed tears. 2016 wasn't so great but with gems like these, any year can be truly memorable. I look forward to whatever Sunrise has in store for the franchise next, or if we're ever getting that Yohane spin-off that's in high demand right now.

8/10

As a big fan of Love Live I was really expecting Love Live Sunshine this summer. Most of the Love Live fanbase was trying so much to hate this anime since Aquors was replacing µ's and most of them were trying to hate the new girls. I always thought Sunshine would make a fresh new start in the series and would make us like the new girls in a different way we loved µ's. Sadly, Love Live Sunshine didn't live up on my expectations, but still it is a very enjoyable anime.

Story 5/10

Even though I started liking the story, the writing becomes ... repetitive. Most of the ideas were taken out from the first anime: Start:Dash moment, school is closing again, some characters were retired idols. While I feel like µ's spent too much time practicing and worrying about Love Live, Aquors like to hang out and eat ice cream. During the final episodes, Chika wants to practice a lot, but still, it seems like the anime focuses more on "cute girls doing cute things".

Character 7/10

I'm not disappointed with the character writing, but I don't feel overwhelmed neither. Most of the characters were already written in Love Live. Chika is a Honoka clone: it's the exact same character with no actual reason to become school idol except "I want to shine". We have Ruby, a Hanayo-like character who is cute and loves idols. Dia is the student council president that doesn't want Chika to become an idol at first, exactly like Eli. Mari is a Nozomi like character who says english stuff combined with japanese, she also rubs everyone's breasts...uhh. Then we have Riko, who is an Um -like character combined with Maki's abilities, she serves as the protagonist main love interest and best friend (I'm not kidding here). Kanan is a gloomy character that becomes more like Eli as time passes. Yoshiko is probably one of my favorite characters, even though her character has been done a lot of times; she delivers fun like Nico in a Chunii way, but Nico is probably funnier, and I don't like Nico a lot. I feel like Hanamaru and You are the best characters here. You is a girl with a lot of security but she's kind of jealous, she is always smiling and cheering people up; she isn't a Kotori, since Kotori is always trying to accept everyone's opinions, even when hers are being rejected. Hanamaru is a Rin-like character, except she isn't Rin; she always says "zura" except of "nya", but she has a lot of character development and I can understand her character a lot.

Art and Sound 10/10

As always, Love Live delivers colorful art along with beautiful music. The animation is fine, thanks to Sunrise. All performances look gorgeous and the girls look pretty.

Enjoyment 8/10

The anime is pretty dramatic and funny, so you will always get a lot of laughs and tears. There aren't many plot twists, so it loses a lot of Enjoyment, since you know the girls are going to make it eventually.

Overall 8/10

With repetitive characters, mediocre story writing, but beautiful music and sound, Love Live Sunshine!! will be loved by LoveLivers but it lacks the spirit the first anime had.

Love Live is my all time favorite anime.

It's story was way more exciting than what I expected from an idol anime.

Next to the wonderful music, there's a game too!

The art is very interesting and pleasing to the eye.

The main character, Chika, is very similar to Honoka, bubbly yet her mood can be easily changed.
That's the only bad thing I can say about LL.
...
This is a 10/10 in my eyes but i needed to look through a perspective where I coincided all the plot problems and what could have been changed.

All in all, amazing anime. Would recommend to newcomers

TL;DR first:It's an anime...but the characters and the story is reused so much that i don't know which is the original one(sarcasm,for those of you who don't know)but face it, you are here for the cuteness and the music...(look at overall opinion for detailed info)

**NOT A TL;DR PLACE,means don't read it if you are lazy..i'm still gonna make it as short as possible**

SPOILERS are marked with **

**Summary of first 9 eps as of Sunday 28/8:
Basically the first 9 eps of Love Live!(μ's)...just add Riko in there and you are all set..tho it's not the case for the third years..**

Story and Characters:6/10
They literally re-used almost 69% ... of the story and characters used in Love Live!(μ's)...just re-branded and somewhat good

Art:8/10
The colors are vivid af m8...but seriously...its vivid as hell..my eyes are having an orgasm

Music:10/10
Personally I LOVE the songs ever since the first one (μ's)...but it probably is a 7/10 to other people

Enjoyment:8/10
Meh?...seriously tho...its amusing,the drama bits are kinda valid and the moe...i talk about it down this

MOE: 8/10
another meh...but see, they are cute(especially Ruby) and its undeniable

Overall:I'd give it a 9/10 but hey...that's me....but in all seriousness this anime is targeted towards people who likes music,especially J-POP...but moe fans or even the regular anime watcher can also like it (maybe a 6-8/10 for them),but what I'm bothered about is the excessive re-use of the original(μ's) anime storyline and characters....


IM OUT,PEACE M8...(kappa)add me on steam pls(TpT16)

Welcome to Robert's Too Late Reviews! We find ourselves once again in idol territory and what a good time it's been! As always we're working from the dubbed version (sorry guys, I don't dislike subs by any means, I just default out to dub if there's a version available) and this will be dealing with season 1 only. The quick of things is while Sunshine is slightly inferior to the original Love Live! (you never forget your first loves I guess) it's still more than worth your time to watch. Let's see how brightly we can all shine!

Note: instead of constantly referring to seasons, ... I'm going to break this down reference-wise to dealing with the idol group names. I'll refer to seasons 1 and 2 as Muse, this season as Aqours. Saves me some writing, you some reading, and hopefully keeps the confusion to a minimum.

Story: 7
There's an immediate and obvious knock against the story, that being the group is so much similar to Muse in looks, behaviors, and such that it was hard for me to keep up at first with who was who in Aqours. Every time I saw gray haired You in Aqours I had immediate expectations for her to be the airhead of the group, the same as Kotori from Muse. Of course there is a world of difference in character between the two, but because appearances are somewhat similar, early on, I kept associating Aqours members with their Muse lookalikes. This was dispelled fairly quickly, but was somewhat irksome at first. It doesn't help when there are characters like Aqour's Chika who even in motivation and personality resembles Muse's Honoka. An expected complaint I'm sure, but still one worth noting.

The big knock for me on the story was the ever-present plot device of 'omg our school will close down if we're not successful!' How many times do we have to beat this dead horse in anime? Is there a single anime school that *isn't* on the verge of closure and reorganization? It's a tired trope that I'm frankly just sick of. And in this story it's even more irritating as Muse had to deal with the same problem in their story as well. So we do have similar looking characters, some with similar personality traits, with the same total members by the end of the show's run (9), and once again the school is facing closure. This loops back around on my 'too similar' complaint. But please, anime creators who I know troll through MAL's review section reading reviews with only a few 'likes', drop the school closing act. We've been there, done that too many times.

While once we accept the plot device and move on with the story, we find a nice little tale of the girls coming together and working hard to fulfill their dreams. This is another well worn idea, but is still fun and inspiring when done right, and Aqours mostly gets it right. They are also more realistic than Muse in their goals, deciding that making Love Live! competition is enough, and that instead of saving the school, they just want to see an increase in applicants, see that their efforts has inspired others. Sure, shoot for the moon, but understanding one's limitations can be important too. They also score a victory in getting the 3rd year girls on stage after they miss an important opportunity in their freshman year. Winning Love Live! would surely be an acceptable outcome, of course, but part of their victory is just getting there, and getting attention for their cause.

The story in this first season of Aqour's story wraps up nicely, and we can see they were obviously planning a sequel because they leave the story open ended. They do give us strong clues to the resolution of the plot points, but also leave inroads for further adventures with the girls. It's really hard to find a good balance between closing out a storyline in a way that is acceptable just in case there's no sequel season, and leaving the story open enough not to feel forced if there is. Aqours does this perfectly. Just enough satisfaction to leave me pleased, but enough mystery to make me want to see more.

There is however, another huge problem we have this time around, and its the same as last time: the opening theme. While the theme is in place for the entire series, we have characters that are openly hostile to the idol program at first singing and dancing in full costume in the opening number. Its a very self-spoiling thing. There's a point where a character basically is saying there's no way in hell she'd become a school idol, yet there she is at the beginning of the episode in full costume dancing and singing onstage. This irked the hell out of me, though I must say Muse's first season did the same thing.

Otherwise we get exactly what we're expecting to get from this story. If you liked Muse, you'll be right at home, as the concepts are so similar, the characters are likable, and the slice of life parts of their coming together are fun. If you've not seen Muse's story, I would recommend starting with them, however, even though Aqours is a strong entry, I still feel Muse slightly edges them out of the top spot. Again we get singing and dancing teen girls laying down sugary sweet J-pop type tunes and just being overall silly yet coming together and working hard for their goals. Felt like slipping into comfortable grooves yet new enough to make it fun.

Art: 9
The art is gorgeous but that's to be expected. Muse looked damn good, and these girls do too. Lots of nice detail in the art, and the girls are cute as buttons. The costumes are intricate, and perhaps border on too busy at moments, but I think they pulled it off without going too far over that line. The girls are all recognizable whether in their idol costumes, their workout clothes, or their school uniforms. The eyes are beautiful done in this series and little details are attended to nicely. I personally love the look of this entire series a great deal.

Sound: 9
Again we have several songs in the show, as is expected from the idol genre. There's not as many as there is in other shows, thinking of the Idolmaster series in particular, but there's more than say, K-On. The music that is played is lighthearted and fun, and fits the girls and the group perfectly. The opening theme is almost as good as Muse's, which is high praise, as I'll listen to Muse's opening in my general playlist. The closer is really great as well, and I found myself humming along many times.

The dub voice actors are all pretty well chosen, none of them knocking too close to annoying. There is a few quirks among the group, including a country girl who says 'zura' nearly every sentence. At least no one 'nyans' in the series. From what I understand, the 'zura' girl doesn't say that with any conscious thought, that its kind of like saying 'yall' for us Southerners, we often forget we're even saying it unless someone points it out. In fact, 'zura' girl actually asks another girl to poke her and remind her to quit saying it while they are in Tokyo, visiting the big city. So I think it's a rural thing, this 'zura' saying, and that makes it a bit more understandable than the aforementioned annoying meowing cat girls.

Character: 8
There are some very interesting characters this time around, especially as we get used to the new lineup for Aqours. The primary 'leader' girl is kind of what you would expect, the hard working, determined type, but that's natural I think, as that's the type that usually *is* the leader in these situations. The 3rd years are all extremely well played, Dia standing out really well in my mind. There are moments between the 3rd years when shocking secrets come out, and a couple of 'holy shit, did she really just do that!?' moments to be had as well. In this regard I think they actually played it up better than Muse did. Muse had it's share of twists and turns, but they were rather softball pitches, and not as attention grabbing as some of the private moments between the 3rd years this time around.

The rest of the girls are well played, if a little stereotypical. There's the shy girl of course, and the rich girl, though moneybags isn't pointed out anywhere near as often as Muse's was. This time around we even get sisters in the group, and their dynamic is pretty interesting. There's also relationship issues in Aqours that didn't exist in Muse, at least not in the same context. These new takes on how the girls related to each other is another thing that does set the show apart from its predecessor.

There is an awesome comic relief girl that is even more attached to an alternate personality than Nico was in Muse. This girl goes around saying she's a fallen angel and carrying on in this silly supernatural/occult manner, speaking of demons and falling from heavens and calling on dark powers to aid her and all. So we do get some nice variety between the personalities we are served up.

Enjoyment: 8
I did really like Aqours' journey towards the Love Live! competition, and I'm eager to see where the next season is going to go with their story. The show is a lot of fun, whether the girls are fixing thousand dollar plates of food at the snack bar they run on the beach (rich people and wasting money, argh) or if they are gasping in awe as they go around the big city and take in life from the fast lane. Their adventures never got stale, the music was good, and the personalities featured played well off of each other.

If you have watched Muse's story, just be ready to realign your brain around the Aqours members varying personalities. The gray-haired girl is no longer the airhead, the blonde isn't the hardass, the purple-haired 3rd year is no longer the sage source of wisdom for the group. Once you can get everyone sorted in your mind, you're going have a great time, I believe.

Best Girl: Tsushima Yoshiko, or as she's known in her 'fallen angel' persona, Yohane. If I can't have a tsundere girl, give me the weirdo every time. With Yoshiko's insistence on being a fallen angel rising from the ashes or falling from grace or what have you, I just couldn't help but be smitten. She's also the primary comedic relief for the group, and is always pulling antics that made me laugh out loud. Dark forces, I call upon you to protect my beloved Yohane!

Again, I think Muse is the better idol group, but only by a hair. Aqours is very close on their heels. I found this to be a wonderful show with lots of flair and style. This one does beat out Muse in the drama department, and the secrets of the past that the 3rd years carry isn't life shattering, but they do put enough of a twist on things to really demand attention. As long as you can put up with the whole 'school closure' thing, I think you'll be entertained as you watch the girls rise up and chase their dreams. No new RTLR pictures as I'm basically out of space now, but Yoshiko is making the shelves of little demon figures. So rise from the underworld, oh ye servants of darkness, and help me thumbs up Love Live! Sunshine!

Love Live Sunshine is the second installment of the very popular Love Live franchise. There were people when this anime was announced were unhappy this even existed and couldn't come to grasp that Muse was officially over. The anime has officially wrapped up so the question is, does it live up the expectations set by its predecessor?

MINOR SPOILER WARNING

Story: 8
One of the bigger complaints when this anime was first announced and what was shown in the first few episodes is the copy/paste of the plot from the original Love Live. Such moments include the student council president forbidding a school idol club, a girl ... who's good at the piano but initially refuses to be a part of the idol group, the "Start Dash" moment of the first performance, etc. The main ideas of those plot points are in there but are executed differently. For example, Dia's reason for not allowing a school idol club makes sense (although selfish) instead of Eli's reasoning of trying to save the school her way and not something as silly as a school idol club.
In all honesty, I think the story was one of the better parts as they handled the plot portion better and there didn't feel as if there was forced drama. Now let me explain. In the original Love Live, most of the story was just forming the group, practicing, having some cute moments and preparing for Love Live. Somewhere down the line Sunrise figured they needed to add in a drama part so the last 3-4 episodes involved Kotori's decision on going to Los Angeles for fashion. In Sunshine, the drama involved the past of Kanon, Dia, and Mari and why Kanon/Dia were against school idols which was a sub plot up until episode 9 when the full group is formed. Other characters had their drama moments but this was the "big" one of the season which I liked.

Overall, I felt that even with the plot points of the original present, the full plot was executed better.

Art: 10

The CGI looks lots better here. The 2D art makes the girls look really cute and the CGI makes them look really pretty (the performances are probably one of the high points of this show). The scenery and other characters look really well drawn and a pleasant treat for the eyes. Probably one of the best parts of this show for me.

Sound: 8

Now one of the big things about an anime about music is...having good music. The music here is good but it lacks the "wow" factor of the original (granted the original Love Live existed for 3 years prior to the anime so they had a selection of music available) but none of the music in Sunshine compared to listening to Bokura wa Ima no Naka de or No Brand Girls for me. Having said that, Young Dreamer is probably my favorite song from Sunshine. Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou (the ED sang by various combonations of Aqours) is pretty good too.

Character: 8

The best parts of the Love Live franchise are the music and characters. I feel that, compared to the original, the characters here are worse (I do not like Kanon at all) but they're still enjoyable overall. They kind of fill the cliche's from the original (leader, loyal best friend, girl who thinks she doesn't fit as a school idol, shy girl) but how they act and interact with each other is enjoyable. Just like the original, you will probably find a character you really enjoy and take part in the waifu wars for Sunshine.

Enjoyment 8:

This was the one anime I was looking forward to this season so when the weekend came I was ready to watch Sunshine. I liked the anime and enjoyed watching the ups and downs the characters faced in the show and the adventure they went on to become school idols.

Overall 8:

Sunshine's story is better executed and the art looks better than the original but the music and characters are less enjoyable than the original. Having said that, the girls of Aqours are a good replacement to Muse and can only expect good things in the future from them. Yosoro!

I give this 9 ? Really ? A school idol story with being shadow by u's and i give it 9 ?
Here my opinion about this series :

1. Story
Protagonist, Chika, willing to form a school idol group in her shool because she like u's and want to be them. Following then with same problem with series before, school will be closed out because not many student come to study in their school. After all, Chika get 8 other girls and form Aqours to compete in Love Live.

Well, the story itself make you wonder "is it copy paste from first Love Live series ?". But, they ... make good story in this series. The school closed case give more logic in this series, because they're live in small city and many family want their child to study in prestige school. Their recruit system also good, not forced like in First Love Live.
And what are supposed they do ? They compete in Love Live like we know, but hey the result was not good. And they're not give up (like Honoka, sorry to mock you but i still hate you), still doing their job to getting better and paid off in the end. I also love their passion, not to win Love Live for first, but just get 1 vote and enjoying their performances.

Standard but good story telling after all.

2. Art
For first impression (not in anime), I'm not like it. The first love live had more good looking girl like Umi, Maki, and Kotori. But after one episode, i'm getting used to the art, and make me like it more. Art style was same like first love live, but sunshine's art feels more real for me.

3. Sound
Soundtrack was great, i like all the song.

4. Character
I love all character. Chika being the great leader is most improvement from this series. And other character was lovely too. They even often make a joke about other member, like Yoshiko and Riko antics. I hope i can see Hanamaru read a book again if they plan to make 2nd season.

5. Enjoyment
This series is my most beloved from Summer 2016. I can't describe my enjoyment waiting one week just to watch this series. It's kinda sad I couldn't see Yohane any more now.

Overall, this series was my great pleasure. They are embodied that title "Sunshine", they are bright like a sunshine and keep thier enjoying life.