Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai

Buried within the numerous clubs at Nijigasaki High School lies the school idol club. The club, while lacking popularity, definitely does not lack potential. During their debut performance, they were able to seize a sizable audience, along with the attention of their schoolmates Ayumu Uehara and Yuu Takasaki.

Enamored, the duo makes their way to join the club; however, they are disappointed to find out that the club had just been disbanded. Nevertheless, Ayumu does not believe that it should have ended there. Together with Yuu, they begin restoring the school idol club, hoping to recreate the idol performances that dazzled them before.

Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai shines its spotlight over the reformed school idol club as they recruit both former members of the club alongside newcomers. Taking the first step towards their dreams, how will these girls achieve idol stardom?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tennouji, Rina Main

Tanaka, Chiemi Japanese

Yuuki, Setsuna Main

Kusunoki, Tomori Japanese

Nakasu, Kasumi Main

Sagara, Mayu Japanese

Konoe, Kanata Main

Kitou, Akari Japanese

Uehara, Ayumu Main

Onishi, Aguri Japanese

Ousaka, Shizuku Main

Maeda, Kaori Japanese

Miyashita, Ai Main

Murakami, Natsumi Japanese

Takasaki, Yuu Main

Yano, Hinaki Japanese

Asaka, Karin Main

Kubota, Miyu Japanese

Verde, Emma Main

Sashide, Maria Japanese

Sabat, Christopher Producer

Cook, Justin Producer

Ootsuka, Hiroshi Producer

Oda, Makoto Producer

Reviews

Nov 4, 2023

Naneo

Recommended

This anime is the third series of Love Live franchise. But you can't really call it the sequel to the previous one. This one feels like its a spin off. They didn't follow the usual emotional story. This is how you expect an idol anime to be about. Just an anime filled with content that related to idol. And not an anime that filled with heavy drama. I mean Nijigasaki is created for a mobile games at first, so it would be logical if they want to invite gamer viewer into the idol genre. As a long fan of the LL franchise, I got a ... great time watching this one without the need to prepare my mental emotion so I can continue watching the story unfold.

Although I say that the story isn't heavy, it is still worth watching. Simple everyday problem in which you can relate too. The individual element of the story like comedy is stand out too. I can't stop smiling and laughing everytime I watch an episode. Either it's because the jokes or it's because their wholesomeness. Every characters help each other in here, every characters also help driven the plot. No one is being left out. And yeah I really love that. Its always a pleasure to watch how friendship is made, especially surrounding cute anime girls. You can kinda watch the episode randomly except for the early and last episodes. Because in my experience I accidentally skipped one episode and it's fine. Tho it's gonna be a little weird when the preview roll in.

Love Live is famous for having a lot of main characters in one anime. Nijigasaki is not an exception. We got 9+1 girls. I say 9+1 because 9 idol that sing like the previous Love Live series and 1 supporter. This supporting character is brand new and she play a big role inside the story, she is the viewer. Without her, or should I say us the fans, these idol is nothing. And I think its a great addition to make the viewer realize they are important too. It is literally a self insert character but in a good way. All the characters design and personality is top tier. Everyone looks beautiful with their own persona. We have tomboy, gyaru, tsundere, onee-san, childhood friend, foreigner, you name it. Maybe you can also search for your waifu in here.

This is an idol anime, so surely their song would be good right? Absolutely. I find myself vibing to the OP and ED everytime, and sometimes sing along too if I'm alone. Really like how its summed up the mood of the anime itself. I already know some of the song they here thanks to their games. And now I know the story behind them, I love it even more. Every characters have a chance to shine and sing on each of their respectively episode. Gotta give the thumbs up to every seiyuu involved because they are multitalented as hell. Not to mention this idol exist in real life too, this mean you can enjoy their amazing concert without the need to go into the anime world.

Beautiful animation as expected from Love Live, they never disappoint. The CGI when they dance is great, the backgrounds art is also great. I love how colorful the Nijigasaki world is. Because you know, Niji means rainbow in Japanese. Even every members icon color match the Niji too. And they proudly present that in the ED animation with umbrellas.

I really really enjoy watching this anime, looking forward to continue watching the 2nd season. Even though I've been in the Love Live fandom for 3 years now, this is my first time watching Nijigasaki. Already know everyone name and personality doesn't change the fun experience. Because there's a lot of new things I discover while watching. So should you consider watch this? If you want to know more about idol, then give it a go. Like I said above, this can be a good introduction anime about how most idol anime progress. Thank you for reading my review.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 1, 2022

hyperwaddledee

Mixed Feelings

I’m a little late to the party tonight, as season 2 of Nijigaku is airing as I write this review. As a longtime fan of the original School Idol Festival mobile game (happy ninth anniversary, btw), it pleases me to see this anime getting so much love—I also feel that as a longtime fan, I owe it a fair review.

So, how does Nijigaku stack up against the μ’s and Aqours animes?

Story: 4/10

Many people are praising Nijigaku for shaking up the Love Live formula. Unfortunately, this cause of appeal for some is also the root of one of its coremost issues: it lacks a strong sense ... of character goals, resulting in a loss of plot direction. Consequently, with loss of strong goals and direction comes loss of strong emotional pull over these elements.

There is nothing inherently wrong with slice-of-life anime, but Nijigaku wants to have its cake and eat it, too, resulting in several scenes in its second half that serve to attempt to create tension, but ultimately feel stilted and manufactured. One in particular pulled me out of the moment so hard that I started laughing at what was supposed to be a tense scene. I’m typically not that kind of viewer (like, for example, I’m not going to question how these high schoolers are setting up these professional-looking stages, rigging and all, because it’s about the viewer experience, dammit), and yet!

So, in my humble opinion, Nijigaku’s story element does not live up to its predecessors. The good news is that like a fine wine, Love Live sequel seasons seem to be improvements on their foundations. There’s still time yet for the cast to tell a story just as memorable as any other from the franchise.

Art: 10/10

Holy shit! The animation in this series is legitimately breathtaking, especially if you’ve been around to remember the clunky days of stiff 3D models dancing on stages that don’t look like they’re sharing the same dimension. This is Love Live at its best.

Not just the animation is beautiful. The character art style has ever-so-slightly shifted to allow for more colored outlines, and backgrounds have been lovingly rendered in ways that make them pop with colors and values. The artist in me is geeking out over how well the principles of art are exhibited, but I’ll spare you the rant and just say that it’s hecking Pretty with a capital P.

Sound: 9/10

Love Live continues to impress in this department (as one would hope it should, given its subject matter!), and the discography continues to be phenomical. I did knock off a point for reasons that are hard to articulate… Nijigaku’s insert songs just didn’t grab me like the others have. Though I will say the rotating solo focus of the episodic inserts was a wonderful idea. Fingers crossed for some bangers in season 2.

Character: 5/10

Each girl gets a feature episode. Some are better than others. People will disagree on which constitutes better and worse episodes. I think they’re all at least sort of okay. At least they all got one this time? *coughcoughKanancough*

Enjoyment: 7/10

Nijigaku was a pleasant and enjoyable watch, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed in the weak storytelling aspect this time around. As much as I want to simp for my girls and give this a 10/10… I really can’t. Outside the spectacle, Nijigaku is pretty bland. Safe, comforting, but bland, like a warm potato.

Who should watch Nijigaku?

If you are a returning fan of Love Live from μ’s and Aqours, you will be adequately entertained with this. If you are big on the concept of safe comfort anime, you will probably enjoy it even more than I did.

If you are looking to dip your feet into the Love Live franchise… maybe? It depends on what idol fix you’re after. In terms of spectacle, Nijigaku is second to none thus far, but in terms of story, μ’s and Aqours have them beat.

If you are looking for melodrama between girls, well… Nijigaku kind of does that, but it’s not very good at it. There are better anime out there.

If you need inoffensive background noise, Nijigaku could fill the role for you with a smile on its face.

Overall, 6/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 20, 2021

zokoi

Not Recommended

I have been fan of Love Live from 2013, right when the first season of the original Love Live starts, so I believe I am right to say that this is not a good Love Live anime, not at all. It feels more like an advertisement for the game instead.

Story: there is a lack of a main story line. Unlike the LL Project, LL Sunshine and LL Superstar, Nijigasaki is just about a bunch of cute girls doing cute idol things. And as most of you know, Nijigasaki is about how instead of being a group of school idols, they are solo idols instead. For ... me, this is the worst decision ever. Even though the characters are doing things together, they never truly had that "togetherness" that makes them feel like Love Live.

Art: eh, this is just me but I feel the art is a bit too clean and doesn't have that unique Love Live look.

Music: as much as I dislike solo idols, I do find the songs enjoyable.

Character: I don't find them as relatable or as unique as the other generations of the franchise. They seem very one-dimensional, but eh, they're cute and fun enough if you're just here to see cute girls doing cute things.

Enjoyment: this is the kind of anime that you enjoyed watching once and only once. It's not memorable enough to remember about nor emotional or relatable enough to make you want to see it again.

Overall: Honestly, the show is not that horrendous, if it was a normal idol anime. But as a Love Live anime, it's severely lacking, it feels more like an iDOLM@STER thing. If you're a fan of the franchise, you can skip out on this and miss nothing.

Also, watch Love Live! Superstar!! as it's much more faithful to the franchise.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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