Love Live! Superstar!!

Everyone has a dream they strive to achieve, and so does the musically talented Kanon Shibuya. However, due to her stage fright, Kanon fails to make it into Yuigaoka Girls' High School's music program and instead ends up in the general curriculum. Even though Kanon makes the conscious decision to quit music altogether, her classmate Tang Keke rekindles Kanon's passion for music with her own: a passion for school idols.

Although Keke and Kanon try to form a school idol group, their effort meets strong objections from Ren Hazuki, the daughter of the school's director. Even so, the girls soon visit the director, who allows them to set up their school idol club under one condition—they must win first place at the Yoyogi School Idol Festival.

The resilience of these aspiring idols is put to the test as they face the challenges that come their way. Throughout their journey, the girls make new friends and meet new members that join them to become the dazzling idols others can only imagine.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Love Live! Superstar!! Futari no jikan! ~Special times~ Kanon & koi hen
Alternative setting:	Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!, Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai
Other:	Liella no Uta, Hajimari wa Kimi no Sora
Sequel:	Love Live! Superstar!! 2nd Season
Summary:	30-pun de Wakaru! Love Live! Superstar!!

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Shibuya, Kanon

Main

Date, Sayuri
Japanese

Tang, Keke

Main

Liyuu
Japanese

Heanna, Sumire

Main

Payton, Naomi
Japanese

Arashi, Chisato

Main

Misaki, Nako
Japanese

Hazuki, Ren

Main

Aoyama, Nagisa
Japanese

Hiiragi, Mao

Supporting

Yuuki, Yuna
Japanese

Saya

Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana
Japanese

Shibuya, Aria

Supporting

Matsunaga, Akane
Japanese

Akiba Reporter

Supporting

Kokono

Supporting

Shiraishi, Haruka
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Herek, Samantha

Assistant Producer

Kyougoku, Takahiko

Director

Nagasaki, Yukio

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"START!! True dreams" by Liella! [Kanon Shibuya (CV: Sayuri Date), Keke Tang (CV: Liyuu), Chisato Arashi (CV: Nako Misaki), Sumire Heanna (CV: Naomi Payton), Ren Hazuki (CV: Nagisa Aoyama)] (eps 2-??)

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Ending Theme

	4: "Mirai wa Kaze no You ni (未来は風のように)" by Sumire Heanna (CV: Naomi Payton) (eps 4)
	5: "Mirai wa Kaze no You ni (未来は風のように)" by Chisato Arashi (CV: Nako Misaki) (eps 5)
	6: Mirai wa Kaze no You ni (未来は風のように)" by Kanon Shibuya (CV: Sayuri Date), Keke Tang (CV: Liyuu), Chisato Arashi (CV: Nako Misaki), Sumire Heanna (CV: Naomi Payton) (ep 6)
	7: Mirai wa Kaze no You ni (未来は風のように)" by Ren Hazuki (CV: Nagisa Aoyama) (ep 7)
	1: "Mirai Yohou Hallelujah! (未来予報ハレルヤ！)" by Liella! [Kanon Shibuya (CV: Sayuri Date), Keke Tang (CV: Liyuu), Chisato Arashi (CV: Nako Misaki), Sumire Heanna (CV: Naomi Payton), Ren Hazuki (CV: Nagisa Aoyama)] (eps 1)
	2: "Mirai wa Kaze no You ni (未来は風のように)" by Kanon Shibuya (CV: Sayuri Date) (eps 2)
	3: "Mirai wa Kaze no You ni (未来は風のように)" by Kanon Shibuya (CV: Sayuri Date), Keke Tang (CV: Liyuu) (eps 3)

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Reviews

Dec 8, 2021

Veronin

Recommended

With Superstar being the franchise's fourth and latest adventure, it's understandable that some may be reluctant to watch once more a series seemingly treading familiar roads. Coming less than a year after the third Love Live series, Nijigasaki, I was worried of the fatigue that may come from yet another shuffling of the cast.

Those fears, however, were misguided.

Superstar revealed itself not just as an excellent anime in its own right, but also the most fresh the franchise has been in nearly a decade. Contrary to expectations, Superstar is actually a slice-of-life anime first, and an idol anime second. Where the previous series opted for ...

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Oct 17, 2021

Nexis09

Recommended

When I was first watching love live superstar, I writ a review on how good I thought it was. Since then, it has managed to maintain that quality throughout all 12 episodes and has now became my favorite in the love live franchise and I'm going to now explain why it is worth your time:

-New to love live, should I watch the others first?-

No, you do not need to watch any other seasons and I actually believe that this is the best place to start if you want to get into the franchise

-Art and animation-

I've seen many shows and I am quite the fan of ...

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Oct 17, 2021

rrakku

Recommended

Like how the wider society used to judge anime fans as nerds that like obscure Chinese cartoons, the wider anime community looks at Love Live! fans and idol fans alike with the same weird gaze. There’s this stigma of “I’m not one of those idol weebs”, but I reckon this too will soon fall to the wayside, as the quality of idol shows becomes harder and harder to gloss over.

I was one of the doubters before watching Love Live! Superstar!!, and the only reason I started it was because of a clip of Tang Ke Ke’s tantrum. The irony of a Chinese heroine requesting freedom ... from a Japanese school is something I just cannot miss. And I’m glad something silly like that had gotten me to watching this show, because nothing else would’ve otherwise.

Tang Ke Ke’s antics aside, the characterisation of the cast in Superstar!! is incredible. Having only five instead of the usual nine members in the group is certainly a fine change. It goes without saying with less characters, the show gets to allocate more time and go into more depth with each of them. I’ d love to give examples, but going into detail about how memorable and strong everyone’s situations or personalities are would be no different from spoiling the whole show for you.

Now this is where my inexperience comes back to bite me: I have only ever watched the OG Love Live!, and I haven’t even finished it. So people can point out how Superstar!!’s story is “repetitive” and the only reason why I don’t find it tiring to watch. And they have every reason to believe so: three out of the four school idol groups from the Love Live! had the goal of preventing their school from shutting down.

The other thing that people always bring up without fail is how the story is predictable, and it’s no exception in Superstar!!. But these holes in these arguments are easy to spot, even with my untrained eyes regarding this genre. Love Live! isn’t here to serve you a unicorn narrative, it’s to entertain you with just enough novelty with new characters while retaining as much familiarity in the story as they can. It’s kind of like fast food chains if you will, you go there because of the predictability and consistency, but there’s always enough variety so you don’t get the same things every time. It shouldn’t be a secret that people can find comfort in that.

It’s not like nothing is fresh story-wise. The way that Hazuki joined Liella!, although unassuming, is unlike anything that came before. Her reasons were presented in a eureka moment that juxtaposes her perviously established character; it's subtly hinted at and built up to that moment. Tang’s personal struggles are the most relatable thing you could ever imagine; you would know if you live with Asian parents. Obviously these will not be the most mind blowing thing you have ever seen, but its still a breath of fresh air in the formulaic idol genre. Even the most stubborn fast food chains should change up their menu once every few years. (Okay I will stop with the fast food analogies)

With eleven years worth of experience and three different installments of Love Live! under their belt, Kadokawa, Lantis, and Sunrise better spice things up a notch. And they didn’t disappoint, delivering us the best rendition of the idol’s road to prominence narrative through Superstar!!. Character motivations for joining are much clearer and make much more sense, the group felt like it took serious effort (and luck) to build. The point of conflict in the series is also an organic result of the group member’s insecurities, rather than something that is derived from an external plot device. These improvements are, again, only possible because of the extra time granted by reducing the number of members in the group.

The things I have said above might well be controversial, point granted, but I believe anyone with a pair of well-functioning eyes will see the amazing animation displayed here. Sunrise has clearly improved over the years, not only in animation, but also in choreography. It’s no exaggeration that Superstar!!’s 3D animation is the best I have seen to date: the eye-catching dances, the smooth transitions from 2D to 3D, the small attention to details on matters of continuity, they really have it all. You may point towards ufotable or studio Orange, come back to me again when they have their demons or anthropomorphic animals do idol dances on stage. I know I am rambling at this point but I cannot get over how expressive the 3D models have become and how well choreographed the dances are. To those who are curious which performance is my favourite, it’s the one where they sang “Wish Song”, by a mile.

I’ve been singing (haha) praises for Superstar!! for a while now, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you with a straight face that it’s perfect. When thinking about its faults, two distinct scenes come to mind:

First one is where Hazuki is giving her speech when the whole Liella! squad interrupted her to try to convince her that “this idol thing really is great, trust us”; it was awkward, drawn out, and overdramatic for my tastes.

The second is rather minor, but it’s also so stupid I don’t know why it was even made in the first place. Let me elaborate with as little spoilers as possible. Through certain circumstances, Tang wants to give Sumire a crown as costume for their next performance. She is conflicted to accept it because of reasons, before she can decide, a strong breeze had blown the crown out of Tang’s hand and sent it flying. Sumire follows it, running and falling into a bush before finally catching the crown, accepting it. Yes, a metal crown was sent flying by wind to dramatise this scene. Trust me, this doesn’t get better with context and is as bland as my words described.

I know that some suspension of disbelief is granted with these kinds of shows, but the end product is not good enough to justify these inconsistencies. If they would stop relying on it, I bet Love Live! as a series, not just Superstar!!, would reach a wider audience.

Regardless, Love Live! Superstar!! is no doubt the most ambitious of its kind since Bokura no Live Kimi to no Life. It made so many steps in the right direction for the controversial genre that is idol anime. Love Live! has been huge in Japan ever since its release in 2013, and I reckon future generations would point back to Superstar!! for being the start of the idol praise for anime fans in western hemisphere.

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Poll: Love Live! Superstar!! Episode 10 Discussion AkeZZZ - Oct 3, 2021	46 replies	by Pl4tinumCr0w »» Apr 30, 4:54 PM
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Shibuya, Kanon

Tang, Keke

Heanna, Sumire

Arashi, Chisato

Hazuki, Ren

Hiiragi, Mao

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Shibuya, Aria

Akiba Reporter

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Love Live! Superstar!!

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