-Wow that was really fast, they're already at the Love Live
-The scenes in front of the school after their final practice and at the shrine were much more subdued than the ones at the end of last episode, which is actually really nice. Come to think of it, those scenes in the first half of this episode embody a much greater sense of "moving on" than the scenes at the end of the last episode, so maybe that was what they were going for. Kinda like they weren't too keen about splitting up but have come to terms with it more between the end of last episode and the beginning of this episode. The final third of last episode was kind of awkward to watch but the awkwardness sorta makes sense after watching this episode. I might even say that the scenes from this episode were made more powerful because of the awkwardness. This show generally does a pretty good job with showing progression, and it kinda reminds me of Chihayafuru in that regard.
-Roof scene blankets were color coded by year. Nothing too impactful on the episode, but it was just something I noticed.
-The roof scene was lovely, especially the montage of all of the prominent secondary characters.
-Seeing the Love Live stage makes me think they're gonna perform Bokura wa Ima no Naka de.
- Makes me happy to see their first fans being so loyal, and I absolutely loved the reference to the second years' first performance in the first season (http://i.imgur.com/QqBRrks.png). In fact all of their supporters' entrances to the Love Live are all pretty great, and seeing Honoka's dad being so supportive is always something that made me smile (http://i.imgur.com/J77M3FY.png).
-Pre-concert pep talk was pretty great, and they did the thing they did in the last episode of the first season
-The CGI during their Love Live performance suited their outfits pretty nicely actually
-Yeah that scene between KiRa KiRa Sensation and Bokura wa Ima no Naka de was the embodiment of how the scenes at the end of the last episode should have been. However, once again, it might be because the scenes from last episode were so weird that the scene backstage seemed so moving.
-The glimpses of the supporting characters in the audience calling for an encore was a clear reference to the last episode of the first season, especially Honoka's dad in the first season finale (http://i.imgur.com/AtE6eYG.png) and the second time the camera pans to the chanting audience (http://i.imgur.com/D61WPTP.png). The added detail of his mouth makes it seems he's trying to hold back more tears in this episode than the one in season 1, which is actually pretty adorable.
-The voiceover of what Honoka told Eli after their nearly-empty auditorium performance in episode 3 was the icing of the scene. This reference to the beginning made the scene all the more lovely.
-Wow, they actually did perform Bokura wa Ima no Naka de. Bonus points since the song has really grown on me after watching the first season (kinda like the group as a whole). Bonus bonus points since they coincided the credits for the song at the moment that μ's was lined up for the encore. The lyrics are also pretty relevant to them being at the Love Live stage.
-I've noted this multiple times before but I absolutely love how loyal their first fans are, even bringing the set of costumes that μ's used in the first OP. I don't think I've admired supporting characters this much in any anime I've seen before.
Amazing episode, my favorite so far. Looking forward to a certain element of the final episode that I spoiled myself about by looking up Love Live stuff before watching the anime.
EDIT: I noticed something about the reference near the end of this episode to S1E8.
Not only are they in the exact same order standing around the circle in both episodes, but also the camera angle in this episode is antiparallel to the camera angle used in S1E8. The scene in this episode was part of a montage during their last official performance as a group (in the show, at least), while the scene in S1E8 was part of a montage during their first official performance as a group. |