Just as much as we need a gateway anime to hook us up into this little world of colorful fights and beautiful blood rain, there comes a time when we have to watch something to remind us why we still like these things. And even if a series like Love Live, whose selling point isn't gore or a super addictive plot, isn't what we expected to end up watching when we started (I think my teenage me would frown If I told him I saw an anime about a bunch of cute girls singing in a stage), I think it has a lot of qualities
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that we don't usually find in anime in general. The problem is that its cover fits a profile that most people (myself included) would deem stupid, either for prejudice or for having actual experience with a show that looks similar to this one. But even though it shares some of the questionable tendencies of other series from a similar ilk (the so called "moe" genre), one needs to call out the fact that this one actually manages to avoid crippling itself with its own clichés and tropes.
Cute girls, sure. But is it as meaningless as the others? We'll see.
-Story:
The story is what you read in the synopsis. There'll be tropes and conventions you've seen before, even clichés sometimes, but it actually tells something. It progresses. It doesn't get stuck in: "Yo, gurl, it's so fun being in a club! All we do is sit an' talk shit, and be cute. No need to practice or deal with life issues. Sure being a teenage girl is a-ma-zing."
The thing's not written to make you go: "what a badass plot twist", but it takes itself seriously enough to follow a logical path to get things done, and there's the feeling that they're actually starting things from scratch and fighting for them, instead of, you know, succes brought forth by magic. This is actually surprising, at least to me, because when I see a title like this the only thing that crosses my mind is "K-On! again", which, for acknowledged people, means that the series will "preserve the flow of everyday life forever", or, in more common terms, focus in unbelievably trivial daily stuff and no character progression. It's hard to tell wheter that situation will suit a specific series or not, but the case being that this format can cause from idle entertainment to hellish boredom, seeing an idol show about idols actually doing idol stuff is refreshing. And when it's handled in a way where it gets its points across: laughter when you have to laugh and emotion when it needs emotion, then there's no way you can deny its quality.
But if all in all you still can't find the story compelling (or you just like to nitpick a lot, like me), at least the humor should make up for it.
-Characters:
In a genre where airhead MCs are the norm (and usually its curse), I believe this is the first time I can say: she's actually useful! Honoka might still be an airhead, but out of all the characters of the show, she does suit the role of the engine that moves the whole team, and she does it perfectly. She even gets proper character development, something that would seem otrageous in many shows like this.
The rest of the cast isn't bad either. It is true that is full of archetypes we've already seen a zillion times, but the writers manage to put a fresh feeling into them, and exploit their inherent qualities. You can complain that compared to other kinds of shows they're really not that fleshed out, but I find it hard to name many shows of this type that actually do this. The only bad thing is that some characters lose the spotlight as the show progresses (and thus become easy to forget), but it at least makes them likeable enough to not get annoyed at their presence.
-Art:
I wouldn't call it great (just cute faces everywhere), but it's very good. I'm not sure if there's a difference between the TV version and the DVDs, but from what I watched the animation is pretty solid, and the character expressions don't suddenly turn into eldritch abominations for a lack of budget. There's also CGI to help smooth things out when they dance and need a more 3D approach to their movements, and it looks good enough. Overall, I think the best animated parts are the ones when they're dancing, which is a HUGE plus considering this is an idol anime.
-Sound:
Opening, ending and insert songs are all pop (which means that if you like pop, you'll probably like them as well). This isn't a surprise considering what the series is about, but the actual OST of the show is also very fitting and highlights the moments in a timely manner. There's even some fantastic piano in some parts, which I couldn't help to like. The seiyuus also do a great job at portraying their characters, all with their incredibly high-pitched voices and token tsunderism in some of them.
-Enjoyment:
This is odd. After watching things like K-On! and other series of a similar ilk, seeing a DVD cover featuring a bunch of cute girls would usually cause me to go "nope, don't want it", not because I didn't like the previous ones (which I probably did), but because I've found myself unable to like more. It might come with age, but these kind of shows, whether they're comedies, club-based stories, or the most ridiculously simple slice of life, become more and more tedious to watch as you get by, and finding something that you can even praise for its actual effort in improving the genre's quality is quite the thing. Personally, I loved it. It was really fun, and all that "cuteness" crap was finally subordinated to the freaking plot.
So, would I recommend it?
Totally.
Have fun!
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Feb 17, 2015
Love Live! School Idol Project
(Anime)
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Just as much as we need a gateway anime to hook us up into this little world of colorful fights and beautiful blood rain, there comes a time when we have to watch something to remind us why we still like these things. And even if a series like Love Live, whose selling point isn't gore or a super addictive plot, isn't what we expected to end up watching when we started (I think my teenage me would frown If I told him I saw an anime about a bunch of cute girls singing in a stage), I think it has a lot of qualities
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(Anime)
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There's always two kinds of anime that are really hard to find whenever you look for them: a) a consistent one, and b) a comedy that caters to everyone's taste. Taking the huge amount of series that come out every year, one might find oneself baffled to know that there's just so many of them that actually manage to have some sort of balance. It makes you wonder whether there's no point in expecting something good to come out at all, but, just like everything, there's always an exception. And this season, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is the one that took the anime world by its
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