Love Live! School Idol Project. I had originally discovered the series through the phone app, Love Live! I thought it was cute and I had especially liked Nico. I got the game, played it a bit, and fell in love with the game instantly. I had no idea it was an anime, or manga, or a real thing outside of the phone game.
On a whim, I decided to Google it for any tips on getting nicer cards in the game, when I found the anime on Crunchyroll!
I binge-watched over the Summer, instantly falling in love with the characters. The anime opens with Honoka Kousaka, second year at Otonokizaka High, learning that her school will shut down. Not wanting her 'precious high school life' to be destroyed, Honoka seeks answers in how to save her school.
As she heads home, she finds her sister lying next to a pamphlet about UTX High, the most popular high school in their area. Honoka confronts Yukiho, and Yukiho tells her that everyone's saying that there's no point in enrolling to Otonokizaka, since it's going to be shut down.
The next morning, Honoka heads to UTX High, only to be welcomed by a school idol group, A-RISE! They're the most popular school idols, which causes their high school to be the most popular. Honoka gets an idea, which basically starts the whole show!
As the story progresses, Honoka, along with her friends Umi Sonoda and Kotori Minami meet many amazing girls, getting new friends and doing what they love.
The characterization is superb- each girl had an episode dedicated to her and her backstory, why she is the way she is, etc.
For the music, I loved each song, particularly Happy Maker!, Music S.T.A.R.T, Aishiteru Banzai, and others.
The visuals were also nice, very aesthetically pleasing and clean.
If you're looking for an anime to binge-watch over the Summer, I recommend Love Live! School Idol Project. It's cute, it's music is amazing, and you'll fall in love with the amazing protagonists.
