(This review will contain SPOILERS)
[Story]
When Sunshine got announced, I got really excited because I wanted to see more Love Live!. I was skeptical though because when I saw the 10 minutes character introduction PV for LL Sunshine, not only do some characters of this new group look like the original cast from Love Live! (You and Kotori, Mari and Eli, and etc.) but also, some of the characters' personalities are alike. They basically show you the bio of the new characters in the video and that's how I learned about their personalities.
Just like the 1st Season of Love Live!, the story here is relatively simple and fairly similar to the 1st Season of LL. The difference here is Love Live! Sunshine!! takes place about 5 years after µ's disbanded and now focuses on a new group called "Aquors" (pronounced as Aqua) which consists of 9 girls aspiring to become the next famous school idol like µ's. Just like the previous seasons of Love Live though, I don't really give a shit about the story since the school idols are the main focus of the series and the songs.
The aspect that I found a bit annoying, but nothing major, in Sunshine is the constant references of µ's and callbacks. Yes, I get it. They won Love Live and they're very famous but I just found it really annoying that the show constantly mentions µ's this and that. For example, the episode that introduced us to Hanamaru. I got really irritated at the end of the episode because of how much they were focusing on Rin's shot. I get it, she's relating herself to Rin but it was too much. Now, there's a reason why I didn't exactly dislike the said aspect that much.
In the first 7 episodes, Chika was basically following µ's' footsteps and thinking that if she does exactly what µ's did, she and her group would become just as popular as µ's. I'm glad that the 8th episode completely blew my conception of Sunshine being just a "blatant rip-off of Love Live!". I really love the 8th episode because it was reality slapping Chika's face. Aquors got 0 points in the preliminaries and she realizes that ever since µ's won Love Live, the idol competition has become way more competitive than before and she also realized that simply copying µ's won't get them to where they want to go. Man, I am loving this "From nothing to something" concept that I've been seeing in anime lately. Aquors' song "Step!Zero to One!" now makes perfect sense. Btw, that song is really good.
Love Live Sunshine is also aware of the fact that Aquors is copying µ's and that's the reason why I mostly changed my mind about the constant references and callbacks of µ's in earlier parts of the series. In the 12th episode, Chika realized how µ's exactly got successful and also realized that she needs to stop copying µ's, be their own selves and forge a new path, breaking away from µ's. This whole season is basically about Aquors forming and learning about who they truly are. I'm quite excited for the 2nd Season, now that Aquors is heading on their own path towards success.
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[Art/Animation]: (9.5/10)
The art style of the original Love Live was decent, at best and the character designs looked good but was too moe, for my taste, but I got used to it. Also, just like everyone else, I hated the use of CGI in µ's Live Shows. However, in Love Live Sunshine, every aspect of the show's visuals and animation is significantly improved. The art style looks better, the visuals and backgrounds is more superior than the predecessor and the character designs looks like more work was put into it. The Live Shows, for once, doesn't burn my eyes. It's looks like Sunrise learned how to utilize and blend the CGI and 2D Animation perfectly. Seriously, watching Aquors' CGI performance was a lot more bearable than watching µ's CGI performance.
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[Sound]: (10/10)
As a µ's fan, I'm sorry for betraying µ's by saying this but Aquors' songs sounds A LOT better than most µ's songs. Aquors songs sounds more energetic and lively as opposed to µ's dramatic-tune and sometimes melancholic but with a touch of happiness (That's the best I can explain µ's songs). In LL 1st Season, the only songs that I liked was START:DASH and Susume Tommorow. In Sunshine, I love almost every song. Some examples are Kimeta yo Hand in Hand, Daisuki Dattara Daijoubu (which completely shits on almost every µ's song that I've listened to in the past few years), Omoi yo hitotsu ni nare, and more because you get what I'm trying say here. I just wished that they used "Step!Zero to One" in the last episode because it would have fit the show's context.
The OP theme song is "Aozora Jumping Heart" by Aquors. I really love this OP the same reason I love the mentioned songs earlier. It's better than the 1st OP of Love Live but it's on par with the 2nd OP of Love Live.
The ED theme song is "Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou " by Aquors. Just like the first OP, I also love this song but if I have to be more specific, I love the version where only Chika and Riko were singing. I think this is better than the 1st ED of Love Live! but the 2nd ED of Love Live! is still better than Sunshine's ED.
I watched the show in English Dub and Subs but I'm only going to review the Japanese's VA's singing talent. Chika, Riko and You's singing voices are godlike and they're 50% of the reason why Aquors' songs are great. Hell, that's the reason why I think "Daisuki Dattara Daijoubu" is better than most µ's songs. Their voices are just absolutely amazing and I'd prefer if Chika, Riko and You have their own subunit. I still don't know why one of Aquors' official subunit comprises of Chika, You and Ruby. It should have been Riko instead of Ruby :/
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[Characters]: (8/10)
Despite all the good things that I've been saying about Aquors, I still like the members of µ's more than the members of Aquors. It's not because Aquors is uninteresting. It's because the characters from Love Live! has way more screentime and character development than Aquors at the moment. Once Sunshine gets 2nd Season and a movie then I'll love Aquors just as much as I love µ's.
Like the original Love Live!, Sunshine has 9 characters and evenly split into 3 girls per grade. I just want to say that the difference between Aquors having 9 members and µ's having 9 members is that µ's 9 members group had meaning into it and makes perfect sense because of the name of their group while Aquors' amount of members is just....umm..yea.....Who cares, right? Gotta stick with the winning formula and I'm not complaining. Anyways, the first years are Ruby Kurosawa, Hanamaru Kunikida and Yoshiko Tsushima (Yohane). Ruby is Dia's younger sister and she's shy and bit of an introvert girl. To make it more simpler, she's like Hanayo except I found Ruby to be a lot more cuter but Hanayo's extreme love for rice was what made her more likable. Hanamaru is Ruby's best friend and she loves to read books and she has little to no knowledge when it comes to technology since she lives at a temple. She says "zura" at the end of her sentence all the time. To make it more simpler, she's like Rin except she's a bookworm and she doesn't get on my goddamn nerves. Then there's Yoshiko, a chuunibyou girl who thinks she's the "fallen angel" and she prefers to be called by her persona "Yohane". Honestly, I still prefer Nico over her but I can't help but love her "Yohane" persona. I wouldn't mind sacrificing myself to become her little demon.
Then there's the second years Chika Takami, You Watanabe and Riko Sakurauchi. You (Pronounced as Yo) is Chika's longtime childhood friend and has a habit of dressing up in a sailor suit since she's a marine enthusiast. You is currently my best girl of the series. Judging by her appearance, you'd think she's like Kotori except she's not. Besides her designing Aquors' costumes, hers and Kotori's personality are nothing alike. You is more lively and her voice doesn't make my ears bleed while Kotori is the cute girl but with an ear-piercing voice. As much as I want to make a You pun right now, I don't want to because I love "you" and I really don't want to break "you" 're heart by making all these terrible puns xD. Chika is the enthusiastic leader of Aquors. I just want to mention that Chika got way more character development than Honoka did in the 1st Season of LL. In the original LL, it wasn't until the 2nd Season where Honoka got a character development. Even so, Chika's character development is already more impressive than Honoka so even though both characters' enthusiasm and determination to reach their goals are the same, I still prefer Chika over Honoka. Riko is a transfer student from Otonokizaka High (µ's school) and a girl who plays the piano. Riko is like a mixture of Umi and Maki and I really like her Maki side. In other words, I like it when Riko gets all flattered over something.
Then there's the third years Dia Kurosawa, Mari Ohara, and Kanan Matsura. Dia (Pronounced as "Daya" or as in Diamond) is the student council president. She's mostly like Eli, in terms of her being stubborn at times and the way she acts as a student council president. The similarities are there. The difference here is Dia has a legitimate reason for rejecting Chika's application sheet to form a school idol club. I mean, Eli has a legitimate reason too but both of their reasons are completely different. Mari is a rich girl who decided to come back to Uranohoshi after hearing about someone forming a school idol. I really thought Mari was going to be either Nozomi or Eli but boy, was I wrong. I mean, the only similarities between Mari and Nozomi is they both like to grope someone's breast but other than that, their personalities are completely different. I also love Mari's "Engrish" catchphrases. Especially her "It's joke" quote and my most favourite is her "Oh My God!" quote. Fun fact: Mari's "It's joke" quote was kept in the English Dub version but almost every one of her Engrish quotes was changed to an Italian accent. Kanan is that almost non-existent character who barely made an appearance in the first half of the series but had more screentime in the second half. I started liking Kanan more when the third years were getting more focus on the early 2nd half of the series.
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[Enjoyment]: (8.5/10)
Face it people, µ's time is over and it's Aquors' time to shine. The sooner you accept that, the more you'll enjoy this show like I did. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Chika and her determination to never give up even though she got cornered but managed to got herself out of the position. Plus, the songs are better than most songs from µ's. Currently, my Aquors-created playlist in my phone is now at over 13 songs and counting.
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[VERDICT]
When Love Live Sunshine and Aquors first got introduced, I was a bit skeptical at first because I thought they wouldn't live up to µ's' greatness. Now that I finished Sunshine, the series blew away my expectations. As of right now, µ's is still better but Aquors has a lot of potential to overtake µ's and as time grows on, they'll either be on par with them or end up being better than them. I mean, most of Aquors' songs are already better than what the 1st Season of LL offered.
The story is recycled but I kind-of saw this coming since the 2nd Season of LL did the same shit. Also, the µ's references and callbacks were a bit dragged out. The character is where it's at though. The character development for the third years and the 2nd year, especially Chika were really good but just like the 2nd Season of LL, their character development will definitely get better (and hopefully more character development for the first years) once Sunshine gets 2nd Season.
[OVERALL]: (8.5/10)
Pros:
+Aquors turned out to be a very lovable idol group at the end of the series
+Aquors' songs are great and better than µ's songs from 1st and 2nd Season
+Enjoyable characters with amazing character dynamics between two or three Aquors members
+Great character development for Chika and the 3rd years
+Visually Appealing Animation
+CGI in Live Shows is significantly improved
Cons:
-Constant references and callback to µ's got a bit annoying
