Love Live! School Idol Project

When asked, a lot of people don't like idol anime or anything similar, or in other words, anime based on music and stuff. I'm one of these people. I don't usually watch idol anime, but I wanted to try this out because of the outstanding art that this anime offers. At first I was really hesitant, even to the point where I removed it off my PTW list because I would feel embarrassed having watched something like this. Sure this anime might be targeted towards children rather than teens/adults, but it doesn't mean that teens/adults wouldn't enjoy this. This anime taught to me that hard work actually does pay off, that if you try your hardest, you will eventually arrive to your destination point. There are a lot of things I liked about this anime, but the thing I liked most was probably the art. Yes, I'm a very picky person when it comes to art, and this anime reached my expectations when it came to the art. All the characters were nicely designed and all of the 9 girls are cute. In other words, the art was what some people call it, flawless. The only thing I disliked about this anime was the fact that they were taking too long to prepare for the live shows and stuff like that. The producers should have shown the girls in action more (I don't literally mean in action, I meant that they should probably have shown more of their songs). In terms of characters, all of them are easily likable, none of them are really that bland. There are 3 main characters in this anime, Honoka, who is seriously hyper and energetic, Umi who is very shy and was reluctant to become a school idol at first, and Kotori who is a very calm, and a little shy. We have these 3 main characters make an school idol group in order to save the school from closing (because they aren't reaching the applicant quota). They name this school idol group 'Muse' (sorry I don't want to look all over the internet just for a greek character). Eventually they reach 9 members by around episode 6-9, forgot. That's basically it for the story since I don't want to spoil a lot. The sound is the second thing I enjoyed a lot in this anime. The opening was just straight up amazing, I almost watched it every episode. I don't usually watch endings because they're usually dull and boring, but I really loved the ending song this time, I ended up watching it every episode. The insert songs were amazing too, I ended up downloading that 'Dash' song too (it was that good :>). I could probably say that I felt embarrassed inside while watching the first few episodes due to this being my first idol anime, but eventually I got used to the feeling and I opened myself up to this anime. All in all I could say that I enjoyed this anime a lot for my first idol anime, and I would suggest this to anyone who is looking for an idol anime. Thanks for reading :> - Peten00b

Trashy Pandas Love Live! School Idol Project Review May 22, 2014 *THIS ONLY CONTAINS THE FIRST SEASON I WILL EVENTUALLY GET AROUND TO WRITING THE REVIEW FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES BUT SCHOOL IS TAKING UP ALL OF MY TIME* “Datte kanosei kanjitanda. Sou da susume. Kokai shitaku nai me no mae ni bokura no michi ga aru.” “I feel we have a chance. Yes let's push forward. I don't want to regret it later. Our future lies right ahead.” from the song Susume by Muse. Hope. Desires. Goals. Perseverance. Friendship. Love. Music. The girls of the school idol group Muse share all of these wonderful things as they give it their all to be a part of the most popular event for high school idol groups: Love Live. The nine girls strive to save their school from closing by trying to attract perspective students through the formation of a school idol group that, they hope, will one day be a part of Love Live. Honoka Kousaka leads her group of eight other cute, talented high school friends towards Love Live. The anime Love Live! School Idol Project has become my #1 favorite anime because of the wonderful, loveable, and memorable characters, the outstanding animation style, and, most importantly, the best, most addictive, and energetic soundtrack, which all culminate into one amazing story of friendship, love, hope, and music. I Plot The plot for Love Live! Is very straight forward, easy to follow, and enjoyable. The story goes as anyone would expect after watching the first episode: the main character and her friends work to save their school from closing by trying to attract new students by gaining popularity through the formation of a school idol group which becomes known as “Muse”. This formula is followed for most of the story, however there are several complications that are not expected and some twists. I'm not going to spoil it, even though this is a review. While being not very complex, the plot forms a solid foundation for the anime, is consistently present, and keeps the story progressing. There is not much else to say without spoiling the twists and turns. The plot fits well and proves fairly interesting. II Romance? There are no “official” romances in Love Live!, however, there are subtle and clear hints at possible relationships that could be. My favorite of the possible romances is Honoka x Maki. Honoka is the energetic, lively leader of Muse while Maki is very level-headed and reserved. I love the contrast that would make their relationship work like a charm. Other than this, there are no relationships to expand on, you just get enjoyment from shipping the girls together. III Theme The main theme of Love Live! Is never give up despite how impossible the road ahead may seem and always remember that your friends are there with you every step of the way. Friends are there to stick with you through thick and thin, good and bad weather, shit storms and double rainbows. Also, be aware of your friends and their feelings. Another key part of the theme is to never give up on your dreams. No matter how many setbacks and roadblocks are in the way, the prize at the end of the road is worth the experiences that are encompassed by the journey. The theme is not much more complex than this. IV Animation and Art Style The animation for Love Live! Is mind-blowingly amazing. For the most part, the animation and art is in 2D, but when the girls put on their performances, the animation switches over to 3D character models for exciting, energetic dance routines. Starting with the 2D aspect, the girls have extremely cute, distinguishing physical appearances. I love the designs for the girls' eyes; the eyes are realistically proportioned and detailed. The girls' bodies are realistic and resemble what actual high school girls would look like, i.e. they don't have obnoxiously large breasts and overly exaggerated sexual features except Nozomi, who has large breasts but not to the point that it's the only thing the viewer cares about or notices. I love that the girls aren't sexualized like in a lot of anime such as Sekirei or High School DxD; I feel the anime would have been totally different if that were the case. As for the surroundings and environment, it's pretty standard. NOW, for the 3D animation. Wow, wow, this hits it out of the ballpark: 3D song and dance routines that will make you sit in awe while watching these amazingly cute girls have the time of their lives. I wish that there were a lot more of these, but I highly doubt the animation budget could have incorporated them. Still, I digress, the 3D animation makes a massive impact on the viewers and is just spectacular. V Characters The characters in Love Live! Are some of my favorite characters of all time because of how unique, well designed, and beautiful they are. Honoka Kousaka, the protagonist, is an extremely lively, spontaneous, and strong willed girl who will do anything to achieve her dreams. Honoka forms Muse with her friends, Umi and Kotori before reaching out to get more girls to help with reaching their goal. Honoka is so lovable; she is so determined to do everything she can to keep her school from being closed down. There isn't anything bad to say about her. Umi Sonoda, one of Honoka's best friends from childhood, is a very calm, sensible, and serious girl who does archery at the high school while being a part of Muse. Umi is very talented with poetry and has superb writing skills; she writes mostly all of the lyrics for Muse's songs. Umi is just as determined as Honoka, but a lot more forceful when it comes to accomplishing things. She is a very lovable and is attractive in as a strong female character. Kotori Minami, who is my favorite character and my #1 waifu, is probably THE most adorable character I've ever seen. I love her hairstyle; it's a champagne blonde color, sort of more ash colored (I don't know how to adequately describe the various shades of hair color). The way she wears it is straight down in the back with a shoulder length pony tail that is combined into a folding thing. I don't know how to describe it, but it's absolutely adorable (look it up on google images). Kotori is a very shy girl who loves her friends, and the members of Muse, more than anything. The other members of Muse are Eri Ayase, Nico Yazawa, Nozomi Tojo, Maki Nishikino, Hanayo Koizumi, and Rin Hoshizora. Eri is the leader of the high school's student council; she was apposed to the idea of Muse, but ended up joining and loving the experience. Eri is very kind, hardworking, earnest, and the best dancer in Muse. Nico Yazawa was the head of the School Idol Research Club at the school, who had previously been a part of the school's former idol group. She is extremely passionate about the group's success and wants more than anything for Muse to be a part of Love Live. She is a very tsundere-esque character but has a very sweet side that makes up for the annoying side. Nozomi Tojo is the manipulative student council vice president who indirectly helps Honoka form Muse. Nozomi also gives Muse it's name. Nozomi is very rational and the most caring member of the group; she sees deep into the other characters' feelings and does whatever she can to help them out. But she loves boobs, a lot... she grabs the other characters' breasts all the time. Maki, is the beautiful girl with dark red hair whose musical talent exceeds anything that I could ever hope to do. She is an amazing composer and does most of the work to set Umi's lyrics to a dynamic, lively tune. Similar to Umi, she is very reserved and has a lot of trouble being open with the other girls of Muse. Maki is a genius whose family wants her to become a medical doctor and inherit the family's hospital. Hanayo Koizumi is one of the three first years who is Muse's biggest fan before she joins the group. She is the most shy girl of them all who share's Nico's obsession with school idols and Love Live. Hanayo has a very kind heart, but I don't think she has a whole lot of dep…

"Love Live! School Idol Project", I have never fully watched any idol series before, so this one was my first, and I ended up enjoying it a lot. I've tried to watch IdolM@ster when it first aired, but I just couldn't get into it. I watched Love Live after it was finished airing. I honestly don't know why I decided to watch Love Live, but I'm so glad I did. Story There was a clear story, which was good. School is gonna get shut down if they don't get enough students, Honoka (main character) decides to become school idols to stop the school from closing. The story was simple, and I didn't have any problems with the pacing. Throughout the show, they include showing what the characters need to endure to become idols which include stamina, vocal, and dance training. I thought that this was a nice toutch to include and helped with character development quite well Art/Animation I liked the overall art style, which fit the mood of this series, it was bright and colorful. But the one thing that I didn't like was the CG's. Luckily, they were only used during the insert songs and in the opening. They didn't use CG's for the whole song either, it switched between several times, sometimes, the CG wasn't too noticeable, which is why I didn't mind it too much. The animation looked smooth and was very well executed. No complaints about animation. I loved the choreography during the songs, sometimes, I had to rewatch one of the performances twice. Once to focus on the song, and another to look at the choreography. Sound/Music Being an idol anime, I guess I kinda expected good music. I am glad to say that I was not disappointed. All of the songs were catchy, memorable and fit the situation very well. Even the background music stood out to me (in a good way). It always fit with the events that happened and set the tone of whats gonna happen. The opening song was amazing, I never skipped it, not a single time. The ending song was the same, never wanted to skip it. Characters Each character had a very different personality and were all likeable in their own way. There weren't any characters that I hated. I found that I could summarize the personalities of the characters in just a few words, which isn't necessarily bad. The characters had a very human like mindset in my opinion, which enhanced the drama scenes in the show. Conclusion I really liked this anime and am glad that I gave it a go. I have never fully watched an idol anime before this one. When I was watching, I was completely immersed in the show. I never felt bored or wanted to skip over a scene during the show. The music was amazing, I cannot stress that enough. If you haven't watched this, I highly recommend that you give it a shot.

So, you want to become a superstar? It's not easy. In fact, it takes more than just skill. It takes the will, determination, support, technique, integrity, and a little bit of luck to reach success. In fact, reaching that point of success is especially hard when there's competition. Among other things, being an idol also means to shine and make yourself a name in the industry. You have to embrace what you do and no matter what, always aim for success. At least, that's what the girls at Otonokizaka High School wishes to do... Alright, this series known as Love Live! School Idol Project is actually an anime project co-produced with the music company Lantis Co., Ltd and studio Sunrise being involved. Not many people may know of the franchise but it already has achieved success in other fields of music CDS. Well, success doesn't come easy like I mentioned before and in this series, it definitely is something that's hard to achieve. At first I was skeptical whether to check out this series or not. I mean, there are so many idol themed series already in the anime industry. Hell, even this Winter season of 2013, there is not one (Akb4OO8 Next Stage) but two (Akitasu) ongoing series involving music and idols. In fact, I sometimes get bored of watching this stuff because initially, I thought the show would just be about cute girls doing cute things. I wasn't too wrong either especially with our main female protagonist, Honoka Kosaka. Just look at her, she's a cute little button with a cute little bang on the side of her head along with that bubbly personality. However, beyond that outer image is a girl who is determined to prevent the shutdown of her beloved school. How? Form an idol group of course! But that's a lot easier said than done in reality. The series takes this idea and transform it into a more of a slice-of-life story in the beginning. At first, there's Honoka. Then later comes the rest of the characters, or rather girls who all becomes associated with the group. Oh and the group is called Muse represented by the "μ's" symbol. Obviously, it's a reflection of what the group stands for – a music ensemble of girls who wishes to show the world who they are and make a name for themselves while at the same time to prevent the destruction of their beloved school. Thus, their journey begins... The initial episodes (first half of the series) makes prominent highlights of some of the other girls in the series. Among these girls, they all have different personalities. There's the timid girl with the stage freight (Umi Sonoda), the cool chick (Nozomi), the tomboy (Rin Hoshizora), the cold heart (Eli), the gentle girl (Kotori Minami), and the childish (Niko Yazawa). Of course, I'm not naming all the characters here but you get the idea. From the initial premise of becoming superstars, these girls come together. However, I find the first of the episodes in this series to be dull and not done right. In fact, I find most of the girls' backgrounds to be stale and lacks any real characterization besides who they are. Perhaps the lack of a general background with the girls is the weakness here but regardless, the first half of the series is a bit mediocre in my book. Well, thanks to Niko, I did have some fun and enjoyed part of her performance. NIKO-NIKO smile~ However, the series becomes more lively later on especially with Honoka. I will say right now that her mood brightens this series quite a bit and can easily bring a smile to a viewer's eyes. If you're having a bad day, just watch her and that cloud of grayness will brighten. That's probably a weak analogy but her enthusiasm is what unites the group she works so hard to create. In fact, as the unanimous leader of the group, it is up to Honoka to save the school and make a name for themselves with the face of music. Perhaps, I feel she tries too hard though. I mean, in one episode, she particularly puts her own life at risk. It's how hard she tries to bring their ranks together especially when going up against competition. That' s the thing too because when you become a superstar, expect media attention and rivals heading your way. It's a tough, tough world Honoka-chan. The story of the series remains weak but simple. It's about a group of girls coming together united as a music group to bring media attention. By becoming idols/superstars, they can spread their names and hopefully with what they can achieve will save their school. As simple as it is though, it is VERY easy to guess who will join Muse. It's not even foreshadowing but rather given directly with the opening song and poster. The series also doesn't avoid the typical "beach episode" that seemingly becomes one of those relaxing break. Furthermore, the seemingly focus on the idols themselves rather than what they hope to achieve becomes a backstabber in my opinion to the initial premise. Also, it seems that the competition isn't as intense as it originally looked. Despite this though, I find the series to be a fun and entertaining watch with a cherry atmosphere. It's nice to see the girls tries so hard on a profession that is extremely difficult to make a name for. But what they're doing it for is not only for themselves but to save their beloved school. Now that my friends is what I call good-hearted. The performance themselves are also quite real and done well. In fact, some of the songs played in many of the episodes has that idol-like feeling. With those cute outfits, personalities, and outfits, these girls really do have what it takes. In terms of visuals, Sunrise does them. And hey, who knew, they actually pulled a nice one out of their hats this time. From the outfits, character designs, and the way the girls dances, the visuals almost feel like they are coming to life at many occasions. I find this to be quite pleasing and interactive to watch as opposed to some CGI movements or forced movements. No, it's natural and the girls are putting on a live show. The soundtrack, music, and voice acting is perhaps the most prominent feature of this series. After all, music is the main feature and premise of Love Live! The sound director, Yukio Nagasaki puts effort through and it's easy to hear and visualize what it's there. Of course, the performance that I mentioned before are also done beautifully. It looks natural, realistic, and the girls have fun doing it. At some occasions, viewers may wish they were right there with them on the stage. Then opening song, "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de" by μ's is performed by the idol group themselves and shows to the audience that they're serious about what they do. The many ED songs brings together a collage of various fun tunes featuring different mood settings. It's beautiful~ Overall, this underrated series is worth some time to invest into. In my opinion, this show is charming and so is Muse. Although its initial episodes were like a chore to watch, it later makes it up with the enthusiasm of the group along with the all cheerful Honoka-chan. It's also fun to watch the girls perform and hope that they succeed especially when they see some results on what they worked so hard for. Yup, they are aiming for success but at the same time having fun while doing it. Well, I hope you have fun while you relax, sit back, and enjoy what Muse do their best: Entertain you.

After watching "Wake up Girls" and listening to plenty of idolm@ster songs, I decided I had a weak spot for idol shows. I just finished watching NHK and as I usually like to do, switch off to something light before picking up another heavy show. This being said I never had high expectations of Love Live and knew from the start that it was going to be mediocre and that I was just along to satisfier a cute craving. At first things looked good, with the show making me laugh at several points and a couple characters actually being somewhat appealing. Hoever as the show goes on, it is clear that things get stale. What was once at least a sugary sweet piece of candy loses its charm. The class mate boob grab gag get's overused, one character is literally a cat, and most saddening of all, the music is kinda meh when compared to other tracks I have heard come out the Love Live project. The show even resorts to reusing an old mediocre song as a finale. I ended up disappointed that even though my moe craving was served, I feel as if it left a bitter taste ini my mouth.

“You can’t fool television viewers with dancing girls and flashing lights” - Bob Barker If there’s any pop culture entity that can dispute Mr. Barker’s claim, it is the idol genre. Prizing style over substance, flair over functionality, and pizazz over practicality, titles within the idol genre have discovered success time after time by appealing to its fanbase more than anything else. Unfulfilled character arcs, glacial pacing, stale voice acting, and even gaping plot holes can all be negated by the lavish concerts and energetic score from your standard idol anime. That’s not to mention the miracles that a moe pop idol can conjure; there are few tactics with greater financial success than inserting as many cute anime chicks into your show as possible. The idol genre has proven again and again that you really can fool viewers with dancing girls and flashing lights. It is in this genre that Love Live has established a name for itself. Produced by Sunrise (Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass), Love Live (or “LL” for short) has developed into the biggest and brightest star of the idol genre, its massive fan base and overwhelming merchandise serving as major influences for its fame. Love Live is widely considered to be the greatest anime of its particular category, if not necessarily a critical darling. However, Love Live’s lofty status raises a few interesting conundrums: if titles within the idol genre are, by and large, bereft of depth and meaning, then how is one supposed to properly determine which is the greatest? Why should Love Love be considered the ideal representative of the idol genre? Do Love Live’s characters display more elaborate dances than that of Aikatsu? Does LL possess a greater sense of humor than The Idolmaster? I figured that actually watching Love Live would answer my questions so that’s what I did. To be perfectly honest, I harbored a few misgivings about Love Live, mainly that it's nothing more than meme fodder. However, the optimist in me believed that Love Live would be far more than that. With its charming story, LL would not only soothe my heart but inspire me to espouse its virtues as well. While Love Live didn’t exactly confirm my worst fears, it is hardly a series that I’d recommend. My opposition to LL doesn’t stem from hatred or disappointment; rather, it is generated from the show’s lackluster execution of its most basic requirements. I’m more than willing to condone a mishap or two in the visual department but a grocery list of logical fallacies, one after the other, is something else entirely. For example, your show might have a problem when your story struggles to formulate a raison d'etre. Love Live is focused on three friends (Honoka, Umi, and Kotori) that desire to prevent their school from closing down but, beyond their adoration for it, they never clarify why they want to save it. If our protagonists are unaware of their cause for concern, why should I be invested in what they’re doing? Anywho, the trio agree that forming a school idol group is the best course of action (because why should you start donations and petitions when you can sing for a great cause?) but first they have to be approved by Eli Ayase, the Student Council President that’s overly harsh towards our aspiring heroines. Will our main trio find a concrete purpose for saving their school? Will Ayase change her dastardly ways? Will Love Live start caring about itself? These questions will be answered right after Love Live exposes you to the umpteenth shot of Honoka’s butt. At its core, Love Live is a show that panders like no show has ever pandered before. Not only is there an obligatory beach/swimsuit episode but there’s also the rampant fanservice (especially early on), as well as an unbearable “chest grab” gag (it has to be seen to be believed). Couple that with Love Live’s excessive moe aesthetic (the sparkly eyes, the constant blushing, and the unnatural wiggling/squirming) and top it all off with the bizarre scene in episode 11 where a friend of Honoka’s rubs her head and scratches her chin like Honoka is some sort of dog. What you’ll get is one phenomenal crowd-pleaser of a show, a show that prefers to satisfy fetishes rather than concern itself with storytelling. The flimsily constructed plot accomplishes little beyond serving as an elaborate excuse to showcase the cuteness of Love Live’s characters; the cast is nothing but a hodgepodge of stereotypes. Outside of Honoka, Umi, Kotori, and Ayase, there’s the athletic one (Rin and her “nya”s), the intense rival (Nico and her ridiculous poses), the shy one (Hanayo and her idol obsession), the tsundere (Maki)..... and Nozomi, the Student Council Vice President that perpetrates the aforementioned “chest grab” gag (I’ve never seen a VP constantly undermine the President quite like Nozomi does in LL). It will be of little surprise to you when I say that most of Love Live’s characters are inessential. Ayase and Kotori, however, are crucial to a certain extent but it’s Honoka and Umi that are the true outliers. Honoka is Love Live’s protagonist, a spontaneous do-gooder cut from the cloth of the spunky girl trope. What truly defines Honoka as a character are her over-the-top speeches (those bits of dialogue are downright painful in the amount of vapid positivity they exude) and her overwhelming ego (we’ll get to that later). Umi, on the other hand, is Honoka’s foil; she’s literally the only LL character with common sense, a realistic approach, and a complex personality. As Honoka’s best friend, Umi desires to aid her friend in achieving her dream but is, at first, adamantly against Honoka’s idea of an idol group because Umi rightfully doubts the effort that Honoka applied to it. Over time, Umi softens her stance on Honoka’s idea and of idol groups on general, even to the point where she valiantly defends the existence of idols in a climatic scene. On a surface level, Umi appears to be the stereotypical “quiet one”, that and nothing more, but she quickly endears herself as she wages war against her anxiety, her timidity, and the mob mentality that is an all-encompassing presence in Love Live. Honoka lords over Love Live with an iron fist; there isn’t a single character in any medium, animated or not, that wields as much creative control as Honoka. If there’s one thing that you simply must know about Love Live, it’s that this show is gravitated entirely towards what Honoka desires and anyone that deviates from it is severely punished. Honoka advertises her viewpoints as essential for success and for the betterment of others but it’s obvious that she's only massaging her ego. For example, Umi wants to perform in concerts with a knee-length skirt (for several logical reasons) and, while any true friend would respect Umi’s wishes, Honoka, with Kotori’s help, secretly created skirts of shorter length. When Umi discovers this act of treachery, she's understandably upset but Love Live more or less remains loyal to Honoka’s scheme. It’s all very sickening; Honoka is this lionized ringleader of debauchery and deceit with the overarching narrative and Kotori as her partners in crime (Kotori is the ideal yes-man for Honoka; she possesses very, very few individual thoughts or opinions, existing only to blindly support Honoka). The in-universe benefits that Honoka receives from LL are simply absurd; she’s hailed as the idol group’s leader despite not proving herself as one, she’s praised for her unreasonable badgering of potential members, and her excessive pettiness is rarely admonished. The moments where Honoka is called out on her BS, like Ayase pointing out her arrogance or Nico questioning Honoka’s leadership, are so, so refreshing but they are few and far between. Is it too much to expect LL to treat its characters with fairness and rationality? Buried deep within Love Live’s framework, beneath Honoka’s ego trip, beneath the gratuitous pandering, beneath the shallow characterization, is a redeemable projec…

Love Live and its sequels are a true treasure in the world of anime. From the moment I saw the vibrant and colorful animation, the originality of the art and character design, I knew I was about to embark on an exciting adventure. The incredibly well-produced music should win awards if it weren't for the rest of the music world not wanting to be overshadowed by it. It combines with the energetic performances of the girls, creating an atmosphere full of joy and positive energy. The animation feels fluid and uses meticulous traditional animation; there is never any cost-cutting with 3D or simplified or undrawn backgrounds. Although the characters may seem stereotypical at first glance, I have discovered that each of the Love Live girls has her own charm and distinctive personality. As the seasons progress, we can see how these talented young girls face challenges and grow as individuals, developing strong relationships among themselves. They have realistic and profound encounters and dialogues about the intricate problems they must face. Their determination captivates me, and anyone can appreciate that the special bond they share is related to a conflicted and scarred past. The script is never predictable; it has an exciting pace that keeps my attention at all times. The main plot of saving the school through music is completely innovative in the anime industry, and the anime manages to add twists and touching moments that keep me glued to the screen. The cast of characters is the most diverse I have ever seen in an anime. Each character shines in a unique way and represents different aspects of maturity and personal growth. The subtle romantic relationships between the girls serve as unexpected and novel glue. Obviously, the reason for their presence is to enrich the plot further, and the only reason they don't fully consolidate is simply because there hasn't been enough time to tell the story.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably taken note of the rising popularity and plethora of idol related anime in the last few years. Any time I dare venture out to any anime convention that just so happens to be taking place within my proximity, I’m bound to be met with an onslaught of idol related merchandise from body pillows, those strange mouse pads that also have a pair of breasts on them, figures, CDs and even several cosplayers too – it’s inescapable! However, it’s not necessarily hard to understand why such shows garner such popularity, as they seem to be almost designed to be as marketable as possible. They feature an ensemble of cute girls, of various body types, whether that be the small loli (remember to tell the FBI that she is just a drawing when they come knocking down your door!) all the way to the plump and voluptuous, all the while having distinct personality types to appeal to every demographic of anime fan imaginable. Combine that with the fact that the girls are often made to wear skimpy and risqué outfits with incredibly small miniskirts, and sing generic, catchy pop-songs with their cute mannerisms, makes for a cultural phenomenon! Out of all the various idol anime out there, easily the most prolific and popular is Love Live; a franchise so popular over in Japan that in 2016 it was the highest grossing media franchise of that year, passing One Piece! (Damn, that’s a lot of scantily clad body pillows sold!) Over the last few days, me and a couple of other reviewer friendos decided to watch the entire series (for the most part anyway) all together, and while it was a very enjoyable experience to do so, even if we spent most of the time making fun of the show, I seem to have been left with rather severe PTSD, so much so, that every time I go to close my eyes to sleep at night, visions of each of the girls as they smile and dance appear in front of me. At first, it’s tranquil; calm, but as time moves along the girls become fierce and terrifying, laughing manically as I am trapped in this existential horrific nightmare in which even my own screams of pain and anguish cannot awaken me from the horrors that lay before me. I desperately want to run, to run from the visions, but I’m stuck; frozen in place as the idols slowly consume me and every fibre of my being… Anywho, with that all said and done, and instead of contacting my closest therapist immediately, let’s form our own idol group, dress up in some revealing clothes whilst dancing and singing on stage, and dive into the world of Love Live! Otonokizaku High School is on the verge of closing, due a lack of students wanting to partake in studies there, and is set to shut down after the current first year students graduate. As such, our main protagonist, Honoka, in an attempt to prevent the school closing down at all costs, decides to create an idol group, as a way to attract new students into attending said school, thus preventing it from its inevitable closure. The rest of the series sees Honoka recruit new members, as they all practice harder and harder to become great idols, intermixed with a touch of drama here and there. At the very least, Love Live’s set-up allows for some semblance of narrative stakes as the failure of the newly formed idol group, by the name of Muse, will bring an end to the school (even though we know as an audience from the get-go that the characters will succeed since there is nothing presented in the narrative that would suggest otherwise) and it also provides some kind of motivation and drive for the characters in the story. My main criticism of Love Live’s narrative is just how incredibly predictable and safe the entire journey is. It’s the most standard narrative structure one could possibly expect to see, and has been done so many times in so many other shows, that I can guarantee you that you would be able to identify each story beat and event that transpires in the show just by simply reading the plot synopsis presented on MAL. It genuinely feels like that whoever was writing the show, was simply ticking boxes off of things to include within the show. A hyper and energetic girl with good intentions who ropes everyone in and inspires them to try their hardest? TICK. An obligatory beach episode which is used for the purpose of training and seeing each of the girls in skimpy bathing suits? TICK. Drama that is introduced late into the narrative and is used more so to try and make the show seem more emotional than it is, whilst trying to manipulate the audience into feeling something for the characters, which will be ultimately resolved by the final episode leaving in a happy conclusion? TICK. As such, the narrative of Love Live feels tiering; a chore to sit through, as in my head I could easily map out the series and each one of the events that would transpire. It feels less like a journey you embark on with these girls as they try to save their school, and more so like a lecture in which you already know all the content the lecturer is going to go over, and you’re just listing them off in your head, waiting for them to get to the next point. As I mentioned before, the show does have its share of drama, which I imagine was implemented into the narrative as a way to spice things up; to try and make things interesting, but it just comes across more so forced and trite than anything else, and the juxtaposition between the light-hearted hijinks an episode before, and scenes where everyone is yelling and fighting comes across as so damn jarring! Again, just like the complaints I talked about above about the narrative’s predictability, the drama in the show is foreshadowed in such a way that ignores the very notion of subtlety. After both Umi, Honoka’s friend, and Honoka’s little sister warn her not to overwork herself as she may fall ill, she then decides to go running in the pouring rain like an idiot, develops a fever, and ends up ruining everybody’s hard work as a result. The show expects me to feel sorry for Honoka, since the very reason as to why she developed this fever was because she was working so hard to prevent the school from closing down, but I simply can’t, as the character itself isn’t strong enough to illicit such emotions in me, especially since it’s so typical of these types of shows to go down this route that it leaves no impact on me! There’s even a scene in the show where the drama reaches a point in which Honoka gets bitch-slapped into the Shadow Realm after proclaiming her leaving of the group, whereupon I promptly laughed my ass off for a good ten minutes because I’m an immature dumbass. But, this disconnect from what the show expects me to feel, that is, emotional and probably shock from seeing one of the girls resort to physical violence towards her friend, against what I felt, that is, laughter at a moment where it obviously wasn’t warranted is the reason why I feel nothing for any of the drama they try and throw in the show, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that the characters are simply not strong enough to carry it. There’s just nothing really to sink your teeth into in this show in regards to the story, and, despite what some people may tell you, such as the entire show being inside one of the character’s heads (which would actually be kind of interesting as an idea now that I think about it) there’s nothing really of any substantial merit here (then again, the person who told me that has Eli as his favourite girl, so therefore his claim lacks any weight automatically). Now, I’ve complained a fair bit about the narrative and why it feels so tiresome and dull, but this mode of storytelling is not necessarily a game breaker for me. I can forgive an anime in regards to its lack of overall narrative, as long as the characters, and the interactions between them are good; it’s the main reason why I liked Azumanga Diaoh after all. In that show, the narrative is simply about a bunch of high school girl…

When this show was airing I decided not to watch Love Live, because its ain't my style however I ended up watching it because of the rhythm game app I found in a commercial. This show is really enjoyable. The art, and music were really great and I found myself somehow excited to watch the next episode (hasn't happened in a while.) Now I know I said its enjoyable, but only if you don't really think about it. (I watched while I waited for my LP to refill) The plot is a group of girls become idols to save their school. Original really, however I found it extremely unrealistic because everything seemed to go the main girls way, and they all knew how to sing. Its odd seeing nine people extremely talented at singing to the point they don't need to practice. It also was really predictable, I could for see every character who joined, (you can say its because of the opening, but no. Its just predictable.) And it was all shounen anime where every enemy suddenly become friends with the main. Character. Do people even like their school that much? Why does she love that school so much? Is it because her mom went their? Why?! Art was good since it went between 2D animation and MMD's I think their called. (Though I've seen better quality ones on YouTube.) The songs manage to make me smile and all were fully translated which was nice since I'm big on lyrics. Despite this being a more anime it wasn't really moe which is odd. K-on which is a similar show I manage to love at least 2 of their characters (Mio and Azunyan) but with I didn't really like any besides Niko and that's just because I managed to relate to her ( my friends blow me off a lot.) Also the main girl everything went her way, it was seriously annoying. [Spoiler] At the end one of the girls was about to leave and the main chick goes into the airport right as she was about to board the plane (how did she get in?) And talked her into staying. (What happened to the plane ticket? You can't just stop stuf like that. Also she is seriously selfish. I've been told I'm selfish, but I'm selfish in a sense that I do my own thing. I don't mess anyone else's life up. She does something she drags everyone down with her. [Spoiler] Overall I think this show needs more moe. The only reason I can see someone watching this is so they can play the rhythm game. (It isn't needed but it makes it easier to choose favorites.) The show wasn't funny, moe, or even inspirational. I don't think being a idol would be tough if you can control the weather, and have amazing talent like that, and get everything else you want. Like she screamed at the rain to stop and it did! I'm not even joking. Screw being a idol, be a weather girl. If I had the chance to go back in time and stop myself from watching this I probably would. Yeah watching it is enjoyable but once you get down and think about it you go into this living hell!

This show is a sad guilty pleasure of mine. I shouldn't like this, but I did. It shows what hard work can really achieve. Especially with so much competition out there. It can really motivates you to be successful. With all that aside the show is very shallow and simple. Cute girls dancing and singing to save their beloved school. Story: Based around nine girls working to become idols and save their school. The initial story is okay, but nothing ever goes past that. The plot is weak and suffers from this, but what can you expect from a 13 episode series. The story can only be comparable when you take a slice-of-life. Each episode itself has it's own story. Don't expect much from it. I simply watched it for fun, nothing more or less. Put aside potential flaws it gave a calming and easygoing atmosphere. This made the show feel comfortable. Like laying in your bed at night, nothing really changes, but it doesn't ever feel uncertain. Sorry fans of this show but I'm going to give the story a 6. Art: It wasn't bad at all. I didn't even know sunrise could make this high of quality. All aspects of the girls stage, and clothing were unique and changed often. This kept me waiting to see the next outfit. Watching in HD i could tell some of the drawings during performances almost looked 3d. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At times it got weird to watch and i almost wished it would just stay 2d. It was more likely done because of budget. Much better than other shows *cough cough* . Art is an 8. Sound: I can't say much since i watched it in subbed and not many emotions were expressed through the characters. Other than that as far I could tell they fit the characters, nothing oddball my ears could hear. Who could forget about the music. Most of the songs picked were very catchy and often found myself bobbing my head. This deserves an 8. Character: This is where the show failed to deliver on. For the first couple of episodes I didn't even know Kitori's mom was the principle. By this time almost the whole group had been already established. when looking back at it most of the group was very 2 dimensional. Backgrounds never spoken, wondering even if some of the girls said a word after wanting to join Muse. Although the ones that were shown some light had different personalities. All these differences make them very lovable. You could basically read all these characters, like the back of your hand. This was very traumatizing to characters, and made it almost boring. What could be more wrong? The fact that not once did they develop really in much of a way. -The over dramatic sad scene at the end didn't prove anything. Character, gets a 5. Enjoyment: Like i said i really enjoyed this. Probably much more than I should have. Just the cuteness of everything kept me going. What does that say about me? I am a sucker for cute girls dancing in cute costumes. Hell Yeah! A 7 for enjoyment. Overall: Don't set goals high, at best don't set any. With that type of thinking you might like it. Their are many shows of this variety, that said the originality is near zero. I don't recommend this if you look for deep plot inducing anime. I am forewarning you that their is not one guy in this. The rest is your choice at this point, is it worth watching or not? I would respond with yes. My hormones kept me going. I conclude my official first review with a 7.

I know what you're thinking...And stop it. Recently I've been on a sort of 'binge watch' of anime; but not just any anime, I'm talking about the type with no plot, high school girls doing crazy things, minor fan service, why? Because after a tough day of college the LAST thing I want to do is put on an episode of Serial Experiments Lain, right? But what if I told you that there exists a moe idol show with so much more to offer than meets the eye? A show with so much heart, passion and hard work put into it, that it has actually bustled its way into my shortlist of favorite anime of all time? Well, such an anime does exist, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, my review, of 'Love Live: School Idol Project' as well as it's second season. Story - 8/10: A lot of people like to compare this anime to a little known anime known as K-On! , but in reality, Love Live is so much more. Our main character, Honoka Kousaka, finds out that her beloved high school will be shut down next semester due to poor application rates, and discovers the reason for this is because of a brand new high school called 'ITX' which is home to Japan's biggest school idol group known as 'A-RISE'. Naturally, Honoka sets herself with the goal of creating her own idol group, not to rival the behemoth that is A-RISE, but to simply keep her school relevant for another year. From then on, we journey with Honoka through the trials and tribulations, hard work, and sad moments everyone must go through to finally see their goals come to light. Personally, my only 'problem' with the pacing of K-On! Was just how seamlessly quick and easy a group of moe blob ditzy girls became a famous girl band, no emotion, nothing. On the other hand, even the latter third of Love Live's 3rd episode comes filled with sadness, helping you understand what it is you're getting into, and for that, I am thankful. Art - 10/10: I just... Okay, it's pretty much standard fare that every idol has to look vastly different to the others in order to check off the anime girl stereotype check list and appeal to as many fetishes as possible - I'm not into that. What I AM into is great ANIMATION, and Love Live does not let me down on that part! You can expect some sort of high production value from a studio like Sunrise but this was just ridiculous. Each and every scene looks beautifully colorful, vibrant, and all round pleasant to look at, but where the animation goes above and beyond is during the performance scenes; masterfully executed scenes of CGI inter-spliced in between animated frames make the choreography look unbelievable, arguably the best and most appropriate use of CG in any anime ever. Sound - 10/10: As I stated in my previous review, I'm fluent in both English and Japanese; and therefore I can give a more accurate viewpoint on the dub than others who don't blah blah blah. We'll start off with the voice acting. As it stands, there is no English dub, and for a show like this, I don't think there will ever be one, every character is voiced by their real life counterpart which I thought was a nice touch, and so I don't think anyone can criticize the choice of voice acting. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, the music, ah yes, the music! My god. Basically, all you NEED to know is that the singles they used for the anime was perfection, and each song kicks major ass, a song is rarely ever repeated in the same season which means you get fresh off the batch music nearly all the time. Character - 10/10: NICO NICO NII~ The series has a mere 26 episodes to fully develop and extract emotion from 9 whole main characters, which averages out at less than 3 episodes per character, but you know what? Even though characters like Hanayo and Rin don't even get that many episodes, their stories are all beautifully executed, some even managing to force a tear from me. The one character that I felt wasn't developed as well as I would have liked was that of my favorite girl in anime, Nico Yazawa. You see, you see small flashbacks of how tough her life has been, such as a brief 5 second time skip of all of her club members leaving her to be alone for the entirety of her high school life, and I'm sure some of us here know how tough THAT is. I wish some things were better explained, but what we did get was beautiful, and managing to do what they did with such a large cast was a masterstroke. Overall - 9/10: This show caught me off guard, I wasn't expecting to got what I got at all, a show with so much more than it's genre will let off, a show that leaves pretty much every other music-based anime in the dust. What Love Live accomplishes is a heart-warming story of friendship, hard work, failure, perseverance and most importantly, passion. The characters aren't just cardboard cut-outs, however some of the things they do and say can be somewhat cheesy. This show is not perfection, however. As I mentioned, the story is very basic, and while it does expand upon it's initial goal, I still feel like there is more to come, and more that could have been done, in a story with 9 girls who successfully played with my emotions. Watch it. Love it. Never regret it.

I'm a big fan of the Love Live franchise, so I'm sorry if I look like a mired person or with bad judgment, but the truth is that I like all seasons of Love Live (including Sunshine and the movie). But that does not stop me from wanting to give my opinion about this anime. History: Love Live is an anime that does not have a deep, ingenious or innovative story. This does not make this point weak or anything like that, the series creates a simple story for the characters to "develop" the way they see fit. The story is developed based on training and training until you can perfect a choreography. The story is not more than that, a day by day of 9 girls who give their best effort to achieve a goal, but it is more than that, the events that arise in history make it good in my opinion. There are moments like the first concert they do that showed me how serious the girls were, the story does not want them to be the best ones singing automatically or because they are school idols stand out in a first concert, that's why the first concert was a total disaster (although Star Dash is one of the favortias songs of the fans), because it has to be, a group of idols is not done from one day to the next, that would be totally illogical. Although the time spent in choreography, costumes and calling people for the concert was totally useless they did not give up, they had a credible goal and an "answer" to their problem also credible, it was admiracion and hard work, it has not but, at no time I find it strange that being school idols was something stupid or irrational, the world that presents Love Live makes it totally clear that school idols of that age are very normal and attract public, being a school idol is simply something that would assure (for Honoka) attract public, under that point of vsita it sounds very credible that she has been serious about being a school idol and convince her friends to do it, because that way the chances of saving the school increase significantly and, something that I consider important even in real life, they could turn their responsibilities into something special and very comfortable for them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Characters: The characters (along with the music) is what gives Love Live the essence, since the main objective of Love Live was always to produce good music and create very "beautiful and tender" characters to make the aesthetics of music have cohesion and so make both components are in a way that the public likes and can make any of the 9 girls in the group are liked by someone. And the 9 girls together form the group u's The Love Live characters share the same goal or main objectives as the others, this is something that is obvious taking into account that all live in the same school and that same school will close. Honoka Kousaka: she is a character who has the character of a boss, not because of being bossy or being a kind of drastic boss, she is simply determined and cheerful, which I like, is like what I said before; she transforms her responsibility into a way to get closer to her friends and a way to have fun. Honoka is the typical person who is always happy and knows how to make her group happy, and there is the grace of the characters, to take types of people to make a group of idols more diverse and with different and at the same time similar personalities. Honoka works very well as head of the group, I do not have much more to say about her; She is friendly, kind, often funny and very determined to fulfill her goals (although in a certain part of the Honoka series she became very depressed and left the group for a while). Simply a character with good function of boss and who manages to become more responsible in the second season to be president of the student council, so she learned to tormase more seriously their responsibilities. Umi Sonoda: is the typical girl who is good at sports and academically, Umi is the childhood friend of Honoka and Kotori, so their closeness with both characters is very present in the series, Umi despite being another type of common girl in animes does not take away the merit, this is due to his participation in the group and his way of helping the group. Umi is a very shy girl who dislikes wearing mini skirts for concerts, but due to the insistence of her best friends she decides to put on the clothes she thought was shameful, Umi demonstrates in the first instance to be a good friend and shows it With all the other girls that join the group, Umi is a character that is distinguished from the other characters because of how indecent finds things like kisses or that indole, this causes pretty funny moments in the series (like when they are watching a novel), Umi has a very strong personality and fulfills his goal of trying to be different from the other characters (although it looks like Maki, they turn out to be very different), it shows the love that has Honoka and Kotori for be childhood friends,and Umi likes to practice archery. Kotori Minami: she is in charge of the creation of the costumes for all the concerts, so it can be said that she is one of the most important in the series. Kotori shows (just like Umi) the affection she has for Honoka, I emphasize this because it is very important, it would not make sense if they are friends from childhood and they do not show a credible friendship for what they have been together, their friendship It has to be made credible, this is achieved through their friendly dialogues and the memories they have of their childhood (especially the one that show a time when they climb a tree and Kotori and Umi scares them), I consider the friendships of these 3 girls very well achieved, many people may say that cliche, but that is irrelevant, taking into account that the story tells the day to day of a group of idols and adding the fact that they are normal people is a cliche well implemented, is that they simply showed their relationship in a simple way as people in their day to day, the moment that Kotori has to go proves it even more, Honoka gives all their effort to convince Kotori to stay in Japan , And it is Kotori has other motivations besides saving the school, she wants to be a designer, that would give her reasons to join the group of idols. Kotori is the personage of the series that demonstrates to have more motivations in addition to saving the school and it is possible to appreciate his great friendship with Umi and (especially) with Honoka. despite that she does not have a personality "as" marked as the other girls, Kotori is more responsible and somewhat more shy than the others (she is almost as responsible as Umi), but what differentiates her from the others are her goals and things what she does (make the wardrobe, want to be a professional designer and be a kind of "maid" in a local). Rin Hoshizora: Rin is a first year at the Otonokizaka academy, it is one of the smallest members of the group, it is often childish (but without falling into stupidity imensa). Rin is quite extravaganten his mania to finish his sentences with "nya" also comes to be a type of girl known in Japan (come on, the typical "Neko girls"), so they did the right thing by making Rin the most childish member and the smallest of the group, because although it is unnatural to listen to someone finish the sentences with nya, the series wants this to go more unnoticed and not feel forced, this because the series does not give emphasis to its strange mania to say nya, so if someone came to dislike it would be very easy to ignore. Rin is also one of the members of the most sensitive group (only surpassed by Hanayo) and that is noticeable since she was little, because she was annoyed to look like a man, which caused a constant denial when talking about h…

I have to admit that when I first started watching this show, I wasn't expecting a whole lot. I decided to give it a try because I had recently gotten hooked on the mobile app, but I figured that it would be little more than a feelgood story about some friends getting together and singing some catchy songs. Nothing groundbreaking, and definitely nothing too serious. Which is probably why I was so impressed by what it ended up being. Story: 10/10 What I appreciated the most about Love Live was that it didn't try to pretend that the girls would be able to get up right away and become the top school idols in the nation. Rather than using the typical "Character gets by on sheer luck and natural talent" plotline, it's made entirely obvious that μ's is starting from the very bottom- The group isn't even fully formed until more than halfway through the series. The initial founding trio is shown multiple times at the beginning of the show running up and down stairs and stretching, just so that they can be in shape enough to perform. The road they take to reach their goals is a long one filled with physical, mental, and emotional hardships, and even if it's obvious to most viewers that everything will ultimately turn out well for them, it's still tear-jerking to watch them in their darker moments- and even more satisfying to watch as they gain their first fans, put on their first live performance, and slowly but steadily watching them grow not just as performers, but as a team. Art: 10/10 The art style in this anime fits the overall tone perfectly- There are a LOT of bright colors, and the girls' eyes are almost constantly sparkling. The animation is generally pretty beautiful to look at. The normal, everyday scenes are above average, but nothing overly special. But whenever there is a performance by μ's (this includes the OP theme), the show upgrades its animation to a more 3D-type style in order to more fluidly portray the dancing and expressions. Those bits are absolutely stunning, even if they take a bit of getting used to. Sound: 9/10 Of course, as an anime centered around a (school) idol group, there are bound to be some catchy songs, and Love Live doesn't disappoint on that front. Of course there's the bright OP song "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de" and the upbeat ED "Kitto Seishun ga Kikoeru," but each episode usually has at least one insert song that μ's performs as part of the story. They're all about the same in terms of quality, which is to say that they're all really good. I'm not a big enough fan of the style to listen to them on a regular basis outside of watching the show, but none of them are annoying to listen to, and they're all fitting for the mood of the show- that is to say, incredibly optimistic and, for the most part, upbeat. Character: 8/10 For the most part, I absolutely loved the characters in Love Live. I have a soft spot for first-year member Hanayo, the soft-spoken girl who is extremely shy until she starts talking about her incredible, lifelong passion for idols (her best friend, the ever-energetic first-year Rin- another favorite of mine- comments that she's an entirely different person when someone brings up idols). The other first-year, Maki, was okay, but she never stood out to me as much more than a standard tsundere. The second year trio- arguably the main characters, seeing as they were the initial founders of μ's- were generally pretty likable as well. Honoka was cheerful through the majority of the series (barring one of the more dramatic episodes toward the end), Umi started off a bit frigid but quickly warmed up into one of the more well-rounded characters, and Kotori was usually pretty happy, but didn't play a very critical role until the end. As for the third years, well... they were probably some of my least favorite characters. Nico was a bit annoying (basically a second tsundere, albeit a much LOUDER tsundere than Maki), Nozomi was just sort of bland, although she did grow on me, and Eri, the student council president who is initially opposed to the very existence of μ's, was undoubtedly my least favorite character in the series. Even after she joined the group and mellowed out a bit (This isn't a spoiler, as the OP shows all nine girls together from the very first episode), I just couldn't find it in me to like her. Basically, I don't think any of the characters are particularly strong on their own. But I still gave them an 8/10, because I loved the way that they all complemented each other, and they all showed at least a little bit of growth at the end of the series. Enjoyment: 10/10 Based on the scores I gave this anime, I think it should be fairly obvious that I enjoyed it. The sad scenes are only sad for long enough to make the mood upswing that much more satisfying, and the happy scenes are strong because after a while, it's impossible NOT to feel something for the hardworking characters. It's an emotional roller coaster, and it's so much more satisfying than it seems like it's going to be. Overall: 10/10 Like I said at the beginning, I got a whole lot more out of this anime than I ever expected. I would recommend giving it a watch, even if it doesn't look all that special or interesting at first glance- before I watched Love Live, I had absolutely no interest in idol-themed anime. The music bored me, and I expected it to be yet another "cute girls doing cute things" slice-of-life show. But it's SO much more than that, and I've found a new favorite anime to add to my list.

What does it mean to sell out? For many, this term is often used in a negative light, to suggest giving up artistic integrity for the sake of appealing to the fans and getting all the profits. The sad fact is that in this day and age, more auteur products that try to tell different stories from the norm don’t sell well, and that the mainstream is cluttered with copies banking on past trends for the sake of appeal. This applies to movies, TV, and even anime. Sure, there are exceptions to this, as there always are, but more often than not, I feel like those are the products that get extremely popular, regardless of what substance lies behind them. Which brings me to Love Live. If you’re familiar with Japan’s anime culture post 2013, you’ve likely seen this franchise EVERYWHERE. It’s a continuous fad really, cute girls in costumes singing pop songs. In America, you’ve probably seen Love Live lines up at anime conventions all over, with tons and tons of merchandise (even incredibly creepy head masks of the girls). The franchise collectively took up THREE spots in the Top 9 of Japan’s most recent Top 100 anime poll, and even the spinoff series was voted higher than Cowboy freakin Bebop! Hell, one person I know in my personal anime club doesn’t even like the anime but plays the phone game to upgrade her idols like crazy! As for me, I’ve always been hesitant about Love Live. While sometimes I am proven wrong with stuff like Konosuba or Madoka Magica, most anime tend to be exactly what’s on their cover, and the cover for Love Live looked overly bright, and relying on excess cute girl appeal with the name “Project” attached to the show basically saying “yup, we’re making this specifically to merchandise”, much like K Project which I have similar feelings on. LL just didn’t interest me, but I did like K-On, so when I finally went to check it out alongside many other anime reviewers, hoping it wouldn’t be a sellout series, I was....not entirely let down, but still given exactly what I expected. A show trying to push current trends, having writing on the level of your average Disney sitcom, and all and all just being incredibly basic in every department. While I could enjoy different parts of Love Live, and the production behind it is generally great, the show itself never rose above follower entertainment. Some spoilers below: It begins a young teenage girl named Honoka, finding out that GASP! Her school is going to close down! One day, when going to see her sister’s school, she sees a famous idol group, and dramatically DROPS EVERYTHING to want to be an idol just like them. She then pushes her two friends, and then overtime slowly convinces new members to follow the idol path, because maybe being idols will be enough to save their school, to the chagrin of the student council President. That’s the general synopsis, and if you’re familiar with this type of “save the school” storyline, you’re probably aware of exactly what to expect and go in knowing. Inevitably, idols will be preached, naysayers will be disproven, and the school will be saved, with everyone in the OP becoming an idol by the end. However, being predictable isn’t immediately a crime, as even great shows can be predictable, and sometimes unpredictable shows can have haphazard plot structure or nonsensical plot twists in hindsight. So what does Love Live add to it beyond exactly what you’d expect to add some depth to the image? Mixed results. There are some moments to this stock premise that feel like things actually add to the story. While Honoka’s motivation is as simplistic as it gets, a few of the other girls have pretty solid backdrops to want or not want to be idols in how it affects their character arcs. The name “Muse” they chose for their group was a clever choice in hindsight, including after a little revelation of how it was there. Another plus is the fact that the idols have to practice being idols, and some of the ideas behind this were kind of fun to see, like the whole “smile while you push up” thing, or the idea of holding poses for long amounts of time. They make it clear there is definitely some struggle and people who will crack at them. Despite this though, almost all of it feels montaged through. While the effort is definitely there, perhaps seeing more of it actually happening rather than saying it happened would’ve worked better for the overall narrative, instead of saving it all for the showcases where they seem to do it perfectly in their robotic CGI sometimes bodies. This even hurts some of the comedy. One episode revolves around the infamous NicoNico trying to prove how hard certain tasks of singing, dancing and personal appeal are to the other girls, but they just feel like they do it with no problem at all to Nico’s chagrin. And we don’t see any of it. It makes it feel like the show saying that Nico’s persistence led to her whole group getting disbanded harder to believe. Aside from that, most of what you get from Love Live is extremely vanilla and safe. After all, that’s what people have approved in the past, why change that image if you’ll make profits from it? Of course everyone sees the errors of their ways if they don’t want to be idols. Of course there’s a beach episode. Of course the girls dress up in cafe maid costumes, there’s merch to be sold of that! Of course some of the girls have surprisingly low IQ for high schoolers, not knowing what 5 squared is and randomly forgetting basically grammatical structure in one scene only for it to never come up prior or after, we need tests! And of course, having your boobs squeezed as punishment, which was probably a low point for me in regards to running gags that weren’t funny the first time. In contrast, the drama actually feels like the opposite. It’s not something spread out throughout the show, but rather, mostly transplanted entirely in the final episodes for the sake of it. First off, it is only in the episode 11, the day of their festival, that it is stated where certain clubs are positioned is due to lottery. Such a thing was never stated before and feels inserted for the sake of cheap drama and about two minutes of crying. And then, immediately after, Honoka, in practicing, decides to do so alone, on a cold, dark, rainy night, gets a fever and collapses midway through the show because of it. Again, it makes it hard to care for the show’s drama when it feels so forced. Then, following that, more drama pours salt into the wound, and rather than thinking about a sub member, like many actual bands, Honoka decides to QUIT IDOLS FOREVER?! Jezz lousie....Thankfully the slap that follows felt incredibly satisfying in consequence, but everything at the end felt needlessly heavy in contrast to so much to bring something apart only to bring it together at the very end. The ending is admittedly nice and sweet, if a bit predictable, but the ride there was...to put it simply milquetoast up the hill and bumpy down the uptake partly both at its best and worst when it focused on character interactions. The characters, in general, contribute to the vanilla feeling of the show by feeling like they were designed specifically to be merchandised, but there were some bright spots to ultimately make a passable bunch. Starting with the lead, Honoka, she’s basically the self-proclaimed Red Ranger of the group, the one who brings the passion, cuteness, pushiness, and forced drama at the end. She could have a few likable moments as the lead character, though I feel like she needed to do more in terms of actual contribution. There’s an episode dedicated to who should lead the group, and Honoka, who WAS the leader, wins out because of how much she cared. Hooray. Also, to put it simply she’s....not very bright. Somehow not knowing what 5 squared is in 10th grade, and getting a 53 on her final exam WITH excessive studying. You could argue that justifies some of her decisions, but it did not make her incredible tendency to push ev…

This is my first review, so please bear with me. Story: 9/10 The story is easy to understand. School closing down due to a lack of applicants, and three girls decide to form a school idol group to gain popularity. They name this idol group "μ's" and eventually end up with nine members in total. I had no problems with pacing of the story - it wasn't too slow or fast - and found each episode very interesting, making me want to watch more. Art: 8/10 The art is, in a word, flawless. The characters, although looking very different from one another, are all cute. In fact, I was once asked "Who do you think is the prettiest member of μ's?". I couldn't choose. They were all beautiful in their own special ways. The one thing I wasn't a fan of was the CG used when songs were performed, but I got used to it later on. Sound: 9/10 Because this is an idol anime, there'll have to be lots of music, right? The songs in this anime were amazing, especially the opening, "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de". Normally, I would skip openings, but I didn't skip this one. Not once. The other songs were amazing too, my personal favourite being "START: DASH". The songs are catchy and upbeat; it's next to impossible to dislike them. Character: 9/10 There are nine members of μ's. Each of them had their own personality - and they were all lovable personalities. Honoka Kousaka: The protagonist. The one who decided to start μ's. An optimistic person who isn't scared to take risks, and her determination is what makes her lovable. Seriously, though. When she was happy, I was happy. When she was upset, I was upset. She made a perfect main character. Eli Ayase: The Student Council president who seems a little antagonistic at first, but as you watch more, you find out that she has her own reasons for seeming like this. She, at first, was against Honoka's idea of creating an idol group, but later on became the 8th member of μ's. Kotori Minami: Honoka and Umi's childhood friend. She is very caring, and has a hard time expressing her feelings because she is thinking about others as well. It took me a while to like her, because I found her weak at first, but I started liking her more after realising how kind she is, because she takes other people's feelings into consideration. Umi Sonoda: Honoka and Kotori's childhood friend and μ's lyricist. A shy girl who is always thinking logically. She is extremely modest, and isn't a fan of short skirts, but gets used to them later on. She also has a strong will. She is my personal favourite because I adore both her shyness and her strong will. Rin Hoshizora: An energetic tomboy who is a little self-conscious when it comes to wearing skirts, as she was made fun of for wearing them as a child. Rin is, in a word, adorable. Like Honoka, she is always looking at the bright side of things. She can be a little idiotic at times, but she is still lovable. How can anyone hate her? Maki Nishikino: A tsundere who is μ's composer. I normally dislike tsunderes, but not Maki. Maki is a little stubborn, but also finds it hard to admit her true feelings. She's talented at playing the piano, and is also described as being beautiful. I am someone who usually hates tsunderes, but Maki was different to all the other tsunderes I've ever seen in anime. Nozomi Toujou: Nozomi is the Student Council Vice-President and Eli's best friend, although her personality is very different to Eli's. She helped μ's, even when she wasn't a member of the group. She's kind and wise, which is one of the reasons why I love her as a character. Hanayo Koizumi: Rin's childhood friend who had a passion for idols for a long time. However, being very shy and reserved, it took her a while to gather up the courage to join the group. Hanayo is one of the cutest members of μ's in my opinion. Her two personalities - her shy one and her "ohmygodIloveidolssomuch" one - are both very lovable. Nico Yazawa: Like Hanayo, Nico has a passion for idols. She is also a bit stubborn like Maki, but she is also very caring. I honestly don't see how this character can be disliked. She is definitely one of my favourites. Enjoyment: 10/10 I enjoyed this anime a lot. The characters were all unique and special, the art was beautiful, and the songs and story were just fabulous. Overall: 10/10 I can easily say that this is one of the best anime I have ever watched. Seriously, the worst thing about the anime was probably the CG - and they weren't even that bad! This anime is a must watch.

Love Live! is a Comedy, Idol anime co-created by music label Lantis and animation studio Sunrise in 2010. The story is about Honoka Kōsaka, girl who loves her school and after she hears that it plans to close down because of lack of first year applications, she becomes determined to save her school. After see how popular school idols are, decides to create a idol group called μ's (Muse) with her friends to attract new students and save the school. So that the plot of Love Live, as i normal don't write spoilers, all i can say that the writing and flow of the story is very well done as every episode is interesting and funny. Now on the characters, there is nine girls that make up the idol group μ, so i only going to be brief about them. Honoka Kōsaka (Voiced by Emi Nitta), is the main character and leader of μ's, her family owns a sweet shop. She is very cheerful and never gives up on anything, Eli Ayase (Voiced by Yoshino Nanjō), is the student council president who is also trying to save the school. She doesn't like school idols, but joins μ's when she sees how hard they are trying to save the school. Kotori Minami (Voiced by Aya Uchida), is a childhood friend of Honoka and the daughter of the school's Chairwoman. She normally have her head in the clouds but she is kind hearted. She is μ's wardrobe designer and one of it's choreographers. Umi Sonoda (Voiced by Suzuko Mimori), is a childhood friend of Honoka and Kotori, and a member of the school' Kyudo (Japanese martial art of archery) club. She acts as the voice of reason to group and she leads the practice sessions. Rin Hoshizora (Voiced by Riho Iida), is a very athletic girl and has a very cheerful personality. she is a bit it of a tomboy and has a habit of acting as cat. Maki Nishikino (Voiced by Pile), is a talented singer and Pianist. she is the main composer and vocal coach of μ's. Nozomi Tojo (Voiced by Aina Kusuda), is the student council vice president and the μ's spiritual leader with her almost all knowing vibe she has. She also has a very unique way of cheering up the other group members. Hanayo Koizumi (Voiced by Yurika Kubo), she is a shy girl who allows dreamed about becoming an idol since she was young. She joins μ's wit her childhood friend Rin to follow that dream. Nico Yazawa (Voiced by Sora Tokui), is a girl who looks up to idols and wishes to become one herself. She is μ's wardrobe supervisor with Kotori. That is all nine characters out of the way, next is presentation. Love Live! is a very colorful and brimming with life. The art style is well designed with attention to detail with it's character design. The animation is beautiful created especially the song scenes which as been designed in a different animation style to make it look more better. the character animations and facial expressions are well made and look very believable. The voice acting is great and singing is well done as seems that they had a lot of work put into them and it shows wonderfully. The music is beautifully created and some are very catchy. The topics used in the anime are well as they fit the story and don't seem out of place. Lastly, my opinion. Love Live! is one of those animes that can bring a smile to my face. i love how Sunrise has created a wonderful story what captures your attention and makes you fall in love with the characters with me loving Nozomi because how funny she is and of course her hair. The songs really makes this anime, one of my favorites to watch and i really enjoy. The animation itself shows me how much hard work has been put into this and i like to say it probably one the best looking animes i ever seen. Now for the Verdict. Love Live! is a wonderful created animes that shows you that you don't need over the top story to make a great story. The art design is beautiful created and the songs will make you fall in love with it as they have been created with a lot of care. Love Live! is one anime i can recommend anyone to watch as it can be enjoyed by all and i say one of the best animes out there.

My time with Love Live! is much like the few members of its nine strong cast who were reluctant about being school idols. I wonder how a pushy, narrow sighted girl managed to rope me into this crazy gig, and then I wonder if this idiot turned friend will drag me to another adventure that was more fun than I ever thought possible. The nine strong cast is μ's (pronounced ‘Muse’), named for the Nine Goddesses of Music. Gods don’t die, and neither can my love for their antics, their struggles, and their story. But Umi Sonoda would suggest I explain everything before acting sentimental, and I wouldn’t expect less from little miss ‘modesty and logic will hopefully win the day (or at least try to guide it).’ She’s the kind of person who tries to keep others on track, sometimes a bit too much when her friends would rather relax at the beach. Thankfully, her sense of discipline is never misguided, as she’ll often pick up her friends after they fall from a mistake. She doesn’t move past being the voice of reason, but she is a major reason μ's goes far. μ's itself is lead by Honoka Kousaka, whose motive for being a school idol is as crazy as it sounds. Her school is close to closing down due to the lack of new students, and the juniors before her will be the last new students the school accepts. After a chance glimpse at how a concert from a school idol group has brought attention to their school, she has the idea of being a school idol to hopefully attract new students to her school. Enough students to the point where her school won’t close down. Surely such an impulsive idea won’t be where the story takes off from, right? Well, the story starts there but it doesn’t take off until three episodes into the first season. Reality hits Honoka as her first concert fails, and from that point on the story really begins. Much of season one is about our lively lyrical leader bringing other students to her cause. Despite this, the story doesn’t get serious but doesn’t lack for purpose either. One of the main strengths of Love Live! is an unbridled sense of fun that never loses sight of its story. There’s enough stage practice to make the lead up into every concert believable, but even the antics outside that are always meaningful. From the change into crazy costumes to reinvent their image for fear of growing stale, to the beach episode that brings Maki Nishikino out of her shell in more ways than one, to the odd responsibility shared by Honoka, Umi, and Kotori Minami in season two, every moment is more than its humor. Despite the fun, there are still times when the story gets serious, and it’s almost never unfounded as even things mentioned in passing come to show their importance later on. It especially shows with Kotori, whose story deals with the issue of what it means to contribute to a team through humorous bouts of ‘writer’s block.’ Kotori herself hasn’t a single aggressive bone in her body, but that doesn’t mean a sweet and cheerful persona is all she is. She has her doubts and worries, and her reticence at one point truly tests the friendship between herself, Umi, and Honoka. Her story implies the question of what it means to chase a dream, and whether the chase can make someone lose sight of what’s around them. And for third year student Nico Yazawa, being a part of μ's is another chance to chase her dream. There’s a good, if prideful, reason she wants to become a school idol, and her over the top ‘cute’ persona shows that dedication. In truth, she’s very smug and cynical, but not without good reason. In every jaded person is an optimist waiting to let loose, and Nico does quite enjoy herself as the series goes on, however smug she still acts. Her vast array of idol stuff like concert DVDs also shows her dedication to the art, even before going into her backstory. Much to the pleasure of first year student Hanayo Koizumi. Hanayo is the old case of how passion can call out an entirely different side to someone. At a glance, she’s timid, and her joining μ's is partly thanks to a small push from her friend Rin Hoshizora and classmate Maki. But from that point on, she’s often energetic, especially in the presence of idols and being an idol fan herself, and of course during μ's concerts. There’s a kernel of truth to how her interests and hobbies suddenly bring out such an involved side to her, but it isn’t over the top to the point of unbelievable. Then again, the only unbelievable—and weak link by extension—part of the story is Rin. She’s mostly ‘just there’ in season one, while season two messily develops her with an issue that’s never brought up or hinted at save for early in season one. Her time in the spotlight involves being the temporary leader of μ's for…some reason, and wearing an outfit that’s not her style just because. Though still a quite likable tomboy with a penchant for cat speak, the brief change to that other side of her is largely unfounded to the point where likability is all she has going for her. Compare this to Maki, who doesn’t lack for believability and likability. Despite being as young as Hanayo and Rin, she carries herself with a senior like demeanor to speak level even with third years Eli Ayase and Nozomi Tojo. At the same time, her true self often shows whether she’s flustered or just being a little more open around Nico and Nozomi, and everyone else. And yet, her want to hide her feelings is less about any one of her friends and more about being truly reticent despite her apparent sharpness. Maki is well developed, and not just for her body as Nozomi learns firsthand(s). For the curious, the big chested Nozomi has a small running joke throughout the series where she gropes the girls of μ's. Nozomi herself is often in the background, but due to her role and reason for being in μ's, it makes sense. Her role is someone who watches over these girls (especially Eli), her reason more than just wanting to watch over them as she befriends them. Mischievous and motherly, Nozomi looks after μ's as if it was her own creation, and the creation of her own person isn’t lacking despite (or maybe even because of?) her lack of screentime. Of course, her friend Eli isn’t open to μ's being a thing at all. Not at first. Her doubt towards them is rooted in her past success, and doesn’t think they’ll do anything for the school’s future. She has an interesting parallel with Honoka for much of season one, in that despite thinking differently about school idols, they both want to save the school. As student council president, though, Eli works behind the scenes as μ's grows in numbers, ever tempted to let it go and just have fun with them. Her struggle between her duty and desire, despite her pedigree, makes her nothing short of compelling. But even as Eli becomes a kind of second leader in season two, it’s still Honoka at the heart of μ's. Honoka herself is emotion personified, the sheer range of her facial expressions communicating what dialog can’t. A melancholic gaze, a smile that triumphs over her tears, a crossed scowl, an indifferent but thoughtful gaze, an infectiously energetic smile, and many more faces all serve to perfectly round out her persona. That doesn’t mean she’s without her faults, as she can be focused to the point of losing sight of what’s around her, something that comes up toward the end of season one and the start of season two. It’s during the second season that Honoka tries to stay aware of what’s around her, partly due to a personal incident in season one, partly from an extra duty as student council president in season two. Yeah. I don’t know how she became student council president either. The best guess among viewers is, after the school was saved, nobody was better fit to be student council president than the school’s savior. Yeah. I don’t know how rallying school idols translates to running a kind of government either. Thankfully, Honoka eventually, if reluctantly, grows into the role of student council preside…

Now, people are gonna think I'm biased, and yes, all reviews are biased, so... I'll try to be fair as possible, but I'll start off with a quite possibly outlandish statement - this is my favourite anime. If you check my list, you may be surprised this is my favourite - but then again, there are a few I'm watching and a few on-hold... I'll get back to them, ANYWAYS.. STORY - Not the best, not the worst. *MINOR SPOILERS* The story revolves mainly around three girls, 2nd years in high school, who want to save there school from closing, as people just aren't applying. Hakone, the main protagonist, loves idols, and sees idols are attracting students to other schools. So she, along with her cute friends, the energetic Kotori and shy Umi, after a bit of convincing on Umi's side, make an idol group. They find out from the school council that there is all ready an idol club, and so convince the only remaining member of the club, Yazawa, to let them join. It's safe to say all goes well, but that's the general gist, I'll leave the non-viewers to experience. ART - I love the art. It's clean and sharp, and very bright and colourful. Some people don't like CGI, but you can't argue with the picture it creates. It's all very beautiful. SOUND - The sound is outstanding. I mean, it's a musical anime anyway, with it being about idol's and everything, but just listen to the intro theme. That is literally on my phone for the sole reason of being my alarm! And the ending theme! And all the songs in between! CHARACTER - The characters in this are very personal to me. They are introduced at a reasonable pace, with the 3 main characters being the only 3 of the club for about half the anime, so you get used to them, and the others being recruited for various reasons (previous acting, infuated by idols looks etc). But the 3 main characters remind me, a male, of me and my 3 childhood friends. Sure, that makes 4, but it's still very, very personal, and anyone who is in the same boat as me will understand! OVERALL/ENJOYMENT - As I stated at the beggining, this is totally my favourite anime, and it comes down to two things: The personal characters and the awesome music. I won't go on any long, but will end with my score, I can't give it anything more than a 10/10.

Love Live is everything you think it is from the outset. It’s a high school drama centered on a group of adorable girls becoming idols. It’s nothing new, it doesn’t strive to change the game; yet it still manages to beat the competition as far as I’m concerned. And I’m not familiar with all the competition because I’m not a huge fan of this slice of life/music genre that seems to have cropped up after the success of that one episode of Haruhi Suzumiya and the massive success of K-On. All I know of is the first season of K-On, which is massively hyped up. I reviewed it pretty decently though and in retrospect…I think it’s because I’m a sucker for this moe garbage. I fall for the cute girls just as easily as the rest and even when reviewing some titles I seem to relax my rating because I enjoyed following the cute girls as they do cute things. I’m pathetic, I know. Why am I admitting my being a moe blob? Because that’s how I get caught up in these types of anime. My thinking that Azusa was adorable got me watching K-On. My thinking Nico was cute got me watching Love Live. And while Azusa was my favorite character from K-On, Nico is actually not my favorite character from Love Live because she’s kind of a bitch. But that’s beside the point… Love Live has the same type of set-up as many of these high school drama-y anime. Just like K-On, we follow an idealistic, loud, clumsy, and annoying girl. In Love Live, she decides to start an idol group due to the popularity of these groups around Japan. It’s all a last ditch effort to save her high school which could possibly shut down. She recruits her two best friends, a very boring moe girl named Kotori and the super shy girl, Umi. Umi doesn’t want to perform in a short skirt because that’s embarrassing. Meanwhile, she wears the school’s uniform skirt that, in reality, would be as effective a piece of clothing as not wearing a skirt at all. They face all kinds of obstacles such as a really unsavory girl named Nico and a student council president who keeps pushing them aside. Story-wise, it’s nothing new. The only real plus I can give the story is the fact that the girls actually practice. There are lots of parts that have nothing to do with practicing but the sheer fact that we are given a group of competent girls that are actually trying to succeed at what they are doing makes the anime more enjoyable and gives the audience more reason to invest themselves in the group and hope to see them succeed. That being said, this is a music anime and I believe that every music anime I’ve ever reviewed I’ve stated one thing: NOT ENOUGH MUSIC! This is the exception. Love Live contains a surprising amount of music. This is an equivalent to America’s High School Musical so it better well have some goddam music. But unlike High School Musical, we’re not subjected to Ashley Tisdale’s nose, which makes this anime a big plus in my book. We’re also not subjected to understandable lyrics, which is probably why I enjoy the music of these types of shows. Let’s face it; the music in Love Live is garbage. It’s bubblegum pop, the kind of stuff you’d expect teenaged girls to write. The meaningless lyrics and nonsensical English words or phrases thrown in are a staple of these types of songs. But it’s what you’d expect from sixteen year old girls and I guess that makes it alright. Start: Dash is pretty catchy and while none of the music may be memorable, at least there is enough of it going around that you get excited for the next piece. That being said, the music is accompanied by an idol performance most of the time. The animation of this show is usually pretty good with very adorable girls, great backgrounds, and good movement. But the issue comes with these dance performances that become very shoddy CGI mixed with traditional animation sequences. While the animation looks good, the sudden use of something akin to Miku Miku Dance is frustratingly out of place and gaudy. I don’t know who decided to change the style, but fire that person for season two. Please. No more computer animation. Even with a big cast of really likeable and adorable characters it still fails to impress with anything new. Every character is a stereotypical something-or-other. You have the tomboy, the tsundere (really two of them), the well-to-do upper classman, the pervert, the ditzy leader, the shy and fraidy-cat friend, and the girl with very little personality. Working together, these characters are fun despite some having very little depth. The show does give most of them a good amount of focus and fleshes them out a bit, but they’re, once again, typical. The development they’re given is the usual. Now for some smaller tidbits of hate: Why do all Russian girls in anime and manga have to be ballerinas? I’m looking at you Black Lagoon, Love Live, and Gunslinger Girl. Also, why the beach episode? If one episode contributed nothing to the anime as a whole it was the beach episode. Also, the drama at the end regarding Kotori was forced and very predictable. The entire outcome was extremely easy to see from a mile away because the same plot device has been used before to the same effects. So where does that leave Love Live? Despite the story’s predictability, the characters predictability, and the MMD style dancing, it’s still highly enjoyable. Watching this band of girls come together and work hard to attain a dream is actually kind of heart-warming. The pacing is a little rough and the music isn’t the best but there’s a good amount of music and a good amount of fun to be had. It’s not an anime to be taken seriously, you hop on this ride to meet some new friends and enjoy their interactions and triumphs. It’s no masterpiece by any stretch, but for what it is, it’s a good, though flawed, anime.

I finished watching this anime with a friend on new year's eve, and while she liked it, I was less impressed. Before Christmas I had just finished watching Sword Art Online II and Akame Ga Kill, so after Christmas I was still at a high from those two amazing anime. So maybe it's because I'm comparing it too heavily to other anime, but 'Love Live! School Idol Project' did not impress me very much. Story - The story was clear and concise. Save the school from closing down by starting a school idol group as a publicity stunt. While it was easy to follow, it was also easy to predict. The show gave little in surprises or excitement and was just too basic for my liking. But I must commend them for staying on track. A short anime like this has to stay on track, because they don't have time for fillers and side stories. While the story was basic for my liking, I must admit there were times when I enjoyed the simplicity, when I knew what was going to happen, and it happened, it was kind of refreshing and I could sit back and enjoy the show. Art - The art in this show is beautiful. 'Love Live! School Idol Project' is a slice of life anime, and therefore you can't expect real artistic spectacles like unique settings or amazingly detailed weapons or spaceships. It is standard for this genre; school, arcades, modern towns and students. The show is detailed though, and you don't get any faceless people in the crowd which is nice. The only place this anime really stands out in terms of art is the character design. I am not going to hide it, I thought the girls were stunning! They all had lovely hair and each girl had a different colour which distinguished the members of the group nicely. It was also clear that they were drawn with the purpose of being attractive, that typical pretty school girl look you get in a lot of slice of life anime. I would also like to commend the show's artists and directors for omitting panty shots, this show manages to avoid fanservice and for that I thank them. It really is unnecessary. Sound - There isn't much to say on this. I watched the subbed version, and so the Japanese voices were the same old voices you get in anime. The girls all sounded fairly similar, young and cute and girly with few exceptions. The voice acting was on par, and I have no complaints there. The music was pretty good, not to my taste, but if you like the genre of music, idol music, then you'll probably like this. Personally I preferred the music in shows like Kids On The Slope and K-On! but hey that's just me. The music was catchy and upbeat and so no complaints there either. Character - I rated the characters a 5 because I felt they were way too shallow. Love Live! is only a 13 episode anime, so maybe that was the reason, but I felt they could have developed the characters further. I feel like I hardly know them. Not a single character had back story and the only way we got to know them was through their interactions with the other members of the Idol group during the course of the anime. Enjoyment - It was alright. Like I said in my introduction, I wasn't very impressed. I would only recommend this show to people who had expressed to me that they like idols or are really into music anime. But other than that, there's no reason to watch this show. It was a fun ride, with a few laughs here and there and the way the girls smiled throughout most of the anime had me smiling as well. Those damn contagious smiles :D Overall - I am rating the show a 5 for mediocre. It's nothing special, but also it does do it's job. It's an idol show, and so people who like idols and the music that goes with it probably don't care that the story is generic and the characters are shallow.