Everyone has a dream they strive to achieve, and so does the musically talented Kanon Shibuya. However, due to her stage fright, Kanon fails to make it into Yuigaoka Girls' High School's music program and instead ends up in the general curriculum. Even though Kanon makes the conscious decision to quit music altogether, her classmate Tang Keke rekindles Kanon's passion for music with her own: a passion for school idols.
Although Keke and Kanon try to form a school idol group, their effort meets strong objections from Ren Hazuki, the daughter of the school's director. Even so, the girls soon visit the director, who allows them to set up their school idol club under one condition—they must win first place at the Yoyogi School Idol Festival.
The resilience of these aspiring idols is put to the test as they face the challenges that come their way. Throughout their journey, the girls make new friends and meet new members that join them to become the dazzling idols others can only imagine.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Veronin
With Superstar being the franchise's fourth and latest adventure, it's understandable that some may be reluctant to watch once more a series seemingly treading familiar roads. Coming less than a year after the third Love Live series, Nijigasaki, I was worried of the fatigue that may come from yet another shuffling of the cast. Those fears, however, were misguided. Superstar revealed itself not just as an excellent anime in its own right, but also the most fresh the franchise has been in nearly a decade. Contrary to expectations, Superstar is actually a slice-of-life anime first, and an idol anime second. Where the previous series opted fora more dramatic approach to the storytelling, Superstar looks instead to comedy and catharsis as a means of connecting with its audience. There is no impending doom from the girls' school potentially being entirely closed, nor is there romantic tension or heated rivalry in the lieu of Saint Snow's portrayal in Sunshine— quite the opposite. Instead of striving to make the audience teary-eyed, Superstar looks to instill joy and laughter.
In many regards, the 'school idol' setting of the franchise is more a backdrop than a primary focus. The girls do not even decide on a group name until the last few episodes of the season. Those looking for performances and idol moments may find Superstar's first season feels like more a prologue than a first half of a story. And, naturally, this means Superstar will not be to every Love Live fan's palate.
But it is exactly this aspect that made Superstar so refreshing for me, as a veteran of the franchise. If I wanted those idol moments, I would watch the original once more. If I wanted drama, I would watch Sunshine. And for romance and emotionally-charged character moments, I would watch Nijigasaki. By breaking away from genre expectations, Superstar succeeds in crafting its own identity, which is perhaps the single most important characteristic for a franchise now in its fourth stage.
Superstar also withdraws from the nine-girl trope we have come to expect, and instead focuses on a smaller cast of five girls. For the most part, this is a wise creative choice for a two-cour anime, as the previous series would typically have two or three characters that are significantly less developed or interesting than the others. But this does not necessarily mean the five girls from Superstar are profoundly more developed than the girls from previous series. Rather, the unnecessary characters have been trimmed, like a chef treating to the fatty parts of a steak.
Kanon and Chisato are the standout characters from my perspective, a level above the rest of the cast. It is rare for a girl in Love Live to play the role of a mentor and instructor, as all the girls typically start out as fresh-faced newcomers. This is largely why Chisato grabbed my interest early on in the story, as her goals regarding music, as well as her long-time friendship with Kanon, tie in neatly with her later addition to the group. The anime also does a solid job of making Kanon's and Chisato's friendship with each other feel natural, through the work of several flashbacks and episodes dedicated to expanding this part of their characters.
And, while Kanon may sport a similar design to previous protagonists Honoka and Chika, she is much more interesting than her predecessors. Kanon is actually opposed to involving herself with school idols at the start of the story, due to childhood traumas and ever-present stage-fright, an important issue that many idol anime fail to touch upon. So, rather than being the instigator and vehicle for the group's activities, Kanon is actually a major participant in the story herself.
Ren is also a recipient of solid characterisation. While she initially appears to fit the mold of the stereotypical class-rep, objections and all, she has perhaps the most meaningful backstory of all the girls. My only issue is that the anime has detailed her mom's experiences, but has shown little of Ren's own feelings and ambitions towards the world of school idols. Perhaps this will be explored further in the second season?
This leaves Keke and Sumire. While these two have adorable character designs and are the cause of some hilarious moments, they aren't quite as developed as the other three. Sumire is essentially Superstar's comedic relief, abducting the protagonist and literally wearing a poop-themed hat in one scene! Her ambitions of becoming the group center are sympathetic, though, due to the feelings of inadequacy she's no doubt endured throughout her experiences in self-proclaimed show-biz.
Conversely, Keke is a force of cuteness and plays her part by encouraging the rest of the group, but doesn't have any outstanding moments or features at this point in time. As someone who was also a foreigner living in Japan for a number of years, I'd like to see Keke's experiences adapting to Japanese culture explored with a bit more detail and finesse. As it stands, the foreign aspect of her character seems primarily a means to broaden the franchise's appeal with its large Chinese fanbase. So, while Keke may indeed be speaking Chinese on Japanese TV, I'm still not entirely sold on this element of her character when she otherwise behaves just like any ordinary Japanese girl would.
The art in Superstar is of a high caliber. Love Live always set high standards for itself in this regard, and Superstar is no exception. In tandem with the series' more easygoing nature, the art style has also shifted slightly, as there are larger contours and rounder faces characteristic of much of the slice-of-life genre. Those with a distaste for cutesy art designs may have troubles with Superstar, but then it would almost be paradoxical for someone averse to cuteness to be watching such anime in the first place.
Superstar's music is wonderful, as is the norm for Love Live. I particularly appreciate the way the ending song starts early and leads naturally into the ending cinematic, in a similar vein to other popular anime like One Piece. My only issue is that there are not many full songs actually performed by the Superstar girls over the course of this initial season. But the songs that do exist, including the opening and ending, are excellent, and there is not more I could ask from them.
That said, the 'rap' scenes in one episode did feel slightly out-of-place. While some people who watch the series may also be fans of rap (myself included to a lesser extent), it is not what anyone is watching Love Live— of all things— for! My suspicion is that Sunrise was trying to birth some meme material out of the series, in the hopes that it may go viral on social media. The effect this might have had is unknown to me, however, as I try to abstain from migraine-inducing platforms like TikTok and its ilk...
One can only hope that Superstar will break free from the franchise's two-cour format, as there is so much more potential to be found in its characters. As well, the slower pacing, relative to other Love Live series, would lend itself perfectly to a three or even four-cour format. I'm also not entirely sure having a fifth Love Live series in a single decade would be the right move, as it can be emotionally-draining for fans to grow attached to a cast only to see them replaced by a new series every couple years. We shall see soon what Sunrise's plans for Superstar and the franchise as a whole are, once the second season flies us by.
Love Live has learned a lot from some of the mistakes it made during the Sunshine era. At this point, with its fourth outing, I believe the franchise has truly nailed just what it is that makes Love Live so damn special for so many people.
I can't make the claim that Superstar is some grand, ocean-deep story, but then it was never trying to be such in the first place. It is entertainment first and foremost, and in that regard, it excels in a way few anime can even dream to.
As someone who has found themselves struggling to watch modern anime, Love Live Superstar is a beacon of hope, a testament that joy trumps all.
Nexis09
When I was first watching love live superstar, I writ a review on how good I thought it was. Since then, it has managed to maintain that quality throughout all 12 episodes and has now became my favorite in the love live franchise and I'm going to now explain why it is worth your time: -New to love live, should I watch the others first?- No, you do not need to watch any other seasons and I actually believe that this is the best place to start if you want to get into the franchise -Art and animation- I've seen many shows and I am quite the fan ofthe 'cute girls doing cute things' genre but it rarely looks this visually appealing. You can really tell that the budget has been thrown into this show, especially with things like the backgrounds that are so detailed that they bring a fresh atmosphere to the typical anime high school setting. Animation is also really smooth and the characters express their feelings and personalities through exaggerated movement very well.
-Characters-
Compared to the other seasons, the main cast has been cut down to only 5 members. I think this was a great idea since each character gets to have a well developed backstory and motive, instead of some of them being left out. Also, due to the characters all having more screen time, it is a lot more easy to get attached to them since they don't just come across as one dimensional. The designs themselves are also quite unique, look nice and convey the personalities of the characters well.
-Soundtrack-
With this being an idol anime, the soundtrack is really important and I thought a lot of the songs were good, especially if your a fan of jpop. There's also the additional bonus where if you do like the songs, then more will be released outside of the anime for you to listen to. On top of this, there is some great piano background music which works so well for conveying the emotions of the characters during more sad scenes.
-Story-
I won't lie and say its the best story you will ever see but it doesn't have to be. Just having the plot of some teenage girls wanting to make it as idols works as a great catalyst for drama and acts as the central character motivation that drives them. The individual character backstories are also realistic and well written.
-Comedy-
There's not much anime, even labelled a comedy that can make me laugh this much but somehow this one did. A lot of the jokes are ridiculous and catch you out of no where and because you like the characters, it becomes amusing when they say/ do dumb stuff. Sometimes when the pacing is slower, this is what keeps you invested in the episode and brings in some fun scenarios that makes me realize how much I love the absurdity of anime sometimes.
-Enjoyment-
Enjoyment is definitely the reason why I love this anime so much. It won't change your life but it might make you smile and laugh and I think that's something that's underappreciated when watching media. If you just want to not think, have a good time and watch cute girls then I recommend this and if not then that's okay.
-Voice acting-
Considering most of these voice actors are completely new they all did a great job. They also continue the brand of live live voice actors with doing interviews and stage performances where they seem like genuinely amusing and nice people. To top that off, they also have nice singing voices as expected.
In conclusion, if you are looking for something simple, with nice visuals, characters and you either like or don't mind jpop songs then I recommend you watch this. A lot of people may think this stuff is 'cringe' and I can see what they mean by some moments in older seasons but this one feels very modernized and acts as a great starting point for new fans, a great reintroduction for past fans and a brilliant addition to people who follow the franchise religiously.
rrakku
Like how the wider society used to judge anime fans as nerds that like obscure Chinese cartoons, the wider anime community looks at Love Live! fans and idol fans alike with the same weird gaze. There’s this stigma of “I’m not one of those idol weebs”, but I reckon this too will soon fall to the wayside, as the quality of idol shows becomes harder and harder to gloss over. I was one of the doubters before watching Love Live! Superstar!!, and the only reason I started it was because of a clip of Tang Ke Ke’s tantrum. The irony of a Chinese heroine requesting freedomfrom a Japanese school is something I just cannot miss. And I’m glad something silly like that had gotten me to watching this show, because nothing else would’ve otherwise.
Tang Ke Ke’s antics aside, the characterisation of the cast in Superstar!! is incredible. Having only five instead of the usual nine members in the group is certainly a fine change. It goes without saying with less characters, the show gets to allocate more time and go into more depth with each of them. I’ d love to give examples, but going into detail about how memorable and strong everyone’s situations or personalities are would be no different from spoiling the whole show for you.
Now this is where my inexperience comes back to bite me: I have only ever watched the OG Love Live!, and I haven’t even finished it. So people can point out how Superstar!!’s story is “repetitive” and the only reason why I don’t find it tiring to watch. And they have every reason to believe so: three out of the four school idol groups from the Love Live! had the goal of preventing their school from shutting down.
The other thing that people always bring up without fail is how the story is predictable, and it’s no exception in Superstar!!. But these holes in these arguments are easy to spot, even with my untrained eyes regarding this genre. Love Live! isn’t here to serve you a unicorn narrative, it’s to entertain you with just enough novelty with new characters while retaining as much familiarity in the story as they can. It’s kind of like fast food chains if you will, you go there because of the predictability and consistency, but there’s always enough variety so you don’t get the same things every time. It shouldn’t be a secret that people can find comfort in that.
It’s not like nothing is fresh story-wise. The way that Hazuki joined Liella!, although unassuming, is unlike anything that came before. Her reasons were presented in a eureka moment that juxtaposes her perviously established character; it's subtly hinted at and built up to that moment. Tang’s personal struggles are the most relatable thing you could ever imagine; you would know if you live with Asian parents. Obviously these will not be the most mind blowing thing you have ever seen, but its still a breath of fresh air in the formulaic idol genre. Even the most stubborn fast food chains should change up their menu once every few years. (Okay I will stop with the fast food analogies)
With eleven years worth of experience and three different installments of Love Live! under their belt, Kadokawa, Lantis, and Sunrise better spice things up a notch. And they didn’t disappoint, delivering us the best rendition of the idol’s road to prominence narrative through Superstar!!. Character motivations for joining are much clearer and make much more sense, the group felt like it took serious effort (and luck) to build. The point of conflict in the series is also an organic result of the group member’s insecurities, rather than something that is derived from an external plot device. These improvements are, again, only possible because of the extra time granted by reducing the number of members in the group.
The things I have said above might well be controversial, point granted, but I believe anyone with a pair of well-functioning eyes will see the amazing animation displayed here. Sunrise has clearly improved over the years, not only in animation, but also in choreography. It’s no exaggeration that Superstar!!’s 3D animation is the best I have seen to date: the eye-catching dances, the smooth transitions from 2D to 3D, the small attention to details on matters of continuity, they really have it all. You may point towards ufotable or studio Orange, come back to me again when they have their demons or anthropomorphic animals do idol dances on stage. I know I am rambling at this point but I cannot get over how expressive the 3D models have become and how well choreographed the dances are. To those who are curious which performance is my favourite, it’s the one where they sang “Wish Song”, by a mile.
I’ve been singing (haha) praises for Superstar!! for a while now, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you with a straight face that it’s perfect. When thinking about its faults, two distinct scenes come to mind:
First one is where Hazuki is giving her speech when the whole Liella! squad interrupted her to try to convince her that “this idol thing really is great, trust us”; it was awkward, drawn out, and overdramatic for my tastes.
The second is rather minor, but it’s also so stupid I don’t know why it was even made in the first place. Let me elaborate with as little spoilers as possible. Through certain circumstances, Tang wants to give Sumire a crown as costume for their next performance. She is conflicted to accept it because of reasons, before she can decide, a strong breeze had blown the crown out of Tang’s hand and sent it flying. Sumire follows it, running and falling into a bush before finally catching the crown, accepting it. Yes, a metal crown was sent flying by wind to dramatise this scene. Trust me, this doesn’t get better with context and is as bland as my words described.
I know that some suspension of disbelief is granted with these kinds of shows, but the end product is not good enough to justify these inconsistencies. If they would stop relying on it, I bet Love Live! as a series, not just Superstar!!, would reach a wider audience.
Regardless, Love Live! Superstar!! is no doubt the most ambitious of its kind since Bokura no Live Kimi to no Life. It made so many steps in the right direction for the controversial genre that is idol anime. Love Live! has been huge in Japan ever since its release in 2013, and I reckon future generations would point back to Superstar!! for being the start of the idol praise for anime fans in western hemisphere.
rehoshi
The Love Live franchise and the series that it produces has always been a coin flip to whether it's going to end up being mediocre or great. To name names, Sunshine falling short of its predecessor and the School Idol Project's lackluster finale. If you were to ask me what side of the coin did Love Live Superstar land on, I would confidently be able to tell you that it landed on the right side. Superstar is a great entry show to the Love Live franchise. It barely has any connections to the previous installments, making it an easy and clean entry to just turn onand watch. It was a bit of a surprise to me that Superstar took up the: 'school is closing down' cliche so late into the season. What surprised me even more, while continuously watching it week by week, was that it didn't shove this cliche down your throat 24/7. In comparison to School Idol Project and Sunshine, Superstar takes this cliche at a different approach. The cliche still serves its purpose of giving the girls more motivation. But instead of constantly hitting us with this theme like in School Idol Project and Sunshine, Superstar makes the girl's desires, to help one another overcome their own problems, as the make focus and theme of the series. This emphasis on the girls gives them more room for growth as characters, whilst using the 'school is closing down theme' as, just as another motivation when needed. You may argue that's this cliche is the appeal of School Idol Project and Sunshine, but I believe this approach for Superstar was the right choice to make.
What School Idol Project and Sunshine lacked in my opinion was the growth for all their characters. Each character likely only got one episode per season focused on solely them. Yes, these episodes with my favorites characters were some of my favorites to watch, but they lacked MAJOR growth as a whole. They likely only solved one problem they were having at that moment. What Superstar did in comparison was that they cut down the cast to 5 members instead of the regular 9, which gave more room for development and growth as individuals and group chemistry as a whole. They kept struggles each character had within them (e.g. Kanon's stage fright, Sumire's inferiority complex, etc). They didn't shallowly cast it aside during the episode it was brought up, rather it waited until the group as a whole was able to help solve it together, making the series flow more naturally and made it feel more realistic.
Although one of the negatives I found in Superstar was the weak rival group that was hardly used in the story. What I think School Idol Project and Sunshine did better in comparison to Superstar was that they made full use of their rival groups as another major motivation. Sunny Passion felt shallow, as they were hardly given screen time and felt forcefully used in the story. They aren't another main driving force Liella uses as motivation, unlike each of the character's personal struggles or the school closing down. Sunny Passion is sort of just sitting on the bench waiting to played, but ultimately stays and keeps it warm.
Ever since Sunshine, the quality of animation, art and also character designs of Love Live has just gone up and up since then. They still have their trademark exaggerated faces which everyone loves and as an added bonus, derpy faces are used when the characters faces are out of zoom, which I personally loved to death. Superstar also has some really amazing background art to go in tandem with the amazing CGI. Heck, sometimes I couldn't even tell that some of the performances were in CG. Everything about the art just felt really clean, almost even perfect.
As expected of Love Live, all of the songs are such a bop. The Ending, 'Mirai wa Kaze no You ni' is probably one of favorite endings in Love Live of all time. The song itself is amazing, but the visuals is what makes this ending so great. No there aren't any hidden themes found within the Ed, it's just the group of Liella having fun and showing some of their daily activities. As a bonus, each of the members of Liella join Kanon one by one as they do the trademark waving, one of my favorite scenes in the Ed. But this simplicity is what makes it so great, fitting to Love Live's main slice of life genre. As also expected of Love Live, all of the voice actors are amazing. They perfectly fitting to the corresponding character they play as and have distinct and beautiful voices.
What Love Live always excels at is making amazing and likable characters. Even if you don't like them at first, you somehow always end up loving them in the end. Superstar's characters, don't feel like a re-skin of any of the characters from the previous Love Live, which were a major problem for some people when watching Sunshine. Each of the girls help each other grow as characters. Their struggles don't feel shallow, and as a viewer, it's really satisfying to watch them overcome them because of that fact. The smaller cast and group also helps flesh out each of the characters more, even with the smaller episode count. It really lets the viewer to get to know the girls more and lets them grow onto the girls more and more.
Superstar is overall an amazing successor to the Love Live franchise with it's; iconic cast of characters, corresponding with equally amazing voice actors, it's trade mark character designs, and it's amazing songs which makes this series/franchise so appealing in the first place.
It's an amazing installment to the Love Live franchise and didn't disappoint in any aspects what so ever. If anything, it well exceeded expectations.
SingleH
I see a lot of people being nice to this show, and while I kinda see why, I also really don’t. In Japan, Love Live is an insatiable money-making behemoth whose appetite only grows with the eating, but here in the West, it’s largely mocked by the mainstream. But apparently not Superstar. What other people are getting out of this show is something I can’t get out of it, and it might just be because I’ve seen too much. It might just be because I’ve become numb, and maybe if this was the first time I’d ever seen an idol show like this, there’d bestuff I could pick up on which didn’t seem like tired, insipid, clickbait garbage, but I’m too old and storied for that shit. I’m fine with media selling itself, I’m not a child, but when it comes to idols, the girls themselves are the products, and while an anime’s storyline can help dilute this reality, I can’t not see it, so everything just feels fake. Despite being well-directed, the concerts are totally non-diegetic, because they’re being shot from angles no in-universe camera could ever capture. One of the girls is an antagonist to a point, where upon the cast spends two episodes confronting her corny, melodramatic backstory, after which she immediately becomes part of the team even though she’s an outsider who everyone hated five seconds ago. A character travels from a competition in Tokyo to the Southern Islands before the sun can finish setting, waiting for her there is a costume which she never planned to have made, in which she performs flawlessly alongside the others despite not having practiced the set. The show is comprised of contrivance after contrivance after contrivance, thoughtlessly and lifelessly checking off boxes on a bulleted list of Love Live tropes required by the producers. Not every relationship feels this soulless, and not every action feels this manufactured, but to those pretending like this series is significantly more genuine than any other installment of Love Live, I’m afraid I must disagree.
After all these years of having watched thousands and thousands of anime, I’ve deduced by far the easiest way to dismiss a series is to scrutinize its production, because most anime look like shit and cut so many corners they become entirely different shapes. Indeed, most generic trash actually LOOKS like generic trash, but this doesn’t. This looks legitimately impressive, and since I couldn’t write it off, I had to endure it, and the technicality behind the concerts was so jaw-dropping, I cannot pretend I didn’t have fun here. The girls have their gimmicks, but their character designs are so much more individualized than previous installments of Love Live, it’s commendable. Love Live girls have always had copy/pasted faces, bodies, hairstyles, and personalities, only adding enough of a difference between them to be legally distinct, but this show breaks the mold in that respect completely. Each girl looks and acts like a separate human being, not like a slight variation of a figurine, body pillow, or cardboard cutout which you already own. They aren’t deep, and some of the forced backstories I mentioned earlier certainly bogged down the script, but the girls are still pleasant and cute. It feels like everyone creatively involved in this project has improved measurably. We all know Yoshiaki Fujisawa is a genius, and while Jukki Hanada still can’t write convincing drama, he still can write funny dialogue and natural chemistry between characters. Love Live has singlehandedly revolutionized the landscape of CG, and Director Kyougoku has absolutely mastered the art of transitioning between the mediums of 2D and 3D. The CG integration is better than some Production IG shows, and the CG itself outclasses Studio Orange. This show is no visual masterpiece, and episodes seven and eight saw heavy inconsistency, but the animators absolutely pampered these girls as much as they possibly could, even if they only exist to fuel Bandai’s merchandising.
Thank you for reading.
PandaUwU
Superstar is the 4th installment of the beloved and long-running Love Live series. It is easy to follow and does not reference previous parts, allowing both old and new fans to enjoy it. This installment goes back to its roots, arguably simpler than the base of its roots were. Kanon gets picked up by Keke to start a school idol club, but complications arise when the student council president tries to stop them; the standard Love Live stuff. The special part about it this time is how Kanon acts in opposition to the other main characters of previous installments of Love Live. Kanon has stage fright. Thisstage fright helps drive her character throughout the story as an obstacle for her to get over. It is a good character element that can add some growth and depth to her character, but I felt it was rushed. There were not many episodes where it was the main focus and even when it was, I felt it was not explored enough.
This pacing issue crosses through Sumire as well. Ever since she was a kid, Sumire has always wanted to be in the spotlight but had never been there. This would also provide for an interesting plot, but once again, underdeveloped.
As rushed as I may be describing the pacing, this was only felt during the last third of the show, which is when a lot of the important parts of the characters' arcs happened.
Contrary to this was Chisato’s character arc. Chisato was introduced in episode one and slowly developed throughout the show. This is due to her arc directly tying into her relationship with Kanon, and how they affect each other. It climaxed beautifully and became my favourite part of Superstar.
And once again, in opposition to Chisato’s arc is Ren’s arc. Ren’s character arc did not make too much sense and was not developed a lot, kind of just happened.
Finally, Keke. So far, Keke’s arc has only been hinted at and not a lot has been revealed about her, even if she was the first member to join the group. Frankly, this is not a bad thing, as a later season is likely to go further into her character.
So far, I have only spoken about their development, but how are they individually? Honestly, I think I only like Chisato and Kanon individually.
Even if I only like two of them individually, the writing is something of note. The characters play off of each other very well. Every character has a different way of speaking to each other, whether friendly (Kanon and Chisato) or a more aggressive tone (Sumire and Keke), creating a very immersive environment and overall makes character interactions an enjoyable experience.
The writing also excels at telling jokes. The jokes are very fast-paced and usually succeed to at least put a smile on my face. It combines both visual humour and wordplay, effectively churning out jokes quickly. It is more visual than wordplay but is still a great combination of both.
Now onto the more technical aspects, the visuals of each new season of Love Live are always astronomically better; this applies to this season. Hair bounces with each step and the animated dance choreography always looks clean. Full of bright colours blending well together to create appealing visuals that are hard to get bored of.
As it usually is with Love Live, the performances where they sing and dance are mostly CGI. Love Live has quite the mixed history with CGI, as sometimes it looks very off, and other times it looks pretty decent. In this case, the CGI looks good. Used solely for the dance segments, studio Sunrise can create higher production choreography and CGI. It does a smooth job transitioning between the CG and the animated parts during the dance segments to help emphasize movement.
These stage performances also sound great. Love Live is often associated with cute girls and high-pitched voices, but it is cute girls and “normal” pitch voices this time. This change can make the anime enjoyed by many more people, as many people were turned away by Love Live due to their high pitch.
In addition to looking and sounding good, they also flow well. Every time song is broken into, it feels like you know exactly when it is going to happen and instead of being boringly predictable, it is satisfying to see.
Alongside the dazzling stage performances, the background music is also good. Nice and relaxing most of the time, but it can also get you a little hype for the more dramatic moments.
Despite its characterization and pacing flaws, Love Live Superstar provides a fun time for both new and old fans of the series. It has arguably the best looking and sounding in the series and is overall a worthwhile experience. I will be looking forward to more of it!
Final note, I’d like to thank @hnf9982 and @lonelyhearts0 for reading over and helping me edit this review.
NotRoyce4
Story: 7 Cute girls doing cute things!! The story reuses some overused elements from earlier Love Live series and there are one or two weird plot elements, but the formation of this series' school idol group, Liella!, is satisfying. The main characters are all first years, and the ending of this season sets up subsequent seasons to show Liella!'s journey after the first year. This would be the first Love Live series to show more than one year of a group's journey, so I'm excited to see what happens next. Art: 9 The scenery and backgrounds in this show are extremely detailed and colorful, and the quantity ofdifferent backgrounds used in each episode is incredible. Specifically, the buildings and streets feel warm and immersive. I think this sets a new standard for art in Love Live anime.
I was skeptical about the character designs initially, but I grew to like them after the first or second episode. They are all cute, and their expressions and costumes are equally cute.
CG is used during the dances, and it blends nicely with the hand drawn animation. There were some cool effects such as the lighting in Tiny Stars and the reflections in the bubbles in Wish Song.
Sound: 10
Love Live is known for its music, and every song in this show is good. Mirai Yohou Hallelujah!, Mirai wa Kaze no You ni, and Tiny Stars are outstanding. My other favorites are Tokonatsu Sunshine, Dreaming Energy, and Nonfiction.
Superstar's ED is my favorite among all the Love Live EDs. I love hearing the ED begin to play during an emotionally climactic scene. The song begins with delicate piano notes and becomes more upbeat as more instruments begin playing. This creates a beautiful feeling of hope and catharsis. The character who was the focus of the episode sings the ED, and this makes it hit extra hard. The music, lyrics, and visuals portray Superstar's themes of faith in oneself. At the start of the chorus, the girls are shown running together along the Olympic Bridge at sunset. The animation in this shot is beautiful and fits the tone of the song perfectly.
The seiyu's performances were outstanding. Their singing was consistently beautiful, and their voice acting was amazingly expressive. Painful and sorrowful moments sounded and felt real. Also, there were plenty of cute and funny sounds during slice of life scenes.
Character: 9
The 5 main characters are great. This season shows us how they meet, and we see them become friends, play together, work hard together, and give each other support. The character development was satisfying, and I cried during a few episodes.
The rival group, Sunny Pa, does not receive enough screen time. I hope they get more in season 2.
Enjoyment: 10
I love Love Live, and I loved watching Superstar.
Overall: 10
If you like Love Live, I recommend this show. If you like cute girls doing cute things and singing and dancing, this show is worth a try.
Naneo
This is such a refreshing anime from Love Live franchise. For you who doesn't know, we usually get a lot of main character in the anime. But this one is different, there are only 5 MC here. And because of that, every character can have their development perfectly and didn't look rushed. I'm not saying all the previous anime is bad, it just feels something different. Story 10/10 As always, even though Love Live Superstar is a music anime doesn't mean they throw off the story. The story is also as amazing as their music. Heartwarming and sometimes emotional, the story is a mix beetween those two.How they create their own school idol, how they recruit their member, how they make their music. It all packed perfectly. Not only that, this anime also has a laughable moment. Those make all the things balanced, beetween sad and funny.
Art 10/10
Gorgeus, pretty, beautiful. All that combine and you got this artsyle. What i really like from this is the atmosphere/mood we got from it. It hard to explain but you know, like when there is a specific scene whether it sad or happy. They can bring it to us viewer. So it feels like we are there ourself, see it with our own eyes. Yes its kinda weird, but try to watch it and experience it yourself. Also don't forget that when they perform on stage its always beautiful. Their choreography is smooth as hell.
Sound 10/10
I love all the song here. The ED song, OP song, insert song. In fact some of them are in my playlist. Especially the one that play at the end of episode. Their voice is soothing and relaxing. Its so comfortable listening to their song when i'm alone in my room. Their voice is also fits perfectly. And for the SFX, its all sound so natural. I didn't hear anything weird.
Character 10/10
They manage to nail all the characters personality really good. They only have 5 MC and i love it. Because of that we can have more episode of them deepening their bond with each other. For comparison, previous Love Live anime need a 2nd season to do that. And this one doesn't. And for the side characters. They didn't throw them off and instead giving them a really big role in the anime helping the MC.
Enjoyment 10/10
This is the first airing Love Live series i watch and it really satisfying to finally finish it. Even though i just finished it, i'm already craving for 2nd season which is just confirmed not long ago. I reccomend you to watch all previous Love Live anime (if you haven't) while waiting for 2nd season. Also i will definitely rewatch this series in dub when they are coming out.
With all that being said, should you watch it? Definitely. If i am not a Love Live fans and watch this anime, i will be one. This anime have something special in it that will drag you into idol hell. When you go into idol hell, you can't come back. But for real tho, come on join us. Whether its on Discord, Twitter, Reddit, the community is all good. At least thats what i see.
Thank you for reading my review
Jaikeis
Love Live! Superstar is a solid show production-wise, but its position as the fourth separate continuity in the franchise only highlights the increasingly formulaic nature of Love Live's writing. The show starts out promising enough. Kanon is our now apparently archetypal spunky orange-headed protagonist. Unlike Honoka or Chika though, she gets to have real character flaws. She's grumpy, she sulks, she talks back to her family. She loves to sing, but she has struggled for years freezing up in front of an audience. When we meet her, she's convinced she'll never make it as a performer. There's potential for a focused, if rather well-worn, characterarc here that Love Live has never really done before.
Unfortunately, this lasts about two episodes in total. Within days of meeting Kanon, Keke sweeps her up into doing the school idol thing with her, with only token resistance from Kanon. One pre-concert jitters scene later, Kanon's stage fright is cured forever (or at least until we pretend it's still an ongoing issue nine episodes later to try to have some kind of conclusion for the end of the season), and we never see her acting moody again. Apparently, solving a lifetime's worth of anxiety issues is sometimes just that easy. A few episodes later, Kanon's childhood friend Chisato mentions that she specifically went into dance so that she could help Kanon out by doing the things Kanon can't do, but the implications of this put the opening arc of the show in a weird spot. I guess despite the two being close friends for nearly ten years or so, Chisato just never tried hard enough to help Kanon conquer her stage fright.
Aside from all that, Kanon herself is very popular at school, even though it is barely mentioned outright. Kanon handily wins a class vote for their idol group's center where most people voting would have no reason to care, and she's implied to have had a very good chance at the student council president seat if she hadn't refused to run. She's struggled with stage fright in front of her classmates for years, but the only bullying that ever happens is over Chisato drawing some stick figures in the dirt at a public park when she was a little girl. It's like a committee took someone's script and proceeded to shave off anything with the remotest chance of offending someone, all for the purpose of circling back to the safest route possible.
As we build up the school idol club, we're informed that—surprise, surprise—the student council girl, Ren, is against it. Why? Well, her mom was a school idol too, but she never kept any records of her club activities, and she apparently only mentioned her feelings about it once to Ren. But Ren forgot—yes, really—what her mom said to her, and thus concluded that her mom must have regretted being a school idol, it's the only explanation. She is thus very vocal on her anti-school idol position as she runs for student council president. Ren manages to get the votes of the general curriculum students by promising that everyone will get to participate in the upcoming school festival.
Once she's elected however, she insists that only the music course students will be performing, because she believes it's the only way to get more students to enroll in the school. Yes, apparently, the school is in danger of shutting down. Yes, again. Not only is the plot point derivative to the point of self-parody, but logistically, it makes little sense. Yuigaoka is literally in the very first year of its operation since it was formally refounded. How could it fall into such dire financial straits in the span of a few months? Are we to assume there's some embezzlement happening behind the scenes?
Ren's abrupt about-face in policy naturally upset the general curriculum students who start a petition in protest, and we see heated arguments break out between the general and music course students. Oh, but don't worry. All of this is resolved within the episode when Kanon and the gang showed Ren that no, her mom really did love being a school idol. So Ren relents and immediately reverses her position, allowing the general curriculum students to participate in the school festival. In response, the students all clap. Literally, everyone claps. Apparently, there's sometimes no one more understanding than a room full of irate teenagers. The school shutting down doesn't even get brought up again until it's suddenly solved off-screen in the final episode, so I guess it wasn't that important either?
Before Superstar aired, I had hoped that the smaller than usual main cast was a sign that we would see more nuanced, fleshed out characterization, but the characters are just as shallow here as when we had nine main characters in previous Love Live anime entries. Nothing the characters do have any real consequences, and every conflict is resolved almost immediately. There's never any stakes because the characters are never allowed to meaningfully fail. Early on, the fledgling school idol club is given an ultimatum: they have to win first place in an upcoming idol festival or they'll have to disband. They end up losing to the contest favorite school idol duo Sunny Passion, but the school just shrugs and lets them have their club anyway with no pushback.
Sunny Passion functions as our main rivals, but they might as well not exist for how severely underutilized they are. Their whole characters can be summed up in three traits: they're nice, they never sing on-screen, and they look like they got picked off the cutting room floor of Aikatsu character designs. They get a full episode where they invite the girls out to perform at their island resort, and even then they have barely any presence. I'd be surprised if anyone remembers their names because they matter so little.
Meanwhile, our main cast of girls get to have cute antics with good production values, but that's all there is to it. The only character flaws they have that aren't tossed aside are ones that can be spun as cute, as if they're disguised strengths in the weaknesses category of a job interview. The one exception to this is when the focus shifts to Sumire, whose hangups get treated some actual weight. She's insecure and afraid of failure, and that doesn't magically all go away after receiving one kind gesture from her friends. Two episodes cannot carry a series however, and the show otherwise never tries to be anything more, quickly quashing any hints to the contrary.
Love Live is a mega popular franchise with more than enough dedicated super fans to weather a few unexceptional anime entries, but a franchise that keeps playing safe is one that will eventually hit a wall in market saturation. As of now, Love Live is juggling three different active groups to run the live concert circuit: Sunshine's Aqours, Nijigasaki, and Superstar's Liella! Each one has the same basic premise of starting a brand new idol club in the face of student council disapproval. Sunshine, at least in its first season, distinguishes itself by having a consistent through line reinforcing its central theme. Nijigasaki flips the focus in favor of individual character episodes instead of any overall plot, and at least its school isn't in danger of dying for no good reason. In contrast, Superstar has little giving it its own identity.
On its own, Superstar is serviceable if light on substance, and it has enough great scenes to demonstrate that someone on the staff really cared about the show, but they're always fighting against the show's refusal to take a step outside the boundaries of past successes. Taken in the context of the franchise, it has little innovation to offer. Newcomers to Love Live will have no issues enjoying the series, and super fans don't need a second opinion. For everyone else though, it's more or less skippable.
flowerscissors
Love Live! Superstar!! is the fourth entry in the Love Live franchise, and as such, I was expecting that they might have started to run out of ideas. Luckily, that turned out not to be the case. This is the first Love Live! series to get its main run as a prime time broadcast, and I really felt all the special care and little details that went into making this a success. While Love Live! has always been fairly solid, Superstar not only lives up to the standard, but perhaps even surpasses its predecessors. Even though it is part of a franchise, it is worth mentioningthat it's not necessary to have seen or finished any other Love Live! series to enjoy this one, as the setting is original. If you have seen any of the others the premise is more or less the same, but with a smaller main cast, prettier visuals, and it takes a more wholesome approach with less of the fanservicey humour.
I couldn't talk about this series without first mentioning the music, and it is both emotional and catchy. The opening (Start!! True Dreams) and ending (Miraiwa kaze no youni) themes are both instantly memorable, but the insert songs for the live performances are what really got my tears flowing. The visuals for the live performances are incredible too. Both the stages and outfits are cute with a lot of little details you'll need to pause to notice, the camera effects are magical, and they're all animated in a higher frame rate, which really brings the dancing to life.
And regarding visuals, the characters are cute and expressive and really captured my heart, but one other thing that really stood out was the highly detailed backgrounds. The character designs are lovely as always, but the backgrounds here take it further and really bring the places to life. This is the sort of series for which I love posting screencaps, just to show how charming it is.
As with other Love Live! series, the story revolves around a "school idol" club at a high school, but without giving too much away, the thematic focus of Superstar is confronting anxieties. As someone who has often felt anxious, this resonated with me deeply and made me feel encouraged to do my best. Nothing comes to our main characters easily, which makes it all the more satisfying when they do succeed, and when they fail but become even more determined to keep going.
Overall, this has been my favourite Love Live! series to date, and I recommend it very much whether you're a new fan or an old one.
MochizukiTomoya
This anime is surely great and can be an option to start the franchise. Not about winning after the struggle like Muse [School Idol Project], not a depressing story like Aqours [Sunshine!], nor Nijigasaki who has tons of member which truly represents a school club. Superstar is different, more like slice of life-ish idol story with only 5 members in it. That's what I thought when watching this show for like the first half season (?) Let's talk about this first half that I was excited for. First thing you will notice is how good Sayurin's [Date Sayuri] voice when singing. The anime will let you listento her singing at the very beginning of the first episode. More like 'Beautiful', rather than 'Unique' like how Love Live! characters always supposed to be.
Again the protagonist comes with orange-ish color (tho I don't recognize Ayumu as protagonist from Nijigasaki since the other members also gained the same spotlight). Kanon is a girl who love singing so much but something won't allow her to exploit her potential. It reminds me on how Muse told us that it's hard to be an idol who have to keep smiling while singing and dancing.
How they recruit new members is also amazing. Sumire with her ego, Chisato with her promise, and best of all, Ren with her past. I even cried in Chisato and Ren's case. Something new that I didn't get after Sunshine! ends. Soma Ria from Golden Loveriche once said that it's too common to use dead people as tearjerking matrerial. Sunrise can easily get out of the box thinking about this.
But the amazement on the story dimmed right after Ren joined the club. The drama feels rushed and half-heartedly written only to reach 12 episodes target. Yea, I admit that the story is not that bad, just the pace that is not right for me. It's just too fast even at the end of 12th episode I asked myself, "oh, it's ended already?"
Fortunately, critical pace problem can be covered with great insert songs. Nonfiction as example of insert song in 10th episode. They use rap as central point of the song. I was like, what the hell they're going to do. And when it showed right in front of my eyes, it ended to become one of my favorite. In twelfth episode, a scene will remind you to Muse.
Post-credit's Liella no Uta also my biggest point on why I always waiting for this show every week. Drawn in unique artstyle, combined with pretty good song, it just relaxing. Ah, FYI, Liella no Uta in 6th episode makes me fell in love with Paychan's [Naomi Payton] voice.
Moemoe96
Superstar is a step down from the previous love lives. What do I mean by "a step down"? Unlike your previous love lives where there are altleast 9 girls, here we get 5. The story and plot is way more down to earth and simple. The 5 girls are all freshmen unlike from previous LLs where we ususally get three per year level. it kinda gives off this fresh and new feeling even though superstar is quite similar to the previous installations. Despite of it being a step down, Superstar might be the best one out of all. crazy am i right? Before we actually reviewSuperstar, let's first understand what are its intentions. Season 1 really focused on Liella's growth as individuals and as a group so what we got was full of character moments and interactions. Its as if that season 1 was not really about the love live competition itself but rather about introducing and building the characters.
okay so here is the review
Characters - 8/10
First Things first, I really really love the characters. I love Kanon's role as the main protagonist, she is not your usuall overly optimistic airheaded klutz. She is more level headed, chill, and is actually relatable. Same goes for the others. They are so down to earth and are super relatable. All of them have very simple personalities yet despite that they are very expressive and not bland. They are not these in depth charcacters with a ton of backstory rather Its more of them focusing on one thing that they need to overcome, which I really really like. Though if there is one thing to point out, there are some inconsistent character moments. Other than that I really enjoyed watching the characters develop and interact. Oh another thing, the character interactions are pure GOLD, watching them is super fun and enjoyable. The enjoyment of watching Liella kinda gives off a similar vibe to K-on with its character interactions . (not saying that k-on and superstar are similar, in fact they are polar opposites) . Having 5 characters instead of 9 is better because we get to know them more.
Kanon is best girl
Story - 9/10
I won't go too elaborate on this part because I don't want to spoil you
The sequence of events is really good and makes sense. The actions and decisions of the characters are understandable and things don't go out of hand that much. Thats what I really don't like about SIP and sunshine. Its that they tend do too much, they overdo it which loses my interest in watching it. Like literally one of them wanted to go to America just to convince someone which just doesn't make sense (sunshine). On the contrary, Superstar's approach is much more simple which makes it more enjoyable and easier to understand
SPOILER WARNING
Sadly we can't avoid spoilers. I notice that a lot of people are quite disappointed at SunnyPa's role in season 1 since we didn't get to see much of them which I understand. I do wish we got to hear their songs but that's really it. One thing that we should understand is that Liella and SunnyPa are not rivals until like episode 12. They make it seem like Liella and SunnyPa were rivals from the beginning which is not the case at all. In fact the reason why Liella happened in the first place because one of the members is a huge fan of SunnyPa which made her want to start a school idol group herself. Like what I mentioned at the beginning, season 1 entirely focused on the characters themselves and their motives on becoming idols rather than the Love Live itself. We would probably focus on the rivalries more on season 2. Yes the cliche "school going under" returns but that's just a plot tool to boost the characters' motives and is not the main focus.
Art - 10/10
The art is IMMACULATE, I love the character designs, the temperature of colors, the visuals, and the animation is just beautiful. I LOVE the visuals in Love Live superstar. It is way way better than the art and animation of SIP and sunshine
Sound - 9/10
To be completely honest, I wan't a huge fan of idol songs before watching Superstar. I just didn't like the cutesy and forced high pitch voices that some songs have. Liella however is not like that, the songs they make sounds so good because their voices sound much more natural. Kanon's voice is just amazing. The voice actresses really did a great job.
enjoyment - 10/10
at this point do I even have to explain why.
in comparison to other Love Lives:
Unlike School Idol Project and Sunshine, Superstar has a more simple and down to earth approach. The girls become school idols because,...well because they want to become school idols, not because of some bizarre reason like saving the entire school or what not. That's also the main reason why I didn't enjoy SIP and Sunshine as much as Superstar. SIP and Sunshine tends to overdo it with the "save the school" thing where everything they do is for saving the school. Yes the cliche does return in superstar but they used that as more of a plot tool rather than being entire focus of the show
Overall - personally a 9/10
Overall Superstar is a breath of fresh air because of its new and simplistic approach that gives more room for the characters to develop. They portray the saying "less is more" really well. Every element of Superstar carries the show. The characters, art, story, and sound is really good which makes Superstar better than the previous love lives. I highly recommend you watch Love Live Superstar if you are an old fan or a new fan.
PhalanxOtakuGod
Thank you for joining me on this trip. I have no words to explain everything that this anime was able to convey to me, so I will do it with numbers, 10/10. Everything is perfect, I have no complaints, not to mention that they have not confirmed the second season of course. The best love live of all time. Tiny stars!Keke,no more to say.
i-like-this
Loved it! Superb-star!! Love Live! Superstar!! has absolutely no right being this good. I've personally never watched any of the Love lives beloved as they are by it's apparently huge fanbase (the more you know), but I couldn't be happier to have Superstar be my jumping on point. School idol/moe club shows are a dime a dozen so it takes something really special to stand out from the crowd (something 2021 falls idol shows are struggling to do at the moment), but Superstar shines above the crowd like... well... a superstar! Firstly, the animation is absolutely stunning. Characters move smoothly against densely detailed, information packed backgrounds.The CGI and tracking used for performances looks beautiful and some of the animation background detail in these scenes rival most anime movies. It is overall a seriously impressive piece of art which compliments the Liella original soundtrack. Speaking of which, almost all the songs are bangers. This is one of those shows where you don't finish watching until after the ed's finished and even after that you'll be treated to a small song in beautiful crayon styled animation.
Our main quintet of moe blobs are adorable in their kawaii-ness, very funny and each get surprising deep and well thought out character development helped by a well paced story and a school setting which has interesting history, traditions and quite literal class divisions between the music program students and those on the general course. Viewers who are involved in show business in some way can probably relate to the struggles and frustrations that come with stage fright, anxiety, lack of self worth and confidence which all the girls go through and come out on the other said better thanks to the power of friendship.
It is a school idol anime so the story does get a bit predictable and cringe at times especially around the middle of the season however. It doesn't do anything to much to shake up the formula and it probably doesn't really need too, but if you've watched a few of these kind of shows before then story fatigue will probably kick in for you at some point.
That's the only real criticism I have. After finishing I really hope that this story line continues. I'm going to miss Kanon, Keke, Sumire, Chisato and Ren and their fantastic chemistry. I really did not expect to like this show as much as I do, but now I appear to be a Love Live fan and I can't wait for Studio Sunrise's next School Idol Project.
9/10 Amazing.
Cherith
Gusokumushi Gusokumushi Gu-soku soku soku Gusokumushi. That's it. That's my review for this masterpiece. I have nothing more to say. Just Gusokumushi every day, all day long. When you listen to this, believe me, this is what's gonna happen in your next dream (or nightmare.) Have a good anime, a good night, and a great rest of life.(Please someone save me)
Jokes aside, i think Love live Superstar has surpassed the other love lives. The art is stunning, the characters are lovely, and being a group of 5, they are lucky each member has more screen time. Some people might not liked the ending, but i have to say it really got me. Was waiting for something, received another. Not complaining tho. I have high hopes that 2nd season will be even better.
Christa54
Well I'm starting this review by saying that I used to be a huge fan of this franchise and series. With that in mind, I have to say that Love Live Superstar has to be the most wasted Love Live yet. Most of my struggles with this series are about how they mishandled so many situations, Love Live is also known for having some musical moments that will melt your heart, but aside of the animation (that we know that it only gets better and better), none of the performances transmitted anything to me really, I would only rescue one (which I will not say becauseI'm not gonna make spoilers) but it's kinda forgettable tho.
The problems that girls face are very redundant and some of them don't make sense in my opinion (I feel that there're contradictions throughout the series), actually in previous installments of Love Live, the series has been able to handle a bigger number of girls and showing different facets of them, and ALSO transmitting their emotions in a single chapter, something that Superstar is not capable of executing correctly since most conflicts are not taken seriously.
Going to the humor and charisma section, in this series, I also find nothing outstanding compared to the previous installments, in fact, in Superstar I feel that the "funny scenes" are less effective most of the time.
I think Love Live Superstar it's ok if your looking for an anime that you can kill time with, but at the same time it's very mediocre in many ways, and it's one of the most forgettable Love Lives to date in my opinion.
PS: Sumire has the best episode imo
Pravaris
I started watching Love Live! Superstar!! with the expectation that the smaller cast of 5 would allow more time to explore each character's dreams and worries, strengths and flaws, past failures and present efforts. Exploring their character, in other words. Well, yes, but actually no. While each character certainly had more screen time and lines compared to some idol anime, the additional attention was squandered. The anime eventually became formulaic again. Most character development and progression was made in service to the overbearing and repetitive Love Live formula. The best episodes were the first 4. Each one focused on thethree starting cast of characters, Kanon, Keke, and Chisato. The in-universe Love Live competition was but the lofty dream of Keke; the fuel that drove her actions and compelled her to push Kanon — who, in turn, pushed Chisato.
This worked excellently in the anime’s favour because the characters, the most interesting part of the anime, were developed. The Love Live premise was used to drive character growth.
As an example (minor spoiler), I want to focus on the first character we’re introduced to, Kanon.
The anime began on a personal level. Kanon was a bright, passionate, and talented singer with a dream of getting into an art program of a prestigious school. Her dream was dashed, however, when crippling stage fright took hold.
Cut back to the present, she lay in bed with a vexed expression. She derided herself for choking when it counted. Her failure coloured her every interaction as she entered the new school year at the aforementioned prestigious school — but as part of the general curriculum.
As the episode went on, we learnt more about her. After a few encounters with the pushy Keke, perhaps answering her enthusiasm with sincerity, Kanon opened up, explaining that she had always been unable to sing at important moments. She had experienced a series of major setbacks.
So she gave up.
I distinctly remember that the first Love Live anime dealt with this exact topic before but I don’t care — I think this type of story is what Love Live is good at. A personal story of encountering repeated failures and still pressing on.
It then came to a heartwarming conclusion; with support from others — like-minded people who will stick with you no matter how long it takes — you can keep trying.
Too bad “The Love Live plot” had to come in eventually.
Student council doesn’t approve? Yes.
School shutting down? You bet.
Student council member joins the group? Of course.
Prolific rival helps them out? Hell yeah.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
This level of predictability would not be so bad if “The Love Live plot” stayed in the background and fuelled character development but no.
Past the halfway point, the tried and tired “Love Live plot” got its Love Live coloured appendages all over the script and every single character arc now had a predictable and rushed end.
Every character struggle must wrap up in 1 episode — 2 episodes tops. Every arc must end with a dramatic resolution, whether or not human behaviour or the laws of physics have to be flagrantly broken.
By the time I got to the grand finale, I realised that I could not care less about their triumph or defeat because my immersion had long since evaporated. The hand of the author(s) was too obvious and I could no longer suspend my disbelief.
Suspension of Disbelief: Gone
The most glaringly obvious influence of “The Love Live plot” are the 2 rival characters, a school idol unit called Sunny Passion. They are a pair of convenient counsellors with an uncanny awareness of the protagonists’ plight. Where there is a void that the main characters cannot fill, they warp into existence, twisting and stretching their personality and abilities into the shape of the void. These vapid husks, masquerading as humans, are lauded as the greatest school idols of the region and just that fact tears down my suspension of disbelief.
I exaggerate. Kanon’s clairvoyance and Keke’s creation magic also ruined my immersion.
I tried to turn off my brain and enjoy the emotional moments, but the eldritch hand of the author(s) is too much to bear. My eyes were opened and I could not look away.
“The Love Live plot” controls the world.
In conclusion, although the first third of Love Live Superstar showed promise, it quickly fell back into a predictable plot that tainted all character development with the same predictability.
If you are a fan of idol anime and can ignore the franchise’s tendency to bend reality, you will probably enjoy this too.
For the rest of us, skip.
MelodyOfMemory
Five girls overcome their insecurities and self doubt through making music together. This premise, remarkable in its simplicity, sets the stage for one of the most surprisingly heartwarming anime in recent memory, one that touched my heart just as I was becoming cynical about anime in general. There's no dark magic involved, no convoluted lore. You don't need to know anything about Japanese idols or even the previous Love Live series to dive into this one. Though the story deals with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues, it is overall an optimistic one that doesn't get any darker than Rosalina's storybook from Super Mario Galaxy.Speaking of which, the visuals, Liella's soaring orchestrated vocal songs (Wish Song, ED theme Mirai wa Kaze no You Ni, and Watashi no Symphony being stand-outs), and the charming fantasy-like BGM give this anime a pleasant storybook tone, striking the right balance between being easily understood by younger viewers and having enough nuance for the healing effect to work on even older viewers.
It's clear the production staff learned a lot from their long experiences with not only previous Love Live entries, but also the paradigm-shifting A Place Farther Than The Universe which started a trend of stronger, more ambitious female characters in anime. Despite being first years and having the quirks and issues one would expect from 16 year olds, Liella's cast demonstrate maturity surpassing even some of the third years of previous series. They already had performing arts dreams long before forming the group, giving them a common reason to be there while also making their successes feel more realistic. Unlike previous series, not a single one of the 5 girls feels wasted. They all have their own struggles and contributions to the group, and various fans will have someone they most relate to in their believable anxieties, whether it's not wanting to let down her friends, wanting to prove her independence, searching for a purpose outside of one's predetermined routine, or loneliness impeding one's ability to connect with others. These issues are not resolved by merely a simple "Believe in yourself!" message, but through genuine understanding that disproves their self-doubts and reveals how much more capable they are than they think.
But out of all of them, the lead character Kanon truly stands out for me. Her stage anxiety and performance failure that opens the series ends up being a metonym for her timid approach to life itself, and a lot of the humour of this show comes from her quirky friends trying to get her out of her comfort zone. In one of the most surreal scenes, she even gets kidnapped and tormented by "Gusokumushi. Gusokumushi. Guso-guso-guso. Gusokumushi!" Though this all sounds like a pretty typical "loser protagonist meets manic pixie dream girl who teaches her to appreciate life" setup at first, later episodes reveal there's more to Kanon than her negative self-image. It is so refreshing to see a smart, perceptive girl as the protagonist, a welcome subversion of the common idiot hero(ine). And it all comes together in the climactic Episode 11, appropriately titled "Once Again, At That Place," with a powerful, but well foreshadowed plot twist set to a soothing "Long Journey's End" style BGM track that drove me to tears more so than anything else in the entire Love Live franchise. If it ends up having a similar impact on you, that would make me very happy.
The only thing that prevents me from giving this a 10 is that plot progression can get pretty hokey at times, particularly Episode 8. Luckily, the series is thematically consistent enough that I'm willing to suspend disbelief, but I understand the more critical reviews having a bigger issue with it. Unfortunately, the series also takes a sharp drop in quality in Season 2, with Season 3 being merely acceptable for die-hard Liella fans who are willing to put up with its flaws to see their story to completion. Fortunately, Season 1's story is self-contained with the core conflict being resolved in Episode 11 and Episode 12 serving as a hopeful "adventure continues!" ending, so one can choose whether they want to keep going or just appreciate it as a standalone 12 episode anime.
Whether it be performing artists, music lovers, fans of strong female leads, or just someone looking for a nice slice of life show to relax to, there's something for a wide audience to enjoy, and despite its humble premise, its story is truly magical and unforgettable.
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Anyone who's seen Hibike Euphonium knows that one scene in S1E12. Kumiko walks, then breaks into a desperate run, tearfully galvanising her competitive spirit into action. One sentence stands out in that outburst. "Umaku Naritai!" "I want to improve!" As Kanon proclaims, in front of her entire school and town who've been standing behind her all this time, that "I want to win!", the same chill went down my spine. It's a pity I'll have to wait more than a year for this story to continue. Episode 1 immediately hooked me, not just because of Kanon's wonderful solo, or Keke's antics. What really got me was its final 4minutes. A gleaming quill settles into Kanon's backpack, as cherry blossoms dance in her wake, and she spontaneously breaks into passionate song. I've rewatched this clip way too many times, and a lot of that is thanks to the brilliance of its art and OST. The town that this series is situated in is so, so well drawn - its shopping district, teeming with families and students alike, gives such a cozy and warm feel that makes us immediately at home. Not only are these backgrounds detailed, but the liberal use of bright colours and natural elements (just look at Kanon's family cafe!) sell us on a perfect, pastel world with its own tight-knit communities, a setting that comes in handy much later on in the series. I don't usually pick up on OSTs during a TV series too, but the orchestral tracks that support some of the show's more climactic scenes are difficult to miss. And that isn't even mentioning how good their songs are!
3 songs in particular stand out to me. Tiny Stars, with its subtle nods to Keke's roots, its catchy melody and heartwarming choreography that concludes a fairly emotional arc of friendship. Nonfiction, for being an absolute banger with the most impressive choreography I've probably seen in an idol show to date (and for giving off very strong Sagajihen vibes!!). And my favourite out of them all, the show's main ED. Not only is it fully animated, with different solo, duo, and group versions that reflect the events of their respective episodes, it is so incredibly warm. I love EDs whose instrumentals begin even before the episode is over, and the way Episode 2 transitions into it is cheesy, but oddly perfect. When that first titular line comes, the show finally feels complete.
But if its art, soundtrack, songs, and story are all so captivating, why isn't this an 8 or above? A severe limiting factor to Superstar!! is its characters, and how specific arcs are developed. Consistently, the solution to overdramatised problems is to talk it out, and tease out the underlying reasons behind a character's actions. While this worked for its initial few episodes, the same formula was applied to increasingly contrived conflicts, making their cheesy resolution seem painfully hackneyed. A certain character was the worst offender of this - not only was her turnaround jarringly rushed, but the change in her perspective came from an incredibly unrealistic chain of events that made me wince. Her arc felt like 3-4 episodes compressed into 2, and its rushed pacing seriously impacted my enjoyment of her involvement for the rest of the series. The dialogue eventually got on my nerves for how childish and unrealistic it sounded (no one talks like that to their close friends?!), especially when the girls were discussing their love for their school, or a suitable group name. Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but I couldn't really buy into the suffocating levels of optimism that Kanon showed towards connecting the entire school through the power of music. Love Live! is a franchise that frequently dabbles in such extremities, but I imagine it would be even more off-putting for newcomers to its power-of-friendship copouts. And even though the CGI was markedly better than its three predecessors, some performances still looked stiff and unnatural, breaking my immersion in its atmosphere.
With all that said, I'd be lying if I said those flaws were fatal. Maybe it was the power of Kanon's voice, or the vibrancy of its art that kept me going to the end, but this was a show that I genuinely felt excited about after every episode. Quality and enjoyment often come hand in hand, but for Superstar!!, though I had constant qualms about the originality of its writing and the execution of its drama, that flame of anticipation was never extinguished within me. That's what I admire about Superstar!! the most - in every performance, frame, and detail, the passion of its creators shines brighter than anything else. Its makers poured their heart into delivering a new generation of characters for us to love, and love them I shall.
