Love Live! School Idol Project

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 giveit 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 depth from what I remember. Rin Hoshizora is the last first year and Hanayo's best friend from their childhood. Rin has the same liveliness as Honoka and has that cat-like cuteness that some anime characters have: the cute cat smile, high pitched and playful voice. Again she doesn't have a ton of depth but I still love her character as much as all of the others'. VI Music The soundtrack for Love Live! Is just... I... I don't have a large enough, or refined enough vocabulary to do the music justice. Spirited, lively, energetic, peppy, bubbly, and beautiful is the best way for me to explain the music. I'm not a musical expert, I play bass guitar a little bit, and I love the music. The girls have the most gorgeous, beautiful, resonant voices that I've ever heard and I can't get enough of hearing all nine of these adorable girls sing. Each song is so full of energy that I want to start dancing with them, even though I'm a guy. On another note, I mainly listen to heavy metal, thrash metal, metalcore, hard rock, and classic rock but I love Muse's songs just as much as I love AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold, and Disturbed. If that doesn't say something about how amazing these girls are, then I don't know what does. The lyrics aren't as shallow as I thought they would be. The lyrics aren't very deep at the same time, but it's not easy to have deep lyrics for a peppy school idol group and keep the songs and performance entertaining and lively, now is it. I regret my lack of musical expertise and knowledge of musical jargon; I can't give Muse's musical talent the justice it deserves, so please go and check out the songs available on YouTube or watch the anime yourself so you can experience this amazing work of art. Conclusion I give Love Live! School Idol Project an 11/10 for its beyond outstanding ability to spread cheerfulness, the amazing and lovable characters, the jaw dropping animation sequences and the spectacular music. Love Live! Receives the Pandas Seal of Approval, a gold medal, and the #1 spot on my top ten favorite anime list. I would highly recommend this to anyone, of any age, because of how open it is to everyone. The second season is currently airing and episode 8 is scheduled to be released within the upcoming week.

"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 storywas 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 actuallyan 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.

“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 arefew 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 project. It’s LL’s soundtrack that possesses most of this show's promise; soothing and refined, the OST is stunning in its versatility. Not only does Love Live’s score contain acoustic guitar songs and piano solos but there are also big band pieces as well. Although LL tends to utilize the same five or six songs over and over, the music is still a joy to listen to. However, when you’re not enchanted by Love Live’s score, you're left in awe by the artificiality of it all. Like a bouquet of silk flowers, there is very little authenticity in Love Live; its worldview is far too picturesque, too quixotic, for its own good. In the world of Love Live, conflicts are resolved entirely through dogged persistence, flashbacks galore, BS logic, and the power of friendship. Any chemistry issue within the idol group is negated by the characters constantly complimenting one another. “You’re the best!” “No. I’m not that special. YOU’RE the best.” NO; YOU’RE THE BEST!” I’m almost positive that roughly 70 percent of Love Live’s script is composed of exchanges like that. When Honoka’s idol group wish to compete in the School Idol Tournament, the school director allows them to do so, no questions asked. She doesn't explain to them the financial costs of this decision to them nor does she schedule a meeting with their parents and teachers to determine whether or not this course of action is wise. If you thought that was an egregious example of a show bypassing logic for the sake of moving the plot forward, then, boy, do I have news for you. Love Live managed to land the jackpot in logical fallacies twice during the same episode. The first was the aforementioned example with the school director. The second? Well, allow me to explain. The director has permitted Honoka’s group to participate in the School Idol Tournament only if everyone within the group lands a passing grade on an upcoming test. Because of this, everyone is diligently preparing for the big day, with Umi, Kotori, Maki, Hanayo, and Nozomi tutoring the academically challenged members of the group, specifically Honoka (she possesses the intellect of a second grader despite being in high school because of anime logic). After everyone finishes their test, the idol group members convene to share their scores with one another. They quickly discover that every member passed; however, Honoka hasn’t shared her score with anyone. As the group begs her to reveal her grade, a few members express regret that their efforts will be worthless if Honoka failed. It is right then and there that Honoka dramatically unveils the graded test that was concealed behind her back. With the inspiring orchestral strings blaring in the background and a larger-than-life grin plastered on Honoka’s face, her graded test is revealed…. to have a score of 53. I would like to note that, in Japan, a 53 is a failing grade, just like it is in the rest of the world. As far as acts of stupidity are concerned, this was simply breathtaking. That Love Live treated Honoka’s score like some sort of grandiose achievement is not only absolutely hilarious but it’s quite perplexing as well. What was the criteria for passing? To answer correctly more than half of the questions? Did the teachers accept Honoka’s test as a passing grade because he/she pitied Honoka? Was the teacher bribed by Honoka’s parents to pass her? Now that I’m thinking about it, I know exactly why Honoka passed: because Honoka is Love Live’s protagonist and presenting her with a challenging obstacle is far beyond LL’s capabilities. During Love Live’s final three episodes, the narrative attempted something new, gravitating towards poorly handled melodrama like a moth being drawn towards a burning candle. The result was the nadir of a thoroughly average title; Love Live’s emo phase flopped because it was overbearing (especially with the histrionic soap opera that was episode 12), because it was extremely jarring (completely antithetical to a series that, up to this point, was directed towards maid cafes and pillow fights), and because it disappeared the instant that Nico ordered Honoka to stop being angsty. Amidst all of the melodrama, Love Live’s finale introduced us to the highlight of the entire series, a truly beautiful scene with Honoka and Umi reminiscing on the stage of their first concert. It reminded me of what the underrated western Justified used to excel at, simply placing two characters in a given setting and allowing its masterful script to take it from there. With the aforementioned scene in Love Live, there was no overpowering song in the background, no special effects, and no unnecessary camera angles. It was just Honoka and Umi shooting the breeze. As I was watching all of this unfold, I thought to myself, “Why couldn’t Love Live bother to do something like this before?” If Love Live really is the best that the idol genre has to offer, then I certainly won't expose myself to more of its ilk. Yes, Love Live possesses an excellent soundtrack, a lovable character in Umi, and a spark of untapped potential or two. However, that is hardly enough to deliver it from my wrath. Not only does this show have a repulsive love affair with its protagonist but it treats every other character with the utmost contempt. Not only does this show appeal to the lowest common denominator but it also insults your intelligence. Not only does this show enrage with its wasted potential but it also shoots itself in the foot with its constant tonal shifts. Vapid yet infuriating, erratic yet meandering, bewildering yet unenticing, Love Live is a jack of many trades and a master of wasting your time. Dancing girls and flashing lights cannot redeem this scrap heap of mediocrity.