Love Live! How An Unlikely Idol Anime Touched My Heart
Love Live! School Idol Project is a slice of life anime that originally aired in 2013. Based on a manga series which launched in the August 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine in Japan, the series has since gone on to produce not only the anime itself but a slew of other projects.
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to visit Japan in 2017 and happened across the game in one of the many arcades in the Shinjuku area. Of course, I had to play it.
This includes a spin-off anime called Love Live! Sunshine!!, music CDs, music videos and even video games. There's rhythm based arcade title Love Live! School Idol Festival ~ After School Activity~ for example. I know, catchy title right?
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to visit Japan in 2017 and happened across the game in one of the many arcades in the Shinjuku area. Of course, I had to play it.
Unfortunately, I wasn't very good at it! That said, this particular genre of arcade game in Japan is incredibly popular. Unsurprisingly, more so with middle-aged business men who seemed to dominate every machine I saw.
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| Me in the middle! |
So why did I feel the need to play a game based on a group of teen idols when I have little to no interest in real life idols? Mainly because it's an anime series that affected me in ways I didn't think it would.
~Naturally, there are spoilers ahead~
~Naturally, there are spoilers ahead~
I began watching Love Live! on a whim but it wasn't long before I was humming along to the theme song. I enjoyed all of the character quirks and I was really rooting for them to succeed. The show begins with a high school student called Honoka. She becomes disillusioned with the fact her school, Otonokizaka Academy is soon to be closed down. This is a real issue in contemporary Japan due to the falling birth rate. Many schools are being forced to close down or merge with other schools due to fewer applications.
This undiluted honesty regarding a current crisis is why the manga and anime have been so popular in Japan. It's also why you're so willing as an audience to root for her.
Honoka-chan has a younger sister who is unable to follow in her footsteps in attending Otonokizaka Academy. One day, Honoka-chan visits UTX, the school her sister has applied to and finds herself immersed in a huge crowd who have amassed to watch a music video by the idol group, A-Rise. She discovers they attend UTX and are a huge influence on the high number of applicants to the school.
Learning of their popularity, Honoko-chan decides she wants to become an idol to save her school from closure. She starts a school idol group called μ's (ミューズ Myūzu, pronounced "muse") and they become determined to save their beloved school.
The determination and wilfulness of Honoka-chan is at the heart of this series. Her resolve and perseverance inspires the other members to work hard and do their absolute best...or their rubesty (you'll get it when you watch Love Live! Sunshine!!). They eventually hear about the ultimate idol competition called Love Live.
Naturally, they enter in the hopes of raising their school's profile. The series follows this progression and culminates in their success. However, not in the way you think. When these girls fail, they fail haaaard. But that's what makes it so deeply satisfying when they win. Even their small wins are joyous.
Of course, this show is also full of serious moments undercut with comedy. From Nico's ridiculous catchphrase, "Nico Nico Niii" and her over the top persona to Honoka-chan and her apparent natural laziness and clumsiness. You'll grow to love each character but will undoubtedly find a favourite to stan (mine is Nico closely followed by Honoka).
There are moments in the show where the usual anime themes and tropes lead you to a crescendo that never comes. That's what makes the series feel so real. It's grounded in realism and things don't pan out like you want them to. You expect the group to reach the dizzying heights of success only to see them fail or doubt themselves at crucial moments.
But they get back up again and again, overcoming setback after setback even when it all seems pointless or without hope. The determination these characters possess is inspiring, the namesake μ's (albeit hard to read) is most definitely accurate.
The scene featuring their first performance is particularly poignant and will resonate with anyone who creates any form of art. After months of hard work, practice and training they walk out on stage only to be confronted with an empty auditorium. IT BROKE MY HEART. 💔
I sobbed for μ's but mostly I think I was crying for myself. I was crying for my own disappointments, for all those times I've put my heart and soul into something only for it to amount to nothing. All the times I've made the effort to create something only to end up feeling like I was never good enough in the first place. Or that my best just wasn't enough.
Worse still is when they do eventually succeed, the girls end up disbanding and you're left feeling lost and want to tell these characters how big a mistake they're making! The spin-off series Love Live! Sunshine!! follows a group of girls who become inspired by μ's and when that was first established, all of the emotional turmoil I'd been through in the original series felt worth it.
Thus, I began it all over again with the band Aqours (アクア pronounced "aqua") in Sunshine!! The ups and downs of Love Live! especially those gut punch moments make this show and Sunshine!! an incredibly emotional ordeal to watch. I don't see that as a negative though, so please, go and watch it for yourself.
This undiluted honesty regarding a current crisis is why the manga and anime have been so popular in Japan. It's also why you're so willing as an audience to root for her.
Honoka-chan has a younger sister who is unable to follow in her footsteps in attending Otonokizaka Academy. One day, Honoka-chan visits UTX, the school her sister has applied to and finds herself immersed in a huge crowd who have amassed to watch a music video by the idol group, A-Rise. She discovers they attend UTX and are a huge influence on the high number of applicants to the school.
Learning of their popularity, Honoko-chan decides she wants to become an idol to save her school from closure. She starts a school idol group called μ's (ミューズ Myūzu, pronounced "muse") and they become determined to save their beloved school.
The determination and wilfulness of Honoka-chan is at the heart of this series. Her resolve and perseverance inspires the other members to work hard and do their absolute best...or their rubesty (you'll get it when you watch Love Live! Sunshine!!). They eventually hear about the ultimate idol competition called Love Live.
Naturally, they enter in the hopes of raising their school's profile. The series follows this progression and culminates in their success. However, not in the way you think. When these girls fail, they fail haaaard. But that's what makes it so deeply satisfying when they win. Even their small wins are joyous.
Of course, this show is also full of serious moments undercut with comedy. From Nico's ridiculous catchphrase, "Nico Nico Niii" and her over the top persona to Honoka-chan and her apparent natural laziness and clumsiness. You'll grow to love each character but will undoubtedly find a favourite to stan (mine is Nico closely followed by Honoka).
There are moments in the show where the usual anime themes and tropes lead you to a crescendo that never comes. That's what makes the series feel so real. It's grounded in realism and things don't pan out like you want them to. You expect the group to reach the dizzying heights of success only to see them fail or doubt themselves at crucial moments.
But they get back up again and again, overcoming setback after setback even when it all seems pointless or without hope. The determination these characters possess is inspiring, the namesake μ's (albeit hard to read) is most definitely accurate.
The scene featuring their first performance is particularly poignant and will resonate with anyone who creates any form of art. After months of hard work, practice and training they walk out on stage only to be confronted with an empty auditorium. IT BROKE MY HEART. 💔
I sobbed for μ's but mostly I think I was crying for myself. I was crying for my own disappointments, for all those times I've put my heart and soul into something only for it to amount to nothing. All the times I've made the effort to create something only to end up feeling like I was never good enough in the first place. Or that my best just wasn't enough.
Worse still is when they do eventually succeed, the girls end up disbanding and you're left feeling lost and want to tell these characters how big a mistake they're making! The spin-off series Love Live! Sunshine!! follows a group of girls who become inspired by μ's and when that was first established, all of the emotional turmoil I'd been through in the original series felt worth it.
Thus, I began it all over again with the band Aqours (アクア pronounced "aqua") in Sunshine!! The ups and downs of Love Live! especially those gut punch moments make this show and Sunshine!! an incredibly emotional ordeal to watch. I don't see that as a negative though, so please, go and watch it for yourself.
One of the locations where the girls train and where the character Nozomi is a shrine maiden actually exists in Tokyo. Check out how accurate the animation team were!
My husband and I made the pilgrimage specially to Kanda Shrine in Chiyoda so that we could imitate μ's running up the steps to it. We thought we might be the only ones but it turns out we're not alone! This was my original Instagram post:
The shrine itself has embraced a surge in popularity and has seen a boost to the number of donations. There are prayer boards dedicated to the fictional characters of both the Love Live! series and other anime series. From wishing them well to simply being thankful they exist, the number of dedications is impressive.
Even now, I find it odd that this series left such a mark on me. I took time out of my holiday in Japan to visit a shrine I didn't even know existed until seeing it immortalised in an anime that I never even intended to become invested in.
I always appreciate when an art form strongly affects me (for better or for worse). But the fact a slice of life anime had the ability to illicit such intense emotional responses from me astounds me. That's why I'll always stan this series, why I own figurines of these idols and why I even paid homage to the show at Kanda Shrine.
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| Kanda Shrine during my trip to Japan in 2017 |
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| Kanda Shrine as seen in the anime! |
The shrine itself has embraced a surge in popularity and has seen a boost to the number of donations. There are prayer boards dedicated to the fictional characters of both the Love Live! series and other anime series. From wishing them well to simply being thankful they exist, the number of dedications is impressive.
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| All the various prayer boards at Kanda Shrine, Chiyoda, Tokyo |
I always appreciate when an art form strongly affects me (for better or for worse). But the fact a slice of life anime had the ability to illicit such intense emotional responses from me astounds me. That's why I'll always stan this series, why I own figurines of these idols and why I even paid homage to the show at Kanda Shrine.
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| Me checking out the shrine |
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