This is an edited version of a segment in my prior Re: Love Live Sunshine > School Idol Project that was reworked into a video script, with the script version now also hosted here for posterity.
While I may be years too late to the discussion, I adore this show enough that I want to talk about it regardless. Love Live Sunshine is a series that I say absolutely does not receive the credit it deserves in one key regard – the writing. It’s an idol show so this aspect is quickly dismissed for the simple claim that it’s only a shallow appeal to sell merch. Indeed were you to say that your favourite part of one is its writing then you’d receive more than a few questionable looks. But that is exactly what I’m here to say. While that claim may not necessarily be incorrect of the first series, I would adamantly challenge anyone who were to put this suggestion forward for Sunshine. The original Love Live School Idol Project was a happy-go-lucky story about μ’s pursuing an immediate goal to save their school from closing down. There are some hiccups, but it ultimately never betrays this underlying optimism. μ’s goes up and up and up – and they just aren’t really made to come back down. It’s an incredibly straightforward narrative that never strays from what one would predict of a show titled “School Idol Project”, and so one would expect a sequel to continue on in the same vein; Aqours forms under inspiration from μ’s, having a fun, equally straightforward time as they learn just what it means to carry the idol name. Accidentally saving their school along the way as they unite the community and spread cheer to all, while emulating the group that came before them. That’s how a School Idol Project sequel has to look, right? Surprisingly, this is far from the case. Sunshine is a very different beast that moves in rather dramatic directions. It goes places that one never would have expected it to go based on its predecessor, because Love Live Sunshine is not a story about the second coming of μ’s, it’s a story about Aqours’ harsh struggle to take root amidst the tumultuous sociopolitical circumstances left in their wake. It’s not just about what it means to be a school idol, but what it means to be a school idol in a post-μ’s world.
Sunshine may follow a different group in an entirely different time period, but is still very much a sequel to School Idol Project that engages with every facet of its plot and themes. Love Live Sunshine is a critical response telling the more fascinating half of the franchise’s story by being structured as an inverse of the original. It dedicates much of its runtime to exploring how Aqours is influenced and yet unique from the μ’s legacy, and therefore it expects the viewer to first have knowledge of µ’s as a finished product in order to properly understand the context they find themselves within. μ’s were an unknown school idol group that burst out of nowhere, rapidly climbing the ladder of fame and shining brighter than anyone else. They were the single light that enraptured all before them. Then one day they vanished just as suddenly as they appeared, burning out upon the stage like the most brilliant supernova, and leaving behind naught but a legend. What began simply as nine girls singing to save their school in Akiba snowballed into an unprecedented movement sweeping across the nation, and μ’s is transformed into this depersonalised mythos hanging over the entire franchise – the nine goddesses, as it were.
Fast forward five years and their legacy has continued to propagate without end, pushing the school idol scene to a size totally unrecognisable from before. To this day girls all over the entire country were still looking up at them and finding the inspiration to kickstart the careers. They had well and truly become the nine goddesses breathing life into a world of idols. Aqours is no exception to this. Its first generation was born from Dia’s adoration of μ’s, and the next from Chika’s. μ’s is the ideal they all aspire to – and this is perhaps the most interesting thing Love Live Sunshine does with its position as a sequel. Contrary to what one would expect from a second Love Live, it suggests that the obsession with μ’s is a bad thing.
This narrative friction unsurprisingly finds itself most strongly centred on the driving force of Aqours, our leader and protagonist – Chika. She’s the orange second-year leader, obviously she’s just going to be a repeat of Honoka, right? Once again, no. In fact that couldn’t be further from the truth. If we have to pin her as a parallel for someone in μ’s, the only option is Nico. She’s a girl weary of her mundane everyday, wanting to do something to alleviate her languor but not having any clue what. It’s not that she doesn’t love her lonely seaside town, but after living there so long she just craves some excitement. Chika’s been doing the same things in the same places all her life, country living in Uchiura never really changes. That’s why when she suddenly encounters school idols, the promise of extravagance lures her in. They were regular schoolgirls just like her, yet look how blinding they were! She so desperately wants to shine, to rise above the rural status quo she’d been trapped in all her life, and she seems to have finally discovered the way to do so. But the journey is not easy, and she frequently falters. As a vulnerable and surprisingly introspective girl Chika is simply not a parallel for the hopelessly optimistic Honoka. Any similarities one could attribute to them would only be skin deep. Though she does try to fill her shoes at first. Or more accurately, she tries to make Aqours into μ’s.
Rather than ‘how do we become the best Aqours we can be‘, Chika seemed to be more interested in asking ‘how do we become like μ’s’. Everything she did was in pursuit of this goal. Become idols because that’s what μ’s did. Gather nine members because that’s how μ’s was. Go to Tokyo because that’s where μ’s lived. It’s to the extent that when Uranohoshi’s future comes under fire she can only see this as a long-awaited chance presenting itself. Instead of being troubled at the fact her school community may very well disappear, Chika is ecstatic because she believes this event will help her get closer to the members of μ’s she admires so deeply. Saving the school with their school idol activities would be a huge step in chasing the legend, and that was all she could see. So they get to work making rough PVs and performing in whatever local venue would accommodate them. Within their little world they were beginning to feel pretty good about themselves. But when their small successes lead them to be invited to an event in Tokyo, Aqours is dramatically outclassed to the point Saint Snow remarks that they were insulting the Love Live with their shoddy performance – that they were insulting the stage μ’s created. The other groups had all been painstakingly refining their craft to near-professional levels, but the most Aqours could say was that this performance had their least amount of mistakes so far. In a later meeting Chika even has the gall to ask Saint Snow if they wanted to win the Love Live. The answer should have been obvious, but this at last fully reveals how up to this point everything had just been a method of reaching μ’s, rather than something she was personally invested in. She didn’t want to win, she just wanted to stand in the same place that μ’s once did. To take in the same sights and feel the same things. Yet it wasn’t enough. They seemed to be doing their best, but she could tell that no matter how hard they tried Aqours wasn’t even beginning to approach the level of μ’s. So what is it that made them different? This question weighs heavy on her. As one that may commonly be referred to as an idiot, Chika is usually the type to fight in the face of difficulty. Throughout the series we frequently see You taunting her into action by asking if she’s gonna give up. Bait her and she’ll bite nearly every single time. But this incident was clearly unlike anything before. She had finally been exposed for the fact that she was just a fangirl playing at imitating her heroes, and her house on the sand was quickly crumbling. You once again presses her by asking whether they’re giving up on being school idols, to which Chika can only remain silent and leave.
Her headstrong enthusiasm quickly evaporates, leaving her entirely unsure of how to proceed. She doesn’t want to stop being a school idol, but how do they bounce back from this? Their entire reason for existing had just been mercilessly cut down by Leah’s words. While trying to think through this she inevitably traces back to where it all began, that one special night where she first gazed upon her idols with sparkling eyes. In a rut Chika finally sees where they’d gone wrong. The main reason μ’s were so successful is because what they’d set out to accomplish was totally different. They loved each other and, above all, wanted to enjoy the stage together. True enough that saving the school was a factor for a time, but by and large it was as simple as wanting to have fun with their closest friends. They weren’t chasing after A-RISE, they were performing for their own sake, to dash down the unstable path before them and see just how far they could go together. Never looking up, but looking forward. That was the truth of the insurmountable gap that divided them. She has no choice but to accept that Aqours can never become μ’s, and that her initial motivation was the very thing holding them back. Frustrating as it might be, Saint Snow was right – Aqours were just messing around and treating the Love Live like a game. By interacting with the μ’s legacy she’s forced to confront her own shortcomings, and eventually emerges stronger for it. Chasing the light that can never be reached was a fool’s errand. By this point μ’s had long since made their mark on history, and as such it was impossible to intrude upon their world. Indeed Seira does acknowledge that many contemporary groups can actually stand up to them in terms of quality, but the changing era means their impact will never be matched. μ’s had been elevated into much more than just a simple group when they so mystically vanished from the stage. The Uranohoshi girls could never have become μ’s – and you know what, she’s starting to believe that’s okay. She still loves them and there’s no reason for that to ever change, but she at last begins to love Aqours too. After finally addressing the instability at the foundation of her group she’s at last able to look at Aqours itself, rather than just the shadow hanging over them from on high. In a symbolic move as they head into the first season’s Love Live qualifiers, Chika takes down the μ’s poster from her bedroom wall to declare that they will start anew in their own unique way.
Things seem to be on the upturn again as they increasingly pursue their own brand of school idol, reaching new heights and steadily garnering recognition. Playing to their own strengths has proved far more fruitful, turning Aqours into a real force to be reckoned with. But even that degree of success still isn’t enough to prevent their school’s closure. While μ’s had already secured Otonokizaka’s future by the end of season 1, Uranohoshi’s struggles continue on midway into season 2 where they eventually lose the battle. In the end it was too tough to overcome the difficulties their town’s isolation presented. With even their best efforts failing, the cast is once again at a loss. Where would they go from here? Can they continue being school idols, or do they have no choice left but to cut their losses and quit? No one in the group is brave enough to speak up. They had tried so hard, suffered through sweat and tears, yet still couldn’t keep it from slipping through their fingers. Aqours believed that the trust their classmates placed in them had been betrayed, and as a result the members begin walling themselves off from the others, drowning in the guilt of their once-smiling faces. But the thing is that they were the only ones actually blaming themselves for their failure, everyone else was purely thankful for how much they’d done. And so while Aqours is free-falling in despair, the aforementioned classmates decide to take action. A helping hand here was just about the only way they could give finally something back to those who had gone so far for them. Staging a much-needed intervention, they spur them into action by requesting their help to fulfill a new dream – to immortalise the Uranohoshi name within the ranks of Love Live winners. Not to be like μ’s, but to preserve Aqours forever. To write their own story, one that will always say “we were here”. And just like that, all the overwhelming negativity smothering them had been flipped on its head. What an incredible way to spin that terrible situation into a positive. These were exactly the words they needed to hear, and so they pick themselves back up off the ground. No rest for the weary, for their job wasn’t finished quite yet. With a renewed fervour the members accept their plea to blaze the stage, embracing the pain and regret of those who had so cherished that hallowed place, and then igniting those murky feelings as the fuel with which to shine more powerfully than ever before. Through their ultimate performance at the Love Live finals in commemoration of their lost home, Aqours bid Uranohoshi a glorious farewell with a legend all its own.
There’s an ever-present melancholy pervading the plot which they have no choice but to make peace with, and this becomes the defining difference between the two tales. Unlike those who came before and soared straight through to their eventual disappearance, Aqours face trial after trial. Rather than a simple highway to success, Aqours brave an ocean that threatens to sink them with every wave. They end up growing stronger through this adversity, and in the end successfully carve out their own place in the annals of school idol history. If μ’s was the single white light, Aqours are nine colours that become a rainbow. Through all their hardships these nine backwater girls had come to stand on the greatest stage, and as a result fell deeply in love with what it meant to be an idol. Where School Idol Project told the story of a group of strangers coming to love one another, Sunshine is the story of nine vulnerable people coming to accept their faults and love themselves. μ’s was a miracle that could only exist in that brief moment where everyone was together. Right from the beginning Nozomi had nurtured the group as a means to finally reach out to the girls she’d been watching for so long. But with Aqours you get more of a sense that they like being idols just as much as they like one another. And so in contrast to μ’s who felt disbanding was the only option once the third years left, the girls unanimously agree that they still enjoy it too much to so much as think about stopping. “Nine colours becoming a rainbow” means each member had more individual investment in their career, and additionally the generational nature of Aqours had been a component since the start. It was sad to see the members off, but ceasing activities was frankly never on the cards. Even when they inevitably get set back again at their new school, the six remaining members will struggle in order to find their place once more, they will shine as bright as they possibly can, and then if they manage to get any new members they’ll continue to pass the title down like Dia did in the past. Vanish upon the stage? Perish the thought. μ’s had deigned to leave nothing behind, but these girls were determined to do the complete opposite. Such is the answer they’ve chosen. With one last satisfied smile, the third years turn their backs and set sail.
This sentiment runs high through the last performance into the epilogue. The Love Live Sunshine franchise closes out with an after credits scene set some years later. We hear two unnamed girls from Numazu playing around on the beach while chatting about how stoked they are to start their own school idol club. They’ve come over to the shores of Uchiura for a change of pace. While there they become overwhelmed by the natural beauty, and feeling inspired by the legend around them choose to inherit the name of Aqours, thus setting foot on their own path toward radiance. By taking the name of Aqours these girls symbolically become the two missing students that Uranohoshi needed when it shut down, quietly fulfilling Chika’s dream of 100 students, and thereby proving to us that the Aqours of old had succeeded – Uranohoshi will live forever through the hearts and minds of those yet to come. If μ’s had set themselves on high as the goddesses, Aqours remain among the people. μ’s is the single bright light forever untouched, but Aqours becomes a brilliant rainbow leading into the future.
As a sequel Sunshine went above and beyond what was expected of it. With all its hurdles and bittersweet resolutions, the story ends up far more complicated than School Idol Project’s straightforward plot, and this setup works so well because we already have the triumphant tale of μ’s as juxtaposition. It’s by no mistake or oversight that Sunshine’s first season parallels School Idol Project so heavily, the comparison is a very deliberate plot vehicle serving as the most integral step for the Uranohoshi girls to find their footing in the school idol world. It’s a spot of tough love that lets them learn they can’t simply do the same things as µ’s. What happens to the group if the leader was someone as insecure and complex as Nico instead? How would they reach reconciliation if they were to fail to save the school? Sunshine interacts with the prior season in deep ways to weave an incredibly potent story, stemming from so simple a place in the previous work and yet somehow flourishing in such dynamic ways. Chika’s character arc, and indeed this entire sense of dissonance between the two groups, is a bold move by the writers of the show in how its development is all about moving away from an idolisation of µ’s, and I respect its willingness to step on the toes of its predecessor like that. By the time it rolled around the School Idol Project half of the franchise had deeply cemented itself in its niche with its highly beloved anime and popular concerts, so Sunshine could have easily chosen to rest on its laurels. It had no need to be so daring, but I am so glad that it chose to be as ambitious as it were. Love Live Sunshine is not quite in my top 10 list, though if we were to condense all three parts into a single entry then it certainly becomes a contender. It is however, one of the anime that means that means the most to me. It was very apparent that me and the writers were always on the same wavelength for how the story should proceed, and that made for an experience that was equal parts magical and memorable. A melancholic saga of narrative brilliance, and a well-realised rural setting that feels so much like home – back in 2016 I really wasn’t expecting to come out the other side considering it one of my favourite anime in regards to its writing, but well, here we are.
skapbadoa 