A Rainbow over the Horizon - Being a Love Live! fan in 2020

I absolutely adore Love Live.

If you've talked to me over these past couple weeks you've probably heard me say the words "Love Live represents to me the expression of the things you love and are passionate about" and I wanted to take some extended time to talk about it because god knows I don't already talk about it ad nauseam. This series of singing and dancing lesbians has really taken over my life.

Over years of my life I'd heard mentions of Love Live, but had always dismissed it as something I'd never be into. All I really knew was that it was an idol anime. It wasn't until summer of 2019 that my boyfriend sat me down to watch all of School Idol Project and Sunshine. At that point I had already secretly known it would be something that would interest me, but only after I watched it I did I feel myself get really invested and could really call myself a fan. This anime about high school girls singing and dancing to save their schools and win the titular contest really roped me in and inspired me. I went scouring the internet for lots of fan-made content: things like art or fanfiction or even a tumblr blog dedicated to different opinions fans had that they’d anonymously confess.

They just grabbed my heart, you know?

It was wonderful and felt like a whole world had opened its doors in front of me. It was one that I had been blind to for years through my own choice, a choice I quickly regretted.

When becoming a fan of something so old, there’s years of content you miss out on. 

μ's and Aqours are incredible. Two hugely popular idol groups, both representing Love Live as a franchise. They'd been performing to thousands of fans over the course of several years in so many different ways; CD singles, live shows, and TV programs, to name a few.

Everywhere I looked there would be people discussing things I’d never been aware of. μ's was actually a real idol group? And did they really stop performing? Did people actually hate Aqours when they were new, and were they actually being finished off too now that the Sunshine anime was finished? What was Love Live Perfect Dream Project? What were all these songs and what was a sub-unit? There was an old Snow Halation PV from that long ago?

I’d become a Love Live fan, but I still felt like an outsider. I missed out on years of content, sure, but it all meant that much?

It turns out, that wasn’t a choice I would regret for long, but one I would embrace and appreciate just as much, no matter when I dipped my feet into Idol Hell.

So why is that? What’s happened in the past couple years to spark that kind of change? And most importantly,

What is it like to be a Love Live fan in 2020?

          

Before I talk about the impact 2020 has had for Love Live, I think it’d be best to go back and mention just what happened in the rest of 2019. The second half of the year holds two very important events that both shaped and inspired this piece of writing in the first place, and they'd be important for context so I don’t just seem like a dork rambling about Love Live. If I didn’t already.

I wanted to be captivated by something... That something was...

On August 5th and 6th, several American theaters were showing Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over The Rainbow fully subbed in English and was the first opportunity we really got to see the movie from the beginning of the year in America. It was such a big deal to Love Live fans and I remember even though I was new I tried my best to find a way to schedule a trip to see it in theaters. Over the Rainbow came at that exact moment where I was trying to explain to the people in my life what being an anime fan was, so it was hard to actually get to see it in theaters. Personally I'd have to cross the border into America to see it, but at this point? I was willing to do that for Love Live. Even as I was slowly getting into the fandom myself, I remember seeing so many friends of mine talking about it on Instagram and it was one of those things that made Love Live more… real to me. It made me realize Love Live wasn’t just an anime series, but something bigger that lots of people loved, and it was sort of surreal.

While I was unable to go, my friend Em sent me pictures of the shikishi and passport she received at her theater!

This feeling would be pushed further on September 25th when Aqours released their 4th CD Single: Mitaiken Horizon. It’d be hard for you to find an Aqours fan who wasn’t excited for its release, and even as I started to pay less attention to Love Live around that time, no one could deny it had a big impact. The way I saw people talking about it, being this new memorable thing from Aqours, I started to understand. The talk about the music video, the costumes, the lyrics, and even the silly “Say Eat Pie” memes, these were completely new to the entirety of Love Live, and I was there for it.  I don’t think anything can express this feeling better than the very start of the music video, with visual references to all three Aqours singles before it, before leading into the start of the song. Those three had already happened, but the fourth wasn’t something I’d miss out on, because I was there already.

Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiterukai, Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM, HAPPY PARTY TRAIN, Mitaiken Horizon

I didn't pay much attention to the song at first. It'd be hard for me to say I was interested in any of the music from the series that wasn't an insert song in the anime. I had only heard the first single through the anime, and the second and third through School Idol Festival. Recently though, I realized Mitaiken Horizon as both a song and the accompanying music video has become another symbol of how much Love Live means to me.

While it may not be the biggest thing to happen for Love Live, Mitaiken Horizon is one of the biggest things to push me to embrace being a Love Live fan, and that feeling can’t be understated.

 

As 2020 set in and the new decade began, Love Live fans continued to ride the hype of a pretty major announcement. On December 15th of the previous year, it was announced that the previously known “Perfect Dream Project”, now formally known as the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club was getting a full animated TV series like School Idol Project and Sunshine before it. It was an announcement that it was no longer just a group of side characters to star in the upcoming and exciting mobile game, School Idol Festival All Stars, but that it was set to walk the same path as the two legendary groups before them. Nijigasaki was no longer a side project of just live performances, silly drama skits, and a mobile game anymore. They truly stood on the same legendary stage.

With the rise in popularity and relevance of Nijigasaki, new fans of the series weren’t left to play catch-up to what μ's and Aqours created...

We instead became the spearhead of a completely new generation of Love Live, just like the older fans did years before.

My excitement was at an all-time high.

Love Live as a franchise has truly been firing on all cylinders for the past two years. While 2019 seemed to be the year of Aqours and 2020 has been the year of Nijigasaki, μ's surely wasn’t taking a break either. In fact, they really did the opposite. 2020 celebrated the 9th anniversary of the series with a huge live concert known as Love Live Fest, featuring μ's, Aqours, Nijigasaki, and even Love Live Sunshine’s Saint Snow. Not only did they return for Love Live Fest after the group ended in 2016, but massive news came following the live where it was announced that μ's would release their first single in four years: A song for You! You? You!!. While the wait for the song to be released in a month wasn’t too long, it was something everyone seemed so excited about and I’d be reminded about it every so often just by hearing μ's fans talk about how much they couldn’t wait.

March came and not only was A song for You! You? You!! around the corner, the world was finally blessed with Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars, the previously mentioned mobile game which had been only available in Japanese for several months prior. The game gave us our first definitive look at the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club with them being the main cast of the game’s story chapters (as well as introducing a new player character, who had been nameless at that point), and full 3D lives featuring all the girls from μ's, Aqours, and Nijigasaki. All Stars, which I’ll be referring to as simply “SIFAS” is the biggest thing I credit with making me a big Love Live fan, and the fact I’ve been playing it a lot recently contributed to the fact I’ve wanted to write this. I remember pre-installing the game before the server was even open, and wanting to play it so bad for that handful of days. It’s something I’ve been sharing with friends because let’s face it, it’s way easier to show someone “Hey my gacha luck is trash” rather than sit them down to watch a season of anime.

Not only has SIFAS seen multiple constant updates throughout the year in the forms of new events, costumes, and story chapters (even including new main cast characters like Shioriko Mifune) it’s felt really easy to connect with other people playing it, especially with the use of social media and the fact the game has an in-game friends list so I can add people. SIFAS gave me a pretty major opportunity to both gush over my favourite characters and find new ones.

Before this turns into a review of SIFAS I want to bring attention to one of many events the game allowed for. The newly introduced player character was only referred to as “Anata-chan” by fans and had no official name, so an official poll was held to decide on the name of the character. Polls were nothing new for Love Live at this point, especially with Nijigasaki which had been filled with polls to name the group’s sub-units, and they stretched back all the way to the start of the series, where a poll was held to decide on the name of μ's years ago. Aqours had also been holding popularity polls to decide on the center girl for their single songs, like the previously mentioned Mitaiken Horizon. But this was the first time we got to decide something so major about a character, like their name. “Anata-chan” needed a name, and the new generation was happy to lend their voices and give her one: Yuu Takasaki.

Personally, I just hope "Anata-chan" becomes an old joke.

The rest of the year went on filled with various events: notably Saint Snow's first single, Shioriko's inclusion into SIFAS, and Aqours releasing a collection of new duo and trio songs as well as solo albums. These were all wonderful events for Love Live fans in 2020, but there was still something bigger on the horizon we were all waiting for throughout the year. The wait was long, especially for the new generation of fans, but now that wait was over. It had finally arrived: the Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club anime.

I've been enjoying the anime so much to the point where I've been telling friends I'll watch other shows only when Nijigasaki is over. I've been talking about it whenever I get the chance and sharing my thoughts on each episode on social media. But more than that, the Nijigasaki anime feels like an experience. It’s the same experience these generations of all these older fans have gone through, and experiencing it myself, it’s kinda the final piece of the puzzle that allows me to say, I don’t feel like any less of a Love Live fan for starting when I did. I wanted to write this while the anime is still airing so that the thoughts I have are still fresh in my mind. Notably, how the characters make me feel.

I've always had this secret love for Ayumu, ever since March when SIFAS dropped and the anime has only made that love grow.

No, I wasn't going to go a whole article without talking about my best girl. We all know I wasn't.

While I could talk for years about what I love about her as a character, the passion both SIFAS and the Nijigasaki anime has given me for her is what's most important here. They both allowed me to learn more about her character and connect with her. They allowed me that experience old fans had of choosing their best girl and watching them develop, or getting emotional in a heavy scene with them. I had felt like this previously watching Sunshine when I fell for You Watanabe, but this was different in a way. Sunshine was already finished by the time I started watching it. But having to wait a whole week with the world not knowing what came next? I think that contributed a lot to how I feel about Ayumu now.

Not only did I learn to love Ayumu through the anime, but it also made me more confident to express that love. I think that's really what being a Love Live fan is about, expressing the love for the characters, music, seiyuu, or whatever it is you love most about Love Live to connect with others. This year has been an amazing year to find what you love about Love Live, both old and new, and it's brought people together like nothing else.

People theorizing about what will happen in the next episode, how things will change with a certain character or what difficulties they’ll face and where the plot will go, it’s something I thought I had really missed out on by becoming a Love Live fan after School Idol Project and Sunshine had ended with both of their movies. I’m so excited to see where the season ends and what happens in each episode, and I’ve been sharing my own thoughts through social media as the season progresses. And in a way, this is the same feeling that fans from years ago were able to experience. The anime's insert songs have made me more interested in the music of Love Live especially, and I've been quick to find my favourite songs. I'm not sure how much music I'd ever end up listening to if it wasn't for Nijigasaki.

Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is pretty much a soft reset for the series, and there doesn't seem to be any mention of School Idol Project or Sunshine anywhere. If you're interested and haven't watched Love Live before, I recommend it as a good starting point.

With the first season of the Nijigasaki anime ending this Saturday, CD singles of the songs featured in the anime following it, and a likely second season on its way sometime in the future as well as the non-stop flood gate of SIFAS content on its way, Nijigasaki is new, exciting, and just spreading its wings for the years to come. To put it lightly, 2020 was an amazing year for Love Live with so much to get excited about. With μ's returning in March, Aqours showing no signs of slamming on the brakes, and Nijigasaki paving this road for the future, being a new fan of Love Live isn’t about missing out on what’s happened. It’s about the excitement of what’s to come, and experiencing what comes our way.

We don't know our answer yet, but... Let's walk together forever.

Love Live’s future is a Rainbow over the Horizon, and the fans of Love Live, starting from 2010 to 2020, are more than eager to see where that rainbow leads.

So, what’s next for Love Live?

A lot of it is speculation at the time of writing this. We know the Nijigasaki anime will end its first season soon and while a second season is very likely with School Idol Project and Sunshine both having two seasons and a movie, it’s not confirmed what the future will hold for the Nijigasaki anime. I’d heard rumours Shioriko would be involved in the Nijigasaki anime in episode 11, but her lack of introduction throughout all of season 1 either means she’d be included in a second season, or they’ll put her in episode 13 and I’ll wallow over my embarrassment for the upcoming months. She’s really a ghost in Nijigasaki because she appears in some media like the music and SIFAS but not in the anime, so I think if there’s any symbol that represents the future of Nijigasaki’s anime series, it’s Shioriko.

...And whatever might happen in episode 13.

In terms of music, the world is waiting on the rest of the Aqours solo albums as well as future events the group has planned, including the unfortunately cancelled AZALEA Unit Live Adventure, the online live White Island, and a planned dome tour. Though honestly, we can’t really make confident plans for live performances with the way things are right now. With Nijigasaki however, there’s a lot of upcoming content in the release of singles for insert songs in the anime, more sub-unit songs (as I’m sure Power Spot will be released by the time of posting, and with Kakushiaji on its way, we’ll get a new QU4RTZ song at some point and sub-units won’t be slowing down either) and likely some kind of release for Nijigasaki’s recent second live from back in September as well. A curious thing to note is Shioriko is now involved in the music of Nijigasaki with her own solo song, Ketsui no Hikari, the new Tokimeki Runners which now includes Shioriko, and the new full album, Just Believe!!!, but she’s yet to be incorporated in any sub-unit. Lots of speculation to go on there.

Seriously. Who are you and why do I not have you in my SIFAS account yet?

I think we’re all uncertain about the future for μ's as well. We haven’t had a song from them since A song for You! You? You!! though it was recently added to SIFAS this December. I’m not sure we have any answer to whether their performance in Love Live Fest and the release of the song was a one-time return, or if anything’s to come from them in the future. Uncertainty is the best word I can think of to describe the situation.

There’s no way I can talk about the future of Love Live without mentioning Liella. This new group was recently teased this year, and given a proper name months later, and this seems like the next step for the series once Nijigasaki is over, or maybe even while it’s still happening. All we’ve learned so far is they’re involved in an upcoming series known as Love Live Superstar, their characters and cast, and that they’ll have their first single released in Spring of 2021.

From what it seems, fans are uncertain of Liella and I’ve seen a lot of varying opinions of them, but I think it also mirrors how people seemed to feel about Aqours once μ's was gone. Are you excited? Hesitant? How do you feel about Love Live Superstar? I’d love to hear your opinion, so let me know!

Personally I'm waiting to make a decision, but it does feel too soon. Nijigasaki just started to pick up speed...

Regardless of where the future of Love Live as a franchise leads us, it’s a trip I can say I’m happy to be on, and after expressing all these feelings, I can say I’m just so excited. Whether you’re a long time fan of Love Live from the very beginning, or you’re not even in the fandom and just reading this because you were interested in what I’ve been going on about for the past several days, I think Love Live is something very special that we can all welcome and experience together, no matter how old or recent it may be.

Hell, Snow Halation just turned 10 years old, and everyone’s been partying about it. ❆

TODOKETE!!

 

Thank you so much for reading! This has been a big passion project I’ve wanted to do since the start of the month and I’m so happy I finally got around to it. I really haven’t been shutting up about it since I decided I wanted to and it took some time to really figure out how I wanted to present this, or if I should even do it at all.

If you're interested in more, or just want to see someone talk about Ayumu Uehara for ridiculous amounts of time, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram as @akari_uehara.

I want to give some thanks and reference all the sites I used for research:

First, to the companies and people responsible for making Love Live exist in the first place. There are probably too many to name and I don’t know them too well, but from people like the writers, directors, seiyuu, and general staff, thank you. If Love Live didn’t exist I’d have nothing to talk about.

Second, to my boyfriend for getting me to actually watch Love Live and putting up with my silly dumb rambles about it, because if it weren’t for you I’d probably still be denying it’d be something I’d be interested in. You gave me the biggest push when I needed it most and it was what made this whole thing real to me.

Third, to direct contributors of this writing, my good friends Jack for beta reading this massive thing and helping give me guidance about direction and Em for confirming the date for the American screening of Over the Rainbow and sending me the pictures of the shikishi and passport from the theater, because I really appreciate you both. I want to also thank ItionoBen for being a huge inspiration and giving me confidence in this kind of writing.

Fourth, to all my friends who are into Love Live who I’ve had the pleasure of talking to recently, Mizu and Lastuli giving me a lot of opportunities to enjoy something like Love Live with other people, and giving me the confidence to express what I’m passionate about.

And finally, to any of my other friends who aren’t into Love Live. I appreciate you putting up with my passionate ramblings about how I’ve been enjoying the Nijigasaki anime or going on and on about how I love Ayumu or how bad my SIFAS gacha luck is. I’m genuinely surprised if any of you read this far in but the support really helped me make this and stay confident.

Information sources:

https://love-live.fandom.com/ (For release dates on so many things. Mitaiken Horizon, the announcement of the Nijigasaki anime, Love Live Fest, A song for You? You! You!!, and Dazzling White Town. They also assisted with so much research and gave me information on CD singles and live shows, and detailed history of Nijigasaki specifically. This literally would not exist without how well documented everything on that site is.)

https://www.facebook.com/ZehelSIF (For the release date of SIFAS chapter 17 in the WW server so I could properly reference it when talking about Shioriko)

https://www.amctheatres.com/movies/love-live-sunshine-the-school-idol-movie-over-the-rainbow-60964 (for the screening date of Over the Rainbow in America)