Love Live! The School Idol Movie

Hot on the heels of the third year students' graduation, μ's is invited to New York in hopes of spreading the joy of school idols to other parts of the world. Due to the events of the recent Love Live!, μ's has reached eminent stardom which results in crowds swarming them whenever they appear in public. With the increased attention, however, comes a difficult choice.

Having yet to publicly announce the decision they came to regarding their future, the young members of μ's are pushed to continue performing by rival group A-RISE, Otonokizaka High School, and even Love Live! itself. As leader, Honoka Kousaka is left wondering if the path they have chosen is truly for the best, as μ's must re-evaluate their choices and come to a final decision on what they want for the future.

Love Live! The School Idol Movie depicts the final chapter in μ's story as the girls explore just what being an idol means to them as well as the bond that connects the nine of them together.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nishikino, Maki Main

Pile Japanese

Yazawa, Niko Main

Tokui, Sora Japanese

Toujou, Nozomi Main

Kusuda, Aina Japanese

Minami, Kotori Main

Uchida, Aya Japanese

Sonoda, Umi Main

Mimori, Suzuko Japanese

Kousaka, Honoka Main

Nitta, Emi Japanese

Hoshizora, Rin Main

Iida, Riho Japanese

Ayase, Eri Main

Nanjou, Yoshino Japanese

Koizumi, Hanayo Main

Kubo, Yurika Japanese

Kira, Tsubasa Supporting

Sakuragawa, Megu Japanese

Makimoto, Yuki Producer

Hirayama, Tadashi Producer

Kyougoku, Takahiko Director

Miyake, Kazuo Episode Director

Reviews

Jan 16, 2016

Veronin

Recommended

Having put Love Live's final adventure off for weeks after weeks, afraid of meeting the end of the series, now, after finally gathering the courage to watch it, I am left with the thought that Love Live may be the best idol series created.

It's surprising how far the series has come over the past couple years. I'm not sure most people thought much about it when the first season aired, other than that it was your typical idol show with some cute girls and some cool tunes. But after the airing of the excellent second season, and now with the movie finally cementing what it ... is that makes the series so special for so many people, Love Live has established itself as one of the most significant series in the anime industry and present-day Japanese culture.

It would be foolish to claim that all Love Live has going for it is its popularity, however. It succeeds at being more than just a fun little idol show. Even if it may have a few minor issues, as all anime do, and even with the large layer of cheese surrounding some of its dialogue, Love Live is a truly heart-warming and excellently crafted anime, and I am very sad to see it end.

Love Live's movie is similar to the K-ON movie in many ways, particularly in its structure, as the trip to New York represents only a portion of the film's screen time. And, really, it is for the better that way. If all we saw were the girls of Muse having fun and singing around in New York City, it's likely it would feel like a mere spin-off rather than a meaningful advancement in the story and the characterisation. Love Live does advance the story-- it does give you something to care about, as it is not only an end for the girls, but also for the fans, as it is unlikely we will ever see anything involving these characters again, at least in the animated form. And that's hard to accept at times; there was a sinking feeling in my stomach that I don't often get from watching anime. But this is the way it should be. I'd be more than happy to see the girls continue their idol activities past high school, but it was the right time for this chapter to end. It is an ending I can be satisfied with, even if I do not want it to be over. And I don't.

While the TV series had a couple characters I wasn't too big on (particularly Nozomi), none of them felt bothersome or out-of-place here. They have all done enough to earn their place... though, certainly, I would not complain if my Nico were to hog all the screen-time instead. It was somewhat difficult to pay attention to what was going on since I would often start laughing like a crazy person whenever Nico appeared. I hadn't seen my glorious Nico in animated form for a year and a half, so it could not be helped. I was also a bit surprised at how damn adorable Kotori was; it appears I may have been blind and deaf when I was watching the TV series.

A great job is done at making New York City feel alive and bustling, with real locations modeled upon and with random pedestrians occasionally having their say. Seeing Honoka and the rest fumble around with their terrible English (ekkusukuzu mii!) in a futile attempt to communicate with Americans, is, unsurprisingly, pretty hilarious. By the way, I have no idea how the hell that one girl knew they were Japanese at first sight. Even I, having seen a whole heck of a lot of Asians in my lifetime, have some difficulty immediately telling a Japanese person apart from, say, a Chinese one. I'll just assume Random Blonde Lady is smarter than me!

It seems Love Live likes to experiment with the idea of being a musical, too, since the characters will sometimes bust out their dance moves all impromptu in the middle of the city, random Americans joining and signing along and all. It certainly adds some... uh, life and energy to the story, even if I would personally prefer they find a less silly reason to showcases their vocals. Love Live is obviously not aiming to be a perfect representation of reality, and that's just fine. Who needs reality, anyway?

The dialogue can occasionally be a bit cheesy (Honoka hopping and twirling around at the end, claiming she "can fly!", yay!), but this isn't nearly frequent enough to be a big deal. If anything, it'll just make you laugh a little bit. I don't expect all scenes to be perfectly mature and believable, because Love Live is a big series with big appeal, especially for young girls who normally enjoy that sort of thing. I don't feel comfortable taking that away from them. Love Live is fine as it is.

The songs are great and their performances well-coordinated (particularly at the very end with Nic-- with Muse dancing and tapping their feet along), but my one complaint is that the movie still uses some CG during these scenes. The CG doesn't look bad, not by any means, nor does it feel out-of-place (especially when compared with rival shows such as Aikatsu), but certainly it would have been nice if fluid 2D animation were used all the time instead, rather than most of the time. The animators could have gone all-out here, but they chose not to, presumably because of deadlines and other business-y things. Instead the movie looks merely good, rather than fantastic, which is something I'm still pretty OK with.

It is also worth noting that, unlike a majority of anime, Love Live actually knows how to time its background music in a way that feels appropriate - sentimental yet not melodramatic. It doesn't go overboard, but it does still make an effort, hitting the key moments of the track as it pans over the girls sitting and pondering their future in the club room, rather than screaming at the top of their lungs as most anime characters apparently have a fixation with. I don't think most people will tear up during these scenes, but it is quite hard not to have at least some sort of emotional reaction. Love Live knows knows how to convey emotion to its audience when it wants to.

There are also a few subtle visual tricks that add to the cinematic feel, like a young Honoka jumping before immediately cutting to present-day Honoka's foot slamming off the ground. These aren't details that are likely to cross your mind as you watch, but they do add up and give the experience more of an impact and a punch. It's clear the animators wanted to set the series off on a grander stage than it started on.

The Love Live movie is a hell of a time, and is easily the most fun I have had with an anime since Shirobako finished airing. I came in expecting nothing more than to see more of my Nico doing her thing and being the beautiful lady that she is, and while there certainly was a decent amount of that, there's far more here, too. Love Live wanted to end on a happy note rather than a sad one, and it did a fantastic job at doing so. I've had a lot of fun with you, Love Live, and while I don't know if I can let go, I can at least say goodbye.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 22, 2015

-Remix-

Mixed Feelings

When I started to watch Love Live!, I was extremely skeptical of how the plot would play out. I'm not really into the whole idol culture but I wanted to keep my mind open and give Love Live! a shot. And boy am I glad I did. Now I can at least appreciate what idols have to undergo.

The movie, which builds off plot-wise immediately after the second season, uses the same kind of group dynamic that was present in the second season. Although this form of group dynamic doesn't change much from the second season (or ever, lol) you could almost feel the charisma beaming ... from the group. The characters, despite the fact that their personalities are clearly drawn from stereotypes/archetypes, clearly mesh together very, very well. They complement each other and this is reflected through their dialogues and reactions.

As for the sound, well, this should be pretty self-explanatory. What would a music-themed anime be without, well, music? One interesting thing that this movie does differently from the prequels is that there is a much heavier emphasis on the sound. In the previous two seasons, the songs were still there (and done very well, if I may say so myself) but they served more to advance the plot as a whole. In the movie - for a lack of a better phrase - the μ's break out into song based on the situational context that they are in. Basically, think High School Musical all over again. Is this done well? I think so - it certainly adds new flavor to the entire series, but that is my own personal opinion.

Now for the cons. Bear with me for a bit.

The plot itself had a rougher execution than the second season. There were some parts in the movie where the plot was rushed to some degree. For example, consider the transitioning scenes from New York (where they are at Times Square) back to Japan (where they are meeting fans at the airport). To me, these scenes were kind of thrown together into an incoherent mess. Although you could tell what was happening at any given moment, sometimes the plot jumped from Point A to Point B inconsistently. These scenes needed to be flushed out more so that viewers can more easily comprehend what is happening.

Another thing I didn't really like was how the movie was piecemealed into two parts - one part in NY and the other back in Japan. The connection between these two parts of the movie needed to be more clearly established. True, perhaps their trip to NY served as inspiration to the Idol festival in Japan, but this was not really flushed out well. If the movie left out the entire adventure in NY, could the rest of the plot been executed in the same way? Perhaps. Maybe some of us wouldn't like that, but it's still possible.

One last thing: the symbolism. Okay, I know this movie tries really hard to integrate some kind of deep symbolism that was not present in the first two seasons of Love Live! But if you're like me, just an average anime watcher, the symbolism completely flies right past you (e.g. the street singer in NY). Symbols don't necessarily have to be obvious, but they should be incorporated into the plot in a way that still makes sense. But kudos for trying.

Overall, definitely a nice way to end Love Live! But is it on par with the second season? I argue not.

tl;dr

Pros:
+ Good music
+ Crisp art, like always
+ Good group dynamics
+ Some development, especially when the μ's explore their identity, but definitely not on par with the development in the second season

Cons:
- Some parts of the plot transitioned poorly (i.e. were rushed), making it difficult to follow
- Connection between NY + Japan somewhat unclear and needs to be flushed out more
- Symbolism present but difficult to interpret

Story: 4
Art: 6
Sound: 9
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 7
Overall: 5

*Note: I put a heavier emphasis into my rating on story and characters. Mwahaha.*

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jan 14, 2017

brynolf

Not Recommended

Love Live took off great with the brilliant 1st season, started to stumble with the 2nd, and lands in a real belly flop in this movie. I'm really quite sad to see it end this way.

What got me hooked from the start of the 1st season was the CG song/dance performances, and this movie lacks most of that. There are some CG left in the movie that looks cool but mostly it is just "regular" animation. The graphics are good, don't get me wrong, but I really liked that kind of 3D choreography with vividly moving camera angles that the first season brought.

Sadly I didn't ... like the music either. The first two seasons had some ups and downs regarding song quality, but in this movie, none of them hooked me. At least the voice acting is alright as always.

The plot is overly simple, un-dramatic and feels mostly like an afterthought. Half of the movie is just cute but non-funny comedy, the other half is cute but rushed, non-dramatic drama. The characters that carried a big part of the two previous seasons don't get much time to bloom, and the time they do get is mostly wasted on shallow "comedy". There really are too many members of Muse; sure they all have different personalities and all, but at least some of them could have been trashed to make room for the rest.

At least it looks good. NYC really gets a fair treatment and the girls are as alive and well designed as ever.

The only thing I actually enjoyed was Hanoka's "new acquaintance", a really beautiful symbolism that could have made a bittersweet ending even more sweet (Not that the ending actually WAS bittersweet, but I guess that's the direction they were aiming).

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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