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Feb 18, 2017
It's no secret by now that the SAO anime series was basically lackluster at best, combining lazy writing with shallow characters and only getting so much attention because of its brilliant character designs and astronomical production values. Ordinal Scale, though, was surprisingly good. Why?
Because for the first time, SAO became action-centric, rather than plot- or character-centric.
The TV anime focused heavily on its characters. The climax of the Aincrad arc was not Kirito beating the game (spoilers, I guess), but his last scene with Asuna. The Fairy Dance arc focused on its plot, and the Phantom Bullet and Mother's Rosario arcs were basically character studies. Since
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these things were written poorly, these arcs were poor as a result.
By the time Alicization came around, Kawahara learned how to write a good plot, and SAO Progressive marked his transition into writing good characters. It's an absolute joy to read about Kirito and Eugeo's exploits in Underworld, compared to the tedium of his harem in Aincrad.
By comparison, Ordinal Scale's plot is extremely simple and straightforward, largely serving as an excuse to serve up action scenes. It centers around a consumer-grade AR device called the Augma, presumably a precursor to Accel World's Neurolinkers (in more ways than one, as is eventually revealed). The conflict in the plot comes from the titular Ordinal Scale, an ARMMO for it. Think "Pokemon Go meets Aincrad," and you're in the right ballpark. Trouble befalls SAO survivors who die in Ordinal Scale, and it's up to Kirito to figure out what's happening and put a stop to it.
The villains are simple, cliche, and boring - you've seen them a million times before. Likewise, the new poster girl, Yuna, joins Yui, Eugeo, and Kizmel in Kawahara's growing list of "might as well just be human" AIs. The plot unfolds at a satisfying pace, utilizing a Mother's Rosario-esque structure. The story is completely self-contained. Basically, this is just another original anime movie for a popular anime. So why am I not giving this a five?
Because A-1 Pictures brought their A game on this one.
The action scenes are GORGEOUS. They're beautifully choreographed, making them easy to follow while simultaneously being fast and exciting. Even the final one, which was so fast-paced it'd put Sonic to shame, was an avalanche of awesomeness that I could enjoy without being confused. Captain America Civil War could've learned a thing or two from this movie.
Additionally, all the action scenes were backed by a frankly kickass soundtrack, noticeably getting me more excited than I would be without them. Say what you will about SAO, but you can't deny that it's always had amazing sound direction, and it really shows in this movie.
Don't get me wrong, though. There are plot holes. A LOT of them. How are these places in Tokyo empty enough for a bunch of LARPers to do their thing every night? Lemme tell you, I ain't ever seen the UDX plaza that empty, no matter how late it gets. How is the Augma not constantly making the news when people inevitably become spontaneously idiotic? Remember Pokemon Go? The Augma is supposedly even more prolific, and since it's a product, it's presumably here to stay. How are these make-believe battles actually making people recoil, making them encounter physical resistance to their movements (i.e. when they block an attack), sending them flying, and all these other things? How is Kirito - weak as he is in these battles - able to do even what he DOES accomplish? He is canonically a frail, weak, and slightly effeminate-looking nerd. In any other SAO production, I would not be able to forgive so many plot holes, which reek of the Kawahara who brought us the content of the TV anime. However, I can make an exception for Ordinal Scale.
The movie does not take itself seriously.
One problem with the TV anime is that it overblew the drama, making every single plot point feel like the end of the world. Ordinal Scale doesn't do that. It doesn't linger for longer than it should on any plot event, instead prioritizing constant movement to get to the next action scene. At one point, it even throws all logic and common sense right out the window, since it'd rather be awesome than have a coherent plot. The TV anime wanted you to take its stories and characters seriously, and that didn't work, since the writing was usually bad. By contrast, Ordinal Scale's writing is generally unremarkable (besides the litany of plot holes that perforate it like Swiss cheese), but it doesn't care. Rather than boast and brag and say, "Look at how great my story is," it instead directs your attention to the flashy and exciting fights. It just wants you to have a good time. Don't get me wrong - the fights were the best part of the TV anime too, but the difference is that Ordinal Scale WANTS you to focus on them. It succeeds at what it goes for, whereas the TV anime failed at what it was going for.
That said, there was no reason why there needed to be so many unexplained plot holes - even a comment in passing would have sufficed - so my final rating for Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale is a seven out of ten.
For all its flaws, it's hard to hate this movie, even for someone who's usually unimpressed by the SAO series. Existing fans will love it, and even haters might find something to like, too.
Also, what was up with that post-credits scene? Unless it spoiled the mastermind of the Alicization arc (which I haven't finished) or the Moon Cradle arc (which I haven't even started), then are we getting more anime-original content?
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 6, 2017
EDIT: People, people. I went and saw this in a movie theater. In real life. Please stop asking me where you can download it, because I don't know. Thank you!
As perfect as they were, I almost regret giving the other two movies tens, for now I have no numerical way of showing that this one is far superior to even them. Spoilers for those movies, obviously.
Anyone who's seen the main Monogatari series can tell you that the difference between pre-Kizu Araragi and post-Kizu Araragi is like night and day. The question, though, is this: what happened in Kizu to change him so dramatically? There were
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two catalysts: Hanekawa and Kissshot. In Nekketsu, we saw him learn the joy of true friendship when Hanekawa obstinately stuck by him where any sane human wouldn't have. In Reiketsu, we see the effect Kissshot had on him. This relied on buildup from the previous two movies - through them, the viewer and Araragi had to come to like Kissshot. But this is a review for Reiketsu, so I'll quickly move on to why that's important here and now. You know how Kizu has been devoid of the signature Araragi narration that pervades the main series? It comes back after a certain scene in this movie. My belief is that it's intended as a delineator between pre- and post-Kizu Araragi. "This scene is where the transition was complete." I don't want to go into further detail because I don't want to force my interpretation on you, but the takeaway from this paragraph is this: Araragi's character arc in Kizu is very cleverly done, making use of both female leads, who themselves have character arcs.
Readers of the book know that there's a very long talk scene in this movie (after the one I was just alluding to), meaning that Shaft has to pull out all their Monogatari tricks to keep the viewer's eyes open. And they do it well. The tone shifts at a moment's notice, with the OST and the animation style as its indicators, keeping it from becoming monotonous. The comedic timing was brilliant, enhancing jokes to be even more funny. The symbolism is cheesy and heavy-handed - to comedic effect. It was clear that Shaft knew they were being ridiculous with the symbolism in this scene.
This has nothing to do with Shaft, but the juxtaposition of the two talk scenes (both of which I talked about, believe it or not) really is brilliant. It's like a modified Hero's Journey template that has two Audience with the Father sections. It raises the stakes for the Ultimate Boon section.
Speaking of which, let's talk about that, shall we? The fight scene in this movie was a lot longer and more action-packed than I remember it being in the novel. Frankly, it was amazing. Several parts of it were somehow silly and badass at the same time. The best part, though, was that we knew our characters. They were both unique, well-developed, and interesting. Think about - REALLY think about the climactic showdowns you've seen and name one that fits all three of those criteria. Ain't easy, is it?
But as any reader of the novel knows, the real climax of this story is the very, very end. Remember that legendary narration from the last few paragraphs of the novel? They kept it. Every last word. A huge number of factors make it so that the end of the fight scene isn't also the end of the movie's tension. Your socks will be blown off.
After writing so much about this movie, it made me realize why I consider it so much better than the first two, though they were perfect too: out of the three Kizu installments, this is the one that feels most like a standalone movie. Its tone shifts multiple times, its pacing is extremely varied, and it feels like it has a proper climax. What was Tekketsu's climax? "Pleasure doin' business with you." It was hard to say that that movie was anything more than set-up (albeit very good set-up) for the next two. What was Nekketsu's climax? "I'm not a human anymore." The story was quite obviously nowhere near any satisfying endpoint, and we had two character arcs very openly unresolved. It was, again, hard to argue that it had merit as a standalone movie. These problems were borne of Aniplex's decision to cut Kizu into three, which is why they didn't affect my scores for the movies themselves, but it's worth noting why Reiketsu is so much better than Tekketsu and Nekketsu.
Now that I've talked at you for five friggin' hours, I'd like to end my review with this. Out of all the anime movies I've seen here in Japan so far (Kimi no Na wa, KnK, Nekketsu, Planetarian, Kagerou Daze, AC...), this is the only one where I've walked out of the theater and thought to myself, "I want to see this again, right now."
Oh, and there's no post-credits scene. Sorry! No "Owari S2 soon" or "Musubi in stores now" or anything.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 5, 2016
Who else /tohocinemasshinjuku/ here?
It would be more accurate to think of this as a thirty-minute preview for Mekakucity Reload than a movie. Jumonji is basically using this to try and convince people that they can do the Kagerou Project better than Shaft. And for the most part, I believe them.
Every aspect of this movie points to the fact that Jumonji is trying to perform a hard reset on the idea of a Kagerou Project anime. The character designs, for one thing, are notably different from how they were in Mekakucity Actors. There's the already-infamous Dorito chins, but Momo's hairstyle has changed completely, Konoha's hair is
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longer, Shintaro looks a bit older, Marry is now Mary, and everyone has narrower eyes. The voice actors are also different (I think), but most of the new ones are good. Seto's will take some getting used to, though.
As for the story, this is basically a reimagining of Jinzou Enemy/Mekakushi Chord. The basic premise of "Mekakushi-dan saves a department store from terrorists" hasn't changed, but the details of the Mekakushi-dan's counterattack are completely different. For one thing, Seto is there. Also, Hibiya, Hiyori, and Konoha are hanging around, and Shintaro takes a more active role in working with the Mekakushi-dan. Everyone gets a healthy amount of screentime, using their powers often.
Which brings me to my next point: this movie is for dedicated KagePro fans only. It expects you to know who the characters are and what their powers are. Newcomers, beware! This movie came off as an apology by Jumonji on Shaft's behalf for the abomination known as Mekakucity Actors. This new studio recognizes that fans didn't like seeing the exact same story as the songs for the majority of Actors, and their edits to Jinzou Enemy/Mekakushi Chord show that Reload is going to take the story in a different direction. Earlier I said that Jumonji is using this movie as a proving ground, and I think they succeeded. It's by no means an outstanding movie, but its animation shows that the studio has the technical skill to produce a competent KagePro anime. Jumonji's rewrites of the story show that they know how to breathe new life into the series, making me look forward to Mekakucity Reload.
As such, I give this movie a six out of ten.
It's nothing magnificent, but it's still good. Is it worth the 1800 yen it costs to see it? Uh... I don't know. That's kind of a lot for half an hour of content. Still, though, I enjoyed the experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 10, 2016
TOHO Cinemas Fuchuu on day one! Booyah!
Now that I've bragged about seeing it in Japan like all the other reviewers, let me tell you why you should watch this movie as soon as you can. But before I do, let me make something clear: this is not a love story. It was never meant to be a love story. It never tried to be a love story. Do not fool yourself into thinking this is a love story.
I, like many people, like to compare this movie to Kimi no Na wa. Kimi no Na wa had amazing animation, amazing music, and amazing direction, but the
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story and characters were very lackluster. In comparison, KnK has very unimpressive animation and unimpressive music, but the story and characters are extremely memorable.
The manga was seven volumes long, so obviously some things had to be cut. The "independent film" subplot was cut in its entirety. A hefty portion of Ueno's character development was cut. Greater focus is placed on Shouya and Shouko, and the other characters act as ways to develop our two leads. There was some content that I really wanted to see (the "Shouya grows up" montage, the *pomf* chapter), but was cut. But since the source material doesn't matter, let's see how the movie does on its own.
This movie does a very good job of developing Shouya's character. The flashback to his childhood is just long enough to give us a good picture of the atrocities he committed, but it's not so long that it drags on. The movie does stumble a bit by glossing over how he realized how horrible he was - a problem that could have been fixed if they left the aforementioned montage in - but other than that, Shouya's development is believable. The giant Xes on people's faces are... well, call them heavy-handed, but as a person who sees a little of himself in Shouya (as I'm sure plenty of people can), it's a very accurate way of showing how he sees the world. It should be blatantly obvious how these affect Shouya's character throughout the movie, especially at the end. The side characters - Nagatsuka, Yuzuru, Eyebrows, Ueno, and Kawai - were full-fledged characters with their own arcs in the manga, but are used here for Shouya and Shouko's development, such as during the bridge scene. Koe no Katachi is a story of redemption and learning to love yourself. It accomplishes this very well with its story developments, which I really wish I could go into without spoiling them.
Shouko's character development is not as obvious. In fact, you might miss most of it the first time you watch the movie. It's done in a show-don't-tell kind of way, with very few scenes where we get to see what she's thinking (perhaps as a reflection of Shouya's guilt for what he's done and hesitation to associate with her). Instead, revelations made by (and about) other characters prompt you to think back to Shouko's actions. For example, I'm sure many people won't understand why the "I love you" scene was in this movie, considering that no romance happens. I'll give you a hint: When Yuzuru reveals why she takes the kinds of pictures she does, think back to that "I love you" scene. Yes, you're really supposed to connect them. Additionally, you'll notice that Shouko acts the same way for most of the movie, always smiling or apologizing. There's a reason for this! An important one! The movie briefly mentions it, and it connects to her past. You're meant to feel pity toward her, and then take notice of how the story events make her change. For a (mostly) silent character, Shouko is very well developed. There were more examples in the manga, but some had to be cut for the sake of runtime.
These two intricate character arcs come together beautifully in the final few scenes of the movie in a way that can only be described as magical. The story was thought out very well, and KyoAni's edits to the original story (especially the ending) were quite smart. This is a very good movie, and you should watch it.
Now, again, a lot of content was cut. We didn't get to see Shouya go visit his old elementary school teacher to confront his past. We didn't get to see Shouko bring everyone together to finish Nagatsuka's movie. But they couldn't adapt everything without making the movie obscenely long, and I feel like they kept the most important content. The manga is very good, and I highly recommend it - it's one of the few manga I'd consider actual literature - but the movie is good in its own right.
So if I loved this movie so much, why am I giving it an eight? Production values. For a movie, the animation is... disappointing. It looks only slightly better than KyoAni's average seasonal anime. Additionally, the music is also lackluster, especially if you've just recently seen Kimi no Na wa. The theme song is downright grating, and no piece of the OST really stands out too much. And, as I mentioned earlier, there was a weak point in Shouya's otherwise great character arc. But the sheer brilliance of the story and the characters make Koe no Katachi a wonderful experience. You should definitely watch it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 10, 2016
(Spoilers for the first movie, obviously.)
Shaft continues to adapt the best Monogatari story extremely well. I'm giving it a perfect ten out of ten, but it does have a problem: the way it was presented. Kizu should never have been split into three parts. It just doesn't work, for reasons I'll discuss below. But that's Aniplex's problem, not Kizu's. So I don't count that against this movie.
The animation continues to be amazing. There's no single moment as glorious as the "Araragi on fire" scene from the first movie, but a great many scenes look very neat. Additionally, the voice acting and soundtrack continue to be
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on-point - which is no surprise. These VAs have proven themselves countless times over the course of this series. I shouldn't even have to tell you this.
The direction is noticeably good, especially in the comedy department. The comedic timing, the visual metaphors, the sound effects, and so on enhance the humor of each scene. Additionally, the fights are very well-choreographed. It's easy to tell where each character is at any given time (unless you're not supposed to), and the developments in each fight are believable.
The story here is geared heavily toward developing Araragi as a character and showing how special he and Kissshot are compared to other vampires. The "intensity as a human" theme in particular receives very heavy focus, with the story developments constantly encouraging the viewer to evaluate Araragi's "intensity as a human," in both a literal and figurative sense. Dramaturgy, Episode, and Guillotinecutter exist mainly as devices to illustrate how strong the iron-blooded, hot-blooded, and cold-blooded vampire really is - this is made clear immediately with the reasoning under which the Dramaturgy fight ends. As Araragi grows more accustomed to using his vampire powers, we learn more and more how strong Kissshot was, which leads us to think about how she got into her current predicament and what values she holds. Of course, the main focus of the character development is on Araragi and Hanekawa, and they get it in spades. I really shouldn't even have to talk about this.
Additionally, Kissshot gains the body of a teenager in this movie, so Shaft is now allowed to sexualize her. We get a nude shot, we get some thigh shots, and we even get some butt shots. Strangely, though, this is actually overshadowed by the Araragi fan service. The guy's a hunk! No wonder Hanekawa got so flustered when he took off his shirt.
Nekketsu gives us the action scenes that were promised in the first movie and provides nice set-up for the third movie, where the careful character development we've seen in our vampires will reach its climax. However, this begs the question: why did this have to be split into three movies? Other people have said this before, but Kizu is a very textbook three-act story. And a movie needs to have more than one act in it to be interesting - with only one act per movie, the tone is more or less the same throughout each one, until the next movie comes out and it changes. The Kizu movies are more suited to the binge-watcher than the theatergoer: it's much better to see all three in one sitting, with maybe short intermissions between each act.
In short, here's what I'm saying: watch this movie, but not yet. Wait until Reiketsu is in theaters near you. Watch Tekketsu, then watch this, and then go to the theater and watch Reiketsu. It's best to have the entire story fresh in your mind as you watch each one. And if Reiketsu doesn't come to theaters near you... well, at least watch this one right after Tekketsu, since it'll probably be hard to wait for the Reiketsu BDs.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 3, 2016
It would have been so easy for them to make this anime good. However, Sunshine takes what made the original series so magical and throws it out the window. If you've seen the original Love Live series, you probably shouldn't watch Sunshine. If you haven't... maybe you'll find something enjoyable in it? This review will contain spoilers for the original series, though, as you're supposed to have seen it already.
First, I should admit that the animation is amazing. It's definitely a step up from the original series, and you can see proof of that in the very first episode. That doesn't stop it from having
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CGI dance sequences, though. The only one that was fully hand-drawn was the performance by the "rival" idol group that is only relevant for about one episode.
The music is also amazing. As much as I love Muse, Aqours just has better singers. However, some songs do tend to bleed together. Yume de Yozora wo Terashitai sounds very similar to Mijuku DREAMER, for example. However, there is a fatal problem related to the music, which I'll go into in a little bit.
Now that I've talked about the good aspects of this series, it's time to talk about what killed it: the writing. Unlike in the original series, the MC here has no particular reason for becoming a school idol - whereas Honoka wanted to save the school, Chika wanted to be an idol for its own sake (a realization that took Honoka a long time to have). I have no problem with this - though it does make Kimeta yo Hand in Hand (the Susume->Tomorrow of Sunshine) lose a lot of impact.
But wait! There is a reason! Several episodes in, we learn that - *gasp* - the school is in danger. And this is when the problems with this series start to really show themselves. Simply put, Aqours is a bunch of Muse fangirls. They could hardly go a single episode without making a reference to them, and they were even HAPPY when they heard the bad news about their school - because now they could be more like Muse. This series lives in Muse's shadow and never really steps out of it.
Speaking of Muse, let's take a moment and remember why we loved that series. The original Love Live anime was a story of nine girls pouring in blood, sweat, and tears to protect the school that their families have been attending for generations. Then they poured in blood, sweat, and tears to be the best idols they could be. Then, once they were standing on top of the world, they poured in blood, sweat, and tears to ensure that school idols would live on forever.
Notice how much I said "blood, sweat, and tears." There were countless scenes of the characters practicing their dancing, worrying about costumes, asking Eli to coach them, and so on. We saw all the effort they put into their activities, which made their successes all the more rewarding. Sunshine has... maybe two practice scenes? There was one in episode eleven, and I think there might have been one or two brief ones earlier. The original series used the practice scenes for character development (and the performances, which I'll get to in a second), while Sunshine does character development in other ways. Which is fine, but we still need to see the girls practice. When their performances happen, they don't feel believable. It doesn't feel like they've earned it.
AND speaking of the performances, let's talk about why the ones in Sunshine were disappointing. In the original series, most of the performances (not quite all, but nearly all) were situated within the context of the anime. It was "okay, we're going to perform now," and then they performed. In season one, the only one that wasn't like this was Susume->Tomorrow. Since context was given for these performances, we knew that they were actually happening. We could focus on the lyrics - which were ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, as they often served to summarize or even develop the characters' feelings up until that moment. Who can forget the moment when Honoka, Umi, and Kotori performed START:DASH!! in an empty auditorium? Who can forget the moment when Rin led the team in performing Love wing bell? Not only did we see the characters earn their performances (as discussed above), but we also saw how their performances affected them.
In Sunshine, three of the six insert songs are just kinda... shoved in there. With no context. Even the movie had little segues into Hello, Hoshi wo Kazoete and ?<-HEARTBEAT. But Sunshine just plops the characters into stage outfits and shows them performing in some random place. We have no way of knowing if they're actually happening in-universe. How, then, are we supposed to take them seriously? Why are we supposed to care?
To be fair, episode eleven of Sunshine is good. We see the girls practice, we see their feelings develop over the course of the episode, and the insert song is rooted in the context of the story. Plus, its lyrics are extremely relevant to the characters' feelings. It felt like classic Love Live. It made me wish we'd been getting that all season.
Oh, I haven't even gotten to the writing yet. The writing is... man, I wish I could say it was good. But it wasn't. I talked earlier about the "save the school" plot being reused. I can't say I'm entirely opposed to it, but I feel like it would only have worked if they had been up-front about it. Bring it up in episode one. Don't fake us out and make us think you might be doing something different. But anyway! The constant references to Muse get old really quick. They happened so often that I thought they were set-up for a "we need to step out of their shadow and be our own group" realization, but that never happened.
And then there's the third-year subplot. This permeates the first half of the series, eventually being resolved in episode nine, and the tone is unreal. It feels very gloomy and depressing - very strange for Love Live. The rest of the time, the show's tone is exactly what you'd expect from a Love Live anime, and the juxtaposition is jarring and rough. It feels like the plot to a late-night drama got mixed into the happy, fun idol show. And when this subplot does get resolved, the reasoning behind the offending character's actions is very flimsy, hard to believe, and - frankly - insulting. When it was first revealed, my reaction was, "They expect me to buy this?" It left a lot of actions unexplained, it blatantly contradicted plenty of other scenes we'd seen in earlier episodes, and it just reeked of bad writing. And then, in the very next episode, Chika does the exact thing that this subplot condemned - and gets rewarded for it!
Oh, and let's not forget the yuribait. It was very heavy. In fact, I'm not sure it can even be called "bait." It was just plain old yuri (that never ended up going anywhere). Don't get me wrong - I love yuri. I own eight NicoMaki doujinshi. But it didn't add anything to Sunshine. The involved characters didn't gain any development, and the yuri never went beyond one line at the end of episode ten. A line that, might I add, would be the precursor to a romantic subplot in just about any other anime. It felt like they were trying to pander to fudanshi in the same way that they were pandering to Muse nostalgia for the rest of the series. I was, again, kind of insulted that they thought we'd buy it if they splashed a little yuri in there somewhere.
Then good things spontaneously start happening for our characters for no reason, as they'd only canonically had two performances so far (one of which was a local event, the other of which was a flop). And half of episode thirteen is dedicated to a recap of the season. No, seriously. And this recap illustrates all the things I've been talking about. They never really earned any of the popularity they got at any point in the series. There never really was a good reason for Yohane to join the group - they even glossed over it in the recap. And there never really was any reason to care about the group's successes and failures.
I really wanted to like this anime. At first, I figured it could never live up to the legacy of the original series, but I decided to give it a fair chance. And I realized that my original misgivings were right on the money. Sunshine was plagued by bad writing, meaningless performances, and nervous desperation as it tried to simultaneously lean on Muse for support and ignore the secrets to Muse's success.
My final rating for Love Live! School idol project Sunshine!! is a four out of ten.
Oh dear lord this review is long. If you've read this far, thanks.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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