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8 episodes, with two of them being 40 minutes long, that could have easily been condensed to half the time or less. I'm not going to talk about character depth, or how the show is as thin as a sheet of paper—because that's clearly not what it's aiming for, and that's something you can tell from the start or even mention the blatant sexism, for the same reason.

My complaint this time is that, even knowing all of i said before, the series still managed to surprise me again with how useless its scenes and dialogues are, leading absolutely nowhere. It’s not even a presentation arc; ... they introduce a few things, but that’s it—there’s no further exploration, even though there was more than enough time for it.

The last episode could’ve easily been the fourth, or even the third, with the whole training sequence done in a single episode and that’s it—because does it relevant or add anything important? No. It doesn’t even useful to show how our protagonists strive or grow. That already happened through their numerous encounters with the enemy throughout the series. That’s why they even stand out during the training sequences—because they basically don’t need them.

This generation is the epitome of the franchise of Love Live, it really feels like fresh air for any fan without abusing formulas or recurring gimmicks. And if it, does it have a reason behind it. It rethinks the franchise in general while still having what we define Love Live by: musical performances, charismatic characters, dramatic moments, yuri, and of course School Idols. What it means? Well from non-professional idols to freedom of expression. The series uses it as a wild cart for all kinds of situations in order to reach a larger age group of audition, so…

-Spoiler Warning-

This season is truly a love ... letter to all the fans and a demonstration that the staff love these characters. Nijigasaki is the perfect definition between doing things for pleasure and to do the same things to please the public: the best artist isn’t the one who does everything for the unconditional love of the fans or the one who does it simply to enlarge the self-ego. It’s the one who connects with people thanks to their work and passion and that’s what allows them to grow and learn together. In the series it shows in Yuu (realizing that she wants to make a song for her friends that please they), Lanzhu (who at the beginning only does it to show that she can but in the process, she abandons anyone), Shizuku (who ends up learning to express herself and stops to being afraid of people’s opinions), Ayumu (who stops being so obsessive with her beloved Yuu and decides to open her world to connect with other people) … In fact, I could say any of these girls because perfectly fits in this description.

Nijigasaki emphasizes the importance of collectivism and individualism alike. In general, we could say that this is the main theme of the series. Each of its characters in different ways teach us to accept ourselves and the same time to understand others without lose what makes us unique. In addition, thanks to the complexity of the character with their faults and virtues, their problems and worries, they create other interesting sub-themes, like for example:

-As being and expressing yourself without problems you will not only be better with yourself and with the other people, but also you can learn a lot of new things thanks to it.
-The importance of living in the present with the future in mind in order to be able to live in the moment but worrying about possible problems that could happen tomorrow. And to leave the past just for don’t make the same mistake again and not to yearn for it.
-The problem of extreme pragmatism that makes it impossible to enjoy the little things that make us happy.

Actually, this show has a lot of content with full of details, some more obvious and others that you will have to stop and see several times. And I’m not just talking about the visual aspects, the dialogues themselves too. But everything has its negative side, this is linked to the over saturation which generates higher expectations that end when at some point there is some irrelevant conversation/action that doesn’t contribute much to the narrative. Without doubt, with more episodes or more time the series would have benefited from it.

And one of this benefited would be the interaction between the characters. In the first season, we could see how some of them practically didn’t even speak to each other, while in this season it’s the opposite. They became a connected group (demonstrated in the Tokimeki Runners episode) and thanks to this they quickly adopt the new three new members of R3birth. But that causes, that the strong relationships that we knew before are practically abandoned. They are still present and as strong as before, but opaquer:

-Karin and Emma keep worrying about each other. Emma worrying about Karin when she's depressed, or when Karin lets Emma to practise with quartz even if it means she loses her "alarm clock."
-Shizuku and Kasumi still know each other the most. Kasumi admits that her hairpin is very precious to her and seems to know her beloved Shizuku's house beforehand. And for Shizuku, she is the first to tease Kasumi in an affectionate way and not get a growl from her.
-Ai and Rina keep supporting each other, Rina hugging Ai when she is worried or Ai immediately trying to help Rina and being with her.
But as I said, that is put on the back burner, giving more relevance to new interactions that not only allow us to observe how they are growing as a group, but also how they continue to grow as separate individuals. Which reminds us of the main theme I mentioned before.


Throughout 13 episodes, 26 if we count the first season, we have some moments that are more dramatic, others more emotional and others whose function is simply to show how the characters continue growing. But always maintaining a hopeful air, because since real life is very hard, it is not healthy to be depressive all the time, as it happens with the girls in the series. There aren’t unnecessary or forced dramas, all the situations are there for a reason which in some cases is simply to make the show more realistic. Which reminds me that even the background characters are made to be differentiated from each other, because even though they haven’t got any characterization, the program treats them as if they were others character who have their own story.

But like all things nothing is perfect, as I said before most of the elements are compressed which also implies that some situations could have given much more of themselves or could have been much more complex. As in the case of Kanata, a hardworking girl who push herself to work to support her house and keeps the scholarship and because that she needs to rest a lot. However, the series, if she isn’t the focus, tends to only remember that she likes to sleep, when she is much more than that. Or Shioriko, who the series only shows as a compassionate but pragmatic and very stoic girl, who also, her appearance is very sudden and not as well integrated as Mia or Lanzhu. An expected problem due to she was not introduced in the first season, and part of its development comes from there in the game story.

Another failed aspect, and this time a contradictory one, is the treatment with Yuu. Despite having achieved characterization and motivations of its own sometimes the series treats her as a flat character that everyone loves and has her in their sights no matter what. She has already shown that she is not really a self-insert character but sometimes the series seems to forget that, for the sake of the audience that is looking for that. This causes a contradiction between her development and her treatment, which although are few there are notable enough.

On other hand, the visuals of the series are magnificent, with a fluidity of movement and an impressive focus on details. But due to the time and budget that this implies, in each chapter we find a handful of static images, which also with the passage of the episodes increase. To the point of recycling images for the last episode. Even so, the series knows what shots to use, what colors and what lighting is necessary for each occasion in order to give each situation more meaning or to emphasize it. Moreover, like the previous season, the CGI is much better than any other in the franchise.

It would be a pity if, being a partially musical series, the sound side would fail and fortunately it doesn't, from the inserted music to the background melodies, they are there for a reason. It makes use of some leitmotivs, such as Kasumi's antics, and others made for specific moments to accompany and emphasize the scene. And the MVs are undoubtedly the best to date, both the lyrics, the visuals and the melody tell us things about the episode and those who are singing: they anticipate events such as Lanzhu's main problem or show us the development they have had as the AZUNA song.

And not to forget to reuse past music like Tokimeki Runners, Love my Friends or Mirai Harmony, who endow the songs with new connotations and work to show us things. Certainly, contrary to the others generations where the references were purely references, in the case of Nagasaki, in addition to that, they serve as purpose.

To all this? What exactly is Love Live Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Club?

It is a series that not only avoids the standards of the franchise itself, but also those of the media itself, since the program does not have an intrinsic plot, it is built by the characters. The series is about following the evolution of the characters and growing up with them. Which brings us back to what I explained at the beginning about the connection between the artist and fans. Individualisms and collectivism. Truly a love letter to the audience and the characters itself.

To close the whole circle the program starts with Yuu and Ayumu going to school where they learn about their dream together, and ends with both of them separately pursuing that dream but with a stronger connection than ever. At the same time, as for the second season, it starts with Ayumu surprised and practically refusing the hug of a welcoming fan, and ends with another hug but this time accepting it and being welcomed one.

“I will created a world without witche-, er I mean Evas ” – Shinji Ikari, totally not Madoka

Evangelion is an overrated show, and the movie staff knows about it. Warning: Contains some spoilers from the ending.

First of all, all the strange terminologies are just pretentious technobabble, and they have no importance or relevance with the events. For example, Nebuchadnezzar’s Key, Spear of Longinus, Dead Sea Scrolls, Tree of Life, etc. even the name of the Evas themselves are irrelevant. You could change all these names to Dog’s Key, Spear of Leonidas, Mediterranean Sea Scrolls, etc. and nothing would happen. Everything would be the ... same. They are there just for the coolness.

With this in mind, we can proceed to the next point: Some dialogs are about the terminologies explained from the previous paragraph, so that kind of conversations are empty. They are just pretending to explain something that doesn’t have any real meaning. If it’s already a problem by itself when you have more than 30 minutes about it becomes a higher problem, especially when during the movie’s first hour nothing happens. And that's occurs to Evangelion.

Saying that, we can return to the first two sentences. The staff knows about how overrated it is and the enormous fame that it has but they are also tired, and that’s why Shinji (or Hideaki Anno) wishes to end all the Evas and make once and for all the definitive end from Neon Genesis Evangelion. The last part from the movie tries to demonstrate that Evangelion was created thanks to all the fans, and these fans make all the lore to become a sort of collective headcanons because, as I’ll repeat, all the terminologies and most of symbolism are empty; the staff only introduces them just to be cool. That’s why Kaworu is kind of an observer since he represents the audience in their intent to find a happy ending, and also why they are in a movie set.

On the other hand, we find art and music. About the animation, the staff knows media resources and uses sometimes without abuse. Even if the 3D scenes are too notorious, the rest is fine. About the soundtrack, it is good while isolated but during the film they are a bit repetitive in occasions. These are two aspects that the movie makes correctly, but they don’t stand out.

In conclusion, contrary to what public opinion says, Evangelion (and this movie too, of course) is not the deepest franchise ever with a lot of symbolism and great realistic characters. Especially it’s not made for people who like thinking while they watch the TV or films.
However, like other shows or stories, it’s up to the spectator to try to find or not meanings or just entertain yourself because art as it is consists on both things.