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A Review on Love Live: The Movie
Story –
The story at best is simply: “Ok”. There isn’t anything exciting or interesting about it. It’s just mediocre. This was already an apparent trend in the actual series, but having it condensed in a 1 hour 39 minute movie, really makes it obvious how bad it is. The pacing is god-awful and it just throws you from scene to scene will barely any suitable transition. At one moment, it’s like: “HAH, HAPPY FUN TIME WITH MY FRIENDS” then it’s a supposedly seriously moment with a (kinda) heavy atmosphere. Then it swaps right back to the “happy, energetic ... moments” with again, little to no transition. It makes you question, “what was the point of that whole scene?” It feels like a waste of time and adds nothing to the overall story. It was there for simply the moe appeal. That brings up another issue I found while watching this. Because of this over usage of dramatic moments with no substance, it made me care less and less about those moments. Why is this bad? Because when there are scenes with actual substance, such as the whole tension about continuing the Muse after the third-years graduate, I couldn’t care less about it because the viewers have already been diluted to the point where their perception is just “another pointless dramatic scene.” If I were to give this Movie anything, it creates a decent conflict for once. A battle against “ the audience they wish to continuing performing for and their relationship as a group” vs. the “philosophy of what school idol means to them”. It’s a shame the execution was just terrible, it had no proper built up, and once we got to the climax, it felt underwhelming. I also need to point out the transition to the music videos, or song section if you will. Based off what I’ve seen, it feels as if they made those segments first, and were like:
A:“Hey, check out this cool music video we made!”
B:“Great! Where is that going in the movie?”
A:“Oh”

Out of the six song segments, I’ve seen, four of them were just awkwardly placed there for the sake of “We need to put this somewhere”. What annoys me about this is that seeing how they could fit in two other songs in the movie well, they failed to do it with the other four songs. It was lazily incorporated into the movie, and honestly felt like I was watching a kids show where they suddenly break out into song just out of nowhere. My best example of this is the first song segment. Where it’s just “suddenly, it’s raining... ooooh that’s bad… we can’t have fun… (or something). Then BAM, SONG. Like what? It goes from one side of the spectrum to the other within a split second, and the initiation to that segment was just, Rin jumping…. It’s a mess.
Art –
The animation has been half-and-half for me. Overall the drawn animation looks pretty good, especially during the dance segments. There are parts where it looks a bit stiff, but otherwise it was well made. My only complaint would be the CGI. It just awkward to look at and contrasts heavily with the background. You may argue that “dancing is hard to animate”, which it is, so using CGI is justified. But they keep on switching from CGI to Drawn, and sometimes the dancing is done in 2D animation, AND IT LOOKS BETTER. And sometimes they have CGI AND Drawn in the SAME SHOT. IT’S LIKE THEY COULDN’T DECIDE ON WHAT TO DO. THERE NEEDS TO BE CONSISTENCY, otherwise, its awkward and a pain to look at.
Sound –
The music is good, this is the only good part of the movie. They’re idols after all, this is probably the reason why you’d watch this in the first place. If the music was bad, I don’t know why this movie would exist then, let alone the series.
Characters –
My main issue with Love Live would be its overall premise. They tried to make an anime based solely on an Idol group. That’s it. In an Idol group, you only need a few things to be successful. Good songs, Moe Characters, and quirky and cute personalities. In an anime, you can’t do that, you can try, but the quality will surely drop. The Love Live gang is just generic. They’re not interesting, they don’t have any character development, they’re just one-tricks. Quirky and baseless. It works for the first ten minutes at most, but in a movie? It gets fucking annoying. Allow me to run down the list:
Honoka – Clutsy leader
Rin – Makes meow noises at the end of her sentences, this isn’t cute. It’s annoying.
Hanayo – WHITEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE RICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Other than that, nothing is memorable.
Umi – Overreacts to literally everything
Maki – Generic Tsundere attitude
Niko – NICO NICO NIIII. That’s her contribution to the story
Kotori - Her contribution in this movie specifically was minimal, mainly just restates the lines.
Nozumi – Has tarot cards and just is there.
Eri – Serious, and gets the plot rolling.
Of course this a general description of the characters, but it's to get my point across.
The issue here is that you can’t make a show just on very shallow personalities. From start to finish, they’re the same. Boring.

Enjoyment –
Can’t say I enjoyed it. I had literal headaches watching this. It was a waste of my time, and I’d rather would just want to see the music videos.

Overall –
The Love Live Movie is bad…. Not terrible to the point where it’s unwatchable, nor a “masterpiece” as some may describe it. It suffers from being just extremely bland, average, and mediocre. Despite the movie having great music/dance segments, that only constitutes maybe 10% of the movie. Making the other 90% of the movie just unbearably annoying.

To clarify, I don't think Love Live as an Idol group is bad, I just think that the transition from an idol group to an anime and full-on movie was very very poor and deserves another look at the drawing board for we cannot continue with the perception that this series is "well-made" when it clearly lacks in the most important areas in what makes a good anime.

Final Rating:
5/10
Story – 3
Art – 8
Sound – 8
Characters – 3
Enjoyment – 2

Ahhh~ Sword Art Online, often dubbed as "one of the best animes in the industry" supported by it's colossal-like fanbase.

But is it really though? Have we properly given the series a unbiased review? Does this series truly deserve the accolades that the community bestowed?

Short Answer: No, it doesn't.

Story - (2)
The story goes as short: "Kazuto Kirigaya is one of the few lucky individuals that were able to play the brand new MMORPGVR (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game Virtual Reality) Sword Art Online, and was transported into the fantasy virtual world that is Aincrad, until suddenly it is revealed that the game ... creator has trapped the players in the game by stripping them of logging out and disabling respawns. Players who's health points drop to zero will meet death both in the game and in reality. Despite the grim turn of events, there is all but one hope of escaping this virtual prison... clearing all 100 floors of Aincrad. Now it's up to Kirito and his allies to work together, fight, and survive through this virtual hell... where now any mistakes he may make will be his last"

Sounds good on paper doesn't it? "An exciting, sweat-breaking adventure of survival full of action and people pushed to both their physical and physiological lim-"
No... it's anything BUT that.

This is one of the main problems that exist within this show... its that the major theme of the story isn't focused on at all. The first two episodes are arguably the best. It clearly depicts the struggle the players are going through, not just with escaping, but also tensions against other players who were beta-testers or player-killers, then ending it with an exciting boss fight.
That's as good as it gets. From here, it only goes downhill... with unexplained time skips, filler episodes, introduction of pointless side characters, and harem building. The show itself simply becomes an absolute waste of time where now watching is incredibly tedious, something an anime should NEVER DO. Seriously? How do you mess that up? How do you strafe so far from your original concept, that mind you was the primary advertisement for it to have it change genres from a supposed "action-adventure" to a less than mediocre harem? The anime does a better job showcasing how many girls Kirito can get rather than telling us how everyone else is busy dying! Don't believe me? Let me show you: The anime does a massive time skip where suddenly thousands of players die. No montage or flashback... just a split second of dialogue to show recognition. Then we have six whole episodes just on Kirito building his harem. Even when you reach the "plot" episodes at the end, the conclusion makes no sense at all, where EVENT A happens because of UNEXPLAINED LOGIC? What makes this so bad is that viewer isn't at the slightest rewarded for watching the entirety of the first arc, but simply leaving it off a rushed and terrible ending. Making your whole experience seem like a waste of time.
There's a second arc, but don't get your hopes up. Its unsurprisingly worse than the first arc. Set in a different game world (because after going through a near-death experience, might as well experience again right?)
except now instead of being captives in a game world, Kirito is off to save his love interest/waifu/one of the many members of his harem, Asuna. The classic "Hero must save the princess locked away in a tower" cliche. But just like its predecessor, it just mainly consists of filler-episodes and harem building... and then suddenly incestuous themes? "Way to break the mold."
Anyways, the entirety of the arc is a chore to watch with practically no points in which its enjoyable. Not to mention, the ending is also like the first, where nonsensical conclusion is due to unexplained logic.

Art - (7)
The art is amazing, simple as that. The colorization of the characters and the scenery does help create a believable virtual fantasy world environment. It's very fitting and hardly anything to complain about.

Sound - (8)
Personally, my favorite thing about this anime. It's just absolutely astounding due to its ability to further your immersion into this fantasy world. Not to mention, one of the best openings themes I've ever heard. Being both visually appealing and memorable, however; credit for that primarily goes to the vocalist LiSA.

Characters - (1)

Kirigaya (Kirito) Kazuto -
A character who is so perfect... it's annoying. The epitome of a Gary-Stu, with things such as a surprisingly deep knowledge over everything, being a favorite to both women and men, attracting a large array of waifus, and being so overpowered that he breaks the game. Single-handily defeating a raid boss. Remember in MMO, its expected to bring hundreds of skilled players to defeat these bosses, but by having a single player defeat these monstrosities shows on how pointless this endeavor is since there is somebody who is virtually unbeatable. A struggle between life or death is void since the main character is basically immortal. Not to mention, his personality uninspiring and bland

Yukki Asuna -
I honestly had hopes for this character, at the begin.. she starts off as a strong female leader willing to do anything to survive. As you would expect due to the circumstances she faces. Sadly enough, she is one of the biggest slap in the face you'll ever receive when she quickly turn into blatant waifu material. She cooks for Kirito, cleans for Kirito, becomes a stay home mother for Kirito, and when you need her most... she becomes a damsel in distress. Furthermore, her overall romantic relationship with Kirito isn't exciting either despite how much focus goes into it. It's the equivalent of ignorant children trying to act like adults... just awkward and cringe worthy.

Kirigaya Suguha -
Her relevance in the story is very little and doesn't really need to be in it. Honestly, her purpose is just to be the incestuous interest in Kirito's harem

Yui -
She's like Navi from LoZ, she was intended to be an important asset, but just ended up being annoying and in your way.

Ayano Keiko -
Aforementioned unimportant side character from one of the various filler episodes. Again, no purpose other than loli appeal and part of Kirito's harem.

Shinozaki Rika -
Featuring member number 4 of Kirito's harem. No purpose other than unrequited feelings. Significance is little to nonexistent.

Sachi -
Probably the most genuine character in the entire anime. Her main struggle is her fear of dying and her unwillingness to fight like the rest of her guild. Which is appropriate given other people would react the same way. This made her more relatable since she has a fear and needs to overcome it to achieve a greater good. A common plight we all face. It's a shame she wasn't given enough screen time.

Antagonist #1 -
Rarely shows up until the end. Motive is bland. His whole premise is bland

Antagonist #2 -
Generic captor of the damsel, except with motives of rape that will make you feel very uncomfortable.

Enjoyment - (1)
I didn't enjoy it one bit. It's the equivalent of eating a rotten apple. It doesn't taste good in the beginning, it doesn't get any better as you continuing eating it, and you just feel bad after you finish it.

Overall - (3)
The plot is rushed and poorly executed, the characters are boring, and the romantic segments are cringe worthy. It is downright terrible and a perfect example of an anime that just feels uninspiring.

(Note)The main reason why this anime has such a large community is simply because most people don't have the experience to the draw the borders on what's considered "good" and "bad" (in terms of quality, not personal preference). I admit, I was in those shoes before and thought this show was amazing. But after watching many other animes to then revisit SAO, it hit me on how ignorant I was on all the flaws this show contained. In a sense, this anime was necessary to help draw those borders for anyone who hopes to create unbiased reviews and indulge themselves further in Otakuism.