Love Live School Idol Project Season 2 Full Review

Welcome back to Otonokizaka Academy! Now it’s time for full season review for Love Live School Idol Project Season 2!

Honoka Kosaka is a girl who loves her school, Otonokizaka Academy. When the school is planned to be closed down due to a lack of applicants, Honoka becomes determined to save it. Learning that school idols are popular, Honoka and her friends start up a school idol group called U’s (pronounced muse) in order to attract new students. Once they successfully prevent Otonokizaka Academy from closing, the girls from U’s aim for higher grounds and participate in “Love Live”, the ultimate school idol competition featuring the best groups in the country.

So welcome back to Full Season Reviews. Of course I have to start strong and there’s no stronger than Love Live.

My Opinion
What’s not to love? Nothing! Love Live Season 2 is the very epitome of what a second season/sequel should do. Continue the series and build on what happened last time. All the songs are well written with really good animation. Even better the characters are very well fleshed out. They truly are well done characters. You’ll definitely love this season as well as the last one if you’re a fan of J-Pop and idol anime like Idolmaster.

Speaking of Idolmaster, I’ll be doing a Love Live School Idol Project vs Idolmaster post some time within the next few months. Just to keep your mind on Love Live even though it’s over.

The Highlights

• the filler. It really expands on a lot of the characters that didn’t get a full characterization last season.
•  the songs have deeper meaning than ever like Snow Halation.
•  most of the Muse girls become more rounded as people as we learn their backstories
• The Finale Arc(Every episode after Episode 10)

The Downsides

• The constant switching between CGI and normal animation is still weird
• There was no Maki, Umi, Hanayo, or Kotori backstory episode. While they are full characters they can always go further. For example, Hanayo’s mother used to be an idol when she was young. That’s one of the reasons she’s so into idols. There could have been a filler about that.
• Snow Halation was shortened. The version we got was awesome but since the song was at the end of the episode i was expecting them to use the extra time to put the entire song in there. Especially the Fly High jump. I love the Fly High jump!

Now when I looked over the first Full Season Review I noticed I just talked about the characters and not the episodes. So I’ll be doing that here. Don’t worry it’s not going to be something super long.

Episode 1: Love Live Once Again!
So this episode it’s explained that Love Live will happen again this year near the end of March. All the others want to participate but Honoks doesn’t. After a talk with Yuhiko, Honoks realizes this is the last chance for the third years(and Muse as a group of 9)
to win it. After a quick race with Nico to determine if they’ll go it’s decided that Muse will participate in the Love Live again.

Episode 2: Aim for Victory
Due to a new rule with the Love Live Muse cannot use any songs they have already used before. So what are nine cute girls to do? Training Camp! Specifically Maki’s mountain villa. However our three creatives of Kotori, Umi, and Maki get a major dose of creativity block. They lost their muse…get it? Anyway the entire group splits into threes and managed to get together the brand new song, Door of Dreams.
Few things that gets me in this episode is why didn’t Maki work with Umi? Lyrics work with the composition. By working together they can give each other ideas. Also if Kotori’s drawings are so simple then why are her clothes so detailed and beautiful?

 

Episode 3: Door of Dreams
After their return from training the cute girls of Muse need to pick where they’ll perform for the preliminaries. They can choose anywhere in the area they live, one of the preliminary arenas, or they can stream it on the Internet. After looking all around the city for a spot to hold the Live, they meet up with A-Rise and they offer their school’s roof so they can both perform. After A-Rise takes the stage, all the girls feel like they’re outclassed but Honoka pumps them up and they sing Door of Dreams.

Some times I wish A-Rise had their own show. They only have two songs, Private Wars and Shocking Party. It would totally be good. It’d be the same as now just with A-Rise as the main characters.

Episode 4: No. 1 Idol in the Universe
So this is the technical end of more official material. Some would call it filler but filler isn’t really liked. This isn’t filler! It is awesomeness! So during this episode we get a lot of Nico’s backstory and shows how she was as a first year trying to start her own idol group. So she lied to her younger siblings saying that she was a super successful school idol. She eventually manages to tell them that’s she not a solo idol but still keep their view of her intact. I love this episode because it makes Nico more human.

Episode 5: A New Me
Honoka, Umi, and Kotori head out on the second year class trip to Okinawa. Since the new leaders of the student council are gone, Eri and Nozomi take up the slack leaving Muse without a leader. So through a few texts Honoka appoints Rin the leader. She doesn’t do so well on the first day, trying to imitate Eri and Umi but eventually she settles into it. However they’ve got a live at a fashion show they need to do and someone’s got to wear the wedding dress! Rin-chan! Turns out she doesn’t want to wear it because of her issues with dresses and her belief that she isn’t cute. Those boys teased her so bad that she can’t believe that she’d look good in a skirt. But after some good talking with friends Rin takes the center in the song and wears the dress. Note that Rin starts wearing dresses and skirts all the time.

Episode 6: Happy Halloween
It’s time for Halloween! In Love Live that is. By the time this gets up it might be though. So A-Rise and Muse have been invited to be a part of Akihabara’s Halloween Festival. They guess this is going to be an awesome opportunity to show off before the final preliminary. However A-Rise decides to change up their look for the Halloween Live and that makes the girls wonder if they should do the same. We go from imitating each other, school club dress up, and even go hardcore and dress up like KISS. Also those pictures of Muse dressed up like KISS made it on Twitter and even got retweeted by Gene(Add last name). Anyway Honoka realizes that they’re good already and don’t need to change their image because they’ve got a variety of members. So they perform in the Halloween parade, debuting Dancing Stars on Me. This was a hilarious episode mostly with the cosplay and the acting like each other part.

Episode 7: We Have To Do Something
So turns out Honoka and Hanayo have gained weight and need to work it off before the final preliminaries. Now I get Honoka to a certain extent because she does pack on the sweets and junk food and she lives right over a Japanese candy shop! Hanayo I don’t get. She’s very cute but she’s a baby face with a young girl voice. Plus her body type is more similar to Eli and Nozomi rather than the others like Umi and Maki. So are Nozomi and Eli fat? No! They are very well curved. That’s what Hanayo is! Anyway Umi puts them both on a exercise and diet regenment and it works…until they find this awesome rice buffet on their run and pig out there. Umi catches them and puts them on a harder diet and they manage to lose the extra weight.

Episode 8: My Wish
So we come up on the Preliminary Finals for the Love Live and Nozomi suggests that they write and perform a love song. However the group struggles with it because none of them have any experience with dating or love. Come on! Look at all these girls! They are all a combination of hot and cute and not one of them has had a boyfriend? Granted you can give them a little break since they go to an all girl’s school. Anyway they try to get into the mood of a love song by making confession videos and watching romance movies. After that Maki(Ah Maki and Pile-sama!) follows Nozomi and Eli home. She learns the reason why Nozomi wants to make a song together. Because she never had friends before Eli and she had a big hand in the creation of Muse that allowed the girls to be connected and share the same feelings. Once Eli and Maki hear that they call the others over and they get inspired while the snow’s falling, leading to the writing of Snow Halation.

Episode 9: Melody of the Heart
I love this episode! So the day of the Final Preliminary is here. but Unfortunately Honoka, Kotori, and Umi have their duties as members of the Student Council to deal with for the school’s open house so they’ll be a bit late. The others get moving to the stage. After the address we find out that the second years get snowed into the school. Despite the massive snowdrift that just appear Honoka, Umi, and Kotori are determined to reach to get to the stage. They get about two feet before the snow stops and they find out their schoolmates cleared the snow all the way to the stage and gave them some snowboots. They manage to get to the stage just in time and they perform one of the best songs that Muse has, Snow Halation!

Episode 10: µ’s
They won! On their way to the shrine that Nozomi volunteers at, the girls meet A-Rise who congratulate them. It’s okay A-Rise. Better luck next year…wait a second they won this year! Anyway the girls arrive at the shrine where Eli and Nico are helping out Nozomi. After the girls wonder about needing a catchphrase for the official Love Live website, Honoka gets approached by A-Rise’s leader Tsubasa who questions how A-Rise lost to Muse. I’ve got an idea. You did the same song twice! They did Shocking Party twice! Now the first preliminary was some time during September and the finals took place in December before Christmas so they had the time to write a new song but they didn’t! The next day the girls get together at Honoka’s house to make Mochi for all their supporters. Note: Umi’s favorite food is the Kousaka family’s mochi. After going to the shrine once again and seeing people’s emas(equalavent to New Year’s wishes) and they come up with their catchphrase, ‘The story we all realize’

Episode 11: That Which We Decided
After Yukiho and Alisa pass the Otonokizaka entrance exams, Yuhiko asks Honoka what will happen to Muse after the third years graduate. With the girls divided on the issue, Eli says that the decision should rest with the juniors. Later Muse uses their day off to go all around the city to see things that each member wants to do. At the end of the day they go to the beach where the younger members decide that they’ll disband Muse after the Love Live.

Episode 12: Last Live
After getting their drawing for the Love Live it’s decided that Muse will be the final performers for the event. After finishing their final practice together, the girls find it hard to seperate so they have a sleepover at the school. The next day at the Love Live, Muse debuts Kira-Kira Sensation and it’s so good that they give an encore with Bokura wa Ima no Naka de!

Episode 13: Come True! Everyone’s Dreams
Aww. It’s the last episode. After Muse wins the Love Live, Graduation Days comes around for Otonokizaka. We get to see Nico’s really hot mom and we find Hononak seeing Eli rembembering her time as the student council president. As the opening ceremony begins for the new students all the students sing a special song for the leaving third years. Awww… After the ceremony, Nico appoints Hanayo as the new president of the Idol Research Club who in turn appoints Maki as the vice-president. Once that happens all the girls go on a reminiscing tour around the school. Once they arrive on the roof where everything started Honoka paints the Muse symbol on the floor in water before they leave. However before get a chance to part ways, Hanayo gets some big news on her phone, prompting everyone to rush back to the club room. Instead of some boring old credits(granted the song is catchy) we have Muse performing Oh Love and Peace to end out the season.

What’s the big news?

Someone catch me! I’m about to faint! A Love Live movie! I have to see this even if I have to go to Japan to get it!

As for my top five favorite songs this season they are:
1.Snow Halation by Muse(It’s generally considered to be one of Muse’s best songs for a reason)
2.Shocking Party by A-Rise(If there was an anime about A-Rise and how they got to the top. I’d watch it.)
3.Bokura no Ima no Naka de(The song that started it all last season. Enough said)
4.Kira Kira Sensation(It’s so super happy and good I can’t help myself)
5. Oh Love and Peace(This is one of my favorite songs from Muse)

Now for the scores!

I’m giving Love Live School Idol Project a 10/10 because that’s the only logical score it could have!

So with that it’s end of this month’s Full Season Review. Sorry it’s so late. That being said never again! Never again will I do Full Season Reviews like this. It took me a month to finish this entire post! That’s right I started on the first and it took me this long to finish! I’ll look at things in a more general and arc based style from now in Full Season Reviews.

Now for what’s up on the next Full Season Review, I still don’t have much on internet. So I have to work with what I got on my computer.

For September, I’ll Full Season Review Rio: Rainbow Gate, an anime from the Winter Season 2011.

As for October since I just got into it I’ll be reviewing the first season of Sword Art Online! Yay! So you on here got that to look forward to.

So until the next Full Season Review,
Later Days

You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll also be update on what’s happening.