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<\/center>\nThis week on Love Live… the show takes idol graduation literally, and one is the loneliest number – though one can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but notice that BiBi is the unit that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left with all the actual<\/i> musical talent. I wonder if Maki will continue to grace the other girls with her gifts, or if they other girls will be stuck with trying to come up with their own music? Will Maki become the first one-girl unit to win the Love Live? Will Lily White even continue to be a thing when Umi alone is lumbered with Rin? Does Maki perform all the musical instruments on their songs herself, or does she just have a really flash synthesizer? All these questions and more, answered… never!<\/p>\n
Of course, this weeks Love Live news is mostly about the fact that the second event has launched in the English version of Love Live School Idol Festival. Of course, the issue this time is that people actually have the gist of what they are doing, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re out for blood – the loveca have been out in force in a way that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite so apparent at the launch of the first event. I’m… doing OK. It’ll probably be a 1000\/1000 finish for me this time, as opposed to the 1000\/200 finish I managed in the first event, unless that Umi SR card I unlocked last night gives a pretty big boost to my maximum potential Event Song score.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, not so much going on, I guess. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been listening to Dancing Stars on Me<\/i> from the recent insert song single an awful lot. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty great, but a lot of that is just me liking the goofy sound of the electric keyboard in the songs intro.<\/p>\n
But, I digress, mostly out of a lack of things to say this week. It’s a bit of a weepy, I suppose, but there’s not really much to unpack about extended sequences of girls bawling their eyes out. Unless that’s a particular fetish of yours or something. Hey, I’ll not judge you (at least not publicly).<\/p>\n
Anyway, This Week in Love Live…
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\n1) Does anyone remember…<\/b>
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<\/center>\nThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really a lot to say about the younger sisters getting into their choice of high school – unlike, say, STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT Honoka, Yukiho actually seems vaguely on the ball, doing things like, well, studying, not to mention being the one who is actually being vaguely responsible towards Alisa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obsession. Given that even Honoka actually managed to get into the school, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have been quite astonished if Yukiho had failed in her efforts, particularly with the supposedly reduced attendance numbers. That said, given the number of, errr, numbers displayed on the acceptance board as having gotten into the school, I’d have to assume that the number of applications to the school were way, way up on what they’d been in previous years.<\/p>\n
On a tangent, though – does anyone remember back in the first series of Love Live, when Alisa and Yukiho had, for one brief moment at least, another actual friend<\/a>? Whatever happened to her anyway? Is she the universes one straight girl, too busy obsessing over Johnny’s, or whatever the male school idol equivalent is in the Love Live universe, to go along with this shows malarkey, or as the sisters of successful school idols, do Alisa and Yukiho no longer feel the necessity of socialising with such rabble?<\/p>\n 2) I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking at you here, Honoka<\/b> Anyway, aside from the fact that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking personal advice from the members of A-RISE (though I do ponder which member, specifically), I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to imagine that she remembers that time when Honoka kind of collapsed due to contracting Anime Rain Disease, resulting in Kotori\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother yanking them from the Love Live rankings.<\/p>\n (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also vaguely amused that A-RISE continue to loom large<\/a>, not only in advice, but also in terms of wallspace!)<\/p>\n 3) The Wrong Trousers<\/b> It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny, but for all the Yukiho that has found it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s way into the last few episodes, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not been one gratuitous ass-shot of her since that one time she found the letter saying that Honoka was fat. It’s almost as if she has matured into a completely different character.<\/p>\n This cut of Honoka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s butt does not make up for this.<\/p>\n (Also, Nico got to stretch with someone this week, even if her facial expressions suggest that Nozomi was trying to kill her)<\/p>\n 4) Since when has…<\/b> Though this does remind me that not a single additional chapter of the Love Live manga, in which Honoka was a kendo champion<\/i>, has gone up on Comic Walker since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s launch all the way back on the 30th of March.<\/p>\n 5) They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Not So Terrible!<\/b> Let the Otonokizaka Idol Wars begin!<\/p>\n This does beg the question as to what Yukiho and Alisa are going to name their idol unit, though in the series grand tradition of george<\/i> and naming things after innocuous normal names, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going for something like this. Or maybe not.<\/p>\n (Also, I apologise if Ra-Ra-Rasputin (Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Love Machine) is stuck in your head right now)<\/p>\n 6) A Throughly Convincing Argument<\/b> I’m just saying, whilst everyone else at least having a go at presenting a reasonable excuse as to why the third years should join them on their day of wackiness, all Rin can offer the conversation is a random cat noise.<\/p>\n Also, she seems to have stolen Team Rockets bag. The rascal!<\/p>\n 7) Exploitation!<\/b> Or, perhaps, is Nico (or maybe Nozomi, given her penchant for carrying a camera around) making under the table deals in order to line her own pockets?<\/p>\n
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\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one month until the Love Live finals, and Umi is advising that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stress themselves out too much… which seems like a rather un-Umi thing to suggest, all things considered. Umi is all about stressing people out with excessive training regimes – she even looks weirdly strained about saying it in that screencap above!<\/p>\n
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\nWhere by “Trousers”, I obviously mean “Short-Shorts”.<\/p>\n
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\n…Umi practiced Kendo, anyway? I mean, I thought she was into archery, though I guess that, if her family runs a dojo or something, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d go some way to explaining her elaborate traditional homestead. It is amusing, though, for all that the series wants us to acknowledge Rin as being the sporty one, it’s Umi who we have actually seen partaking<\/i> in sporting activities in the show itself.<\/p>\n
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\nHaving been manipulated by a jealous Yukiho, who wanted to keep her away from Umi (well, probably not), Alisa declares that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to throw their hat into the ring and start their own school idol unit. Does this mean that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be potentially up to four idol units attending the same school?<\/p>\n
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\nHaving already callously discarded their only friend, ivan<\/i> will be ruthless in their pursuit of School Idol Victory. Obviously, their hit songs will include such numbers as In Soviet Russia<\/i>, I Say Horosho, and You Say Khorosho<\/i> and a funky idolised version of the Boney M hit Rasputin<\/i>.<\/p>\n
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\nNyaa?<\/p>\n
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\nI continue to be worried that the girls are continually shocked of the appearance of merchandise of themselves, particularly given so much of it appears to feature such high quality images. Is one of the stipulations of joining the Love Live tournament that you forfeit any and all merchandising and image rights to yourself, or is bootlegging widely accepted in this universe?<\/p>\n