I almost always mention my complete and utter disdain for Moe and everything it represents.
Sometimes i mention how much i hate K-on! because of how utterly pointless it was, unless watching girls sitting around and eating cake and being musical prodigies with little to no effort is your thing of course.
But most of the time i just try and keep it to 'moe sucks'
So why the hell would i ever watch a show called Love live!
Because even though i have my bias i try to give things a chance in case something surprises me... like Kotoura-san did.
I tried to watch the first episode of most of the new shows this season that aired on crunchyroll. Although i was dreading this i figured giving it one episode was fair.
so whats the show about?
Honoka, a girl who loves her school life is devastated that her school will be closing since there aren't enough applicants.
she wonders how can they get more people to notice their school.
well the trending thing seems to be school idol groups... lets do that! it's should be easy right?
at this point i'm groaning cause all i can think is "great... K-on! all over again, they'll find out that they were amazing at it all along and after minimal work they will go on to win the love live thing thats in the title."
But then.... it didn't go that route.
it was hard work roping her two friends into doing it.
it was hard work tryign to get the school council to accept them as a club.
it was hard work making music and costume and dancing while smiling.
it was hard work getting more members and facing adversity.
it was hard work putting together a concert and it was even harder dealing with the fact that no one showed up to watch.
are you seeing a theme here?
NOTHING comes easy to these girls, when they aren't performing they are working hard and studying choreography or doing vocal training or making outfits.
all that being said the show is still only mildly good... i'm not a fan of the moe as hell singing girls genre but of the shows i've seen this wasn't bad at all.
however there was one thing... well two things but more on that later... one major thing that made me mad.
The dance scenes were half done in traditional animation and half done in this crappy MMD style of CG dancing models that looked odd. i get that it was done so they could pan and make the scenes more dynamic but considering hwo nice the animation was and how crappy the cg models were it was an instant disconnect.
The good:
Colourful, i really like when shows are bright and colourful and it seems to mostly happen in moe shows but thats okay.
the traditionally done animation is pretty good, to go with moe style is can get a little floaty but most of the time it feels grounded. (i know that makes no sense but want a moe show and you'll notice that the characters look like moe blobs that move unnaturally)
some of the songs are catchier then i'd like to admit but more on that later.
the story is okay and went a completely different direction then i thought it would. In fact Nothing i thought was going to happen actually happened.... if they show gets a second season (i have no idea it just felt open enough where it could) i'm sure all the stuff i thought would happen will happen but again... at least they worked for it.
also thats a positive. they work really hard for every little success.... thank you Love live for not just assuming these girls are mega talented.
The not so good:
I say this as someone who has maybe 60% of their playlist as J-pop (then 20% game/movie soundtracks/remixes and 20% Falcom music.... yes it gets it's own category)
some of the singers sounds like they've ingested a lot of helium. Their voices can be so high and grating that i wonder how much of it was augmented by a computer. I personally don't like that kind of sound coming out of a person... thats just me though and everyone is entitled to their taste.
but still the characters singing in a lower register sound so much better.
the bad:
again crappy MMD style dancing figures.
the other bad thing is a spoiler so skip to the end if you don't want to know.
SPOILER
One of the characters finds her passion for designing outfits as she participates in the group.
Such passion in fact that she has been offered the ability to study abroad.
this is a pretty big deal and i really liked the dynamic it added cause they were sad to see their friend go but it meant she would probably get a great education doign something she loves.
however at the end one of the girls tells to main girl to be selfish and bring her back from the airport.
no.
no no no no no
no you do not get to be selfish just cause you want your friend to stick around.... you are robbing her of the opportunity of a lifetime.
What you should have done was put on one final concert as the 9 of you then brought her to the Airport and wished her luck in her new endeavors because one day you will meet again.
and who knows if there is a second season they may end up doing that but as it stands now all i can see is them robbing this girl of a great chance.
and that pissed me off.
END SPOILER
in the end the show is fine, way better then K-on but i'm not the target market.
i'd say give it a chance over and crunchyroll if you have the time, it's only 13 episodes long.
alright i just found out Eden of the east is on netflix and i have been very curious about that show.
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