Concerning Love Live!

So, obviously, Love Live! has been a huge thing recently.

I've heard some songs from μ's, seen some clips from the anime and I've got a lot of friends who are crazy about this series. I tried downloading the rhythm game once, but it didn't work on my device. I've fancied the character designs of Love Live! for a while, but never really felt like or felt pressured to watch the anime. I never said I never would, either, like the case might have been a few years back, when I was ridiculously negative towards idol animes.

Then, one day I stumbled upon the song Happy Maker!, and I went; "Why not."

Now, I'm not an anime person, I could say I usually watch one to two series a year, and don't even finish most of them. Still, I watched the first season of Love Live! in less than two days, and I was actually surprised how quickly it ended. I really liked the first season, and I wrote most of this after watching it. Season 2 was mainly boring, to be honest. I'd say only the last 2 episodes were actually worth something.

Here, read why Love Live! is so popular.

”When talking about this topic, it's important to note that the "idol" genre had been simmering in some corner of the overall anime media universe for a long while. -- They weren't really shows about idols, at heart. It was always "<x> with idols", x usually being some other already well-established genre, like mecha with idols or mahou shoujo with idols. -- Needless to say, Love Live didn't do that - the story was about the girls, and about the girls only.”

As an long-term idol fan I can say I'm surprised how long it took for an anime like this to appear and to become popular. (We can argue if this is the first pure idol-anime or not, but at least it's the first to go this big. Well, LL does have school genre in it too, but as school idols are an actual thing, you could call it a pure idol anime.) I mentioned how a few years back, when AKB0048 came out, I was really pissed about anime idols. I was the only idol fan I knew outside the internet and suddenly all my friends loved animated idols, do you get me?

Recently the situation has changed. It's partly because of LL and partly it is the reason why LL is so popular. Idols are a thing now. Artists like AKB48 and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu started becoming more popular around the same time Love Live! was released, and K-pop was getting even huger too. Nowadays it's very common to meet other idol fans at conventions and such, and I feel it's because everything just happened to happen at the right time. Japanese and Korean music and Japanese animation together caused an idol-boom. And I couldn't be happier about it. I don't know if people get it but even if it's "just" anime idols, after spazzing about idols alone for years, I feel so delighted to hear people talk about idols, to see people loving idols. (Note: Remember, I can only talk about my personal experiences, and I am only involved in the Finnish con scene.)

Why didn't this happen a few years ago? I think it wasn't only my childishness that was the reason I didn't like anime idols, it was because anime idols weren't ready yet.

Love Live! has nailed anime idols. The animation is beautiful, the girls are interesting each in their own way, and the songs are actually good! All I can compare LL to is random clips from AKB0048 and some other idol animes, but I don't need more to know LL is way out of their league. 0048 was so messy! Everything in that anime drowned under everything in that anime. Really, know how to stop.

So, if we ignore some disturbing facts about Love Live!, like how all the girls can just magically sing quite well and pull off concerts without microphones, or how a bunch of high school students can afford that many glorious costumes, the anime is good. And if I like an anime, boy, then it seriously is good. Sometimes I can't watch even my favourite series because everything that is characteristic to anime tends to disgust me. LL is a very generic anime, and yes, some things in it do annoy me, but it succeeds to hide all that under the great mood that is very genuine and idol-like. In season 2 the anime does become a little slow and lack the feeling, but it's still bearable. Two times 13 episodes is a nicely short anime for someone like me.

Love Live! lacks logic, but it succeeds on fulfilling the most important thing - being a Happy Maker!, like they sing in the song above. So, even if I still prefer my idols in the flesh, I can suggest watching Love Live! if you're even slightly interested in it. At least season 1.