I Stayed Up All Night to Watch Aqours Finale Live

25 Jun, 2025

For the past year, my heart has been troubled. Aqours announced they were holding a show dubbed Finale LoveLive in 2025, their last solo concert as a group of nine. I always knew that their activities weren’t going to just go on forever. But to actually have a firm date for the end was just tough to think about.

Naturally, once the details were announced, I wanted to go to Japan for this concert, as this would surely be my only chance to see Aqours in person (I often wish that I had learned about their existence earlier than I did, but that’s life). It’d be cool if I could tell you that’s what I did. But alas.

I couldn’t make the trip happen, so I was going to have to be content with watching the livestream from home. And so, on 2 AM the morning of June 21, 2025, I tuned in, ready to see Aqours give an unforgettable show.

I really love Aqours.

It started with watching their anime, of course (it’s called Love Live! Sunshine!!, in case you missed that). I’ve rewatched it many times, and each time, I come away with something new. It really is a beautifully written and animated story, accompanied by amazing music.

I suppose getting into Aqours’s songs was the next step for me. I think my most-listened-to artist in 2022 was actually them. Back then I would just put on this giant playlist of their songs every time I was in the car.

What I didn’t predict at the start of this journey was that I would become interested in the seiyuu playing the characters. When I first noticed online that many fans cared a ton about them (and not only Aqours’s seiyuu, but also those of µ’s and others), I thought, “Whoa. That’s a lot. I think I’m good just knowing the anime and songs. I mean, it’s fun knowing the personalities of cartoon characters, but real life celebrities? You want me to give a crap about that?” Actually, I already had some level of interest in voice actors generally, so it’s not like I was opposed to the idea necessarily, but I think at that moment, the thought of learning about nine voice actresses seemed a bit overwhelming.

But the thing is, Love Live as a franchise usually has something going on every couple weeks, and through all those activities, you’ll usually be hearing some amount of unscripted stuff featuring the seiyuu. And if you, like me, don’t speak Japanese, well, a lot of that content gets clipped and subtitled on YouTube. So I don’t really remember how it started for me exactly, but bit by bit, I got into the seiyuu side of Love Live Sunshine. Despite my initial hesitancy, learning all the girls’ names was actually quite easy, because they are all gorgeous and talented and funny, so of course I kept wanting to watch clips of them.

So, after a few years of having this obsession with Aqours, now we’re in 2025, the Finale approaches, and I am sort of dreading it. If only we could keep getting new songs. If only the group could come to North America again.

The tricky thing about Aqours’s ending is that it’s not completely an ending. Aqours isn’t disbanding or going on hiatus, they said, and if you want proof, well, there are several events coming up soon that members will be performing at. They’ll all be at the three-day Jimo Ai Festival (just not all at the same time). Guilty Kiss, YYY, and AiScReam (Ruby Kurosawa, played by Ai Furihata, is a member of this crossover unit who went crazy viral this year somehow) have performances scheduled this year. Finale is the last solo live for Aqours, but at some point in the future it’s possible they could make a supporting appearance at an event. But I certainly don’t think we’ll be getting new songs anymore. It’s the end of an era, but it’s not totally the end of Aqours.

In a way, this ambiguity makes it more difficult to know how to feel. If Aqours was just straight-up disbanding, at least I would know what to expect: nothing. But with this semi-retired state they’re going into, it’s more like I’m expecting a little bit—but not too much. And at the same time, some desperate part of me holds onto hope that something much more is in store for the group, even though that’s unrealistic.

I suppose what’s unique about liking a group like Aqours compared to normal bands (or even regular, non-anime idol groups, which I know nothing about) is how the story of the anime plays into my investment in the group itself. The story and characters have layers. Through both my rewatches of the anime and watching live shows and hearing what the cast had to say, my emotions seemed to pile up over time.

Every big emotional moment in the anime had impact on the first watch, for sure, but they hit even harder on rewatches, from Chika finally showing the girls her true feelings after the Tokyo trip, to Kanan and Mari reconciling. I don’t specifically remember the first time I watched season 2 episode 11 of the anime, which ends with everyone at Uranohoshi singing with Aqours around a bonfire, but with rewatches, it’s almost guaranteed to at least give me shivers if not make me cry.

I watched Aqours 5th Live where the songs from the movie were performed, and I think it made the ending of the movie even more real for me. When Chika asks, “Did you hear that?” that makes me cry. The song “Next SPARKLING” which immediately follows makes me cry too, unsurprisingly. Heck, the background music track in the movie titled “Everything is here” is a tearjerker too.

And when you watch the lives and see how the real-life Aqours care so much about their characters and how they support each other through all the challenges—oh my goodness, it just adds a gigantic extra layer of meaning to Love Live Sunshine.

So for the fans who have experienced all of that goodness, you had to expect some tears at this Finale. I mean, I knew it was going to be fun, but there was going to be crying, too.

I wasn’t wrong. But what surprised me was that Aqours stayed away from most of the big tearjerker songs at Finale.

The theme song for the event, “Eikyuu hours,” which released last year and is a bop, perhaps foreshadowed their intentions. It’s an upbeat, energetic song, though Anchan’s (Anju Inami, voice of Chika Takami) solo still might make you cry a little.

But yes, at Finale live they didn’t do “Thank you, FRIENDS!!” or “Next SPARKLING!!,” which are perhaps the two most obvious “goodbye” songs you can think of from Aqours’s discography (interesting how they both have two exclamation marks. Aki Hata is a genius I tell you). But you know what? I didn’t mind these songs’ absence, personally. This setlist had such a celebratory vibe. It had so many of the classics: every numbered single, of course, as well as songs that are always fun to see live like “Daydream Warrior” (cool dancing) and “Thrilling One Way” (the energy on this one is insane).

It seemed that Aqours wanted to deliver this live with a smile (hey wait a minute) and not exit the stage with everyone just bawling. There were many moments where it seemed from the looks on their faces that the girls might’ve been fighting tears, and there were moments they did cry, but in the end, the main goal was to make everyone feel good with a really fun show. And I sure felt good so they accomplished their goal in my case.

Beyond that, though, it was a show that looked back at 10 years of Aqours. The event began with the ocean, that eternal presence which has always been the backdrop for Aqours’s story. A sort of beach had been created on the stage, with the ocean on the screen and the sound of the waves playing from the Belluna Dome’s speakers. Arisha (Arisa Komiya, voice of Dia Kurosawa) appeared, and after making sure the coast was clear, began writing out letters in the sand with a big stick. Anyone who’s seen the anime knew what this was referencing, of course, and I was like, “YOOOO THIS THING HAS ONLY BEEN GOING FOR 2 SECONDS BUT THEY’RE GOATED. ♦️♦️♦️”

After Dia had finished her work, we saw a brief, brand new animation starring Chika! Then all of Aqours was brought out on stage in an unusual manner. The members entered one-by-one, but there was no music; instead the sound of waves continued. This created a unique atmosphere that seemed to me to give the event a sense of elevated importance and almost reverence. Many fans expected big spectacle from the production of this show, yet the approach taken was almost the opposite: we were going back to where it all began. In the anime, Aqours was a group from the countryside. No one knew them and their chance of success was incredibly slim. In real life, Aqours had a difficult task of following µ’s, a group that had, in a few short years, acquired many fans who loved them dearly. Many fans were unhappy that the franchise would introduce an additional group. Both in fiction and real life, Aqours faced an uphill battle. This introduction reminded us of their humble origins.

After all members had entered the stage, they soon began performing the first song of the night, “DREAMY COLOR,” which was an unexpected yet perfect choice for the occasion. To me at least, it’s a song that has a slight feeling of sadness and reflectiveness to it while still being an energetic song that can get you moving. And that’s what Finale was: we’re sad Aqours is “ending,” we’re going to look back all that it’s meant to people for their 10 years of existence, but we’re also going to feel good and have fun.

One of the best surprises for me was during the intermissions. We got brief new animations, one for each class year. I don’t know what the girls were saying, because my Japanese skill is limited to a small handful of phrases, but the little movie for the third-years seemed especially cute. Genjitsu no Yohane aside, I think it’s been quite a long while since we’ve seen Aqours in new hand-drawn, 2D animation.

Like I mentioned before, the setlist had the big hits. “Koi ni Niraitai AQUARIUM” has been at a lot of Aqours lives, but it’s just a really fun song, so I’m not complaining. One that has not been performed as many times (which you partially have to blame on unfortunate timing beyond anyone’s control) is Aqours’s fourth single, “Mitaiken HORIZON,” which is one of the greatest songs they ever made. Gosh I was delighted to see it. Kinchan (Kanako Takatsuki, who plays Hanamaru Kunikada) looked like she was having so much fun being able to sing it.

A really special moment was the medley in the middle of the show. On day 1, which is what I watched, they did all the songs from season 1 of the anime, and on day 2, they did the season 2 ones. By medley, what they mean is just abridged versions of the songs, by the way. What was cool about this is that all nine members of Aqours were there for every song, so for the first time, we got “Kimeta yo Hand in Hand” with not just the three who sang it originally, but everyone there singing along. When “Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare” started playing, Rikyako (Rikako Aida, voice of Riko Sakurauchi) became emotional. There is some real history with her and that song, so this was really moving for fans, and especially when seeing the other second-year seiyuu comfort her. It was almost like the words of the song were made specifically for that moment.

Aside from “Eikyuu hours,” there have been a few other new Aqours songs released in the past year or so, and those were here too. I like all these songs fine, and I suppose it was good to have them performed at least once, since this is kind of the last chance. “Deep Blue” is from the Blaze in the Deep Blue game and it’s quite a bop. That “SAKURA-saku” song is nice, and I never really realized until now how much of a disco beat it has on the chorus. These weren’t the highlights of the show to me, but in the future, anyone who’s a fan of any of these songs will feel happy that they can watch this live and see Aqours perform them.

Early on the night, it was really fun to see some of the girls being goofy, like Shuka (Shuka Saito, voice of You Watanabe) and Anchan doing a silly dance together during “Step! ZERO to ONE.” That cracked me up. Shuka in particular was really on fire with the funny facial expressions throughout this whole thing. Also “Step!” is just really fun to see live in general; the big synth hook when the drums come in gets the crowd hyped.

I was also really happy to hear “Todokanai Hoshi da to Shitemo.” This song was not one that initially stood out when I first heard it years ago, because it’s pretty straightforward, but it’s one I quickly grew to love.

Speaking of goofiness: during that song, all of Aqours became Yohane’s little demons and struck the pose together, and that was so funny, though I saw on social media that on day 2, they left Yohane to do it solo. There was so much silly stuff going on in this part of the show that I think is going to have me coming back to rewatch it a lot when the Blu-Ray comes out.

Throughout the entire live, there was a huge prop onstage that became sort of ominous as time went on: an hourglass (a digital one, not a real one). It would update throughout the event, and the blue sand would turn into orange sand as it fell to the other side. It sort of felt like a countdown clock to the end of Aqours. Fans wanted to destroy this thing.

But at the end of the show, when the final grain of sand fell to the other side—and mind you, at this point it’s like almost 5:30 AM for me and I’ve been super sleepy—the hourglass turned over once again! A wave of emotion hit me at that moment. Yes, it marked an ending, but with an ending is a new beginning. The beginning of what? Who even knows?

The way this hourglass was drawn, when you turn it sideways, it really resembles the infinity symbol. Considering the event was called “Eikyuu stage,” “eikyuu” meaning “eternal,” that seemed like no coincidence.

In the anime, Aqours’ story is largely one about encountering change and even failure and running forward regardless. Despite not being able to save their school, Aqours found a reason to rise up and win Love Live. Then the third-year students graduated, and Chika and the remaining members felt lost without them for a brief time, until they found that the connection and the memories they had with the third-years and the school could live in them and give them strength. “Everything is here,” Chika said. I see the hourglass symbol at this live as a reminder that although this is the end, the impact that Aqours has on your life does not need to end. And obviously, that doesn’t just apply to Aqours.

There was one other important moment at the very end of this show. We return to the drawing in the sand that Dia made, and we hear Chika’s voice. Like in the anime, she first pronounces the word as “A-Q-Ours.” But from the cleverness of whoever decided on what to call this event, we now also know to hear this as Eikyuu Hours. The message is clear: Aqours is eternal.

Now on an entirely different note: man I think Anju Inami made me fall in love with her with the way she looked right into the camera for the livestream viewers at the end during the thank-yous. I’m exaggerating obviously, and really I love every member of Aqours, but hooo, she was really charming with those looks. And I saw clips shared to social media from day 2 where she again looked at the livestream viewers directly, but this time made clear gestures instructing them not to cry. She really embodies the strong but humble leader role, I gotta say.

Now, like I said, I only livestreamed day 1, but of course I was curious about what would happen on day 2. I expected that it might have quite a bit more crying than day 1, and from what little I’ve seen: yeah, there was a bit more, but the girls still were trying to stay strong.

I saw on social media that something amazing happened on day 2 at the end. After performing the season 2 ending song “Yuuki wa doko ni? Kimi no Mune ni!”—specifically the version where the instrumental cuts out at the bridge like in the anime, which most likely would’ve made me cry if I had been watching live—it was time for the final goodbyes, and the girls were once again carried around the floor in carts to wave to everyone. The instrumental continued looping in the meantime. At one point, it again reached the bridge where the sing-along part would occur, but this time, the staff suddenly muted the track. The quiet gave the chance for the voices of thousands of fans singing to be clearly heard. Some of the girls could be seen removing their in-ear monitors to listen better, and all of them stopped saying their thank-yous until the chorus of fans in the stadium had sung the whole bridge. A couple of the girls appeared to become emotional. It was an amazing moment that gave me goosebumps. (Staff has uploaded it to YouTube! Yay!)

Now, I may not interact with Love Live fans online directly these days, but there’s no doubt that all of us have had our lives touched by so many people. Everyone who was involved in creating the anime, the songs, any aspect that made us become fans of Aqours has had an effect on our lives and brought us together. Some people wanted a bigger spectacle from this live, but for me personally, it focused on all the things I care most about. The characters, the stories, the history that Aqours and the fans have shared. The girls performed a large number of songs, all nine of them onstage for every single one, many of the songs having choreography. They gave the fans a chance to see them at the top of their game for one last night. And I thought it was great.

I liked this comment I saw on YouTube:

(I’m including the original Japanese to cover myself in case Google Translate failed somehow).

To be honest, the sadness that I’ve felt about Aqours’s end since last year is not gone, but it certainly is diminished now. I feel much, much more satisfied than I did before. And no matter what the future holds, I’ll always be able to look back on this show and think, “That sure was fun.”

Worth staying up until dawn for? I mean, sure, I could have just watched it on a delay… but YES IT WAS WORTH IT, IT WAS SO WORTH IT