Why Love Live! Sunshine!! Is One of My Favorite Anime

11 Jul, 2023

As you may have noticed, I’m a bit of a fan of anime and manga. While I can be picky, not every series I watch is what you’d call “good.” I am aware that a lot of those shounen romcoms I’ve read/watched are pretty stupid. But they are fun.

I am also passionate about music, and I think any media that heavily focuses on music—or just has really good music—is something I will be especially drawn into. Like when I watched Your Lie in April, during the early episodes I was like, “Ooooh, this concert hall feels so real!” And when I watched Bocchi the Rock last year, I was like, "Oooooh, the energy of this performance is so intense!!” and started researching which electric guitar I should buy. Good music can just make me get into something way more than I would otherwise.

With those two things in mind: you probably haven’t seen my twitter, but if you have, you may have noticed I’m a fan of Love Live, which is a media franchise about high school girls who are idols as sort of a hobby and who try to win a competition against other school idol groups.

Now, as an American, I am pretty sure most of my fellow Westerners have not heard of it. Even among anime fans here, idol-related stuff doesn’t tend to get much attention.¹ But then you look at Oricon’s chart of the top-selling franchises in Japan in 2022, and you see Love Live making more money than Demon Slayer.

Yeah yeah, cultural differences and all that. But here’s the thing: Love Live’s anime series are all good. I’m not saying it’s one of those shows that isn’t “good” that I enjoy anyway; I am saying it is straight-up good. You may be skeptical,² but I mean it.

The original Love Live TV anime series aired in 2013, and although Love Live as a franchise had debuted three years earlier (via magazine features, CD releases, and music videos),³ it was the anime that first rocketed the series into such a massive phenomenon.

But the original Love Live anime is not what I want to talk about here, as great as it is.

In 2015, with twenty-six anime episodes having aired and a movie on the way—not to mention video games, concerts, and all sorts of other content having been produced—a new series with an all-new cast was announced. It was called Love Live Sunshine. Similar to the first series, there were magazine features, CDs, manga, and, of course, in 2016, a TV anime series. Sunshine’s anime happens to be not only my favorite Love Live anime, but one of my favorite anime in general. So, I want to talk about it here!

Of course, as you might be able to tell by now, there’s a lot going on with Love Live aside from the anime (THE SONGS, BRO), but I’ll try to stay focused here and rave about the songs another time.

Also, if you happen to feel like trying out these anime, I would definitely start with the first one (Love Live School Idol Project). Yes Sunshine is my favorite, but it is in many ways a sequel that both acknowledges the legacy of its predecessor and plays on the expectations you’ll bring having watched it.

With that out of the way….

For real though what is it

No matter which Love Live series you’re referring to, this statement will be accurate: the anime is one of them comedies about high school girls. (And yes, that is a genre unto itself at this point).

The plot of the first Love Live anime—I know I said I wasn’t here to talk about it, but I kind of have to for the rest of this to make any sense—is that this girl Honoka finds out her school might get shut down. Searching for a way to help, she learns about this new thing called school idols—you know, idols, but as a school club—because of this other school that’s pretty popular right now, and she says, “Hey, if we form a school idol group at our school, more people will want to enroll and we won’t get shut down!” So she ropes her two best friends into this quest, and before long, six other girls end up joining as well. Their group is called µ’s (pronounced “muse”). µ’s starts trying to win a national school idol competition called Love Live, and the anime is about them working towards that and all the antics and struggles along the way.

Now, Love Live Sunshine is the sequel to that show, and it stars a girl named Chika Takami, who sees µ’s on a giant screen when she happens to be visiting Akihabara one day and is like “Whoa. I want to be like them.” So that’s what she tries to do. It doesn’t work out the exact same, of course. Compared to its predecessor, there’s even more struggles and even more funniness in this show (at least in my opinion). So in a nutshell, that’s Love Live Sunshine.

But now, get ready for a bunch of incoherent rambling about all the specific things I like about the show.

The Characters

Any series like this needs to have a lovable cast of characters as its beating heart. After watching School Idol Project’s anime and growing to love µ’s, I initially didn’t have much interest in getting to know a second group of nine. But once I started watching, I quickly changed my mind.

The characters have gotten even gimmick-ier and quirkier this time. And I’m here for it. Perhaps the most obviously strange one is Yoshiko Tsushima, who is afflicted with chuunibyo⁴ and therefore is usually delivering some sort of fallen angel monologue and doing “cool” poses. But then, I suppose she’s not the only one whose personality can be boiled down to one short description. You (like “yo,” not the English word “you”) likes boats and uniforms and says “yousoro!” a lot. Riko is from Tokyo and plays piano. Dia (as in diamond) is student council president and speaks extra-formally. Hanamaru talks funny and likes eating. Ruby is shy and gets scared a lot, and she’s Dia’s little sister. Mari is loud, blonde, and says a lot of English words for no reason. Kanan works at a diving shop and goes running every morning. And Chika is the determined, somewhat air-headed leader.

Actually, these descriptions aren’t adequate at all. I didn’t even mention Dia’s wild “buu buu desu wa” thing. And even beyond all these funny gimmicks, which I love, every character has extra layers that can be either hilarious or touching to discover.

At first, I couldn’t help but compare this group, Aqours, to µ’s, and see which characters fulfill the same roles. Certainly, there are similarities. Umi and Riko are both kind of serious, and they both complain at one point about their costumes’ skirts being too short. Eli and Mari are both student council presidents. Nico and Yoshiko both have personalities well-suited to make them “the butt of the joke.” Hanayo and Ruby are both shy idol fans. And Honoka and Chika are both determined, somewhat air-headed, orange-haired leaders. But truly, even with these similarities, which are sometimes just surface-level, not one of these characters feels like a copy of another.

In episode 4, Hamamaru, when considering whether to join the school idols, finds herself admiring Rin of µ’s. Now, if we were just going off a list of attributes, the two don’t seem to have much in common at all. Rin is athletic, Hanamaru likes books. They both end their sentences funny, although Rin’s thing is simply because she likes cats. But, the obvious factor that doesn’t show up on a list of traits is that neither of them saw themselves as being good fits to be idols, just for entirely different reasons.

The writing for these characters’ dialogue is cartoonish. Obviously, real people, unlike You Watanabe, don’t tend to say boat lingo regularly unless they’re on a boat. Some folks might get annoyed by all that goofiness, so being able to overlook it will be tough for them. Luckily, I find it funny. But even if I didn’t, I would argue that in general, non-naturalistic dialogue does not eliminate the possibility for strong characterization and compelling character-based stories at all. Which leads me to my next point.

The Story

As I mentioned a while ago, the main story of a Love Live series revolves around trying to win the competition called Love Live. (Unless this is Nijigasaki. They don’t do Love Live). This gives the story momentum and a very satisfying end to work towards, but generally, I think the character-focused stories that happen along the way are the real meat of the show.

The Birth of Aqours

Resolving a simple dilemma like “do I join the school idols or do I NOT join the school idols” can be an interesting story by itself, because it’s never this tiny thing like “would I still be able to get my homework done?” There’s always some bigger hangup or deeper motivation to deal with when facing this question in Love Live—which is why it takes quite a few episodes for the group to form completely (nine in Sunshine, to be exact, and not-so-coincidentally, there are nine girls in the group).

Motivation is especially important when it comes to the group’s leader and the one who starts the group in the first place: Chika Takami. I absolutely love Chika as a protagonist because her motivation comes from wanting to be something. She sees µ’s and thinks, “even though they’re normal girls, they shine!” She decides to start the school idol club not just because it seems like fun, but because she wants to no longer be “normal.” She wants to shine. It’s a motivation that drives her to do the impossible—even rising from crushing defeat.

You Watanabe has been friends with Chika since they were both young, and her motivation for joining Chika’s new club is simply to finally do something fun and ambitious with her friend for the first time. Yet this motivation also ends up causing a bit of a challenge for her ten episodes later, when the dynamic of the group has drastically changed.

Riko Sakurauchi initially doesn’t want to be an idol. But she’s been having a hard time lately. She can no longer find the joy in playing piano or anything else. After Chika introduces school idols to her, she starts to wonder if accepting her invitation to join could help her find fulfillment again. And just as with You’s story, this detail is not dropped forever, but instead becomes relevant again towards the end of the season.

Ruby Kurosawa and Hanamaru Kunikida are the next to join. Ruby may be shy, but the actual main reason she doesn’t plan on joining is because her older sister Dia is against idols for some reason. But Hanamaru knows that Ruby, a longtime fan of idols, truly does want to. She wants to help Ruby become able to do things on her own, without worrying about what other people think. So she goes with Ruby for a “trial” in the school idol group. Once she sees Ruby having fun and thriving, she sneaks away. But in turn, Ruby comes back for Hanamaru, who seemed to be taking a newfound liking to school idols herself. Both of them had put limits on themselves, for different reasons, but as friends, they encourage each other to pursue their passions, disregarding those limits.

And then we return to our favorite little fallen angel. Yoshiko’s struggle is, of course, about finding acceptance for who she is. I mean, she may not really be a fallen angel. But she sure does love acting like one. The five other girls are very sweet and basically say, “hey, we may not get it, but we want you to be in our group and be who you are.”

Now, the third years, Kanan, Mari, and Dia…. That’s a bit of a long story. And the resolution is so cathartic! I’ll just say, these three have history together. And their friendship is not in good shape right now. They have to figure that out. You’ll find clues as to what they’re thinking throughout the first season, but it’s not until episode 9 that you get the full story.

Without actually getting into the fine details, at the heart of the conflict is that some of these characters have been hiding their true intentions. While Mari is now trying to fix what she thinks happened, Kanan’s resentment seems to be growing. You know what, I really shouldn’t explain the whole thing.

But man, such a good episode, that episode 9! The way they do a song right after the emotional scene! And it’s a bit longer than you usually get in an episode song! It’s just fantastic!

So, in summary, season one up until now has characters dealing with lack of confidence, lack of fulfillment, wanting to be closer to their friends, wanting to restore lost friendships…. All stuff that had to be addressed for Aqours to form.

Of course, there were other obstacles too. First of all, Dia Kurosawa, the student council president, didn’t want no idols in that school. But then Mari Ohara, who has, surprisingly, been made director of the school comes in and says she’ll approve the club if they can fill the gym at their concert. Except, this is a tiny school and the whole student body doesn’t come close to filling the gym. So that’s gonna be tough.

The surprising thing is, despite Dia’s apparent opposition, she actually helps the group in secret multiple times. That, combined with the fact that she seemingly knows everything about µ’s, kind of tells you she doesn’t actually hate school idols, and the explanation of “old fishing family who doesn’t like silly stuff” you hear early on is totally off. So clearly she has some reason she’s not saying.

Familiar Story Beats, But Better

It’s a little funny how both this anime and µ’s’s have a student council president opposing the group early on. Except Eli’s reasoning always just seemed weird and petty to me. Especially because she’s super mature and levelheaded once she joins the group. Dia is being silly, but I get where she’s coming from (and she’s always a little unexpectedly silly anyway).

Another thing the two shows have in common is that there’s a plot point where the school might close! And the school idols have to save it!

During the first season of Sunshine, you will feel a definite sense of familiarity early on. However, looking at the show as a whole, I honestly think this familiarity lulls you into a false sense of security. You think you know what’s going to happen. But do you really know?

Also, in following up on such an instantly beloved anime, I think there is a sort of meta aspect where they know people are saying “How can a successor live up to the original?” And Sunshine for a while is like, ok, we’re doing what µ’s did—but eventually, Chika realizes that Aqours needs to forge their own path.⁵ And I think with season 2 especially, Sunshine does differentiate itself.

Still, there’s no denying the number of repeat elements in Sunshine. But one reason this largely doesn’t bother me is that, beat for beat, Sunshine usually improves on what School Idol Project attempts (it’s worth noting that both their scripts were written by the same guy, Jukki Hanada). Both shows have an antagonistic student council president, but Sunshine does it better. They both have some big drama towards the end of the first season, but Sunshine does that better too.⁶ They both have rival school idol groups, but Sunshine does a better job of integrating them into the story—more on that later.

One of the largest improvements to the overall story is that Sunshine makes Chika and Aqours’ path more challenging than µ’s’s was. There are a couple in-universe reasons that justify this:

Aqours lives in a rural beach town, so of course it’s hard to find people to go to their school! µ’s and A-RISE (a group µ’s competed against) made school idols much more popular. That means there’s much more and much fiercer competition for Aqours. Now why do I say that greater challenge makes for a better show? It’s because it means Chika’s determination will be pushed to its absolute limit. And it makes Aqours’ accomplishments so much more meaningful. They start from zero. But they will climb to the top of Love Live and cement their names in an eternal legacy!!

Ok I’m getting carried away in the hype here. But I think my point is clear.

Getting to see Aqours face emotional devastation and continue anyway is as inspirational as anything else you can show me. Anyone who’s trying to accomplish something difficult in life, whether a creative pursuit, new career, physical goals, anything—they can relate to this story. Of course, like they say in the show (and in the Aqours song that’s not actually in the show), you first turn that zero into a one. Then maybe turn that one into a ten. You don’t get to the top all at once. You just have to focus on that first step (STEP)!

Chika’s determination and ability to rise from the lowest of lows has made her one of my favorite characters from anything. Of course, I also like Kanan. And Yoshiko's good too. Well I like them all, really. Anyway.

Character Connections

Earlier I mentioned rival groups. A-RISE in School Idol Project is how Honoka finds out about school idols to begin with. They’re a group to aspire to, but also a hurdle that µ’s must eventually clear.

Saint Snow, the rival group in Sunshine, however, is an intimidating force seemingly meant to crush Aqours’ hopes and dreams early on. They’re sisters, they do rock music, one of them raps, they’re good at dancing, and after seeing Aqours perform, the older sister Sarah even tells them they have no hope at competing in Love Live if that’s the level they’re at.

Of course, eventually Aqours gets better and earns their respect, and Sarah apologizes.

Now, one of my favorite little story arcs in season 2 involves Saint Snow. See, Saint Snow is sisters. You know who else is sisters? Dia and Ruby.

Now since Love Live decided to have a pair of sisters in Aqours, you would hope the show would devote a bit of time to focus on their relationship. And luckily, they deliver. Dia and Ruby have a few really sweet moments together throughout this season—one in particular, in episode 3, is so well-placed. It’s not an episode with particular focus on the two, yet there’s this moment when they’re about to perform and they get to talk a bit that feels so natural.

Now obviously, those sisters are main characters, but what about the sisters of Saint Snow? Do we do something there? We most certainly do. That’s what’s great about season 2: it gives plenty of time for new connections between characters, both obvious and less obvious.

Now, Leah is the younger sister in Saint Snow, and basically, she seems quiet but feisty—similar in some ways to Ruby, except Ruby doesn’t talk smack and Leah doesn’t get freaked out by as many random things. Anyway though, at this point in the story, Leah is going through something tough. Ruby thinks she knows how she feels. Alongside fellow first-years Yoshiko and Hanamaru, Ruby is able to help Leah move forward…and also we get a pretty cool collab between Aqours and Saint Snow out of it.

By the way, even though that arc isn’t really about Chika, Chika, who has two sisters, gets to have a conversation with You (an only child) about them, since sisters is kind of the topic at hand. The writer(s) didn’t forget!

Overall, it really feels like a lot of thought was put into the relationships between characters (beyond that whole Kanan, Mari, and Dia thing from earlier, even) and this frequently makes for some emotional storytelling.

Shoutout to the Music

I’ve been talking all about the writing, but I can’t fail to mention that Tatsuya Kato’s musical score contributes so much to the many emotional moments throughout the series. The music sets a sunny, relaxed tone for scenes of daily life in Uchiura, while bringing out a triumphant orchestral sound for Aqours’ moments of determination. Heck, they actually put words to one of the main themes from season 2 and had Aqours sing it, and it’s one of the coolest things ever to me. That’s how good the score is.

Of course, Aqours does actually sing in the anime from time to time. One weird quirk is that a few times we are told Aqours’ (or another group’s) performance was not very good—but you will never actually see those performances. I imagine that the people in charge don’t want to produce an intentionally “bad” performance—but being told “that offscreen performance was bad” definitely detracts from the storytelling a bit.

But that aside, Aqours’ performances in the anime are usually very impactful. I alluded already to the climactic ballad “Mijuku DREAMER” we get when Aqours finally forms as nine, the feeling of which is greatly enhanced by the fireworks. “My MAI TONIGHT” in season 2 is an exciting song with some influence from traditional Japanese music mixed in. In the context of the story, the performance demonstrates how Aqours has truly leveled up for their second attempt in the Love Live tournament. “MIRACLE WAVE” comes at the end of an episode where Chika was trying to figure out some tricky gymnastics, so it’s a super exuberant song. “WATER BLUE NEW WORLD” is the song Aqours performs in the Love Live finals, so it feels totally epic and has, from what I remember, at least two ascending key changes in a pretty short span—the perfect way to convince the viewer that this group is truly the best in this competition, and this is their final performance. Finally, “WONDERFUL STORIES” provides an emotionally satisfying, upbeat conclusion to the series, like any fun musical would.

Of course, you definitely can’t forget the opening and ending songs. The first Love Live series’ were truly iconic. In fact, that first opening may still be unsurpassed, in my opinion. But you know what, these Sunshine ones are fantastic too.

“Aozora Jumping Heart,” the first opening song, starts off immediately with Aqours loudly singing these super-high notes. It feels so bold, like they’re making a statement and telling the world the bar has been raised.

The second opening song may not be the most iconic, but it is a fun song that captures the feeling of Aqours continuing to fight for their dream.

As for the endings—man, I love Love Live ending songs. Even though every one is different, I almost always find them particularly emotional. The first Sunshine ending is so uplifting, fun, and energetic. I like how you always hear the piano notes come in just as the episode is about to end (the song coming in before the credits is really Love Live tradition), and then the guitar and drums come in with energy before the singing starts at the same time as the show credits.

(By the way, the girls swaying left and right in sync is also a Love Live tradition which both Sunshine endings maintain).

And then the second ending song, oh man, this one connects so well with everything this show is about. You have the visual of Chika running full-speed ahead, never looking back. The lyrics talk about chasing your dreams even though it’s scary. The song is so satisfying, structurally. The intro builds anticipation, bringing the energy right from the beginning and teasing the chorus’ melody. The buildup to the chorus is exhilarating; there’s the brief instrumental dropout with the girls belting these high notes. And then the chorus comes in and the drummer is pounding the heck out of those things. And then another instrumental dropout with another set of high notes closes out the chorus, and there’s kind of this echo thing. And then we return to a quieter piano run to close us out. It’s a full emotional journey within a minute. Everything about this ending makes for one of the most inspiring endings I know. I get goosebumps thinking about it. Just wait until season 2 episode 11 though….

Before I watched any Love Live, I certainly didn’t think it would be the type of show that could give me goosebumps. But Sunshine genuinely has done that for me, both through story and music. Don’t get me wrong, most episodes are not going to be dramatic, emotional masterpieces. But the high points it does have keep me coming back to Sunshine again and again.

“It’s Joke”

Of course, I think the main reason I rewatch Sunshine is because… it’s funny. I always go back to funny stuff. That’s the kind of person I am.

The thing about good character-focused writing is, you can get conflict from it, but at the same time you also can get a lot of humor from it. Like I briefly described earlier, all the girls in Aqours have their own gimmicks, but there’s a lot of fun in discovering the layers of their characters and seeing personalities clash a bit.

The Funniness of Each Character

Some characters are goofy, so you just have em say goofy things. Some are serious—but then you can get an even bigger laugh if you make em goofy at the right time. You don’t want to over-rely on that, or it loses its effect. But that’s the dance Sunshine attempts, and personally I think they do it well.

Dia seems very refined. But that impression lasts like two minutes, because you then find out that she’ll yell at you if you don’t know the answer to her µ’s trivia question. She’s kind of unhinged, and I’m here for it. When you see her little sister Ruby, who’s easily frightened, you might be impressed at how different they are. But there are a few hilarious moments where you see that Dia might not be so different after all.

Dia’s classmate Kanan seems quite mature as well—but unlike the super-uptight Dia, Kanan is, generally, just as relaxed as she first seems—though she clearly does have a brooding side, too. A character like her is generally not going to be the source of a lot of jokes, but the show still does the classic bit where the normally-composed character gets super scared a couple times. (In Kanan’s case, she hugs when scared. Because hugging is her thing). I like that—especially because it’s so infrequent.

Mari, on the other hand—her funniness comes from the over-the-top way she speaks. To her, the world is “SHINYYYY.” I love the way she says “Unbelievable!” in that one beach episode. Also, I mean, she’s just kinda wild and freespirited. And she’s a fan of heavy metal. With a character like her, it’s when she’s being totally serious that you know you gotta worry.

Ruby is a character I thought would be annoying because she’s so easily frightened and just has kind of a widdle baby voice, but she’s surprisingly hilarious if you really listen to her. I think Ai Furihata deserves more recognition, honestly. One random instance of her making a sound way more funny than I could have imagined is early in season 2 when she’s sitting underneath a fountain at the bath. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just extremely funny.

Hanamaru is definitely one of the goofier characters—in fact, she doesn’t really get much serious attention at all after her initial episode, which is a bummer. But, I think she’s great comedically. She can communicate so much just with the word “Zura.” Because sometimes it’s like “ZURAAAA!” That aside, she can have more wit than you might expect.

Chika’s funniest moments are really a hundred percent thanks to the acting. There’s this scene in the movie where a hat flies in her face, and the sound she makes is just perfect. Basically anytime Chika shows her dumb side, the acting is going to be funny. Sometimes she’s loud and overconfident, sometimes she’s just confused—in either case, Anju Inami is gonna do a funny voice.

You isn’t the funniest character to me (on her own at least), but she is overly obsessed with uniforms, so there are some good bits from that.

Riko to me seems like one of the most “normal” characters (right alongside Kanan), but she is terrified of dogs, so we have to laugh a bit at her for that. You’ll also see some rather interesting other hidden sides of her later on.

And of course, Yoshiko is almost always in fallen angel Yohane mode, to the point where it actually is kind of funny when we see her acting normal. But that’s rare! The concept of having a chuunibyo character in an idol group was always funny to me, and Yohane’s deep voice sold it immediately. Of course, some people might get tired of Yohane after a while—I do think it’s a little annoying hearing the millionth “It’s not Yoshiko! It’s Yohane!” But aside from that, Yohane always seems to be thinking of new unexpected “cool” things to say, so usually she’s going to be pretty funny.

None of these characters would be what they are without the brilliant voice performances. Every actor brings 100% of the energy required, whether it’s another Dia “BUU BUU DESU WA,” Kanan’s angsty lines in those two episodes where those are needed, or the Riko-chan laser beam. Aqours’ seiyuu are truly a magnificent, one-of-a-kind group.⁷

Comedy Teams

Now of course, when you get multiple characters interacting, the potential for comedy and also just general fun multiplies.

Like in season 2, the third-years and first-years team up to try to write a song while the second-years write one by themselves, and it dawns on them that they are very different from each other. Hanamaru suggests writing a song about “Nothingness,” and Yoshiko is like, “That is extremely cool.” The others aren’t so convinced. Then Mari says, “Yo, check this out. Heavy metal.” Kanan is like, “Yeah dude, let’s do it!” and Dia at least thinks it’d be unique. The first-years, however, apparently do not like loud noises. So the two sides get into a big argument and the rest of the episode is about finding a way to get them to get along and work together. It’s a fine story with a simple resolution, but to me there’s a lot of fun in seeing what makes the different characters click and what annoys them.

Another fun element is seeing who will buddy up. Kanan and Mari of course are very buddy-buddy after they make up from their fight, and there’s a really funny moment of animation in season two’s fourth episode relating to that (see below).

But then there are characters who don’t really have much history together who get moments together. Like why have Yoshiko and Mari have become experimental chef buddies in episode ten randomly? But wait, it actually makes sense though, because both of them are odd, free-spirited characters. (It’s also funny when You is annoyed that Yoshiko and Mari are ignoring her You-kisoba because they’re distracted by their own crazy cooking).

Of course, one of the greatest and most surprising pairings is when Yohane starts influencing Riko somehow. I don’t want to ruin the surprise too much. But it’s great. Personally, if I had to try and explain why their dynamic works, I’d say it’s because Yoshiko usually doesn’t really take anything seriously but secretly has some self-doubt, and Riko is fairly serious and uptight but also kind and sympathetic. So there’s bickering, but also understanding. Like I said, it’s great.⁸

Another episode I think is really funny is episode 4 of season 2, where Dia realizes that the younger students are able to be much friendlier with Kanan and Mari than with her. It’s fairly obvious why this is the case, of course, so Kanan and Mari try to tell Dia to be, you know, warmer. However, her attempts to be friendlier and do away with the scolding only unsettle the younger students. You do start to feel a bit sorry for her, halfway through, honestly! But I love when she’s trying to be nice but then suddenly breaks and starts lecturing. And I love the restraint she shows when encountering Hanamaru and Chika having a very dumb moment.

(I also want to shout out You for having great comedic timing in an exchange with Yohane in that episode).

When I watched season 2 for the first time, it stood out how much of a comedic duo Hanamaru and Yoshiko had become. Hanamaru may be a goofy character on her own, but she is always keeping the fallen angel Yohane in check. Of course, sometimes this is reversed, and and Yohane plays the “straight man” role. Either way, their slightly antagonistic but friendly dynamic is consistently entertaining.

The Other Ingredient to Funny

Now, as much as I love to talk about writing, this is an anime. That means the animation should contribute to the humor too. And fortunately, we have Sunrise at the helm, and they turned in quality work as usual.

The animation in Love Live Sunshine is hilarious. There are so many funny little details throughout the show. The art style is not incredibly exaggerated, yet there will be just enough silliness in a facial expression, or in the way something is framed, to get a laugh out of me.

Yes, the art works great for the serious scenes too, always perfectly conveying characters’ emotions through facial expressions, but it’s the goofy faces and moments of unexpected movement that I really get excited about.

Honestly, one of the most effective ways to understand what I mean may be to check out this Twitter account posting GIFs of moments from the show. (Some GIFs are from the music videos or movie).

Shows where a bunch of weird characters goof around are generally my type of thing, and every Love Live anime spends a good amount of time being basically that, Sunshine being no exception. Now, is Sunshine funnier than its predecessor? Maybe, maybe not. (That one has a fantastic bit where the characters swap personalities). But it certainly doesn’t disappoint when it comes to humor. Right alongside the show’s story, the humor always keeps me coming back again and again.

Ok so that was maybe more words than necessary, arranged in far too messy an order. If I wanted to just tell you to watch the show, I could have just said “it’s funny,” but instead I had to explain why the show is funny… and also dramatic and inspiring. But hey, talking about stuff I like is what I like to do, and I’ve been excited about this show for a long while now, so I had to talk about it at length eventually! Of course, I might still have more to say about it in the future (oh no).

Now, I’m not saying Love Live Sunshine is a masterpiece that will be universally beloved. And I also doubt that I personally would be as attached to it if there weren’t so many songs and other content outside of the anime. But even so, I think the show is genuinely great, and I connect with it on a personal level. So give it a try, if any of this sounds like fun.