Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow

Let’s start out with this right away. If you haven’t watched the Love Live! Sunshine!! Movie, do it now. If you haven’t seen Love Live! Sunshine!! either, I think it’s about time to do so. What about the original Love Live? I think you already know my answer.

This post serves two purposes. One is to give a short review about my thoughts on this movie. Second is to address my love for this franchise. Therefore if you haven’t seen the movie yet, just skip to the second part and come back later after you finished watching it. If you haven’t seen anything Love Live! related yet, maybe the second part of this post will give you the motivation to try it.

Without further ado, let’s get this started Full Steam Ahead!

This movie is a direct continuation to the series and picked things up, from where things where left off. So while it has movie in the title, it felt more like a lengthy episode if anything.

To get things started, we immediately got greeted by the first song called Bokura no Hashittekita Michi wa… Without going too much into detail, the core of the song was to give us recap of the series in form of a musical piece. I think the execution of this was amazing. Not only were they able to refresh our memory of the core identity of this series, by singing it, then were able to convey their feeling on an even deeper level.

So what did the song say? It started by them telling us their goal of always wanting to shine, about the hardships, sweat an tears they went through to search for that goal and about how, all of them together, finally found a path where each of them could shine in their own way. But they themselves realized that the time as a school idol is limited, what should they do in the future. Where is Aqours headed to?

With the first song they already gave us the main idea what the movie is about. With the third years graduating, the question is whether the remaining six of them will be fine on their own. Unlike with Muse, who already decided by the end of the main series that they would disband, for Aqours it  was different. The future of the group wasn’t set yet and the movies tried to resolves that.

The movies continues by having the remaining six attending to their new school, introducing a sub-plot at the same time. While until now, the series of Aqours and Muse made it seem like being a school idol is an amazing thing to do, reality is often different. The general acceptance wasn’t as high as always displayed. The new school they entered wasn’t even fond of school idols. I really liked how they made this point even clearer by having Mari’s own mother voicing her opinion against her child “wasting their time playing school idols, since it doesn’t benefit her in any ways”. Now here is the thing, she wasn’t even wrong by saying that. After all, Mari left her school in Italy to unsuccessfully save the school back in Numazu by being a school idol. So how do they convince her mother to see what all of us see in school idols?

Cue in Hop? Stop? Nonstop! Again, I really like how they cones their feelings and thoughts through a song. It’s so simple, yet so powerful. The lyrics of this song had a meaningful message as well.

An individual by its might accomplish some things, but there are things in life you simply cannot archive alone. Being a school idol is one example. Only together they can be successful. Together you can help each other. Only together you don’t have to shoulder the burden yourself. The friends you have will be there and always help you.

The next part to come is probably my favorite part of the whole movie. While I said in the beginning that the movie tries to resolve the question where Aqours is headed to, and that is still the main point the movie is about, but Aqours is not the only group in Sunshine.

Introducing the next sub-plot involving Saint Snow. You might think now “Why them again? Wasn’t everything involving them resolves with Awaken the Power?” Short answer is only part of it was resolved. Mainly because the theme back then was about the little sisters Leah and Ruby showing their older sisters that they can be dependent on their own, giving the sisters insurance that they don’t have to be worried about Leah and Ruby. However there was still something left unresolved. Leah’s regret. The last Love Live competition was also the last time that they could existed together as Saint Snow. Due to a small mistake, the last performance ended up being a failure. The performance that was supposed to be a present from Leah to her sister Sarah ended up being a bad memory.

So now can the regret got away? They can’t enter the Love Live! competition again. The performance that ended in a failure was their last chance... or was it? While of course they can’t enter a competition again, with the help of Aqours, they held their own competition. Showing us how the final performance should have been.

Start Believe Again. The best way to get a message across is through a song. With Believe Again it was no different. I think the easiest way to show how meaningful the song was, not only to Saint Snow, but also to Aqours is simply to quote parts of the lyrics from the song.

“I know I won't ever be alone”
“Did you finally started to see? That light inside of you will never disappear”
“Let's turn into something new, push away our old selfs, let's keep on”
“Ah, this adventure won't stop Let's go!”

The song might have been sung by Saint Snow, the message however was aimed at both of the groups. Even with the third years gone, they will never disappear, they will always be together. Don’t think about having regrets, keep going, the adventure just started after all.

A competition isn’t one if only one group is part of it, so of course Aqours enters with Brightest Melody. Up until now I was able to hold in my tears, but as soon the song started playing, they got me. Not only it looked breathtaking, but the song itself, the melody, everything. I really love this song. I don’t think that I have to go into the lyrics for this one. The title of this song already says it all. This little made up competition was not only for Saint Snow the last performance, it was also for Aqours the last time that they would officially perform a song together. Brightest Melody, when they are together they shine the most. Only as nine can can shine that bright. They tried to perform as six at their new school, but they simply couldn’t shine without all nine of them, even failing at a result. But does that mean that it all should end there? Is this where Aqours is headed to?

The answer is no. This is not the end of Aqours, if anything, this is only the end of a chapter in the book of Aqours. Why do I think that? Well let’s look on how the last song is titled. NEXT SPARKLING!!

Before I go into why this is not the end, let me just say that this song got me into tears again. Brightest Melody was their last song together, so NEXT SPARKLING!! was the performance of the first and second years. However, to symbolize that the third years will be always with them, the performance cuts to a dreamy like stage, having only the third years continue the song. When that happened my heart just broke because I felt immense sadness and happiness at the same time.

I won’t go into the lyrics for this one, as the title is sufficient enough to display that this is not the end. However I just want to quote the first verse here, simply because I like it so much.

“All of these memories are important and always will be. This wonderful thing is our one and only precious gift. No matter how far it is I'm sure you can see this beautiful scenery inside your heart, because that’s where our feelings reside”

So what does NEXT SPARKLING!! tells us about Aqours future? I think that they try to tell us that one chapter might have ended, but a new story will begin. In the same fashion of how zero becomes One, a spark can inflame an inferno that eventually shine as bright as they did before. A new journey will commence.

So this review somehow ended up being more any analysis of the movie, so I guess I’ll try to get the review part done now.

If you watching the movie, you probably notice really fast that there are multiple sub-plots. At first it might seem like everything is isolated from each other and they just try to resolve the things they couldn’t in the series. If you look deeper into it however, you’ll notice how each part is connected to each other.

As mentioned before, the first sub-plot was about gaining the general acceptance of the people who doubt them. But how does this play into answering the question? Well the movie does this step-by-step with each plotpoint progressing them further. While they did indeed partially gain the acceptance, what they also gained here is the knowledge of having their group members behind their back, no matter where or when.

So how does the Saint Snow plot play part in giving us an answer? Well one of the results was, besides sowing us again how bright they shine, is that they gained the final acceptance of even the last person who doubted them by broadcasting the performance for everyone, including the people at their new school, and that being a school idol is more than just dancing and having fun.

As you can see, even though the sub-plots seemed disjointed at first, in the end, everything is connected to each other.

What amazed me the most is how they were able to convey their message and feelings to the audience by singing their songs. Each second had a meaning, nothing was wasted.

The final impression however is a mix of sadness and happiness. While the movie itself told us that this is not the end, reality says otherwise (at least for the series). The animation of Love Live! Sunshine!! ends with the movie. Therefore the fact that they teased me with a future that won’t come kind of makes me sad. At least the real life side of Sunshine is far from over, which helps me accept the fact, that the animation itself ended.

Don’t let prejudices about idols take away the possibility of you experiencing something amazing. After all, the only people who truly dislike Love Live! are the people who haven’t seen it. I have yet to meet a person didn’t get some form of enjoyment out of this. Some like the fantastic