Love Live! Sunshine!!

Episode 7

Episode 7, "Tokyo," is just about everything I've ever wanted from Love Live! Sunshine!!. At times it made me laugh, at times it made me cry, thinking back to the day I first ran up the steps to Akihabara's Kanda Myojin shrine to stand where Nozomi stood in Love Live!, and where drawings of μ's still adorn the many ema prayer boards that flutter there today. Somehow, this episode delivered the very thing that I couldn't help but feel was missing from more recent episodes—it felt genuine.

I've struggled over the past few weeks to embrace Love Live! Sunshine!!'s heavy homages to μ's and the original Love Live!. At times, it felt more like fan pandering than it did an earnest display of fandom from Aqours, largely because of the often slapdash way that μ's was used. While I appreciated Chika's enthusiasm to mimic their workout routines, for instance, it always felt secondary to their story, almost like an afterthought. It was like the writers had a μ's quota to fill before they could move onto the next scene. The previous episode was particularly onerous to me because of how flippantly the characters reacted to news of their own school closing, to the point where it felt more like a plot gimmick than anything substantial. Chika was ecstatic, and we realize it's because her character just isn't yet at the point where she can recognize the gravity of the situation. And that's part of what makes this episode so great.

"Tokyo" really was a turning point not only for the characters, but also for the series. It's in this episode that the younger characters really feel the weight of responsibility for the first time—that expectations and the fear of failure often go hand in hand, that when your school is in imminent failure of shutting down, a declaration of wanting to save it can carry emotional ramifications if you doesn't succeed: not just for the school idols, but everyone who throws their support behind them.

We also get to see a side of Dia that we've all been waiting for—the softer, more understanding side that reveals just how much she cares under her rough exterior. When Ruby asks for permission to go to Tokyo, she relents, knowing she couldn't possibly stand in the way of her sister's dreams. After all, her failures are her own (and Mari's and Kanan's) to deal with. The scene that follows really sets the tone for what difficulties Aqours may encounter in Tokyo. When Dia visits Mari, the latter asks if Dia hopes that Aqours will overcome what they could not. "You know what will happen if they don't succeed," Dia responds. "It might stick with them forever." It's in reference to the flashback we saw with Dia, Mari, and Kanan on stage. At some point in time, they too tried to be school idols, and whatever happened was bad enough that Dia turned against school idols completely.

But it's not just those three that carry baggage from past failures. We've already seen some of Riko's insecurities and her feelings of inadequacy when it comes to being a musician. With the girls in Tokyo, those feelings quickly resurface when Chika suggests going to see Otonokizaka. "There were big expectations for me in high school," Riko tells Chika. "I felt like I had to live up to those expectations." It's a little heartbreaking when Chika responds, "I wonder what it feels like when there are expectations for you." It's two different sides of the same coin—having too many expectations or none at all. Neither feels good, and both can make you feel inadequate. Despite having lived a "normal" expectation-free life, Chika is beginning to feel the weight of that pressure for the first time. She confides to Riko that even the small expectations she's felt from her classmates are scary, and she feels like she's not allowed to fail.

These ideas of failure, comeback, and managing expectations are the kinds of things that have made Aqours so good since the first episode, despite a feeling of lacking from the past couple of episodes. One of the best things about Love Live! Sunshine!! has always been the complexity of its characters. From Chika's continued comments about normalcy to Riko's fears of not living up to expectations, these feelings are what makes the characters human. In some ways, these very real-world troubles are what set the Sunshine!! girls apart from the original nine. I suspect that's what rubbed me the wrong way about some of the more recent episodes—knowing that Love Live! Sunshine!! has always had the potential to surpass Love Live!, but not being given that opportunity until now.

But this episode isn't all seriousness and introspection. It's also one of the funniest episodes to date. There's a great bit at the beginning of the episode that pokes fun at how un-cosmopolitan most of the girls are. Chika proudly shows off her Tokyo outfit: a loud, crass mishmash of wild colors and patterns, inspired by what she's garnered from magazines. Riko is appalled when Ruby shows up in a puffy explosion of kawaii, and Hanamaru comes dressed as a backcountry explorer. Riko's facial expression alone in that scene is golden. The rest of the girls' trip is alternately adorable and hilarious, with each character getting a turn in the spotlight. You is excited about a store that sells professional uniforms, while Yoshiko (big applause to Aika Kobayashi whose vocal acrobatics have been a blessing since the character's introduction) trots off to a store that specializes in the occult.

Then there's their trip to Kanda Myojin, a shrine that makes a lot of appearances in Love Live! (and whose proximity to Akihabara has earned it the reputation of being an otaku shrine). It is perhaps another moment that will likely not resonate with new viewers, who won't know of Nozomi's ties to the shrine, or that the series' frequent usage of the shrine has led to a bounty of real-life Love Live x Kanda Myojin tie-ins. For real life Love Live! fans, it's as much of a pilgrimage site as it is for Chika and her friends. (As an aside, the μ's merchandise featured in this episode is indeed real merchandise—though in the Sunshine!! world, would it really exist? Even AKB48 never got a giant hug plush.)

This scene also helps introduce a new school idol group, with the very cool name Saint Snow. Already, they're poised to be Aqours' rivals, with the big city elegance and polish that Aqours has yet to attain. I suspect that Aqours will not do well in the event, but it will probably be the best thing that's ever happened to the girls. Up until now, the group has scooted along without too many real challenges. Filling an auditorium is one thing, but bouncing back from failure is another. It could do wonders not only for Aqours, but for Love Live! Sunshine!! as a show. To quote Mari, "They can't just avoid [failure], not if they're serious about being school idols, and about saving the school." Saving the school isn't a trivial task like Chika has fantasized about, and neither is achieving success. It's a monumental task that will take everything the girls have, and maybe now with the burden of expectations on their shoulders, they'll finally have what it takes to rise.

The parallels are not lost on me when I say that I have great expectations for the rest of Love Live! Sunshine!!.

Rating: A

Love Live! Sunshine!! is currently streaming on Funimation.

Bamboo has been thrilled to see Aqours cosplay at Otakon. Follow her on Twitter.