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Love Live! Sunshine!!
Episode 9

by Bamboo Dong,

How would you rate episode 9 of
Love Live! Sunshine!! ?
Community score: 4.6

And then there were nine, and all is right with the Sunshine!! world. The third years, Dia, Mari, and Kanan, have finally joined Aqours, and even though we knew this would happen all along, the actual journey there was more than anyone could have expected.

In the lead up to this episode, we'd been given a few morsels here and there—a flashback of the trio standing frozen on a stage, snippets of conversations that hinted at a scarring exit from the school idol world, and Dia's revelation that their Tokyo debut was derailed when they couldn't sing. But until this point, we'd thought that it was a case of stage fright, nerves, or perhaps mounting personal pressures. That was certainly the indication given from all the covert conservations between the third years, as they argued passionately about "failure" and the idea of giving up. It may have been misleading, but it was exactly what the younger Aqours girls needed to take stock of during their recent experience in Tokyo.

Life is not so simple though, and blessedly, neither is Love Live! Sunshine!!. The first six Aqours girls play detective for a bit, snooping on Kanan during her morning run and eavesdropping on her conversation with Mari. Mari begs Kanan to stop running away, but her plea is only met with more hurt. Even when Kanan agrees to at least go back to school, she's still stubborn in her refusal to become a school idol again.

Surprisingly, it's Chika that ends up making things right. She may have been the immature one going into the series, but it's her bull-headed optimism and pliable strength that ends up bringing the girls together. In that moment, she's wiser than the third-years around her, with even Dia flailing a little and showing a much more vulnerable side than we've seen so far. We learn that Kanan's inability to sing wasn't because of fear or nerves, but because of a desire to protect Mari, whose ankle injury that day might have been exacerbated had she soldiered through the performance. Rather than risk further injury to someone who means the world to her, Kanan decides to throw the performance. Afterwards, she pressures the girls to break up, so that Mari can pursue educational opportunities abroad.

It's a story of sacrifice (albeit one that could have been settled more efficiently with good old-fashioned communication) and one of ultimate friendship, all compacted into a sweet 28 minutes. Structured just a little differently, this could have even been an OVA on its own. It ends up being one of the best episodes in the series so far, in part because it takes a step back from the main action, but also because of its tender narrative arc. So often do shows like Love Live! have Friendship! as one of their themes that it's nice when the story narrows in even further and focuses on one particular meaningful relationship. In this case, it's not only just the sweet bond between Mari and Kanan, but also Dia, who's more than happy to shed her tough love act as the puzzle pieces finally come together.

Overall, this is a delightful, cute, and moving episode. Even with the action revolving around a tearjerker, most of the characters get a chance to be silly. Yoshiko is in hilarious form, as the heartbreak from Tokyo has her over-compensating more than usual. You has a goofy bit when her love of uniforms has her lunging over a railing to retrieve Kanan's old school idol costume. And Dia, sweet Dia, really gets a chance to shine as she vacillates from serious to goofy to genuinely caring, playing the parts of both mediator and conspirator.

The episode culminates in a moving scene between Mari and Kanan, as they spill their emotions and instantly forgive one another in a puddle of tears. It's the perfect segue to the complete formation of Aqours, with a dance number where the third-years' original idol uniforms are symbolically replaced by ones matching the rest of the girls. Fittingly, the song is about friendship and the hurdles that it can overcome.

One of the great things about the past few episodes has been the way that events have shaped Chika. She's gone from being a naïve and immature dreamer to being a unifier, confident not only in what she wants for Aqours, but also in her abilities as a leader. And for the first time, the third-year girls are less a nebulous wealth of experience and seniority and more like true teammates, growing through the meddling of their younger schoolmates and the lessons they took back from their own Tokyo experience. The events of Sunshine!! may have started nine episodes ago, but the birth of Aqours truly began in Tokyo, and it will be exciting to see how the rest of the season plays out.

Rating: A

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

Bamboo has spent over half her life at ANN. Follow her on Twitter.


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