Forum - View topicREVIEW: Love Live! School Idol Project Sub.Blu-Ray
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5466 |
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Man, I look at this gargantuan of a property that made a smash hit with the otaku, and I kind of wish it had a similar effect of fanfare especially in the convention scene here in the U.S.
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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Say what you will about Bandai Namco + subsidiaries and it's greed, content control and exploitative approach to a lot of things that mirrors Aniplex quite well but one thing I've always kind of had to marvel at is how they seem to be able to take these seemingly unworkable concepts and translate them into a hit property. A lot of the time it tends to be something like a group of quirky characters goes to a school in a universe where everything revolves around x (Idols, Gunpla, Puzzles) and then they meet other quirky characters and there's references and comedic antics along the way and somehow this always seems to translate into a money making hit against the odds.
That said, the scary thing though is that they really do own the 3 most popular idol anime franchises. I still maintain that one company probably shouldn't be allowed to own that much popular character brand content, have some share in nearly every remotely popular character brand (Like say toy making for Yokai Watch and pretty much exclusive rights on making games for anime Aniplex is involved in on top of their own brands) act with impunity and without remorse (see the blowup over Tales of Zestiria and DLC to see signs of the logical end of all this) but that just seems to be the way things have ended up. Anyway Nick jokes about idols destroying us all but I'd swear if that happens it'd only be the tip of the iceberg. It's pretty scary how much legitimate power these idol characters have over their fans at this point. Like pull up a google tab and search for "Love Live Fans Bowing" and you'll see what I mean folks.
It's almost non-existent in the West, but in Japan it's almost in a class of it's own. Western fandom doesn't really have much of an idol scene though to begin with. Also trust me you don't want the fanfare like Japan has it. |
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SouthPacific
Posts: 689 |
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Just thought i'd point out that it's a chipboard box and not a cardboard one. Chipboard is significantly higher quality. And I don't think it's shelf-unfriendly as I have no problem fitting them into my shelves with either spine. Gotta get your shelf game up  !
I saw three Chinese dudes bowing to images of Love Live! characters on a train. Do I, as a grown up person, take that seriously? No. It wouldn't surpise me if there were more who did it and it may as well have come to be through some weird viral thing on Weibo or something. I see people all around the world doing weird shit; twerking, putting fireworks in your pants, pulling pranks that could literally cause heart attacks, transporting cows in your backseat etc. Humans do weird shit no matter where you're from, what you're into or who you are. |
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EnigmaticSky
 Posts: 750 |
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^I never know why people think NISA's releases are really that shelf unfriendly. Does it take up room? Yeah, but it looks a heck of a lot better than turning it so you can see the spine. I still have Katanagatari standing straight up, proudly displayed on my shelf. Best boxes
Also "Too kawaii to live but too sugoi to die" is the most ridiculous summary I've ever seen. I love it. 10/10. I haven't ever seen this, but I'm honestly kinda put off by the whole idol phenomenon. I may watch it and give it a shot some time, but I'm skeptical. |
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grooven
Posts: 1424 Location: Canada |
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I can't comprehend idol culture or this show's popularity. It certainly isn't for me. Though why hasn't any other idol show been as popular? Idolmaster used to be it.
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gloverrandal
Posts: 406 Location: Oita |
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Unfortunately it's impossible for any anime to replicate the same kind of success in America it has in Japan. Even the biggest anime hits in America like Pokemon and Dragonball Z pale in comparison to how they were treated in Japan. Japan gets all the merchandise, they get all the conventions and events with the voice actors and production staff, they get the conventions that circle doujinshi and other fan goods. Anime can be culture in Japan, but in America it can only ever be a hobby. |
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Bobduh
 Posts: 24 |
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Good to know! I assume that's the same material the Katanagatari box sets are made out of? It does indeed seem sturdier than my other cardboard sets. |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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I don't know where it originated, but that meme has been around for a while. |
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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I watched the first season of this show out of curiosity recently, since I've been playing the iPad game, and I liked it a LOT more than I really expected. It's a fantastic show if you like the feel-good "Do your best! Follow your dreams!" sort of stuff. In fact, I'm actually considering getting this set now...
I do wish the characters were a liiittle more fleshed out, though. But it did a lot better with the 9 characters in the runtime than I expected, honestly. |
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CallumKeyblade
Posts: 536 |
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Love Live! seems to be popular with both genders which I think is a big part of its success. The franchise has a lot of merchandise aimed at girls/women which doesn't seem to be as common for other idol shows. I think this is partly because of how "pure" Love Live! is. (Whereas most other idol shows seem to have panty shots/fanservice, Love Live! is fairly "clean"). They also got the amount of idols exactly right in my opinion. There are enough of them that everyone can find at least one they like but there aren't so many that it becomes too much of a hassle trying to give them all airtime. Plus they have really catchy songs which I feel are a cut above most other anime idol songs. In Japan, Love Live! is pretty much the biggest thing in terms of anime at the moment by some distance. Other idol shows can do decently but there's nothing else on the scale of Love Live!'s domination. |
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SquadmemberRitsu
 Posts: 1391 |
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The reason why I like these types of shows is specifically because they're not an accurate representation of what idol culture is like in Japan. It doesn't completely ignore the laws of reality and the girls still work very hard to reach their goals but the cynicism just isn't there. Granted the idea probably originated as another one of Sunrise's 'Get rich quick' schemes (How dare a company try to make money!) but despite that it's still a sincerely good show. At least a lot more sincere than the smiles on the faces of AKB members when they perform on stage.
The reason it's so popular? Probably the same as K-ON. It's just that good. Or rather they just have an uncanny ability to bring in people of all shapes and sizes and break down the barriers of age and gender. It can still bring in the hordes of sweaty otaku and sell a buttload of dakimakuras (Even moreso than a lot of shows) but at the same time they've got a universal appeal that not many can achieve. If you've got Sentai's K-ON Movie release, watch the TV specials in the extras. The guys just never shut up about how amazing it is that K-ON attracts so many teenage girls. In the case of both Love Live and K-ON, I think it's popularity in those unexpected places is a testament to how well crafted the cast is in comparison to all the other shows that try to replicate that level of success. As for my own thoughts on Love Live Season 1, it was a nice little gem of a series but it was still rough around the edges. None of the episodes were in any way bad, but there were some underlying flaws. The show lacks focus in certain areas spending so much time on introductions and little dramas along the way that there's not really room for much else by the time it's all said and done. While I certainly wouldn't want the show to rush a happy ending, the route they took was still not the best way of going about it. I liked the bittersweet tone of the overall ending but for a show that generally handled drama really well I was disappointed that they took the cheap 'Everything that can go wrong does goes wrong' route to get there. That being said it's a fantastic standalone series that works even better as a lead in to the far better second season which, unlike 99% of sequels, actually learns from the original's mistakes. |
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darkchibi07
Posts: 5466 |
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Obviously, I don't expect that level of popularity and goods to correspond 1:1 here. I guess I'm more leaning towards relative levels of popularity like what Madoka Magica or even K-ON made here in the U.S. NIS America releasing Love Live just makes it even much more niche (unless somehow the boxsets as well as the Toradora sets). But hey, it seems this series is starting to warm up quite a bit for the U.S. viewers. |
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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The thing that almost always draws my eye is the show's strong, vivid colors, their saturation and their contrast (like Kousaka Honoka's blue eyes with her goldish-brown hair, or Hoshizora Rin's golden eyes and hazel hair)
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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The show and Sunrise Studio 8 in general just seems to have a lot of detail and considered usage of color and saturation to the character designs they come up with for sure. |
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shi666san
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I'd actually held off on buying this when it was released in September, but when I saw there was X quantity left on RS, I panicked and purchased it. I personally can't wait to see the BD version of the show.
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