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Love Live! Idols Deny μ's Breakup, Preview Animated Kōhaku Footage
posted on by Egan Loo
Emi Nitta, a member of the Love Live! anime's idol group μ's, denied on Tuesday that the group is breaking up. After the Kōhaku Uta Gassen competition on New Year's Eve, the group's next major concerts at the Tokyo Dome are billed as "μ's Final Love Live!"
However, while Nitta acknowledged that those March 31-April 1 concerts will be the final concerts with just μ's as a whole and by themselves (without other musical acts), she does not characterize this as the group's "breakup." Group member Sora Tokui added that the "μ's Final Love Live!" concerts are planned as a culmination of their work.
The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper's Mantan Web also posted images from the group's rehearsals for Thursday's Kōhaku performance. The images include screenshots of animated footage:
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The μ's idol group is the eighth best-selling musical act in Japan this year. The group's "final single" will go on sale on March 2.
Online newspaper Tokyo Sports Web had reported earlier this month that the March 31-April 1 concerts will be the group's final performances before the group breaks up, as the voice actresses' contracts will expire at the end of March.
Kōhaku Uta Gassen is the New Year's Eve singing contest that is Japan's most viewed music television program. The μ's group will perform the anime's opening theme song "Sore wa Bokutachi no Kiseki" (That Is Our Miracle) on the program with newly animated footage. However, Eli Ayase voice actress Yoshino Nanjō will not perform during Kōhaku.
Other performances scheduled for the program include BUMP OF CHICKEN (Tales of the Abyss, Blood Blockade Battlefront) and Superfly (Ushijima the Loan Shark live-action film), as well as 34-year-old singer Gen Hoshino, 19-year-old Sakurako Ōhara, Rebecca (the rock band who are reuniting after two decades), and the four-person band Gesu no Kiwami Otome.
Sources: Oricon, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web via Yaraon! (link 2)
