Love Live! Superstar!! Season 2

Episode 7

Ever since she first joined Liella!, Ren has been stuck in character limbo. Her drama was the last and longest bit of the first season's conflicts, and while it got by on sentiment, there were a lot of weird flubs to its execution that dragged it all down. And ever since then, she's had a tendency to slide into the background during group scenes – with no dedicated comedy/shipping partner in the cast, and a personality built around being the reserved, supposedly responsible one, it was hard enough for her to stand out when there were just four girls to compete with. Now that number's doubled, and you could count this season's number of memorable Ren scenes before this episode on one hand. The gag of her accidentally googling lesbians on the school's wi-fi could only carry her so far, and she desperately needed something – focus, development, a more concrete gimmick – for her to pull her weight among her compatriots.

This week's episode doesn't completely right the ship, but it manages to provide some much-needed comedic texture to the student council president, while also delivering some of the most unique fanservice in the entire franchise. And no, I don't mean any sort of cheesecake or ship-teasing. I mean the plethora of knockoff game consoles Ren's descent into Gamer-dom provides. I'm not even a big retro gamer, but I got an unhealthy amount of kicks from seeing so much chunky 20th century gaming hardware on display. From a Satellaview-equipped Super Famicom to an Atari Lynx to a Sega R360 arcade installation, there are some remarkable deep cuts here, made all the stranger by the fact that this clearly takes place in the modern day since we know there are Nintendo Switch and PS5 equivalents in the Love Liverse. So not only is Ren's ever-absent dad sending his daughter random game consoles as presents, he's actively inundating her with 35-year-old 8-bit systems. It's such a weird angle on the whole thing that it makes every scene with her collection hilarious. I want Ren and Natsumi to start an L-Tube channel just so she can become School Idol Scott the Woz.

Though we do also get some more typical fanservice via ship-baiting. That's nothing new for Love Live!, obviously, but it's notable here because they fully drop the paper-thin veil that the franchise has held in front of its face for so long. Like sure, anyone paying attention can read the message of stuff like Eli and Nozomi wearing traditional wedding garb in a magazine spread, or notice the obvious subtext of Ayumu pinning Yu to the bed and saying she wants to be the only idol for her. But there was still the slightest hint of plausible deniability. Not here, as the rest of the club spot Ren and Mei having a heart-to-heart and immediately jump to the conclusion that they're dating. They even say “koi” so there's no argument about what kind of love they're talking about. Sure, they're technically misreading this particular case, but it's still refreshing for the story to just make the subtext text – especially with how obviously jealous Shiki is about the whole (fake) affair.

On a more serious note, the episode does manage to give me a better sense of who Ren is as a character – both in service of jokes and the more sentimental side of the show. While last season taught her to open up and not put the weight of the school on her shoulders, she still has a tendency to take on too much, and being afraid of asking for help even when she needs it. Along with her new hobby, that turns into the classic Procrastination Death Spiral here – you know, where you put something off by doing something else, feel guilty about it, but then your brain associates that feeling of guilt to whatever you were supposed to do, and that makes you put it off even more. And with shame over it all keeping her from asking for help, she's left to spiral and smack her head against the wall until Mei happens to find out. It's only once she's willing to be honest and vulnerable with the club that she's able to get back to business.

It's both a funny and kind of sweet way to further characterize Ren that ties well into her previous story, and my only real complaint is that I'd have liked to see Mei actually help her write the song she was working on. After all, the whole resolution is basically about being open with your friends and accepting help when you need it, and we did establish Mei's a pianist a few weeks back, so it seemed like the perfect bow to tie it all up. What we get instead – the rest of the club offering heartfelt help – is still sweet though, and the group gaming session is a blast in and of itself, but I would've liked a bit more payoff to what seemed like an obvious setup. Ultimately, though, that's just a nit to pick on what is otherwise a rock-solid and uniquely funny piece of Idol activities.

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Love Live! Superstar!! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.