The newest generation of Love Live! is finally here! Love Live Superstar!! Episode 1 has now aired and judging from the first episode, the series already looks promising. Before we dive into my thoughts on the episode and some easter eggs, let’s have a recap on the first episode. Spoilers ahead!
The first episode begins with a middle school student named Kanon Shibuya singing on top of the school’s rooftop. A lot of students are admiring her voice as she sings her heart out while being accompanied by her guitar. While proving her singing prowess to her audience, she’s dreaming of joining a program that specializes in music in high school.
Unfortunately, she has one weakness – she’s unable to sing when it matters the most. For this reason, she failed her entrance exams entered the standard program instead.
A Fateful Encounter
It’s the first day of school and while most students are excited about it, Kanon, however, has indifferent feelings. Her stubbornness to her sister and mother before leaving for school proves this even more. Before rushing to school, Kanon puts on her headphones and tries to avoid as many people as possible.
However, luck isn’t on her side as she stumbled upon a few familiar faces while on the way to school. This meeting made her became a bit low-spirited. In order to lift her spirits up, she started singing and while she was doing so, she had a fateful encounter with Tang Keke, a Chinese foreign student. She had an eccentric impression of her; hence, she ran away and tried her best to avoid her.
Kanon successfully ran away from her and met Chisato, her childhood friend. Both of them together then head off to school and arrived just in time for the opening ceremony. Before parting ways, Chisato gave a few words of encouragement to her friend, hoping to lighten up her mood.
After the school’s ceremony, Kanon and Keke met once again because they’re in the same class together. While introducing themselves in class, Keke revealed that the main reason she came to Japan is to become a school idol. Because of this, she is persistent to have Kanon join her in making her dreams come true.
While Keke is trying to recruit Kanon, Ren Hazuki interrupts them both by saying how being a school idol is unnecessary for the school. The two had a heated debate with each other thereafter which led to Kanon being asked a question she cannot answer. Ren then advises them both to go home and not to interfere with music students.
The School Idol Dream
The two then went to Kanon’s family cafe where Keke met her sister and mother. While Kanon and Keke were talking about their fateful encounter, school idol dreams, and Kanon’s singing, Kanon’s family cannot help but eavesdrop. During their conversation, Kanon told Keke why she can’t be a school idol. Although, she agreed to help her dreams come true by recruiting others to become school idols.
The next day, the two started recruiting anyone they can find while avoiding Ren in the process. One student that they recruited is their classmate Heanna Sumire. She, however, declined the offer with a bit of attitude. At the end of the day, both were unsuccessful to recruit anyone.
Keke, feeling a bit down, was cheered up by Kanon by saying there’s still tomorrow. Kanon thought that Keke was feeling a bit sad because they didn’t recruit anyone; but on the contrary, Keke wanted Kanon to be part of her school idol dream. After Keke’s final attempt to recruit Kanon, she walked away from the scene leaving Keke picking up the recruitment fliers that she dropped.
While walking away, Kanon realized that for the first time, someone is there to sing with her. She also questioned herself if this is the path she’s going to take. After a moment of contemplation, she hurries back to Keke and proudly declares her passion for singing. From that moment on, she found her resolve.
First Impressions and Easter Eggs
Love Live! Superstar!! is off to a really good start. We finally get a non-cheerful orange hair main character. I am looking forward to how this adamant leader will grow and lead Liella into the spotlight.
Furthermore, the cheerful character we get is the foreign student, Tang Keke which is kind of a bit odd for me. Regardless, Keke’s relentless plead to Kanon is cute, and that’s what makes her unique. What a way to shape things up a bit.
What’s more, we might not be seeing the school closing down or a club being abolished anytime soon.
We also got a few details of the other two main characters namely, Chisato Arashi and Ren Hazuki. Chi-chan being the supportive childhood friend, meanwhile, Ren is acting like the disciplined and strict president of the student council – and we all know what happens to presidents in this franchise.
Aside from that, Heanna Sumire didn’t have a lot of screentime in this episode, however, she gave a tsundere personality to the viewers from a single scene.
Voice Actors
Speaking of voice actors, Sayuri Date, the voice of Kanon Shibuya, stood out the most for me in this episode. This 18-year old voice actress who’s new to the scene had me admire her voice already in just a single episode. Liyuu also did a fantastic job as Keke and her performance was absolutely adorable. I cannot say much for the others as of now but I’m certain that they will do great as well.
In addition, Love Live! Superstar!! continues the trend on veteran voice actresses voicing the mothers of the main girls. In case you missed it, it was mentioned in the credits that Mamiko Noto is voicing Kanon’s mother meanwhile Romi Park is handling Ren’s mother both of which are veterans in the industry. In my opinion, this is the franchise’s way of inspiring young talents to become huge like their mother on the anime.
Final Thoughts
Lastly, I would like to talk about the feather in the end. In case you didn’t know, the white glowing feather is the franchise’s symbol. In the last part of the episode, the feather was falling from the sky and into the pocket of Kanon’s backpack after finding her resolve. If you ask me, the feather, in the end, marks the start of a brand generation that we’re surely going to love.
The first episode of Love Live! Superstar!! was just simply beautiful and I cannot wait to see what it has in store for us. Like what you’ve read? Read more features here!
All images are taken via Funimation · ©2021 PROJECT Lovelive! Superstar!!
