Predicting the Plot of the Nijigasaki Anime

Yes, for everyone commenting on my Love Live videos telling me about it, I am aware of the upcoming Nijigasaki anime that’s coming out in October. I saw the news and was unbelievably hype and we’re 100% covering every episode weekly on the Weeb Club, so go sub to us if you wanna see weekly Love Live discussion. But yes, I already know, so if I get another comment from someone telling me that it’s coming out in October as if I don’t know, I’m going to absolutely lose my mind please ST-

Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai (which, for the sake of my own sanity, I will be calling it Love Live! Nijigaku), is the third series entry in the Love Live! Franchise using the 9 idols that were debuted in the project originally named Perfect Dream Project that was the central focus of Love Live! School Idol Festival All Stars. But there are several things to consider when it comes to NijiGaku, especially the fact that technically speaking, this ISN’T the true third generation of Love Live! Apparently, NijiGaku, being the focus of SIF All Stars, is better classified as a side series rather than a true continuation like Sunshine was to School Idol Project. The true third generation is actually the recently announced Love Live! SuperStar with the new group Liella from Yuigaoka, which was recently voted for by the fans, and if the change in art style in the anime is evidence of anything, this is something fundamentally different than anything we’ve seen so far. Now, I haven’t played SIF All Stars, as I don’t have a lot of time on my hands as well as I know for a fact that I will never get anything done if I play it, knowing how obsessive about Love Live I am, but I would like to think I’m fairly knowledgeable about the story and themes of Love Live as a whole, if my channel was evidence of anything. But I also have a good passing knowledge of the events of SIF All Stars’ story mode, and I’m going to take everything I know into account for the goal of this video. I want to try to predict where Love Live! NijiGaku is going to go in the anime using information from the story of SIF All Stars, the themes of the Love Live anime so far, and most importantly the trailer that was revealed at the NijiGaku Second Live. There’s a lot of information to dig into, so let’s jump right into the Tokimeki! 

As should be the case, we are going to be starting with the trailer, which opens up with a title that reads “let this excitement reach you-.” The word “tokimeki” shows up everywhere when it comes to NijiGaku, namely their debut song and the theme song to SIF All Stars “Tokimeki Runners.” This excitement is, for the sake of this trailer, speaking of the hope that this excitement will reach the fans that are awaiting the anime, but realizing that “tokimeki” is central to NijiGaku, we have to consider the possibility that not only will Tokimeki Runners be performed in the story, but looking into the lyrics it’s a song that speaks of the beginning of their story and the excitement that pushes them into the future.

An exciting story we fulfill

What happens is up to us

A meeting, we can call that a miracle

An exciting story we can fulfill

Let’s have fun together

“Live!” Our hearts shouted

We want that feeling

(We want to be excited with you, telling an exciting story)

Let’s begin! (Let’s get excited together!)

This opening title also has the silhouettes of the nine members of NijiGaku in their respective colors, but funnily enough it also features the silhouette of Takasaki Yu, the character who is the self-insert for the player in SIF All Stars similar to Producer in the iDOLM@STER. Her role in particular is something I’m the most interested in, especially considering something like this has never been done before.

The second thing we see immediately after this is Setsuna with a shadow over her face as she goes to perform a solo live of, presumably, based off of her choreography, “CHASE!” CHASE is a song that I’ve been in love with for a while, but as this scene appears to be from episode 1, looking into the lyrics of CHASE are super helpful regarding the conflict of the story at hand.

I only need to close my eyes to see it again

My heart beating, I’ll entrust the future I believe in here

The moment the world takes on colors and shines

I want to see it with you, my heart answers

I’ve taken off running! Off to strengthen my feelings

When I’m worried I’ll grip your hand tight

You don’t have to wait to be who you want to be

My dream will one day shine forth!

This song is being performed in front of Yu and Ayumu as her narration says the following words:

“The excitement that was born within us… From that day on, our world started changing.”

If you look at the previous two series in Love Live, this is the moment that’s happened in both series that has the main character be inspired by a school idol that pushes them into the goal they’re pursuing. For Honoka, it was A-RISE, the picture of a perfect idol, essentially a legend in their own right, that pushed her on the path to create the legends who changed the world of school idols in the form of μ’s. For Chika, it was μ’s, the embodiment of normal girls who were able to do something amazing that Aqours would eventually have to grow separate from. But in this scene, as the camera zooms into Setsuna’s eye, it’s Yu whose face is full of inspiration. The implications of this are pretty notable, especially when you consider what NijiGaku actually is. Previously, the stories of Love Live assert that it’s united hearts that work together to defeat their rivals, but NijiGaku doesn’t have a name like Aqours or μ’s. Their name IS Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Club, and looking at the information from the website, they are a group that both work together but are also each others’ rivals. This inner competitive yet collaborative aspect is something we’ve seen in Love Live’s idol anime contemporaries, namely the iDOLM@STER. The fact that Yu in SIF All Stars is the same character function as Producer makes things become clearer when considering a big role Producer has in iM@S is making the dreams of the idols he supports come true by being the one who supports their dreams from behind the scenes as hard as he can, but in this case with Yu, being a fellow high schooler, places her on a sort of equal ground that Producer, as an adult managing idols, doesn’t have. 

As Ayumu and Yu watch Setsuna and the camera zooms into Yu’s face, a second title appears that says:

“A school youth drama woven by nine people plus one will start.”

With Sunshine in particular, the story asserts that the 10th member of Aqours is the student body of Uranohoshi themselves. They support and shine as brightly as the nine members onstage, and the “plus one” who is Yu makes this all the more clear. Now, I haven’t mentioned Ayumu yet, mainly because I’m going in the order of the trailer, but Ayumu, while being the leader of NijiGaku, takes a backseat for most of this trailer despite Ayumu taking up most of the poster and the fact that her and Yu are childhood friends. Considering that a big part of Ayumu’s character is reminiscent of Haruka from the iDOLM@STER, being that while Ayumu isn’t the most talented, she still works very hard for everyone around her and is the most down on herself. There is also an event in SIF All Stars where the relationship between Yu and Ayumu becomes strained when Yu gets too focused on working for the sake of the group, and Ayumu is left feeling neglected. This 100% is gonna end up being a conflict in the anime and with the future certainty of Shioriko showing up either in this season or a future season, seeing how this also brings together their relationship will be interesting too.

But the biggest of the big brain that is revealed in this trailer is that Ayumu and Yu are at first not aware of the school idol club at NijiGaku, and even more mind-blowing is that KasuKasu, Kanata, Emma, Shizuku and Setsuna are ALREADY IN THE GROUP, but the reveal of the sad but determined Setsuna performing alone in the trailer already hits us with what the conflict of the entire story is going to be. As the school council president Nakagawa Nana reveals, the school idol club is shut disbanded, and as we see in the successive shots of the members solo, they’re all doing their own thing. Notably as well is that Ai, Karin and Rina (who at this point is shown without the Rina-chan board which is something I’m gonna get into later) were never part of the group at all. These shots of the individual girls are narrated over by Yu saying:

“If I could support people who chase their dreams, that would start something for myself as well. That’s the feeling I got, at least.”

With all of this in mind, I present to you how I believe the events of NijiGaku are going to be carried out. Keep in mind this is nothing but a Love Live theory and that I’m going off of assumptions, but this is what I think is going to happen:

Yu and Ayumu are going to be starting at their school with both of them unsure as to what they want to do. This is fitting for Yu who has no ambitions of her own and Ayumu who looks down on herself. They go into a park and see Setsuna perform CHASE, which sets Yu and Ayumu into motion to join the school idol club, but upon going to find it, Nana tells them that the club has been disbanded. The reasoning for this was because none of them were able to get along and had unique goals of their own that they individually wanted to pursue, so the rest of the story is spent having Yu and Ayumu reach out to the other members and connect with them in the way only they can as Yu pushes Ayumu to be a school idol and Yu with the support behind all of them. I’m willing to bet that Yu either gives Rina the Rina-chan Board to help her with her emotions or some of her words give her a way to use the Rina-chan board to be a way to show her emotions. Ai, being a fellow second-year, is likely going to form a friendship with Yu, Ayumu and Setsuna. But what I think is most important is the conflict of Yuki Setsuna herself. I’m going to add a timecode here to avoid a spoiler that I think will be important for anyone not aware of the story of SIF All Stars, so here is the final detail. Nakagawa Nana is actually Yuki Setsuna, as she wants to be a school idol but is forced to be the perfect girl due to the expectations placed upon her. When she made the school idol club, it was her chance to be the thing she wanted, but similar to Nico in School Idol Project, her ambitions that she forced on the others was too much and it collapsed. But the difference here is that she didn’t have any support, which Ayumu and Yu are likely to provide. I also believe a major theme of the story is going to be identity, considering that Setsuna is hiding who she really is, KasuKasu is a devious little gremlin like Nico, Karin has that mommy gf vibe when she’s actually ditzy and childish, Shizuku is an actress, and of course Rina and the Rina-chan board. This is also a theme Love Live has never explored prominently before, and seeing so many characters fit under that theme is perfect for the story at hand. 

Of course, again, this is all speculation for what I think might happen. The theme of identity might not even be explored at all, but I think the idea of these two girls bringing back together the fractured school idol club through a unique support that wasn’t at the lead of the other two series would be phenomenal. I also am very excited to see these girls onscreen, especially Setsuna, Ai, Rina, KasuKasu and Ayumu. I know little about these girls in comparison to μ’s and Aqours and I’ve been dying to know more. Oh, and the song that will likely be the OP sounds fire and I can’t wait to cry like a baby the entire show. I know one thing is for certain. No matter what happens, it’s an exciting future for Love Live!