In Love Live! Sunshine!!, there are a lot of words that hold thematic weight throughout the series, but none hit more than those of “regret” and “normal”. These words that embody the goals and motivations of every girl that fills the cast, but the one who embodies them the most gave herself the title “normal monster”. That’s Takami Chika, the leader of Aqours, the girl who could only call herself normal and possibly the greatest protagonist in all of anime.
On the birthday of the Number 1 Idol in the Universe and the most popular Love Live character of all time, we take a look at Yazawa Nico, the mischievous gremlin and two-faced creator of the Nico Nico Nii and member of μ’s, often written off by many people in the community as being nothing more than a meme, being extremely rude or just barely scratching the surface of what she serves to the core of Love Live’s story. Because, make no mistake, there is a reason she is so prominent and why she’s so central to the story of Love Live, and I feel that I have no choice but to do her justice so that people can understand her and further understand the detail and meaning within School Idol Project.
This is Yazawa Nico, the Number 1 Idol in the Universe.
Since Re:Zero is coming back for the Summer 2020 anime season with its long anticipated second season, I decided to do something I’ve been meaning to do for years: rewatch this show that I once hated so much that I gave it a 1 out of 10. Re:Zero is now a show that I currently have at a 9, but what caused such a big shift in opinion? Why did my thoughts on Re:Zero change so much?
In short, I didn’t understand it. And I think that’s a problem with most series people come to dislike, and I think that needs to change.
Tsushima Yoshik-I mean Yohane from Love Live! Sunshine!! is my favorite character in all of anime! She’s cute, she’s got a great singing voice, but most importantly she’s a chuuni. She is someone who has a weird hobby yet goes full force into that hobby all the same, and that is integral to the story of Love Live. Wanna know how?
Let me tell you who is Yohane?
Bleach was once one of the most popular and regarded anime series of all time. It was a member of the prestigious Big 3 Shounen Jump series and was talked about by everyone in the community. Many of us grew up with Bleach, but as the series ended in 2017, many of us also fell out of it. I was one of those people. But, thinking back on it, I realized how important Bleach was to me, how it led me into the world of anime and how it changed my life.
So I wanted to tell everyone why I’ll NEVER stop Loving Bleach.
To descend the Abyss is to abandon all that you know and love. For the sake of satiating one’s desire, they embark on a journey of no return, risking life and death solely for the goal of discovering what lies at the bottom. Just to look into the dark and find a single light, every delver makes the climb into this world that is unbearably cruel, ripping and tearing them apart, threatening their lives, and warping them in both their minds and bodies. Only the greatest and most insane of delvers will attain such heights, or rather depths, to become those known as White Whistles, those who have delved farther than any other and achieved things that no other delver possibly could. The Lord of Annihilation who destroyed any enemy that stood in her way, The Unmovable Sovereign who had unparalleled strength and retrieved a great many artifacts from the Abyss, and possibly most infamous in the story of Made in Abyss and even within the fandom of the series itself is the Lord of Dawn famous for his scientific achievements that have benefited society as a whole yet done so at the expense of all lives he deemed necessary to sacrifice.
For Bondrewd the Novel, all is worth sacrificing for the sake of progress, even that which he loves.
When I first watched Nisekoi, the series that ended up becoming my all-time favorite manga, the first thing I thought was honestly how great all of the girls are. They all were so amazing and enjoyable to watch in their own way, but of all of them, only one struck a chord with me.
Only one was who I considered best girl.
She’s nice, caring, clumsy, modest, and in general just a joy to watch. From the moment she enters the scene and every moment that she’s in, there’s something about her that draws my attention towards her, and it seems it’s not just me. Even in-universe, Onodera is referred to as the goddess of the class, so pure and innocent that everyone who sees her desires her yet also wants to protect her. She’s shy yet willing to do whatever she can to help a friend and tries as hard as she can when put to the test. She’s possibly, and most likely intentionally, presented to us as the perfect waifu…and that’s the problem.
And in Nisekoi, this story of girls fighting to grab the heart of the one they love by challenging that which holds them back, Onodera Kosaki’s story is that of a girl who was given a role to fulfill, a role that she has to learn to break out of.
In celebration of her birthday, today we’re talking about one of the most central characters to the story of Love Live! Sunshine!! as well as the sequel film Over the Rainbow: Ohara Mari! Fans of the series see Mari as that upbeat, meme spouting ball of positivity that everyone seems to love, but what I feel is a bit undersold is just how central to the series, its themes and the development and understanding of its characters she actually is. The frivolity of a school idol, of wasting one’s youth doing nothing but having fun with others that you love that is one of the foundations of Love Live’s story lies at the core of Mari’s struggle, because for her who had so many expectations placed upon her, she found freedom in this world that she was introduced to by her friends. Arguably hers is a story of tragedy and reconnecting that lies beneath that bright surface, and in order to understand anything about Aqours or even Love Live! Sunshine!! itself, I feel it is vital to understand who she is and what her struggle poses to the world of Love Live! So on the birthday of Uranohoshi’s chairwoman and the ninth member of Aqours, let’s celebrate that girl whose life was forever changed by the wings of freedom that are school idols.
This is Ohara Mari, the girl who struggled against all odds to show her shine to the world.
My Hero Academia is a series with a lot of memorable moments, but easily the best moment to come out of the whole series came from Season 4 during the School Festival Arc, because the performance of Hero Too is a moment that gets me emotional every single time. But why is that?
Today I talk about some anime concert scenes that I believe highlight just why these sorts of scenes always end up being some of my favorites: Love Live! School Idol Project and μ’s performance of START;DASH, Your lie in April and Arima Kousei’s performance of Love’s Sorrow in episode 13, and of course, Class 1-A’s performance of Hero Too in episode 23 of Season 4!
Does Uraraka from Boku no Hero Academia do something different from the rest of the Shounen crowd? No, but I might as well tell you why.
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