The Struggle of the Shiniest | Who is Ohara Mari?

If there is anything that describes Love Live! and it’s thematic core best, it’s through the words: regret, love and freedom. It’s the idea that being a school idol allows someone who never had anything special about them to shine where they otherwise wouldn’t and to dance alongside people that they love and share their love of dancing and singing onstage surrounded by cheers and lights. It’s the freedom to pursue a dream and possibilities that didn’t exist before they found their shine pursuing the title of Love Live champion, but that aspect of regret is seen time and time again in the story of Love Live! Sunshine!!, especially if you follow the journey of Aqours and their goal to save the school that they love. Because for the students of Uranohoshi, that school and the small town that no one else understood or even cared about is the source of their pride and where they were able to connect with others who understand them.

And in no character is the idea behind these three words embodied quite like the daughter and heir to the Ohara corporation.

Fans of the series see Mari as that upbeat, meme spouting, English-speaking 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.

Mari, in short, is eccentric, extremely self-confident, loves to make jokes and is cheerful to the point of infectiousness. Almost every single scene of her talking is in her energetic voice with her strange accent that she intercuts with frequent uses of English words, fitting to her Italian-American heritage. Everything from her attitude, her wardrobe and even her bright blonde hair screams shiny, fitting considering her famous catchphrase. Given that she is the token rich girl, it’s expected to see her with the typical insecurities that you would see from such characters as Mio, Maki and Eri, but Mari being Mari takes it to the extreme. She flies into town on a helicopter, thought that a bronze statue of herself was a good choice to sell for a swap meet and every time it’s her turn to cook, she decides to make Shai-ni, a stew made of ingredients that costs thousands of dollars and does all of these things without a care in the world. Her presence is so great and outlandish that, using her family’s influence, she became the chairman of Uranohoshi while at the same time being a student attending it. She really is just a giant, flaming ball of confidence and personality and that’s what, despite seeming too big for something like school idol activities, ironically makes her such an ideal fit for the collection of weirdos that Aqours really is, especially considering that the school itself is in the middle of a backwater town that no one seems to care about yet she loves with every fiber of her heart and soul. But she wouldn’t be the person she was nor would she hold this love for her town had it not been for two girls who reached out to her.

Being the daughter of the Ohara Corporation, Mari wasn’t allowed to do anything that wasn’t in line with the plans that her parents had for her, and thus ended up being alone for her childhood and probably would have stayed that way had it not been for the meddling of Matsuura Kanan and Kurosawa Dia, who saw that this girl who was nervous in her new environment and didn’t talk to anyone just needed some friends that she could connect to. They drew her out of that cage that her parents formed around her and gave her a taste of not just friendship but possibly more importantly freedom. And her first taste of it became so intoxicating to her that again and again she rebelled against her family’s wishes just to be with her two friends that she loved with all of her heart. That freedom and that bond would serve as her entry into the world of school idols as Dia’s love and obsession for them as well as their desire to save their school drove them to do something that was uncharted territory for all of them.

I’ve asserted several times throughout my Love Live analytical series that school idols represent a great many things, but chief among them are the bonds of love and friendship as well as the shine of freedom. It’s that period of three years where girls who feel unsuited for the spotlight strive for a shine that they feel they don’t have alongside others who push and inspire them in turn, and for Mari the rebel who loved her school, her town and her friends with all of her heart, it was the stage of Love Live that she desired more than anything else because it was a stage she found with those two who pulled her out of the dark. It was a stage where the three of them could work for a goal they pursued together…but a school idol group’s success can only be found in a group with unified hearts, and while Dia, Kanan and Mari cared about each other deeply, you could argue it was so much that they were willing to do things that they thought was best for them even if the object of their love wanted nothing to do with it.

Because Kanan loved Mari so much that she wasn’t willing to let her throw her future away, even if it meant they would win as school idols and save the school they loved.

So when it came time for the three to perform at Tokyo, and seeing Mari still injured due to their grueling practice routine that could threaten to ruin her life if she exasperated it, Kanan decided that she would pretend she couldn’t sing due to the fear, and upon returning to Uchiura, the three of them disbanded despite Mari’s cries to keep it together. With that single misguided yet well meaning act of love that ignored the feelings of the other, the three friends who pulled their friend out of the dark watched her as she sunk right back in. But that was until a light in the form of Takami Chika gave her the hope she needed in the form of the name that she and her two friends danced together under two years ago.

The light of Aqours’ second wave brought Mari back to the town she loved.

An interesting thing to note about Mari is that she tends to try to take matters into her own hands. Her pride is so great that she has ideas that she wants to achieve but isn’t willing to let others assist her if she feels that it’s her responsibility, so even when the school was reaching closer to the risk of closure, she would rather try to subtly manipulate events than just admit that she needed help. We see this when she tries to get Kanan to join Aqours again, when she lets the new Aqours go to Tokyo to experience failure, and when she tries to persuade her father to delay Uranohoshi’s closure by just one more day. The key here is that, by herself, she doesn’t accomplish anything. She places the responsibility, and more importantly, the blame onto herself.

But the important thing here is that, where Mari, Kanan and Dia were unable to advance, Chika was able to move forward. Because unlike Aqours’ original three, Chika realized that she couldn’t do anything alone.

It’s interesting to me thinking back that Mari placed so much of her hope on Chika, who Dia warned time and time again that going into the world of school idols was going to be rough and difficult, and while it can be interpreted that she simply saw Chika as her only hope for the sole reason that she was a school idol, but I think it’s more than that. In Chika who saw no worth in herself, Mari was able to see a love and a drive that she saw in herself and her friends long ago. She saw the love for singing, dancing and trying with all of their hearts that the original Aqours had, but this time with someone who could give them the push that she and her friends didn’t have. And more importantly, Chika wasn’t driven by stubborn pride because how could she? The normal monster didn’t like anything about herself and most certainly had no pride that she could speak of. And even more importantly, Chika knew when to reach out to others when she needed help, and moreso when someone needed a hand to reach out to them.

Chika saw the love that Mari, Kanan and Dia had and realized that they needed to become school idols once again, be it out of her admiration for amazing things or just because she realized that they were struggling alone. That’s why she becomes far more concerned with having them be school idols because of their love rather than just because she needs them. And it was so obvious to anyone that they all loved it but there was something preventing them from coming back. Dia wasn’t strong enough to influence the self-confident ball of pride that was Mari and the determined, headstrong and overly caring Kanan from realizing that they were both pushing each other away because they cared too much about the other. The issue with both of them was that they cared too strongly without being able to rely on anyone, but it was the normal monster who shut them up and told them that they were needed. And it was thanks to her that Mari was able to let go of her pride and admit that all she wanted was to sing and dance once again with that best friend.

And together with the new Aqours, Mari was able to save Uranohoshi by immortalizing its name in history forever. By singing and dancing with that freedom as her wings, she was able to reach the summit of Love Live! champion that they desired with those friends who gave her those wings so long ago. Their hard work, their struggle and ther love paid off…or did it? Because Uranohoshi, even if the name was immortalized, was gone. Their struggle wasn’t enough to turn 1 into 100. They may have a trophy, but the school they loved was gone. They may have won together, but now she had to leave those friends behind. That freedom she had and those wings that she found didn’t get her anywhere in the end, at least that’s what her mother believes.

Mari’s mother and her role in Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow is to directly challenge the validity of freedom if it ultimately serves no purpose. You have to see it from the eyes of a mother who just wants the best for the most precious thing in the world for her. Those friends that Mari made turned her into a rebellious troublemaker. Those friends influenced her to be a school idol and her obsession with that fleeting activity almost cost her a better education, one that she still ended up throwing away in a hopeless attempt to save some rundown school in a nowhere town that no one cares about. That freedom at every turn only served to waste her daughter’s time and potential, and if that freedom was going to get her nowhere, then the best thing for her was to take it away.

And…speaking realistically, she was right. Mari becoming the chairwoman only delayed the inevitable because the school still closed down. Her becoming a school idol gave her a trophy for a school that no longer exists and even isn’t respected by others who don’t know what a school idol is or understands that it’s more than just singing and dancing in cute outfits. Her being with her friends only served to take away every route to opportunity that she had and they were just going to be separated anyway. Why did any of it matter? Why does it matter if a girl has freedom if all that freedom is going to do is make her suffer? So Mari’s mom’s drive to get her daughter into an arranged marriage was her only way of taking away that freedom that caused nothing but trouble and disappointment.

But Mari never saw it that way and never tried to show her how much she had grown.

Love Live! asserts many things, but it’s not until Over the Rainbow that the question of “why it matters” is answered and having Mari at the center of this question is perfect because in her we see that pursuing one’s dreams can yield only failure, disappointment and regret. Because, realistically and from any reasonable point of view she failed time and time again. She and the first Aqours ended in bitter tears and separation. The new Aqours couldn’t even get two more aspiring students and ended their time together sobbing as they said goodbye to the school they were trying to save.

But a rainbow is filled with many different colors.

A person’s growth is not simply determined by the positives and arguably is far more shaped by one’s failures. Had Mari taken the route her mother planned out for her, she would have lived a fairly easy life because she already had everything planned out for her. She was talented enough without the opportunity to study abroad, let alone all the advantages being an Ohara gave her but knowing how to struggle and face one’s inadequacies is something you can only learn from failure. I know personally that I wouldn’t be able to get better at editing, or even just making these videos if I didn’t first make the effort to try and do something I really wanted to do and fail. Because you can’t learn to get back up without first falling down. You can’t learn to persevere without something blocking your way. And most certainly, you can’t learn love without others who you can share that love with.

Aqours, more than anything, was a place where Mari was able to understand all of these things. By failing to save her friendship, she was able to learn to reach out and swallow her pride if it meant that she could truly value the love that she has. By struggling against the impossible odds that stood between a 0 and a 1, she was able to gain the strength to endure no matter what stands in her way. And by dancing and singing and shining with all of her heart, she understood what it was like to find something that she truly loved and to experience every single moment with love in her heart. Every single moment, sad, happy, painful and joyful was in that light, that rainbow, that shine that made her who she was.

Your life is going to be full of regrets–of things that don’t go your way and will tear you apart, but with every single step you take you gain another precious memory. You can’t go through life without experiencing pain because with that pain comes the strength to reach out to the things that you love. Mari loved that school and the town it resided in because it was where she met those friends that changed her life. It was the town she found her independence and the place she found home. It was where she separated her bonds with the ones she cared about and was pulled back together by a girl who couldn’t do anything on her own. It was in the light of Aqours that Ohara Mari became someone strong enough to face tomorrow and learned to love every moment that seemed fleeting. 

Because while she did fail, the world was able to witness her love. Her town was able to support her with all their hearts and her mother was able to realize how grown her daughter had become. Because make no mistake, her mother loved her with all of her heart, but just like Kanan, that love didn’t take into account the feelings of the other. But Mari had never shown her mother how much she grew and only tried to run away. She, like with Kanan, stubbornly fought against her instead of showing her how brightly that love within her shined, and the only way to understand those feelings is by charging head-on. Mari would have never been able to do that without the nine by her side, and all she needed to do was to show her the love that she had in her heart and that she didn’t fail.

For the girl who struggled with all of her heart to fight against destiny, it was important to realize that even in failure, she didn’t lose anything. Her decision wasn’t a mistake and every single moment grew her as a person, and only through that freedom that became her wings, the strength to fight through her regret and her unbridled and passionate love for her town, that school, her friends, of singing, dancing, shining and of being a school idol that she was able to change. And none of that sounds like a mistake.

This is Ohara Mari. The shining example of how every moment, good or bad, becomes your wings. And through challenging the world with others by your side, even failure becomes another step towards the future.