What is a School Idol? | The Heart Of Love Live!

What is an idol?

As an avid watcher of anime and Japanese media, I’ve had a general understanding of what the term is. Essentially, what I’ve come to understand is that it’s basically a similar idea to a pop star. They act, they sing, they host radio shows, concerts, and everything inbetween. They are people to be admired and adored, with hordes of fans and admirers watching from the audience as their idol shines upon that stage. They’ve all but taken over Japanese pop culture and the phenomenon has spread even beyond the nation’s borders. An idol is a phenomenon. An idol is someone who works as hard as they can in order to do their jobs to the best of their ability. An idol is one whose job is to smile and make others smile.  That’s all well and good, but that brings me to my second question.

What is a School Idol?

This one is a little more difficult to answer. After all, the only difference seems to be the placement of the word “school” before it, but there’s more to it than that. The very distinction of a “school” idol is what makes this term so different from that of the popular understanding of a typical idol despite many still grouping them as the same thing. This distinction and this question are something that is explored heavily, something that is questioned and struggled over and something that has the potential to change the world and it all begins in a highschool in the heart of Tokyo on the brink of closure; in a little place called Otonokizaka.

This is the story of Love Live.

Kousaka Honoka came across this phenomenon known as the school idol in search of a solution. Her school, Otonokizaka High School, was announced to be closing down and refusing the applications of new students. After searching to no avail, she came across the rival school UTX, which bolstered not just a stylish, futuristic building with the latest technology and a more modern vibe, but upon its giant screen were the faces of three girls. These three girls, known as A-Rise, were UTX’s school idols and the obvious draw to this academy. This was the solution that Honoka needed. Otonokizaka needed school idols. Now, again, this brings us to the question of “what are school idols?”

Love Live makes it very apparent that school idols function more like a club than they do anything else; that’s why the formation of a school idol club is necessary for them to make any headway. For them to even compete in Love Live, the competition between the nation’s school idols, they require the permission of the school director. A school idol is very distinctly a club activity. This is why the comparisons of Love Live to something such as the iDOLM@STER or Aikatsu are not entirely accurate, as iDOLM@STER explores the professional world of idols and Aikatsu has the idols attend a school specifically made for them to learn how to be better idols in the professional world. School idols attend their regular classes like anyone else and do these activities of their own volition. They are a club. The activities of a school idol share less similarities with those of a regular idol than they do as say, a highschool sports team.

In Japanese Highschool, the sports teams that you see are clubs. There’s the volleyball club, the basketball club, the swimming club and so on. They receive funding like every other club and do their activities alongside the life of a regular Highschool student. While they are in fact doing the activity they are partaking in, to say that they are doing so on the level of professional athletes is sort of ridiculous. What’s most important and possibly most notable are what these clubs mean to the schools. In Haikyuu, Karasuno’s volleyball team was what drew Hinata to that school. These clubs are sometimes what draw students to these schools and students will attend them even just for the prestige of having a successful sports club because these clubs represent these schools and in return gain support back from that school as they take the name of that school to be known across the nation. Karasuno’s Volleyball club IS Karasuno.

Otonokizaka had nothing special. Aside from its history and perhaps a very peculiar set of alpacas, nothing about it stood out. It was old, could only be reached by climbing a massive staircase, had clubs that were only mediocre at best and even worse–it lied in the very heart of Tokyo where the options are numerous and far more appealing. School idols were what the school needed to stand out: an icon to represent it and the students who attend it.

There’s a sense of camaraderie to be gained when supporting something under a common flag. For Otonokizaka, the students and all those who supported the school were united in their support of μ’s. But sometimes, it’s not just the school that these idols represent and in turn gain support from, but also be the town as a whole.

Throughout both School Idol Project and its successor, Sunshine, an emphasis is always placed on this idea of unity and support. Honoka does what she does to save the school that she loves; a school where her mother went to and has many who would do anything to save it. The closure of the school is what drives her to become a school idol and it’s what inspires so many to support her and μ’s as they worked their hardest to win Love Live. A feeling that spreads throughout her town and even beyond it.

For Aqours, it was the very town itself that was their driving force to do what they did. For them, the closure of their school meant the rejection of not just them, but a rejection of the entire town of Uchiura. Whenever they competed, it wasn’t ever just the nine of them who would be giving their all on that stage; a stage which once housed the love and support of those who held the same goal before them.

What a school idol does, they can’t do alone. The most obvious reason being the number of club members required to form a club, but it’s moreso that what it takes to be a school idol inherently revolves around that support. While the school and the town provides support from behind, it’s the other members who carry each other and to stand together upon that stage all fighting for the same goal. Those who stand alone will only be able to fight for themselves, and thus the only shine that exists is a solitary one.

But those who stood upon the summit, those who can claim the name of “Love Live champion”, the best school idol group in the nation, were just that: groups. A collection of personalities who are inherently different, who clash but share the same goal and work together to achieve that goal. For professional idols, they have producers, songwriters, composers and can have support that stands behind them as they alone stand upon the stage, but for a school idol that just isn’t enough.

The thing to understand regarding school idols is the understanding of what a professional idol is because yes, there are idols who are also high schoolers. They will attend school or receive tutors elsewhere, but mainly are hired as part of agencies for professional work. After all, they are professionals. School idols, on the other hand, are amateurs. They choreograph their own dances, write and produce their own music, design and create their own costumes. They do all of this with the funding of a typical Highschool club. What’s important to note is that μ’s, despite their status in the world of idols, despite their inherent draw to others around them and despite their talent that they possess, they would not make it as real idols. By all means, Honoka Kousaka and all the members of μ’s were nothing more than normal girls. Unlike A-Rise who preceded them, μ’s did not possess that inherent aura that a professional idol would have. When faced with the need to grow, Eli viewed them as nothing but frauds who were hopelessly attempting to play the role of a professional. They were unpolished. They were by all means normal. But that’s the point.

When Chika expressed her passion for μ’s, her adoration for this legendary group who changed the world of school idols as we know it, these girls who were so popular and famous that they performed at the Akiba Dome, this group of girls who in Chika’s eyes shined brighter than anything she experienced before, Riko responded with a simple statement.

“They look normal.”

To which Chika, with a smile on her face responded with,

“I agree. That’s why I was shocked.”

A school idol is inherently different from this idea of a professional idol for the simple reason that all they are are highschool girls who take on the actions of an idol. A professional idol is someone who is where they’re at for all the reasons that you would think of for a celebrity. While they do receive singing and dance lessons, they are readily more talented than the average individual at these things. They can sing, dance, act and everything inbetween because they’re people who can do so. They’re exceptional. As Riko says to Chika, she figured that μ’s would look more like celebrities because that’s what’s thought of when thinking of what an idol is. But they’re not. Aside from Maki and Eli who are portrayed by the series to have the appearance and talent of an idol, the rest of μ’s are collection of girls who simply became who they are out of hard work and desire. They’re normal and it’s because they are normal that they are able to shine as bright as any other idol.

Idols are people viewed as above the rest of the normal population. Their fans will treat them like role models or even goddesses to be worshiped but never reached, but that’s not the case for a school idol. The love for school idols comes from the reality that even a normal girl like any other could become something so radiant. Those who would fail as professional idols are given a chance to do something they would never be able to do for the simple reason that they are school idols. For a brief period of three years or even less in the period of life for a Japanese schoolgirl where they can fully express who they are in an environment that allows for this growth, they are given a chance to shine and create memories that they would never be able to experience if they had not chosen to be who they are.

But so what? For all this fame and support they receive, could it not be argued that they could just as easily become professional idols if they want? Hell, even if they couldn’t do that, there exists net idols–idols who gain their mass following online. It could even be argued that with the way that school idols get their nationwide following through online ranking sites and streamed performances that this is what they are. Why is it so necessary that they be school idols and only school idols. This is the same question that the nine members of μ’s were faced with at the end of their career.

μ’s had a chance to become professionals during the events of the School Idol Movie and had every reason to do so. Their fame spiked to even greater levels than they could have ever dreamed and it was their fame that allowed for school idols to reach even higher popularity. It was their performance in New York that allowed the third Love Live to be held in Akiba Dome to begin with. Every voice around them tried to convince them that, even if the third years graduated, there was no reason for them to disband μ’s. But there is a reason why they needed to leave.

“We’re serious about being school idols”

μ’s was never about the fame. In fact, it was never something they considered in the first place. They only did what they did to save their school. Though their goal was to shine and to reach the hearts of as many people as they could, it was ultimately so that they could do something that they loved doing. It was so this feeling–a feeling that could only exist in this moment and through the support and love from their school and each other–could be shared.

A professional idol is something that one does as a career, something that some even do just as a springboard into an arguably more respected acting or singing career. A net idol, while not being professional, is done so solely around an individual who has a separation behind a screen. A school idol is not a job nor is it something that is unnaproachable and only viewed from afar. These girls are normal and defy their normalcy to shine for the sake of a feeling they searched for. A feeling that exists because they represent their school, their town and their friends who stand on that stage with them. It’s because there are others like them who have schools, towns and friends who stand with them as well and want to share that feeling. Even if their school shut down and they moved to another school, it could never be the same because that sense of identity and belonging they feel is gone. μ’s is Otonokizaka’s school idol group. Aqours is Uranohoshi’s school idol club that carries with them the heart of the very town that loves and supports them as the representatives of the only school in their town. This short amount of time where they can experience these feelings is all the more important because it can only exist within a small window of time. It’s because it exists in this golden time of their lives that they can create memories that they can carry with them forever so they can pursue a goal that will give them a feeling they’ve never experienced before, just like how being a school idol gave them that something new.

To say they could keep doing what they’re doing even if they’re not school idols is outright wrong because what they’re doing is only possible because they’re school idols. They chose this path that leads them to the summit of Love Live, and it’s because of that choice that they choose to work with every fiber of their being to realize that dream. Because they experience this feeling of working to pursue a goal and to experience something they’ve never felt before that they can move on to the next goal. And the next. And that passion they leave behind can be felt and picked up by those who follow after.

μ’s presence on the world of Love Live is something that’s felt heavily in the events of Love Live! Sunshine!! intentionally. Had this been just any other group that only wanted to save their school or win Love Live, it would miss what made μ’s exit from the world of school idols all the more powerful. Had they stayed, the immense presence that they would have projected would have overshadowed those who followed after. It was μ’s who the nation was infatuated with after their performance in New York, not school idols in general. While their fame would have brought attention to school idols and allowed for the Akiba Dome to be the permanent home of Love Live, it would never allow those to follow after to truly experience the shine that μ’s experienced before them.

That’s why they wrote a song, a song that belonged not just to them, but to every school idol across the nation. A song that would be written by, composed by, with costumes designed by and performed by every single normal girl that works to shine just as brightly as μ’s ever did. It was a performance that showed to the world that this is what school idols were, what allowed μ’s to even do what they did in the first place. And as they sang, shining with a light warm and bright with the passion of every school idol across the nation, that light illuminated the world and inspired those enveloped in it to shine like the sun.

While I know this video may be simple, this is only the beginning of what is to be a series of videos covering what I consider to be a series that is heavily overlooked due to its subject matter. Love Live is a series that outwardly appears to be a simple show with no meaning, as you look into it, there is far more than I could possibly cover in a single video. I hope that with this series, I can get you to see what Honoka saw that day she found her solution.