I recognize this pose from clips I've seen of the game.

As part of the iM@S franchise, Million Live! has been around for more than 10 years. Considering how (relatively) quickly Cinderella Girls received an anime, I had been wondering when an adaptation for Million Live! might drop. There was a PV featuring the characters as superheroes, but that was more than six years ago now. Well, the anime-anime is finally here!

Despite what fan art may lead you to believe, Takane has a lower BMI than Hibiki.

I am, at best, only a secondary or tertiary fan of the franchise. Meaning, I don't really know anything about the characters or the game, so I can't claim to be particularly invested it. Nevertheless, learning that the anime was going to use 3DCG animation didn't exactly inspire a lot of optimism. True, there have already been quite a few shows I've been okay with even though they were entirely 3DCG, but being "okay" with them isn't the same thing as "preferring." Thankfully, the 3D animation used in the Million Live! anime doesn't look bad at all. Well, I do think Takane's face looks odd, but that has more to do with how her character design changed than it does the animation format. Besides, she's not one of the leads here.

I didn't need a name thingy for Miki. I recognized her from the couch.

Speaking of which, THERE ARE SO MANY IDOLS. I knew this going in, but it's especially apparent since the series is really trying to give everyone some screen time. In fact, the anime provides onscreen name placards as characters appear, and it seems it will continue to do so for the entire show. [Update: They stopped appearing for established characters after episode four.] Even I already knew the characters well enough to recognize them on sight and not get them confused with each other, but displaying the names is still probably the right decision. I could do without the constant emphasis about each idol's characteristic quirks, though. I feel like those sorts of cues are generally unhelpful. Rather than flushing out their personalities, I think it's reductive.

These are the four main characters.

Still, the Million Live! anime is not off to bad start. However, I do hope it gets more than one cours, if only to provide more time to better realize the characters who are most critical to the anime's plot. Both the original iM@S anime and main Cinderella Girls adaptation ran for two cours, so it would be a shame if Million Live! joined U149 in only getting one, particularly with such a large cast. Maybe it should have adopted the Love Live! Superstar!! approach by starting with only a core group and expanding during subsequent seasons. Or maybe I'm just being greedy now.

Enjoy this apple. Or else.

Somehow, Suki na Ko ga Megane wo Wasureta (The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses) is my top show this season. I say "somehow," but I know why: It's because the girl Potato-kun likes squints when she doesn't have her glasses (which is often), and it makes her look angry as fuck all the time. This is a dumb gimmick, but I love it. The juxtaposition between her appearance and her demeanor is so good. More surprisingly, outside of the trailer and first episode that made everyone (including me) assume GoHands was going to commit anime crimes all season long, the visuals have been fine. If anything, I'm sort of disappointed it looks as normal as it does. Maybe Sukimega would be a bottom-tier show during most quarters, but you go to Seasonal Anime War with the shows you have, not the shows you wish you had.

Carcinization.

Hirogaru Sky! Precure is only sort of average as far as Pretty Cure seasons go, but it's such a step up from Delicious Party♡Precure that it seems wonderful in comparison. God, they really fucked that one up. Anyway, Hirogaru Sky! has made notable changes to the existing Pretty Cure formula. It has a "blue" lead instead of a "pink" one, it has an adult Cure, and it has the franchise's first male Cure. Nevertheless, despite these departures, the series as a whole seems really...normal.

Not even bothering to make a magic umbrella.

Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e Kayou II (The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants Season 2) re-started after a mid-season interruption that forced a delay for the remaining episodes of the cours. It's a lot of magic bullshit, none of which seems as interesting to me as the first season's Misha and Sasha content, but I haven't gotten tired of the constant ass pulls yet.

Dia still sucks, though.

Genjitsu no Yohane: SUNSHINE in the MIRROR (YOHANE THE PARHELION -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR-) needs more music. And where the Hell is SAINT SNOW? C'mon. I mostly like what it's doing anyway. It's had a few twists that are sort of interesting. I'm not sure I'm entirely on board with what the series has planned for what I presume will be a big finish, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. The Yohane focus has rehabilitated my opinion of Love Live! Sunshine!! to some degree, but I still think Nijigasaki and Superstar are superior installments overall.

Oh my God, The Million Live! anime really happening.

What you really need to do is advertise.

The Summer 2023 anime season has barely started, but we have two episode of Genjitsu no Yohane: SUNSHINE in the MIRROR (YOHANE THE PARHELION -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR-) already. This is a spin-off of Love Live! Sunshine! based on an April Fool's gag. The basic premise is sort of interesting. Take the chuuni character and build a magical reality around her. Well, that is what this anime seems to have done, but I probably don't care enough about Love Live! Sunshine to fully appreciate it.

Don't wear your boots in the bath.

As a standalone anime, it seems good enough to be a pleasant show for viewers looking for this sort of light fantasy. I don't think familiarity with the specific characters or of Love Live! in general is necessary to appreciate SUNSHINE IN THE MIRROR. However, I also think we're meant to derive some satisfaction in seeing familiar faces re-imagined in this way. Hence, I don't doubt there are true fans who are ecstatic about this series. For now, I'm ambivalent at best. What I really want is a Saint Snow appearance, mostly because that increases the likelihood of new Saint Snow songs, and I do love me some Saint Snow songs.

It helps that I like all the characters.

I enjoy the [Oshi No Ko] manga (localized as My Star, or My Favorite Idol, among other titles), so I'm pleased the anime adaptation is also going well. The manga is one of those stories that I happen to think is really good, but is constantly teetering on the verge of potentially going really poorly if it takes a couple of missteps. If anything, an anime adaptation for something like this is even more precarious, with additional opportunities to straight fuck it up.

Akane is a later arrival to the show, but also excellent.

Thankfully, it's getting everything right so far. It even took the unusual step of making its first episode 90 minutes long so that it could conclude with The Thing No One Will Talk About. It seems an odd spoiler to dance around, seeing as how important it is to shaping the rest of the (still ongoing) story, but I guess I'm doing it too, albeit mostly because everyone else has thus far. It's a conspiracy of silence!

It's not easy being a superstar.

Anyway, [Oshi No Ko] is about contemporary show business dynamics. I don't know how accurately it is depicting the production and public interactions side of things, but I at least enjoy feeling as if I'm getting an insider's perspective. It's the same sort of reason why I liked Shiorobako and Otaku no Video. Don't get me wrong—I'm also in it for the revenge plot that I guess I'm not talking about. I do love me some revenge.

Tiny pictures are the way of love.

I don't know what I expected. Nine child idols do kid-type things. At least that's what THE IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls: U149 has been like for its first couple of episodes. This was especially true for the second episode because its focal point was one of the two nine-year-olds in the cast. Ostensibly, the U149 title refers to how all of the idols in this troupe are under 149 centimeters (4'11") in height. This is accurate, but they're all quite a bit under. The tallest is 145 centimeters (4'9") and the shortest is 128 centimeters (4'2"). And they are all kids. Five of the nine are 12, but none are older. Meaning, there are no token short adults in the cast (well, I guess their Producer). I.e., there is no equivalent to Baba Konomi from the Million Live! set.

The U149 office really does look like a daycare center.

I enjoy iDOLM@STER as a secondary (really, probably tertiary) fan, but I'm unsure I'll have a good reason to keep watching this. At least the focus episode for one of the two youngest characters is out of the way. Maybe I'll find the subsequent episodes more entertaining. Promising to have a steady stream of cameos from other Cinderella Girls characters is probably enough to keep me watching, but I'll appreciate U149 itself a lot more if it makes an effort to offer something more compelling. I hope there's more to this anime than predictable canned scenes. Will the sporty one get to talk about subjects that aren't purely intended to remind us she's the sporty one? Is Risa going to contribute anything to the series that does not involve lolicons? If U149 doesn't deliver actual content, then the show is going to drag.

Kusunoki Tomori welcomes her successor.

31 March 2023 marked Kusunoki Tomori's final day voicing Yuuki Setsuna in the Love Live! franchise. Hayashi Coco (alt: Koko) assumed the role beginning April 1st. This is hardly the first time anime characters have been recast, and this particular handover seems to have been handled well, but part of me wonders how necessary it really was. As far as I know, Kusunoki Tomori is still doing voice work and has only stepped down as the voice for Setsuna because health issues make the physical requirements of the live performances too demanding.

The handover between Hayashi Coco and Kusunoki Tomori was posted on the YouTube.

Despite still claiming—even now—not to be a Love Live! fan, I consider Setsuna to be the franchise's best idol. (Shibuya Kanon is "only" its Best Girl and best character.) Of all the different Love Live! iterations, I regard Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai (Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club) as having the best music. This is in no small part due to how much I enjoy all of the Setsuna songs. Would I like them as much with someone else in the role? That remains to be seen, but I do know the Kasumi version of "CHASE!" from the Shuffle Festival album isn't quite as good as the original Setsuna one.

Nijiyon Animation was okay.

Personally, I think simply not having Setsuna appear during the live events ought to have been a viable solution, but this likely reflects a lack of appreciation on my part as to just how important those live events are to the franchise and its real fans. The production powers-that-be (not to be confused with the School Idol Deep State) surely fully explored every possible option and concluded that re-casting the role was the right decision.

Second-Generation Setsuna appears briefly in the Next Sky PV.

I don't know how many Nijigasaki-type things there will even be going forward, but I know there's one OVA already announced (Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai: Next Sky). I presume there are a lot of live events planned too. Thankfully, the reception to "Setsuna 二代目" appears to be very positive, so the newest Love Live! member at least shouldn't be facing an uphill battle for our hearts and minds.

Come with me if you want to love live.

I had a lot of reservations when I learned Love Live! Superstar!! was adding new characters for its second season. Superstar!! was the only Love Live! iteration I regarded as actually being a good anime. Its much smaller cast was a big part of that. Through seven episodes so far, the second season has at least not ruined the good thing it had going, and remains pretty all right in and of itself. Kanon is still the character I like the most, though, and by a significant margin.

At least I like Cuckoo a lot more now than I did originally.

Fortunately, the second season continues to present Kanon as the Love Live! Superstar!! center point rather than taking a more chaotic or uncommitted ensemble-cast approach. For example, it sensibly found an excuse for Kanon to exhibit her preternatural ability to basically "fast travel" once again in order to personally set one of the newbies straight. It resulted in a scene that advanced both characters.

She's weird.

Don't get me wrong. The rest of the cast is pretty good, too, and none of them actually suck. The supporting cast does suffer a bit from being relegated to various gimmicks at times, but they are being fleshed out more and more over time. It's not at all like, for example, Cure Honey from HappinessCharge Precure!, about whom I could tell you absolutely nothing that doesn't involve rice. Even Natsumi—the unpopular would-be video streamer who is obsessed with money—has more going on already than I initially feared.

I believe this is what the kids used to call being "extra."

This is not to say it's all been a huge success, though. MARGARETHE WIEN, or whatever her name actually is, disappeared basically immediately and looks to be another Lanzhu (from Love Live! Nijigasaki). I.e., someone contending for rival status who ultimately turns out to be mostly irrelevant. I'm also not particularly impressed with the character development for Shiki thus far, but I guess there is still nearly half a cours remaining. Maybe there will be something surprising to learn about her. Personally, I'm hoping she's secretly an android sent back in time from the future by Honoka to keep the idol wars from destroying humanity. It could happen.