Just when I think Love Live has reached its peak it kicks things into gear and surpasses everything I thought I knew about this franchise. It’s with great pleasure that I say Love Live Superstar!! S2 is easily the best the franchise has ever been and is a blast from beginning to end. When the Liella girls got announced a couple of years ago I was cautiously optimistic about how their anime would go. They had amazing designs, but not much was known about them since they were only formed in 2021. Fortunately, from the very first episode of season 1 I was hooked on thegirls’ music, personalities and overall vibe of this LL iteration. That only continued to increase as season 1 went on, and things have got even better this time around in season 2. The biggest overall improvements for me are the story, the drama, the stakes and the performances. LL is at its core a light hearted idol series, but this season actually did a good job of creating tension with Keke’s family situation, introducing the new girls and Margarethe’s rivalry with Kanon. Speaking of the new girls, I LOVE all of the first years, with the exception of Natsumi. I think they were all such great additions and Shiki and Mei have already become two of my fave idol girls in general. Seeing liella finally come together as a full unit and reach their full potential was just amazing. Of particular note for me was Sumire. She’s one of my fave characters ever, and you could really see her take major strides in this season. Going from kind of a jokey comic relief character to a real leader and her episode with Keke is among the top 3 in LL history imo. A truly beautiful episode. Now of course, you can’t talk about an idol show without going over the music. I thought the music in this season was phenomenal. Several of the girls solo songs are on constant repeat in my playlist and it looks like Sunrise have nearly perfected CGI blending during performances too. It’s amazing how we’ve come from such blatant and obvious CGI during lives to not even being able to really detect it. Of particular note for me are Margarethe’s performance from episode 10, Liella’s first full 9 member performance and Shiki’s solo performance. All 3 were just stunning. Love Live Superstar!! Season 1 is a must watch for any fan of the idol genre. Not only is it the perfect follow up to season 1, but it’s one of the best idol seasons, period. The Love Live franchise continues to push the bar and sit atop the music anime mountain, I do not see that changing anytime soon. Love Live Superstar!! Season 2, gets 10 out of 10.

With this being the third anime installment in the Love Live! saga (not including Nijigasaki which is a separate entity), Superstar!! had a lot of pressure among the larger LL community to live up to expectations that would recreate a familiar formula while also providing something new to entice the fans. Unfortunately, it has failed at this goal, and nothing short of a miracle can salvage this anime series. While there's much that can be said about Superstar!! in regards to its plot, like retaining a common structure comparable to School Idol Project and Sunshine!!, it manages to do incomprehensibly worse than its predecessors at telling acoherent narrative. What sold this show to me to get this low of a rating though has been the characters and their dynamic with one another, which is practically nonexistent if Shibuya Kanon is not involved. As opposed to both μ's and Aqours (as well as Nijigaku), Liella, the idol group in this anime, only comprises five members in contrast to the usual nine… only until it doesn’t, deciding to add an additional four members (Shiki and Mei are amazing, the same can't be said for Natsumi and Kinako) while leaving the original five, minus Shibuya Kanon, with little character growth besides comedic bickering (Keke and Sumire) or last minute dialogue (Ren and Chisato). Had Liella! followed its initial vision from the start of the series, there was the possibility of developing closer and perhaps more realistic character interactions than seen in the previous installments. With how the characters have interacted with each other so far in both this and the prior season though, this seems to be unlikely to happen even with an unprecedented third season. At the end of the day though, Love Live! at its core is a music anime, and wow does Superstar!! fail to deliver in this category. While in the insert songs present in the anime are mediocre at best to downright awful at worst (the b-sides of their singles are amazing though, and it’s infuriating these superior songs weren’t featured in the anime like they should’ve been), the true musical aspect of Superstar!! that it shares with his predecessors has been the original soundtrack. At least, that’s what I would’ve said had they built upon the soundtrack from the first season instead of recycling the same two themes whenever something even slightly emotional happens (call it the Ren funeral song when a somber piano and/or violin plays). In other words, this season managed to make me have utter disdain for the one element of a Love Live! anime that never failed to disappoint me. I gotta hand it to Superstar!! Season 2 for pulling off the unthinkable ^^ Whether you're a diehard fan of Love Live! or just stumbled upon this anime by mistake, I would strongly avoid giving Love Live! Superstar!! a watch so long as you're interested in a compelling story, relatable characters wanting to achieve their dreams, or great music. For those who are among the Love Live! community that have decided to give Superstar!! a skip, I applaud you for making the right call, as School Idol Project, Sunshine!!, or Nijigasaki are all infinitely better stories within the Love Live! franchise, and only deserve far more love than the trainwreck that has been Liella’s journey. What could’ve been a fresh and beautiful story about a group of friends going through their three years of high school together to win the biggest idol competition in Japan, what we got instead was nothing short but disappointing, especially as someone who had high hopes for this group when they first debuted. Overall, a 2/10 for Love Live! Superstar!!

Worst Love Live season in my opinion. The downgrade from season 1 in story quality is just something else. I completed the season but still don't get why they added the new characters because they play such a small role. The absolutely destroyed Kanon's character and did the most BS ending with her in the final episode at the last minute. I thought was a actually a good conclusion of her character for season 2 but they did not commit to that at all. The art and animation is the good like season 1 but the rest is just bad. Music compared to season 1 was adowngrade too. The songs are good songs but are not as good and memorable as season 1. With season 3 announced I am not sure what they are going to do because literally there is almost nothing left and at this point just feels like they are just making for making another season. My score: Story: 3/10 Characters: 4/10 Music: 7/10 Animation: 10/10 Art: 10/10 Overall: 6.5/10

New season, new member, new song, new rival. We will now continue to follow the story of our fellow Liella member on their 2nd years of high school. With the school popularity increasing because Liella live show last season, the school is saved from closing down. And now they have a new goal. Win Love Live tournament and recruiting new members for Liella. Even though we are not facing a graduation problem like every previous Love Live anime, it can still give us some emotional story. I'm not saying previous Love Live installment is bad its just a breath of fresh air to not see thisgraduation problem on 2nd season of Love Live. Instead we get served with new and unique story only Liella could have. We have heavy problem that include tears dropping everywhere. And we also have the silly problem like gaming addiction, yes idol anime girls with gaming addiction. That is my favorite episode. Though we got new members now, the old members is not forgotten. We can still see their characters development, even more deep into their personality and personal struggle. At early episode is what i thought the best in context of characters. Because everyone act so realistic to the situation. One example is how the 1st years feel insecure around their upperclassmen. You should watch it yourself really. One thing that still didnt fit for me is their new rival. How she introduced and her act is just weird. I mean its unique, but still kinda weird. There isn't any significance change in art from season 1. They still got the colorful and vibrant animation style. Plus now there is a lot of new characters design with bright hair color. Actually this affect me on pre-anime hype. There's this one girl who's hair color is normal, she looks like background characters. But after we got introduced to her in the anime, she just as interesting as the other new member. The development of their friendships as they work towards their goal of becoming successful idols is heartwarming and inspiring. I give every seiyuu involved a thumb up for their great job. Not only they voicing the characters, but also sing and perform all the song they produce in real life. If they dance inside the anime, they use CGI and I can tell you that it is beautifully smooth. But to be honest, there are no songs that stuck in my head. They all sound so generic, except the ED song. Beside from that, nothing grasp my feeling. Despite all the flawless this anime have, I still enjoy it overall and give it a 9/10. This is the first anime that didn't get a perfect score in my 2 years of watching anime. Doesn't mean its bad, it is still a great anime but lack something small. Either that or my taste in anime advanced as I watch more and more anime every season, I hope its not the latter. Anime scoring beside, I'll definitely rewatch this anime if its get a dub. Thats all I can say about this anime. Thank you for reading my review.

Is this season better than the one before it? No, it clearly isn't. Is it, however, worth watching? Yes, the show was able to maintain its consistency in terms of comedy and SoL-like factor. This season introduced new characters, including a rival named Wien Margaret, who appeared halfway through the season. The story for this season can basically be summed up in a few sentences: first-year students joins Liella!. Liella! fights for the honor of representing their region. Liella! defeats Wien Margarete, as expected. And Kanon Shibuya gets invited to study abroad at one of the most prestigious music schools, which is the final and mostunexpected event in this season (With a 360 turn). The plot in general was mediocre and lacked the spark that the previous season possessed. The show's finale did not help matters either. For the positives: The addition of new members added more personality to the group, making Liella! more lively and adding more drama to the show. Wien Margarete's singing surprised me, as it did most people, since she was clearly the best singer and had the best songs this season. And as for the negatives: The songs this season aren't as good as those from previous season or other Love Live series, but they're still worth a listen and adding to one's playlist. The introduction of the new members also had little impact; aside from Shiki Wakana and Mei Yoneme, who are at least decent, the other two's reasoning for joining and becoming idols didn't make much sense. And, let's be honest, Wien Margarete joining the fray as a rival was a bit of a puzzle, as it appears she was thrown in for the sake of being an antagonist and having a new and fresh face. In general, I believe that the comedy and SoL aspect truly distinguishes this Love Live series from the others, as it manages to keep us engaged, from being sad, happy, to a genuine heartwarming moment, as that this series is designed to be light-hearted and a switch your brain off series to manifest different types of emotion. This is a show that is about feeling good rather than heavy drama. Given how engaging the story was in the previous season, I expected more from this season in terms of story and execution, but it is still worth watching. I would recommend the show to the following people: - Fans of Slice of Life. - Fans of Comedy. - Fans of Love Live. I would not recommend the show to the following people: - Not a fan of dull or boring stories with little to no progression. - Not a fan of drama that doesn't elicit much emotional response.

Considering the Love Live series' pattern of having two 12-13 episode seasons for each iteration, it was inevitable that Love Live Superstar would do the same thing. And wouldn't you know it, not long after the first season ended, the second season was announced. It even aired right after season 2 of Love Live Nijigasaki ended. I need to finish my review for that particular season. I admittedly liked Superstar, though a little less than Nijigasaki, but I definitely enjoyed what Superstar tried to do, even if parts of it didn't always make the landing. But when it was announced that several new characters wouldjoin Liella, many LL fans were both excited and nervous, excited to see what these new characters would bring but worried that their inclusion might mess up the dynamic that the original members of Liella established. Plus, adding these new characters seemed to lean back into an established formula even though Superstar originally intended on just having five main characters. This was especially worrisome because most Love Live series often have the issue of trying to juggle too many characters at once, having some characters receive focus episodes while others wind up getting shunted to the background. Even as someone who's only seen this and Nijigasaki, I tried to temper my expectations and keep all this in mind as I watched the show. Needless to say...the previous LL fans and I wound up being right, to an extent. So season 2 takes place immediately after season 1. While Liella admittedly didn't make it into Love Live, a new semester has started and they're looking forward to what the new year will bring. They even manage to recruit some new members: Kinako Sakurakoji, a spacy country girl; Shiki Wakana, a quiet, soft-spoken science fanatic; her best friend Mei Yoneme, a passionate idol fan who tends to hide under a tough, menacing facade, and aspiring YouTube star Natsumi Onitsuka, a greedy, money-grubbing gremlin who really, really wants to make bank. Things start to get a little heated when a mysterious singer named Wien Margarete comes into the picture and seemingly wipes the floor with all the other idols, including Liella and Sunny Passion. It doesn't help that she seems to have some kind of grudge against Kanon for reasons nobody, not even Kanon, seems to know. But Liella isn't one for giving up, and with new members under their belt, they're determined to get farther in Love Live than they did before. I have a lot I want to say about Superstar season 2, and some of it...you're probably not going to be happy about. As far as the new characters go, I think Kinako, Shiki, and Mei are fine. Not necessarily as fleshed out or developed as the main five, but I found them to be okay characters. I do appreciate that Ren got fleshed out a bit more in the focus episode she got in this season, and I was pleasantly surprised by the direction they decided to take her in. Speaking of the main five, I do like that season 2 does put in some effort to develop them a bit more and have them try things here that they didn't do before. Remember in season 1, when people nominated Kanon to be the student council president? In season 2, Kanon decides to willingly join the student council as vice president as a way to take the burden off Ren, which is really significant because she takes on more responsibility, and is shown to be pretty good at it. That being said, I really didn't like Natsumi. I found her extremely annoying and her motivation to become an idol just felt really shallow and forced. But more than that, I also didn't like the new rival character, Wien Margarete. She just felt like nothing but a plot device whose only purpose was to boot Sunny Passion to the side and be a source of conflict that Superstar really didn't need. Poor Sunny Passion doesn't even get to do anything in this season! Her whole motivation just felt really stupid and melodramatic, and the show's attempts to make me care about this emo brat really didn't work for me because they didn't give her enough of a presence beyond her concert appearances to make me care about her. That being said, she does have the best songs in the show, so I'll give her that. Speaking of melodrama, I know Love Live has a bit of a reputation for not always being good at tackling big dramatic storylines. I haven't seen the first Love Live series, but I know that had a particular subplot involving Kotori near the end of the first part that really didn't go over well with the fans. And unfortunately, Love Live Superstar also has this problem with a subplot involving Keke. I won't spoil anything, but this subplot was briefly mentioned in season 1, and it gets followed up on in season 2, but the way the anime resolves it just felt really stupid and hollow. It doesn't help that the anime has the characters scream their feelings out in a really forced, artificial way and go into cry fests that just scream "We're trying really hard to make you feel for these characters! Now feel sad, dammit!" and it really didn't work. It's similar to a subplot that Ren had back in season 1, with it somehow getting resolved with a handwave near the very end, even though the series previously made a huge deal out of it before. But whereas that subplot suffered from just having a convenient solution just handed to the characters without feeling earned, the subplot here with Keke tried too hard to force drama that could have been resolved in a less...theatrical and melodramatic manner. And as much as I hate to say it, the songs got a bit of a downgrade this season. They're not bad or anything, and like I said before, I loved all of Wien's songs. But several of them just weren't as good as the ones in season 1. I admittedly really didn't like the song that played when Natsumi joined the group, but I did like the one Liella sang to welcome Kinako into the group. The songs range from good to uninspired. The actual soundtrack is fine, and the opening and ending songs are nice to listen to as well. But season 1's songs were just better by way of having more versatility and a willingness to explore new genres. I mean, why do you think people consider Nonfiction to be the best song in the entire Love Live Superstar canon? Because it kicks ass, has a fun beat, and is a pretty good take on rap and hip-hop, two genres I admit to hating with a passion. But I don't want you to think that I consider Love Live Superstar season two to be outright bad. Like I said before, the series does make the effort to flesh out both its old and new characters, even if it didn't do so for others, I liked several of the new Liella members, Wien's songs are all great even though I hate her as a character, and the animation work is about the same as the previous season, so it's still nice to look at on a technical level. Plus, and this is a rather petty, personal thing for me: Superstar has no boob grabbing. Thank God. And funnily enough, a lot of what I just described could very well be addressed later on because Superstar was just announced to have a third season in the works, making it the very first LL series to ever get a third season! I still enjoyed the season as a whole, flaws and all, and you can bet your ass I'm watching the third season for sure!

It was good,(8.12) for me. It was good enough for an idol anime. In terms of story, actually I didn't expect much considering this is an idol anime. But actually, some of the plots that are presented are quite impressive even though in fact they are still light on the overall story which was predictable from the start of this anime's release. The characters presented in this series have their own motivations which are quite unique and become something fresh in this anime. The main character is also quite impressive and really has the aura of a leader so she gets plus rating points because tobe honest I really like her. In terms of design, there isn't much that can be discussed because in reality it's normal. The character descriptions and costume designs provided are actually good but nothing more than that. From a visual standpoint, this anime likes to flex in moments where they are performing songs. And at that moment, to be honest, the visual quality displayed can be said to be quite good and eye-catching. In terms of the most important in anime idol, namely audio. This anime spoils us with the quality of the oshi that cannot be doubted and also the songs that are given are actually quite good objectively. However, in terms of subjectivity, it is natural that people have their own preferences. Finally, I just want to argue that only stupid people expect a lot from aspects other than audio in idol anime. Overall, this anime is fun enough to be enjoyed by idol lovers. For those of you who want to start an idol journey, Love Live will be a long but exciting journey. But if you are not ready to sacrifice time, money for other personal satisfactions. Better to just watch ordinary anime.

Love it! SuperGalaxy!! “Love Live! Superstar!!” is back and it’s just as funny, wholesome and moé as it’s first season. Now in their second year of high school the girls are having trouble expanding Liella! and getting first years to join due to how popular they are, but also because first years are all concerned they can’t keep up with the intense training schedule. This is a premise I don’t think I’ve seen an idol show attempt before, but it’s a brilliant way of showing off the girls growth and physical fitness from the first season plus it’s a sticking plot point woven through the second. Italso helps limit the amount of new characters that can be introduced at one time which helps make their introduction feel organic and impactful. Superstars biggest strength over the other Love Lives has always been it’s small, intimate cast. Were as the other love live casts like Nijigasaki High School Idol Club suffer from what I like to call ‘Too many characters syndrome’ Superstar’s first season main cast consisted of five who were given enough screen time to fully develop as characters, and we in the audience spent a lot of time getting to know them. Thanks to that the four new members of Liella! are given enough space and screen time for their own developments whilst the continuation of Kanon’s, Keke’s, Sumire's, Chisato’s and Ren’s new developments feel organic and natural rather than a quick update to make up for their lack of development in the first season. Kinako, Mei, Shiki and Natsumi are all very charming and fit into the group dynamic very comfortably. I never felt like they didn’t belong to group despite their quirks. The only character I didn’t particularly care for was Margarete the antagonist who stands between Liella! and first place at Love Live!. Her motives are… just not all that interesting and she comes off more of a weird stalker rather than an immovable talent. The animation is still absolutely gorgeous too. From backgrounds to cgi music numbers to… everything else. It’s just a real stunner to look at. That along with the impeccable voice acting makes this show a treat to watch. If you’ve watched the first season of “Love Live! Superstar!!” and enjoyed it then you’ll enjoy this one too. I personally don’t think the songs are as good as the first seasons, but that didn’t effect my enjoyment. It is definitely the best Love Live! variant in the franchise by far in my humble opinion. 9/10 Amazing.

I should lead off this review by noting that I am not typically a fan of idol music in anime, and neither season of Love Live Superstar has changed my mind about that. I mention this to add perspective, because I do enjoy this series despite my lack of interest in the music and I think it often gets pigeonholed as something only fans of J-pop would enjoy. Honestly, it bears more of a likeness to "cute girls in a school club" anime than being specifically about music and, in my opinion, remains highly accessible even to people that don't care for idols or theirmusic. That's all largely unchanged from season one, and that sense of continuity is the greatest strength of season two. There was a fair amount of consternation over the announcement that 4 new first-year girls would be added this season, and I was skeptical at first too, since I thought one of the strengths of the first season was the tight cast and how it gave you time to really get to know the characters. I'm pleased to report that, for the most part, the 4 new girls are well-integrated. Kinako fits in so naturally that you almost forget she wasn't one of the original 5, and Shiki and Mei's introduction to the group, while bumpy at times, ends up being pretty heartwarming in the end. Out of the 4, only Natsumi, the money-grubbing Youtube streamer, felt like an afterthought, and 3/4 ain't bad. It also remains the case, like season one, that Superstar is at it's strongest when it's doing wacky comedy and often stumbles when it tries to do drama. The comedy is still there in season two, the episode where Ren goes down the Gaming rabbithole was a favorite of mine, but laugh out loud moments aren't as common as in season one. On the flip side, season two also avoids some of the bad drama lowlights from season one, like Ren's attempt to ban the school idol club. The drama is still mediocre with few exceptions, but does at least touch on a few interesting themes, especially with regards to the anxieties of the new girls trying to figure out how they fit into Liella. They aren't as talented or experienced as the original 5 yet, and don't want to hold their senpais back from winning Love Live, but they'll never be on the level of the original 5 if they split the group by class. How to balance the growth and integration of the first years with their ambitions is an ongoing theme throughout the season and they do get a few nice moments out of it, but it often tends to be a bit on the treacly side, like most of the drama in the series. There is also a sadly missed opportunity with a subplot about Kanon wanting to study abroad in Austria that, without getting into spoilers, is resolved in a highly unsatisfying way when it had potential to be an excellent storyline if it had been handled better. There is also one more addition to the cast that I haven't mentioned to this point, and she ends up being one of the most positive things about this season. That would be Margarete Wien, a solo singer that arrives out of nowhere to become Liella's toughest competition in the Love Live regional qualifiers. She oozes chuuni goth princess energy and her philosophies about music are pretty much antithetical to the bright and shiny teamwork that the franchise lives on, which gives the series a shot in the arm every time she shows up. In fact, one of the weaker points of the season is in how she arrives like a hurricane on Liella's doorstep early in the season and then... just disappears for 4 or 5 episodes. It's a bit of a momentum killer given how immediately magnetic she is. It's also frankly hilarious how much better her operatic songs and theatricality are compared with the candy-colored stages and generic J-pop of Liella. It can actually be difficult to suspend your disbelief at times and think that anyone would vote for Liella over her. While I have little interest in most of Liella's music and find their lyrics cloying, Margarete was an entirely different animal and having her sing music that was not J-pop in any practical sense actually made me sit up and pay attention, something I was glad for since she's quite a talented singer. Her presumptive addition to Liella in the already-announced 3rd season is the thing I am most excited for with the future of the series because she's going to bring something completely different to the table than any of the girls in the group now. Overall, this was a nice continuation of the series. If you liked season one, you'll enjoy season two as well. It makes a few changes but handles them well for the most part. It peaks with comedy and struggles with drama just like season one, but is more consistent. The highs aren't as high in season two, but the lows aren't as low either. The main cast additions mostly get the job done, the original characters don't get pushed to the margins in favor of shiny new objects as I and others feared they would, and the new rival-turned-ally character shows a lot of promise for the future. All in all, a successful sequel that injects just enough change to keep it feeling fresh without compromising its identity.

After watching the first season of Superstar, I had taken an almost 1 year break from idol shows, and so when I finally sat down to watch season 2 of Superstar, I feel like I went in with a much more different perspective than others who may have kept up a little more with the fandom. I feel like most of the negative feelings towards season 2 of Love Live! SuperStar is based around the new members who were added into Liella. Although I understand the precious feeling towards the original unprecedentedly small cast of Liella, I don't necessarily think the added characters ruined the showor the group. I admit, that some of the introductions and induction into the club felt a bit forced at times, but in total I disagree with the sentiment that their designs were sub-par or that they didn't fit well with the synergy of Liella. On the surface, their characters and personalities do have good synergies and is relatively harmonious to the group, I think it is only when you compare the altered/updated group dynamic with the original 5-person group that you feel like something special was lost. But I just believe that this is a testament to how well the characters were written in season 1, and how it is really hard to maintain such a thing for season 2. I probably only have this opinion since I had long forgotten the unique and excited feelings I had for the original 5-person Liella, and was able to view this season with a cleansed pallet, so I understand if those who are more invested don't agree with my sentiment. But other than that here are a short list of pros and cons of this show: Pros: - Incredible animation, it seems that the quality of production has just been going up and up - Some good story writing, it has been a while since I've felt that the writers of the story decided to give any thought in synthesizing details and events across episodes, as opposed to the traditional "each episode is dedicated to a certain character" type formula (Although it is still present, it feels much more thought out and harmonious) - (some) good character development - Banger songs (mostly), and killer OP!! - The voice acting for the OG members of Liella have definitely improved significantly! Especially the voice actresses for Sumire and Kanon blew me away at times Cons: - Some aspects of characters or story can feel forced or awkward at times - The classic idol show cringe! (can be a positive depending on who you are...) - Ok so what the f- is the ending? Please explain... like why? - The stuff I talked about above Honestly I really liked this new season, I think in what it lost in the uniqueness of the small cast, was made up with the sort of magic touch that was similar to the original love live school idol project, and it did it well and subtly as compared to the other love live series that tried to copy it. Though I may be kind of biased since Mei x Shiki made me squeal like a dolphin haha...

At the end of the day, Love Live exists to sell an idol group. No matter how sincere the intentions of the production staff, which Season 1 wonderfully showed, everything is subservient to this cold hard fact. The sudden introduction of 4 new characters to the group was obviously not a decision made with artistic intent (imagine if Sailor Moon immediately introduced all four Outer Senshi in the second arc rather than steadily growing the cast), and the entire story is poorly thought out, paced, and reeks of rushed production. To be clear, the newcomers aren't entirely without merit. The first three episodes with Kinako makefor an interesting conflict between her, who embodies the promise that anyone can become an idol even starting from no experience, and an original generation of five experienced performers who have been pursuing their dreams since childhood. But herein lies the first crack. Shouldn't Keke, who also struggled with poor physical fitness at first, be able to connect with her on a personal level? Instead, the kind, cheerful girl of the first season has been reduced to a sour, miserable caricature of her former self and has to be reminded of their similarity. This character assassination occurred for no apparent reason other than to fill the token Love Live "bickering couple" role with Sumire, who also does almost nothing of note other than serve as the brunt of humiliation by not just Keke, but the rest of the cast. Remember the promise of the Season 1 finale? One showing five girls who had taken the first significant step to becoming confident performers, but now have higher ambitions to win? Wouldn't you like to see them grow and develop their craft to even greater heights? Isn't that the main reason you're watching this season? Well too bad, because Kanon's Furious Four are barely even in it. Ren only gets one filler episode and may as well be invisible otherwise, with her nominal leadership role being reduced to mere bureaucratic upkeep. Her focus ep is admittedly amusing one, but it's so far removed from her struggles in the first season that one wonders if the execs thought they no longer fit the lighter tone this season went with. Chisato at least does take small steps forward, setting the stage to fully blossom into her own in Season 3, and plays a highly important role in the season finale. The wonderfully relatable and multifaceted Kanon of the first season has being simplified into a blandly nice Maria von Trapp figure to the new girls while taking a disproportionate amount of the show's screen time. In the final two episodes, Season 1 Kanon does return, and although it still comes at the expense of the rest of the cast, she does receive a significant plot development that serves as a beautiful closure to the story of the girl who has grown so much from her self-hatred and disbelief in her ability to impact the world...except they managed to almost completely screw it up. How such a nihilistic cliffhanger that so thoroughly destroys the credibility of the series' emotional weight managed to pass quality assurance remains a mystery to this day. In fact, Season 2 has a talent for shooting itself in its own foot. Returning to the new girls, even from a cynical "to sell toys" standpoint, shouldn't the season be a showcase for their unique, admirable traits so people would actually want to buy their toys? Instead, Kinako gets quickly shafted as Mei and Shiki make their simultaneous Liella debuts. Ultimately, they are superfluous as this episode is the full extent of their already shallow motives, with Mei's resting bitch face anxieties never being brought up again and Shiki literally only joining for Mei's sake. Natsumi is more interesting, with her motive of lacking a focused goal in life again contrasting with the dedicated and driven original cast. But again, this is not brought up again after her focus episodes, and it would take until Season 3 where her backstory effectively becomes rewritten from its poorly fleshed out first draft of a Season 2 debut. Worse, 3/4 of the show's run time is spent comparing them unfavourably to the founding members. Competitiveness is one thing, but you'd think that an idol group of this caliber should have resolved this issue long before the qualifying rounds. Instead, this subplot effectively resolves with the implication that, actually, the original 5 were capable of winning all along by themselves and don't need the newcomers. Oh, did I say "resolves?" Actually, it doesn't resolve anything, as the skill gap between the two Liella generations persists all the way to the final performance, with the only difference being that Kanon decided they should be nicer to the new members. There is something unpleasantly mean-spirited about this season as a whole. Remember how Season 1 was all about building the girls up and seeing them heal from trauma and failure to become confident performers? Between Keke's bitterness, Sumire's constant heckling, the constant reminders of how weak the new girls are, I fail to see how any of this inspires confidence and self-worth. In fact, if it weren't for the producers giving little thought to having them react to this mistreatment in a realistic way, I'd imagine at least half of Liella would end this season broken and demoralized. How does one so thoroughly miss the point of your own series? What even is the message this season is trying to convey? One final damning condemnation of this season comes from its final insert song, Mirai no Oto ga Kikoeru (I Can Hear the Sound of the Future). While most of this season's songs are mediocre, with many having only tenuous connections to the story, this one is actually a very touching song that serves as a heartwarming summary and closure to the story of the five founding members (although you have to hear it in full because the anime version does not do it justice). But it primarily works because it almost entirely recaps the story of Season 1, showing how little Season 2 adds to the wider Superstar story as a whole. It is frustrating to compare this show to Healer Girl, which came out a few months earlier and ended up taking the concept of growing together through singing in an interesting new direction while being more faithful to Superstar Season 1's themes and musical quality than its actual follow-up. That show, like many other non-franchise titles, is unlikely to receive a second season despite the potential for expanding the story. Meanwhile, Love Live is a big enough name for Superstar to get a second chance, and they squandered it. One wonders how much the series could have grown otherwise had it not been constrained by corporate dictates, because I do not believe that anyone directly involved in Season 1 does not care about their work. Still, despite this season being horribly flawed, it's prevented from receiving a 2 or even a 1 because it's still funny at times and there are elements of a good story in there. It does plant seeds for Season 3 to expand on, and the follow-up also goes some way towards lessening the blow this season inflicted. Those plot elements are unfortunately too important to simply skip this season. But the fact that it had so much of a mess to clean up prevented Season 3 from reaching the heights it could have otherwise. Is suffering through this season worth it to get there? Only if you love Liella that much, and, well, I guess I watched this season despite bad word-of-mouth. Interpret that as you will.