Well then. The origin story we’ve been waiting for, and a whole episode passing without referring to That Other Idol Group you may have heard of. Could this be where Sunshine finally becomes its own show..?
What They Say:
Episode 9 – Young Dreamer
Chika and the others discover the secrets that led to the seniors’ school idol group breakup.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
BM: So, for the past few weeks we’ve both been complaining about two main problems with Sunshine: why the past of the 3rd-year girls wasn’t being explored, and why the show was feeling the need to spend so much time on callbacks to the original series – and in the process undercutting any foundation that this series was trying to build for itself. This episode cuts straight to the chase of filling in the missing backstory for Dia, Kanan and Mari, and I have to say… it’s pretty damned good, especially by the standards of the rest of the series so far.
GBS: Is it me, or is the story of the three third-years’ breakup more compelling, more touching and more genuine that almost anything we have seen this season so far? Where the hell was this writer when we needed him/her at the start of the season?!!?!
BM: Possibly working on getting this script right, and leaving lesser colleagues to write filler until he got there. That would certainly explain a lot.
GBS: It would. It took them awhile, but finally we had something that felt real for a change, not just a palette-swapped re-hash of µ’s and their adventures.
BM: And in doing so it not only filled a useful story need, it also made me care about the senior girls by the end of the episode. Given how much all three of them have irritated me until now, that’s quite an achievement. It’s a real shame that it took until now to cover this ground, though.
GBS: They (the entire production committee and staff) really dropped the ball in many ways. Why didn’t they start with this story, the school in danger, Mari/Dia/Kanan to the rescue…BUT, it turns out they could not do it for various reasons. This could have been a two-episode beginning to the show and they could have done a fake-out that “It’s all over!” until episode three could well be Episode One of the show we got, refocusing on Chika. Instead of this as flashback, this could have served as Prologue. Thoughts?
BM: I‘d agree, that would have been a far preferable way to do it – keeping the timeline of events intact, and meaning that when Chika got started you knew what the opposition would be and why it would be there.
GBS: And this way, the “school is closing” danger would have been a little less eye-roll-inducing as well, since it could be a background element, maybe even again they could have played a fake-out (as the school hasn’t closed two years later), with Chika and friends being completely unaware. This way, at least it could form an element of surprise—not for us, but for Chika and the others.
BM: In an ideal world… Hang on while I send this to Sunrise…
GBS: I should just demand they pay my writing consultant fee now.
BM: Heh. If only. Still, as episodes go, this one ticked enough boxes that it probably goes down as the best of the series so far, and certainly the first to really show the potential that having the new group gives when there are storywriters who can take advantage of it.
GBS: I still have a lot of negative impressions to be overcome, but I can agree wholeheartedly that this was the best episode of the season so far. While I initially complained “Why does it have to be nine again?” I am willing to accept these nine now as a group. They’ve done the minimum at least to make the case for this group as constituted.
BM: Now if they could just solve the eternal mystery of who’s playing their music, we’d be all set.
GBS: You mean it isn’t Mr. Sany or Ponasonic or such?
BM: I picture it more as them having a side deal with Houkago Tea Time. There’s crossover potential there they’d be fools to pass on.
GBS: Heh. Though speaking of music, that was one element that seemed to reemerge with this episode: Background music that actually worked with the story and animation! One of the things about the original Love Live that impressed me was the way the BGM worked together to heighten the drama or comedy as it happened. The first several episodes of this series…it was as if it was a background score desert. This time, there were several moments, especially the nice piano theme that accompanied Mari on her run in the rain.
BM: I suppose that also plays to the idea that this was the first episode that seemed to have had major effort spent on it – and BGM would be part of making sure that the emotional cues that the episode was setting up had the appropriate effect.
GBS: I think they’ve been getting a little scared in Japan by the mid-season surveys that placed this show below the top three in terms of shows people were most excited to see each week.
BM: It was certainly down my priority list, and I’m only following four simulcasts this season.
GBS: If I wasn’t reviewing it, I would have dropped it long ago. Had they started here, I would have had a much more positive impression than I do of the show overall at this point in its run. I would not have had the “Why do they keep on mentioning µ’s?” eye-twitch I had early on.
BM: I’ll admit I was clock-watching through the episode to see when the first callback would happen. Picture my amazement when it didn’t..!
GBS: Visually, they also did a bit better with set pieces. The Saint Snow performance before has already shown that they can work to wow us with the visuals when they try (though oddly, I am still not taken by any Aqours performance to date), but here we had both Mari’s run through the rain and the Defenestration of the Idol Uniform (where they made use yet again of You’s personal character fetish).
BM: Some misery porn in there, too, with some effort spent on making certain tear-filled scenes carry their emotion visually as well. It worked to good effect, I’ll admit.
GBS: This was certainly an episode meant to let the water flow freely.
Having passed the rapids, can the show ride the current to a good ending? There’s quite a bit of river yet to navigate.
In Summary:
So, an episode that addresses a lot of what was wrong with Love Live Sunshine, and while it’s got some way to go yet, I think it’s fair to say that both of us are looking forward to it more each week that we had been. Just remember: whatever you might see after this week’s credits, it woz Shiitake wot did it.
Bryan’s Grade: B
Greg’s Grade: B-/B
Streamed By: FUNimation (US), Crunchyroll (UK)
Review Equipment:
Greg: Apple iMac with 12GB RAM, Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan.
Bryan: Apple MacBook Pro with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan.
