Love Live! Sunshine!!

Chika Takami, a self-proclaimed normal girl, has never been involved in any clubs and lacked any notable talents. However, after a visit to Tokyo, she discovers a stage where even an ordinary girl like her could shine—the world of school idols. Inspired by the former superstar school idol group μ's, Chika is determined to start her own school idol club in her seaside hometown at Uranohoshi Girl's High School. But even before gathering any students to join the group, the aspiring school idol finds her greatest obstacle to be student council president Dia Kurosawa who stands firmly against the creation of the club.

Just when it seems there is no hope, Chika meets Riko Sakurauchi, a transfer student from Otonokizaka High School, home of μ's. Somewhat shy but a talented piano player, Chika believes her to be a promising recruit, though convincing her to join is easier said than done. In spite of that, Chika chooses to charge forward and overcome the obstacles keeping her from forming a school idol group that shines as bright as the nine that came before her.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsushima, Yoshiko Main

Kobayashi, Aika Japanese

Watanabe, You Main

Saitou, Shuka Japanese

Kunikida, Hanamaru Main

Takatsuki, Kanako Japanese

Sakurauchi, Riko Main

Aida, Rikako Japanese

Ohara, Mari Main

Suzuki, Aina Japanese

Kurosawa, Ruby Main

Furihata, Ai Japanese

Kurosawa, Dia Main

Komiya, Arisa Japanese

Takami, Chika Main

Inami, Anju Japanese

Matsuura, Kanan Main

Suwa, Nanaka Japanese

Kazuno, Leah Supporting

Satou, Hinata Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Hirayama, Tadashi Producer

Makimoto, Yuki Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Reviews

Aug 22, 2025

Elyshion

Recommended

Love Live! Sunshine!!, an excellent Spin-off with some flaws. Overall, this anime is very similar to the original series. However, even if it still remains a strong point of the anime, in terms of the soundtrack, in my opinion, their music is less good, whether it is the openings, the endings and the OST during the two seasons. I still notice that their music is more melancholic. The characters of most of the group's characters are similar compared to the original series, even if their developments still make them unique. The animation and the character design are very beautiful, very fluid and very dynamic even ... with the CGI, especially during the concerts. In addition, the colors are bright like the color of their hair which is the same as in Love Live!. In short, it's a little disappointing and I would have liked it to stand out from the original series. Nevertheless, this disappointment is quickly erased and it remains in the spirit of Love Live! and that's all that matters!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 9, 2021

Fishymonster_

Mixed Feelings

Basically just a slightly worse carbon copy of school idol project. Honestly not worth watching if you've seen school idol project, but as a stand-alone it isn't bad. It definitely made me realize I don't really want to watch any more shows in this universe, even though I liked school idol project a lot. The characters are extremely similar to School Idol project, and some of them even have the same one-note personality traits. If this one had a different premise or number of girls or personality of those said girls, I would have given this a higher score. In the end, however, its nothing ... more than a worse version of the original.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 27, 2024

MidniteAndBeyond

Not Recommended

This is a review of seasons 1, 2, and the movie.

My only experience with Love Live is with the original anime. I thought it was ok, but didn't fall in love with it NEARLY as much as others seemed to. I was really hopeful Sunshine would be the one that finally made me GET Love Live. Buuuuuuuuuuut....... I'm so confused... I'm really trying, I promise. I have no interest in fandom wars of any kind, anymore. I WANT to enjoy Love Live. Maybe it's just a matter of needing to play the games to fill in the gaps of the show. But I just found ... myself very confused with the whole "School Idol" concept, even more so than I was with the original show. It's almost comical how much the show flip flops between success and failure.

From scene to scene, it can be "We can't start a school idol club because we don't have enough members!" to "We suddenly have a fully song and dance routine and professionally made outfits prepared with the entire town coming to our debut concert!" to "We're the least popular school idol group in the world!" to "We're being invited to Tokyo to perform in a professional competition!" to "We had zero votes for our performance!" to "We won the entire competition!" to "Our school is shutting down due to lack of success!" to "We won Love Live!"......LITERALLY WHY!?!?!?

It was so stinkin obnoxious and every new obstacle just felt like forced drama with nonexistent resolutions. It just feels like we only ever get shown the end of every journey and completely skip over how we got there. The new cast is... ok. But it's obnoxiously copy and pasted from μ's, as is often joked about in the first season. The amount of callbacks to μ's in general is just exhausting and gives this show next to nothing of its own to make itself stand out. I get its to have a lesson about finding your own path and discovering your own identity in the end, but it shouldn't have taken the ENTIRE first season to explain that!

To their credit, μ's does not get referenced a single time in the second season or the movie. The same pacing and format issues still persist, but I at least got to get more attached to these characters, rather than having the old ones shoved in my face over and over. The music is nice, but like the last show, it's hard to get attached to individual singers when every song is a group song. Awaken The Power was my favorite and Ruby is best girl. The animation is solid all throughout. If it weren't for the framerate shifts, I honestly wouldn't even be able to tell when it switches between 2D and 3D.

Overall... I'm sad I didn't care for this show as much as I was hoping to. I guess it might just be a matter of "You had to be there." I'm happy if you like this show and if these characters mean a lot to you. It didn't click with me and I think I'm just gonna leave it at that. As for other Love Live shows... I honestly didn't even know that any other branches existed beyond μ's and Aqours, until a year ago. I think my Love Live journey is gonna end here, in that case. I'm glad I finally got to meet these characters, but I'm good with parting ways with this franchise rather than forcing myself to watch every single series just for completion's sake and not having much positive things to say about it in the end.

5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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