User blog:LuciaHunter/μ's FinalLoveLive! 2016 ~μ'sic Forever~ Live-Viewing Day 2

''' Note: This report is meant to be read in conjunction with Day 1's. '''

Day 2, aka the last day of the Final Live. Still at Tokyo Dome, still starting at 4pm JST.

With it being the final Love Live! performance, it is impossible for anyone to write about this event without delving into a lot of matters, such as their own personal thoughts and reflections. For what it's worth, I'll try to keep them separate as much as possible.

But it is undeniable, that this day was special to all of us both in its own way, and in our own ways. It is not simply a culmination of six years of their work, but also a culmination of each and everyone's personal time spent with this work called Love Live!. It doesn't matter when you started or how long that was.

What's important is that we made it all the way here, together.

Set-list
Please refer to µ's Final LoveLive! ~µ'sic Forever♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪~ for the Set-list. But essentially it is the same as Day 1, except Kitto Seishun ga Kikoeru has been replaced with Donna Toki mo Zutto, and the final MC with closing speeches were shifted backwards to after Donna Toki.

Detailed Review
Once again, I'll only be writing notes on things that stood out to me and that were different from yesterday, so this post will be a lot shorter.

The live starts off with the same pre-live animation short as yesterday.

1. Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE & '''2. Bokura wa Ima no Naka de''' Jolno makes a wink in one of these songs, with a very glorious camera close-up on her face. Thank you based camera-man.

MC1 There wasn't much change between yesterday and today's MCs, they all said more or less the same things. Everyone pronounced Dome as Dyuum or DOOOM, and Shikaco messed up the ending of her opening speech. Mimorin's call-and-response has her shooting everyone with her Love Arrow, and Pile acted as though she got shot too, which was really cute. Emitsun messed up somewhere in the middle of her opening, and Kussun and Soramaru also had a short hug on the right while Emitsun was talking. It was clear there were too many things weighing on them.

Then it got to Ucchi's turn and she just completely broke down.

It's just so, so unfair, to have that kind of blow dealt to everyone. I myself had to struggle with my own emotions watching her cry. Emitsun was comforting her, while Soramaru handed her a towel. On one of the wider shots by the camera, you could see Kussun's face and she was almost about to break down too. But thankfully she held on and the rest of the MCs went past more or less smoothly.

3. Natsuiro Egao de 1,2,Jump! & '''4. Wonderful Rush''' Having seen that from Ucchi, it was a bit hard to get the mood back up, and I found myself paying more attention to her face to make sure she was alright. But thankfully she was more or less smiling again in Natsuiro, and back to her brilliant smiles in WonRush. The fact that WonRush is a Kotori-center song had the entire Dome filled with white cyalumes, so I think that definitely helped to improve her mood a lot.

And oh, that floating stage is supported on the ground- I'm not sure why I even thought having it suspended from the ceiling was possible when the Dome ceiling is that high lol.

5. Yuujou no Change Jolno just rides in on the gondola and we had a really awesome camera close-up on her again, riding in like the queen she is. She welcomes everyone that passes by, with Rippi going in for a hug which was also what she did yesterday. Pile also blew a kiss to the camera in this song which made the crowd go wild.

11. Wonder zone (song) (Short ver.) & '''12. Korekara no Someday (Short ver.)''' Back onto the gondola after a few songs on the ground, where Jolno was waiting with a pair of alpaca plushies. But unlike yesterday, Kussun has a pair of her own too, and she camps on the opposite side of the gondola. I'm not sure if they changed it up or if I remembered Day 1 wrongly. Perhaps they deployed a second pair of plushies so that both sides of the gondola, catering to different audience blocks, would each get to see those plushies. I'm just sad that that put our precious Jolno and Kussun away from each other. Also, they had sakura petals in some containers, and Ucchi was one of the few taking them and scattering them over the rest.

MC3 Turns out that they didn't actually put on those aprons during the MC (I thought I had missed the transition during Day 1), but apparently they do it while the lights are out and before Dancing stars starts. The costumes are held together by velcro, you could hear the velcro being ripped off in those short moments.

Printemps section The MC was mostly the same as yesterday, Shikaco saying that she's hungry and the rest asking if she ate properly before the live and apparently she had some mochi. But they also talked about that first event they mentioned in the closing MC yesterday, though not much in the way of new details.

lily white section For Omoide Ijou ni Naritakute, Rippi almost fell off the cart because she hadn't gotten into the center properly before it moved off. This was most probably because those bubble dresses were so big they were pressing against the cart which was also covered in balloons- I'm not really sure what happened, but it's amusing to have the mental image of Rippi trying to squeeze herself onto the cart.

Also Kussun trying to blow bubbles again today and being even more of an epic fail than yesterday- while at least there were a few bubbles yesterday, today there were zero. She just sheepishly grins and puts it away after trying.

They did the same sakura thing during their MC section.

BiBi section BiBi rides in again on the gondola for Cutie Panther, and they get down on one of the side stages to walk back to the main stage. The funny thing here I missed yesterday is that Pile and Soramaru walk back along the long line while singing, and Jolno hangs back for a bit- only to get onto a smart cart to ride past them like a queen. Internally I was just imagining her go "walk, you plebs".

Forgot to mention this yesterday, but Psychic Fire has this screen animation where Soramaru kicks a ball at Jolno who bounces it back at Pile, where it explodes into a heart.

The starting MC was different! Soramaru starts with a lengthy explanation on what the BiBi call is and how it gives them power, and then she actually asks Jolno to start the BiBi call- this whole time it's always been Soramaru who does it, so it was cute to see Jolno do it, who then passes it to Pile, and passes it back to Soramaru. On Day 1 Soramaru just did everything and went full-troll at the end with an endless stream of BiBiBiBiBi while rocking out to it, but today she did it at a level everyone could follow.

Pile does the voice at the end of Sakkaku CROSSROADS, it's really amazing.

25. Angelic Angel Way, way better today. I'm not sure how they fixed the golden after-trail in just one night but it looks like they switched from the motion-capture they were trying yesterday, to just using a simple CG overlay. Planning that overlay must have been really hard though- the camera angles and their positionings had to be exactly right, because this wasn't just for that single scene of them drawing a heart that you remember, there's this sequence right before that where they take turns alternating between kneeling/standing and they all just keep drawing hearts- all of which had that CG overlay.

26. Kaguya no Shiro de Odoritai Rippi did not flub her line today. :D

27. Datte Datte Aa Mujou Much better look at it today. If I'm not wrong, I think there may have been more pyrotechnics than there were at 5th live.

28. Hello, Hoshi o Kazoete Didn't really go into detail describing the costumes yesterday, but Rin's costume really suits Rippi. While hers had long sleeves, Shikaco's one was sleeveless while Pile's was puffy sleeves. I can't help but feel that I've either seen this somewhere before in another one of their costume sets- it all just seems suited to each of them so well.

29. ？←HEARTBEAT Had a better look at Kussun doing the twirl from the animation. Also she flings the plushie slower today heh.

32. Mi wa Mu'sic no Mi If I remember right, this song is split by subunits, each of them going to a different stage.

33. Super LOVE=Super LIVE! They all break up into smaller groups and move around, there were a lot more camera close-ups and waist-holding between members that were generally shiptastic. But nothing beats that one moment near the end where everyone was moving back into the center stage.

Kussun just absolutely runs at Jolno and gives her a tackle-hug. The whole theatre exploded.

This was the most shipping moment we had ever gotten this entire live and it was crazy. I don't even know how to describe everyone's responses to it- I don't follow soccer but it's like what happens when your favorite team scores a goal and everyone in the room just roars in victory. I absolutely need this moment inside the Blu-Ray Disc.

MC9 Shikaco disappears from the stage for a bit. Didn't catch if she said why or what, but she only reappears near the end just before Rippi starts teaching the SDS choreography.

36. SUNNY DAY SONG In this song I noticed a guy in the front block with an entire set of ultra-oranges, not sure how long those had been there or whether he broke it for an earlier hype song. But I'm not even kidding about how many he had, there were at least 10 of them? It was more like he was holding an entire sheet of UOs rather than sticks of them.

38. Snow halation This tweet sums it up pretty well. "If each Ultra Orange costs about 100 yen, and with an estimated 50,000 sticks being broken simultaneously, this is a 5 million yen scenery."

39. Oh,Love&Peace! Ucchi tearing up already, Emitsun also with tears in her eyes.

40. Donna Toki mo Zutto Gondola riding, and they split by years for this one. Emitsun was visibly crying while the other two hugs her. Hilariously on the other side of the gondola, it looked like Soramaru was being ignored by the other two. They end this song with the same feathers.

Closing MCs To be honest, for most of them these were more or less the same length as yesterday, with only some talking more. I've translated the key parts of their closing MCs here. But the second years were visibly crying while everyone else had tears in their eyes. Ucchi bowed deeply at the end of her MC, which caused her hair to be messed up with her and Emitsun helped her fix it. If I remember correctly the same thing happened to Shikaco as well.

41. MOMENT RING MOMENT RING has a lot of these moments, either them all linking hands, or rushing in to all cluster in the middle in a line, it's quite touching and cute.

42. Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari The animation is the same from the movie- I forgot to mention that yesterday. And it's not any less perfect because of that- rather, it's more like there isn't anything better they could have used.



Those flower petals are actually giant air-filled balloons, so they don't really weigh the stage that much. But as you can see, it's quite a tight space to dance, it does look a bit worrying when a few of them get too close to the edge. There are also some of them who were already crying too much to sing properly, though they continued dancing professionally.

For the costume change, yesterday we had a top view which looked amazing, today we had a side view with Rippi at the forefront, and it looked just as great seeing the transition though it looked like she fumbled a bit.



I cannot emphasize how glorious it looked, them dancing alone on that floating stage above everyone. They really are goddesses.

Ending The song ends, and the closing instrumental comes again. The girls gather together in the center of the stage- Mimorin (if I remember correctly it's her?) is left at one side because she's just too touched to notice anything that's going on, and they call out to her to bring her in.



There're no photos for this but they just huddle together, all of them crying, and you can feel all the raw emotion washing over you. This moment, this very moment, was the culmination of six very, very long years that had felt just way too short.

The crowd continues singing. The same line in the first chorus comes up. Everyone, including the seiyuus, all sing it together.

"Ima ga saikou!"

The floating stage docks, they step off and back onto the platform that would lower them backstage.

They say their final thank you as the song breaks for the instrumental. And together, they take their final bow.



This was their glorious end. The entire stadium sings the ending chorus together, and everyone yells out that line as hard as they can because they know, that it's true.

This moment is the greatest.

Aftermath
The aftermath tweets from the seiyuus are translated here.

They say that even the heavens weep in the form of rain whenever a great person passes away. I think it's only fitting that it rained in Tokyo at the end of the concert.

Overall Thoughts
I don't know what happened. It's hard to pinpoint the exact, minute changes between Day 1 and Day 2. But what I can say, very very confidently is this. Day 1, with its flaws, was still a really good live, at worst it's slightly behind 5th Live.

Day 2 made Day 1 look like a freaking rehearsal.

Perhaps it was the camera angles. Perhaps it was a lot of minute changes to all sorts of detail. Maybe it was the extra shipping we got today. Maybe it was the emotions from the fact that this was the final live. I don't know, and I doubt I could tell the difference until we get the BD- and maybe even after then.

That aside, I also felt like there was a core desperation in all of us due to the finality of it. We all went all out in the final few sections, the hype songs, because we knew this was the last time we would ever get to do this. The final No brand girls. The final START DASH. The final Snow halation.

If there was anything lacking, it would be the MCs. I know now that I wasn't alone in finding them unmemorable. They did not go into details, there were no stories, it was all very touch-and-go. But I can see exactly why. They were not meant to talk about the past.

Talking about the past would bring back memories, and it was clear that this was not the right time for them. I said yesterday that all their reflections were videoed because there was no way they could say it without dragging on and on and crying, but at the same time, there's also a sense that there was no more need for them. Everything has already been said and done, anything else would just be a repeat of their overwhelming emotions that they tried their best to sum up in their closing speeches.

That's really all I have to say about the concert. What'll follow is my own personal reflections on the entire project, so you can stop here.

Personal Reflections
My thoughts aren't really gathered right now, so this is going to be a mess as always.

I've already written before on my profile, about my story with Love Live!. Just like many other people, it was a work that lifted me out of my own personal darkness and given me so much. Though I'm not one of those who wouldn't be with us today if not for them (I'm definitely sure there are many of these people out there, and I'm really glad you found Love Live!), it had just as much an important role in my life.

At its heart, it really is a simple work filled with messages of positivity, hard work, friendship and love. But it is those messages that really resonate in everyone's hearts.

I might digress a bit here but writing that suddenly made me remember a historical review of the original Star Wars, which was a great hit in America at its release because it came out in a time of negativity and dark movies, and it was really just a simple story about friendship, and good triumphing over evil. I think Love Live! was essentially the same thing.

At a time where we are in an increasingly interconnected world filled with bad things happening, where the anime industry is making darker and more subversive stuff, and where most of us are growing up into an age where we become increasingly cynical and jaded about the world, this was the light our hearts, still those of children, are searching for.

You can succeed if you work hard.

You can have friends if you just reach out.

You can trust in other people to help you.

You are not alone.

These are messages that we have been conditioned to think are dreamlike, childish and naive. But they are not wrong.

Nor is it the world that is wrong, but rather, it is the world seen through a filter that we build ourselves, that is wrong.

I think Love Live! is a big step in breaking down those walls within our hearts, that can allow us to love both ourselves, and the people around us. I've read so many stories through these years, about Love Livers that help each other out in times of need. I've experienced it myself when I went to Japan, meeting other LLivers is always a pleasant business.

We are all connected. Not just us LLivers, but everyone in this world. And if we can just be kind to each other, this world would be a better place.

I think if you can just hold on to whatever precious lessons you learned from Love Live!, then the members of μ's can be happy at a job well done.

I feel like I have so much more to say, but at the same time, just like their closing MCs, it's all already been said.

Times change; people change. I know that sooner or later their music might drop off my playlists, even if their mark on my life will never fade away. But just like Soramaru said, I hope that fifty years later, I might stumble onto my old collection of μ's music and listen to it all once more with a smile on my face.

Thank you μ's, for all these years, and for all the years ahead too.

これからもよろしくね.