Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-24187738-20151214152123/@comment-24750169-20151214185417

“Love Live!” has changed my life in a massive way. I’ve had the thought in my head several times as I look back on my past. So much has changed in just over a year.

Flashback to October last year. I had started at an upper school after saying goodbye to the middle school I had loved for years. My so called “best friend” had ditched me because I obsessed too much over anime, and my grades were spiralling down. Things weren’t good. This was around the time when I used to play osu! almost 24/7, and was active around the forums. Many people had mentioned a certain anime called “Love Live!”, particularly the character of Nico. I got curious instantly. After reading the synopsis, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The half term holiday arrived and I needed something to watch. Therefore, on Halloween that year, I decided to make the jump and check it out. 3 episodes later, I’d fallen in love. This anime was completely different to the stuff I was watching at the time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Things came to a halt for a bit as school returned, but ‘START:DASH!!' was stuck in my head for weeks on end. By mid-December, I was able to finish both Seasons 1 and 2, and had fallen madly in love with μ's (particularly Maki). I wanted to find more people who watched it, but I didn’t have many anime-loving friends at the time, so I just loved it alone.

2015 arrived, and I started loading some of μ's songs onto my MP3 player on the way to school. This was a good decision, as it cheered me up during bad days and kept me somewhat occupied on the late bus after clubs. Eventually my birthday arrived, and I invited my best friend/anime buddy from out of school (otherwise known as Aka for privacy reasons) over for a sleepover. I took this as an opportunity to do something I have never regretted. Opening Crunchyroll at just after midnight (both still awake) and watching the first 3 episodes with her is still one of my highlights of the year. She fell in love just as I did, and we watched all the way up to episode 8 the next day. This was a massive success for me.

School still continued to go badly, with a lot of truly horrible lows following some awesome moments. I started to daydream about forming my own idol group, and I asked a couple of girls at school about the possibility of forming one… to little avail. I mentioned it to Aka a couple of times, but I never made any advances. Meanwhile, μ's were cheering me up with their songs and giving me the inspiration to create. I also started playing the mobile game on my tablet, which I enjoyed a lot. (My sisters questioned it a couple of times, but I didn’t go into much detail.)

I was still pretty bummed that there was basically NOTHING in the UK for fans of Love Live. No DVD/Blu-ray release, no merchandise, nothing. It was pretty annoying, but then MVM announced a DVD release at Comic Con. I was so excited. That and the movie release following had me so hyped. An opportunity to go to Japan that summer came and I was over the moon. School started turning around and becoming better. Everything was looking good…

…until an announcement came from my beloved form tutor. She would be leaving in July, at the end of the school year. I didn’t take this too well. She’d done so much for me, so having her leave was so hard. μ's kept me happy, particularly with the movie singles releasing. Then, I realised. I’d survived a whole year at the new school when I thought I wouldn’t make it.

The trip to Japan came, and being a Love Live fan made it extra special. As we began to land at Narita Airport after an 11 hour flight, Aka put “Wonderful Rush” (my favourite Love Live song) on repeat. It was a very exciting moment, and that song made it better. The first day in Tokyo was immense, rounded off with a trip to Akihabara. Aka and I rushed to Animate and I purchased my first ever pieces of Love Live merchandise – the two Perfect Art Collection books and an Umi ‘Tsumamare’ (‘Pinched’) keychain.

We moved on to a town that we’d connected with for 3 days. The last day was a goodbye party, and I was asked by some of the Japanese teenagers what anime I liked. The first I mentioned was Love Live (of course). Well, I didn’t expect what happened next. A boy at the table stood up and cheered. We had a high five and a very long discussion (he’d already seen the movie, so I was super jealous).

Leaving all of our friends was pretty hard. On the way back to the hotel, a thought suddenly came into my head: “Why don’t Aka and I form an idol group, just like μ's did?”

Once we’d returned to the UK after a quick trip to Kyoto (where I bought a Kotori keychain and the ‘Angelic Angel’ single), I shared my idea with Aka and she was super supportive. It was for real this time. We were going to do it.

My second year at this school started and I started my GCSEs (insert groan here). Things started to go downhill again, and μ's were there all the way. I made two new anime buddies and recommended Love Live to both of them. Eventually, Aka and I performed “Bokura wa Ima no Naka de” as idols for the first time. It was super fun learning the song and the dance, especially with my best friend! The (somewhat small) crowd loved it, and we plan to continue.

The announcement of μ's final single and live show has hit me pretty hard. You can see how much I’ve valued them over this time, and appreciate everything they’ve done. I don’t want them to leave, yet I value the decision that the entire team have made. I will continue to support them with the Sunshine project.

That’s what μ's and the whole Love Live project means to me. Thank you, μ's. I am eternally grateful.