Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-24187738-20180225155956/@comment-34943817-20180310070045

Best girl: Riko!

Discord: prismaxle#1503 Twitter: @lunaticspectrum

I was late coming into Aqours despite already having been a Love Live fan. I had fallen away from the fandom in mid-to-late 2015, and only came back near the end of July 2016. Imagine my surprise—among many other emotions—upon discovering that μ’s had ceased their activities, and a new group had formed.

At first, I was indifferent towards this new group. I had no problems with a new generation of school idols, but μ’s had meant a lot to me. I figured I would never reach that kind of relationship with Aqours. In fact, I was hesitant to start catching up with season 1 of Sunshine. The only reason I did was because of the sting of having missed Final Live and all the events leading up to it. I thought maybe there was a possibility that Aqours would come to mean something to me someday, and I did not want to regret anything when that day came. But the whole time, I could feel it in my heart and in my mind. Aqours was no μ’s. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when this changed, but the biggest reason is probably Aqours' First Live, especially Rikyako's incident on Day 2. I did not think at all about μ’s when I heard about it. I thought about Aqours, both the characters and the seiyuu behind them, and how hard they must struggle. As I approach a time of major changes and new struggles in my own life, this was something I needed to see (or, well, hear about). I didn't realize how important that moment was at the time, but it has stuck with me since then.

When 2L Delayed Viewings in Canada were announced, I knew I had to go. And for the first time in my life I saw a whole group of people just as passionate about something as I was, if not more so, and it felt so unreal. In the moment I did not end up connecting with everyone as much as I had hoped, ‎but just seeing everyone gathering together because of Love Live made me truly grasp that this isn’t something I can only enjoy alone, that there are so many people out there I can form bonds with because of this shared interest. So I pushed myself to keep trying. I joined the r/LL and Canadian Love Livers Discord servers. At first I was only lurking, but I eventually found the courage to actively participate in conversations. It goes beyond social endeavours, too. I got a part-time job, mostly to pay for school, but also to whale on merch! At first I was only interested in CDs and Live BDs, but a year later and I’ve got nendoroids, charms, standees, seiyuu magazines, and two nesos on my bed with six more preordered. I started actively devoting an hour each day to my writing, and while I have original stories I’m working on, writing LL fanfiction is currently one of my favourite hobbies during an otherwise stressful time. And finally, whenever I’m feeling discouraged, whenever I feel like a failure or feel scared of the future, I look at Aqours. I listen to their songs. Aqours are my inspiration, my muses.