Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-24187738-20151214152123/@comment-27039615-20151220010137

            In the summer of 2014, I skeptically played ''Love Live! School Idol Festival ''only to become a huge fan of the game and eventually, the whole franchise. ''Love Live! ''has been a very special franchise for me. Discovering it impacted me greatly in my life. ''Love Live! ''changed my life in a way that it had a very positive impact on my life. The three things in Love Live! that impacted me the most which consists of the mobile phone game, the wonderful anime, and the music will be discussed to show how ''Love Live! ''has transformed my life. This essay is the story of my life with Love Live!

            I remember scrolling through my phone, searching for a new game to play. I stumbled upon ''Love Live! School Idol Festival ''and I decided to download it and play it, expecting it to be one of those thousand other free to play games where I lost interest within 2-3 days. I only downloaded it because I like music in general (and I really liked the art work of the characters on the promotion screenshot, something that is true up to this day). I got addicted to it quickly, playing every day and completing every song in the game. I remember my first event which was the event with Kotori and the event song ''Sweet& Sweet Holiday. ''I have spent numerous sleepless nights ranking for events and I do not regret any of them. Today, I look forward to new events and new cards. The game gave me a great sense of achievement and joy, which no other mobile phone game has yet to offer. It is also the only mobile phone game that I have played for a long time without quitting midway. Also, the game was a great introduction to the franchise as more and more time I spent playing the game, I grew to like and appreciate each members of the group muse.

            I grew curious of the whole thing after being addicted to the game. I remembered that the page on the play store advertised the game as having full voice support from the voice actresses of the anime, so I went searching for the show. That was the moment that I would discover one of my favourite anime. I can fondly recall all the good time I had watching it. The anime had many elements in it I absolutely loved, including great music, marvelous art style, and its characters. Man, I absolutely loved the characters of ''Love Live! '' I personally felt that the anime portrayed the characters in a way that we viewers can really feel like they are interacting with us. What I mean by that is I felt that the characters were like good friends to me. I felt happy for muse when they were going through good times and I wept with them when they were going through hardships. The anime also gave me great enjoyment in my life. I was able to forget about my stresses through watching the show. I really think that without seeing the anime, my life would have been more stressful. The show gave me the courage and happiness for me to find success in my life.

            The music of ''Love Live! ''is another aspect of the franchise that I absolutely love. I am really passionate about music. I play the drums and I am a member of the concert band and jazz band in my school. One of my favourite hobby is listen to music so it’s no wonder why I was hooked by the music of ''Love Live! ''One of the biggest factors that made me stick to the game and the anime was the music. Their music is one of my favourites to listen to whenever I am working on my homework or projects or building plastic model kits or simply lying down and enjoy their music. I like to jam to their songs and play drums along at the same time. My drum skills have improved dramatically because I increased my practice times, jamming out to those tunes. Their music has a special energy that I can’t explain well that always puts me to smile after finishing hearing to their songs. Their songs also allowed me to find happiness in my life, forgetting stressful moments through listening. One funny example of this would be snow. I used to hate snow. Canada gets awful lot of them and it is very tiring to shovel them from your driveway. Now I look forward for snow because it reminds me of ''Snow Halation. ''

            Looking back, it is quite amazing how much impact ''Love Live! ''had on me. The addicting game, the anime and the music change me in a way that it gave me a positive outlook on my life. I wasn’t suffering from depression nor did I hate my life (in fact I always loved myself and my life even before discovering Love Live!) but, I did feel negative about a lot of things. Now, I consider myself a very positive person. ''Love Live! ''gave me the positivity that I needed find joy from my life which no other form of entertainment has yet to offer. Without ''Love Live! ''my life would be quite different indeed. I am very fortunate to have discovered the franchise.