This article contains details about plotlines described in the anime. Do not proceed unless you want to be spoiled. |
Love Live! School idol project (ラブライブ! School idol project Rabu Raibu! School idol project) is an anime television series, produced by anime company Sunrise in association with the music label company Lantis, and is directed by Takahiko Kyougoku. It began airing in Japan on January 6, 2013 on Tokyo MX and is being simulcast by Crunchyroll. The first season of the anime ended airing on March 31, 2013 with a total of 13 episodes. An original video animation episode was released on November 27, 2013. The second season aired from April 6, 2014 to June 29, 2014 with a total of 13 episodes. The movie premiered on June 13, 2015. The anime is licensed by NIS America for release in North America.
Staff[]
- Japanese
- Original Story: Hajime Yatate
- Original Plan: Sakurako Kimino
- Director: Takahiko Kyōgoku
- Series Organization: Jukki Hanada
- Character Designs & Animation Director: Asako Nishida
- Character Designs & Main Animator: Yuuhei Murota
- Design Works:
- Yukiko Aikei
- Tomomi Ozaki
- Risa Suzuki
- Set Design: Takeshi Takahashi
- Art Director: Yasunao Moriyasu
- CG Director: Shigeru Matsumi
- Color Planning: Sayoko Yokoyama
- Director of Photography: Daichi Nogami
- Editor: Daisuke Imai
- Sound Director: Yukio Nagasaki
- Music: Yoshiaki Fujisawa
- Music Production: Lantis
- Animation Production: SUNRISE Inc.
- Presented by: 2013 PROJECT Love Live!
- English
- ADR Director: Tony Oliver
- ADR Script:
- Caitlin Glass
- Jalen K. Cassell (S2: 1-2, 6-9)
- Producer: Eric Sherman
- Assistant producer: Mio Moroe
- Casting Director: Mami Okada
- Co-Producer: Mami Okada
- Production Executive: Jonathan Sherman
- Production Supervision: Kaeko Sakamoto
- Spotting: Jalen K. Cassell
- ADR Production: Bang Zoom! Entertainment
- Broadcaster: Mnet America
- Distributor: Madman Entertainment (Australasia)
- Internet Streaming: Crunchyroll
- Licensed by:
- MVM (UK & Ireland)
- NIS America
Cast[]
Main Characters[]
- Japanese
- Emi Nitta as Honoka Kosaka
- Yoshino Nanjo as Eli Ayase
- Aya Uchida as Kotori Minami
- Suzuko Mimori as Umi Sonoda
- Riho Iida as Rin Hoshizora
- Pile as Maki Nishikino
- Aina Kusuda as Nozomi Tojo
- Yurika Kubo as Hanayo Koizumi
- Sora Tokui as Nico Yazawa
- English
- Marieve Herington as Honoka Kosaka
- Erica Lindbeck as Eli Ayase
- Cristina Vee as Kotori Minami
- Kira Buckland as Umi Sonoda
- Faye Mata as Rin Hoshizora
- Caitlin Glass as Maki Nishikino
- Laura Post as Nozomi Tojo
- Xanthe Huynh as Hanayo Koizumi
- Erica Mendez as Nico Yazawa
Supporting Characters[]
- Japanese
- Noriko Hidaka as Principal Minami
- Marie Miyake as Hideko
- Nozomi Yamamoto as Fumiko
- Sayuri Hara as Mika
- Megu Sakuragawa as Tsubasa Kira
- Maho Matsunaga as Erena Todo
- Ayuru Oohashi as Anju Yuki
- Nao Touyama as Yukiho Kosaka
- Masumi Asano as Honoka's Mother
- Anna Mugiho as Alpaca
- Kikuko Inoue as Maki's Mother
- Ayane Sakura as Alisa Ayase
- Fumi Hirano as Eli's Grandmother
- Sora Tokui as Cocoro Yazawa
- Sora Tokui as Cocoa Yazawa
- Sora Tokui as Cotaro Yazawa
- Kotono Mitsuishi as Nico's Mother
- Natsumi Takamori as Akiba Reporter
- Minami Takayama as Female Singer
- English
- Karen Strassman as Principal Minami
- Mela Lee as Hideko
- Natalie Hoover as Fumiko
- Ryan Bartley as Mika
- Cassandra Morris as Tsubasa Kira
- Erika Harlacher as Erena Todo
- Corina Boettger as Anju Yuki
- Christine Marie Cabanos as Yukiho Kosaka
- Julie Ann Taylor as Honoka's Mother
- Unknown as Alpaca
- Unknown as Maki's Mother
- Brianna Knickerbocker as Alisa Ayase
- Unknown as Eli's Grandmother
- Stephanie Sheh as Cocoro Yazawa
- Janice Kawaye as Cocoa Yazawa
- Julie Ann Taylor as Cotaro Yazawa
- Unknown as Nico's Mother
- Kristen McGuire as Akiba Reporter[1]
- Unknown as Female Singer
Videos[]
Theme Songs[]
Season I[]
- Bokura wa Ima no Naka de (僕らは今のなかで ) by μ's.
OVA[]
- Music S.T.A.R.T!! by μ's.
Season II[]
- Sore wa Bokutachi no Kiseki (それは僕たちの奇跡 ) by μ's.
Movie[]
- Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari (僕たちはひとつの光 ) by µ's.
Episodes[]
No. | Title | Air Date |
---|---|---|
01 | "Come True! Our Dreams!" (叶え!私たちの夢―― "Kanae! Watashitachi no Yume") |
January 6, 2013 |
Otonokizaka High School is announced to be closing down after everyone graduates due to a lack of applicants, much to the shock of second year student Honoka Kosaka, who loves the school. Her classmates and friends, Umi Sonoda and Kotori Minami, try to think of a way to make the school more attractive to prospective students. Honoka is surprised when she finds that her little sister is planning to apply to a different school, UTX, instead of Otonokizaka. Honoka decides to investigate UTX, where she finds it has a lot of students due to a school idol group known as A-RISE. Honoka then comes up with an idea to save the school. | ||
02 | "Let's Start Becoming Idols!" (アイドルを始めよう! "Aidoru wo Hajimeyou!") |
January 13, 2013 |
The idol group's first concert is coming up, and Honoka manages to get permission to use the auditorium for a concert in a month's time. Umi, however, has her doubts that they'll be ready in time. The group realizes that they need to come up with a name, so they hold a contest for the name. They then realize they don't even have a song to practice. Umi reluctantly agrees to write lyrics, but puts Honoka and Kotori on an exercise regime to build up their stamina for the upcoming concert. Will the girls come up with a name and be able to compose a song? | ||
03 | "First Live" (ファーストライブ "Faasuto Raibu" ) |
January 20, 2013 |
The day before the concert has arrived, but Umi starts having cold feet about performing in front of others. To help overcome this, Honoka and Kotori get Umi to hand out fliers to help build her self-confidence. Kotori, who became the group's designer, created the girls a costume, which Umi has some reservations about it, since it's so short. But Honoka manages to convince her to make sure all their efforts don't go to waste. When they were about to perform, they discover something shocking. | ||
04 | "MakiRinPana" (まきりんぱな "MakiRinPana" ) |
January 27, 2013 |
A girl named Hanayo Koizumi debates whether she should join the idol club, which needs five members in order to become an official club. She asks her friend, Rin Hoshizora, if she would be willing to join with her, however, Rin declines as she doesn't have enough confidence in her femininity. Hanayo later on comes across Honoka's sweet shop, where Umi and Kotori are also at as they notice a recording of their performance has gained a fair amount of views on the internet. Mentioning that even they have their flaws, the girls formally invite Hanayo to join the club. Will Hanayo be able to get over her shyness and join μ's? | ||
05 | "Nico Attacks" (にこ襲来 "Niko Shuurai" ) |
February 3, 2013 |
Honoka and Kotori are confronted by a girl named Nico Yazawa, who tells them to break up μ's, then runs off. Later on, they catch the same girl trying to steal their food, but she insults them by their lack of professionalism and flees. The girls learn from Eli Ayase, the student council president, that they can't form their idol club as there is already an Idol Research Club, whose sole member turns out to be Nico. Nico flatly rejects their offer of merging groups based on their lack of personas. Will Nico stop being stubborn and allow μ's to become an official club? | ||
06 | "Who'll Be the Center?" (センターは誰だ? "Sentaa wa Dare da?" ) |
February 10, 2013 |
Whilst shooting interviews for each of the clubs, student vice-president Nozomi Tojo suggests to the group that they shoot a new music video. During the interviews, Nozomi becomes curious as to why Honoka is the leader of μ's when she doesn't seem to do anything. Thus, the discussion soon turns to who should be the leader and center in the group, but are unable to decide on who is the most worthy. Nico then decides they should settle the issue by a karaoke and dance contest. But with everyone getting the same score, will μ's be able to find the most worthy leader? | ||
07 | "Elichika" (エリーチカ "Erichika" ) |
February 17, 2013 |
Hanayo informs μ's of a school idol tournament called Love Live!, in which the top 20 school idol groups from across the nation come together to compete against each other. Needing the school's permission to enter, the group went to ask the chairwoman for permission, and despite Eli's objection, she approves of their entry on the condition that none of them fail a subject in the upcoming exams. This puts a lot of pressure on three of μ's members, who have generally bad grades. The girls then split jobs to help the three members. Will μ's pass their exams and get to perform in the Love Live! tournament? | ||
08 | "What I Want To Do Is..." (やりたいことは "Yaritai Koto wa" ) |
February 24, 2013 |
The chairwoman tells μ's that the school will shut down if their upcoming open day is received negatively. As Eli tries to think of ways to attract potential students besides μ's, Umi suggests to the group that they should get Eli to train μ's, after discovering a skill Eli has from the previous episode. Eli agrees to help them out and starts putting them through some intense training, but is surprised to find them willing to put through with it despite the roughness of it all. As Eli becomes conflicted by what she should do, Nozomi tells her that should do what she wants to do instead of what people expect her to do. Will Eli join μ's and will the open day go well? | ||
09 | "Wonder Zone" (ワンダーゾーン "Wandā Zōn" ) |
March 3, 2013 |
μ's has manage to reach rank #50 in the school idol group rankings, and when they visit Akihabara they discover they are already being featured as merchandise. Upon discovering a photograph of Kotori in a maid outfit among the goods, they learn that Kotori has been secretly working part-time at a maid café after school to help build her confidence. Eli decides Akihabara would be the perfect place to hold a live performance, assigning Kotori to write a song about Akiba culture. However, Kotori struggles with coming up with lyrics, which soon has an impact on her studies. Will Kotori be able to write lyrics for μ's and will the Akihabara concert go well? | ||
10 | "No Upperclassmen Allowed!" (先輩禁止 "Senpai Kinshi!" ) |
March 10, 2013 |
Honoka suggests that the group go on a training camp to the beach when Maki said she had a beach house. After receiving permission to use her beach house, μ's go to the beach. Wanting to break down the barriers between underclassmen and upperclassmen, Eli creates the rule that no one is allowed to call their upperclassmen with honorifics 'senpai' for the duration of the trip. From this rule, almost everyone is able to do this, except Hanayo, who still sometimes spontaneously called her upperclassmen with honorifics 'senpai'. The girls spend the day playing around on the beach, though Eli and Nozomi are quick to notice Maki doesn't seem to be participating. Will the barrier between upper and underclassmen be broken and will Maki become less distant with μ's? | ||
11 | "The Greatest Live Performance" (最高のライブ "Saikō no Raibu" ) |
March 17, 2013 |
μ's has manage to make it to rank #19 in the school idol group rankings, making them eligible to apply for the Love Live! tournament, which also puts pressure on them to keep their position. However, things don't go their way when they are unable to secure a spot on the auditorium for the upcoming school festival. Honoka suggests that they could instead hold their performance on the school rooftop where they train, which the others hesitantly agree too. However with the rain and Kotori being concerned about something, will the performance go well? | ||
12 | "Friends" (ともだち "Tomodachi" ) |
March 24, 2013 |
As Honoka recovers from her fever, she becomes depressed when the others tell her they've withdrawn their entry from the Love Live! tournament, which will be inevitably won by A-RISE. After Honoka recovers and is eventually cheered up by the others, the group are pleased to learn that the school has gathered enough applicants to stay open for another year. Meanwhile, Kotori still hasn't brought herself to tell Honoka about the decision she had made. Unable to let her keep it a secret any further, Umi announces to the others about Kotori's decision. Honoka gets angry and questions Kotori about why she never told her, and she replies she was intending to tell her following the live performance, but got put off following Honoka's accident, and runs away. The group decides to do one last concert before Kotori leaves. Will the concert go well and will the group be happy again? | ||
13 | "μ's Music Start!" (μ'sミュージックスタート! "Myūzu Myūjikku Sutāto!" ) |
March 31, 2013 |
With Honoka and Umi still not talking to each other, Eli puts μ's on an indefinite hiatus so they can think rationally about the situation. As Honoka's friends take her out to cheer her up, Umi visits Kotori, who has also yet to talk with Honoka, trying to see what she truly wants. Honoka later runs into Nico training alongside Rin and Hanayo, stating that even if μ's is on hiatus, she still wants to be an idol because she loves it. Later, Eli visits Honoka, who reminds her of the words that saved her when she was down. Realizing her true feelings, Honoka apologizes to Umi, stating she still wants to become an idol. Making up with her, Umi sends Honoka to get to Kotori from the airport before she leaves Japan. Will Kotori stay and μ's reunite? |
No. | Title | Air Date |
---|---|---|
01 | "OVA" | November 27, 2013 |
After sharing a dream to Hanayo, Maki ends up absent from school the next day. As the others decide to go visit her, Eli returns to the school to pick up a textbook and follows a mysterious shadow, only to wind up back outside with the others, where it suddenly turned nighttime. There, they are approached by a younger version of Maki, who expresses how she's always known of the others, before returning to the normal-aged Maki. |
No. | Title | Air Date |
---|---|---|
01 | "Love Live! Once Again" (もう一度ラブライブ! "Mōichido Rabu Raibu!") |
April 6, 2014 |
With a new school year approaching, Honoka succeeds Eli as student council president, with Umi and Kotori as her aides. While on the rooftop with Nico, Maki, and Rin, Hanayo learned about Love Live! being held once again. This time in a much larger scale. After discussing with the group, they were discouraged because they learned that they have to beat A-RISE in the prelims. Honoka suggests that they don't need to participate in Love Live!, leaving the rest of the girls shocked. Later that night, Yukiho informs Honoka that the opening date of Love Live! is at the end of March, when the new school year begins. The next day, as Nico challenges Honoka to a race to decide if μ's should enter Love Live! or not, Honoka comes to understand the meaning of those words, as at that time, Eli, Nozomi, and Nico will graduate and no longer be school idols, making this year's Love Live! the last opportunity for μ's to perform together as a group of nine. With the others easing her worries, Honoka states her true desire to enter Love Live! and aim for victory. | ||
02 | "Aim for Victory" (優勝をめざして "Yūshō wo Mezashite") |
April 13, 2014 |
A new rule is introduced to Love Live! in which contestants in the preliminary rounds must perform songs that haven't debuted yet, so μ's decide to hold another training camp at one of Maki's villas in the mountains in order to come up with a new song. As Maki, Umi, and Kotori find themselves in a creative slump because of the pressure, the girls form camping groups of three to help them come up with music, lyrics, and costumes, but even then they have trouble keeping focused. However, after hearing some encouragement from their friends, Maki, Umi, and Kotori gain the drive to come up with a new song overnight. | ||
03 | "The Door to Our Dreams" (ユメのトビラ "Yume no Tobira") |
April 20, 2014 |
With various alternatives to performing on one of the main stages for the Love Live! preliminaries, the girls consider streaming from within their school, though realizing it'll be harder to appeal to voters that way. With help from the broadcasting the club, Honoka, Umi and Hanayo use the school's broadcast to both spread word of their performance and give themselves more practice. Whilst trying to find a suitable location to perform where they haven't already performed before, the girls are brought to UTX Academy by the members of A-RISE, who have been keeping a close eye on each of μ's' members. After stating their intention to not lose against them, A-RISE offers to let μ's perform on their stage atop of UTX Academy's roof for the preliminaries. As the girls feel doubtful after seeing A-RISE's performance, Honoka pumps up the other girls whilst the other students come to show their support as μ's performs the new song they created together. | ||
04 | "No. 1 Idol in the Universe" (宇宙No.1アイドル "Uchuu Nanbā 1 Aidoru") |
April 27, 2014 |
After an agonizing wait for the results, μ's are delighted to discover they have qualified the first preliminary round, along with A-RISE. As the girls strive to practice hard for the next round, Nico seems to be preoccupied by something, so the others decide to follow her, though she ends up spotting them and escapes. Whilst wondering what Nico is up to, they end up meeting her younger sister, Cocoro, who, along with her siblings Cotaro and Cocoa, has been led to believe that Nico is the star of μ's and the others are merely her backup dancers. After finally being pinned down by the understandably bemused girls, Nico explains she has been skipping practice to look after her siblings whilst their parents are away, stating that she has been telling them she was a super idol from the beginning. Nozomi believes she has kept this front up even after her attempt at being an idol during her first year fell apart, as she didn't want to destroy their vision of her. Upon hearing about this, the girls arrange for Nico to give a special performance for her siblings, claiming it to be her last performance as a 'solo idol' before joining her fellow idols as equals in μ's. | ||
05 | "A New Me" (新しいわたし "Atarashī Watashi") |
May 4, 2014 |
Whilst Honoka, Umi, and Kotori are on a field trip to Okinawa, Rin is assigned as temporary leader of the group as they prepare for a fashion event at the weekend. However, Rin isn't confident in herself and struggles with the responsibilities. As Rin feels she is unfit to be leader, thinking she isn't cute enough, Hanayo tells Maki about how Rin has a complex about her boyish looks, which she was often teased about during elementary school. With bad weather leaving Honoka's group stranded until after the fashion event, Rin feels she isn't cute enough for the fancy dress given to the center and passes on the role to Hanayo, though the others can tell she is bothered about it. After Hanayo speaks with Honoka, the group arranges for Rin to wear the dress whilst everyone else wears groom outfits, feeling it fits her the most. The fashion event turns out to be a success and Rin ends up being more confident about expressing her femininity. | ||
06 | "Happy Halloween" (ハッピーハロウィーン "Happī Harouīn") |
May 11, 2014 |
Both μ's and A-RISE are invited to appear in a Halloween event in Akihabara, with μ's hoping to make a big impact to gain support for the Love Live! preliminaries. Thinking they need a new look to provide that impact, the group tries various methods to accomplish, such as changing their outfits, impersonating each other, and even trying out a rock look, but nothing seems to work out. On the day of their performance, Honoka realizes they don't need to change themselves, as they already have quite varied members themselves, and they perform together with their natural abilities. Meanwhile, Yukiho comes across a shocking letter whilst rummaging through Honoka's room. | ||
07 | "We Have to Do Something!" (なんとかしなきゃ! "Nantoka Shinakya!") |
May 18, 2014 |
Upon reading the results of her physical exam, Honoka discovers she has put on weight, with Hanayo also shown to have gained weight too. Both Honoka and Hanayo are put on a diet whilst Umi and Kotori help sort out Honoka's student council duties. However, Umi soon discovers the two had been sneaking off during their runs to eat rice. Things get worse when a blunder by Kotori causes a budget request from the Art Club to be approved ahead of a meeting, becoming met with resistance when they attempt to withdraw it. Despite Eli offering to help, Honoka and the others decide to sort out the crisis themselves, apologising for the mix up and sorting out a budget draft for all the clubs. In the process, Honoka manages to get back to her old weight, with Eli and Nozomi left assured that the student council is in good hands. | ||
08 | "My Wish" (私の望み "Watashi no Nozomi") |
May 25, 2014 |
Honoka announces at an interview that μ's will be sure to win against A-RISE in the final Love Live! preliminaries. Nico proposes they should perform a new song at the preliminaries and Nozomi suggests making it a love song. The group has trouble producing the song, for none of them have any experience with love. They go as far as to watching a romance movie for reference, however Maki says that these halfhearted efforts to write a new song will lower the quality of their performance. Maki follows Eli and Nozomi to Nozomi's home, where she learns that Nozomi's wish isn't to write a love song, but rather to perform a song that all of μ's wrote together. Nozomi explains that she didn't have any friends at school before meeting Eli, and that the formation of μ's allowed the nine of them to be connected and share the same feelings. Nozomi says that it doesn't matter if they aren't able to create the song, since the nine of them being together is already a miracle. Maki and Eli call over the others, deciding to go ahead with writing the song. It soon began to snow, and the girls ran outside. Each and every one of them caught a snowflake, and are lyrically inspired. | ||
09 | "Melody of the Heart" (心のメロディ "Kokoro no Merodi") |
June 1, 2014 |
The day of the Love Live! preliminary finals arrives, with the girls overcoming the cold weather to get together to the stage. However, Honoka, Umi, and Kotori are held back by a delay on an address they are giving at the school and become stranded. Determined not to let their efforts go in vain, the three girls decide to head to the stage on foot, finding that all of their fellow schoolmates have cleared the path for them. Rejoining the others just in time, the girls of μ's take on the feelings of all of their supporters and perform the song that they all wrote together. | ||
10 | "µ's" (µ's "Myūzu") |
June 8, 2014 |
On their way to the local shrine to celebrate the new year, the girls run into A-RISE, who congratulate them on winning the Love Live! preliminaries. Meanwhile, Eli, Nozomi, and Nico, who are helping out at the shrine, worry about when it will be time to graduate. With μ's needing to make an impression to give them an advantage during Love Live!, Hanayo suggests they come up with a group catchphrase for the official website that best represents the group. Later that day, Honoka is approached by A-RISE's leader, Tsubasa, who had been contemplating over how her group lost to μ's, leaving Honoka wondering the same thing. The next day, the girls get together at Honoka's store to make mochi for all of their supporters, though come no closer to thinking of a catchphrase. Later, upon encountering people's ema at the shrine giving their support for μ's, Honoka comes to understand the group's driving force came from everyone's support and decides on the catchphrase, "The story we all realize." | ||
11 | "That Which We Decided" (私たちが決めたこと "Watashitachi ga Kimeta koto") |
June 15, 2014 |
Yukiho and Alisa pass their exams to enter Otonokizaka. Alisa openly expresses her desire to join μ's but with Eli, Nozomi and Nico about to graduate, Honoka and the others must decide if their group should go on without them, despite their promise to not talk about it until Love Live! is over. After some discussion, Yukiho and Alisa decided to give up joining μ's and start their own idol unit instead, claiming that μ's true value is with all their nine members together. After learning their decision, Honoka invites the other girls to hang out and they decided to visit several places in the same day, each chosen by one of them. The last of the places was chosen by Honoka, who wants to watch the sunset alone with the others at the beach, where she reveals her decision to have μ's disband after the third years graduate, to which the other first and second years agree. The members of μ's then return home and make preparations for their final performance together. | ||
12 | "Last Live" (ラストライブ "Rasuto Raibu") |
June 22, 2014 |
Following the drawings for performance order for the Love Live! finals, it is decided that μ's will be the last performers of the event. After finishing what could well be their final practice together, the girls find it difficult to part ways and instead decide to have a sleepover at the school. That night, the girls go up to the rooftop to see the city lights, feeling proud that they became school idols. The next day, the girls arrive at the venue for Love Live! finals, stepping out on stage for their final performance, pleasing the fans so much that they call for an encore. | ||
13 | "Come True! Everyone's Dream" (叶え!みんなの夢―― "Kanae! Minna no Yume") |
June 29, 2014 |
Following μ's' victory at Love Live!, Graduation Day finally arrives at Otonokizaka. Whilst Nico shows her family around, Honoka and the others work on preparations for the graduation ceremony. Honoka soon comes across Eli reminiscing in the student council room, and gives her thanks to all she has done for everyone. As the opening ceremony gets underway, Honoka presents her commemorative speech, which turns out to be a special song she and the others had prepared for the third years. After the ceremony, Nico assigns Hanayo as the next president for the Idol Research Club, with Maki nominated for vice-president, before the group take a reminiscing tour around the school. Arriving at the rooftop where everything began, Honoka gives a proper sendoff to the name of μ's. Before the girls can get a chance to part ways, Hanayo receives some 'big news', prompting everyone to rush back to the club room. |
No. | Title | Air Date |
---|---|---|
01 | "Love Live! The School Idol Movie" | June 13, 2015 |
The movie begins with a scene from the second years' childhood, where Honoka is trying to jump over a puddle left from the rain, with Kotori cheering her on and Umi watching from behind a tree. Despite failing multiple times and being asked by Kotori to give up and go home instead, she finally manages to soar over it in the end.
The story takes place after the events of the second season, where μ's receives a notification that the organizers of Love Live! intend to hold a third competition, aiming to hold it within Tokyo Dome this time. But in order to achieve that dream, they require more publicity in order to have it become a sell-out concert. Therefore, to spread the appeal of school idols to even more people, they have decided to send μ's to America where a TV agency has offered to do a cover on them. Even though μ's had already decided to disband, they agree to perform in order to help Love Live! gather more support, as they are still school idols until the end of the month. While preparing for the live and doing their training in New York, μ's continues to enjoy themselves as tourists as well, with the insert song Hello, Hoshi o Kazoete played at the end of the montage. During one of these times, however, Honoka gets separated from the rest of the group. Lost in a foreign land, she encounters a lone Japanese female singer performing on the streets, and is charmed by her beautiful voice singing As Times Go By. On the way back to the hotel, Honoka asks about her story, and realises that they were the same. The girl also used to perform music with her close friends, and ended up alone in New York after many encounters and partings. Honoka was led back to her hotel safely by the girl, but when she turned to introduce her to the rest of μ's, the girl had already vanished. Honoka was left carrying the girl's microphone set, with one question lingering in her head from their conversation: "What's most important is, whose sake do you sing for?" The first section of the movie concludes with them performing Angelic Angel in New York's Times Square and Central Park. After returning to Japan, μ's had become tremendously popular, with the whole of Akihabara covered in their advertisements and goods. Since the video from New York was broadcasted across Japan, the girls are now stars, needing to sneak around wearing disguises, with the insert song ?←HEARTBEAT playing. But with all the fans telling them that they want μ's to continue forever, the girls' hearts begin to waver regarding their decision to disband. They realise that they have to answer to their fans, and they have only two choices. To surpass the barrier of being only school idols and become actual idols, or to hold onto their original determination and halt activities upon the third years' graduation. Principal Minami also calls them to her office, informing them that she too wishes them to continue even if they have to reinvent themselves as something other than school idols. While Honoka is fretting over the decision at night, Tsubasa calls her out on a late night ride with A-RISE, and tells her about the possibility of lengthening μ's career just like they themselves had, and introduce their management company to her. Faced with the dilemma out in the middle of a rainstorm, Honoka hears a lone voice singing, and runs into the same singer she met before. Insisting that she needed to thank her, Honoka drags her back to her home, only to have her stop just outside, saying that that was good enough. The singer then asks if Honoka had found the answer to her question yet. After having Honoka close her eyes, the two of them are transported to a hill full of flowers, in front of a large lake. The singer then asks Honoka to jump over the lake, telling her that she definitely can fly whenever she wanted. Honoka proceeds to run down the hill and take the jump, reaffirming her love for the existence of school idols. Eli also sends Honoka a message on behalf of the third years after they had discussed it, telling her their decision to stop activities. Honoka wakes up the next morning and heads back to the rooftop, where everyone has come to the same decision. There, Honoka announces her final idea, to hold a concert to promote all school idols as their final contribution to the industry. She goes over to UTX High School where she pitches the idea to Tsubasa, who accepts it readily. Despite having sent emails to all school idols across the country, not many of them are accepting of it, which leads Honoka to decide that they need to meet them personally in order for their feelings to get through. Future style plays after this sequence. Using Maki's money for train fare, they head out in groups of three across the nation to convince school idols to join their endeavor. The massive crowd gathers in Akiba at the end, and begins preparing for the school idol festival to occur. Kotori and Anju work together on the costumes, while Maki and Tsubasa work on the song. On the final evening before the event, Honoka announces to everyone the news of μ's disbandment, to everyone's dismay. The day of the festival finally arrives, and all of μ's heads towards Akiba together. As Eli decides to start a race there and μ's begins running, Honoka is distracted by a single drifting petal, reminiscent of the flowers upon the hill in the illusionary world. She begins to run while doing pirouettes and spins along the way, feeling that just like before, she really can soar anytime she wanted now with the burden off her shoulders. When she gets to the site, all of μ's is greeted by the sight of all of the school idols already there, dressed in costumes following a style similar to their own design. The massive crowd parts to give them a clear path to the stage, and the festival begins with the performance of SUNNY DAY SONG, which is now the song for all school idols. A new school year begins in Otonokizaka High School, with Yukiho and Alisa shown as third years discussing their plans for the Idol Research Club. The pair give the welcoming speech to the freshmen, talking about how the school was saved by μ's and talking about their final performance. The movie concludes with Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari where μ's is shown performing at Tokyo Dome, most likely at the third Love Live!. |