Love Live! refers to a national tournament for school idols held all over Japan. The tournament is featured in the three main installments of Love Live, particularly the School Idol Project, Sunshine, Superstar, and Link! Like! Love Live! series.
History[]
Backstory[]
As school idols were getting more and more popular around Japan, rumors started to float that a tournament between school idols is getting held soon, being described as a "dream contest for school idols", and "an important event that will go down in idol group history."[1]
Love Live! (μ's)[]
First Love Live (Season 1)[]
The tournament bracket for the First Love Live.
In the first Love Live, an idol group had to be within ranks 1 to 20 in the national idol ranking in order to be able to participate. School idol groups are able to submit an entry for their group, and rankings may change based on the group's popularity during the time before the event starts. μ's and A-RISE originally submitted entries for the contest and were eligible for participation, but due to circumstances within the former group, μ's had to withdraw from the contest before the final groups were decided. A-RISE won the first Love Live.
Second Love Live (Season 2)[]
The stage for the nationals of the Second Love Live.
In the second Love Live, the selection process for the final groups was revamped completely. Firstly, the rank cap was removed, and all school idol groups around Japan were free to submit entries and underwent preliminaries per region. A new rule was introduced, where only new and unreleased songs could be performed. Additionally, the performances for the first preliminary rounds were to be livestreamed by the school idols themselves and uploaded online. After the first round of the preliminaries, only four groups per region were able to advance to the last round of the preliminaries where they all perform on the same live stage. The final round is then held and the winner of the final round for each region gets to compete at the nationals. Moreover, the stage for the finals was several times larger than the one from the first Love Live, with the nationals being held at the Akiba Dome.
For the first round of preliminaries, A-RISE performed Shocking Party and chose to perform at UTX, and μ's performed Yume no Tobira and decided to perform at UTX's rooftop. Both of them were able to qualify for the final round of preliminaries. For the final round of preliminaries, A-RISE performed Shocking Party again, and μ's performed Snow halation. μ's won the final round for their region and was able to qualify to the nationals. For the nationals, μ's performed KiRa-KiRa Sensation! and Bokura wa Ima no Naka de, with the latter as their encore performance. μ's won the second Love Live.
Third Love Live[]
Not much is known about the third Love Live, though it is confirmed that the nationals were held at Tokyo Dome, with 7,236 idol groups submitting entries. μ's also had a special performance in the nationals as the reigning champions of the previous Love Live, performing Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari. It's safe to assume that μ's won for the second consecutive time.
Love Live! Sunshine!! (Aqours)[]
Fourth Love Live (Season 1)[]
The nationals for the fourth Love Live were held at Akiba Dome. For the first round of preliminaries, Aqours performed Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare without Riko due to her competing in an outside piano competition. For the last round of preliminaries, Aqours performed MIRAI TICKET, but unfortunately lost the final round of preliminaries and were not able to advance to nationals.
Fifth Love Live (Season 2)[]
The stage for the nationals of the Fifth Love Live.
As like the previous event, the nationals were held at Akiba Dome. The first round of qualifiers was held at a special stage. Aqours performed MY Mai☆TONIGHT. They were able to pass the first round. For the last round of qualifiers. Aqours performed MIRACLE WAVE. They passed and was able to move on to the finals. For the last round of the Hokkaido qualifiers, Saint Snow performed DROPOUT!?, but during the performance, Leah Kazuno slipped on the stage causing the duo to mess up and stop their performance abruptly, which made the duo unable to proceed to the nationals. Later in the Love Live! Sunshine!! movie, it is revealed that in the case that Saint Snow won their qualifiers, they would have performed their song Believe again. For the nationals, Aqours performed WATER BLUE NEW WORLD and Aozora Jumping Heart, the latter as the encore performance. Aqours won the fifth Love Live.
Love Live! Superstar!! (Liella!)[]
Sixth Love Live[]
Not much is revealed about the 6th Love Live, but it is known that Sunny Passion were able to proceed to nationals as the Tokyo representatives but were not able to win.
Seventh Love Live (Season 1)[]
As they received many entries from school idol groups, the tournament committee decided to give the groups an assignment, where they had to create songs that fits a theme which was assigned to them by region and perform that song in the preliminaries. Additionally, the last round of preliminaries was held remotely during Christmas Day, so the groups had to perform either in their school or associated areas. The stages were livestreamed, which was presented in a relay format. The nationals were held at the Jingu Stadium.
For the first round of preliminaries, the given theme to the Southwest Tokyo region was "Rap", where participating school idols had to incorporate rap in the song they were performing. Liella! performed Nonfiction!! with Sumire Heanna as the main rapper, where they were able to pass the first round along with Sunny Passion. For the last round of preliminaries, the given theme to the Southwest Tokyo region was "Solo", where they needed to have one member sing a solo part in the song they were performing. Liella! performed Starlight Prologue with Kanon Shibuya getting the solo part, but unfortunately only placed second, while Sunny Passion placed first, and thus were able to advance to the nationals. Sunny Passion won the seventh Love Live.
Eighth Love Live (Season 2)[]
The stage for the nationals of the Eighth Love Live.
The stage for the Tokyo preliminaries of the Eighth Love Live.
Just like the previous Love Live, the nationals were held at Jingu Stadium.
For the first round of preliminaries, Liella! performed Chance Day, Chance Way!. Sunny Passion and Wien Margarete also competed in the first round and performed right next to each other. Ultimately, Sunny Passion did not make it to the last round, while the latter did. For the last round of preliminaries, Margarete performed Edelstein, and Liella! performed Sing! Shine! Smile!. Margarete placed second, and Liella! placed first, making the latter advance to the nationals. For the nationals, Liella! performed Mirai no Oto ga Kikoeru. Liella! won the eighth Love Live.
Ninth Love Live (Season 3)[]
Like the other Love Lives, the nationals are held at Jingu Stadium.
For the first round of preliminaries, Liella! performed Let's be ONE. For the last round of preliminaries, Liella! performed Egao no Promise, in which they placed first, allowing them to advance to the nationals. For the nationals, Liella! performed Superstar!!. Liella! won the ninth Love Live, making them the first school to win back-to-back Love Lives.
Link! Like! Love Live! (Hasunosora)[]
Tenth Love Live (103rd)[]
The 103rd class of Hasunosora Girls' High School Idol Club were permitted to enroll as each of the three units, Cerise Bouquet, DOLLCHESTRA, and Mira-Cra Park!. This eliminated the restriction that "only one group per school can participate".
Not much is revealed about the 10th Love Live. The six members of the 103rd class of Love Live! group participated in the round of preliminaries at the monthly festival live events.The activity log featured a flashback of the Nationals rather than a straight depiction of it.
Eleventh Love Live (104th)[]
For the 104th class, at the first round of preliminaries, Hasunosora Girls' High School Idol Club performed Link to the FUTURE. For the last round of preliminaries, Hasunosora Girls' High School Idol Club performed KEY of Like!, in which they announced that they would be advancing to the nationals.
For the nationals, Hasunosora Girls' High School Idol Club performed AURORA FLOWER, and Edel Note performed Edelied.
The finals were not limited just to Fes×LIVE or the activity records as both the Hasunosora and Mizukawa Girls' School Idol Clubs played during the encore of the third live performance in Yokohama. This resulted in "Hasunosora Girls' High School Idol Club" and "Mizukawa Girls' School" tying for first place; a playoff was then employed to select the winner — a first for the Love Live! series as well as the competition.
The first playoff nearly didn't take place when the rival school, Mizukawa, had to close due to financial problems and a suspension order issued. But with the Hasunosora members' assistance, support was increased, the suspension order was postponed, and the playoffs proceeded without any issues. Though she was a still in middle school and was not allowed to attend, Ceras Yanagida Lilienfeld officially joined Edel Note at Hasunosora's request and with the consent of school idols nationwide.
The outcomes of the playoff, which took place on January 26th, 2025 and was depicted in the January Festival Live, were made public just after Mizukawa and Hasunosora each performed a single song.[2]
Ultimately, Hasunosora Girls' High School Idol Club finally won the playoff round and thus won Love Live, making the winning school perform an exhibition live show.
During the exhibition live show, Hasunosora performed a total of five songs (KEY of Like!, Joushou Kiryuu, Birdcage, Hanamusubi, and Dream Believers).
List of songs performed[]
References[]
- ↑ Elichika
- ↑ Special Fes×LIVE "Love Live! Final Tournament Playoffs": https://www.youtube.com/live/9r8zFqKMsTk