The wait for translations of this movie was, as often is the case for anime movies, a long one but patient Western fans were rewarded with an eventual release. Question is whether the wait was worth it or not. Was Dia and the rest of Aqours’ cinematic debut “SHINY” splash or a “BUU BUU! Desu-Wa!”. Let us find out as we take a look at Love Live! Sunshine!! School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow. Let us go with “The Aqours Movie” for the rest of the G-View.
My reviews of the 2nd and 1st seasons HERE.
Genres: Comedy, Slice of Life, School Life, Idols, Drama.
Themes: Music
Length: 100 minutes.
G-Rating: 10/10
Plot Summary: Aqours spent one last day with the graduating members Kanan, Mari and Dia before they left for their post-graduation vacation abroad. However, the remaining six had a hard time figuring out what was next for the team. They tried giving it a go but clearly it was not the same without the former third years. Thus through a series of events Chika, Riko, You, Zuramaru, Ruby and Yohane to find the answer they yearn for to determine the future of Aqours along with learning about themselves, their seniors and a certain rival duo.
Aqours’ first song of the movie.
Let us quickly go over the presentation as it is the same as their the cinematic debut of their predecessors, meaning the anime with a much bigger budget. In short it is visually fantastic and the songs are, in my opinion, some of Sunshine’s very best, especially the last three songs.
I can sum up The Aqours Movie in one word, closure. This movie was the perfect end to Aqours’ story in the Love Live! anime series as fans patiently await the eventual animated debut of the third group in the future. Besides the main plot of the remaining Aqours Six searching for the answers of their future they go through several of their own interpersonal/intrapersonal side stories, essentially bringing closure to their own stories such as Yohane’s past and Ruby’s journey to fully unlocking her inner perfect potential. Some members share character growth while a few like Zuramaru already overcame her personal obstacles so she serves the role of adorable comedy relief. In fact I thought the funniest girls on the show were the former first years. Ruby’s reactions to things, Zuramaru’s bottomless pit stomach and sassy remarks and Yohane being Yohane. Besides further character development viewers get to see how far the cuties/hotties have come as well such as Riko who had one of the most compelling subplots in the series (If you know what I am referring to). Basically everyone was given something to do and no one, not even side-characters who appeared felt wasted. Sadly there was a lack of Idol Mamas in the movie…but do keep “Idol Mamas” in mind when watching the movie. Trust me.
Pay close attention to Saint Snow during the movie.
Speaking of everyone having purpose a very welcome surprise was not Saint Snow being in the movie (It wouldn’t have felt right without them) but them having an important subplot. Without spoiling anything it is a continuation of one of the best mini-arcs of Season 2. There is a bonus reason why their role is special but I will leave that to readers to discover for themselves.
You and a mystery person.
Ah yes. This mystery person. Without giving anything away this person would have fit nicely in the main series. This person too had an important role in the movie and this person’s presence, like Saint Snow’s bigger role, was very much welcome.
As far as yuri goes fans are given bread crumbs here and there to strengthen their favorite ships. Be it ChiRiYou, KanaMari, RubyLeah etc. Fans are given enough material to work with.
To the surprise of no one the flawless one’s performance, like everything else she does, was perfect. Heck. She hardly used her perfect catchphrase (if at all) though it sort of came up in an amusing way.
Overall The Aqours Movie was the perfect conclusion to their tale. All characters got to shine and take care of whatever obstacles were left to overcome. The answer to their future Aqours were looking for was a satisfying one. The girls’ real life counterparts still have some gas in the tank to keep going but their animated selves can rest easy for their legacy has been carved in the annals of history. The combination of the fantastic presentation, adorable humor and lovable cast, with some lovely newcomers, makes the movie a highly recommended viewing for fellow Aqours fans and idol aficionados. Not so sure about hardcore μ’s worshipers as I doubt this movie will finally be what gets them to accept Aqours. Oh well. Awesome movie!
The Yuri Empire 
The movie definitely delivered a satisfying conclusion to Aqours’ story, no denying that. Although, as for the movie in of itself, I honestly didn’t care much about the Italy subplot, with the 2nd half saving the whole movie for me (damn, ‘Kiseki Hikaru’ as an insert song really hit hard).
What I am really conflicted about the movie was the shipping. Not even a lick of YouChika and KanaMari, and that’s not even what I am saltiest over. I mean, ChikaRiko is great and all, it’s a cute ship why not. But I would’ve been fine with it being one of the movie’s major focus if it wasn’t for whatever they did with YohaRiko. They pretty much regressed Riko and her interactions with Yoshiko all the way back to season 1 and while at it essentially turning her into Hanamaru 2.0 when it comes to Yoshiko.
Sorry for bringing up shipping BS around here, but I just need to get all of these out my system. I can only hope they at least make shipping simpler with the PDP anime… if ever they make one.
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Personally, they seemed just as close as in S2 (In S1 they barely had anything)
But I also was never a fan of that pairing, especially how it just kinda got thrust in out of nowhere. Whereas ChikaYouRiko was full steam ahead S1.
They did give you plenty of mateiral, but it does seem they chose to stick to ChikaRiko(for which I am eternally happy, but I understand your pain…it’s happened to me a lot)
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They are just as close, yes. But that’s not the point. Their interactions just felt very felt very… different. That wasn’t the YohaRiko we knew. In the movie, Riko was refusing to be called as Lily, she doesn’t humor Yohane’s chuuni antics, constantly yells at her and she teases her instead of the other way around.
Also, sorry but I really hate that people thinks that YohaRiko is “forced” and “come out of nowhere”. Blame the writers for poorly handling integrating a ship into the anime that has been popular for years and had substantial development in pre-anime material (the whole nicknames thing? yep it’s in both the Dengeki magazine stories and SIF). Honestly, I would’ve preferred if they built it up earlier in season 2 than giving us some dog episode.
This isn’t about which ship gets more material, we don’t really care. YohaRiko in the movie? That’s not the ship we knew…
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built it up in a lot of material that meant little to nothing to the actual series. Like Yohane’s supposed extremely bad luck.
The anime was its own thing. Most of the reason for people wanting that ship was all not anime stuff, as you have pointed out. I don’t care what SiF does, or what some magazines do, the anime is what matters when I’m watching the anime. I learned that the hard way by thinking the pre-materials actually meant anything and I could be excited for certain things.
Also, from what I’ve heard, the ship’s biggest selling point was the VAs themselves, rather than the official stuff. Up until S2 of course.
I understand the feeling, but you have said it yourself that it was integrated poorly. To me it felt pretty much the same, I don’t recall Riko ever openly and proudly wearing that title in S2. Or any of those interactions you’re referencing.
But I will admit I have bias, because I’ve always vastly preferred ChikaRiko, and when those antics happened, it was a sour to my mood. Probably much the same as it was on the movie for you with the ChikaRiko stuff and the interactions between Riko and Yoshiko.
I’ve always been super pro HanamaruYoshiko as well. So I have two ships going against that ship. So I apologize if I seem condescending/mean in what I say. I don’t mean to do that. I do fully understand the feeling, just this is a time when things actually worked out for myself. If they had stuck to RikoYoshi and worked on it better, I could have switched. I used to be a SUPER DiaRuby shipper, but then season 2 happened, and I found myself switching ships to RubyLeah ❤ Fortunately the movie kept it up! So I could have found msyelf supporting new ships, but none of hte material I experienced (the anime only stuff) gave me enough reason to switch, and then the movie just solidified what I supported.
Sorry for how long this turned out, and sorry again. I wish you the best of luck in the non anime materials at the least to get what you desire 🙂
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(reply to your latest reply, also sorry if this is too long…)
Me bringing up the official material was mostly out of habit because most of the anti-YohaRiko folks I’ve argued with believed that YohaRiko either never existed before the anime or it’s “just seiyuu shit”.
The thing is, all the major ships (ChikaRiko, YouChika, YohaRiko, YohaMaru etc.) besides KanaMari have been established in their own ways in pre-anime material. But out of those pairings, YohaRiko is the only one that was introduced late and handled poorly. Although, it didn’t make their dynamic any less interesting nor stopped the shippers.
Just note that I am a multishipper, I could care less with several (and even conflicting) ships happening all at once. So yeah, I didn’t mind all the ChikaRiko scenes in the movie (heck, their moments was one of my favorite scenes in OTR) even as a YohaRiko shipper.
But out of Sunshine ships, I must admit, the only one I’ve always been kinda hostile towards was YohaMaru. With the movie turning YohaRiko’s dynamic into like that of YohaMaru (perpetually teasing Yohane), of course I didn’t like that. And that is not without reason…
Riko have always been the adorkable character that plays along with someone’s antics or go with their flow (or at least make an effort to), this has been established, evident with certain ChikaRiko scenes in S1. This is part of the reasons why I think YohaRiko didn’t “come from nowhere” and why it’s not OOC in Riko’s part.
Okay, I’m about to get personal here… I identify strongly with Yohane. It made sense to me that Riko is the character Yohane got closer to, besides Hanamaru. Riko is the only one who not only tolerate/accept Yohane and her antics, but also humor and play along with her. Unlike Hanamaru, instead of just teasing her when she does her thing, Riko at least makes an effort to go with her flow. And that… that really means a lot to me. That, along with their dynamic being enjoyable to watch and their aesthetic, are the reasons why it’s my most favorite ship in Sunshine, along with YouChika. And it’s also the reason why despised how they treated it in the movie by basically turning it into YohaMaru 2.0 and writing out almost everything they built up on the pairing in the second half of S2.
As far as I’m concerned (and the anime goes)… the only true YohaRiko was that of the second season. The YohaRiko that I knew and meant a lot to me…
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I don’t mind the long replies (No idea how okay OG is with us short essaying up the comments section though XD)
I would argue that the interactions felt “natural” and “right” partially because of the more personal reason you stated, but also because you saw all this material that I didn’t see any of. So you already had a foundation prepared for it. I had no foundation. And it was just suddenly there for me.
I don’t see harm in the dynamic that Yoshiko and Hanamaru have, but I can see how someone else might see a problem in it. I think it really depends on the person, and Yoshiko seems fine with it. I don’t think she forces herself to be around them or anything of the sort. She might actually enjoy that back and forth. It’s impossible to know for 100% because they’re fictional characters that only can interact the way they’re told to.
But I will say, I don’t think Riko was treating Yoshiko in the way you’re thinking. She was just upset that Yohane broke the promise to keep it a secret, maybe? Riko’s always shown herself to be the embarrassed type out of the group (but she also buys doujins, so she’s bold in other ways!), and Yoshiko did kind of hit her right in that way with saying that name out loud. So I think it was somewhat warranted.
Either way, always remember they’re fictional characters, and you can ship them however which way you want. There’s no law about it, and never should be. I get annoyed when people ship outside of actual canon relationships, but it’s still up to people to ship how they want.
Fiction is fiction. Reality is reality. Never let them cross borders, or life will become much more difficult. As long as this is remembered, fandom is anything goes.
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“Closure”…I can certainly agree with this. I’ve seen some complaining that it didn’t feature enough about the third years, but I think people forget that the third years already went through a lot. This was all about how Aquors could continue on, even though it lost 3 of its stronger supports. It was definitely about the first and second years first and foremost. And I think that was a very good decision, as those were the ones dealing with the most. Hanamaru was totally on point the entire time 😉
THAT OUT OF THE WAY!!!
Ruby was so ❤
So glad they did it and kept on pushing the RubyLeah ship!! Just glad they were more decisive in general really.
Overall, I’d rate it above the original LL movie. While the magic shenanigans of Honoka were fun to witness, it was really nice seeing all the characters deal with their problems in realistic ways without giving up on everything.
Truly was a fantastic experience I wish I could have seen in theaters…
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The graduates’ roles were to help Mari overcome Mama Mari’s challenge and most importantly to guide their juniors one last time before retiring. Simple as that.
Leah and Ruby are set to marry in the future without a doubt.
Remember Aqours were build as the underdogs from day 1. They pale in comparison to Honoka’s ability to control the weather, time and space for example. Even so they did their best to fight on.
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Kanan: Mari’s getting married.
First and second years: …
Kanan: …To someone other than me.
First and second years: insert mishearing jokes here
The groups reaction to seeing You on a date was great. Odd that Chika hadn’t met this person prior to this, but still someone fun.
I wish the nearest theatrical release had been less than six hours away.
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KanaMari have their future all planned out after college graduation, yes.
Cousin Tsuki must have been a distant relative You only saw on Summer vacations or something like that.
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The sing and dance scenes were good, but the yuri was hardly there.
Story was ok. CGI was good.
Overall, a good – as you said – conclusion anime yuri series movie.
Now we have to wait for THE main event of the year. As good as these pairings were, K x R will steal the show.
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As an idol anime fan, I think this movie was so good. Beyond my expectation. Great story, great script, great music, great dance with great animation. As for yuri, I try not to bother too much with it, especially the shipping. I’m fine with dem all ships, they are all adorable. And yes this movie has a lot of material to work with. Come on doujins. I like Saint Snow performance the most, god knows how I like this duo and I’m happy they have a lot of screentime. So yeah, I’m kinda sad but I’m so looking forward to the third generation of LL.
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I got irritated after they botched Chika X Riko in S2 but I moved on. Not worth holding a grudge. We got some good fanart of the multiple ships here and there so it is what it is.
Saint Snow were amazing!
Patiently awaiting the 3rd group’s debut.
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I know that I asked this before, but could you write the yuri grade and intensity somewhere, so that it is easier to find in the anime list?
Where do you you listed this movie? I can´t find it in the 5 categories or am I blind?
It seems that all marked anime will become unmarked after a certain time. I use Firefox, so I am not sure, if that is the reason.
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Closure really is the best way to sum this movie up. Their story has come to a satisfying ending and like you said, everyone had their moment to shine in the movie.
I think what I liked the most was how important Saint Snow was to the plot of the movie. A real gripe I had with the original Love Live was how A-RISE wasn’t really a part of things, even in the movie, so when Saint Snow got that arc in S2 and now this part in the movie, it felt really good seeing them actually be more than a small appearance then never seen again. And I loved their performance too. Up until the ending performance, theirs was my favorite. Soooooo good.
Riko has fully embraced her love of dogs and it’s great to see more of her enjoying herself around dogs.
Loved how pro everyone was when tailing You and Tsuki. Maximum hiding skills. Loved that sequence.
Yohane had some great moments too.
Zura still eating everything. Somethings never change.
I don’t think Dia said her catchphrase at all, kinda disappointed I must say.
I had a few other issues with the movie, but they were mostly just personal gripes and not something I’ll lament to you about.
All in all it was a great movie and I’m glad I’ve finally seen it now.
So with Aqours over, it’s on to the next group!
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True that. A-RISE popped up every now and then throughout the first series and movie and while they made a huge impact they were ultimately sexy side-characters whereas Saint Snow were given much more importance to the story of Aqours, especially The Perfect Sisters. Intertwined my friend.
Riko’s journey came full circle.
They gave Snake a run for his money.
Patiently waiting for the 3rd group’s anime debut.
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What a fantastic film. It’s brilliant seeing all the stunningly beautiful ladies again, and not just Aqours, but Saint Snow too. Great stuff, and an excellent way to cap off the journey that Aqours have been through.
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Well said dood.
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What an amazing conclusion to the series, and offering such great closure to so many things left over from the series…
RubyLeah ❤
I was thinking as the movie started how nice it would be to see Saint Snow again in the movie, and when it actually happened, I nearly screamed in delight. And I can’t say I wasn’t pleased with the mention of the possibility of Leah joining the new Aqours, but on hearing Ruby’s reasoning, I 100% agreed with her, and it was amazing to see Saint Snow’s final performance (and what an amazing performance!), and conclusion to Leah’s arc by seeing her starting a new group seemingly… (why did you hide things so well, ED? What did that girl who approached her look like fully? Argh.) (And no, even if said girl were shown in the game, I have no intention of playing it, I have way too much games already)
Speaking of the ED, were the girls at the very, very end the Aqours we know, or somebody else later on? They sounded a bit different to me, at least…though it could of course just be because it was only voices, and that confusing me, but…
So all in all, an amazing movie and conclusion to the series. (But why did you have to make me wonder more things with the final ED stuff? Why?)
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Oh yes indeed.
Such an adorable couple.
Oh yes. Ruby’s reasoning on why Leah couldn’t join Aqours made perfect sense. We know the two can still make this love work despite going to different schools. Mari and Kanan already planned it out after all.
Probably the same girl who was hesitant at first but changed her mind after seeing Saint Snow in action.
Best bet is another group of school girls forming the next generation of Aqours. It’s definitely not the 3rd group.
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it was symbolic of how “Aquors” is not a name that has to end with a certain group and can be passed down and used by any hopeful idols in the area. I mean, it’s not like I’ve read any official material explaining this, but I think they made it pretty clear in those scenes.
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I feel they could have squeezed some more seasons out of the original Love Live crew. More content, via a movie, is a nice way of giving fans something extra to watch.
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That’s partially what the mobile game is for, to squeeze out more little stories for the groups but as far as their anime stories go both groups got nice sendoffs.
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Now i need to go find some inspirational words on the beach…
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Hopefully some aspiring teenage girls wrote something noteworthy in your neck of the woods.
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