Love Live! Nijigasaki Episode 9: Azure Queen Unleashed

It was time for the last OG hype idol to have her time in the spotlight though she kinda already had a taste before with her sweetie pie.

We joined Karin thinking about something that would unfold later as she was approached by fans and later Setsuna. It seemed the SIC’s popularity had skyrocketed in school grounds.

As the club discussed their increase in popularity Haruka surprised them with a visit. She wasn’t alone.

It’s the girl we saw a few times in the last episode, Himeno. She went to Touou Academy and was part of her own school idol group. She asked Haruka to take her to our heroines so they could be invited to participate at Diver Fest. Some music festival.

There’s a catch. Each group could perform 3 songs max. Our heroines were all solo idols so that’s an issue. They decided one of them would represent the club at Diver Fes, but which one? None of them could confidently pick one over the others. When they suggested a lottery Karin scolded them for their indecisiveness. The team had to pick someone who could best represent their club and boost their popularity outside of the school.

I know Karin wore other clothes in the criminally brief modeling scene but come on. This is clearly the only set that mattered.

For viewers who remember, girls like Haruka and Himeno originally debuted as “N. Girls” in the Love Live! School Idol Festival mobile game. Same as Emma and Shizuku. Look up their N cards. I honestly forgot about that but remembered getting a lot of Haruka and Shizuku N cards back when I played SIF.

The prior scene happened as Karin was looking for a dance studio but got lost. The three members noticed her and Setsuna thought she was interested in anime merch too. Afterward it was revealed the music studio was right next door and more importantly Karin was bad with directions. She considered calling her Swiss sweetie before her peeps came by.

The three commended her secret dedication to the craft. Karin said she took it seriously because she saw her girlfriend and teammates as raivarus. She wanted to apologize for her prior harshness but they were like “It’s cool. You’re right.” Setsuna felt confident the time had come to discuss which SIC member would represent them.

Who else could it be? Both in storyline and process of elimination. She’s the only one yet to perform. Karin was the right choice.

More importantly Emma picked her costume.

Before showtime Miss N Card Himeno seemed to be all passive aggressive with Karin. We’ll get back to her in a bit.

Most important support.

Himeno’s “praise” got to Karin as it became clear how much pressure was on her. She got stage fright and didn’t show up backstage. Emma and Setsuna led the search for her. Luckily it didn’t take long. Long story short Karin was ashamed to show her weakness. After all that tough love, cool aura and flaunting deep down she was the most nervous of all. Of course Emma and the others had her back and their support gave her confidence to put on a big show.

The raging lesbian otaku boners were real during her performance.

Karin thanked her raivarus and brahs for being there with her.

In the end Himeno was a Karin fangirl itching to see her sexy heroine in action.

Can you blame her?

Good stuff as always. Hopefully it won’t be long before our heroines come together to put on the highly anticipated group performance now that all 9 members had their time to shine. Next time Summer Camp! Can’t have a Love Live! anime without one of those.