Love Live! Superstar!! Episode 1: Advent of the 4th Ensemble

My #1 hype show of Summer 2021 is here! Let’s see what Gen 4 of Love Live! (I’ll continue to address them as such) have in store for us. No. I couldn’t wait.

Our story began with our main heroine Kanon Shibuya serenading a beautiful song to her classmates. She also played the guitar. It looked like her dream to enter the top music class at the Yuigaoka academy would be a snap. However, at the entrance exams…

Saw art of Grumpy Kanon on Twitter. Thought it might have been her twin sister but nope, it’s her. Grumpy Kanon is lovely too. So yeah. She choked, hard. The reason was obvious but we’ll get to that later. I think she’s playing SIF All-Stars.

Kanon’s signature headphones were to block all happy music to not remind her of her failure. At least that’s what it looked like. At least she spoke to others and didn’t cast off society.

Despite her sadness deep down she still loved to sing, doing so when she thought no one was around.

Which of course meant someone heard her. It’s Keke Tang (pronounced Kuukuu Tong/Tahn). The first official Chinese Love Live idol who wasn’t a student card in the first SIF game. She could speak Japanese but appeared to gush in Chinese. Kanon was intimidated by her cheerfulness and tried to loose her.

A girl who I imagine is Kanon’s Kotori/You, Chisato Arashi/Chii-chan, spotted her hiding. Chisato’s uniform was that of girls who got into the top music class so white uniforms were top students and blue students basic ones. She worked at a takoyaki stand and aspired to become a great dancer but there appeared to be more to her than that. We may find out next time.

At Yuigaoka not only did Kanon find out Keke was in the same class as her but she wanted to start a school idol group. Of course she wanted Kanon to join.

Looks like Ren’s signature scoff pose.

As Kanon tried to politely refuse Keke’s invitation Ren Hazuki, the seitokaichou or authority figure of the school (appointed by her mother the headmistress) filled her role as the token “school idols are forbidden.” stubborn future member. With her the “Four Horsewomen of Anti-School Idols” was complete. Kanon stood up for Keke’s right to promote her club and like every other kaichou before her Ren didn’t have a good enough reason other than “You can’t and that’s final”. The only reason she won the argument was when asked if she wanted to become a school idol herself Kanon couldn’t give her a confident “Yes”.

Kanon’s a token “I love my family but they embarrass me” teenager.

Kanon invited Keke over to her family coffee shop for some cocoa. As Keke insisted she’s talented and CUTE enough to become a school idol Kanon explained why that wasn’t true. As alluded to in the entrance exam Kanon had stage fright. She could sing just fine when she felt like it but in big time situations such as a stage play in elementary school or the entrance exam she’d pass out. Keke backed off as Kanon offered to help scout other potential girls to join her team but we could tell she still wanted Kanon.

While scouting Kanon asked some girls, including Chisato and another important girl, Sumire Heanna. The latter scared her away with her grouchiness. She either really was this grouchy or a shy tsundere who scowled at people to leave her alone. My guess is the latter. Note that I didn’t look up any of the girls’ bios for an obvious reason. #BlindViewer.

With no new members found Kanon was about to call it a day when Keke stepped up again insisting Kanon should join. She saw her incredible potential but Kanon made it clear despite her love of singing she’s afraid of failure, not wanting to let everyone and especially herself down again. Keke kept pushing until Kanon pushed back. As Kanon ran off she felt more and more guilty until she turned back. Keke believed in her and would stay by her side no matter what. How could she turn down someone this willing to help support her dream?

We got a non-canon preview of what’s to come. Like every other time this happened throughout the series Kanon’s performance wasn’t entirely in her head as a crowd of ladies applauded her. There’s hope for her to one day overcome her greatest obstacle.

Great premiere! Looking forward to seeing how the other three eventually join the team.

PS: Be sure to keep a close eye throughout the episode for some neat stuff like Easter eggs and early sightings of Kanon’s future teammates before they’re introduced.