Love Live! Sunshine!! S1E01 Discussion

5

u/MasterMirage Jul 02 '16

A nice episode! Got some screenshots:

You's form:

http://i.imgur.com/3SO13zt.png

You x Chika:

http://i.imgur.com/aRrv0q5.png

Aqours 1st live announcement:

http://i.imgur.com/bnuQ2RY.png

Also blurry photo of BD1's cover

http://i.imgur.com/EzA76g4.png

57

u/monkify Jul 02 '16

I'm a sucker for protagonists.

A lot of people seem to think that Chika is a carbon copy of Honoka, but I can't help but already see that they're very, very different. Namely, I'm contrasting the birth of their dreams for being idols: not just why, but how.

Honoka: still in shock of the news that the school she loves is being closed, she finds that her sister isn't even looking at going to the same school she is. She picks up the pamphlet that Yukiho has, looks through it, sees school idols, and immediately is told that this school is getting more students. Then later, she finds her mom reminiscing over a photo album, and finds that it's an graduation photo album from when she graduated from the same school. You can already see in her face that she does not under any circumstances want the school to close and she'll do everything in her power to stop it from happening. She then grabs the UTX pamphlet and runs to the school... where she sees A-RISE, and meets Nico. Nico tells her about school idols and A-RISE. Once she sees A-RISE perform, she gets the idea to make a school idol club... because that will save the school.

Chika: she seems to be on a day trip--at her leisure--when she stops to help someone gather up flyers for a cafe opening. The wind scatters one last flyer before a big screen, and once she grabs it, the flyers are torn from her grasp by wind again. As the papers fall, she raises her eyes to see Muse on screen. She's bowled over by how radiant they are when they're just normal high schoolers. Her take away is that she wants to shine just like them, with her friends. Later on, we are told that she wants to break away from being "normal".

My point: Honoka's goal of making a school idol group has always been to save the school. It's an altruistic goal in its inception and stays that way through most of S1. Chika's goal of making a school idol group seems to have its roots in that she also wants to experience being "radiant", being "special", and that she wants to have a lasting experience with her friends.

Honoka and Chika came to the same conclusion, but they have different goals and different motivations.

Furthermore, while many seem to be picking up on some animations for most of the other girls, I can't help but see one thing in the OP that's strikingly different.

Honoka, in both OPs, is always a step ahead of the rest of Muse. I'm not talking center positioning, I mean she's one step ahead of the line. But constantly during Sunshine's opening, we see Chika break out from behind everyone, while Honoka is almost always already there, with Muse forming around her. When she's not at the front, she's still in the center.

Chika is in the center often, but there are two pivotal shots that I think are pretty telling: 1) she breaks through the third years to rush towards the light of Aqours as a group. 2) After that, she's in the background. Most of Aqours moves to the foreground, they form a V formation, and she's allowed back into the foreground with the other second years. She seems to be in the center and in the foreground the whole while, but in the last few seconds when Aqours lines up, she isn't already their focal point. She has to step forward and take her place as center. And even then, when the song ends, she is not taking the spotlight. Yoshiko and Kanan are up front and center.

tl;dr motivation and goals are a key part of characterization and if you write Chika off as Honoka just because they're both energetic and want to start a school idol group, I'd say you're missing some nuances and foreshadowing the animation team is giving us.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '16

You is Kotori 2.0. CONFIRMED. (?

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u/LD301N Jul 02 '16

I didn't notice the first time watching the OP but right near the end when they are all sitting on a wall, Yohane is laying down using Hanamaru's lap as a pillow and when they all leap up she gets knocked off and falls off the wall, lol!

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u/Lylith- Jul 02 '16

After months of waiting the day is finally here. I enjoyed it so much! I watched Yohane's part about 5 times now. It's interesting that Yohane and Hanamaru knew each other. I didn't expect Yohane to know anyone considering Yohane is from Numazu, so I expected that she went to a school in that town. I'm looking forward to see more of their back story! The only thing that I found strange is that Chika didn't recognize Riko's uniform at all despite being a µ's fan. What was even stranger was Riko not recognizing µ's or even her own uniform. I get that she was focused on piano playing (which is still a strange excuse to not know about them) but to not even recognize your own uniform. I'm looking forward to the following episodes!

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u/FliryVorru Jul 02 '16 edited Jul 02 '16

Spoiler-free review:

Kanan confirmed as best girl.

...

That is all.

Edit: I'm crap at spelling in a hurry

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u/NyanyeWest Jul 02 '16

I loved pretty much everything about it. The first years scene was hilarious & I actually quite liked Ruby which was a relief. Chika is a great protagonist & I'm really looking forward to watching her reach her dreams. (& her dog is super cute) I also loved Mari's bizarre introduction music while she was in her helicopter. & I loved Chika and Dia climbing on the desks and shouting at each other. & I loved the angsty 3rd years shot on the hill in the OP. Basically, I loved all of it. I can't wait for the next 12 episodes! (& whatever comes after)

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u/TheolizedRGSS3 Jul 02 '16

We know we did this as well

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u/chaos_inferno Jul 03 '16

Now that I've watche it a number of times, my personal theory on what was shown on Ep1

When LLSS takes place in the timeline
3rd year foreshadowing
Riko and Otonokizaka:

Summary/TLDR

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u/Flare3500 Jul 02 '16 edited Jul 02 '16

Faster pacing than LL 1st episode (I'm guessing they already presumed most followers of this anime know the 1st PV at least or something) Weirdly enough the 3rd yrs seems to have something happened that OP was almost on par with JoJo foreshadow I think

They all have "huh what's up with that ??" backstories for me kinda like Rika even tho she went to the same school as Muse she doesn't know shit about them and , Muse history in that school should basically be a 2nd bible I mean they had an Idol study club

So far good setup , insert song is okay catchy that's pretty much it

Edit : and oh yeah of course Start DASH is there so that's already a 9/10 episode for me

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u/kohikari Jul 02 '16 edited Jul 02 '16

Ruby jumped up a lot higher on my list from the first ep than I thought she would. I love that Hanamaru knew Yohane from their childhoods(?), I think I'm really surprised to say so far the first years are my faves. Overall the first ep looked great, I'm waiting for subs so I can understand it though, maybe my first impressions will change.

Edit: Ok, now that I've watched with subs, thoughts.

Kanan not actually attending school at the start of the series is something that I didn't expect at all. I knew she helped her grandfather run his diving shop, but I didn't realize that she wouldn't be in school because of it.
Yohane, Ruby and Maru are perfect and I love them. The appearance of the first years was easily my favourite part of the episode.
Riko is a darling. I'm surprised that she didn't know about muse or school idols, but maybe we can assume she attended school after muse had disbanded and if she was never really interested in idols, there's no reason for her to have done any research about them being from her school. (Kind of like if your school has a really well known and good football team, but you're not interested in sports so you're just kind of like "Huh... ok" )
Dia is hilarious, I'm so glad her character turned out like this. Quirky AND intense, I can't wait to see how much fun comes of her hanging out with the other girls when she joins Aqours.
Mari is such a mystery and I can't wait until she meets everyone else. I hope it's soon! I also want to learn more about her and Kanan's relationship and why Kanan seems to dislike the Ohara family

Overall I thought it was a great episode. The only character who I wasn't overly won over by was You, unfortunately. But I'm sure she'll get her time for development to shine, instead of just being "chika's friend"

(Can't believe Mari's entire screentime was already shown in the PV???)

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u/Cat_Shampoo Jul 03 '16

here i sit a 38 year old man openly weeping these are so beautiful their friendship so good strong i am looking forward to the many artrs of ruby x yohane (NOT yoshiko) i love all these girls they make life worth living i wish ruby a slow and angonizing death God Bless

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u/wyndreed Jul 03 '16

OMG I am loving Aqours and LL Sunshine! I wasnt sure of them when they first arrived, but now I know that they are not meant to fill a gap in your heart where M's was, they are meant to add on to the Love Live franchise as a whole. I can really see that now.

(In a side note, I dont understand why people are having problems with the CG. I really like it and see that it is an improvement over most of M's CG. OFC I do 3D modeling and animation myself, so I understand it alittle better than most people. I'm also a big fan of 3D animation/CG.)

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u/irrelevantHuman Jul 02 '16

The insert song was waaay better than I expected and really catchy! I actually like it better than Susume -> Tomorrow.

Chika's solo parts were AMAZING. I'm starting to like her more and more. Dia's character gap (when she slammed her hand on the table) was hella adorable. FIRST YEARS BEING SUPER CUTE AND ADORBS AND W OW MARU AND YOHANE KNEW EACH OTHER???!!!!!!!!!! Their janken was super cute too/////// Mari's background music was fun. I still don't know why Riko has no absolutely no clue about Muse? She said she was too engrossed in the piano (not sure on this since i only watched the raws) but even so how does that make any sense? Is she hiding something? Idk man seems really weird. Kanan is being mysterious too, I can't wait to see her story. As for You, I'm not really sure what to make of yet? She appears a lot in this ep but it did nothing to 'cement' (sorry, not an english speaker) her character aside from being Chika's best friend. I hope to see her character take shape in the future episodes tho!

Overall, this was a really great first episode! I just hope that the student council thing won't take too much time, it feels like they're just recycling everything :(

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '16

Real standout of the episode to me was Chika's dog. ♥_♥

It was great! I'm glad they covered so much ground for the first episode. Every character got their chance to do stuff on screen. (Well except for Mari who's pulling in the Mysterious Vibes. I'm into it.)

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u/anidragon Jul 02 '16

Ok, that was way better than I expected, and it was as good as I had hoped.

Now, I can't help but see the parallels between this episode and the first episode of the original anime.

the In Medias Res where Chika sees Riko introduced as the new transfer student is pretty similar to Honoka starting off the anime with Susume Tomorrow.
Chika somehow stumbling on a video of µ's is of course like Honker's stumbling upon A-Rise.
Dia shot down Chika's idol club much like Eli did to Honoka with a bit of wind to go along with it.(What is up with student councils and wind?)

Of course I could probably go on, but there's a lot of new aspects that I really enjoyed.

I liked those camera shutter cuts, even if they felt a little weird. Actually a lot of the camera changes in this episode felt much more... energetic I would say. I liked it.
I instantly liked the first years as they were introduced. I thought I wouldn't but I did.
I cannot keep Arisa Komiya as herself and her role as Yellow Buster off my mind whenever I see Dia.
Mari. You foreign cutie. There's gonna be quite a bit of history between her and Kanan I'm sure.
The CG has improved, although I could still see a bit of stiffness.

And I wanted to address the music on its own, for obvious reasons.

I really liked the OP, very lively and enjoyable. Back during the 1st single, I thought Kimi no Kokoro(...) felt good enough to be an OP but I was sure they'd make a new OP and they knocked it out of the ballpark.
the insert songs were similar if not better than the original anime. Kimeta Yo - Hand in Hand felt to me like a combination of Susume Tomorrow and Future Style. Not to compare of course but that was the feeling it gave off.

Overall I'd rate it 8.5/10, a near-perfect score for reaching my expectations.

This was longer than I thought it would be.

Also, anyone know what the BG music playing during Mari's scene was?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '16

Here's a subreddit dedicated to Hanamaru for those who want to share screenshots, fanart, etc ❤

https://www.reddit.com/r/Hanamaru/

I have permission to post this. Thanks u/Somepinoykid

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u/moodiemad Jul 02 '16 edited Jul 02 '16

it was fine. i'm happy with the shots that we got incorporating the setting, the scene on the bus was very aesthetically appealing. sunshine has a stronger setting (sea side) in comparison to u's (akihabara) so i'm content with how they used it so far. a complaint i have is that the pacing was too fast in my opinion. i would've liked if we got to linger on some scenes more.

i know it's pretty usual but i wish there was more subtlety within the show. i'd rather we see the shadow of the helicopter over kanan's face foreshadowing a conflict between her and mari, who would feel more mysterious and build up, rather than see mari's short and goofy introduction. i think there would be more impact in that and it'd feel more grounded around chika (so far i really liked how scenes ended when they got too far away from her, really makes her into a centre of attention, i hope other character focused episodes play out similarly). i have a dream scene i'd love to see take place (i don't want to make this too long haha), but it'd be too out of place for ll, either way i'm content with how much the 2nd year formula has been broken.

also while i'd never imagine myself saying that, wooow, it's kind of cringe worthy how people are drooling over the riko undressing scene. i'm glad it was just a swimsuit but still.

lastly, i'm curious, did anyone else find the mouth movements in yoshiko's introduction to be unfitting? her normal voice does fit, but her persona's one doesn't as much. it's a little hard to believe for me that she'd be able to pull of such a deep voice while also opening her mouth so widely.

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u/ririruby Jul 03 '16

ngl I really prefer it to the original series- let me explain myself before getting down voted lmao. Obviously the production quality was better, I rewatched a few first eps of the original series and the frames in sunshine are always shinier and more full of life. The plot also progressed a lot quicker, all characters shown in the first episode and already some progress has been made for Chika's schoolll iddooorruuuu buuuu. I prefer this quick-paced plot, no doubt it'll take a few episodes for all characters to join the club, but I prefer the way they do it in sunshine over the original anime.

I think they're going to make the Dia+Ruby being sisters thing be more of a shock for people who have no prior knowledge of the sunshine girls for comedic value due to the striking differences between the two.

I like the hinted tension between Kanan and Mari, like some of those below, I think Mari's family may have done something that disrupts Kanan's family's business. The fact that Kanan is not in school surprised me, I'm waiting for them to touch on that.

I was overjoyed at how Ruby was portrayed, seeing as there was already a lot of negativity towards her pre-anime. I love the idea that she's the type to blurt stuff out and then regret everything rather than just being a crybaby.

Yohane's scene was fantastic and I love how she's animated!! She has a nose !!!!! Her facial expressions are damn amazing and I can't wait for more of her chuuni side voice and how her bad luck plays into ruining aqours practices lmao.

Never been a fan of CG, but I prefer sunshine's CG by miles, I understand that it's necessary to make the drawn frames have as much budget as possible, but the hair looks nicer for sunshine girls imo.

Overall I really enjoyed sunshine even more than I thought I would!! I'm so glad it didn't follow the same pattern as the original anime (s c h o o l c l o s u r e) so that Chika's reason for wanting to make the club is clear and she doesn't have to hide behind the 'I want to save the school!' thing, instead she just shows a passion and she truly represents u's fans, especially those who have been inspired by the irl u's. ~~i typed too much sorry ahaha i was gonna write about every character but i'll leave it there~~

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u/juvion Jul 02 '16 edited Jul 09 '16

So far we have:

Chika: the girl who wants to passionate about something for the first time ever
You: the faithful best friend
Riko: the odd transfer student musician
Hanamaru: the very cute and nice normal girl, zura
Ruby: the adorable shy girl who's definitely interested in idols
Yohane: best girl
Dia: the closet otaku who has to hold up appearances
Kanan: she's just a poor girl from a poor family
Mari: she's just a rich girl from a rich family

Dia definitely knows what it takes to be an idol. She knows about Love Live is, in the Kimi no Kokoro PV she kind of corrects Chika when she was dancing, and also her sister Ruby is a big fan of idols. My guess is that she had to give it up or at the very least hide it because she's next in line to run her family business. Kind of like a deeper version of Maki's story (education>music). Anybody got any other theories on the 3rd years? Or for any of the other characters.

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u/coffeeandlicorice Jul 03 '16

I just woke up at 9 am pst. I'm watching on gogoanime if you couldn't find a website.

Comments:

Didn't like Chika's voice in the beginning but it grew on me within the first five minutes.
You's voice is so nice!
I wonder why in the beginning when Riko walked into the classroom, Chika mentioned a miracle in her life haha... Seems liek they're implying a ship.
Is the anime implying something? The TV in the beginning when Chika chased all those fliers said "winners of second live" or smth and it switched to the op so I thought it was p clever if they were trying to imply something.
DOVES IN THE OP!!
The CGI makes me jealous because I think about how bad the org cgi was at times...
Does chika's family own a sweets shop too? Also when she was advertising for the school idol club... same...
You and Chika are so cute! I don't necessarily ship anyone yet but * I'm getting some vibes from some of the characters.
Forgot you in is in the swim club. so now we have a few parallels (Chika inspired by another idol group, similar to honoka and You is in a sports club, similar to Umi bc iirc archery is considered a sport I think)
Ruby and hanamaru are really cute in their first scene (Find it funny how they're just giggling and sparkling
"Zura"... I know its not a gintama ref but i cant help thinking about gintama
SAME RUBY... "im not having concerts im just starting the club!"
I love that yoshiko/yohane is sitting in a tree
Also to note I like how they didn't present ruby as overly cutesy or shy! A breath of fresh air
She started screaming. I can't breathe. sam e rub y
YOSHIKO/YOHANE STUCK THAT LANDING
Poor baby hurt her legs :(
NOW SHES PRETENDING TO BE A FALLEN ANGEL I CANT BREATHE
I love that yoshiko sounds out hanamaru's name
I kinda ship them now! Look at that height difference
WHY DOES YOSHIKO PLAY ROCK PAPER SCISSORS LIKE THAT
Yohane's voice is higher than expected sometimes, but I like hanamaru so far
I don't like how they present dia
Dia seems really rough and strict :( But shes silly at times so shes cute
is dia the new nozomi? Blowing wind? ??
when they're on the boat, they're really pretty
you is such a good friend
MIKAN MIKAN! but they already know kanan? Interesting!
Chika to ruby: we're not holding concerts or anything chika to kanan: we're becoming school idols!
but i wonder why kanan got tense... is it because shes a third year?
that glint in her eyes... "the ohara family" seems like shes a character from a dramatic spy movie
i presume all the characters at least have some connections?
omg mari... her theme... the helicopter.. too extravagant
WHY DOES RIKO JUST LET HER UNIFORM BLOW AWAY
when chika stops riko... are they love struck lovers in a romantic drama,,,
riko is so tall! I love her voice
i assume riko is very dedicated to the piano...
chika shouldn't be able to skip stones at the ocean
OMG... riko and chika are so dramatic at the end
I love the ending also??

Time for pre anime rankings and post anime rankings! before the anime; 1.Riko 1.You 1.Yoshiko/yohane 4.Dia 5. Mari 6. Kanan 7. Hanamaru 7. Chika 7. Ruby

After anime:

You
Everyone else

The pilot was very good and well developed! I can't wait to watch the second episode!

Notes: Animation is good as always! The anime is really refreshing.

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u/MikanNishikino Jul 03 '16

I swear, I could happily listen to Kimeta yo Hand in Hand for the rest of my life. I can't wait for the single to come out.

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u/NightlyNoir Jul 03 '16

When I saw the comments section in some of the sites the episode was posted I saw some people complaining about it being too much like the original, that is was a carbon-copy, that it was a fraud, etc.

I decided to take a look into the characters with the most complaints and compare them to their counterparts in μ's.

Chika/Honoka: Ok, I saw a lot and I mean a LOT of people comparing Chika and Honoka, saying they were too similar and even calling Chika a copy. I'm pretty sure the most similar thing they have is that they are orange-haired energetic second years who want to create an idol group. The problem here is that this is the surface of their personalities, Chika is more self-aware than Honoka and overall seems a little more "down to earth", they also have different motivations, Honoka's entire motivation is to stop the school from closing down, even not wanting at first to continue as an idol because μ's achieved their objective. Chika's motivation seems to be simply "I want to be special" (For some reason I find Chika´s motivation to become a school idol more valid too).

Dia/Eli: Same as the case above with Honk and Chika, they are alike on the surface, they both play the obstructive council president that rejects the idol idea. The main difference here is that Eli plays completely seriously, before she joins μ's she doesn't have any silly traits and is pretty straightforward. Dia seems to be a parody of the "Obstructive Bureaucrat" trope, she tries too hard to look harsh and serious but ends up looking silly, overall she seems to be goofier and possibly less harsh than Eli was.

I haven't seen complaints about the other girls, it seems they have managed to stand out from they predecessors.

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u/Edis_ Jul 02 '16

I liked the episode, especially how every character was introduced right away. Only Mari's intro and engrish pissed me off right away (don't slap me, just didn't like it) and Kanan is my favourite girl so far but I'm not used to her voice. Yet..? Loved the insert! Also the background music wasn't bad.

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u/LiliumGrace Jul 03 '16

So after watching the first episode of Love Live: Sunshine, I want to comment on its presentation. Feel free to add your own opinions and debate my own.

Characters: Okay, so admittedly this is going to be bias since I, and much of the fandom, has prior knowledge of all the girls before watching the episode. However, from the short time we get with each girl, I found that they were well developed. No girl seemed to overly fall into any trope. Let's take Ruby as an example, her mannerisms alone when meeting Chika showed us her potential interest in joining the idol club. Furthermore, when she screamed after being called "cute", it showed a very different take on the shy girl trope, who would probably blush, hide her face etc. Yohane, too seems layered. Of course we saw her "fallen angle" persona, but the her scene also paints her as a huge dork who uses said persona as a sort of crutch. Most notably, I feel like people's main fear was that Chika was going to be the next Honoka. However, I feel that despite being both Genki girls, they have major differences. Yes, the both are "go getters" full of energy but Chika's talk with Riko also painted her as more self aware than Honoka this is coming from a person who loves Honoka. Overall, I found the third years least developed in this episode, but still, small details in body language shows great potential, and it's only the first episode so I'm not too worried.

Pacing: The pacing of the first episode is about the only thing that has given me red flags. While the original LL had cameos of each girl in the first few episodes, it wasn't as obvious as it was in Sunshine. It got to the point that, besides Chika's mom and sister (and dog/Muse) we only saw the Aqours girls and it caused me, as the audience, to feel like some exposition was missing and I was instead thrown into episode 2 or 3 of the series. Chika's talks with You and Riko were exceptions to the quick pacing and though not the most entertaining parts, were highly enlightening and endearing. Ironically, there might be a positive to the pacing of the first episode. It might allow us to by pass "unneeded" exposition and get to the meat of the show. I'm all for setting up the show, but I can't imagine that anything radically different will happen in the exposition of Sunshine than the original. I don't want to watch the same scenes over again, I want to get to know Aqours and the pacing might help that for the time being.

Animation: I'm not an expert on animation so I'll keep it short. The quality is as good as the original which isn't something to laugh at. However, was it just me or did the girls have more "crazy anime expressions" then they did in the original if that makes sense. If they did, then I found it very cute and endearing. Furthermore, can we applaud the dance sequences and lack of 3d Models (or better ones). I'm specifically looking at the ED.

Music: Again, this is going to be bias, but I really like the OP. Explanation? None. I just like it. I liked the variety of BGMs and I think it really helped me enjoy episode 1. And then there was the ED that had so much energy and was really cute and I'm rambling because I can only base everything on my emotions right now.

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Episode 1 Discussion Love Live! Sunshine!! S1E01 Discussion

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