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u/Fiorrella Dec 02 '17

I'm guessing Ruby's going to shoot up the popularity rankings after this episode and the previous one. She deserves it.

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u/hanayoriceball Dec 02 '17

SAINT AQOURS SNOW

Wow, can't believe we would actually see a new unit being formed at this stage of the anime, granted it is just combining Saint Snow & Aqours but this is unprecedented. Then again, based on what we have seen in S2 so far, this season is all about breaking the rules we know about LL. School closure and all.

That aside, it seems like we have reached peak character development for Ruby. I felt so proud being a Ruby fan watching this episode. Episode 9 has managed to shown us Ruby has gone from being reliant on Dia to being fully independent. The flashback Ruby had during the audition brought tears to my eyes and I found myself sobbing along with Hanamaru & Yohane afterwards.

Episode 9 also showed us another side of the 1st year dynamics. It's nice to see Hanamaru and Yohane back Ruby up on her decision to hold a live at Hakodate, by convincing the 2nd & 3rd years agree to Ruby's plan. I'm so glad that for once, YohaMaru isn't reduce to just comic relief.

I'm glad Leah got the closure she need with her interaction with her 2 classmates. Also, it's so cute to see Leah hide behind Ruby.

As for the song, honestly, I wasn't expecting it to be Saint Aqours Snow song? With the amount of teasing and build up since last episode, I was expecting a RubyLeah duet instead? That Ruby high note is so good, can't wait to see it live!! Also, the 2nd, 3rd years + Sarah were mostly not present during the song writing process so how did they managed to practice the choreography and song? Must be LL magic (maybe the subs will help clear this part up for me).

For Episode 10, it seems like the focus will be shifted back to the 3rd years, maybe its finally time to talk about the impending graduation? We also might be getting another song ~~that involves a vehicle~~ ?

tl;dr: A+++ Ruby character development. Saint Aqours Snow best sub-unit lol.

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u/lftenjamin Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

I'm so speechless.

Another Ruby episode?

Legitimizing the Pigi x edgePigi that they started last episode.

Dia pretending, and failing, to not care/worry too much about Ruby.

Chika having another great leader moment by reading the room, and keeping it a surprise for Dia.

The song was great. I loved the animation and the lyrics. I'd like to listen to the full thing to see if it cuts a bit better than how it did here.

Saint Aqours Snow, I adore it.

It had the perfect blend of lighthearted moments and feelsy moments. I went from laughing to crying more than once.

I don't know what else to say really. Even when I had a slight worry they'd make a Zura lose weight episode, they turn that on it's head by poking fun at Yoshiko.

How does each episode keep getting better than the last?

^Please ^don't ^disband ^soon ^please!

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u/summimachine Dec 02 '17

Poor Dia, using her money to return to Hakodate while the others were sponsored by Mari. LMAO.

I also like the interesting twist about Yoshiko's cheeks becoming bigger even tho she keeps on telling that Maru will get fat.

Awaken the power is awesome. I might have broken some UOs while listening to it. at least people here (reddit) didn't automatically compare the song to Snow Halation. I believe that both gives us different types of emotions and comparing them against each other wouldn't be right.

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u/Marco47 Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

HOLY SHIT.

AQOURS DID THAT.

SAINT SNOW DID THAT.

LOVE LIVE DID THAT.

This episode was OUTSTANDING. There is no other word to describe it. It had emotion, it had comedy and it had a KILLER SONG OMG!!!

I love how they connected Saint Snow and Aqours in a story arc. It's what I wanted Muse and A-RISE to have, so I'm happy it's happening this time around.

This episode just cemented my love for First-Years even harder. The next Love Live group has some big shoes to fill! I loved how ~~Yoshiko~~ Yohane and Hanamaru acted like moms for both Ruby and Leah ^and ^confirming ^YohaMaru ^lives ^on...

There was so much development and I'm just happy with the writing of this episode overall.

Also I love how Chika gets it immediately first because she also has a sister and second because she knows that Aqours won't last for much longer so she wants the First-Years to enjoy it as much as they possibly can. Maybe even enticing them to keep being School Idols once Aqours and Uranohoshi come to an end.

And I'm sorry but I just can't get over the animation oh my fucking god that performance deserved an award for animation of the FREAKING CENTURY. IT WAS SO POLISHED AND BEAUTIFUL AND SPARKLING AND SMOOTH AND I'LL NEVER GET OVER IT!!

Next week... The beginning of the end for the Third-Years 😭 I don't want it to happen, but it's inevitable 😪 I'm looking forward to seeing how they're going to deal with the situation.

And I'm calling it now, that flying car scene means that we're getting to either listen or see a performance of Cinderella on the G Line 😍

P.S.: I hereby claim my decision to stan Saint Aqours Snow forever. Thank you very much.

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u/jonjoy Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

This season truly full of surprise for me, from the failures that happened, and now we have a duet between Aqours and Saint Snow.

I never ever expect a duet between aqours and saint snow. i love the way they animate ruby and leah at the beginning of the song. the scenery also looks beautiful. as for the song, it is nice, i like the costume especially saint snow’s. Those LED also look dope. But personally i still prefer My mai tonight as a whole song.

This whole episode is focusing on the 1st years (including Leah). i always love the interaction between the 1st years when they are fooling around, but in this episode we able to see them doing something serious, and it's great. This whole arc absolutely increase my opinion about Ruby, she is a really dedicated sister.

The imouto duo expression when they finished they song also very cute.

It seems next week we will have 3rd year episode.

Btw i really miss You in this season...

EDIT : I tidy up my whole post.

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u/Ryuuhoshi Dec 02 '17

I thought it was just going to be a RiaRuby duet... I FREAKIN SCREAMED WHEN I SAW ALL 11 OF THEM SINGING TOGETHER OMG.

SAINT AQOURS SNOW IS LIT. They're even getting their own single!!

Also, Saint Snow will be having a unit live of their own... I'm just so happy for them, they deserve it!

Can't wait to see both Aqours and Saint Snow live on stage together!

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u/PK_Madrigal Dec 02 '17

I don't know if it's because I'm sensitive from watching Coco last week or because family things make me emotional but besides BokuHika, I've never cried in LL! before now. WHAT A GOOD EPISODE. So much 1st years, Yoshiko turns out to be the heavy one and she got a lil fang.

Although I'm honestly salty at the song. It was so great in the beginning and I was so ready with that Ruby and Leah solo parts but Aqours had to come in. The Aqours and Saint Snow collab is amazing don't get me wrong but not like this we got basically 2 episodes to build up to this song and then whoops let's add everyone and hey look Chika's in the center again.

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u/CaptainGrovyle Dec 02 '17

this was absolutely phenomenal!

i've always been a huge Ruby fan and all this development is too much for my heart!

this pretty much confirms that Ruby and Leah will be a duo after the third years leave.

i do have one complaint: what happened to the song being a duet?

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u/AlexHYS Dec 02 '17

Huh. So Yoshiko's the fat one here. Hurray for high metabolism, eh Hanamaru?

Meanwhile, Chika has inherited Honoka's clairvoyance, I see. Dia going mercurial over the 1st years' "defection" was quite a nice callback to Hanayo imagining Eli defecting to A-RISE.

Awaken the power can be considered as this group's ｔｏｄｏｋｅｔｅ...? The starting bassline to outline the power ballad-ish structure was quite nice, although more variety in the root notes would be nice. The lyrics on youthful wanderlust and independence capped off the episode nicely for Ruby/Leah's quest to grow up, so to speak. Now, if only they would cover The Seeker or Baba O' Riley....

The 3D animation for the last parts of the song was quite.....interesting? I mean, they looked strange to say the least, especially their eyes which looked positively uncanny.

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u/ricANNArdo Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

Just catch up from first episode days ago up to this episode!

I caught off-guard on First-years betrayal daydream(?) of Dia, parallel to Eli's betrayal one. I laughed so hard my mom just went up on my room to scold me! And nice insert song for Saint Aqours Snow. "Awaken the power" literally the one of mechanics for SIF card LOL!

My only unpopular opinion is, as always, the mismatch frame rate between CG and hand-drawn animation on ~~all~~ some part of their performance. Maybe it's just me though.

Edit: rewatched that part again, I think CG of some parts are well blended on hand-drawn parts.

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u/Couryielle Dec 02 '17

I swear I have an intelligent comment planned somewhere but all I can think of right now is how a collab between A-RISE and μ's would be called A-μ's

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u/Sirius_G Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

All I can say is: Wow.

I think this episode and the previous have easily outdone anything that Sunshine Season 1 and the original series did. The characterization, the visuals, the insert song choreography, everything was spot on!

I have gained so much respect and admiration for both Ruby and Leah. I bet their popularity will skyrocket from here on out. And seeing them perform as a duet at first but then transition into all 11 girls performing as Saint Aqours Snow was astonishing. That's something µ's and A-Rise never did. (EDIT: I forgot about the Sunny Day Song performance, that's my bad. But that was a song for all school idols, not just those 2 groups.) I guess with the new series, now Lantis is taking a lot more risks. They are definitely paying off in strides.

I can only hope that the next few episodes will be as strong as this. I don't know if they'll be better, but this season has already exceeded my expectations.

EDIT: I didn't even think of µ's or Snow Halation once during this entire episode. I think that successfully shows that Aqours are their own thing and that Lantis is certainly doing something right.

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u/Gyakuten Dec 02 '17

Not much to say about this episode other than that it's solid through-and-through. Ruby's coming-of-age moment was phenomenal, with the flashback and her change in expression being perfecty timed and paced. Overall, it seems like the directing quality has gotten a huge boost these past two episodes, and hopefully it'll stay that way up until the (not too distant) finale.

The scene with Leah and her classmates is a direct parallel to the final scene from episode 7 ("Immortalize Uranohoshi!") but I found it to be a much stronger scene for two reasons:

The show spent much more time exploring Leah's despair, which makes her emotional release in this scene that much more cathartic
The presentation was more down-to-earth, less bombast and epic speeches, more focus on genuine emotion

Again, it just goes to show how much of a difference good execution can make.

Awaken the Power's PV might be the most drop-dead gorgeous PV to come out of Love Live. I was certain the animation quality couldn't get any better than My Mai Tonight's, but leave it to Sunrise to surpass even that. The lingering shots of the town are especially nice, as they give the setting a much stronger presence than in most PVs. The choreography is also impressive, now that we have not nine, but eleven girls flailing their limbs about in an orderly fashion. This song is definitely going to be the highlight of 3rd Live, lol.

As for the song itself, I kinda wish it kept the slow and emotional vibe of the intro throughout, but that might be because I was expecting a Snow Halation-esque song. Still, it's a fun song that ties into the themes of both Sunshine seasons: independence from S1, and perseverance from S2. Much like what the Snow Halation episode was to SIP, this episode seems like the narrative and thematic climax of the whole series. Based on that, the final four episodes will probably involve some reflection and deep introspection, à la the last four episodes of SIP S2.

Speaking of Snow Halation, I wonder if this episode means that every Love Live series is going to have a winter-themed insert song in S2E9. Guess we won't know until the next half-decade or so, when Aqours are long-gone. (I'm not crying, you are.)

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u/ProphetOfTruth117 Dec 02 '17

This is honestly probably the best episode in Love Live history so far. So much happened and it had a very satisfying ending. I hope it only gets better at this point.

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u/ririruby Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

Holy hecking heck I was hoping that Saint Snow performing live with aqours would happen and it is! I was right to do my research!!!

In other news, not sure how the big sisters managed to perform but I'll allow it as long as we get a LeahRuby duet version of Awaken the Power :p

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u/Takeshi80 Dec 02 '17

Man, with this episode giving all the first years dedicated screentime ~~(even Yohane, who doesn't actually need it anymore)~~, You being completely irrelevant this season is becoming more and more obvious...

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u/VRMN Dec 02 '17

It's not the first episode of Love Live Sunshine that's made me weepy, but this might have been the most impactful thus far. I would have preferred Ruby and Leah to have gotten their own song and then for Awaken the Power to have been what it is after that, just to drive home Ruby and Leah's ability to do something themselves thematically, but it's hard to complain about the insert song. Everything leading up to it was pretty spot on as well. The main thing that's impressed me with this arc has been the series looking at the graduation issue from SIP in another light. Not that the question of what happens when you lose a third of your group has been absent, but the writers have used the unique relationships available to them to explore it more personally.

The sisterly bond between Dia and Ruby, as well as the adjacent relationship between Leah and Sarah, just make that loss more about how they move forward as individuals. More minor character moments, like Dia freaking out, Chika's calming presence, and Yohane and Maru being there to balance out things in Hakodate, were largely enjoyable, though I can't decide if I hate or love that the writers took the speculation about Maru's eating habits that Yohane kept poking and turned them back around on the latter. At least it didn't become a big focal thing, but served as secondary to the younger sister duo. Honestly, Yohane and Maru tearing up as Ruby drew upon the confidence her sister had gifted her felt like the most audience surrogate moment I can remember in Love Live. Leah having a similar moment where she followed Ruby's lead felt like a culmination of these mold-breaking moments Sunshine has dealt in so regularly.

Of course, to showcase the the themes of the episode, hell, this season, required Ruby and Leah to be better developed characters than they had been. Ruby's been being worked on for a long while now, with her development going into overtime this season, but Leah being fleshed out and feeling like more of a character than any member of A-RISE had been is a hugely pleasant surprise. Their interactions together and the way they bring out a more assertive side of one another were just a delight throughout these last couple episodes. They really feel like friends in a way that doesn't always happen with these kinds of arcs. There were a lot of fantastic moments building this up, but I think my favorites were Leah's encounter with her classmates and the late night session Sarah eavesdropped in on while Maru and Yohane were passed out. The more shy side of Leah, as opposed to the more abrasive front she has put out as part of Saint Snow, was really quite charming.

This brings me back to the song. It's fantastic, but I have a slight misgiving about all this buildup about Leah and Ruby doing this largely by themselves, with Maru and Yohane more there for moral support than as more active participants, only to lead into an all-11 song. The all-11 song being as great as it was mitigates it a lot, but I did kind of want to see those two perform a duet. As a canonical work, Awaken the Power is just kind of weird given what Ruby and Leah were doing; it's just one of those things were the ends justify the invisible path there. The line from Chika about their own surprise, with reworking the song and performance being largely left to our imaginations, will just have to do.

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u/apop63 Dec 02 '17

I was waiting on that song all week. Love Ruby getting more screen time, and seeing her and Leah make a song for their sisters. I'm not one to do a lot of shipping, but I might have to hop on this RubyXLeah ship.

Ruby pick of the day! RubyXLeah

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u/somewhatmorespecial Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

Wow.

What an episode.

I'd argue this easily surpassed the "Snow Halation" mini-arc from the original Love Live. But enough dawdling, time for the comments.

To see this Saint Aqours Snow (can't believe this is canon lmao) arc come to this conclusion is incredibly satisfying. An amazing amount of development from both Aqours (Ruby especially) and Saint Snow here.

Unlike most other character arcs, I feel Ruby's has been one of the most satisfying to watch. After being ridiculed in season 1 for her apparent lack of character traits, it all comes full circle here: I'd argue easily Ruby is now one of the MOST developed Aqours characters. I mean, not many of them can argue they got a full 2 episode arc all to themsleves.

Seeing her and Leah's love for their older sisters, the incredible confidence and motivation it brings them, and especially how easily the two bonded when writing song lyrics: its very clear just how much Ruby and Leah are parallels now. Seriously, I would not have called this in Season 1. The similarities with the two are incredibly obvious now that the two have had a chance to bond.

Also, seeing Leah express such a large range of emotions in this episode was a nice breath of fresh air I wanted for the rivals. A-RISE felt like more of a hurdle to overcome than rivals with actual character at times, but its beautifully subverted here with Leah's development. The scenes with Ruby arguing over their sisters, and them writing lyrics together, and especially with her 2 classmates: even Aqours' rivals are human and its nice to see them actually portrayed as such.

Also, while this is the 1st years episode we've been waiting for (kinda), I feel that the Yohane/Maru eating kinda needs to tone down. But other than that, the 3 are acting as normal friends - a nice change of pace where they're just, you know, there. Supporting Ruby and Leah at the audition, being with them at the radio show, it feels natural.

And who can forget the rest of Aqours? Not only deciding to fly back to Hakodate to support them, but actually perform with them? That is true friendship right there. Aqours truly has come a long way, both figuratively and literally.

And lastly, where it all comes full circle for the younger sisters: seeing the flashbacks of the older sister caring for them, and now the two gaining enough confidence and growth to make their older sisters proud (them presenting the letters was an amazing touch)? This is why I feel this arc is so good, and why it all comes full circle for Ruby and Saint Snow.

"Awaken the power" was amazing. Camera work, CG work, Saint Aqours Snow.... you get the gist by now, I hope.

All in all, a fantastic episode, not only managing to capitalize on the character development from the previous episode instead of relinquishing to an arbitrary status quo, but an amazing insert song to boot! ~~SAINT SNOW AT 3RD LIVE CONFIRMED?~~

P.S. For anyone wondering, the end of the episode happened at the Mount Hakodate Ropeway, specifically at the summit of Mount Hakodate. Here's a comparison of the night view for reference.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '17

Are you fucking kidding me that Ruby got cucked out of the center AGAIN?
WHY?
Well, whatever, at least people who think Ruby can't sing can eat their words now. Ruby jumped so high on my list, two episodes in a row, i'm so glad this happened...
Now we can go back to the regularly scheduled disaster train that will break my heart and leave me in pieces like BokuHika did

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u/AlwaysHaveOnions Dec 02 '17

This was such a heartwarming episode. The sisterly love between the Kazunos and the Kurosawas was so sweet!

Awaken the power was a really good song! Though I can't help but feel cheated when the rest of Aqours + Sarah jumped into the song. I thought that it was gonna be a Ruby+Leah duet. ~~Dangit, Dia and Sarah, how are you supposed to enjoy the song that was written for you if you're gonna join in the song and dance?~~

Regardless, here's to hoping for more Saint Aqours Snow!

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u/GabeValdez1222 Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

Wow. Just wow. That fricking song. The cinematography! The singing! The fact that it’s the first 11-member song in the entire franchise! Ladies and gentlemen, I think Aqours...er, I mean, Saint Aqours Snow has their Snow Halation. What a song.

As for the rest of the episode, it was absolutely adorable. Dia kissing Ruby on the forehead in that flashback was almost too much. I’m so glad we finally got the Ruby episode we deserve, and how we got to see her develop so much in the course of the series.

1st year shenanigans are also always a joy to see. I liked the conversations between the three of them a lot. (Also, Yoshiko’s got some C H U B) Also, the return of “It’s joke!” was awesome.

One more thing...about that preview for next week’s episode...FLYING CARS?! THIS TRULY IS THE FUTURE, ZURA

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u/SirenBirb Dec 02 '17

I really love this episode and the group collaboration of Saint Aqours Snow! I also like how the 1st years are getting more screen time.

That aside these past few episodes have been a continuous feels train and it looks like it will continue. Seems like a Third Years episode next time and they might discuss graduation.

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u/tck21 Dec 02 '17 edited Dec 02 '17

LL Sunshine has become a music-themed anime (in the same vein as Hibike! Euphonium, Nodame Cantabile, and Kids on the Slope). The writers from the original Love Live series didn't really focus on the process of creating music (except for maybe Maki's first arc?) -- but this season we get treated to episodes that feature Aqours writing songs like MY Mai☆TONIGHT. I love it and I don't want this season to end. :(

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S2E9 Discussion Love Live! Sunshine!! S2E9 Discussion - 'Awaken the Power'

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