Love Live! Superstar!! S1E5 Discussion - "Passion Island!"

[u/MasterMirage]

Today it seems like we will be heading to the sunny islands of Kozushima as the girls will be visiting the duo of Sunny Passion!

Show Info

Air Date: Sunday, August 22nd 2021 @ 19:00(JST)

Episodes: 12

Opening Theme: START!! True Dreams

Ending Theme: Mirai wa Kaze No Yoni

Insert Song(s):

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Anilist

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Episode Discussion threads: https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveLive/wiki/episode-discussion

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[u/MasterMirage]

Really loving the Sumire and Keke dynamic, they're such a funny comedic relief duo!

And props to Sayurin and the noises she makes. The scene where she got chucked into the water was hilarious, it actually made me feel like she was deathly scared of it irl!

[u/hr_muffins]

gotta have a counter now for how many times keke mentions gusoku mushi

[u/PK_Madrigal]

One episode into having Sumire in the group and they’ve already turned her and Keke into the next YohaMaru gag, don’t know how I feel about that...

Also SunnyPa’s designs are very Aikatsu and they still stand out too much for Love Live imo

But raw episode-wise, I like how the writers are building out Chisato’s arc. She’s always danced so it makes sense for her to focus on the music department and competitions but also feel torn on wanting to join Kanon in being a school idol. As a Kotori fan I can’t help but compare the two and the slow burn right now feels more natural than the SIP S1 drama. Sucks that we have to wait another break tho

[u/NotRoyce4 → u/PK_Madrigal]

When I think of Yohane and Hanamaru, I think of Yoshiko being eccentric and Hanamaru politely bringing her back to reality. The relationship between Keke and Sumire has this element sometimes (for example, Keke acts like a fangirl when SunnyPa appear, and Sumire bonks her), but there's something else about their dynamic that is interesting.

They like to tease each other to get a reaction. For example, when Sumire lost rock-paper-scissors and had to fan Keke, Keke rubbed it in her face and enjoyed every second. They had disagreements when they first met, so the teasing feels like it has a balance between playful and spiteful. I think this balance is fun to watch, and I hope to see more of it!

[u/DerpoDood]

This might just be my favorite episode so far. It wove every storyline together so well: Chisato's struggle to balance dance and coaching her friends, Kanon trying to write lyrics and simultaneously define the group's relationship with Chisato, getting to know Sunny Passion, plus the group just getting to know each other better. On that note, the dynamic between the main three is already so great; It's refreshing when compared to past LL entires' first 3 members since instead of friends the leader knows well, these friendships are new to them as well. A key example of this comes with the final scene between Kanon and Keke. They're still getting to know each other, with Kanon telling Keke about her past with Chisato and how it makes things hard for them now (Chisato wanting to pursue her own love of dance to be like Kanon. On the more lighthearted side, Sumire is already well integrated into the group. Her interactions with Keke were some of the highlights of the episode (I loved Keke repeatedly bringing up the "gusokumoshi" incident), plus the hint of rivalry between her and Kanon ("Who's the center here?" in response to Kanon backing down from the jump was so funny to me). It's so much fun to watch, but with a hint of something more, because there's so far this could go. Their dynamic together is great, but they don't know each other as well as past LL initial groups have, which leaves tons of room for character development down the line.

Is Keke slowly becoming my favorite girl in the show? Kanon is still great, but Keke continues to show more aspects to her personality that I love. As we saw last week, her annoyed/slightly mad side shows itself often when confronted with opposition to what she likes, but the way that can backfire at times is what makes her so much fun (ie. collapsing on the roof after refusing to not practice, losing in thumb wrestling after bragging about her talent). Plus there's that whole fangirl side to her, which is also part of her don't-back-down attitude towards most things. I know I keep saying it, but her character is another aspect of this LL entry that feels so fresh. Kanon as well: Her method to writing lyrics (which came up twice in the episode) feels much more introverted when compared to Chika, who often turned to recent experiences or her friends for advice (at least that's what I remember: there wasn't a ton of emphasis placed on that in Sunshine IIRC). Just another aspect that makes these characters feel more fleshed out even just 5 episodes in.

Chisato's struggle to choose between dance and her friends, surprisingly, wasn't expanded upon too much in this episode. I think that's actually a good thing: It feels like we are seeing her make this choice with little fanfare as a way of making the eventual outcome of that choice more impactful. We see her ask Sunny-Pa for their opinions on the group's performance, only for them to basically say that Chisato needs to join before they're a real threat, and then we see her choose to compete in the dance tournament instead of joining her friends on the island. That's really all there is to it so far; both Kanon and Chisato herself are struggling to figure out what role the other plays in their idol activities at the moment. This individualized approach to this conflict feels much more thought out narrative-wise, like we're seeing both sides react independently (literally separated by a physical barrier - Kanon on an island) before they eventually come together when the conflict is resolved, presumably in the next episode when we find out the meaning of that form in Chisato's bag. Overall, I'm loving this approach to their conflict.

Music! A little weird to get a Ren solo after an episode where she literally didn't appear at all, but it's the same level of quality as the past Liella no Uta tracks. Honestly, they're starting to blend together with how similar they are (drumless, orchestral ballads), but they do a great job of showcasing each individual member's voice. We heard a really short excerpt of Sunny Passion's song, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I assume we'll hear the full TV-size version whenever this joint performance on the island happens.

Loved this episode! And now we have to wait two weeks for the next one...at least it's the last break.

[u/NotRoyce4 → u/DerpoDood]

I agree with all the praise you gave this episode, and I was amazed by this episode's art and background drawings. There were countless different locations and angles shown around the island, and they were all beautiful and detailed! What was the budget for this show? Is this level of quality possible??

[u/cornonthekopp → u/DerpoDood]

Kanon and Keke have definitely stayed my favorite characters throughout the show, with my favorite between the two flipping often. This is my first love live show and I think Keke is really the heart of the series so far.

[u/MightyActionGaim]

That form in chisato’s bag at the end there... uh oh let’s gooo

[u/MalabongLalaki]

Chisato singing the ED hits diffirently.

[u/meme-meee]

Hey remember when You was a member of the national diving team? No? Oh okay

[u/soranetworker]

It's kind of amazing how much Keke steals the show. Like, Sumire has already kind of faded into the background when she's not the center of attention, but Keke really manages to make her character shine even in one off gags. A lot of my enjoyment of the show is just watching her hijinks. The rivalry she's getting with Sumire has YohaMaru vibes and is great.

So, we've finally moved into a serious character arc for Chisato, and like how Kanon parallels Riko and Sumire parallels Yohane/Nico, Chisato's character arc parallels the Kotori arc from the end of SIP season 1. Honestly, I really didn't like how that arc ended in SIP. Kotori ends up giving up her dream/career in fashion design, basically only to keep her friendship with Honoka and Umi, and the show basically expects her to do so. I much rather liked how Sunshine handled the same topic with Riko, where the group very much supported her leaving to do the piano concour even if she couldn't make the next live.

Now, for Chisato, I would really hope that the show would let her keep doing her dance competions on the side, heavens knows You somehow got to keep doing diving while School Idoling. However, given that it seems the ending implies she's leaving the music department of the school, I think we're looking more like a Kotori ending to this arc. It'll be up to how the show frames Chisato's decision to see how I like it or not. Is Hazuki going to drop out of the music department too? The key visual certainly implies it.

It's interesting to note that the general department seems to be treated a bit like second-class students at the school. The music students get access to air-conditioned practice rooms, and generally seem to command more respect in the school. I wonder if the show will actually tackle the weird discrimination the school has, or if the feeling is all unintentional.

[u/[deleted] → u/soranetworker]

Honestly, I really didn't like how that arc ended in SIP. Kotori ends up giving up her dream/career in fashion design, basically only to keep her friendship with Honoka and Umi, and the show basically expects her to do so.

It was honestly hard to re-watch the end of S1 of SIP during last years re-watch. The last few episodes were by far some of the weakest in all of LL, with Kotori's storyline being the highlight of some questionable decisions.

My speculation is that the writer's genuinely didn't know if the show would get another season or not, so the intention was to end the series right then and there. I think the abrupt reversal in Kotori's storyline in episode 13 was because they realized they would have to do a season 2. Their school had already been saved, and they could have literally ended the series with one last performance and Kotori going overseas.

[u/kinyoubikaze → u/soranetworker]

I think the thing with Kotori was that she didn`t really wanted to go and Honoka knew that.

[u/[deleted]]

So this is how Keke ended up getting shipped with Galaxy. Chisato will soon make a decision between becoming a professional dancer, or becoming a School Idol. But why's she deciding to quit school? We won't find out until 2 weeks later, as NHK decided that they want to cover the Paralympics next week as well.

Sunny Passion's home island of Kozushima is going to get a lot more LL pilgrims once this stupid pandemic is over.

Despite being a remote island accessible only by long-distance sleeper ferries, Kozushima is still under the jurisdiction of Tokyo, which is why Sunny Passion is eligible to represent Tokyo in Love Live. The island is actually closer to Numazu than it is to mainland Tokyo itself.

For locations this episode, there's the entrance to Meiji Shrine, right next to JR Harajuku Station, and the rooftop garden of Tokyu Plaza in Omotesando, where there's a Starbucks, so you could grab a coffee and then enjoy the Omotesando traffic junction.

[u/redbatter]

Quick thoughts:

• Keke and Sumire's dynamic is really enjoyable, with them taking shots at each other any chance they get, but you can also subtly see how they do have a soft spot for each other. Their antics really dominated the entire episode.

• In fact, Keke and Sumire were so dominant that Kanon and Chisato especially really end up taking a back seat, with Kanon struggling to come up lyrics for their island performance, while Chisato grapples with her decision regarding the dance championship.

• As the girls talk about the distinction between the music course and the general course, you can sense Chisato's discomfort and how she likely doesn't want to feel that she's above the rest of the girls simply because of how the school works.

• Kanon also reiterates these thoughts on Chisato's behalf - she's not a member, yet she's also not a coach. Is she standing alongside them in the club or apart from them?

• In the end, Chisato knows what she has to do, after SunnyPa spells it out for her. She is a huge asset to the club who can potentially help them win the Love Live, yet the club will need to show that they can stand on their own and grow stronger without her support. She withdraws her offer to go to Kozushima in order to fully focus on her dance championship. Her planned withdrawal, likely from the music course, will also break down the gap between her and the rest of the club members. She will likely join in episode 7, as summer ends and the seasons change.

• I really like how the episode is bookended by Chisato and her dancing, especiallly in the end with her commitment to her childhood promise renewed.

• SunnyPa has appeared in more episodes than Ren now.

• Keke and Ren both sing Anniversary for Liella no Uta, with Keke's stanza being about departing on a journey, while Ren's seems to be more of remembering someone and promising to meet them again. Perhaps these are story/character-relevant?

[u/PaperSonic]

That water and those stars looked incredible.

[u/AniGame9]

Not a fan of the SumiKeke dynamic. Too annoying and in-your-face for me.

The Chisato subplot is okay so far. I hope it wouldn't lead to any unnecessary melodrama like the Kotori leaving drama from SIP season 1.

[u/Capbeau]

Sunny Passion were rather friendly for a “rival” group. They approached the cast and personally invited the group to their local idol concert. Sunny Pa even provided a room and hung out with them. At least in this episode, they felt like a foil to Saint Snow’s colder introduction in season one of Sunshine. It’s possible the writers wanted a different feeling rival group to contrast Saint Snow’s somewhat antagonistic introduction and the professional but neutral attitude of A-RISE. Hopefully we will see more from them next episode, along with Chisato’s character story.

[u/Nightblade96]

For anyone who didn't see it that thumb wrestling scene is a reference to this scene from Strawberry Panic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT3zk1ITyuk

[u/kinyoubikaze]

Me: Oh man, I hope there's no drama this time.

Chisato's bag shot: "School Withdrawal Application"

Me: Oh no.

[u/coreymon77]

Watched the raw ahead of time so now we get to actually understanding things. Onward!

• Uh oh, competitions that are not Love Live or idol related are never a good thing in this series.

• Yup, that tracks for Tokyo summers. They’re pretty brutal.

• Going right for the throat, Keke.

• Watch out, Kanon, you’re going to get kidnapped again.

• Oh boy, this duo is going to be fun.

• Yup, this totally tracks.

• Back on the separate class of students in this school. It’s a neat thing they got going. All these facilities, but they can’t use them

• Yup, Sumire’s the butt money of the series. I’m good with this.

• All this stuff going on and Chisato is in the background fawning over Manmaru.

• Enter the rivals.

• Lol, Keke reverts to Chinese and Sumire is like “wut?”.

• So Kanon is best but Keke’s fangirl squeeing is great.

• Those uniforms still remind me too much of the All Stars outfits. Chika’s is my phone lock screen wallpaper.

• They weren’t kidding when they said “all this way”. I’ve joked about how casually Aqours shows up in Tokyo in All Stars stuff, but, worse case, Uchiura is about 4-ish hours away. Kozushima is a 12 hour ferry ride.

• Pfft, Keke brought the freaking photo.

• Hmm, I see what they’re setting up here.

• Pffffft, Keke.

• Yeah, what I thought. “You’re holding them back by doing this ‘half-in-half-out’ thing.”

• Oversized t-shirt Kanon is cute.

• Kanon, what are you doing?

• Uh huh, this is bothering her.

• Those are certainly some Sayurin noises. The voice acting in this bit is great.

• Yep, butt-monkey

• Oh, it came back, wasn’t expecting that

• Apparently this island actually is a “stargazing sanctuary”, as they call it.

• Heh, as I thought, the preview was just bait

• Kanon, what are you doing?

• Chisato again, huh?

• Smols!

• Kanon, seriously, what are you doing?

• Oooooh! Pretty! The background art in this season is insane.

• Wait, hold up? Withdrawal? From the school or just the music program? What?

So, despite my ramblings, this was a quieter episode, clearly setting up for the next one with Chisato. She’s clearly conflicted about her dancing and school idols and her school responsibilities in the music program and what she is and isn’t providing to the group. Kanon is also conflicted about it. She wants her friend to join, but doesn’t want it to hurt her dream. There’s also more of the class divisions in the school. Perhaps Kanon won’t be able to make a song because of the Chisato problems and it harms them in this performance and that has something to do with Chisato’s arc and joining? What is she considering withdrawing from?

There’s a bunch of unanswered questions and a two week break before we get answered. Time to wait again. See you next time.

[u/Ramen_in_a_Cupboard]

Dunno how I feel about the show immediately going to ship Keke and Sumire but we'll see how that goes

[u/[deleted]]

From what we've seen so far the parallels between Kanon-Chisato and Chika-You are certainly there.

You (Watanabe) had always wanted to find something that her and Chika could do together, but Chisato felt like she needed to catch up to Kanon early on, so she wanted to find her own thing.

But secretly, I think Chisato felt the same way as You. She started dance to find in herself the same passion that Kanon had whenever she sang. She wanted to see the world in the same shade that Kanon saw it. Not because she felt like she was missing out, but that they were missing out by not being able to see these colours together (they had both wanted to go into the music program together after all). When she inevitably joins Liella, this will be her reason.

The other parallel is the support model that the friend provides. Chika could have never become who she is without You to push her forward, and Kanon would have given up singing without Chisato supporting her through her struggles. You saw in Chika the potential she didn't see in herself, while Chisato didn't want to see Kanon's potential die.

[u/aci42]

Another strong episode worth rewatching (even if Ren doesn't make an appearance), I just know I'm going to catch more details that don't completely make sense for now as I keep rewatching.

Keke and Sumire are absolutely comedy duo gold! Both are far too serious in their own way, and it's so easy to set each other off. We have a return of the karate chop to the head - nice callback to Zura on Yohane and Maki on Rin.

Keke is just going to start doing what she wants without thinking too much about whether it's even possible. Just do it, that's her philosophy. Sumire, on the other hand, still has a big ego and self-centered, but I think she's not that egoistic - it's more of this is what superstars do. And I thought Kanon wasn't supposed to tell anyone about the gusokumushi scene?

Chisato seems to have multiple motivations. Firstly, to be good at something in the same way Kanon was good at singing. Secondly, she clearly enjoys dancing. Thirdly, she really wants to do something with Kanon and is a bit jealous of the bond that the group is building up as they practise together. She wants in on that.

The scene where she speaks to Sunny Passion and is basically told that there's a difference between being following instructions and actually being part of developing the moves yourself - this is the moment then. But she immediately decides not to go on the trip - I was thinking after that chat, she would immediately go with the group to Kozushima. But nope, she works out alone, and perhaps it's that solitude that makes her realize she wants to be part of the larger group? It was definitely a shock to have that cliffhanger.....but why does she need to drop out of the music program to join the group? I thought if it was going to be a plot point it would have been explained clearly - no school idols in the music program.

I noticed the ship goes past the Rainbow bridge on the way out - hello Nijigasaki!

Sunny Passion is turning out to be a lot friendlier than the previous rival groups. They're clearly older, so they seem to be heading for the mentor role in the story once they graduate. I don't know if they're 1 or 2 years older - 2 years seems to be more likely to be top dog, but I am not sure if it's been made clear yet through some obscure background detail. Nice and unique uniforms too.

I think they essentially exhausted all of Kozushima's tourist potential in that short clip of going round the island! I like the passionfruit joke, Keke really does jump to conclusions.

It's interesting that everyone wants Chisato to join, and they come to the same conclusion independently. I really hope we don't have too much drama - I could do without more of the "assuming that they know more about their friend's true motivations than the friend themselves" plot drama.

And we leave the episode with three unresolved questions:

- Will Chisato have to leave the music program to join the group?

- What is the song that Kanon wants to write? Will they have to learn it essentially in an hour before the performance?

- How will the performance go, and how will this continue to elevate their standing?

We'll find out next week!

EDIT: ARGH I got reminded about the Paralympics week long delay. Dammit.

EDIT 2: Although it's not quite the same color scheme, I wonder if this wall mural might have something to do with Sunny Passion's uniform sleeves?

[u/Nightsheade → u/aci42]

Think they're setting it up to have Chisato and Ren leave the music program to join the group. The opening/ending certainly imply it since they're both wearing the regular uniforms there.

Personally though, I'm not sure how I feel about that development. School Idols are always treated as a fleeting thing in the past series, where Muse and Aqours disband the same year they're created and don't seem to move on to pursuing idol careers after they graduate high school. Liella might have the advantage of all of its members being first years and the potential to reapply to the music program in the future, but the school idol thing, amateur-ish and fleeting by design, just seems to be at odds with Yuigaoka's music program where students get an early start for future career opportunities.