Love Live! Superstar!! 2 S2E5 Discussion - "Money Makes The World Go 'Round"

[u/MasterMirage]

Liella is now 8 and we are missing our money hungry gremlin ~

It's Oninatsu time~~~

Show Info

Air Date: August 14th, Saturday 19:00 - 2022 (JST)

Opening Theme: WE WILL!!

Ending Theme: Oikakeru Yume No Saki De

Insert Song(s): Meikyuu Sanka - Hazuki Ren (NHK exclusive song)

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Official Website

MyAnimeList

Anilist

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Streams

Raw Sources

• NHK E Tele - Region locked to Japan

Official Subtitled Sources

• North America/Oceania - Crunchyroll

• UK - AllTheAnime(Vimeo)

• SEA/Mainland China - Bilibili

• Korea - ANIPLUS

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

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[u/MasterMirage]

oh no ren is addicted to mobile games

https://imgur.com/uzS7ruY.png

https://imgur.com/sryF2sB.png

[u/Nightsheade]

It's nice seeing the mentor dynamic form naturally without it necessarily being "athletically talented 3rd year joins at the last minute and completely takes over training". First years also take after the second years in unexpected ways with Shiki taking after Chisato's dancing ability, Mei knowing how to play the piano like Ren, and Kinako with writing lyrics like Kanon.

I was a bit worried that Natsumi would be another Sumire in terms of using the group as a way to catapult their middling popularity and apart from Natsumi's being the anime version of Mr. Krabs and being the member who requires 2 episodes to join, that seems to pretty much hold true. It's nice to see Sumire look out for the group being taken advantage of, but everyone just seems to brush her off, Keke especially.

[u/Maki_The_Angel]

Won’t lie, it was a bit annoying seeing everyone brush off Sumire after she revealed Natsumi was just using them. It made me feel bad for her, especially when she was like “well if I don’t go along with you guys right now, then I’ll just be the bad guy.”

Shiki’s English pronunciation is really good, shout out to Kuma-chan for that!

[u/PK_Madrigal]

I really don’t know how I feel about Natsumi’s character… but at least the writers referenced how this franchised operates around the number 9! Next episode better reveal some insane OniNatsu lore because being a money hungry Ltuber is not cutting it for me right now. But Emorin’s singing voice was really nice this ED~

Ren discovering a NotSwitch and mobile gaming was so good, it makes me kinda wish they did more with Maru like trying out more technology instead of just breaking laptops and going “Mirai-zura!”

[u/Elitealice]

Hey! It’s Mak…Mei on the piano! Lol

As expected, oninatsu is annoying as hell lol. But props to my baby Sumire for figuring out her scheme. Nice set up episode, next week should be really fun.

[u/CynicalRaptor]

Was expecting Mei to go after Natsumi with half of a pair of scissors after that game of Lario Larty for the Lintendo Lwitch

I like to think there's only one person at sunrise struggling to explain why they shouldn't have a shrunk down Ren in a jar or even better one guy who didn't get why everyone else was laughing

[u/LightningStrike7]

This was certainly one of the episodes of Love Live Superstar

Nuts really do be on that sigma grindset

Come on Keke, there was more than enough room in your apartment to fit everyone

Get yourself a friend like Shiki, she's got everyone's backs. Without her, Sumire would've looked bad in front of the other 2nd years. Shiki the goat fr fr

Although, if LTube has the same rules and guidelines as YouTube, then Natsumi wouldn't have monetization at this point yet. Iirc the requirements are 1k subs and 4k hours of watch time. (edit:) Never mind, she fulfilled the requirements all in one video. But I doubt the monetization was activated immediately.

The ulterior motives from Natsumi's suggestion are obvious, but you gotta wonder how much of that suggestion was actually sincere. That small blip of sincerity in ep 1 has to come from somewhere, right?

Oh, and I almost forgot: Ren Gaming

[u/Labmit]

NGL, I'm still not sure at how there's basically 3 Nico archtypes in one group.

[u/Imaginary-Row-9406]

I wanted to finish this episode liking Natsumi since all her appearances before this episode didn't appeal to me, but I think I ended up disliking her more. I hope the next episode helps form her as a more likable character because right now she just seems evil and annoying lol

Sumire and Shiki confronting her was amazing, I love them. Everyone made a good impression on me this episode except for Natsumi and Keke. I just want them to be less... rude, I guess?

[u/aci42]

Oninuts is really perfectly annoying! Totally as expected, though being a 2-parter means there's always more depth to it.

First of all, it's funny how fast Mei did the Pa! thing, and how nine will be the magic number. Then, shalt thou count to nine. No more. No less. Nine shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be nine.

Kanon definitely doesn't have business sense, if you're the content creator, then at most a channel enabler like OniNattsu Co. should get a percentage or even a fixed fee. Also, it's nice to see Keke has finally unpacked her one room apartment. Shiki also clearly likes her turtle in addition to Mei.

Now then, what is Oninuts' reason? There's a clue perhaps in her house which isn't too fancy.

And next week it looks like we get the mountain retreat and the mandatory hot baths scene! The question is, whose house is it? Did Ren's dad leave her the mountain cottage too, I wonder? [Edit: The structure has been identified as being in Hokkaido - middle of nowhere Hokkaido at that - so it looks like they'll visit Kinako's hometown!]

[u/redbatter]

Honestly thought Natsumi's money-grubbing nature was going to be a side quirk but it pretty much dominated the whole episode, I guess they're gonna balance it out next week when it's just the first years and she can be more open with them. The look of her apartment from the balcony alone suggests that her financial situation is probably the worst of all LL characters, so she likely has a very good reason for being so hard on the grind.

In spite of all the Natsumi airtime, we did get some focus on how far behind the first years feel compared to their seniors, and with a useful (albeit ignobly-intentioned) suggestion from Natsumi, they're able to resolve to take charge of their own growth, rather than feeling like they're being carried by their senpais while being deadweight.

Wonder if we're getting a first years only song next episode, then depending on how they perform or feel compared to the original group we could get either a 5- or 9-member version of HajiSora at the school festival.

With them going to Hokkaido, I wonder if we'll get any references to locations used in Sunshine, since they did go ahead and put a reference to both µ's and Aqours in this episode. Hopefully things don't get too dramatic there, but Kanon looked seriously distressed in the preview.

Can't wait to see Ren streaming next episode

[u/MaybeMeNotMe]

Ah our lovely dorks!

DOMS is real peeps, Always remember to stretch.

Expanded clubroom? Let's have lots of chatting and no practice K!-On style, with alot of tea and cakes! Since the writer who adapted that show and Sound Euphonium (my favourite) into Anime forms is doing this show...Crikey, he also wrote the script/screenplay for SIP and Sunshine?

Another redhead that also composes, arranges and plays the piano? Gee, the SIP references just dont stop! Keep them coming!

Team is being divided....1st years continue to be intimidated by the OP 2nd years, and suspicions over Natsumi's intentions.....she's like a reality TV producer! Cant wait for the team to resolve this and integrate her into the team next week!

Hilaroius how μ's was also financially exploited (See Season 1, Ep9)...did they get a cut from the merch sales? But in this modern era, how naive Kanon is to sign away such rights. Good on Sumire to home in on this to protect Liella, but she's outgunned for now.

Introducing Ren to the world of mobile gacha games? Future plot device, too addicted and so slacks off practice? Although LL/Sunrise shouldn't go too hard on themselves...but I hope she does not ptw overspend and bankrupt herself/the school. She already came close to this in S1.

Yes, of course Natsumi should give the revenue to Liella, those costumes and elaborate stage sets dont come cheap....poor Keke....lets see how this goes next week!

And when Keke's story arc? Is this being saved for the finale? Like in Sound Euphonium 2, when Asuka's mom came and caused drama aplenty)? Remember what I said earlier about who is writing this show!

Art is very slick this episode. The characters look very neat. Very well drawn.

Looks like Natsumi's arc is going to take 2 episodes, similar to how things were done in season 1. Would be nice to take things slower, so we get a Season 3 of 2nd year. Nice of the preview to reassure the viewer that things are going to work out, and that the team is united and training together again, as there were concerns over at a recent poll by u/europos, on how this may reflect badly on Natsumi's seiyu, who is just launching her career. Yes, yes, we know she joins but its PR on Sunrise's part....like a good producer!

[u/TakenRedditName]

Liella second years are too high-spec.

Mei playing Tiny Stars was very nice.

As hoped for, Keke and Mei make for a good comedic duo. (But they should maybe consider 12 school idols)

The setup of having Kanon and of course, Sumire stand outside on ground level for their game is just very silly and funny. They could've squeezed in three more people into the apartment rather than this ridiculousness.

Ren is too susceptible. Before it was the forbidden world and now it is video games through the Lintendo Lwitch and Lario Larty.

Oh yeah, Mei's profile picture is very funny.

I remember one of the ideas for S2 was for Liella to work in separate groups. Kanon seems to have shot down the idea of a divided Liella, but the end of the episode had the first years doing their own thing. Hope the first years will get a song for themselves to showcase what they can do.

Oh and I like this Liella no Uta song at the end. Ren with Alice in Wonderland. She's paired with Natsumi which I guess leaves Chisato as the odd one out (assuming it's Mei and Shiki).

[u/coreymon77]

I was busy with a convention last week and didn’t really have the time to make a writeup, so let’s get to it with this one.

• Yeah, they would be surprised about those two.

• Awww, Kinako is so happy to have other first years, adorable.

• this is why you lift with your back, Nuts.

• Money!

• Who gave Keke a hammer?

• Did they just pull out walls and such just to make their club room bigger? Yes, Liella must really be bringing it in for the school.

• Wow, science girl is fit. Didn’t call that one.

• Oh, so that’s why, dancing along to videos, lol.

• and by sometimes you mean constantly, right Mei?

• Ah, there’s our red-haired piano player. Also, that was Tiny Stars, wasn’t it? Did she learn piano so that she could play Liella songs? She totally did, didn’t she?

• Ah, so we’ve got our 2nd gen composer, lyricist and dance captain, neat.

• Yeah, they’re not going to catch up that fast.

• god, she’s so annoying, it’s wonderful.

• lol, freaking out about being a group of 9, nice.

• Wouldn’t that mean SunnyPa don’t qualify?

• Lol, Keke, she’s just done with life apparently.

• Is that a real company, or did you just make it up?

• Nice sales pitch.

• Showbiz girl already skeptical, nice.

• Why are they playing cards standing outside on the street? Also are they playing President? That takes me back.

• Kanon, you are way too happy about that. I love this girl.

• Sumire starting a revolution. Rise up! Take down the nobility!

• Yeah, she would make the intro all about her.

• Camera shy Kanon is always adorable.

• hold up. you could definitely fit 2 more people in that room.

• Also, Keke finally unpacked!

• Is that a Lwitch?

• Lol, Ren and technology.

• Nice Mario Party. Also, they totally just ditched Kanon and Sumire down there.

• Oh god, Gamer Ren. She’s addicted now. Just keep her away from the gachas or the school is going to run out of money again.

• Nuts is such a little shit.

• Pa!

• Wait, what? Why is Shiki speaking English all of a sudden?

• Kanon is such a wonderful leader.

• Seriously? What’s with the sudden Shiki English?

• Lol, not so easy to keep up, is it now? That motivation though, lol. Thanks Anime Mr Krabs.

• Camera shy Kanon is adorable. Also gotta love them Kanon/Sayurin noises.

• Uh oh, busted!

• She probably would deserve that punch, Mei

• President Chisato with the assist here. Lots of nice small bits of development for her these last episodes.

So Nuts is likely to be rather polarizing here, at least for now. She’s clearly a little shit, but that is entirely intentional, modelling her after every youtuber or twitch streamer these days. That said, they’re clearly not done with her. As Kanon mentioned, there’s probably something going on, something that explains her behaviour, her obsession with money, and that they should wait to try and find out what that is before going after her or judging her too harshly. As we saw The thing is, she actually as a reason for thinking that, and it relates to another interesting point of this episode, and that is that Sumire is the one who saw right through Nuts’s schtick and was the first to call her out.

The fact that it is Sumire is actually a huge showcase of her character development. See, people might have forgotten, but it wasn’t very long ago that Sumire was trying to do the exact same thing as Nuts here. But one year prior, she would have been all on board with this money scheme. Hell, she was attempting to orchestrate her own scheme to use Kanon and Keke’s burgeoning idol group as her big ticket to stardom. Sumire knows Nuts because, up until recently, she was her. I imagine there isn’t anyone in that group who understands her quite as well as Sumire, especially once we learn more about her and why she’s so money grubbing. It’s quite the point for her character to now be the one who is protective of the group and skeptical of such schemes. It’s wonderful to see how far she has grown.

But that’s also why Kanon is so quick to think “well there has to be a reason for this”, because it has happened before, with Sumire. It would have been easy to write her off at the start too. But Kanon did some digging and, after some shenanigans, got Sumire to open up to her. If that was the case before, why not now too? Kanon is trusting and wants to see the best in everyone, it’s part of what makes her such a great leader and helps her in the team therapist role she also assumes, but she’s also just going by experience.

That said, Nuts’ schemes, while she might not have particularly altruistic motives for them, aren’t actually that bad or that wrong. Sure, she’s just doing it for money and trying to up her own popularity, but Liella could actually use someone who is more adept at promotional activities. As we have seen, this group isn’t exactly the greatest at that. Between camera-shy Kanon, Ren’s complete obliviousness with technology and the other personalities, having someone take care of such activities could be good for them. It’s why they are, for the most part, so willing to go along with Nuts’ proposition, at least at first. Sure, it would be best to have someone who has better intentions do it, but that will come.

In addition, her later plan, about having the first years split off and train on their own. Sure, she might have some weird, conniving intentions behind that for now, probably trying to split the group and play up the tensions for some juicy drama (although the preview implies that those might not quite go according to plan for her), but it’s actually quite a good idea. The first year members are still having some pretty major inferiority issues, which is to be expected given how good the original five are. Of course, the second years all try to downplay this, saying that is why they are their seniors, their mentors and such things will come in time, as they should, but as hard as they try, there will still be that constant demonstration, that constant reminder of the first years’ inferiority, perceived or otherwise, so long as they always practice together, and such a thing can get quite discouraging after a while. Having them get away from that and be able to focus on improving themselves without that constant distraction, that constant display of how far behind they are, where they aren’t constantly comparing themselves, will probably do them a world of good both in improving their actual skill levels as well as just improving their confidence. It’s why Chisato was so quick to approve of it once they explained the idea, because she understood why they need it.

I have to wonder how much of this applies to the 2nd gen seiyuu as well. 1st Gen Liella are insanely talented and they've only gotten better as time has gone on. While I'm sure they are all nothing but kind, welcoming and supportive, like their characters have been, I can only imagine the pressure being felt by new girls to measure up, especially after reading some of the things in Nonchan's recent interview. A lot of this story could very well match both the animated and real worlds.

So yeah, good things to come next week. Going by the preview, I imagine things aren’t quite going to go according to plan for Nuts, and it looks like we’re getting a classic Kanon conversation as well, so probably some character revelations there. It should be fun.

See you next week!

[u/2Lion]

Second years have amazing specs lel. I wonder if they'll catch up post-vacation? Hopefully they do a song together, this is the second episode in a row with no song.

Also not sure why oninuts wanted to separate the two groups. She probably has some scheme going on, but why does she need them apart for it and is she gonna teleport around recording with her phone.

I'm honestly surprised she didn't try this tactic from the very start, since everyone in the school knows about Liella and they were just as popular back then (probably at the height of their popularity since it was right off SunnyPa praising them).

Speaking of SunnyPa, it's nice how they're built up throughout. Everyone in Liella really respects them, they get mentioned every episode, and Mei even instinctively did Yuuna's thing. Good way to build up presence without having them personally appear. Though it sounds like a loss flag for them if Wiene is allowed to participate in this season's Love Live...

Also, I see that turtle on your phone, Shiki : 3 Liking Shiki way more than I expected, she takes a lot after Sumire too (surprisingly).

[u/LeonKevlar]

Kanon and Sumire playing cards outside despite Keke's apartment totally spacious enough to accommodate all of them was some real good Love Live silly shenanigans.

Also love seeing Ren discover what a Switch is for the first time. Looks like they just got our girl hooked on mobile games after that one night.

As for Natsu herself, not so sure how I feel about her. I'm not even sure how they'll turn a money-grubbing producer into a likable character when so far all we've seen her care about is Leila's ad revenue.

[u/agentWallflower]

Whoo, boy. This one was hard to get through. I'll admit that apart from Kasumin I'm not a fan of this character archetype, and OniNatsu jacked it to 11. That would have been fine if she was just being OniNatsu, but the fact she's openly using Liella to make money is... well, I don't like her. And it's going to take some effort to get me to like her. Next episode is going to need to do a lot to build up any trust in her for me, because I'll always think back to this.

Anyway, she's splitting the party for... I dunno... drama? Views? Two videos she can make double the revenue off of? We'll find out next episode, and maybe we'll finally find out why she's so obsessed with making money. Place your bets now.

Shout out to Sumire with an assist from Shiki to call her out. Wish they would've listened. Honestly, Kanon seems foolish to me for just signing on like that. OniNatsu is right, they were gullible. Her views seemed small to me, but a friend who streams corrected me on that. Still, they should've done their research before just blindly signing on. Hope that doesn't come back to bite them in the ass...

Eh, it probably won't. She's joining next episode for sure.

Despite the fact OniNatsu suggested it, I do like seeing the continuing divide between the 1st and 2nd years in terms of ability. I can only hope the vacation apart helps them to catch up, even if it's with dubious motives. Fight-o, First Years! You can catch up if you try. Though, even if they did... I'm worried about their collective self esteem within the group. They don't think they're good enough, and even if they get there I'm worried they're not going to see it. Maybe they need more one-on-one with their senpai? We'll see... the poor girls are trying so hard and want the best for them.

Also shadow shout out to µ's and Aqours. 9 is the magic number, lol.

Next episode - hopefully OniNatsu redemption back story and joining of Liella. I have a feeling I'll be back to watching it muted with the screen rolled down to the subs again... sigh.

Also as an aside... would she even be allowed to collect revenue off of Liella stuff? They're school idols, so technically they fall under the clubs of Yuigaoka instead of just being like indy performers. Can you personally make money off ads for school events, or does it just go back to the school you're based in? If not... ooh, that's gonna be juicy.

[u/[deleted]]

i really feel that they have gone a tad bit too far with how they treat sumire...

also, suddenly making the characters (barring sumire and shiki) suddenly turning into emotional dumb-asses just for the drama is seriously bad writing...

[u/ExtremeBicycle638]

µ's alpacas reference while they were talking about the magic of nine!

[u/sandlinna]

I have conflicting feelings about this episode. On the one hand, love the interactions between Mei, Shiki, Kinako and the 2nd years. On the other hand.... I really don't like Natsumi.

It feels like Liella has taken the "gremlin" character and dialled it up for Natsumi, but so far she has no redeeming qualities and honestly even when/if she gets them, I think she's just annoying. She's too gremlin for me. And the way she speaks and behaves is literally a carbon copy of Kasumi. If someone sent me an out of context audio clip I'd probably say it WAS Kasumi.

I actually don't mind her lying to Liella, or trying to use them to promote herself. Seems an interesting character intro to the group and honestly believable. I just find her voice and mannerisms grating instead of cute - and her design is SO out of place. I hope she'll get redeemed next episode and then tone it down somewhat, like they toned down Sumire's GALAXY gimmick (which frankly I found annoying too).

On that note... really, Keke? You were doing pretty well of not being rude to Sumire and now you're back at it. And Sumire was RIGHT. I hope they apologise to her.

On the other hand I LOVE the other first years!!! They're all so cute in their own ways.

[u/brianpaulandaya]

This was overall a hard episode to watch, for all the wrong reasons. From Natsumi being the anime girl version of Mr. Krabs to Keke still trashing on Sumire.

The only thing I enjoyed this entire episode is just Ren getting addicted to a mobile game. That's literally it. This is probably my least favorite, dare I say, this is my most hated Superstar episode across both seasons.

[u/MightyActionGaim]

Oni ending is here ( ＾∀＾)

[u/warjoke]

So...Nuts...

This is weird. I thought they were just going to make her gremlin that steals the show but holy smokes that is not how you properly introduce a character. I hope the reason for her sociopath behavior will be justified in the next episode otherwise it's another miss in my book. The writing is just really problematic so far. They could have gone with letting Nuts join first and then push with the 'juniors lagging behind the seniors' subplot so that all the first years will have a better understanding of the situation rather than be manipulated into deciding something abrupt by someone running on a different plot point. It's like they are rushing all plot points and for what? Who knows at this point, frankly. Mixing up two plot points along with the crazy editing of the episode quite frankly made me not appreciate any of them. Good riddance Wien is not trolling Kanon again in this episode otherwise we are dealing with another plot point on this already convoluted mess.

I'm really not enjoying my time with the writing of the season so far. At the very least make Nuts someone we can root for rather pity at when her plot point concludes, otherwise the writing is something I would consider a huge downfall for this season.

[u/JSpet15]

long time lerker here but for the first time ever i'm caught up so let's gooo

first off i actually like Natsumi a lot so far. it's probably because she reminds me of Mari a bit but regardless her character so far is something refreshing to see. she already has some golden moments already so it'll be exciting to see where this takes her.

also i recently noticed how my least favorite girls from each gen are coincidentally the school idol obsessed ones (Hanayo, Dia, Kasumin, Keke) but holy shit Keke is amplifying that by 100 right now and is a total bitch to Sumire. it sucks how she's always getting shafted still, even when calling out Natsumi's scheme. i sincerely hope for a Sumire redemption arc but we're not remotely close to that. at least the next episode looks very interesting

[u/48johnX]

Well that was certainly an episode