Love Live! Sunshine!! Episode 5: Yohane Descends!

I was really looking forward to this episode, but now I’m not too sure how I feel about it now. I claimed Yoshiko as my best girl because she reminded me so much of my best Muse girl, Nico. What with her “fallen angel” persona, I saw it similar as Nico’s “Nico Nico Nii!!” side, but in fact they’re actually very different. Nico only kept up that persona for her idol work, because she thought idols are supposed to be overly cute. But we know that Nico is not really like that, and she acts like her regular old self all the time.

But Yoshiko is different. She keeps up this “fallen angel, Yohane” thing because she really used to think she was a fallen angel. Like, this is a serious case of chuunibyou. If you don’t know what that means, I point you towards Urban Dictionary because their definition is spot on. But basically Yohane pretends to have weird powers to stand out. We learn from Hanamaru that Yoshiko probably realized how normal she was, so she took on this fallen angel thing to stand out from the others and be unique. I guess I understand, but…I didn’t expect this all to be a chuunibyou thing. I thought she was doing this just for fun or something else, not because she really thought she was a fallen angel. Honestly, it’s embarrassing. I felt a lot of second-hand embarrassment this episode. I don’t know what you would call this, cringe humor? Instead of being funny for me, it was a little cringe worthy. And the ending wasn’t the ending I was expecting.

I didn’t find Nico’s persona cringeworthy, but instead ridiculous and exaggerated, and the characters pointing that out made it funny. But Yoshiko/Yohane is different because she knows what she’s doing is weird, but she still keeps doing it. I found it admirable that she wanted to let that go and grow up, since I think everyone should. But then the ending changed all that. Like, I suppose the fallen angel thing makes Yoshiko who she really is, but then again it’s all an act. So it’s not really like her. Right? I don’t know, she looked so adamant on changing herself. And after her intro at school, she never came back because she was afraid of what people were saying about her, but came back and tried to be as normal as possible when Hanamaru reassured her that no one was badmouthing her.

It’s just I think this is something that should be grown out of. I just hope, like Nico, she only keeps up this fallen angel thing as a school idol, just to make her unique in the group. I didn’t expect myself to feel this way about Yoshiko, I thought for sure she would be my favorite, but now I’m not so sure if she is anymore. She’s still high in my list, she seems like a sweet girl and she is pretty rational, and I love her voice and her design. I guess I feel that way because I had a few friends with this whole “I have supernatural powers, watch out” thing going on in middle school, and it was really embarrassing and I’m still embarrassed looking back on those memories. I wasn’t like that myself, so maybe that’s another reason why I just can’t relate to Yoshiko so much. I do understand wanting to stand out from being another normal girl, but not to this degree. I don’t know, I feel like I’m one of the few that feel like this since I see most people enjoyed the episode quite a bit.

I just feel like Yoshiko’s filling a trope. But don’t get me wrong, the girls of Muse each take a trope, but I felt like they were more original. I suppose I shouldn’t give Sunshine too much flack since it’s only the 5th episode of the first season (or only season). But I’ve been looking at the series more closely.

I’ve been enjoying this show overall, but I do think that this show is trying too hard to ride the original series’ coattails. I mentioned a couple episodes before that Sunshine takes similar situations from the original show, but adds a little twist. But last episode was full of references to Muse, and there were some this episode again. Such as the girls trying to make themselves original with ridiculous ideas, like Muse did. Also, Chika mentions Muse a lot.

Lately, especially last episode, I feel like Sunshine is relying on the original series too much. Sometimes it feels a little same-y. I probably should have mentioned this all last episode, but I might as well mention it now.

Back to this episode, I didn’t really find the other scenes funny as well. One, Riko is basically turning into a meme now, and her fear of the dog is getting a little overdone now. Still love her, though. As for Hanamaru, I thought her being new to technology was strange. I will admit that Hanamaru jumped to the top of my list after the last episode, and I thought she was absolutely adorable this episode (also her new UR in SIF is to die for). But her being impressed by a laptop made absolutely no sense to me because we clearly saw last episode that she was sitting right next to a computer in the classroom, right at the desk where she reads. That was definitely not the first time she saw a laptop/computer. Also, the school should have some technology. Also, Chika and Riko has a smart phone, so I’m guessing that most of the other girls have cellphones too. Hanamaru may not have one herself, but she should have seen the others with ones. The motion sensor sink, okay I get it. But the computer thing? Nope, not buying it.

I still like the show, but I’ve been feeling a lot more conflicted lately. Even more so after this episode because of Yoshiko, but now I’m wondering what happened in the end with Dia and Mari’s email. People are fearing that the school closing down is going to be a thing, and I REALLY don’t want that. Also, it wouldn’t make sense because Mari’s family put in a lot of money.

Also, WHERE THE HELL IS KANAN?