“To shine like Muse, we can’t be chasing after them.”
Those were the magical words I was waiting for. For so long…thank you.
Aquors isn’t Muse. Chika isn’t Honoka. And I’m so glad they stopped comparing themselves to Muse. I’m so glad the show actually did this. I’m just…I feel like my skin has been cleared. The whole time they were wondering “We’re nothing like Muse, how can we be like Muse?” in the beginning of the episode, I was just shouting YOU GUYS AREN’T MUSE. Just because you guys are doing the same things as Muse doesn’t mean you’re going to have the same results as them, because you’re not them. It seems they finally heard me. >:)
A little too late though because it’s episode 12.
Surprising no one, Aquors is part of the five groups that qualified for Love Live. One “Oh my god!” from Mari later, the girls gather in their club room and Kanan brings fish to celebrate. Ruby shows everyone how many views their performance got, and everyone is ecstatic, but celebration’s cut short when Mari points out that 0 people have applied to Uranohoshi. Even after all that they’ve been doing, and finding out later from a funny flashback, even though they’ve become popular with people coming up to them for autographs and pictures, that hasn’t done anything to make people apply to the school. And now they’re in a rut, wondering what they’re going to do next. Chika thinks in her room, looks at her Muse poster, and then calls the girls. She wants to go to Tokyo again and figure out what made Muse, like…the goddesses of school idols.
The next scene was quite funny, as Riko was hiding all of her yuri fanfiction. This isn’t too important…but the one with the chin in hand kisses, the girl is doing that to the wall??? Anyway, wow Riko is really into fanfic. The way she was trying to push them into the locker was funny, and her death scream when they fell out and how she covered Chika’s eyes was hilarious.
So Chika planned to meet Saint Snow at the shrine. Just like Dia and Ruby, I was ready to see Nozomeme at the shrine, but I knew it was too good to be true. But still, that was such a tease! Anyway, they then go to UTX, and it’s still just as fancy as before. I think, I don’t remember. As usual, Saint Snow start off nice and compliment and congratulate Aquors for making the qualifiers, but they then immediately say that they’re going to win. Chika wanted to speak with these two because she thought they were feeling the same thing as them, like wanting to follow A-RISE’s footsteps, but it makes more sense in their case because they’re attending the same school as A-RISE while Aquors isn’t. Seira said after she and her sister saw A-RISE, they wanted to become school idols. They’ve both thought the same thing Chika is wondering, but they never got an answer. All Seira said was that they simply have to win, follow their footsteps, and see what they saw. And that’s it. I don’t think Saint Snow is necessarily a bad duo. They didn’t seem as catty as they did last time, they’re just very serious about what they do. So they’re going to be opponents for Aquors to beat, along with the other groups that qualified.
Going outside to see the tournament standings, Riko sees how serious Aquors seems about Love Live as well, so she takes them to Otonokizaka. Of course this was a momentous scene. Chika and the others wanted to go inside and check out Muse stuff, but a girl from the school (who was so pretty!) came up to them and told them that there’s nothing left. Muse grabbed all of their belongings, trophies, everything, and took them out of the school. So it’s like Muse was never there. The girl explained that even though their stuff wasn’t there anymore, their hearts would still be connected, and that’s how they wanted it to be.
They bow to the school building, and then leave. But right before that WE HAD SOME RANDOM LITTLE GIRL THAT LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE A MINI HONOKA???? UM….??? WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT?
It was then that Chika understood everything and she took the girls to the beach. And it was all simple. They. Are. Not. Muse. They can’t follow Muse’s steps, they have to follow their own steps. They need to stop comparing themselves to another group, and instead just be themselves! The reason why Muse was so amazing was because they were themselves, and they “moved freely”.
And for Aquors to shine, they need to move freely for themselves, on their own legs. And now the whole group is ready to move on. Chika’s little monologue in the end, which sounded like a letter she was writing to Honoka, was especially sweet. She said she wanted to be a leader like her, but she realized that she couldn’t. But that’s okay, because she’s fine with the way she is! My favorite part of what she said were the last few sentences, which was “That’s why I will find my own place. I’m not going to follow you, I’m going to run forward, in search of my own place…”. And watching Chika grab the feather, like the Muse girls did at the end of the show’s ED theme in season 2, signifying that she’s ready to go and fly, and the fact that she took down the Muse poster from her wall…AHHH!!! I’m very happy with this development. This is exactly what I wanted. Yes, I would have wished that they brought up this topic much sooner, but it’s better late than never, because I was starting to worry that they never were, and were just going to continue with the Muse references.
But this exactly what the girls, and especially Chika, needed to learn. They’re Aquors, not Muse. They need to make a name for themselves. And…I’m just so happy. This is a great development, and now I’m just excited to see what Aquors is going to do.
Next week is the finale, and now I’m 100% positive that we’re going to get another season because we’re not going to see them in the Love Live next episode, that would just be poor writing. Now that these girls have finally come to this revelation, they need more time to show us that they really are going to make a name for themselves, so we’re most likely going to get another season just to show that.
