The inevitable comes up when Mari brings up her future plans after graduation. Yes, the realization that the third years are going to leave and Aqours won’t be the same anymore. Back in SIP it was a very dramatic, with everyone coming together to have fun, doing all the things they wanted to do, but in the end it was futile as the pain of their friends leaving hurt them too much. That was when they decided that they would disband and all the sobs poured out. This time…that didn’t happen. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember Eli, Nozomi, or Nico mentioning their plans after graduation. Like where they were going to go, what college, their dreams, etc. In this case, Mari turned down the Director job at the merged school and has instead decided that she will go to a university in Italy, Dia has already gotten accepted to a university in Tokyo recommendation (Nice!), and Kanan wants to go overseas to get her diving instructor’s permit. The fact that they all made their own decisions without telling each other was pretty funny, considering their drama from last season was because they didn’t tell each other their decisions. But this time, there was no fighting among them. Going to the observatory they went to as little girls, Mari, Kanan, and Dia tell each other this, accept it, and hug it out. Mari had told the others about her decision too. Chika, You, and Riko talk about this and the separation of them, and Aqours in general. But they don’t really touch on the subject of what will happen to Aqours because it doesn’t really matter right now. What matters right now is the Love Live finals. They can worry about that later. Which I found really surprising. The entire subject of the third years was handled so maturely, and a lot less dramatic than how Muse treated it. I actually really loved it.
I also loved watching the third years just…talk. And that’s all this whole episode was honestly. It was mostly just talking, mostly from the third years and watching how casual they can be, such as talking about Mari’s room being moved up so many floors because she always snuck out, and we also saw a quick glimpse of her strict looking parents. I also loved the little scene of them as kids in the beginning as they tried to find a star, and the fact that they went there again as teens. It was very heartwarming. Their conversations feel really natural! What they were talking about (“If you won’t let me be friends with Dia and Kanan, then I’ll disown you!”) wasn’t particularly deep, dramatic, or anything. Just casual conversations between the three of them. They feel like great friends, it’s the same way I felt in the Yoshiko/Riko episode where I thought their conversations were just as natural and fun to watch.
Aqours has pretty much accepted the third years leaving. Instead of wishing on staying together forever, they wished on all of them being able to meet each other together again one day. More realistic, and mature. The scene at the end was rather cute. But…
What the fuck was this shit? Love Live, I love you, but sometimes you’re cheesy and cringey as fuck. 😐
Saint Snow also made a quick return this episode as they helped Aqours train for Love Live. Even though Saint Snow isn’t going to Love Live anymore, they still have a lot more experience than Aqours as they went to Love Live pretty far the previous year, so them helping made sense. And, I really like Sarah and Leah so seeing them again makes me happy.
Good episode, satisfying. However, did anyone else notice that the girls still call Dia “Dia-san” and not “Dia-chan”? I noticed this when the second years were talking on the beach, and Chika kept saying Dia-san while putting -chan at the end of Mari’s and Kanan’s names. And it drove me crazy. We literally had an entire episode of Dia wanting to get close with the others and be called Dia-chan, and suddenly that’s stopped?! Did that episode not happen or something? Also, they never call Yoshiko as Yohane either. Just call them whatever the hell they want to be called! Please!
At the end of episode 4, they stated they would not call her “Dia-chan” because they saw her as the mother of the group or something (could be wrong) but they called her “Dia-chan” at the end probably to make her happy and give her what she wanted from them at least once. I dunno to be honest but I do know it is pretty difficult to start calling someone something else after calling that person something else for a very long time.
I thought it was more like they couldn’t call her Dia-chan because they found her to be hard to joke around with like the others because she’s so intense and strict. But I had thought once they found out how Dia felt, the “Dia-chan!” at the end was the start of the group calling her that. I don’t think it’s that hard to call someone something different since it’s just a small change of -san to -chan, and yeah I know the significance of the honorifics. But, we had an entire episode in the second season of the original where the upperclassman wanted the underclassman to call them -chan and not -senpai.
And since Dia vehemently wanted the girls to call her -chan, I assumed they would keep it. But now it just makes me a little angry.