One thing I always appreciate in idol shows is when the rival groups are still friendly and become friends with the main group. Saint Snow started off haughty but they became great friends with Aquors, and A-RISE were always the helpful senpais to Muse. Sunny Passion seems to be the same way, but even friendlier. In a way they kind of remind me of Re:vale (Idolish7) with how bright and fun they are, though maybe not on the levels of Momo haha. But we do have the cool one and the cute cheery one so it’s there. Idolish7 is the perfect example of having likeable rival groups, so it always makes me happy when other series have friendly ones too.
This episode was a slow set up for Chisato’s arc and her eventual addition to the group. The episode lightly touches on the question: What is Chisato to the group? She’s not a school idol, not part of the group, technically she’s kind of their coach? But to be their coach, she would have to be part of the group. So Chisato is in this really weird spot of being in the group, but not at the same time. I’m surprised Yuna and Mao didn’t straight up ask what she was doing there in the first place because it would make anyone wonder what was going on. And what Sunny Pas told her doesn’t exactly help, in fact it just made her distance herself from them so they would be more “themselves”. Her dilemma isn’t over because now she has this dance competition on her head, which eventually she ends up accepting. The school withdrawal letter in her bag is either a back up, or something she’s completely decided on after she does her one last hurrah in the dance competition, whether she wins or loses. I always found Chisato’s predicament interesting so I can’t wait to see how they’ll go about it next time, where I suspect she’ll make her final decision.
The one thing I really hope they get back into is that declaration Chisato made to Kanon when they were kids. The way she worded it, it could be that Chisato maybe felt left behind or not as talented because Kanon already had so much passion in singing when she was young. Wanting to follow in her footsteps, Chisato probably decided on dance to be her passion and ironically she’s the one that made it into the music program and not Kanon. I still think Chisato must feel a little bit of guilt when it comes to that, which I’ve suspected from the start, so I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they actually touch on that subject too. Considering Kanon and Chisato have been friends since childhood, I’d love a deeper dive into that.
As for the rest of the episode, it was fun and cute. Sunny Pas makes friends with the girls and invites them to their home island to take part in a concert with them. For a famous group like them to personally seek them out and invite them like that is pretty huge, and I’m surprised that Keke didn’t pass out in that moment. Keke cheering with her penlights with that large portrait was very funny though. She is truly a fangirl. I don’t have too much of an opinion on Sunny Pas right now, they’re both pretty nice but I’d like a bit more from them. I wouldn’t say that they’re plain, but they just need a little something. I’d also love to hear one of their songs soon as well. A-RISE and Saint Snow did well showing who they were with their first songs, so I hope Sunny Pas does the same because right now they don’t have that same presence just yet.
And as usual the episode was very funny. The girls are really charming and having a smaller cast really helps in having them all interact with each other, though of course most of the comedic highlights were all the Keke and Sumire moments. There’s always the joke pair in each Love Live iteration and it looks like we found them. I was worried that the loud personalities from these two girls would be a little too much, especially for such a small group, but so far it’s actually not too bad. In fact, I think it’s even funnier how mean spirited Keke can be with Sumire (though not too mean). If she continues like this, Keke might reign as Best Girl of this season. She and Sumire bounce off of each other so well so it always makes for fun interactions. Hopefully they don’t go too hard over their banter, which is another problem Love Live has always had with these kinds of pairs (Nico/Maki, Yoshiko/Hanamaru) which can quickly make them unfunny. So far this season has been delightful and I don’t want anything to ruin that.
And it looks like Superstar is going to be delayed yet again, thanks to the Tokyo Paralympics. But this time it’ll only be a delay of one week, so it won’t take too long for us to hop back in to the story.
And I know this is completely random, but I just love the ED song so much. I can’t stop listening to it, and I just loved Chisato’s version. Her voice is so sweet, and I just find the melody of the song so lovely. I can’t wait to hear the version with all the girls!
See you in a couple weeks!
