If this weren’t Love Live, then Chisato’s plan could have easily backfired. In any other situation this could have gone very wrong, but because this is Love Live, everything went well in the end.
I’m so glad that at least someone said something about Chisato’s plan. I understand Chisato’s fears for Kanon, especially when they would perform at the place where her trauma of stage fright even started. And of course with the solo theme, they picked Kanon just because. But the whole time I was thinking, why couldn’t Chisato just TALK to Kanon about how she was feeling? You’re supposed to be best friends, why are you hiding your concerns to yourself and going through so much trouble hiding away and making excuses? Just like Keke said, I actually thought this whole plan was really mean. And AGAIN reinforces my thoughts before of the girls always pushing things on Kanon out of nowhere, and being really pushy with her when she’s uncomfortable with it. Except this time, Kanon didn’t know what was going on but it’s still the same thing. It was supposed to be a Liella performance, but they forced it to become a Kanon performance. And I know Chisato had good intentions and this episode ended on a positive note, but the whole plan and idea made me uncomfortable. And Chisato hiding away and planning this all in the background without Kanon knowing really took away from the two of them sharing a really great moment, for their friendship.
And while I’m still not 100% convinced of Kanon getting over her stage fright (I think it happened too quickly), I’m not going to lie…the performance was beautiful. Actually, that whole sequence in the end with Kanon speaking with her past self and taking that step onto stage was great. She really has come a long way from the little girl that loved to sing but was too afraid to do it in front of others, to this girl singing with her heart in front of everyone in a school idol group where she can finally follow her dream. And the lyrics of the song were just perfect too, it was beautiful and it did make me a little emotional. And I will keep saying this until the end, but Kanon’s voice actress Sayuri Date has an amazing voice. She absolutely has my favorite voice of the Love Live protagonists and it gives me chills, and that really elevated her performance. I’m really looking forward to how her career soars from here on out, and I really hope it does and I can continue to hear her in the future.
So, as usual with this season so far, a bit of a shaky episode. Wasn’t a fan of the plan they went through, going behind Kanon’s back and forcing her to do stuff again. Good intentions, but questionable actions. But I guess it was alright in the end? Eh. Next week will be the finale, and in typical Love Live fashion, I highly expect the second season to be announced. Maybe not immediately, but it will for sure. We have the actual Love Live competition to look forward to and we’ve barely hung out with Sunny Pas so there’s still a lot to look forward to. But hey, we’ll see what the last episode gives us.
