Love Live! Sunshine!! is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine, music labelLantis, and animation studio Sunrise. The project is the second series of Love Live! franchise and is the spin-off sequel of the original Love Live!. The story of this project revolves around a new group of nine schoolgirls who become idols in order to save their school from shutting down. It launched in April 2015 with music CDs and anime music videos, followed by a manga version in 2016. An animetelevision series was directed by Kazuo Sakai at Sunrise; the first season aired between July and September 2016 while the second season aired between October and December 2017. Both seasons are licensed in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand by Funimation, Anime Limited and Madman Entertainment, respectively. An anime film titled Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow was released on January 4, 2019 in Japanese theaters.
Plot
Love Live Sunshine!! is set in Uchiura, Numazu, Shizuoka where one of its schools, the seaside Uranohoshi Girls' Academy, is planned to be shut down and merged with another high school in Numazu. Chika Takami, a girl who lacks desires, is inspired by μ's to gather friends and form her own school idol group called Aqours. To prevent their school from shutting down, Aqours enters the "Love Live" school idol contest which has become more competitive since μ's won.
Characters
Where appropriate, plot descriptions mentioned below refer to the anime television series. Other parts of the franchise, such as the manga and novel series, feature some variations in the storyline.
Sarah Kazuno – One of the members of the idol duo Saint Snow, a rival of Aqours.
Leah Kazuno – Sarah's sister and partner in Saint Snow. She and her sister were inspired by A-Rise to become school idols in a similar fashion that the members of Aqours are inspired by μ's.
A manga titled Love Live! Sunshine!!, written by Sakurako Kimino and illustrated by Masaru Oda, began serialization in the May 2016 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine. The first tankōbon volume was released on September 27, 2016; three volumes have been released as of March 27, 2018. The manga is published in English in Malaysia by Kadokawa Gempak Starz. A 160-page fanbook of Aqours, titled Love Live! Sunshine!! First Fan Book, was released on June 30, 2016. The book was published by ASCII Media Works and contains an introduction of Aqours' members, original manga written by Sakurako Kimino, and a newly drawn cover by Yuhei Murota.
Anime
A 13-episode anime television series produced by Sunrise, directed by Kazuo Sakai, and written by Jukki Hanada aired between July 2 and September 24, 2016 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. The series is licensed in North America by Funimation, in the United Kingdom by Anime Limited, and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. An English dub by Funimation began streaming from July 30, 2016. The opening and ending themes are "Aozora Jumping Heart" and "Yume Kataru Yori Yume Utaou" respectively, both performed by Aqours. Every week while the anime was airing, Bandai Visual released merchandise called "memorial items" inspired by an item in each episode only available for a limited time. A second season aired between October 7 and December 30, 2017. The second season was 2018's best-selling animated series on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan, with 330,102 sales. An anime film titled Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow was released on January 4, 2019 in Japan. An English dub of the film was released on February 25, 2020. The main staff and cast return to reprise their roles for the film.
Video games
In January, 2016, Love Live! Sunshine!! live streamed a special announcement regarding Aqours joining the Love Live! School Idol Festivalrhythm game app starting in July 2016. In the game, the Aqours idols get their own stories, new songs, and cards. KLab also added R rarity cards for each Aqours members, even though they were only voiced after July. In June 2016, Chika and Riko were featured in the in-game regular events for the first time. In 2017, Hanamaru Kunikida succeeded Rin Hoshizora as the face of Puyo Puyo. Along with μ's, Aqours appears in a game based on the "nesoberi" stuffed dolls sold resembling the characters called Puchiguru Love Live!. It was released on April 24, 2018 for Android and iOS, and was shut down on May 31, 2019. Between August 9–21, 2018, all of the members of Aqours appeared in the mobile RPG Granblue Fantasy as a collaboration event titled Love Live! Sunshine!! Aqours Sky High!. The characters are divided into three teams based on their school year. Second-year students are obtainable through the event story, while first-years and third-year students are obtainable by trading material obtainable in-game.
Music
The nine idols of Aqours are grouped into three subunits: CYaRon!, Azalea, and Guilty Kiss. Four of Aqours' singles include an anime music video.
Reception
Nick Creamer from Anime News Network reviewed the first season in 2018. He was critical of the overall plot reusing story elements from the original series but said it was utilized very well in making its "genuinely imperfect" main cast relatable and having a more "emotionally resonant" adventure than its predecessor. Creamer wrote that director Kazuo Sakai did an admirable job maintaining the series' visual comedy previously helmed by Takahiko Kyōgoku, giving each character a distinct and expressive trait from one another and improved the CG dance models and scenes to be more eye-pleasing and presentable than before, concluding that, "Simultaneously too similar and extremely different, suffering many of the same failings but rising to its own dramatic heights, Sunshine is ultimately a rewarding show and a fine followup for the Love Live! franchise."
