This is my first time writing a review, never thought I’d make one but I already talk about Superstar a lot so I figured it was worth trying for once. I may reference some general ideas and story structures that came up in previous iterations of love live but won’t dig too far into actual events for those who haven’t seen them. There will be some spoilers for Superstar but I’ll try to keep it surface level. I’m using my personal rating system on this review because these are things I value the most, though for the most part it’s pretty standard.

Story and Characters

Of all the love live generations to come out, Superstar is the first to give you a reason to really care about all its main group’s members within the first season. It accomplished this by bringing the usual 9 member group down to 5 which does wonders for sharing screen time fairly and giving each girl time to shine. A new element to the group dynamic is that they’re all first years. Due to this the characters personalities felt fresh, being able to see each member for who they are rather than having third years that the rest of the group look up to or first years that are more goofy or shy. They’ve all been put on equal ground where each character shines in their own way and doesn’t feel like they exist to fit the previous formula. Not to say the old formula was bad but the 5 member first year group has made Superstar feel incredibly fresh and less overwhelming, especially since Love Live Nijigasaki was only quite recent and came with a whole 10 characters.

The story is fairly standard as far as love live goes, taking the back seat to the fun and music up front. It starts with the formation of the group and follows up with preparation for the Love Live competition, which is usually the safe way for a Love Live first season to play out. Though it’s simple, it leaves a lot of room open to learn about the characters and time for the amazing music Liella sings throughout the show. Perhaps one of Superstars best moves so far is that it didn’t have a drama arc based on misunderstandings or any inconvenience. In place of that we got real issues the members had to overcome in some way or form, with some going across episodes such as Kanon’s stage fright issues and Keke’s resent towards Sumire’s initial treatment of school idols.

On top of that, Superstar casts aside the overly negative opposition to the group idea that came up in previous iterations with the student council and rival group roles. In both cases of the past, the characters in these roles would eventually become friendlier but it’d feel really jarring or sudden at times. The rival group of Superstar, Sunny Passion, is much nicer to Liella from the beginning while maintaining their competitive spirit which seems much more natural for school idol characters (I definitely see season 2 of Superstar exploring more of Sunny Passion). An argument could be made for Ren initially but throughout the early half of the show, she shows glimpses of caring about the school idol club even after her opposition to it. The student council president role has always been a tough role to have but Superstar does a good job at keeping you interested in Ren until her time to join.

Animation and Art

The art in Superstar is absolutely beautiful. The backgrounds are eye candy with the vibrant and contrasting colors used all the time. To top it off, the members of Liella have their own vibrant and colorful designs and it makes everything visually really pleasing to watch. Kanon’s got these purple eyes making a strong contrast with her orange hair and Keke’s got these practically glowing purple highlights through her hair for example. The animation is good when it needs to be and used in hilarious ways for comedy bits like Chisato’s random dances or the chaotic live stream where all the characters were goofing off and moving all around. It’s far from the crazy animation you might see in an action show or something of the sort but it does its job really well by making the characters as expressive as they can be and it doesn’t feel like it’s cutting any corners. There’s admittedly maybe a few oddly drawn frames that I did notice though they were few and far in between. The animation did not let up one bit when it was needed for the musical performances though. And speaking of the musical performances, the CGI was very good this time. It’s still ultimately CGI that’s noticeable when it changes but it was meshed in well with the animated scenes during performances and sometimes it was hard to even notice. Even when it did appear it never looked bad either, they could really get away with doing full CGI performances if they wanted to because it looks very nice.

Consistency/World Building

This is probably a somewhat odd category for something like love live or a slice of life show in general but it’s something I value and I think even shows with the most normal settings can do well in this category if the world simply feels lived in. With that out of the way this is the odd weak aspect of the show for me. Since the school idol project and sunshine days, there were always 3 random school girl characters in particular that represented a generalization of the average school idol supporter in the school. The random 3 school girls came back again in Superstar.

They’ve always been super reliable and nameless characters that somehow always manage to help the groups. At one point Kanon gets inspired from a conversation with them (which I would have been fine with if she overheard this from established characters like her sister for example) and later on when they help build a stage for the final song, although it was less serious in this case cause it wasn’t as crucial due to how the final episode plays out. I get that the point of the show is to focus mostly on the main group because it’s about them and their singing, but it really can’t hurt to shake up the side cast just to make the world feel lived in a bit more, even just a bit. I’m not saying you even have to name them, but the fact that it’s always 3 repeating random girls in particular has gotten really old now and I just want to see the best for Love Live. It seems nitpicky but the thing is, Nijigasaki actually did this one single element better. Kanata’s sister Haruka has her own idol group as well as another group led by Himeno who met the Nijigasaki club to invite them to an event and it gives you the feeling that there are actual school idols in the world and not just names on a top 5 list. Sunny Passion has done a good job for what they are but at the end of the day, they still fill the competitive rival group shoe that the mainline love live formula follows. I did overblow this point a bit because really its insignificant in the grand scheme for love live and practically doesn’t hurt the show’s main objective but It’s something I wanted to acknowledge and I think could be done better because I’ve seen it done right once before now.

On another more positive topic, I do love the very subtle call backs to school idol project and sunshine. Superstar never outright mentions the previous groups, which given how sunshine handled it, this was probably for the better. It let Superstar create its own identity as well as make it an easy entry point for newcomers to Love Live without ignoring the fans that have been there for it all.

Pacing and Overall Flow

Something I really value in a show is the ability to keep me engaged and entertained every episode. I can stick it out for a show if I know it’s going to really deliver in the long run but anime is primarily entertainment for me so of course I’d want to enjoy it all. Love Live Superstar absolutely does this, with a balance of fun and comedic moments in early parts of the episodes with the more important character moments towards the end.

The song inserts were intertwined well, usually representing the episode’s theme or directly relating to the characters feelings during the episode. Superstar on a week-to-week watch always left you feeling satisfied with what you got per episode and didn’t pull any cheap cliff-hangers to make you wait for the next week feeling unsatisfied. As a matter of fact, some episodes really could have passed for their own finales with how beautiful those episodes closed out on. The ending of Superstar was left on a surprisingly much more open note indicating the second season will pick up where season 1 leaves it off with newfound motivation. This is a very admirable way to close the season. Superstar didn’t want to close anything up before leaving but instead, it’s making sure you know it’s just the beginning for Liella and I’m all for it.

Enjoyment

This is my favorite category to rate because I can just put a big 100/100 on here because it’s all feeling. It feels right anyway because I enjoyed every single episode of the show. Love Live means a lot to me because it’s how I got into anime to begin with. I’ve always had fun and enjoyed all the seasons and movies that have come out and I’ve been listening to the music for a long time now. I’ve especially been replaying Liella’s music a lot since they first started releasing songs. If you only know about the insert songs and enjoy those I highly recommend checking out the rest of their stuff. It’s not a lot since they only started this year but a lot of new great songs have been released alongside the anime airing. It makes me incredibly happy that we have an iteration of love live now that has surpassed nearly everything behind it and the quality is really reaching new heights. The craziest part is that generally, the second season for any love live has always been better than the first cause they can spend time on things outside recruitment. I can only imagine how great season 2 of Love Live Superstar is going to be when the first season was already amazing with back to back quality episodes and such fulfilling treatment of its characters.

Can I just mention how amazing this ending theme is? I can just play it on loop and not get bored of it because of its already nostalgic feeling energy. As of this review it’s still my favorite Liella song.

▶ Also Non Fiction is the best performance in the show

If you’ve already seen the show and you’re interested in my thoughts and reactions on specific episodes you can see them [here]( https://anilist.co/activity/297128439).

TL;DR
80/100 - Beautiful visuals, colors and character designs, good animation and art for the most part
85/100 - Very good pacing and flow, balanced and entertaining with a good mix of comedy and character moments
65/100 - Embeds a lot of themes and references to the past while creating its own identity, could use a better side cast though
70/100 - Really well treated development for characters that never left anything untouched, plot is pretty standard though the changes to group structure of previous iterations brought many benefits
100/100 - Peak enjoyment for me and the best of love live easily