Setting expectations:

• This review is being written under a subjective lens and mainly enjoyment.

• If you come to expect opinions from a very critical sense, wrong place. A lot of people online come to expect reviews as such, this review ain’t gonna be like that. I just like to talk about anime I enjoy. And so this review is about such things. Sorry if this ain't what you're looking for.

• I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum!

Assumptions:

• I assume that you’ve already watched Love Live Sunshine Season 1 before reading this to see what the second season is like or just to gather my opinion.

• I assume that you’ve already watched the previous season of Love Live School Idol Project Season 1, Season 2, and the Movie as they’re sort of required before going into Sunshine.

Anime Adaptation vs. Real Life Idol Unit:

An important note - apparently, the anime adaptation of Aqours and the idol unit of Aqours are different!

This review will be focusing on the anime adaptation of Aqours only!! I suggest not dismissing the idol unit if the anime adaptation leaves a poor taste in your mouth. And if you liked the anime adaptation, go check out the idol unit. Some of the songs are quite nice!

The Review - Introduction:

This review is going to be heavily biased as you’ll see from the eventual score. The score is reflected based on my enjoyment.

What’s my score? It’s a 10/10. Before downvoting and assuming I'm a complete fanboy, hear me out.

This score was because I cannot deny my feelings have gotten swept up off its feet. To me, this is a very flawed masterpiece. There are some things I can forgive because I got emotional chills, and some tears were shed. To me, getting any feeling of emotional chills warrants a 10 because most media don’t get such a response out of me. For others, a 10 will be a different definition which is completely valid and fair. Hence why I mentioned this is a subjective review and probably why you should search out for more opinions on the show then eventually form your own by watching it.

This show... has many many flaws that I think will trouble many people and in this review, I’ll point out everything that worked for me but also point out things I think will trouble many people or find this anime adaptation inadequate or even downright bad to some.

My reasoning and further explanation:

These following points will address aspects of either story, tone, performance, music, and/or animation.

• Positive: I particularly enjoyed the individual stories of each individual member while also seeing how it pushes the group to develop. There wasn’t anything outstanding personally but it was entertaining and nothing offended me. The way it was able to pivot both introducing the character conflict and the group development was quite nice.

Like in School Idol Project (SiP) with Muse, the first season is done to introduce each character and introduce conflicts for the group to overcome as they form as a group while also competing in Love Live. In its second season, it uses its time to have character-focused episodes to learn or develop their characters while also moving the plot along. This format is also used in Sunshine. The second season focuses on certain characters as we learn about who they are and their struggles while pushing the plot along.

• Negative: There are certainly some bold storytelling decisions in two particular episodes. I will not spoil what in particular. Just that some things caught me off guard in mainly a bad way. Some of it suffered from poor pacing in the episode and some of it suffered from poor execution, story logic, and directing in general.

• Positive: Incredibly memeable like in SiP but it gets turned up to 11 at times. Found it entertaining and random at times. For others, this might be a detriment to its second season and its characters.

• Negative: The balance of comedy and seriousness… it was more serious than comedy I find. If you don’t like this new balancing act, I totally understand. I was getting tired of the seriousness at times and hoped for some lighthearted moments. While the show was able to sprinkle in lighthearted comedic moments, the main focus was always serious.

• Negative: In respect to the previous point about the balance. I think it was because I was binging it but I’ll be honest, I’m sure I would’ve caught this all the same. They repeat certain lines and points… a lot. You can probably make a drinking game or a bingo game out of how repetitive it gets with certain points. While I understand the repetition comes from it being important and really pushes the group further and further, it can also lose out on some viewers who aren’t invested in what they’re doing. For me, I didn’t pay much mind but I can see how it can annoy certain individuals. For those type of individuals, maybe have this show not as your main focus when watching anime and use it as a side-thing. If you’re completely invested, by all means binge it all.

• Neutral: There was so many cheesy moments. I got susceptible to the cheese and went along with it by the second half but if you cannot get invested, this will be seen as a huge detriment. I think the cheesy moments were great by the end personally.

• Positive: Since we saw how the group formed in Season 1. Season 2 has them develop more as a group and we see their performances get more complex/developed as a result. The performances were great and consistent, to me - it kept on upping the performance quality as it went along which I think is a very important attribute for trying to win Love Live.

For Love Live as a series, I value the performance because I find the performances very entertaining. I really adore the costumes, choreography, the lighting, the stage, the song, and the characters during said performance. I wasn’t disappointed by any of the performances here personally. As it went along, it kept on getting better and something I could rewatch without any issue.

• Positive: The Final episode. I was super satisfied because of a few reasons. One - it was able to display a few story beats that I felt was missing in SiP and wanted to see animated. Two - I related to certain story beats and it was a sort of a nice cathartic moment for me personally. Three - the nostalgic moments really got to me haha. Four - I got a satisfied ending versus my dissatisfaction with SiP TV endings (SiP movie was great and Sunshine S1 was fine for me). Considering there was a lot of satisfaction with this final episode, it heavily swayed my score. Maybe this is recency bias but I feel good vibes after finishing the series.

• Positive: Music is phenomenal. They were so entertaining and well-done! I really loved listening to many of the songs in this season in particular.

• Negative: the lyrics themes are really repetitive for the majority of songs. Pay attention to the lyrics and you’ll notice the theme is all quite derivative of one main theme. While it’s not bad, I personally found it lacking variety until much later. Your perception of the lyrics to the song will depend on your tolerance to the show’s story and the songs in general.

• Positive: VAs performance was quite good. I enjoyed every single line delivered. The script was… repetitive but they did what they could at times especially with those running gags.

• Positive: Further inclusion of rivals in the story. I really wanted to see more of this and while it was brief, considering the pacing of the show in general. It surprised me how I saw more of the rivals so I saw it as a positive.

• Positive: Animation never faltered. While there were some shortcuts implemented, some copy and paste, and some cuts. When there was a scene that required good quality visuals, Sunrise studios delivered especially in its second half. The second half is quite important I find considering the story beats it was going down. You can expect the same quality and maybe more in this second season in comparison to the first season.

Conclusion

This show has ran, stumbled, got back-up, ran again, and stumbled. It’s like a school idol essentially but this time, it’s a veteran school idol. From the same writing team as School Idol Project, they’ve refined the formula to a tee and added new things that improved certain aspects. I’ve noticed the differences have definitely helped in some respects but also failed in others.

Sunshine has many flaws that I believe most people will take issue with in terms of many different aspects. If you cannot get through the show or outright hate it, I don't blame you and I believe it will not get better for you by the end of it all. It maintains the same directing style throughout.

For those who don’t mind the flaws, can tolerate the flaws, or even see the flaws - this show will meet your expectations and beyond. If you’re invested like I was, you’ll have no issue with the flaws and enjoy the show for what it is.

Overall, this series left a satisfying taste in my mouth. I think it’ll change in the future, emotional chills change as you change as an individual but to commemorate my first watch-through, this show scores a 10.

Again, if you haven’t checked out the songs from the Aqours idol unit, check it out. I get such a different feel versus the anime. It’s a nice change of pace.

I’ll be heading off into the movie and most likely checking out the new Love Live anime announced. If you managed to make it to the end of the review here, thanks for reading up on it and I hope it was informative in regards to my reasoning. From there, you might’ve gotten more value for your time, maybe, haha. See ya!

~ Yousoro!