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(All episodes watched) Oh yeah, I more-or-less remember how the last season ended, and these characters look familiar. I had been afraid that a whole new cast and story would be introduced at this point, as has happened before in the Love Live franchise. The logic behind Kanon teaming up with Margarete doesn't make complete sense to me (couldn't it also be argued that doing so shrinks the overall supply of talent that is available to Liella and thereby its chances of winning another championship?) but I am curious what will happen. I don't really care for Idol song and dance, but the Superstar characters are likable and the jokes are not bad. Time to refresh my memory by re-reading my review of season two. In episode two Tomari, a strange girl with pale green hair and a philosophy much like that of a Ferengi from Star Trek observes then gradually drifts into Margarete and Kanon's group. It turns out that she's the little sister of one of the Liella members. The three try to win a spot in an upcoming school idol competition that Liella will be in. It is clear from the OP sequence that somehow Margarete and Tomari will eventually wind up as members of Liella itself. Though the three girls don't win a spot in the competition their performance makes a splash, making even some of the girls of Liella nervous. Though I intend to watch S3 to completion, this is one of my least favorite anime of the season and I found myself watching half an episode at a time. The girls of Liella nominate blue-haired Shiki as their 'center' for a new act, but she fears she doesn't have the ability to 'shine' which such a role would presumably demand. No problem--the new act is crafted around a message of ordinary people being able to shine as well. I guess it might work. Episode four is largely about the relationship between Tomari and her sister, Natsumi, and whether it is wise to pursue dreams. Eh. I wasn't exactly inspired by the conclusions they reached. In episode five Keke, the girl who way back at the beginning of season one first proposed to Kanon that a School Idol group be formed, must return to Shanghai for some sort of career prospects review with her parents. Later, Kanon and the others get cryptic messages and free airline tickets which suggest that Keke is in some sort of trouble and needs their help. They (including Margarete and Tomari) go to the sprawling city but with little to go on they can't do much more than enjoy the sights. It would seem that it is surprisingly easy to travel between Japan and China nowadays and young Japanese visitors to the PRC don't feel they are in any particular danger. Indeed, the girls of Liella find that threre's a School Idol competition underway in Shanghai and they are to be guest performers. Keke (pronounced Kookoo) is undergoing a sort of crisis in which she must choose whether to continue on as a singer and dancer or abandon those fields and go to college like most girls of her class. She is inspired by a hastily arranged performance in which Kanon, Margarete and Tomari merge with Liella for the first time (How did the three know how to merge seamlessly into an act that at least two of them had never before taken part in? And how did Kanon give a little speech to a Chinese audience?). These personal problems that Liella members experience and overcome aren't exactly gripping, and pretty much the only reason I'm still watching is because I watched seasons one and two. Back in Japan, efforts to persuade Margarete and Tomari to join Liella procede, but for now they continue to firmly refuse. It is decided that a competition at an upcoming school festival will decide which group Yuigaoka sends to the next Love Live. One thing still blocking a union of the two groups is the estrangement between Tomari and Natsumi, which has never made much sense to me; Tomari somehow feels she must sabotage her sister's ambitions for her sister's own good. In episode eight Liella and Kanon's group still cannot agree to combine, but an unexpected third faction insists they do so. In episode nine Margarete agrees to do her part as a member of the 11-singer Liella group, and do it well, but has no intention of becoming a fast friend of the other girls. This is something they cannot comprehend or accept, and try every concievable tactic to endear themselves to her. They gradually wear down Margarete's resistance, though exactly how wasn't clear to me. This difference of perspectives on the importance of friendship might have been played for some serious laughs, but it largely wasn't. In general, season three doesn't seem as funny as I vaguely remember the previous ones being. Maybe another problem is that since Liella has already won the Love Live championship once, whether or not they win it again doesn't seem all that important. In episode ten Kinako is given the job of writing the lyrics for the group's semi-final act, but lacks confidence that she can produce really good ones. Also, Ren must choose a successor as student body president. It seems that numerous characters overcome some sort of personal challenge, but none of them were really gripping and intriguing. Kanon is summoned to Vienna for a formal application or something, but has second thoughts. In contrast Magarete is urged to remain in Japan for the rest of her high school years. I had figured that surely the final episode would be the one in which Liella gives its performance in the Love Live finals and we learn whether it won, but no, that happens at the end of the next-to-last episode. Lets just say there were no major surprises. Seeing as Kanon and the other original members of Liella are graduating, episode twelve is about where they go afterwards. It did get a bit touching at the end and therefore was thankfully more interesting than the Love Live finals were! But no matter how I look at it, season three of Superstar has been the least good one. If this had been season one of a new show, I think I would have decided not to watch it at all. Last updated Thursday, January 02 2025. Created Wednesday, October 16 2024. | ||||||||
