Setting expectations: This review is being written under a subjective lens and mainly for enjoyment. If you come to expect opinions from a very critical sense sorry but Im not your guy as we may have different tastes. The number of spoilers will be as minimal as possible to none. There are some image spoilers but its all out of context. Ill try my best to explain what are the things that worked for me and what doesnt in this review. Hopefully this will help you understand my point of view and let you come to your own conclusion about what this anime might be like for you. I preface because a lot of people online come to expect reviews to fit a mold of what they want which isnt always realistic. For me I just like to talk about anime I enjoy. And so this review is about such things. Sorry if this aint what youre looking for. 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792551337430614016/ErairawsLoveLiveNijigasakiGakuenSchoolIdolDoukoukai01v21080p.mkvsnapshot03.372020.10..jpg Verdict This is where I summarize the entire review for you. Love Live Nijigasaki abbreviated to LLN in this review is a 13 episode TV anime series released in Fall 2020. It was animated by Studio Sunrise Gundam Code Geass all previous Love Lives and directed by Tomoyuki Kawamura Mitsuboshi Colors PV for MutekikyuuBeliever and Mirai Harmony. The animes source material is from multimedia the SIFAS mobile game and other properties. This series can be described as a musical slice of life. If youve had previous experience with slice of life in general you know that a lot of these stories tend to be episodic in nature with some mini overarching stories if they want it. It should be a given that youll expect some stories to wrap up in the episode youre watching itself. Also considering Love Live likes to treat its music sequences like musicals it requires a suspension of disbelief regarding the logic of how these musical sequences play out. If I had to think of one unique thing about this show its the insertsongs. They were very unique and fire which can be a testament to the creators. Having seen all of the Love Live anime and having a general good opinion of them. Its possible to come into this show without having seen any of them which is a huge plus as its a lower barrier to entry. Its a refreshing story for Love Live and they implement a similar plot structure like previous Love Live anime series. Also they have done a great job in the characterization department which helps with cheering on a new group of characters. For the visuals it starts off incredibly strong that looks aboveaverage for the beginning and ending episodes of the series inbetween the visuals look average to what you see in typical anime. The Music PVs Previews have their varying quality but I think overall its all welldone with some standing out as aboveaverage. Regarding the usage of CGI they have blended the 2D animation seamlessly with it like in Love Live Sunshine theres nothing that looks out of place. As for the animation it feels like aboveaverage in general for the whole show. While it has its powerpoint slide moments it doesnt feel littered with a lot of them. For the audio department the show offers stellar insertsongs from a large variety of composers and arrangers such as TeddyLoid and DECO27. In comparison to previous entries the insert songs stand up alongside their peers in my opinion. As for the shows audio and OST theyve been serviceable. While the Animes OP and ED fit the bill for what the show requires. When looking at the Seiyuus Voice Actor performances some are serviceable while some were able to standout like Rinas Seiyuu. Overall Ive had no regrets watching this show while it was airing and Im glad I gave it the chance. I would definitely give it a rewatch in the near future. For people who have consumed Love Live before I recommend this new entry It was welldone and I think youll enjoy the ride. For those who havent consumed idol anime before I think I can recommend this as a gateway for what the appeal is like. Its easy to consume and presents what I think Love Live at its best the music and performances. Would you like it? Itll depend on your preferences in respect to slice of life story elements music and drama. I think the slice of life and music elements are very strong and if thats something that appeals to you try this out. The drama can vary in terms of quality for this season in particular and thats not what I would recommend looking for. On my personal rating scale for anime I would give this an 8.5/10 which is between this being great and loving it. If you want to see more details about this scale read the next section below. If you want to read the full review read the rest of this review. 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792552620513427506/ErairawsLoveLiveNijigasakiGakuenSchoolIdolDoukoukai01v21080p.mkvsnapshot18.172020.10..jpg Explaining my Rating Scale I think the common mistake with ratings is that we all tend to judge and associate each review rating on our own personal scale. When people see an average anime they see that as a 5 some see that as a 6 and others as a 7. As you all know we all have different tastes hence different rating scales and this is why Ill post my scale below. My Personal Rating Scale Anime: 4 and below = I wouldve dropped this show already but made myself suffer through it for some reason. Regardless this is the drop zone generally. 5 = This was really meh and I wouldnt take the time to rewatch. 6 = This was meh and I wouldnt watch it again unless I was forced to. 7 = It was okay and acceptable it was good entertainment and I enjoyed the ride. 8 = This was a great story and I enjoyed the show/movie but it wasnt considered one of the best experiences. Just a great time overall 9 = If I watched this show/movie for the first time Ill love this a lot. It aint lifechanging but god damn Ill have one of the best experiences. 10 = This show resonated with me so hard chills and intense emotional catharsis. 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792552706425487370/vlcsnap00010.png Background I feel like its important to display my biases. Im a fan of Love Live and Ive seen all of the Love Live anime: Love Live School Idol Project LLSIP S1 S2 and Movie. My general opinion of LLSIP is that it had a janky S1 but it got better in S2 and had a great finish in the movie. Love Live Sunshine LLS S1 S2 and Movie. My general opinion of LLS is that it had a really strong S1 the S2 was weak at some parts with a great conclusion and the movie was good entertainment. Overall my general opinion of Love Live is that its silly good fun for the most part but it has some real good moments when it wants to. This can be said for some idol shows I consumed like Idolmaster. Your question could be do I need to have seen LLSIP and LLS to watch this show? No. It isnt required and I think that helps this show out a lot because it allows an easier barrier to entry into this franchise for newcomers to get a glimpse of why this franchise resonates with people. I watched this show while it was airing through official subtitles in Japanese audio and English subtitles. 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792552979009110026/vlcsnap00024.png The Review Now the review. Ill be talking about the anime in the following categories: 1 Story / Plot / Characters Evaluation of Story Holy shit the story is refreshing for Love Live. My biggest worry with this new animes story was that it would try to literally repeat LL SIP and LLS storybeats wise. Let me squash those worries away and say that the story presented is completely new in respect to LL SIP and LLS. It does NOT rely on knowledge from those stories/idol groups to appreciate and enjoy this show. LLN can be entered whether or not you know about Love Lives previous anime and thats a big win. If you started with LLN and want more go experience those other stories. Despite the story being new that doesnt mean this was completely innovative of the idol genre. I think this story is innovative within the Love Live franchise itself in respect to how they approached their characters and stories. There is a lot more focus on characterization and you feel like theres a lot more personality shine through from the writing. For being new does this mean that LLN lost the unique qualities from previous stories? Naw we see the silly comedy gags that make up the identity of Love Live present throughout. The songs are also taking the page from LLS in respect to presenting a variety of musical genres instead of the generic JPop that was present in LL SIP. LLN is able to take the good qualities from both LL SIP and LLS while adding its own spin to it with new ideas. Like in the previous Love Live stories there must be a suspension of disbelief in respect to the musical sequences. During those sequences I treat them as musical videos or musical pieces in the show. When you watch a musical they require a suspension of disbelief in regards to the logic of the stages. This requirement comes back again for the very unique stages that are brought on for LLN. Evaluation of Plot Structure In Season 1 its episodic with a focus on one character at a time while weaving subplots around in the background. Its nothing new if youve watched episodic anime before. If you know the formula from LL SIP and LLS you know that Season 1 is all introduction of the characters and laying the foundation of its world while exploring some stories here and there. Expect to see this again for LLN Season 1. Its very possible for a Season 2 and for that season to dive deeper regarding the dynamics between all of the characters like in previous franchises. Evaluation of Characters Wow wow wow. These characters feel really unique than the standard tropes seen in the previous Love Lives. Well you can see they took similar elements from previous group characters but they did a proper job mishmashing some of these elements in these new characters than their previous efforts with Aqours making what looked like clones from Muse. Its honestly refreshing to see theres a lot more focus on characterization and how they overcome their tribulations. If I had to compare characterization it feels like they took the page out of idolmaster in respect to implementing genuinely unique qualities of their character. The depth of character isnt exactly deeper than more wellcrafted characters in anime but for Love Lives standards it definitely feels deeper which is a win and something any Love Live fan will enjoy. Also I need to address the main character Yuu. Shes an idol fan selfinsert. Its very clear from the getgo based on how her character plays out. Thankfully she starts to form a character as the show goes on but she definitely felt like a huge blank slate and that bothered me for a bit considering the characterization of the other characters being quite stronger. This aspect isnt a huge big deterrent but for those critical you can definitely notice it quite quickly. 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792553353497280542/vlcsnap00034.png 2 Visuals / Animation Evaluation of Visual Art Before I start I need to mention that when I mention bad visual art Love Live has had a history of it and it generally gets memed because it looks funny. Also some of this is present in the show. However when I reference bad visual art in this review some of these arent memeable but more of just really bad shots in my opinion. Overall the visuals can look inconsistent between certain episodes. In one episode it can look downright gorgeous to the point where I think to myself that Im actually watching a Love Live anime. It can look so good that I think its possibly the best Love Live can ever look visually onscreen in comparison to previous entries. In another episode it looks like a generic episode of Love Live in previous entries or any generic episode of anime in general. This inconsistency will set high expectations for those who enjoy gorgeous visuals like me. For me I adjusted my expectations as the show was airing by bringing it down but for those binging you need to be warned that the visuals can vary depending on the episode. For such a huge inconsistency I termed the great episodes as developed by the ATeam and the other episodes developed by the BTeam. As you could guess the ATeam is brought on for critical episodes the beginning and end and the BTeam handles the rest. Do NOT set your visual expectations based on ATeams quality this will hurt your enjoyment through the rest of the run. Once you see BTeams quality set your expectations there and youll have a more enjoyable time looking at the visuals. An important question to be asked is if this visual inconsistency also includes the music video previews PVs during the shows run. I would say that thankfully the music PVs do NOT have that huge inconsistency in respect to the episodes visual quality. In my opinion they are high quality for most of them but some of them do fall flat. By that point though its all subjective. Regardless I think it can be agreed that the music PVs are very welldone in general. Also like in Love Live Sunshine Sunrise was able to bring in their Agame for the CGI department and was able to successfully blend 2D and CGI seamlessly. There have been 0 complaints regarding how the CGI looks it may look out of place in certain moments but it doesnt look like a huge eye soar. Evaluation of Animation I do appreciate the extra effort placed into animating the characters movements. You can see characters constantly moving in certain episodes and its not a constant powerpoint slide. Theres a real feeling of movement and I dont recall anything looking out of place. Overall its definitely aboveaverage and what you can expect from animation relative to Love Live Sunshine. 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792553515662835803/vlcsnap00096.png 3 Audio / Soundtrack / Voice Acting This is a very subjective section based on a personbypersons taste. Evaluation of Shows Audio I personally found it to be quite serviceable from general anime entertainment. There has been good usage of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds for many scenes. Overall it was good and I dont recall anything bad standing out. Evaluation of OP ED I really like the OP it has a lot of excitement and shows the potential of the group all singing together this fits the anime opening credits vibe. Also I enjoyed how the ED was slowerpaced as the way to close the anime episode out this fits the anime ending credits vibe. Evaluation of OST InsertSongs There has been a lot of similar usage of soundtracks throughout the show and this was from me watching this show on a weekly basis. I would hope they would use more variety of soundtracks but if the limited selection means its quality Ill take that. To be honest it seemed like they focused more on the insertsongs anyways. The insertsongs are fire and so good that I loop them a lot. Theyre all unique and produced by a large variety of composers and arrangers such as TeddyLoid and DECO27. This creates that very unique feel of each insertsong per character. I believe these insert songs are one of the best that Love Live has to offer in the series entry and Im really happy to see them not fail in this department in respect to their peers in previous entries. My favourite insert songs are Butterfly Vivid World and Dive. Evaluation of VA Some Seiyuus Voice Actors have really shined in this show like Rinas Seiyuu and others put in a serviceable job for their characters which might be in part of the directing and scripting for certain episodes. Regardless the seiyuus did a good job with what they had. 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792553732084727839/vlcsnap00036.png 4 Overall Ive spent way too much time writing this review but I cant help it. Theres a great charm to this series with its memes music and performances. Its why Ive been able to consume so much of its media at this point. Though it definitely does hurt my critical side of my brain sometimes lol. For Nijigasaki I have no regrets watching it while airing. Despite the ups and downs when it hits its highs I really feel that. When it hits its lows I really feel that where I get disappointed and bored lol. Still as an overall entertainment product I had fun and would definitely rewatch it in the near future if the opportunity presents itself. Hopefully you learned something useful from the review. Thanks for reading. : 1080https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/409951964949118980/792553870215479296/vlcsnap00037.png