English Dub Review: Love Live Sunshine “Rainbow”

The orange grove solves everything.

Overview:

The girls encounter more problems outside of their control: due to a flood and the time it takes to clear the road, the school exhibit will be delayed. As a result, it’s on the same day as the Love Live tournament. Their luck fails them too, and instead of being first in line, they end up performing in the middle of the tryouts. The girls have to choose what’s most important to them— the exhibition, or Love Live.

Our Take:

In the end, they somehow manage (somehow) to do both. We all know that somehow, their school will get saved. The show’s positivity is nice to see, and the girls are a solid unit that all trust each other. All of these are good things! However, it seems like, the way things are going, they will somehow manage to overcome every single problem that is thrown at them, no matter how impossible it is. Hope isn’t just throwing in a quick fix, it’s also encountering real issues that can’t be patched up easily. What the girls are going through isn’t easy, so it’s strange that it’s framed as such.

I really hope Chika develops as the unofficial ‘protagonist’ of the group. She’s kind of like a kid, and half her lines seem to be along the lines of encouragement as opposed to more concrete sentiment. Positivity is great to see in a character, but that’s where it starts and ends for Chika. All the others girls have things going for them and are unique enough to be interesting, but Chika’s dull in comparison. Her idea to get through the orange grove was a good idea, but I want her to do more. I’m growing to like the other girls but Chika’s constant spouting platitudes is more annoying than endearing.

Also, thanks to a screencap, fans are debating on whether men exist in the Love Live world. Considering that not a single one has ever shown up, you have to wonder…