The way Honoka, Umi and Kotori basically replicated Nico's experience, but Nico's group weren't close friends, so they gave up, is the key element for me that makes Love Live! engaging. Sunshine has a lot of stuff for LL fans but the SIP was a big factor for them becoming fans. But the scene that was a tearjerker in Love Live! would have been too much to show, even in a flashback, if you want to keep Nico a comic nemesis and her ego and comeuppance a running gag.
Honoka won because friendship is magic :)
last edited at Oct 12, 2019 12:14AM
