Personally I think Kotori and Umi have a really strong bond and I think they make for a very interesting ship. It's just that I started to ship them for completely different reasons than the other four (specifically, that scene in episode 1 where Kotori fetches Umi from archery practice and brings her to watch Honoka dancing made me ship the fuck out of them. It's only on a rewatch (like a week or two later) that I started to see the characters beyond the ship which also made me like the ship more. And I'm also a big Honoka stan but 1. I think she works much better with Tsubasa 2. I genuinely can't see anything romantic between her and Kotori or Umi and 3. I view their dynamic as Honoka + Kotori and Umi so it doesn't feel like she's being "left out" by shipping KotoUmi)

The source says it's "Bocchi the Recoil" (ぼっちざりこいる) so that's probably it

I don't like the whole Kotori arc at the end of season 1 in the first place.
The slap makes sense though and it wasn't just Honoka being mad, she was lashing out in a way that hurt everyone because suddenly μ's was disposable for her and that made Umi get mad. Still not well written like the rest of that arc since it was rushed and for the most part left unfinished since season finale.
And I wouldn't say I'm such a huge OG series fan. It's the only one that I like but at the end of the day it's just a good show with amazing music and not much more to me. I'm praising it so much in comparison to the other series but it has a myriad of its own problems as well, including a lot of the awkward drama in the first season

Anyway, I do prefer depth but I guess it's a different kind than you. Keeping with the ship I like, to me Riko in season 1 felt pretty flat because the only character she was allowed to interact with properly was Chika. That means we only get to explore one part of her and she only feels like a part of Aqours because she's Chika's friend
On the other hand while μ's doesn't have any single relationship that's as deep as ChikaRiko it still feels deeper as a whole because I can feel like the entire group are friends with each other. There isn't any character who feels like they're only close to one person and that's it. And as I said, the group is the protagonist of these three shows to me so having a strong group is in my opinion more important than having strong pairs. What I loved about Superstar at the start was the fact that with only five members it could've had both. But then it didn't. And then it threw that huge advantage away and added four more characters

I think a great way to highlight my issue with this shipping thing is to just point out that Chika and You were Kanan's childhood friends. That's a relationship that never gets explored, ChikaYou feel completely disconnected from Kanan beyond a surface level, because Sunshine was more interested in the 2nd and 3rd years' own romantic dramas so it didn't have time to explore a wider array of friendships including one of the first friendships the series established

Anyway, I guess the way to explain how I feel about shipping is to say that I like NozoEli, RinPana, TsubaHono, KanaMari, and interstingly enough KanoKe and KanoSumi for the exact same reason: they all feel like they put the characters before the ship (KanaMari still plays a bit into the shipping problem I have with Sunshine but they are still more this than the other type)
(I'd also love to say KotoUmi but I ship them because they looked really cute in episode 1 and NicoMaki are more complicated)
The only ship I ship that feels like it puts the ship before the characters (i.e. the ship is the main source of characterisation and development for the characters and they don't get much outsise of it) that I like is ChikaRiko and that's because of how blatant they are about it from the get go (I mean, episode 1 starts with Chika calling Riko a miracle) and because their foundation feels strong. They're not just paired together because of a dynamic rather they have a clear basis for what draws them together (Chika needs a composer, Riko wants to rediscover her sound) and everything that happens afterwards feels that it's built from that foundation.

KanoKe also has the same kind of "strong foundation" which is another reason for why SumiKeke feels weak to me. If Keke took Kanon's role in episode 4 then they'd probably have a foundation on which the ship is built that I'd like. If Keke was the one that got Sumire to join the group, if she was the one who learnt of the isopod incident of 20xx instead of Kanon telling her, if we got to see her irritation with Sumire's attitude front and centre in that episode with it being a central reason for why she's so fixated on Sumire, and with us seeing Keke wanting to get Sumire to join because of that iritation etc; then I'd possibly adore them. But instead they get one scene where Sumire insults idols and Keke defends them and the rest of the episode is about Kanon and Sumire growing closer which makes me ship KanoSumi but doesn't get me at all interested in SumiKeke.
And then for the rest of the series Sumire and Keke are mostly paired with each other even though there's not much of a foundation beyond their personalities working as a cute ship because it is a very cute ship I have to admit
It's like NicoMaki suddenly shooting up as a ship in season two except way more shippy and without the season break which made NicoMaki work for me

Anyway, I'm of course exaggerating with this but that's because I was already tired of the series thanks to Sunshine season 2 and I thought Superstar would be a refreshing new take but then it instead did the same kind of stuff that lead me to dislike Sunshine (even though I liked the shipping when I first watched it all of my main problems with it stem from the shipping) so my distaste for Superstar is amplified thanks to that. It's not just another Love Live that doesn't interest me like Nijigasaki, it's a Love Live that crushed my hopes after getting them up

And I feel like this is the part where I stop venting.
TLDR we like different things, I find Superstar disappointing, KanoHarem and KekeHarem are the best ships and need more content

last edited at Dec 17, 2022 6:44AM

Well, at least she didn't turn to ash this time

Least useless lesbian

https://dynasty-scans.com/images/13894?tag_id=5292

Though they have slightly different details

last edited at Dec 16, 2022 3:40PM

(coming from https://dynasty-scans.com/images/25264)

@eromancer Interestingly enough, Dynasty at the moment has more Superstar pics and about and equal amount of Superstar doujins as it did about two months after the original series's season 2 had ended.

Anyway, I feel like you misunderstood why I find SumiKeke forced. It's not because they're shipped and developed through shipping that makes them forced, I love ChikaRiko and they have the exact same thing going on in season 1, rather it's because their relationship feels like it comes out of nowhere and doesn't have much of a foundation to it.
Had episode 4 been about Keke and Sumire rather than Kanon and Sumire then I probably wouldn't find them forced. Also, another thing is that I feel like the characters we were introduced to in episodes 1 - 4 feel different from the characters that we see them as when they interact with each other, I find Keke's tsundereness for instance to just feel out of character. Her being a bit tsun could've been set up in 1 - 3 and then we see in 4 that Sumire really draws it out of her which would make their relationship feel more natural and built towards and just all around stronger. Like what ChikaRiko, KanaMari and, despite hating the ship I have to admit, ChikaYou all did

As for the shipping thing, I find that just focusing on ships makes the group feel weaker. I heavily disagree with your take on μ's, what I like about them is that every character feels like they're really close to each other.
We have: the close friendship with all three year groups, Nico is really close to the first years, NozoEli's friendship with Maki, Honoka's and Eli's friendship, Nozomi's interactions with Umi before Eli joined, everyone's treatment of Rin and Nico in their respective episodes, etc. I can really see μ's as a group of really close friends because I never feel like it emphasises some relationships over others. Some of the relationships might be stronger than others but it never feels like the og series ignores potential friendships in favour of ships
From there we also get to another thing. To me μ's's ships feel organic, like they grew out of the show itself and the characters' interactions with each other as well as from the fandom's interactions with these characters (which I think is important because the OG School Idol Project from the beginning involved fan feedback).
On the other hand, Sunshine onwards the franchise feels like it writes character interactions based on shipping which makes the ships feel stronger but the characters weaker because it lessens the way the characters interact with the whole group and thus makes the group feel weaker like it's not as important as the ships.
I love ChikaRiko but I don't particularly care about Chika or Riko on their own. They're interesting characters to me because of their love story but not as individuals. That's one of the main reasons I dropped Sunshine season 2, I was there for ChikaRiko but it wasn't giving it to me so I had nothing else to be interested in. I didn't particularly care about Aqours or what happened to them nor did I care about the new ships in town with YohaRiko or ChikaYou.
As for Superstar, I really love Kanon and Keke as individuals and Chisato and Sumire seemed like they had a lot potential in 1 - 4. But then the characters mostly just became parts of ships and what I really liked about them was swept aside. SumiKeke and ChisaKanon just kind of happened and now the characters are tied to each other because plot. That'd be great if this was a love story but Love Live isn't a love story. It wouldn't be even if SumiKeke kissed in season two episode whatever because SumiKeke aren't the main characters of Superstar. Liella is. And the focus on shipping just to me feels like it takes away from what the series is ultimately about: the idol group.

I guess there's the big difference. I'm here primarily for the story of the idol group and want the individuals of said groups to feel like they're first and foremost a part of that group. μ's's individual stories compliment the group whilst Aqour's and Liella's individual stories compliment their ships. Except the first four episodes of Superstar where the story isn't yet interested in shipping

And that's where Nijigasaki succeeds I think. I don't have a problem with its shipping because it is primarily about individual characters being a part of a whole instead of a group that's made up of individual characters. I dislike Nijigasaki for other reasons but I think it's far more successful in its shipping than Sunshine or Superstar because said shipping doesn't feel like it takes away from the narrative in the way it does in Sunshine and Superstar. In fact I think the shipping in Nijigasaki compliments the narrative more than it takes away from it thanks to the lack of a group

last edited at Dec 16, 2022 9:28AM

Okay, I wrote a comment but it was way too long so I'm putting it on the Superstar discussion instead

last edited at Dec 16, 2022 9:28AM

Well, that was fast. I hope Jun doesn’t think Akane is straight up a criminal and just assumes she’s looking into some avant-guard shit because of her job.

"Why are you listening to us having sex and doing kinky lactation and robot plays?"

Everyone has their fetishes. Jun likes to hear/watch…

So "Is My Hobby Weird" 2?

last edited at Dec 15, 2022 10:54AM

This is a rant and not an objective analysis of the series so understand that it's exaggerated and based on how I felt when watching it but here's why I don't like Superstar:

When it started Superstar seemed like it could become the best Love Live franchise ever. The initial four episodes of season 1 were some of my favourites in the series and easily gave μ's (the only group I like) a run for their money. But then episode 5 made my hopes and dreams collapse and the rest of the series became a frustrating mess.

To me, SumiKeke feels extremely forced (like, at least have episode 4 be about them to give them some setup, the ship just comes completely out of nowhere and suddenly is the biggest thing for both of these characters like what????) and because of that it's one of the weakest and most boring ships in the entire franchise to me. Its sudden inclusion combined with Chisato's backstory revolving around Kanon completely turned me away from the series because it started to favour shipping over characters and the group dynamic.
I think shipping in Love Live should be a secondary thing with the group and individual characters being the main focus like what μ's did. In Superstar non-shippy character interactions feel like they're not given much attention or weight past episode 4 which just makes Liella feel very flat to me. Sure we still get stuff with Kanon and Ren, Keke, etc but not much and it's always given less weight than the ships which is just sad. The five character cast would've allowed for more fleshed out member dynamics but we didn't really get much other than SumiKeke and ChisaKanon by the end of season 1.

Then when you combine my disappointment with season 1 with the inclusion of four more characters and I'm just done. I finally dropped the series when the ShikiMei episode came out because it basically highlighted everything I dislike about Superstar.

I still love μ's and ChikaRiko but the rest of the franchise has become an extremely frustrating mess to me that doesn't have anything that made me love the original series so much.
So yeah, I at least am just tired of Love Live and probably won't bother watching the next thing after Superstar and Nijigasaki wrap up.

last edited at Dec 15, 2022 6:39AM

This is my girlfriend Bocchi and Bocchi's girlfriend Nijika and Nijika's girlfriend Ryo and Ryo's girlfriend me

I still hold that this series wouldn't work as an anime. The manga already loses a lot of what made the novel work by taking out the internal monologue and the biased POV

doesnt this kinda apply for pretty much any book adaptation? I cant remember a single time off the top of my head where I watched a show or movie of a book and didnt feel like something was lost because we werent in our leads head as much

Not really. There are some stories that utilise the narration in such a biased way whilst others don't. I'm not simply saying "lack of narration", rather a lack of a specific type of biased internal monologue providing commentary on things in a specific way.

And if you want a great example of losing something just take a look at Otherside Picnic, it's anime adaptation is terrible and one of the big reasons behind that is the lack of Sorawo's biased internal monologue

Seems a bit over dramatic but thank you for at least explaining it to me, I knew there had to be something there more than “they wanted to”

Over dramatic is my middle name. No, but I genuinely hate Rae because it does not look anything like how it's pronounced. Whenever I see people calling Rei that I read it as Raé (like Caesar in the Latin pronunciation) or less often Ree (like Caesar in the English pronunciation)

I still hold that this series wouldn't work as an anime. The manga already loses a lot of what made the novel work by taking out the internal monologue and the biased POV (though it makes up for it with Relaire), combine that with having to make the pacing match the anime format and I feel like it's gonna be a bit of a disappointment (honestly, I think it'd be better if they did 8 OVAs that match the 8 chapters of the original WN/the first two LNs instead of a 12 - 13 episode TV show)

Well, we'll see

last edited at Dec 13, 2022 6:25AM

...why the fan translations always seem to still go with the Rei spelling. I only ask now because the official anime Twitter and even the author seem to consistently call her Rae in english

Rei is the way her name in katakana "レイ" is written in romaji. Romaji is used to show how Japanese words are pronounced. Just the official translation changed it because they wanted, and because it looks more "European"(cause the story takes place on somewhere that looks like Europe) and that's why the author used Rae cause it's the official used for Rei's name outside of Japan although if I were the author I would have requested to keep it as it is in the original.

You’re saying they just change it because they wanted, but is there really nothing in the text to suggest this? I only ask because basic text for the back of volume 1 machine translates the characters name as “Rei” at first, and then “Ray” in the game

Not that I’m saying machine translations are very accurate, it just caught my eye that it picks up on something to cause two different spellings, do you know why it would do that?

Oohashi Rei is written in kanji while Rei Taylor is written in katakana. They wanted to convey the difference and chose the worst spelling to do it with.
Rei is definitely the better pick, you lose nuance but at least it doesn't make me puke like fucking Rae. Ray also works

What Superstar should've been

They are married and now have an adopted daughter, and their daughter is going to start dating a girl who makes cute animal shaped bread, surely this is the way.

And then the bread girl is gonna become their daughter in law so they can get a discount on the bread
All according to keikaku

Personally I'm on team train crash

last edited at Dec 10, 2022 2:46PM

@Perlen297 So, how's episode 10? Anyway, both is the best

Poly Kessoku Band is definitely the best ship, all of these combos are so good. Now I wanna see Nijika x Kita

I have no idea what happened in this chapter... I'm trying to read it and nothing's registering wtf is going on

last edited at Dec 8, 2022 6:24AM

I'm not posting here much since I just take the story for what it is: dumb, hot, porn
Like, of course when you look more deeply at it Kaoru is a pretty gross person who should be at the very least fined for violating privacy
But on the other hand I wanna be Miyako and Kaoru is really fucking hot so... who cares?

last edited at Dec 5, 2022 5:04AM

Music that makes your sexuality explode

This series is definitely anime of the year material so I'm happy it's getting the recognition it deserves

I'd say BoKitaNijiRyo is the way to go personally