OK, damnit. I just finished Season 2, and I demand to know who turned off the Doujinshi spigot on this show. Seriously, I am so jonesin' for some SumiKeke manga. Christ, don't make me resort to actually reading fanfic.
Perlen297
Dec 15, 2022 3:03AM
There aren't even that many fanfics, unfortunately.
eromancer
Dec 15, 2022 5:37AM
@Perlen297: I wonder what the problem is? Are people just tired of Love Live? I feel like SumiKeke is one of the most promising ships in this franchise and it's just gone cold for some reason. I hope the ham-fisted way they portrayed their relationship as semi-toxic to set up the big episode 9 payoff didn't turn artists off ...
DY4Y
Dec 15, 2022 6:36AM
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
FluffyCow
Dec 15, 2022 12:59PM
As someone who still really loves and enjoys Love Love, and has greatly enjoyed each group and series, I just say too each their own. I've seen various fanart for Super Star, and I don't think most people hate it, I just think Yuri Doujins in general aren't super common. Despite the tons of Yuri fanart Lycoris Recoil gets, I've shockingly seen more hetero doujins for it than Yuri.
So I don't think it's a Love Live problem, and I think Love Live is still popular with a lot of ships people enjoy. It's just that the Doujin landscape tends to be hetero focused from what I've seen. Which is unfortunate because I think Super Star has a ton of great ships, and I love it a ton, so I hope we get to see more Doujins of it over time.
eromancer
Dec 16, 2022 3:46AM
@DY4Y: I'm kind of the opposite of you - I actually came to watch Love Live to get a better feel for the ships I was seeing in doujins. As much as I love the original anime and characters, I feel like there was so much value added from the doujin community because the one thing the anime didn't give us was a lot about specific character relationships outside of the general second-year trio friendship and the occasional momentary wink-wink to NicoMaki.
I don't see shipping as detracting from individual character development (although I would agree we could use some more back-story on Keke), but rather as enriching it. In fact that might be what makes SumiKeke feel "forced" to some, because their individual personalities are strongly developed enough to see how much they clash (which is also why the ship seems interesting).
@FluffyCow: You make a valid point in general, but I don't think that's what's at work here. Because one of the real head-scratching things about Super Star - not that it's a bad thing - is the almost complete lack of hetero hentai for it.
I've never liked hetero stuff with anonymous males, which is pretty much all you'll get for a franchise that weirdly goes out of its way to never show a male character. But with the earlier Love Lives, before I discovered Dynasty Scans, I was accustomed to having to wade through a ton of it in order to find the GG stories. So you're right that Yuri unfortunately gets less attention than straight or yaoi stuff, but with Super Star the scarcity is across the board.
@eromancer: I was mostly thinking how I've not seen many Yuri doujin parody works in awhile. Also I've unfortunately seen at least a couple of hetero doujins for Super Star myself, which aren't my cup of tea and I don't seek them out, I sometimes see what's new and popular out there for series I follow just to see what's getting made.
I think though Yuri Doujins aren't as common as fanart, and in terms of Super Star getting maybe less hetero doujins than usual I think it's mostly due to other series taking priority with that crowd. I imagine Chainsaw Man is probably getting the majority of focus there this year. Combined also with the issues that have come from Covid, conventions getting cancelled, I remember hearing someone mention that Japan had a lot of specialty printing shops close down, and other issues from the pandemic unfortunately.
So I still think it's less of a problem with Super Star, and more of the doujin landscape, at least currently. As I've seen a good amount of people that have a lot of love for Super Star, and a good amount of ship art for it. Just unfortunately doujin works are scarce for it, at least for now. I'm at least hopeful that we'll see more Yuri doujins for Super Star in the future.
GrimEater Dec 12, 2022 10:47PM
Team work makes the dream work
FluffyCow Dec 13, 2022 1:22AM
The most important training for an Idol team.
DY4Y Dec 13, 2022 5:42AM
What Superstar should've been
eromancer Dec 14, 2022 5:50PM
OK, damnit. I just finished Season 2, and I demand to know who turned off the Doujinshi spigot on this show. Seriously, I am so jonesin' for some SumiKeke manga. Christ, don't make me resort to actually reading fanfic.
Perlen297 Dec 15, 2022 3:03AM
There aren't even that many fanfics, unfortunately.
eromancer Dec 15, 2022 5:37AM
@Perlen297: I wonder what the problem is? Are people just tired of Love Live? I feel like SumiKeke is one of the most promising ships in this franchise and it's just gone cold for some reason. I hope the ham-fisted way they portrayed their relationship as semi-toxic to set up the big episode 9 payoff didn't turn artists off ...
DY4Y Dec 15, 2022 6:36AM
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
FluffyCow Dec 15, 2022 12:59PM
As someone who still really loves and enjoys Love Love, and has greatly enjoyed each group and series, I just say too each their own. I've seen various fanart for Super Star, and I don't think most people hate it, I just think Yuri Doujins in general aren't super common. Despite the tons of Yuri fanart Lycoris Recoil gets, I've shockingly seen more hetero doujins for it than Yuri.
So I don't think it's a Love Live problem, and I think Love Live is still popular with a lot of ships people enjoy. It's just that the Doujin landscape tends to be hetero focused from what I've seen. Which is unfortunate because I think Super Star has a ton of great ships, and I love it a ton, so I hope we get to see more Doujins of it over time.
eromancer Dec 16, 2022 3:46AM
@DY4Y: I'm kind of the opposite of you - I actually came to watch Love Live to get a better feel for the ships I was seeing in doujins. As much as I love the original anime and characters, I feel like there was so much value added from the doujin community because the one thing the anime didn't give us was a lot about specific character relationships outside of the general second-year trio friendship and the occasional momentary wink-wink to NicoMaki.
I don't see shipping as detracting from individual character development (although I would agree we could use some more back-story on Keke), but rather as enriching it. In fact that might be what makes SumiKeke feel "forced" to some, because their individual personalities are strongly developed enough to see how much they clash (which is also why the ship seems interesting).
@FluffyCow: You make a valid point in general, but I don't think that's what's at work here. Because one of the real head-scratching things about Super Star - not that it's a bad thing - is the almost complete lack of hetero hentai for it.
I've never liked hetero stuff with anonymous males, which is pretty much all you'll get for a franchise that weirdly goes out of its way to never show a male character. But with the earlier Love Lives, before I discovered Dynasty Scans, I was accustomed to having to wade through a ton of it in order to find the GG stories. So you're right that Yuri unfortunately gets less attention than straight or yaoi stuff, but with Super Star the scarcity is across the board.
last edited at Dec 16, 2022 3:48AM
DY4Y Dec 16, 2022 9:16AM
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
FluffyCow Dec 16, 2022 8:44PM
@eromancer: I was mostly thinking how I've not seen many Yuri doujin parody works in awhile. Also I've unfortunately seen at least a couple of hetero doujins for Super Star myself, which aren't my cup of tea and I don't seek them out, I sometimes see what's new and popular out there for series I follow just to see what's getting made.
I think though Yuri Doujins aren't as common as fanart, and in terms of Super Star getting maybe less hetero doujins than usual I think it's mostly due to other series taking priority with that crowd. I imagine Chainsaw Man is probably getting the majority of focus there this year. Combined also with the issues that have come from Covid, conventions getting cancelled, I remember hearing someone mention that Japan had a lot of specialty printing shops close down, and other issues from the pandemic unfortunately.
So I still think it's less of a problem with Super Star, and more of the doujin landscape, at least currently. As I've seen a good amount of people that have a lot of love for Super Star, and a good amount of ship art for it. Just unfortunately doujin works are scarce for it, at least for now. I'm at least hopeful that we'll see more Yuri doujins for Super Star in the future.