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Love Live!

Love Live! School Idol Project is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine, music label Lantis, and animation studio Sunrise. The project revolves around a group of nine schoolgirl friends who become idols in order to save their school from shutting down. It launched in the August 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, and went on to produce music CDs, anime music videos, two manga adaptations, and video games.


A 13-episode anime television series produced by Sunrise, directed by Takahiko Kyōgoku, and written by Jukki Hanada aired in Japan between January and March 2013, with a second season airing between April and June 2014. Both anime series and film are licensed in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand by NIS America, MVM Entertainment and Madman Entertainment, respectively. An animated film titled Love Live! The School Idol Movie was distributed by Shochiku and released in June 2015. A follow-up project focusing on a new set of idols, titled Love Live! Sunshine!!, launched in 2015.




Plot

Honoka Kōsaka is a girl who attends Otonokizaka Academy (音ノ木坂学院, Otonokizaka Gakuin). When the school is scheduled to be closed due to a lack of applicants, Honoka becomes determined to save it. Honoka goes to UTX, where her little sister planned to go for high school, and sees a crowd watching a music video of A-Rise, UTX's school idol group. Learning that school idols are popular, Honoka and her friends follow A-Rise's footsteps and start their own school idol group called μ's (ミューズ, Myūzu, pronounced "muse") to attract new students. Once they successfully prevent Otonokizaka Academy from closing, the girls from μ's set their sights higher. They participate in Love Live, the ultimate school idol competition featuring the best groups in the country. Despite winning the competition, the girls from μ's disband soon after for their own personal reasons, and because the third-years are graduating.



Anime

See also: List of Love Live! episodes

A 13-episode anime television series produced by Sunrise, directed by Takahiko Kyōgoku, and written by Jukki Hanada aired in Japan on Tokyo MX from January 6 to March 31, 2013 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. The opening theme is "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de" (僕らは今のなかで, lit. "We're Living in the Moment"), while the ending theme is "Kitto Seishun ga Kikoeru" (きっと青春が聞こえる, lit. "Surely Our Youth Can Be Heard"); both are performed by μ's (Emi Nitta, Aya Uchida, Suzuko Mimori, Yoshino Nanjō, Pile, Riho Iida, Aina Kusuda, Yurika Kubo and Sora Tokui).



An original video animation episode was released on November 27, 2013. A second season aired on Tokyo MX from April 6 to June 29, 2014, also airing on TV Aichi, Yomiuri TV, and BS11, and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. The opening theme is "Sore wa Bokutachi no Kiseki" (それは僕たちの奇跡, lit. "That Is Our Miracle"), while the ending theme is "Donna Toki mo Zutto" (どんなときもずっと, lit. "Always No Matter What"); both are performed by μ's. An animated film titled Love Live! The School Idol Movie was released in theaters on June 13, 2015. It was released on Blu-ray in Japan on December 15, 2015. A second film, Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow, was released in Japan on January 4, 2019.



Both anime series and the first film are licensed in North America by NIS America, who released the premium edition of the first season on Blu-ray on September 2, 2014 and an English dubbed version was released with the standard edition of the first season, along with the premium edition of the second season, on February 14, 2016, as well as the standard edition of the second season on April 12, 2016. The series also began airing on Mnet America from February 5, 2016. The film was released in North America by NIS America on June 28, 2016 in a premium edition, and July 26, 2016 in a standard edition, both with an English dub. MVM Entertainment released the first series in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2015 on DVD, with plans to release it on Blu-ray Disc in 2016 with an English dub. MVM Entertainment also released the second series in 2016. Madman Entertainment released the first season in Australia and New Zealand on June 10, 2015 on DVD.



Video games

A free-to-play game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival as developed by KLab and released by Bushiroad for iOS devices in Japan on April 15, 2013. The game is a collectible card game with elements of rhythm game and visual novel genres. A version for Android was also released. The game was localized into English and released worldwide on May 11, 2014 for both iOS and Android devices, and also received localizations available in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. At the end of September 2016, the English version of the game added Korean support due to merging between the two servers.[46] A new game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival All Stars, which also features members of Aqours as well as a new set of characters from Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, was released on September 26, 2019 in Japan. The game released globally on February 25, 2020 with support in Thai, Korean, traditional Chinese, and English.


A series of three rhythm-action video games developed by Dingo Inc., titled Love Live! School Idol Paradise, were released on August 28, 2014 for the PlayStation Vita. The three games were released as Vol. 1 Printemps, Vol.2 BiBi and Vol.3 Lily White. These games sold 88,169 physical retail copies altogether within the first week of release in Japan.


Rin Hoshizora became the new face of the Puyo Puyo games in 2015 as part of a campaign by Sega to market the popularity of the anime by giving her a place on all of their current franchises. A mobile gamed titled Puchiguru Love Live! revolves around the mini-stuffed dolls sold resembling the characters. It was released on April 24, 2018 for Android and iOS, and was shut down on May 31, 2019.


From wikipedia

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