Anime On the Big Screen: “Love Live! The School Idol Movie”

Venue: Dendy Cinemas, Level 2, North Quarter, Canberra Centre, 148 Bunda Street, Canberra City, ACT
Date: Saturday 12 September 2015
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Format: Digital Projection, Japanese dialogue with English subtitles
Length: 99 minutes
Production Date: 2015
Currently on Home Video in English (as of writing): No

A year ago or so, I had a blog in which I looked at old anime video tapes, old defunct magazines, music video compilations (e.g. like the two “Bubblegum Crisis” ones) and the occasion anime film that ends up in cinemas locally. I was going to recommence publishing stuff on that blog (I stopped about a year ago), but have decided I’m not ready to restart it. So I’ll be publishing this review here instead.

For those who have been living under a rock for the last five years, otaku are now inexplicably gaga over J-pop idols, not real ones though, animated ones. The popularity of real life mega merchandise machine AKB48 (and its countless spin-offs) has bled into other sectors of otakudom. The first was the video game franchise the iDOLM@STER in 2005. The popularity of the game exploded and unsurprisingly there was ton of merchandise, manga and anime spin offs. Naturally imitators popped up left right and centre such as “Wake Up, Girls!”, “Aikatsu!” and of course this juggernaut of a franchise.

The franchise was originally announced in the July 2010 issue of Dengeki G's magazine as a multimedia project between its publisher, Sunrise and music label Lantis. The magazine laid the groundwork of providing images of the cast as well as the back story. Soon the merchandise was coming in thick and fast, mostly as CD singles and later albums. Manga and other merchandise followed and finally two anime series comprising of 13 episodes each in 2013 and 2014. The show itself followed a group of nine girls who form an idol group (called μ's, pronounced Muse – no, nothing to do with Matt Bellamy) and enter a national school idol competition in order to save their school which due to be shut down. That’s the crux of the story, more here if you’re not familiar with the show or the characters.

Last time I went to one of these one off anime movie events (which Madman seems to be now doing in lieu of their now defunct annual Reel Anime film festival) was back in February 2014 for the “Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion” screening. Like the first film in that series, that screening was emceed (and practically run by) a local cosplay group, who hadn’t even considered the fact that maybe other people outside their little group would be coming to watch the films. So you’d get to the cinema and there would be an unannounced cosplay competition, or the results of a previously played “scavenger hunt”, or giveaways that seemed to exclude people outside their group. Of course none of that was advertised on Dendy’s website… So when I got to the cinema for the “Love Live!” screening, it was much to my surprise that when I got my ticket I was immediately given my bonus poster (pictured above), signature board (mine was an image of Rin) and code to play an online “Love Live!” game (which of course I’m never going to play). Normally this stuff would be given out at the actual door of the theatrette itself. This led me to believe that the local cosplay group had not been invited to help out this time. What a shame!

As the time for the screening rolled around, I noticed that the crowd was completely different to previous screenings. Cosplay was largely absent besides a half-hearted Umi and Nico and nearly half of audience were native Mandarin speakers. I didn’t spot a single anime t-shirt on anyone. The crowd was much smaller as well. Only 90 people showed up in the cinema, compared with the 260 patrons or so for the second Madoka Magica film. Frustratingly there were no seating allocations as per normal Dendy screenings, even though I had already booked and allocated my seat online. First in, best dressed. I was told that they were forced to change cinemas due to some problem. Doing some searching online, none of the usual local fandom groups mentioned the screening at all, which was strange. The online presence of the cosplay group also seems to have disappeared as well. It’s kind of weird that the demographic of anime fandom has changed that much in 18 months here. Even a guy my age who used to come to all of these type of events (seen him around since my anime club days of the mid 1990’s) didn’t show this time. So in lieu of terrible emcees and giveaways we had about 15 minutes of adverts and trailers. No intro from any of the Japanese voice actors which was odd considering Emi Nitta (who plays Honoka) was featured heavily in the English language promotion.

One thing which did happen in the cinema was that after the adverts had begun, a couple of cosplayers, one as Eli, the other as Nico, sat down next to me. 10 minutes into the film itself, the Nico cosplayer starts crying. It wasn’t even an emotional scene. Nico continues to cry on and off for the entire film. Then 30 minutes before the end, Nico goes into full on uncontrollable sobbing, with the Eli cosplayer joining in while trying to comforting her at the same time. Even without that now defunct shithouse cosplay group, I still got my fill of fandom awkwardness and weirdness.

With that out of the way, time to talk about the film then. “Love Live! The School Idol Movie” picks up exactly where the final episode of the TV series left off. The organisers of Love Live! are holding a brand new competition at the Akiba Dome and have asked μ's to help promote it. For reasons unexplained in the film, this promotion is to take place in New York City and μ's performance is to be broadcast live in Japan. All of this despite the fact they’ve already decided to disband. After a couple of amusing side journeys, the girls arrive at their hotel and prepare for the event. They practice in Central Park and are befriended by the locals who speak English rather poorly and/or awkwardly. Hanayo has a terrible hankering for plain white rice and girls go out to local Japanese restaurant. However on the way back Honoka manages to get separated from the group and in a panic takes the wrong train and ends up on Broadway. There she meets a young Japanese woman who is busking on the street with only her beautiful voice. Honoka is taken by her performance and the two end up chatting. She tells Honoka that she was in group that broke up and now she sings on her own. This leads Honoka to have second thoughts about breaking up μ's. The unnamed singer then guides Honoka back to her hotel, but seemingly disappears when Honoka tries to introduce her to the rest of the girls. Honoka is left holding the young woman’s microphone stand case.

The girls end their stint in New York City with a performance in Times Square. Upon returning to Japan the girls immediately realise they are famous with video of the performance playing in the airport and people wanting their autograph. With their fans wanting them to continue with μ's they have second thoughts about disbanding. Honoka talks with the members of A-RISE who tell her they will continue their career even though they have graduated from high school. They suggest she talk to their management company and give her the contact details. The members of μ's come to the conclusion that they have two choices; follow the path of A-RISE and become fully-fledged idols or to hold onto their original determination and end the group after graduation.

That’s about all I can write about this film without giving the ending away. There really isn’t a whole lot to it all. The movie is just a bunch of set pieces strung together with a threadbare story and few character driven gags. That’s it. It probably should be called “Love Live! The School Idol Musical” as the girls often break out into song spontaneously. Sure, there were similar scenes in the series (most notable Honoka’s song at the end of the very first episode of the first series) and most of time the sequences made sense within the story, but here it’s so blatant. There’s just no rhyme or reason to the sudden outbursts of song in the film. And then you have the many unanswered questions that the movie raises. For instance, why in God’s name did they need to go to New York City? Who is the unnamed singer that Honoka befriends (and seemingly follows her back to Kanda)? Where are the staff/crew setting up the New York City performance? How come we never really see the audience in any of μ's performances?

I suppose none of this really matters. The first two seasons of "Love Live!" aren’t exactly taxing on the brain. It’s utterly silly, the characters are stereotypes, comes off as a bit schmaltzy at times and has as much substance as fairy floss. The point of the show (apart from the music) is to showcase the characters and the relationships between all nine girls. That’s why the fans love it; the characters are so damn endearing. However if you cannot connect with the characters, then the franchise isn’t for you. It’s utter fluff. I still don’t understand why they didn’t write in more of a sub plot for the unnamed New York City street singer. I mean she ends up back in Tokyo and won’t go into Honoka’s family sweet shop when invited by Honoka. What was up with that? After reading several reviews and opinions on the film, it seems the girl in question is most likely a Timelord (trying not to give spoilers away here…). I just wish that the makers of the film had at least given a few more clues as to her real identity. In the film her presence could be seen to be open to countless interpretations.

Putting that small annoyance to the side, undoubtedly the best part of the film is the two concluding musical sequences. They are just two beautiful fantasy set pieces, especially the grand finale. Watching the film, the one thing which really stuck out at me is how much the basic story is so similar to the “K-ON!” movie. In both the girls go over to an English speaking country, perform, head back to Japan to graduate before breaking up the band. It is rather an unfortunate comparison as I think “K-ON!” does a far better job at showing school girls enjoying their first time on an overseas trip than “Love Live!” does.

The film is nothing but a love note to the fans of the franchise. The animation is fantastic (though I’m still put off by CG models of the girls during concert sequences), there’s tons of humour and lots of (non-sexual) fan service and it’s just utterly fun. Having said that, it’s ultimately an empty vessel. You won’t find an exciting plot with lot of twists and turn here. It’s all played pretty safe, which could be seen as major disappointment. However the spectacle of it all, especially the concert sequences just about make up for the rather threadbare story. 7 out of 10. Bandai Visual in Japan is releasing the movie on Blu-ray in December with English subtitles as they did with both seasons of the TV series. You may want to import than rather than waiting for NIS America who still haven’t released the second series on Blu-ray.

Video Backlog: “Turn A Gundam”

Publisher: Sunrise/Right Stuf (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles.
Length: 50 episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 1999 - 2000
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

After an absence of around two thousand years, a group of humans who left the Earth for good, the Moonrace, decide to send down a team of three of their kind to see if they could inhabit the Earth again. The group is made up two 13 year old boys, Loran Cehack and Keith Laijie, and a young girl around the same age named Fran Doll. The three go their separate ways in order to infiltrate life on the planet. Unlike the high tech world of the Moonrace, Earth people’s technology is decidedly regressive with a world more in line with early 1920’s technology. Loran is surprised to come across a stream and decides to bathe in it. Attempting to recover a treasured keepsake that ends up floating downstream, he loses his footing and is carried away by the current. He is saved from being drown in the stream by two girls his age; Kihel Heim and her sister Sochie Heim. Loran soon recovers from ordeal and Kihel, daughter of a wealthy mining magnate, offers him a job in their mine and board. A couple of years pass. Loran ends up being a permanent part of the family’s staff. As well as having meals, board and education covered, he eventually becomes the family’s chauffeur. Later Loran meets up with Keith and Fran, whom have become a baker and news paper photographer respectively.

As Kihel had done previously in the year, a coming of age ceremony is prepared for Loran. On his 15th birthday, a group of teenagers along with Loran trek up the side of a mountain where a large idol known as the White Doll sits. Loran chooses Sochie to be his partner in the ritual which involves disrobing and mimicking stigmata on each other’s backs via leeches. But before the ceremony can be competed, an explosion occurs in the middle of town. Fires and other explosions follow and the teens scatter down the mountainside. Loran soon realises that the Moonrace have begun an invasion of Earth and is horrified. Loran and Sochie realise that the White Doll seems to be falling apart. What is actually happening is a thick protective coating is falling off a giant robot with a moustache like antenna which was hidden within the White Doll idol. Recognising that it is a mobile suit, Loran scrambles inside with Sochie and via the manual, he manages to start it up. Loran attempts to persuade the attackers to stop but fails. As a last resort, using a beam rife found beside the mobile suit, he fires at one of the Moonrace mobile suits, damaging it but also destroying the barrel of his weapon. This causes the enemy to retreat.

Upon returning to the Heim family house the next morning, the pair discover it has been party damaged in the battle. Worse is the fact that Kihel and Sochie’s father died when the house was hit by enemy fire. Kihel and her mother return from ball held the previous night. In shock and denial, their mother refuses to believe that her husband is dead. In shock Sochie slaps Loran and blames the entire battle on the fact he piloted the mobile suit. Earth doesn’t have governments as such. Instead there are principalities run by noblemen. The area the Heim family live in is Inglessa, which is ruled by a young nobleman named Guin Sard Lineford. Unbeknownst to the general population is that he has been secretly been negotiating a land settlement deal with the Moonrace (Earth does have primitive radio communications). Negotiations seem to have fallen though. Meeting with Loran, Guin ropes him into joining the principality’s militia (no governments means there is no real defence force) as he knows how the White Doll works. Loran has not let on to anyone that he is from the Moonrace and continues to play along. As a result Kihel also manages to have closer ties with Guin. Sochie also joins the militia as a mobile suit pilot

Skirmishes between the Moonrace and Earth militia continue. Eventually a ceasefire is called and Queen Dianna, ruler of the Moonrace arrives in order to personally to finalise the negotiations. It is immediately apparent to those who known the Heim family that the Queen is a dead ringer for Kihel. But while the negotiations are still taking place, the Moonrace have already begun their migration back to Earth. Vast areas are being fenced off much to local farmers disgust and Moonrace migrants are setting up in temporary camps. This causes more skirmishes between militia and the Moonrace mobile suits. Meanwhile local archaeologists have discovered more hidden “lost technology” like the moustached White Doll. Possibly over 2,000 years old, the mobile suits and other mecha are found buried in hillsides and in caves. All are protected by nanomachine membranes which have preserved them in mint condition. The discovery of these machines and the fact that the militia can pilot them, adds fuel to the fire. During the negotiations, Guin invites Queen Dianna on to his personal dirigible. There she meets Kihel and noticing the uncanny resemblance between them decides to swap clothes with her for fun. However this turns out to be a more permanent arrangement when Queen Dianna’s personal assistant arrives unexpectantly. Both are forced to take on each other’s roles and while playing each other’s part, they both soon find sympathy for each other’s people.

Oh god, where to start with this glorious mess of a show. So this show was a project for the 20th anniversary of Gundam. Conceived and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the idea behind the show was to consolidate ALL of the Gundam continuities into one. No, I shit you not, that was the idea. Is it successful at doing that? Well, probably not. What you may not know is idea behind the name of the show. Apparently the “Turn A” mark on the head of the show’s Gundam is a mathematical symbol used in predicate calculus representing the universal quantifier, meaning "for all". So in other words it means that all the Gundam universes are all set with Turn A’s universe.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the show. OK, if you’ve read this blog you know I am not a big fan of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s work. He’s bloody notorious for throwing audiences into shows without explaining what is going on, having terrible character names and awkward, baffling dialogue. Luckily this show doesn’t hit quite hit that trifecta of pain, but it more than makes up for it by confusing the crap out the audience for apparently no reason right up to the half way mark. There was a lot of negative criticism against “Gundam Reconguista in G” for its lack of coherent storytelling. Having seen both, I’d say “Turn A” is even more of a confused show. Take the first episode; Loran, Keith and Fran appear on screen in a capsule being sent to earth, all inexplicably singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. During the episode we take several time leaps without any explanation or anything to show the passage of time (e.g. scenes set in different seasons, or onscreen text stating the year or month). Scenes also transition into others without any explanation. For example characters could be inside the Heim mansion in conversation, then suddenly everyone is at the coming of age ceremony. The camera angles and cinematography can also be strange. One episode has an overhead shot with the camera slowly spinning. Even as the show progresses, key elements of the story are never really explained in the initial episodes. For example why is there such a gulf of difference between the technology of the Moonrace and the Earth people? It is hinted that Queen Dianna is at least a couple hundred years old, but isn’t she meant to be normal human? Why have the Moonrace returned to Earth? And it is never explained what Loran, Keith and Fran’s mission really is.

Unbelievably, most of these questions aren’t properly answered until we hit the half way mark of the show. You have to question why in hell Yoshiyuki Tomino does this to the audience. In what way is this beneficial to the story? I don’t understand how keeping this information from the audience helps at all. Knowing the background of the world, the background of the main characters is vital to understanding the story and the motivations of the characters. The only plausible explanation as to why this happens in his shows that he is considered God-like and no one (at the studio level) dares criticise him or make suggestions or asks him to work with a story editor. I mean basically Tomino does whatever the hell he likes. For example Guin constantly refers to Loran as Lauren (despite knowing his real name is Loran), tells the Moonrace delegates that Loran is female and even forces him to cross dress at one point. It is never, ever really made clear how this tactic helps the militia in anyway. There was a rumour that Tomino initially wanted Loran to be female in the story and the producers vetoed that. Tomino supposedly had his revenge by having him dress up as a girl. If that’s true it certainly explains a lot.

Other weirdness in the show includes one principality’s militia dressed in US civil war-like military outfits and one Moonrace mobile suit pilot having a Mars symbol (male gender symbol, ♂) on the crotch of his pilot suit. None of the reviews on this show I’ve read have seems to picked this up which amazes me. There’s also a small band of Moonrace descendants who have been living on the Earth for many generations whom seemingly without any contact with the Moonrace, take up arms against the militia, though it is never explained how they obtained their mobile suits. Putting aside my complaints about the show, it does improve immensely in the second half of the series. The battles are well choreographed, factions develop in the militia and the Moonrace and it’s just a really fun show. I’ll fully admit it doesn’t start of well with some really bad animation in the first four episodes and the lack of explanation of the world. If you can get past the half way mark, you will be rewarded. The designs are quite well done with Syd Mead (of “Blade Runner” fame) designing several of the main mobile suits including the much maligned Turn A Gundam. Yoko Kanno wrote and performed the soundtrack and the insert songs. It’s a pretty good soundtrack, but far from her best. She previously worked on Tomino’s “Brain Powered” TV series the year prior to this show’s broadcast.

The series was previously announced by Bandai Entertainment for a 2012 release. But their parent company pulled the plug on the company and it was never released. That release was to include an interview with Syd Mead. Luckily Sunrise have included it on the second DVD set. Running about 75 minutes in total, it’s broken up into three parts; in the first Mead discusses his early life and how he got into design work. The second focuses on this movie work. The third is of most interest to anime fans as he discusses his work with Sunrise over the years on various Gundam properties and his work with Yoshinobu Nishizaki in the late 1980’s on rebooting the “Yamato” franchise which eventually became the “Yamato 2520” OVA. That project was cancelled after 3 OVA episodes and a “episode zero” were released. The best thing about this interview is Mead talking about working on a live action Gundam in 1984 for Lionsgate, which was scuttled due to the fact Sunrise refused to let the company license the property.

All in all, “Turn A Gundam” is a odd, strange and rather frustrating show. It’s also well designed, has some really great characters and battles. Also of interest is the political machinations on the Moon and the factions developing between the hodge podge collective of militia fighting against the invasion and within the invaders on Earth themselves. The first half did shit me, but the second more than won me over. Silly and daft as it is, at the same time it’s also quite intriguing and lots of fun. Certainly nowhere near the best in the franchise, but certainly nowhere near the bottom. 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: Three series, seven movies, two OVA/specials, also waiting for second part of one show to be released before viewing it.