This time, we're diving into the score for Love Live! Sunshine!!.
Because it's Love Live!, people tend to assume the songs are the main attraction, but honestly, the background score is fantastic too.
First, let's take a look at what Love Live! Sunshine!! is about.
Uranohoshi Girls' High School sits in Uchiura, a seaside town in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture. At this small high school tucked away in a corner of Suruga Bay, nine girls led by second-year student Chika Takami band together, chasing a big dream.
That dream? To become sparkling, shining "school idols"!
If you never give up, your dreams are sure to come true—
For now, just chase that shine and run with everything you've got!
And so their "story we make come true together"—their school idol project—begins!
(Episode 1 synopsis from the official site)
Uranohoshi Girls' High School in Uchiura, a seaside town in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Second-year student Chika Takami, who attends the school, travels to Tokyo with her classmate You Watanabe and learns of the school idol group "μ's"—and it leaves her stunned.
I want to shine too—feeling that desire burn strong, Chika immediately sets out to start a school idol club and begins recruiting members. But the recruiting doesn't go well, student council president Dia Kurosawa opposes her, and just when the road ahead looks impossibly rough, a sudden miracle appears before the troubled Chika—
Love Live! owed a huge amount to the presence of μ's from the original Love Live!, who were popular enough to appear on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen, though they wrapped up their activities with a final live in 2016. Maybe that influence still lingered, because in the sequel Sunshine!! they're spoken of as a legend, and Chika Takami is a massive μ's fan. (There's a scene where this gets pointed out to her, and she shifts her thinking—rather than chasing after μ's, she'll deliver a performance only she can give.) Personally I'd lean toward being a μ's fan myself, but I could watch Love Live! Sunshine!! without ever getting bored. It's a really fun show.
Personally, I absolutely love our chuunibyou girl Yohane.
The screenplay is handled by Jukki Hanada, who also wrote the previous Love Live!.
The score is composed by Tatsuya Kato, known for work on Dr. STONE, Free!, Revue Starlight, and more.
Now, let's actually listen to some of the music.
First up is the main theme, "Main theme of Lovelive! Sunshine!!"
It opens with a lavish intro and unfolds with a beautiful melody. There may be no vocals, but it's polished enough that calling it the show's theme song wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Next is "Korin: Yohane" (Yohane's Descent). It's a mere 16 seconds long, but even in that brief span it's packed with all the charm of our chuunibyou girl Yohane.
To wrap things up, here's the teaser for the film.
Image from the official site: https://x.com/LoveLive_staff
