If you need inoffensive background noise, Nijigaku could fill the role for you with a smile on its face. If you are looking for melodrama between girls, well… Nijigaku kind of does that, but it’s not very good at it. In terms of spectacle, Nijigaku is second to none thus far, but in terms of story, μ’s and Aqours have them beat. If you are looking to dip your feet into the Love Live franchise… maybe? It depends on what idol fix you’re after. If you are big on the concept of safe comfort anime, you will probably enjoy it even more than I did. If you are a returning fan of Love Live from μ’s and Aqours, you will be adequately entertained with this. Safe, comforting, but bland, like a warm potato. Outside the spectacle, Nijigaku is pretty bland. As much as I want to simp for my girls and give this a 10/10… I really can’t. Nijigaku was a pleasant and enjoyable watch, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed in the weak storytelling aspect this time around. At least they all got one this time? *coughcoughKanancough* I think they’re all at least sort of okay. People will disagree on which constitutes better and worse episodes.

Fingers crossed for some bangers in season 2.Įach girl gets a feature episode. Though I will say the rotating solo focus of the episodic inserts was a wonderful idea. I did knock off a point for reasons that are hard to articulate… Nijigaku’s insert songs just didn’t grab me like the others have. Love Live continues to impress in this department (as one would hope it should, given its subject matter!), and the discography continues to be phenomical. The artist in me is geeking out over how well the principles of art are exhibited, but I’ll spare you the rant and just say that it’s hecking Pretty with a capital P. The character art style has ever-so-slightly shifted to allow for more colored outlines, and backgrounds have been lovingly rendered in ways that make them pop with colors and values.

Holy shit! The animation in this series is legitimately breathtaking, especially if you’ve been around to remember the clunky days of stiff 3D models dancing on stages that don’t look like they’re sharing the same dimension. There’s still time yet for the cast to tell a story just as memorable as any other from the franchise. The good news is that like a fine wine, Love Live sequel seasons seem to be improvements on their foundations.

So, in my humble opinion, Nijigaku’s story element does not live up to its predecessors. I’m typically not that kind of viewer (like, for example, I’m not going to question how these high schoolers are setting up these professional-looking stages, rigging and all, because it’s about the viewer experience, dammit), and yet! One in particular pulled me out of the moment so hard that I started laughing at what was supposed to be a tense scene. There is nothing inherently wrong with slice-of-life anime, but Nijigaku wants to have its cake and eat it, too, resulting in several scenes in its second half that serve to attempt to create tension, but ultimately feel stilted and manufactured. Consequently, with loss of strong goals and direction comes loss of strong emotional pull over these elements. of character goals, resulting in a loss of plot direction. Unfortunately, this cause of appeal for some is also the root of one of its coremost issues: it lacks a strong sense Many people are praising Nijigaku for shaking up the Love Live formula. So, how does Nijigaku stack up against the μ’s and Aqours animes?

As a longtime fan of the original School Idol Festival mobile game (happy ninth anniversary, btw), it pleases me to see this anime getting so much love-I also feel that as a longtime fan, I owe it a fair review. I’m a little late to the party tonight, as season 2 of Nijigaku is airing as I write this review.

Idol anime crossover