One of these days, I’m going to have to recount the time Sam and I went to a Maid Café (on a dare, basically)…
This may very well be the shojo-est of shojo shows I’ve ever watched for this column. If girliness levels were ever measured on a scanner, then this would most definitely be spiking over 9,000. We get asked a lot about what titles are good to introduce anime to the uninitiated with and, damn it, if you know somebody who just joneses for the likes of PITCH PERFECT or GLEE, then I see no reason whatsoever why they wouldn’t eat LOVE LIVE! up.
And you know what? I was entertained. Charmed even. This is actually a pretty tight pilot that sets its predicament up rather swiftly and gets you to sympathize with the players’ plight - - even if that plight does seem unintentionally hilarious.
Look, I took my classes in high school as seriously as anybody could, but even I wouldn’t have gotten that bent out of shape if the place closed three years after I graduated. (Presumably, I would be more concerned with college and my forthcoming life after colleges - - but hey, we’ll roll with it). All the same, I find several layers of amusement in the rather preposterous notion of a teenager founding a pop group on something of a desperate lark with the hope that the outfit will get successful enough to attract enough freshmen to potentially forestall the closure of her high school.
For one, this seems like exactly the sort of scheme that gets forgotten about in a week. But saying this dream actually does become real (and this is an anime, so we know it will), wouldn’t the girls wind up rolling in so much dough as pop stars that they (ironically?) wouldn’t even have much reason to finish high school?
Such are the questions running through my head as I watch quick-draw musical numbers that involve computer-accurate dance routines in my anime…
Watch this episode, "May Our Dream Come True!" here and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk














