Love Live's Sunset, Starting From Zero, and Giga Drill Break: A Collection of Threads from twitter.com user @youtaroyoujo

While I don't really have anything Love Live related to write about at the moment, I have written threads about it before; here are two of those that I'm pretty proud of, and one about Gurren Lagann because why not lol

Significance of the Beach (10/26/20): This was the first non-reactionary thread I posted on Twitter, and technically the first time I wrote an extended piece on Love Live in general. I did my best to account for Twitter’s character limit, so some things were worded somewhat strangely, but I’m still happy with how it turned out. I made some adjustments to it, but the content itself is intact.

In Season 2, Episode 11 of School Idol Project, when Honoka says she wants to go to the beach, her exact words are: “I want to go to an abandoned beach with just us and see something only we can see.” When you consider SIP alone, it’s simply a reference to that beautiful sunset. But when you consider Sunshine as well, and the fact that Aqours doesn’t truly begin until they visit that very same beach where μ’s decided to disband, it becomes something far more impactful.

 

 Chika’s problem in Sunshine Season 1 is that she’s trying to be just like μ’s, trying to follow in their footsteps; she wants to shine the same way that they did. But by episode 12, she realizes that Aqours should be looking for their own shine. As Chika says,

“To shine like μ’s, we can’t be chasing after them. We have to run freely, right?...We have to be true to our own feelings.”

When Honoka said that she wanted to “see something only we can see,” this statement rings true: what Chika and the rest of Aqours realize at that very same beach is inherently different from what μ’s does. In fact, what they realize is that they’ll never be able to see what μ’s saw. They have to find their own meaning, their own shine. It’s almost poetic; when you think about this line and how it connects to Sunshine, you understand from the beginning that Chika’s goal of being like μ’s is inherently flawed, and it isn’t until she goes to the exact same place where μ’s made their decision that she herself realizes this. The beach itself reflects that difference between μ’s and Aqours.

Starting from Zero (2/28/21): I posted this around two months ago when I rewatched Over the Rainbow, but I thought I’d include it anyways. No changes this time.

Chika's understanding of what it means to be a new Aqours develops over the course of the film with every experience she has. At first, she isn't sure what to do; she's starting from nothing, but without the third years she feels like they can't start at all. After meeting them in Italy, and hearing what Mari has to say to her mother about how all of her experiences define who she is, she starts to think of the new Aqours as a continuation of the previous one, but that's wrong too.

After competing against Saint Snow and watching their last performance whilst also given their own as a 9 member Aqours, Chika realizes that you always start from 0. After all, if you cling to the past and don't let go, you'll never be able to move forward. But moving forward doesn't mean that everything that came before didn't happen; because those memories, those experiences, they will always stay with you, no matter what.

 

Giga Drill Break (12/9/20): Another short one but I thought I’d include it anyways. No changes this time because I didn’t say much, and I worked within the Twitter character limit.

Simon and Kamina’s final combination is such a perfect scene. Their speech during the best combination sequence up to that point: the sheer power at display, Kamina telling Simon one last time to “believe in the Simon that believes in you,” and the GIGA DRILL BREAK is legendary

And the fact that such a legendary moment for the two is capped off with Kamina’s last breath makes it that much more impactful. Even though he dies with a smile on his face, it hurts everyone who knew him, even Gurren Lagann itself, the rain providing its tears.

The way it shifts from an explosion of color to a mournful greyscale also reflects the drastic tonal shift and the sudden yet no less painful sadness that all of Team Dai-Gurren experiences.