Love Lives multimedia success proved to the world that anyone could enjoy watching over the growth of overly sexualized teenage girls with quirky personalities and predictable reactions. While its far from the first franchise built around the idea it solidified its current form and made it into a science. The original School Idol Project was a sort of linear comedy that defined its characters through their interactions and managed to justify its own existence thanks to genuinely strong directing and a bit of proper novelty and following seasons distilled the formula into increasingly efficientalbeit transparentiterations culminating in Nijigasakis direct representation of the gacha game: School Idol Festival. This third wave of school idols may be the closest one to the platonic ideal of Love Live not thanks to its production values which are far below those of previous entries but because of how well it knows its audience. 620https://pbs.tw.com/media/EPaVd19UUAARzEi.jpg:large In a previous posthttps://anilist.co/activity/129646063 I quoted Mari Kotanis take on the condition of moe characters as marketable goods one can catalogue and master. Nijigasaki seems hellbent on proving her point and its setup resembles a storefront from the very beginning. Twice a year overwhelming amounts of fan content starring previous generations of school idols flood the Tokyo International Exhibition Center in Odaiba and leave it inside opaque plastic bags which makes it the ideal model for this seasons allgirls high school. Clean empty and always under bright skies its presented with the glamour of a commercial so much so that it makes School Idol Projects take on Akihabara look sober by comparison. Nijigasaki High is built like an Odaiba postcard collection focused on immediate recognition rather than cohesion or structure. Even though it is based on a real building and its surroundings it feels like a dreamscape designed to make the idols trials and tribulations more comfortable to watch. 291https://i.idol.st/u/background/MDgHxqNijigasakiHighSchoolkELJid.jpg 220https://cdnjapantimes.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/nbigsighta20170119870x580.jpg I cant believe my school is next to the GBase Each episodic story involves one of the girls facing a personal problem and growing into her sparkling gacha self. That problem however cant be rooted in a fundamental personality flaw and its solution cant involve the protagonist gaining autonomy from the idol group or the audience. As a result every conflict is either a misunderstanding or a very abstract take on a real issue that develops entirely in moe lingo. Theres no need to represent human emotion because the image of emotion is enough the target audience keeps the dramatic language in the abstract Cure your depression by doing something only you can do and obtain your shine is its own meaning and no longer responds to the whatever emotion came before the metaphor. As far as the show is concerned further detail or ellaboration is unnecessary both in writing and style. Normally Nijigasakis visual loop is something like establishing shot shot/reverse shot GIFable reaction with outfitbackground changes that vaguely invoke different media shot/reverse shot on a stage on a hallway or in front of the Gundam Unicorn statue without committing to a serious stylistic venture. At its best the show actually employs cinematography but the severely understaffed and poorly scheduled production team is barely able to keep up with it. 620https://i.pin.com/736x/25/23/09/252309433e120a2d5e56f0a0824b8b7a.jpg Ive seen way too many people compare the shows stage play episode to Revue Starlight and Kunihiko Ikuharas work among others and said comparisons never go past the presence of certain elements in the abstract. The episode itself is the most boring execution of the idea possible. Getting this cynical always feels strange because all animeincluding the stuff I enjoyis fundamentally tied to industrial production and often depends on treading the fine line between creativity and volatile commercial viability. As the last in the trail of giant robots monsters and figurines I never expected Nijigasaki to be artsy or critical of the industry. Love Live has always been a late capitalist hellspawn and Ive enjoyed it as such but earlier seasons had an identity as individual products. One could be a School Idol Project fan because of its style comedy or even drama but Nijigasaki doesnt have anything to call its own. Every tear in the show every shot every outfit and even every piece of plausibly deniable gay subtext feels like an automated consequence of the industrial process rather than anything fueled by intent. What makes it especially tragic is that despite all my criticism a lot of people I respect worked on the series. People with creativity skill and training who did it for a miserable pay and under terrible working conditions just to end up with a final product thats both shabby and impersonal. 420https://i.ur.com/nPOcvJj.jpg Have you ever felt bad writing a review? My next one will probably be positive because I honestly dont like being this cynical. The final episode consists of a series of slideshows summarizing the School Idol Festival. Each of the girls does her one obvious thing surrounded by a few background characters making it clear that idols are not really about music or even the stage in general but emotional experiences you can consume and relate to from a safe distance and repeating her one line. When its over they all look straight into the camera and thank the viewer for supporting them as the audience standin Yu shouts that the School Idol Festival has been the best time of her life. To me watching this season felt like having a stare contest with a Bushiroad executive it is far too honest about its purpose to feel more genuine than a 40 secondlong Fate commercial. And at least those look good.