For one episode only, I’m bringing back an old blog-post format that was way more effort than the show I used it for deserved, where I attempted to summarize an entire episode in but five crudely drawn images (because, frankly, the better scanning, post title-wise, nine was way, way more than that other show required). I kind of picked a bad episode for it, though, because whilst it felt like there was very little plot progression, a surprising number of things happened.

Anyway, on with the usual…

1) Videogame where?

Going back to a comment I made about the second episode, when the show revealed it’s idol ranking system, I continue (iM@S fanboy that I am) to think there’s a basis of a pretty good videogame in this series. Not that I’d think such a thing would happen, at least not in the fashion I’d like, but I’d probably take a rhythm-game as well. Love Live: Shiny Festa for PS4 launch title, please!

Still, as far as this Love Live tournament goes, the main thing I’m actually expecting out of it is a new A-RISE song, mainly because it’d given them something to couple with Secret Wars, allowing them to finally solicit a CD single for the group.

Also, finally, an explanation as to why the stage in the OP is decked out in Love Live nomenclature rather than Mooooo’s!

2) Their rank has risen!

Though I can’t help but notice that they don’t actually tell us what it’s risen to – not being displayed on the Youtube knock-off, that’s being kept rather top-secret, at least for now. It would have been a little interesting, or at least a smidgen drama-building (because, let’s face it, it’s not really in the shows remit to be tension-building at this point), to have some kind of indication of where they are. As it is, the audience is left in a bit of a weird place – whilst the characters in the show have a access to a specific metric denoting it their present comparative popularity, we are being left in the dark as to how the group is progressing in terms of popularity.

I must confess, I’m not really sure what is being gained by keeping these things secret after the ranking systems existence has already been revealed to the viewers, beyond removing it as something the production staff actively have to think about on an episode by episode basis. It feels a little unusual to be put in the position of knowing less about this kind of thing that the protagonists, as this is usually the kind of thing we, as an audience, are given knowledge of prior to the cast. I personally think it’d have been a cute gimmick to end each episode with the unit’s present ranking, but maybe it’d be a little too Mahoromatic death timer.

3) Good thing it’s an all-girls school!

Going back to a comment I made about the first episode, it turns out the fact that the girls are attending an all-girls school is less of a problem than it could have been. I mean, you’d think the primary audience attracted by a pop group full of cute girls would be, well, guys (I’ll refrain from commenting on possible levels of creepiness, lest I find myself in a black-kettle situation), which would run counter to the stated point of Mooooo’s existence – to attract new students to the school.

Thankfully, it turns out that all of Mooooo’s fans, or at least the ones die-hard enough to track them down for photo-opportunities, are girls. It’d seem that Maki is the most popular as well, though I guess it’s more for her stoic expressions than her exuding a Makoto-esque princely aura.

4) Hang on, weren’t they in the clubroom?

I’d wonder if Nico had developed her ESPer abilities to the point where she can teleport the entire group instantaneously, but she’s not actually present here.

Still, not to pick on the shows unusual sense of continuity again, but weren’t they just in the clubroom dressed in their school uniforms? I mean, surely it couldn’t have taken so long for Maki to tell the story about being stopped by fans asking for a photograph that they managed to both get changed and make their way to the roof in the course of the explanation. It’s just one of a number of peculiar scene transitions in the show, and it doesn’t really make a huge amount of sense – the following scene doesn’t really do anything that requires being on the roof. It doesn’t even make Nico’s entry more dramatic.

5) Consider it an honor to have your blood sucked by Rin-sama!

Have I just blanked on Rin having that fang? I can’t remember having seen it previously.

My new running theory about the show is that Rin is possessing a Vampiric Aura, and with Vampires being the Lords of the Night, topping the supernatural pyramid and all that, it’s enough to overwhelm Nico’s ESPer abilities, which prevented her escape via teleportation back in episode 4. Or they just thought it gave her a playful look in this scene. Probably the former, obviously.

6) I’m with Stupid!

Is probably Maki’s line here, in spite of Nico being the one doing all the pointing – I mean, why, exactly, is Nico lurking in that other room through-out this entire scene, not so much as opening the door once it’d been shut? I suppose it may be an attempt to foreshadow Nico being somewhat… terrified of Nozomi (for good reason), or it may well just be a cute excuse to throw some goofy expressions onto Nico’s face.

7) Maki X Nico…

Is what people (well, person) keep telling me is what the pairing is, but I can’t help but notice all the blatant Maki X Rin ship-bait they’ve been throwing into the series. I’m not actually entirely sure where the whole Maki X Nico pairing even originated from to be honest – is it just that group cut from the OP sequence, or is it something that’s originated from the previously released Mooooo’s music PVs?

I must confess, I’ve not actually gotten around to watching those old music videos yet, or at least none of them recently. I do have a copy of the recently released collection BD in transit somewhere, though!

8) This is a particularly dumb thing to point out…

But this is the second time in as many episodes that Nico has held a book upside down whilst flustered, adding yet another charm point to her already lengthy list. Or maybe one of her party tricks is reading inverted reading material.

9) That’s certainly an old iPod!

I don’t really have any specific comment regarding Eri’s sister, though I do notice that she’s wearing the same uniform as the two girls who accostted Maki in front of the school earlier in the episode. Either it’s lazy design, or it’s a middle-school associated in some fashion with the high-school our heroines are attending – I’m going to assume the latter.

Rather, I’m kind of curious as to whether Sunrise (or anyone else involved in the Love Live property) has ever issued a take-down request or notice for any of the Mooooo’s PVs on Youtube or the like. I’d be kind of hilariously ironic given how the show centers around how the casual copyright infringement of uploading the groups debut performance online – not to mention giving out copies of the performance to relatives – the Student President partook in raised the groups popularity. This might have just been me thinking about those articles ANN were posting earlier in the week, though.

Though, again, even now that we know that it was Eri who compiled and uploaded that footage online, I still don’t understand how she managed to get the footage that she did – I can’t say I’ve rewatched that concert scene in recent weeks, but I certainly don’t remember seeing that many cameras around. I also don’t get why Eri seemingly decided to edit the footage together in such a professional looking fashion if her aim was to shame the group into quitting – all it does is disguise any likely shortcomings in their performance!

10) See point 4.

This one actually bugged me a bit more than the previous sudden scene transition did – I’m starting to think that the girls in this show are incapable of holding a conversation whilst walking. Here it would appear that, for all intents and purposes, Umi declared that she wanted to talk to Nozomi about Eri, then waited until Nozomi finished molesting Nico, walked an undetermined distance to the shrine and changed into her Miko costume before so much as saying another word. I realize it’s probably just an excuse to mix up costuming and scenery, but it makes absolutely no sense!

Also, I totally think they missed a nerdy opportunity by not making the restaurant they semi-frequently visit part of the chain from My-HiME, but I may just have Xenoglossia on the mind. Again.

11) I don’t really see how Eri qualifies to complain about the singing…

I’m pretty sure that I don’t see her crooning a tune in any of those ballet scenes, at least.

Although, actually, if I were to take the OP sequence as an example of Moooo’s post-Eri dance skills, then it clearly shows that I’m entirely a laymen in such matters, because, frankly, it doesn’t look at more impressive than, say, the PV from the end of the sixth episode, aside from the fact that they’re juggling two additional persons. I’m not really sure how transferable ballet skills are to idol dancing anyway…

12) So, when will Eri and Nozomi actually join?
Okay, let’s use some science! The next insert songs single is out on 06/03/2013 (or 03/06/2013 if you use that nonsensical US date format), so it’ll likely be next week, as to allow us to have another insert song in the show, and have it’s identity out there, before the CD actually goes on sale. Well, this is assuming that the CD is going to have two songs from the actual show on there, which would only make sense given that they’ve been holding off on announcing the tracklisting for it. It’s a much quicker turn-around than for START::DASH!! and Susume->Tomorrow, which are only just surfacing tomorrow (though my copy of the CD shipped yesterday).

Coincidentally, there’s also a third insert songs CD solicited already, so it seems somewhat rather inevitable that we’ll be seeing another two songs before we reach the end of the series. Based on the current insert song spread of episodes 1, 3, 6 and likely 8, I’d guess the other two will be around episode 10 and whatever the last episode is (12 or 13?). We’ll see, I guess.