Love Live! - Sunshine vs. Original Comparison Thread

[Kairin]

As the title of this thread suggest, the purpose here is to allow discussion which compares the content between Love Live! Sunshine with the structure and content of the original Love Live! anime. All content from the original series (both seasons) can be discussed as long as it is relevant to the discussion at hand. It will be helpful if the posters clearly indicate the episode number before engaging into a detailed comparison.

Have fun!

[kitten320]

Well so far Sunshine is a complete rip off, what kinda puts me off.

1. An airhead of an MC. A second year as well!
2. President who is against school idol. Probably has some "tragic" reason as well
3. Blonde Foreigner... is it hard to make them, not blonde? Or avoid foreigner altogether?
4. MC tries to start a band but new members are reluctant
5. A shy girl who wants to be an idol
6. MC gets inspired by another big Idol Group


That's pretty much LL! all over again but less entertaining.

Hoping it mixes things up cause so far I'm purely watching for old cast mentions.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Well so far Sunshine is a complete rip off, what kinda puts me off.

Yohane feels fresh to me. The original never had a highly theatrical chuuni character. Episode 1 also hints at a somewhat different relationship dynamic with Yohane and Hanamaru.

Having two sisters (Dia and Ruby) in the same group could also give the show a different feel later on. Yukiho and Arisa cheered on Honoka and Eli, but Yukiho and Arisa were never actually in μ's.

There's definitely some broad strokes similarities between Sunshine and the original LL, but there's also some real differences so far, and hey, we're only 1 episode into this! I expect that differences between Sunshine and the original will likely become more clear over time.

For example, Mari and Eli have some superficial similarities, but everything I've heard about Mari suggests to me that she's pretty different from Eli. Once Mari gets more screen-time in Sunshine, her differences from Eli will likely help Mari stand out on her own as well.

[Benigmatica]

I feel that both the original Love Live! and Love Live! Sunshine have similarities, but it's not much so far.

While µ's and Aqours are initially made to save their school from closure, I think the latter might subvert it as Uranohoshi Academy has enough students, but the school is facing demolition much like Tari Tari or something like that.

[Nork22]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Well so far Sunshine is a complete rip off, what kinda puts me off.

As someone who has invested in the Aqours seiyuu, the audio dramas, PVs and such, this line just pisses me off, especially when all you had is just 1 episode so far of the Sunshine anime. I understand if you don't keep up with it outside of the anime, but to say it's a complete rip-off is just an insult to all those that worked hard to separate themselves from muse.

On the surface it may feel similar (which is the point from the marketing side of things), but they have a personality all on their own. It makes me shake my head that anyone thinks Dia is Eli ver2. If we get serious on comparisons, Mari should be Eli ver2 cause she's a half-foreigner. BUT even Mari is not even Eli, hell she's not even sanely close, and speaks broken Japanese. Plus we have a Chuuni!

Anyway, that's me getting something off my chest this past week reading some face-palming posts about this sort of issue.

[Tempester]

Riko's character arc in Sunshine is very compelling and it makes her a developed character who is already a significant improvement over her previous counterpart Umi, who never really had a character arc beyond getting used to showing her legs on stage.

I really like Umi but her character pretty much just revolved around Honoka as her right-hand man and served as a disciplinary drive for the rest of u's, she never had the kind of heartwarming spotlight that Riko got this week and that's already a significant point in Sunshine's favor.

[ninjastarforcex]

sunshine is better
all VA is a lot better, less artificial chipmunk voice like a certain muse members or just simply mediocre at singing like a certain muse members

[R.LocK]

Excuse me, who is mediocre at singing at Muse?

[FlareKnight]

I think the new cast is doing enough to distinguish themselves so far. Though I wouldn't say there are many who I think are actually superior to the original cast in general.

It's a good thing they are trying to at least draw some lines with the different initial spark for assembling the group. And really by making the various girls draw different elements from different original members it's not easy to make that many direct comparisons outside of the obvious Chika and Honoka.

I don't think the new group is really better, but they have their own quirks.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Tempester

Riko's character arc in Sunshine is very compelling

I can see why people would like it a lot, and it had its moments, but I honestly found it really quick and a little overdone for this early on in the show. I never emotionally connected to it as much as I would have liked to. At this point in the show, I'd rather if they fleshed out the setting more, and make greater use out of its seaside nature.

Riko's backstory reminded me some of Eli's. I preferred the slow, gradual approach that the original LL took with Eli's backstory (stretching most of it out over Episodes 7 and 8 of the original season). Now maybe Riko's backstory will get more added on to it later on, and that could change my take on it, but for now it didn't impact me as much as it did you.

Besides that, I honestly don't see much of Umi in Riko. Maybe similar polite/poised style of speech, but Riko strikes me as more whimsical and easygoing (Riko did get a little bit upset in one scene, but I think almost anybody would have there, and Umi probably would have completely exploded if in Riko's position there ). To Riko's credit, she seems pretty different to me than anybody in μ's. If I had to pick someone to call "Riko's counterpart", it would in fact be Maki, due to similar hair-color and both being pianists (and both being quickly recruited because of their musical talent). But Riko is also pretty different from Maki.

One positive, anyway, is I find Riko very likeable so far.

[Nork22]

Originally Posted by R.LocK

Excuse me, who is mediocre at singing at Muse?

Honestly when they started, it was Kussun and Shikako. This was because they didn't have any musical training so they were a bit rough at the start. They have improved over the years but they won't hold a candle against Nanjolno, Mimorin, Emitsun and Pile.

[Pen3]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Umi probably would have completely exploded if in Riko's position there )

Why would you think that? She didn't freeze on stage in any of the live shows. Riko froze on her live recital. If you're talking about the pillow fight, then it is different circumstances because they supposed to practice for events to save their school. If their goal wasn't to win LL and save their school and the vacation was just for pure enjoyment, then maybe it'll be different. Who knows.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Pen3

If you're talking about the pillow fight, then it is different circumstances because they supposed to practice for events to save their school. If their goal wasn't to win LL and save their school and the vacation was just for pure enjoyment, then maybe it'll be different. Who knows.

I was thinking of Sunshine Episode 2's slapstick comedy moment, and how Riko took a couple comedic hits there. Yes, it reminded me of the pillow fight in the original Love Live, and I remembered Umi's epic moment there. Don't worry - I'm not bashing Umi here. I remember the pillow fight fondly, and Umi's facial expression in that was amazing.

[Benigmatica]

@Triple_R
If I remember it correctly, there are times that Rikako Aida shows her sadistic side and therefore carried it onto Riko Sakurauchi.

But yes, I remember the pillow fight but unlike Umi's rude awakening, Riko is somewhat subtle when she shows her bad side.

[kitten320]

Lol I don't think you guys understand word rip off. If Mari was identical Eri or Dai was identical Eri, I would not eve bother with the rest of the show. Because it would be blant copy pasting with no effort.

Just cause characters have slightly different personalities does not mean they are completely different when everything else is the same.


1. If they wanted to make it different, they could for one make less members. There is no solid rule that idols need 9 members to be admitted.

2. MC is a 2nd year... again! Why not make her a first year? Or 3rd year? And why is this MC an airhead too? Is it that hard to make her act differently? Oh and she also has 2 good friends! Why not stick with one? Well I guess it's only 1 childhood friend here.

3. MC is inspired by idol group and struggles to start her own. Why not make it other way around? The group is there but MC is not good enough so she works hard to become a member. Or something along those lines. Not that hard to make different story line, is it? But nah, let's follow exactly same formula one more time. It's like A-Rise had the only school where idol group clubs were a norm.

4. A foreigner... do we really need another foreigner? I don't care if her language is broken or she acts differently, the initial set up is still the same. She is a half foreigner like Eri and blonde at that.

5. A school president who is against idol group and is the main antagonist who later, SURPRISE!, joins the group.

6. A character who keeps repeating "weird" word aka "horsho" and now "Zura". At least in Eri's case she was using her native language's word that had meaning.

7. And squishy voices? Ruby sounds exactly like Hanayo. And Yohane is quiet similar to Nico who also had flashy personality who could go between cute/adorable to crazy. Personality switch. Nothing new.

This can really go on.

It's like creators realized some of the faults they had in original and decided to make a restart.


However, I much rather have a completely different set up or have an improved re-launch of original. Heck, I would even better watch beginning on A-Rise than a copy pasted material.


And better animation quality... did you even see lip sync on Yohane? Non of it matched up. They improved CG but sacrificed some other animation parts that I personally considered more important.


And yes, I know nothing about sunshine apart from what I saw in episode 1. And so far it is blunt copying that tries to improve the faults of original.


All those argument about Sunshine being better cause better character development and singing. Well if "rip off" did not learn on it predecessor's mistakes there would be a problem.



I can only hope that creators make something original with this in other 11 episodes.

And yes I have right to state my opinion. Not everyone has to love this. I will watch the rest and withhold any further judgement until the end. But this series better do something differently.

[R.LocK]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Blah-blah-blah, I see a lot of similar things, so it's totally a rip-off.

Yep, I guess that about sums it up.

To begin with, I'm not sure how a project created by the same people who made the original anime is considered a rip-off. It doesn't make any sense to me nonesoever.

Second, you're so awfully hung up on similarities between Muse and Aqours that you just brush off all the differences under the rug. So yeah, have fun ranting because it's just hard to take that post seriously.

Just cause characters have slightly different personalities does not mean they are completely different when everything else is the same.

Ah yes, and this line is just wrong.

[Triple_R]

@kitten360 - I think that Sunshine is, so far, different enough from the original Love Live.

You're not likely to build a successful franchise by making your 2nd version radically different from the 1st. To have a successful franchise, its critically important to bring back the vast majority of the people that liked the original show. You want some changes to create a sense of freshness, yes, but you also want some comfortable familiarity.

A good point of comparison might be Star Trek:TOS and Star Trek:TNG. There's some differences between these two shows, but also loads of similarities (especially when you focus on TNG's 1st season). It wasn't until DS9 that Star Trek tried something radically different.

Likewise, I'm fine with Sunshine being to the original Love Live what TNG was to TOS. Now, if there's ever a 3rd Love Live core group, then at that point I hope to see bigger changes. But for now, this is fine.

[kitten320]

^True, that is why I have no problem that Muse is mentioned so much. That's how you connect the series and draw attention.

Not explicitly copying story lines and personalities.

I was pretty cool with episode 2 just now. Sisters in one school, Dia a crazy Muse fan. 1st half was solid but then came second half... Riko's back story aka Eri version 2. Even conclusion was the same. I could literally post identical/parallel screen grabs.

Sunshine episode 2 technically turned into original episode 8. And Riko is turning into Umi as well...


Sunshine is taking Muse character personalities and problems and shuffling them to create Sunshine characters. Not to mention how it proper rushes through things as well. There is not much set up. You have a problem, and instantly solve it.


R.LocK

It just shows a limit of their imagination. FMA and Arslan have very similar designs but stories have nothing in common apart from some area names. That's being creative. Granted they are set in different time lines but there are still so many ways you could make Arslan like FMA. It wasn't.

LL Sunshine creators didn't even bother.

And what differences? Dia being a Muse fan and having a sister in school? Then some character being into fishing or whatever and doesn't seem to go to school. So we have 3 differences out of 10 similarities... I'm sorry but differences aren't exactly winning here. Especially when I can grab screen shots from both series to show exactly same set up.

It's not just set up, actual cinematography is similar.

[R.LocK]

Originally Posted by kitten320

It just shows a limit of their imagination. FMA and Arslan have very similar designs but stories have nothing in common apart from some area names. That's being creative. Granted they are set in different time lines but there are still so many ways you could make Arslan like FMA. It wasn't.

LL Sunshine creators didn't even bother.

Are you freaking kidding me now?

The only thing that connects two titles is Arakawa, and she is only adapting Arslan into manga from novels. This comparison is completely irrelevant, and... why do I bother.

[kitten320]

^Point remains.

There are tons of authors who wrote more than one story and managed to keep them different and entertaining like Yu Yu Hakusho and H x H. Not big fan of Hakusho but it's for completely different reasons.

Ghost Hunt and Shiki. Same author again.

Batman has tons of remakes but creators manage to make them different. And so on.

Being created by one person/industry is not an excuse to use exactly same story line and personalities.