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Zak
30 Days of Love Live! Challenge
Day 15: Rank All Aqours Members
I apologize to anyone that actually looks forward to these, with the new event on EN and life being a pain, I haven't had as much time to work on these as I'd prefer. That being said, I don't want to rush these either (the character rankings). Nijigaku won't be too hard since I'll be reranking them after the anime finishes anyway. Compared to µ’s, I don’t have as much to say equally between everyone, but I’ll do my Rubesty (sorry…)! Like last time, I apologize for the typos, wherever they may be.
Something else I’d like to add: if you want to discuss any of what I talked about or your character favorites, feel free to ask/discuss! I’m always open to different viewpoints and won’t insult you or anything if we don’t see eye to eye.
Anyways!
#1. Chika - Chika is really good. I mean... just watching the anime should be enough to understand how amazing her character is. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I do think that Chika is a better character than Honoka. I do like Honoka more than Chika, but Chika’s character is definitely better written in certain aspects. Yet again, I’d like to plug WatTheWut and his amazing video on Chika.
What I Love: Mikan :D
What I Dislike: N/A
#2. Dia - When I initially watched Sunshine, I hated this character (which is similar to how I felt about Umi). Strict characters that wanna get on your case for literally everything and seem to want to have zero fun are not my cup of tea. However, when S2 rolled around, Dia got her development episode so to speak. After that, I definitely had a different opinion of Dia. She may be strict, but with reason. She strives for excellence and perfection as a school idol, and dealing with idiots like Chika and Mari probably doesn't help. Over time, much like Umi, Dia climbed the ranks and now sits very comfortably at the second ranked spot, which is definitely impressive. Dia is a perfect example of why certain characters need development. Without that, I would've continued to detest her character for a long time, or at least until I rewatched Sunshine. I'm not saying that characters need development to be good either, just that, there are character types that need some sort of meaningful event to happen that either changes the viewer's outlook, or changes the character (though not fundamentally). Umi doesn't exactly have what you'd call "great character development", but it does exist. Sure, she could have used a little more, but I'm pretty content with how Umi turned out.
What I Love: She is my queen.
What I Dislike: I'm not sure actually. Again, her character isn't without flaws (no character is), but I might just be blind to whatever they are.
#3. Ruby - I love Ruby, let’s just get that out in the open. Her character is one of the stronger ones in Sunshine in my opinion, and she’s easily one of the most notable examples of character development in the anime. S1 Ruby isn’t bad by any means. We see her come out of her shell to go after the dream that she long wanted to achieve: being an idol. Much like Hanayo, she seemingly lacked the confidence in herself to set course towards her goal, and required the help of Maru(Maki/Rin), to progress. In S2, we see both Ruby and Leah come to terms with the fact that they won’t be able to perform with their sisters anymore. Being dependent on someone for such a long period of your life, someone who you can confide in, who you look towards for comfort, all of a sudden moving on leaving you behind is tough. Ruby also knows that Dia is worried about how she’ll fare, and in order to let her know that she’ll be okay on her, she’s able to find the courage to get the message across to her: through song. Without Awaken the Power, Ruby’s character would more than likely not have developed much more than it had from S1. Kinda a weird place to end it, but that’s really all I got lol.
What I Love: Her ability to find confidence in herself when she needs to.
What I Dislike: Not much, if anything. This high up in the list you’re less likely to find anything negative (since I do like these characters more). I legitimately do try to think of things for each character, but sometimes I really just don’t have anything.
#4. Yoshiko - I don’t know how to describe this character at all lol. She’s the Nico of Sunshine seeing as how she’s pretty much the butt of everyone’s joke, or someone’s giving her crap, but it’s still entertaining regardless. Compared to the other Dia and Ruby, I don’t have much to say, but I either way she does feel like a solid character at the very least.
What I Love: Whether or not she can really control herself is debatable, but I like how she isn’t after to act how she does. She seldom let’s others' opinions get in her way and you have to respect that to a certain degree.
What I Dislike: Not so much directed at Yoshiko, but it is slightly annoying how people always call her Yohane. I love Yoshiko (maybe not as much as others), but I rarely ever call her Yohane. You’re not in the wrong if you prefer calling her that either, so don’t think I’m insulting you or anything if you do!
#5. Riko - Riko is a solid character, not much else to say. As I get closer to the middle of the list, I don’t have much to say because it’s kinda that middle ground of, “I like you, but not completely.”
What I Love: How she’s pretty much gay for Chika.
What I Dislike: In order to be gay with Chika, she had to take You away from her...
#6. Mari - Mari is pretty good, but I feel like the characters above her a just a bit better. Along with Riko, Maru, and Chika, she’s also had the honor of being ranked first, though much like Riko, it wasn't for too long.
What I Love: Shiny!, but also her “engrish” is pretty entertaining.
What I Dislike: Nothing if I’m being honest.
#7. You - You seems pretty popular, and I kind of understand why, but she’s just not for me. That’s all I got. I’m not even going to bother writing likes or dislikes because You is probably the most neutral character on this list.
#8. Hanamaru - I’ve talked quite a bit about Maru already throughout the challenge, so I’ll be quick. When I started SIF, the event going on at the time was “Research is Required”, a Maru/You token event for those unfamiliar. The moment I laid eyes on her, as cheesy as it sounds, it was practically love at first sight (not real love, obviously). After finishing SIP and moving on to Sunshine, I fell in love with her character even more. Over time, however, my love for her started to fade away, especially after S2. A lot of her character seemed to end up being “Zura”, eating, or ripping on Yoshiko, and at a certain point it gets stale. I’m not saying that her character is bad either. Rather, it seems to boil down to a gimmick most of the time. I hate saying that too because I don’t wanna rip on someone’s favorite character, but that’s the nicest way I can say it.
What I Love: How much she cares about Ruby, zura.
What I Dislike: Too much “Zura”, zura.
#9. Kanan - Sorry, but what does Kanan do exactly? Even after four years, my opinion of her has all but improved. She just isn’t good. I personally find the third years as a whole to be pretty weak, though that’s probably an unpopular opinion. On their, I think both Mari and Dia are fine, but as a group, meh. I’m always open to changing my views and whatnot, and I do my best to set aside my opinions and bias towards a character, and willing to give them a second chance, but man, what do ya’ll see in Kanan? That’s kinda a rhetorical question, but also if you like Kanan and wanna give me some reasons as to why you like her, or why she’s your favorite, I’d genuinely be glad to hear!
I don’t enjoy disliking characters because we all like our favorites for certain reasons, and it sucks knowing that I might dislike someone’s favorite girl. That’s why I truly want to avoid character hate.
What I Love: Sorry but I got nothing.
What I Dislike: I don’t even know if I’m being completely honest.
Zak
30 Days of Love Live! Challenge
Day 14: Rank All µ's Members
I didn't get this out yesterday due to rewatching SIP. I actually started it in the morning as was ~25% done, but then chrome just randomly closed on me... That aside, I wanted to not rush this and really think about what I want to say, so I figured I'd wait. Aqours ranking will still hopefully be out later today! I wanted to say at least one thing that I love and dislike about each character, so even if I don't love a character, I'm not just bashing them either.
Also expect typos cause I'm definitely not going to proof read this entire thing.
#1. Umi - I implore you to look at my birthday post from earlier this year instead of simply rewriting it again. Though I hadn't rewatched the anime at the time of writing it, and have rewatched since (literally just rewatched it, too), I can confirm there isn't much that I would change. Yes, some of her reactions are a little over the top, but compared to how Maki is at times it’s fine.
What I Love: Almost everything.
What I Dislike: She does get a little too mad at Honoka sometimes, but can you blame her?
#2. Honoka - I get the impression that Honoka is either about average or a little below on people’s favorites, and I really don’t get why. Honoka is just like… really good. I like characters like Honoka that are very energetic and positive (and sometimes stupid), so I’ve always thought that she’s at least in the upper half. Rewatching the anime has even further solidified my love for Honoka, to the point where she actually surpassed Eli, who had been my second favorite for a long time. Honoka’s (Emitsun’s), singing is actually amazing, too, so she’s also got that going for her.
What I Love: Her overflowing positivity and motivation.
What I Dislike: I can’t think of anything tbh. Not that she’s flawless, but I’m struggling to think of anything.
#3. Eli - I believed that Eli would be the eternal second place holder for the longest time, but then Honoka decided it was time to change that. Still, third out of nine isn’t bad. One reason I’ve always liked Eli is because of how mature she, but at the same time can still be cute or clumsy. Not to mention, how can you not get behind a pretty much canonically gay relationship like NozoEli?
What I Love: Her style, coolness, and maturity, coupled with being extremely adorable.
What I Dislike: How they kept NozoEli pretty much entirely out of the anime.
#4. Nozomi - I talked about Nozomi a bit last week, and the same goes for here. Nozomi was my favorite ever since I’d finished the anime, and wasn’t until Umi usurped her position back in 2018 that she was forced out of the number one spot. That aside, Nozomi will always be one of my favorite characters. I love her overflowing positivity, and how she seemingly doesn’t take anything seriously. Even so, she’s probably the most perceptive character in the anime, and constantly looks out for others that she herself hasn’t been acquainted with (MakiRinPana).
What I Love: ^^
What I Dislike: In S2 Ep 8, she should've just been honest and told everyone her dream, instead of causing such a misunderstanding.
#5. Nico - Broken record here, but I talked about Nico last week, too, so you can check that out if you so wish. Bottom line, Nico is one of the strongest characters in the entire anime. When I first watched SIP, I thought Nico was dead last beside Umi. After a little while, I started to think that she actually was the best character (not favorite wise, but just objectively).
Now, while that may be true, she still isn’t better than Umi.
What I love about Nico is when she lets out how she really feels. Most of the time, she wears the personality of Nico-Nii, and while it’s entertaining, seeing just how much Nico does in fact care about µ’s is very heartwarming.
What I Love: Her sincerity towards being a school idol.
What I Dislike: She's the No. 1 Idol in the Universe - the epitome of perfection - what is there not to like?
#6. Hanayo - Compared to the other characters, I don't have as much to say about Hanayo. Hanayo is definitely significant to me, however. She was my starter in SIF, and she was my other favorite after watching the anime along with Nozomi, so I’ve liked her for quite a while.
What I Love: I kinda get the impression that she's just very fluffy and that makes me sorta happy.
What I Dislike: What d'ya mean? Dislike and Hanayo don't go together.
#7. Kotori - Kotori is pretty much the bridge between the top and lower halves of this list; she isn’t the greatest character, but she’s far from the worst. Like Hanayo, I don't have much good or bad to say about Kotori. It's been a bit since I watched it, but I'm again gonna plug WatTheWut again because his Kotori video was really solid.
What I Love: She's very positive (almost to a fault), and is always supporting Honoka no matter what she wants to do.
What I Dislike: At times, I think she does need to be a little more forward, or more strict towards Honoka. I get that it's not really in-character to be like that, but it would've been nice to see a bit more variation.
#8. Maki - If Maki’s character had more of a balance between being normal and tsundere, I’m sure she’d be much higher. However, that fact has not, is not, and will not change; that’s just her character type. Don’t get me wrong: I love me a good tsundere, one done correctly with a good balance. But with Maki, rarely does it seem like she lets up. If she were able to be more honest about things, again, she’d be much higher. Maki does have her good moments, though, just not as many as I’d prefer.
What I Love: How much she cares about the other first years.**
What I Dislike: Too much tsun.
#9. Rin - I don’t understand this character. I don’t hate the character, but she’s just isn't up my alley. Compared to literally every other character, I feel like she lacks a strong presence. Even a character like Hanayo, who, maybe doesn’t have a lot going on, still has an actual character. I can actually think of things I like about Hanayo, whereas Rin pretty much draws a blank. I guess that’s a bit subjective because we all like different things, but I can’t think of any reason to dislike her either; she just doesn’t have a lot going on compared to other characters, and that pushes her down to ninth. Again, I do not hate this character, I just feel that she’s a bit weaker than the rest of µ’s.
What I Love: She likes Hanayo, and I also like Hanayo... so that?
What I Dislike: ^See the above paragraph^
Zak
30 Days of Love Live! Challenge
Day 12: Favorite Aqours Year Group
1st Years
Unlike µ's, none of my top three (as of now), are first years. That begs the question: why? Well, looking at each individual year group, I don't feel a strong vibe really coming off of any of them, both second and third years. Part of the issue is that I have mixed feelings about the members of those year groups, so it does make it difficult to like them as a whole.
One reason I love the first years is that seems so full of youth and energy. They really seem like they're making the most of they're high school life, and truly enjoy being idols, which is great to see. The dynamic that they as well is fairly entertaining, even though that dynamic is basically taking pity on Yoshiko (that's half of her character anyway, though). I'm not super keen on Hanamaru, but once upon a time, long, long ago, she was indeed best girl. Alone, I don't like her character that much, but paired with the other first years she's much better. Ruby and Yoshiko are easily my favorites, each for my their own reasons. Ruby's character development in S2 was a good boost to her overall character that easily bumped her into my top four. Yoshiko, well, I just like her. While she is the epitome of comic relief, I do believe that she is a solid character. I'll be ranking Aqours members in a few days, so I'll save the super in-depth stuff for then.
