How did I get into Love Live! and what does it mean to me?
I'm a 16 year old girl living in Scotland! I've been a fan of Love Live! for just under 2 years.
I got into Love Live! through my friends, who were huge fans of the anime and were pretty good at the game! I was at one of their houses and they made me listen to a huge compilation of Love Live! music, and I loved the style so I went home and watched the anime. I got into the game shortly afterwards, and grinded so I could do a few steps of Hanayo's birthday scout. (Ironically Hanayo is my worst girl, but due to association with a toxic person in my life rather than me disliking her character!)
Kotori was my favourite from the start. I loved her character design (I'm an artist if you couldn't tell!) and her soft and happy demeanour. I cosplayed Kotori a few months afterwards, and doing so helped me embrace my femininity and I now love wearing cute dresses!
Fast forward on maybe a year. I had a tainted view of Aqours as one of my friends was a hardcore µ's fan and hated anything to do with Aqours. I knew little about Sunshine but I knew that Ruby was my worst girl as I hated her signature catchphrase and how people would spam it during events on SIF. Despite this I took the plunge and watched Sunshine as I wanted to see why my friend hated it so much.
My eyes were opened to the world of Aqours and Ruby quickly became my best girl. Sunshine came at a good time for me, as around the time I was watching Sunshine, my older sister was nearing the end of high school. Her and I are incredibly close, so Ruby and Dia's relationship always resonated with me. But when I watched the episode where Ruby shows her fears about Dia leaving school, it was like watching myself on a screen. Ruby had all the same fears that I had, and it was incredibly comforting to watch her overcome those fears. I wanted to prove to my big sister that I could look after myself, just like Dia did. At this point Ruby overtook Kotori as my best girl. I see a lot of myself in her.
This year I took my first ever exams. I'm a very anxious person so this was terrifying to me, as I'm sure it is for many others. I had to deal with a death in my family during my exams, but Love Live! was always there for me. On the day of my results, I listed to Step! ZERO to ONE, to remind myself that whatever happened that day, there was always hope, and I would move forward.
Ruby is now my go to cosplay (with my big sister as Dia of course <3) and I love the Love Live! community within Scotland! Everyone is so kind!
Sorry if this was too long! Please hmu if you want to be friends, I love meeting people in the Love Live! Community!
