The better stats on your girls, the better you’ll score. You scout girls of various rarities, make a team of nine with them, and play a song. It’s more than just an anime series or game - it’s a talented group of real-life performers who put on sold-out concerts in Tokyo and rank among other talented musicians on music charts. Eventually, the series expanded, adding two more groups of nine girls: Aqours (pronounced “ aqua”) and the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.īeyond the smartphone game, Love Live! is a cultural phenomenon. The girls band together to create a group called μ’s (pronounced “muse”) and you help them find success as their manager. Love Live! School Idol Festival originally focused on nine girls from Otonokizaka Academy in their school idol club. Though the series has a mostly adult male fanbase in Japan, it’s enjoyed by all types of people, with women making up a large chunk of the series’ Western fanbase. If you’ve ever seen somebody with a Twitter bio that says something like “MikaP” or “UmiP,” that means that they’re the producer for that idol, and she’s their favorite.

Despite the fact that most of the content for any of these series is in Japanese, the international reach is noticeable across social media, with the School Idol Festival reaching over 23 million overseas players in November 2019. Personally, the series was my gateway to other idol game franchises, like and Bang Dream!, but lots of anime fans found their calling helping out the idols in Love Live!. Originally a story project published in Dengeki G’s Magazine, it eventually spun-off into rhythm games, several seasons of anime, and even entire albums of Love Live! music. Love Live! is an idol music project centered around anime girls. Now a new spinoff, Love Live! All Stars, is out, and there’s a lot to know about the rhythm game franchise before you dive in. In 2014, Love Live! School Idol Festival became many anime fans’ gateway into mobile gacha games and idol culture.

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