This is sort of half a post, and was almost a bsky thread but i realized i had too much to say and that website doesn't deserve it. The way people, Love Live fans even, talk about the two more recent anime outright astounds me. If they even watch them at all, i mean. This isn't a dig at screenwriter Hanada Jukki but i just know people see his name attached, almost, as permission to enjoy an idol show. Again, he's well earned the prestige attached to his name–K-On and Steins;Gate are indisputably some of the best adaptations of another work into animation ever made, in no small part thanks to his scripts for some of their hardest-hitting episodes. Just for an example, the man wrote the finale to K-On, and it's obvious in the endings of both his Love Live shows.
But for as good as he is at endings, and as important as that final note is on a viewer's overall impression... Nijigasaki and Superstar both have incredible first seasons, even better than School Idol Project and Sunshine's, quite frankly. The much-lauded overarching team narrative makes for incredible peaks and also has the potential, often, to start really slow. This is not necessarily a problem. At the start, we're necessarily working with a limited portion of our idol group. If our leads can keep the pace of the story going like a well-oiled machine from the very start, then it's not as satisfying seeing the group come together and complete itself–if they haven't already indicated a sense of completeness. It communicates the stories of μ's and Aqours well.
Nijigasaki are literally a different story. As a group of solo idols, their narrative will not fit that same mold no matter how hard they might try. The emotions they seek to convey are all too different; wrenched apart by a lack of common theme, the initial dissolution of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club reads to me as a direct mission statement of noncompetition with the past two shows. Yes, this show, this club–they share a name–is missing something that the previous two had. But–contrary to the prevailing fandom opinion of Nijigasaki's hollow plotlessness–there's a lot more depth to this show from the very start. For me, and many others, the best, most memorable episodes in School Idol Project and especially Sunshine were the character focus episodes. Season 2's Taking In A Dog is one i've discussed at least twice before on this very blog, but it's not the only one. Just from Sunshine, Two Girls' Feelings, the mini-arc with Ruby and Leah, and of course Yohane Descends are all notable stand-outs. Yes, it is narratively satisfying and incredibly moving to see the club win the Love Live, but moments like that rely on the full show behind them to be meaningful. It almost defies the laws of physics, how much these single episodes can mean on their own. Considering that, Nijigasaki's genius structure feels obvious, if not completely natural as a next step for the series And for what it's worth there is very clearly an overarching plot. It might not be the focus in the same way as earlier in niji's case at least thats probably bc they have to establish all these solo idols so strongly as their own presences. like i kinda get why people say niji doesnt have a plot but it more than makes up for it by having all of its characters (save the stand in for the player character in the game) be like complex and layered from the jump instead of slowly getting there. that journey is great for a story about people who need to grow and change to work better together, but nijigasaki is different. these girls dont understand each other's tastes and struggle to work together but still enjoy each other's company and friendship having bonded over a desire to make people happy through performance. superstar's first season i think very much benefitted from paring back the focus to just the five then-first-years instead of having to establish a 9-member unit. that show throughout is at its best when its using the 3 season format to let its characters breathe and i really can't wait to rewatch it so i have more to say about it