Love Live! Sunshine!! is a sequel to Love Live! School Idol Project. It focuses on Aqours, a group of 9 school idols.
The girls of Uranohoshi Girls' High School are swept into idol fever, wanting nothing more than to become the next-best School Idol group. And they plan to do just that. Chika Takami brings together eight of her classmates to form Aqours, their own idol group. Taking place years after the original Love Live! School Idol Project, the girls aim to win Love Live, the biggest competition for school idols.
I've loved Love Live as a series for many years now, and I owe it all to Aqours. When I found them I was in a really dark place, and they brought a light to my life I really needed at the time. A lot of their music makes me emotional for this reason, even though to most other people it's just typical anime girl slop.
Chika Takami, the protagonist and leader of Aqours, often talks about 'wanting to shine.' To want something so badly, even though you are entirely unremarkable by society's standards. To smile in the face of adversity. To rise above the shitty, desolate town you found yourself born in. That is what Aqours is to me. When I was younger and I first found Aqours I also wanted to shine. To be more than what I'm seen as. They've inspired me so much.