50 Fun Facts About Love Live!

An American cosplayer dressed as Nico Yazawa from Love Live! went viral in 2018 by lip-syncing on which app?

TikTok turned the October 2018 clip into a meme, and PewDiePie then reused it several times in his YouTube videos. The cosplayer's lip-sync probably set off the craze around the song itself.

The Love Live! idol group μ's writes its name with a Greek letter, but how do fans pronounce it?

Muse is how μ's is read, and the sequel plays the same trick: its group Aqours is pronounced aqua.

In real life, how was the name μ's chosen for the Love Live! idol group back in 2010?

By a readers' poll: editors narrowed the entries to five, then a final vote settled on μ's. Similar votes named the sub-units and decided who stood centre in the music videos.

Which μ's single from 2010 stalled at No. 74 on Japan's chart yet became the signature song of Love Live!?

Snow Halation was only μ's second single, but the group went on to sing it near the end of all six of their concerts. In 2017 an NHK countdown show ranked it the No. 1 anime song.

In Love Live! The School Idol Movie, which overseas city do μ's visit to film a TV feature?

New York is where μ's perform in Times Square and Central Park, and where Honoka gets lost and meets a mysterious Japanese singer. The trip is meant to promote a third Love Live contest.

Which language does μ's member Eli Ayase slip into in Love Live!, a habit owed to her grandmother?

Russian runs in Eli's family through her grandmother, and her favourite exclamation simply means good. Her little sister Alisa, raised mostly abroad, has the same habit.

In Love Live! Sunshine!!, what finally happens to Uranohoshi Girls' Academy, the school Aqours set out to save?

It closes and merges with another school after applications stall at 98, two short of the 100 needed. The girls decide to win anyway, so the school's name will be remembered.

What do the members of μ's choose to do after winning the Love Live contest in the anime's second season?

Disband the group is their choice, because μ's without its graduating third-years would not be μ's. They announce it in tears on a beach before the final.

Which animation studio, renowned for Gundam and Cowboy Bebop, co-developed Love Live! and produced its anime?

Sunrise built the project with a magazine and a music label from 2010, releasing animated music videos years before the TV series began in 2013.

In Love Live!, Maki Nishikino's parents expect her to give up music and one day inherit what?

A hospital run by her parents is waiting for Maki, who comes from a wealthy family of doctors. That expectation is why the gifted first-year hesitates to join μ's.

Which sporty, tomboyish μ's member in Love Live! became the face of Sega's Puyo Puyo games in 2015?

Rin Hoshizora, a hurdler and footballer who ends her sentences like a cat, fronted the puzzle series as Sega tied the hit anime to its own franchises.

Which fortune-telling μ's member in Love Live! speaks in Kansai dialect and secretly came up with the group's name?

Nozomi Tojo, the oldest of the nine, chose a name that looked ahead to events yet to happen. She uses her fortune-telling to fit in at each new school her parents' work takes her to.

Which shy, rice-loving μ's member does Nico Yazawa name as the next club president when she graduates in Love Live!?

Hanayo Koizumi takes over the Idol Research Club, with Maki as her vice-president. Before joining μ's she had poor self-esteem and gave up easily.

In Love Live!, what does the family of μ's leader Honoka Kōsaka sell at its shop, Homura?

Japanese sweets, known as wagashi, are the family trade. Honoka herself is lazy about chores yet tireless once her idol work begins.

Umi Sonoda, the voice of reason among μ's second-years in Love Live!, excels in which school club?

Archery, in its Japanese form kyūdō, suits Umi's disciplined streak. She was raised in a house of classical arts, with training in the koto, the shamisen and classical dance.

Besides coaching the singers, what is Maki Nishikino's main creative job for μ's in Love Live!?

Composing the songs falls to Maki, who at first refuses Honoka outright. She relents after seeing how hard the girls train, and sends over a CD of the group's first tune.

Which singer, picked from 700 hopefuls at a 2006 audition, made her voice acting debut as Maki Nishikino in Love Live!?

Pile took her stage name from the soft pile of a towel, hoping to seem warm and enveloping. The role of Maki won her a large following of her own.

Maki Nishikino, Nico Yazawa and Eli Ayase sing together as which μ's sub-unit in Love Live!?

BiBi is one of μ's three trios, beside Printemps and Lily White. The PlayStation Vita game School Idol Paradise came out in three editions, one for each sub-unit.

Looking after her younger siblings has made Nico Yazawa of Love Live! surprisingly good at what?

Cooking is her hidden talent, learned while minding three younger siblings when their parents are away. They have been led to believe she is the star of μ's and the others her backup dancers.

Which voice actress plays Nico Yazawa in Love Live! and also voices all three of Nico's younger siblings?

Sora Tokui voices all four Yazawa children in Japanese, and she is a published manga artist as well. One of her four-panel comics ran in the magazine Otapoke.

Which Aqours member in Love Live! Sunshine!! claims to be a fallen angel and insists on being called Yohane?

Yoshiko Tsushima invented her alter ego because she felt too ordinary. The persona later starred in a fantasy spin-off anime that was first announced as an April Fools' joke.

Which Aqours member in Love Live! Sunshine!! is appointed chairwoman of her own school while still a student there?

Mari Ohara gets the post because her family, owners of a hotel chain, is one of the school's main sponsors. She lives in one of the hotels and peppers her Japanese with English.

In Love Live! Sunshine!!, the family of bookish first-year Hanamaru Kunikida runs what kind of place?

A temple is home for Hanamaru, and it lacks modern utilities such as computers, which is why technology amazes her. She also sings in a local choir.

In Love Live! Sunshine!!, what kind of business does the family of Aqours leader Chika Takami run by the sea?

A traditional inn with open-air hot springs and an ocean view is the Takami family business. Chika, the youngest of three daughters, writes most of the lyrics for Aqours.

Riko Sakurauchi moves to the coast in Love Live! Sunshine!! hoping the sea will revive her skill on which instrument?

Piano is her instrument, and she feared she had stopped improving. A scuba dive with her new friends teaches her to hear the sound of the ocean, and she becomes the composer for Aqours.

You Watanabe of Aqours in Love Live! Sunshine!! dreams of following her father into which job?

Ship captain is her goal, and even her catchphrase is a helmsman's call. A lover of uniforms of every kind, she coordinates the costumes for Aqours.

Before Love Live! Sunshine!! begins, why did Kanan Matsuura stay silent on stage at a Tokyo event?

To spare an injured friend, Kanan passed it off as stage fright, since performing on a sprained leg could have made things worse. The misunderstanding kept the original trio apart for two years.

In Love Live! Sunshine!!, Dia Kurosawa scolds the other girls with a catchphrase that imitates which sound?

A wrong-answer buzzer is what her scolding copies, using the Japanese sound effect for a miss. The stern council president is secretly a devoted fan of μ's.

Transfer student Riko Sakurauchi belongs to which three-member Aqours sub-unit in Love Live! Sunshine!!?

Guilty Kiss is one of three trios inside Aqours, alongside CYaRon! and AZALEA. As with μ's, each of the nine members belongs to exactly one sub-unit.

Love Live! Sunshine!! is set in the seaside district of Uchiura, part of which real city in Shizuoka Prefecture?

Numazu is where Riko moves from Akihabara, the Tokyo home of the first series, to take inspiration from the sea.

Cards in Love Live! School Idol Festival came in three attributes: Smile, Pure and which other?

Cool completed the set, and every song carried one of the three attributes too. Matching a team's attribute to the song's earned more points.

Which card rarity sat at the very top of Love Live! School Idol Festival, above N, R, SR and SSR?

UR, short for ultra rare, was the top reward of the game's regular events, each of which ran for about ten days and ranked players by points.

In the mobile game School Idol Festival, which premium currency paid for scouting and refilled a player's stamina?

Love Gems could be bought with real money, and one refilled the whole stamina bar or bought a retry after a failed song. Idolizing a card and reading its side story paid one out for free.

Which difficulty level joined Love Live! School Idol Festival above Expert, adding notes that players had to swipe?

Master sat above Easy, Normal, Hard and Expert, and its swipe icons went beyond the game's usual tap-the-circle rhythm.

In which Love Live! School Idol Festival event did four players go head to head on one randomly chosen song?

Score Match pitted four players against each other for the highest total. Its friendlier cousin, Companion Match, asked the same four to clear missions together instead.

Which Japanese studio developed the mobile game Love Live! School Idol Festival for publisher Bushiroad in 2013?

KLab built the rhythm game, which passed 40 million users worldwide by 2017. The company also developed the spin-off All Stars before handing its operation to another firm in 2022.

What was unusual about the global launch of Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 in February 2024?

Its end was already set: a week before launch, the game's official account said the global version would shut on 31 May, four months later. The Japanese version lasted under a year itself.

In 2015 the English version of Love Live! School Idol Festival was patched after fans noticed what had been removed?

Romance between girls had been toned down, with some lines rewritten to imply a boy instead. After complaints, the developer issued a statement and restored the original meanings in a June 2015 update.

Which games company developed and published the 2016 arcade version of Love Live! School Idol Festival?

Square Enix made the cabinet, After School Activity, which swapped the phone's touchscreen for nine physical buttons around the display. It reached PlayStation 4 in 2021.

A 2022 Love Live! School Idol Festival tie-in dressed Chika Takami in an Ashford Academy uniform from which anime?

Code Geass lent its uniform for the game's ninth-anniversary campaign, with the Chika card as an event reward. Both series come from the same animation studio.

Which school idol group from UTX inspires Honoka Kōsaka to start μ's in the first episode of Love Live!?

A-Rise have a crowd watching their music video outside UTX, which convinces Honoka that idols could attract new students. The trio go on to win the first contest.

At μ's first concert in Love Live!, what do Honoka, Umi and Kotori find waiting in the school auditorium?

An almost empty hall greets them, because the new students are busy touring other clubs. They perform anyway, and Honoka vows to fill the same auditorium one day.

Why do μ's withdraw from their first Love Live tournament near the end of the anime's first season?

Their leader collapses after singing through a fever in the rain on the school rooftop. The others pull out while Honoka recovers, which leaves her badly downhearted.

At μ's beach training camp in Love Live!, which word does Eli Ayase forbid everyone from using?

Senpai is banned for the trip so that the younger girls stop treating the older ones as superiors. The rule helps break the ice, as does a late-night pillow fight.

In the Love Live! episode titled simply μ's, what do the girls make together as a New Year thank-you for supporters?

Mochi is made for everyone who backed the group through the preliminaries. In the same episode, the 23rd overall, μ's settle on a catchphrase that credits those supporters.

What crushing result do Aqours receive at their first Tokyo event in Love Live! Sunshine!!?

Zero votes, last place: the number stings so much that going beyond zero becomes the group's goal. The rival duo on the same bill warn them not to treat the contest like a game.

In Love Live! Sunshine!!, Aqours rush from a contest to their school open house on a monorail built to carry what?

Mandarins usually ride that track. Roadworks had pushed the open house onto the same day as the qualifiers, and the shortcut lets all nine girls appear at both.

Which city in Hokkaido is home to the Kazuno sisters, friendly rivals of Aqours in Love Live! Sunshine!!?

Hakodate hosts the Hokkaido regional round, where the sisters' duo slips up and misses the finals. Ruby and the younger sister, Leah, then stage a Christmas song there for their older siblings.

What sets the idols of Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club apart from μ's and Aqours?

They compete as soloists, rivals who still work together to keep their club alive. The project began in 2017 inside the School Idol Festival games, where monthly fan rankings pitted the girls against each other.

Where do Chika Takami and her friends find the name Aqours in Love Live! Sunshine!!?

Written in the sand is where they spot it, unaware that Dia traced it there. She had used the same name for her own trio two years earlier.