How has Aqours grown as a group? Will they learn what it means to shine? Will they manage to turn the zero into a one? Find out in this episode, which is the finale for season one of Love Live! Sunshine!!
The episode opens with Aqours about to perform in front of a huge crowd. Before they begin, however, we jump to a few days prior where they’re practicing for the Love Live.
The girls are exhausted but excited for the event. Since they’re trying their hardest in the summer, the girls decide to take a break and do rock, paper, scissors in order to determine who buys the group ice cream. And when luck is involved, there’s only one person who ends up drawing the short stick every time. The girls then relax in the clubroom.
Chika asks Mari to see if there’s any new applicants, which leads to another callback to Hanyao’s penchant for dramatic pauses. However, there are still zero applicants. The girls decide that it’s because no one knows about the school’s good sides.
The three support girls then pop up, right as Aqours is getting ready to practice again. The sight of these tough idols makes the support wish they could shine, too. As such, they ask Chika if they can perform on stage alongside Aqours. Chika says they can, which worries Riko.
Later on that night, Riko and Chika have their lover’s revenzous across each other’s balconies. Riko is trying her best to tell Chika that it’s a bad idea to have their classmates join them, but Chika is convinced that them joining the performance will convince the audience that their school is cool. Chika’s mother, who Riko initially considers to be a ghost, then appears out of nowhere. After she introduces herself to Riko, Chika’s mom asks Chika if she’s going to quit again, which is a callback to an earlier episode where Chika confesses that she quits every activity she picks up once the going gets hard. Chika claims she won’t.
The episode then jumps to the day of the Love Live! The three support members are late, but it turns out they brought every student from Ura High so that the entire school could be on stage at once. However, at this point Riko apologizes and tells them that the rules only allow for actual members to be on-stage.
Aqours is shown getting ready in the dressing room. Yohane gets emotional and thanks Ruby and Hanamaru. Mari, Kanan, and Dia all get weepy, as well. You and Riko says Chika is the one who made Aqours happen, but Chika deflects the praise and thanks everyone, including the students from their school.
Before Aqours perform, however, they basically do a SERIES RECAP in the form of a play and recited lines in order to tell the audience about their little school and little town. They then perform. The girls also manage to achieve their goal, as well.
The episode ends with everyone lining up for a group shot on the beach. “Is your heart shining?” is the name of Aqours’ first single, by the way. I guess we’ll find out the results of the Love Live in season two, which is coming out later this year, I think. Until then!
The Lily Garden 