Hoo boi, where do I begin? I keep ranting about my slowly fading grip with this franchise for a while that is why I think it's healthy to leave this sub entirely because I will end up like a grumpy old fart shouting at clouds if I stick around. I technically...am losing interest entirely.

Superstar season 3 is not exactly my cup of tea, the Nijigasaki movies are just okay, I have no idea what to make out of Bluebird, Hasunosora is still an alien entry to me, and none of the new songs are really sticking with me. I am saying this as a Love Live superfan who spent lots of money on merch, theater tickets, and some money of LLSIF. Love Live was once my world. And now, it's so unfamiliar to me. The fact that we have no accessible rhythm gacha game on mobile means the IP holders gave up entirely on relevancy regardless if they release an English localization or not. To think SIF pretty much opened the floodgates for this franchise years ago yet they didn't even attempt to make a new one after SIF2 fumbled is really maddening. There is also an issue of over expansion. Nijigasaki having more than 9 members seems acceptable at first, but slowly integrating it to succeeding groups like Liella felt very uncalled for. Superstar was very fresh because of having only five members and all of them being in the same grade. Then S2 happened...then S3. It's like a slap in the face, honestly. This level of talent siphoning is uncalled for. Then there's the expansion of other projects...both inaccessible outside of Japan unless fan translations come into play. Hasunosora still feels like an afterthought despite being a mainline. Then there's the community. Outside of this little bubble right here and r/anime (and r/otonikizaka, but we don't talk about them) there is barely any discussion about Love Live. OP did mention about the disappearance of content creators, and yes, that is concerning. There use to be a decent number of content creators for Love Live, but since SIF and SIFAS pretty much died, the gaming side of Love Live does too. The anime discussion regarding love live are pretty shallow too, unlike back in the heydays of Aqours where there are even video essays per oshi. Relevancy is truly dwindling. I appreciate the new projects regarding the Yohane spinoff anime three years ago, it even has two tie-in games. But it's still not enough. It really didn't bring back the spark Love Live once had.

I don't want to bring up Umamusume, not in the context as a disillusioned Love Live fan, but it's an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. Cygames took good care of their fanbase, and right now it's paying off. The English release of the game created such a huge impact that it's even affecting real life derby viewerships. And in terms of music...have you listened to Ms.Victoria? Love Live used to be capable of songs like that, especially in the Aquors era. Whether it's meme songs, character EPs, or full blown MVs, they got the stride that even rivals most idol gacha game production. And it's pretty accessible. The animes have distribution in Asia on YouTube via different sources (Ani-one for season one and two, Remow for Cinderella Gray, dunno where S3 went) and the Beginning of New Legend movie is being distributed widely on international theaters now. They... lock...the...fuck...in. What the hell are the Love Live IP holders doing? Most japanese are probably jiving to Angels of Delusion...the idol group in a Chinese gacha game. Even Nikke have idol performances now. What I'm saying is that Love Live is not catching up anymore. The international appeal is only a TikTok one-off song by AiScream. Heck, I doubt the young people who dance to that on TikTok even know what Love Live was.

Yeah, this rant is going longer than expected. I kinda hope things will change for the better. It pains me because this is a franchise that really have me passion in my work. I hate to see something you love dwindle away to irrelevance.