Snow Halation

Eight years ago today I can’t even think of what I was doing, or where I was at the time.  I believe I might’ve been finishing up my junior year of high-school, too preoccupied with my life on the online message boards I frequented.  (You thought I was going to say school, hahaha.)  Little did I know that something magnificent had blessed the world with it’s presence—presents?—and that the world would never be the same for it.

2010/22/12  Three days before Christmas, the world was given a gift.  One that has, to this day, drawn many, many people together, and continues to do such.  I’m talking, of course, of Love Live.  μ’s second single, in fact.  You know it, we all love it.  

Snow Halation.  

This song resonates with so much energy, emotion, and love that one cannot help but be touched by it’s marvelous impact as they listen to it. It goes without saying that this song changed me, it changed my life as much as it has many others in this community.  But why?  What makes this song so impactful and why do people respond to it so beautifully?  How could such a simple song, sung by nine Japanese girls have so much impact on millions of people?

To answer that, it all starts on a personal level.  By the time I got to Episode 8 of season two, “Melody of the Heart,” Love Live had already made me cry many a time.  The pure emotions of these girls was something that just resonated with me.  And as I rewatch the episode right now, I remember how powerful these emotions were for me at the time.

The moment when Honoka starts crying and holding onto Eli, saying that she didn’t want μ’s to end without singing their last song together, Nozomi’s gentle kindness as she picked on Nico for crying when she herself was brought to tears—I was already crying before the song even started.  (And as I’m writing this, I have the episode playing in the background, I honestly had to shut my laptop so I could watch the song in all of its beauty through my tears.)

And I know I’m not the only one who’s had a similar experience with this song.  And what’s more beautiful to me is not just the fact that this song resonates so powerfully with me.  It’s the fact that the entire community holds this song as one of the most important, and well loved songs in Love Live history.  Even Emitsun claims this song as “Everone’s beloved song.”  And how could she be wrong?  We’ve all had similar experiences and have felt the pure emotions driven in this song.  Just a simple look at the history of this song proves it resonates with so many people!

When μ’s first performed this song during their first Live, most everyone’s glow sticks were solid white the whole time.  A few people broke out their UOs or orange lights during the final chorus, which we all know so well, but it was just a handful of people wanting to mimic the lighting change during the PV.  However, after this concert, this act absolutely exploded in the fandom.  During their next lives, more and more people responded to the song by breaking out their UOs and letting the emotions resonate all the more.

And perhaps in one of the most beautiful displays of love for μ’s, during their Final Live, literally everyone in the Tokyo Dome broke out the UOs and changed their lights to orange.  The light was so powerful from all of the glowsticks that it lit the entire dome up, all the way up to the roof!  Watching the Live gives me CHILLS.  I can only imagine the emotions the girls felt as they saw the entire dome light up with love for them.

It was when I first saw this performance that I realized how much Love Live meant to the millions of other people besides me.  It wasn’t just a simple show, or a random group performing songs.  It was real.  And it touched everyone, and everyone’s been changed for it.  μ’s impact can’t be measured, it just can’t.

Seeing the dome light up made me want to be there for them.  To support μ’s any way I could.  Obviously, there was no way I could do that, as by the time I had seen this, they had already disbanded and Sunshine was well into its second season.  But my desire to support the girls and give back to them is still as strong as ever, as I imagine anyone’s would be after seeing such a performance.  And how could you not?  When you love something, or someone, all you want to do is be there to give yourself, your very being.

To get an idea of how much of an impact this song has had on not just the Love Live community, but others as well, watch this video.  A popular band in Japan covered the song for a performance once.  (https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveLive/comments/a8fx9o/full_version_of_snow_halation_by_jam_project_the/)  You can see how at the start of the song, everyone in the audience’s lights represent The Monsters’ color.  A solid red.  But as soon as Snow Halation kicks in, everyone in the entire crowd changes their penlights to white.  And then, at the classic moment, right before the final chorus, everyone changes to orange.  This wasn’t a Love Live concert, and yet the impact of this song is sown as prevalent as ever!

It’s honestly hard to put into words how much this song has touched people.  I feel as if no matter what I try to say, I can’t do it justice.  The best words I can use, actually, are from the song itself.  “It’s frustrating, but it’s a pure hearted devotion called love.”

I don’t think any other song could have done what Snow Halation did.  In a beautiful moment of irony—or perhaps perfect and excellent song writing—the lyrics themselves reverse and change meaning when you look at them in the light of the community’s response to this song.

We all know that Snow Halation’s whole story is that it’s a love song.  It’s easy to read the lyrics and consider it a classic winter-themed love song.  However it’s deeper than that.  It’s not just a straight forward “I love you” song.  It’s μ’s singing to us.  They’re expressing their love to us, the people to support them and have been with them.  But even more than that, it’s us.  It’s our response to μ’s as they sing their love for us.

“This feeling, it’s strange, isn’t it?
It’s almost as though it came fluttering down from the sky

The color of this special season fills me with excitement.”

Looking at the opening, we see that this part is about anticipation.  When you’re eagerly awaiting something, or someone, knowing that the moment will happen any second now, but yet you still have to wait.  It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it?  The color part could also be seen in relation to the penlights.  “Color of this special season,” meaning white.  White as snow.

“From the moment we met,

The melody of my heart has been ringing with premonitions

It can’t be stopped, it won’t be stopped — why?”

We’ve all felt it before.  The pure adoration we have for that special someone, or thing in our lives.  (Love Live anyone???)  Love at first sight.  That was me with Love Live.  The opening moment of the show stole my heart and I knew I would love this show, and nothing has stopped me from feeling this way.  Our emotions can’t be stopped.  We all love μ’s!

“Ring out
Shall I name this heart-rending pain “Snow Halation?”

I can’t wait for our feelings to resonate; it’s frustrating, but it’s a pure-hearted devotion called love

Even in this mild fever, I can’t hesitate

I’ll accept the courage to dive in: it’s about to start!”

These words continue to describe what love feels like.  What love does to us.  But it’s more than just that.  “I can’t wait for our feelings to resonate,” encompasses the anticipation we all have as we sing our hearts out for μ’s, or crack those UOs and change our penlights to orange—it’s our way of giving back to these girls as they’ve given to us.  “Even in this mild fever, I can’t hesitate,” shows that what we have, the feelings for μ’s are an undying emotion.  It can’t be stopped.

“Without a sound, nor a sign

Our fate changes silently

At the thought of the coming future, my heartbeat quickens.”

I’m sure that when this song was written, the writers had no clue the level of impact this would have.  The song came in quietly, released before Christmas, and then fate was changed forever.  It’s enough to make your heart skip a beat when you think about it, no?

“When you feel troubled

I’ll come running right away, wanting to hug you tightly,

Wherever you are, no matter where, I’ll Fly High!”

This is the perfect example of μ’s reach with this song.  Once recorded, the spoken word can be a very powerful tool.  Transcending time and space itself, the recording can be used to touch many, many people across time, distance, cultures, and races.  No matter who you are, where you are, or what you’re doing right now, μ’s is reaching out to you through their music.  Whether you’re down in the dumps, just riding on through life, or living the high life; μ’s will reach you if you just listen!

“Hurry up

Before I knew it, my true emotions grew too large to contain

It’s painful to never do more than dream of it

I want you to be mine!

I don’t want to be bewildered by your gentle eyes

Accept all my love for you as it is, please!”

When you love something, all you want to do is give yourself to it, give your all.  It becomes too painful to only simply wish you could give something—all you want is to give back as you have received.  So we cry, “Accept all my love for you as it is, please!”  Though we can’t physically give back to μ’s, we can carry on their legacy, and continue to give to them in this way.  And surely, their legacy lives on as long as this song remains in our hearts.  And it’s upon this revelation, that we enter the final chorus, and the colors change from white to gold—representing a new found love and determination.

“Ring out

Shall I name this heart-rending pain, “Snow Halation?”

I can’t wait for our feelings to resonate; it’s frustrating, but it’s a pure-hearted devotion called love

Even in this mild fever, I can’t hesitate

I’ll accept the courage to dive in; it’s about to start!”

The emotions and purity in this song is too much for human comprehension!  Do yourself a favor, please!  Sometime today, listen to Snow Halation.  And as you listen, remember the impact it had when you first heard it.  The same impact it had on everyone else.  

These feelings of pure-hearted devotion called love.  Love for μ’s.  It’s frustrating to wait for these feelings to resonate, and we can’t hesitate!  So let’s accept the courage to dive in!  Let’s Love Live together!

It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it?  Shall we name this feeling, “Snow Halation?”

The Central Message of Love Live Sunshine!!

There’s this moment in season two of Love Live School Idol Project in which μ’s is faced with the opportunity to come up with a tag-line for their group.  They search for meaning behind who they are, their visions and dreams before finally coming to the emotional decision of, “A story achieved together.”  It creates a beautiful moment, and truly does encapture the essence of μ’s entirely—and perhaps, even, the very underlining story of the entire show, as one could easily see how this would be the main theme and message from simple observations.

Whether it be moments when the girls in μ’s are trying to write a love song—and subsequently create one of my favorite songs and moments in the show—or when they’re singing their winning song in the second Love Live, KiRa-KiRa Sensation, then turn right around with the help of their friends from the school and all of their supporters and sing an emotional throw back to season one with Bokura wa Ima no Naka de; or when Honoka and the rest create a massive joint effort between literally ALL of the school idols in Japan with their smash hit Sunny Day Song; even when μ’s is struggling with the idea of the third years leaving them after graduation, not knowing what that would mean for their future, the underlying theme, the very essence of μ’s is that it’s their story achieved together.

It’s something special and precious that only μ’s could present so beautifully.  But if this has to be the theme of μ’s, what could be said of Aquors?  Upon first glance the most obvious message would be “chase your rainbows,” but I believe there to be something deeper within the show that showcases a better understanding of the central message from Love Live Sunshine.  Sure, the girls make a lot of references to “finding your shine.”  Even with Mari’s obnoxiously hysterical “SHINYY~!”  The central theme could, essentially, be to “shine” with everything you’ve got.  But there’s a lot more to Sunshine than just a simple message like that. 

Throughout Love Live School Idol Project, the story of μ’s seems to rather follow exactly where you would expect it to go.  You expect the girls to not make it to Love Live during the first season, you expect them to save their school, you expect them to win the next time in season two, you even expect them to break up after the third years graduate.  While this method of storytelling isn’t inherently wrong—and it certainly doesn’t lower the impact or beauty of the emotions behind the key scenes in the show—Sunshine does something different.  Nothing goes the way you would expect it to in Sunshine.  Aquors’ story is much more different and unexpected than μ’s.

The first few episodes of Love Live Sunshine play off as a direct copy of μ’s in a sense.  You have your bold and adventurous, fiery and easily excitable orange haired leader, with the brown-haired partner who makes the costumes for the group.  Then you have the long haired beauty come in.  And aside from simply sharing characteristics with Umi, Riko goes a step further and adds Maki similarities to the mix; red hair, pianist, strong willed refuses to join at first but begrudgingly agrees to write the music.

I could go on with even more similarities; Dia, the school council president once again, screaming, “NO IDOLS,” then making a hairpin turn and joining the idol group, Hanamaru being a nearly direct clone of Hanayo—even the names are the same almost?  But this is essentially the whole point.  Aquors starts out as something familiar, something you know well, something you’re emotionally attached to.  And I could go on more here about how I hated Aquors at first, infuriated that they would attempt to be a direct copy of μ’s and fail so epically, but that’s a different story for another time…  Instead, Aquors needed to start out as something familiar in order for their message to shine.

The beauty of this is that by starting out as something familiar, Aquors, for better or worse, grabs your attention from the get-go.  It’s not something new that you have to try to figure out, and there certainly aren’t any tricks up their sleeves—I mean, c’mon!  It’s a simple show about cute girls being idols, right?  Oh no, the school’s in trouble, what do we do?  Let’s be idols and compete in Love Live!  “Nico-Nico-Nii!”  “Shinyy~!”  “B-Baka!”  “Bu-Bu Desu Wa~!”  I mean, how deep can this show even get?  It’s beautifully simplistic. 

Or is it?  

This right here is why Aquors had so many people fooled, and the true beauty of Sunshine comes to light.  Comparisons be made, Sunshine eventually breaks the mold and we start to see Sunshine as not just a continuation of the story told from the first two seasons, but as a new story in and of itself.  There comes a time when Sunshine, and by essence, Aquors themselves, prove to the world that they’re not just μ’s clones, and that they’re not simply chasing after μ’s shine.  And without going into too much detail, as we’ve all seen it, we all know the beautiful moment when Chika realizes that she can’t be Honoka—Aquors can’t be μ’s—and we get one final farewell from μ’s, and a blessing in the form of a dove feather—the ultimate passing of the torch. 

Continuously, throughout the show, Sunshine plays on the theme of subverting our expectations.  Having come off of Love Live previously, we expect Aquors to band together and save the school, we expect them to win Love Live, we expect them to do all of these great things—but Sunshine is too clever to just play up those expectations.  It delivers everything perfectly by denying us of any of them.
We expect Aquors to get into Love Live, they don’t even make it past the first round—gaining a whopping 0 votes.  We expect an epic final showdown between Aquors and Saint Snow, the ultimate rival group, but the sisters fail and never compete again.  We expect Aquors to save the school during the final episode of season one with the beautiful Mirai Ticket, yet they fail.  They fail once again when the school ultimately shuts down, and we expect them to drop out of Love Live—yet they go on and this time make a clear and concise win and forever immortalize their school’s name.  And yet, one final time, we expect that to be the end of the show—yet we get this tearjerking episode when the girls are forced to say goodbye to the school, ultimately saying farewell to each other and leaving Aquors behind as one of their many wonderful stories they would remember together forever.

The beauty here is that the creators didn’t simply let the theme of subverting expectations be something simply shown in the anime alone.  The very core of the show itself—the music!—carries this theme perfectly as well.  The vast majority of popular music follows the basic song pattern, or some variation thereof.  With the pattern looking something like: Intro, Verse, Verse,  Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Verse, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus, Outro; with the Verses always being the same musically, and Choruses being the same musically and mostly lyrically.  Now, many, many variations exist, but 99% of the songs you listen to will play upon this theme because it’s safe and doesn’t take any risks.  The VAST majority of μ’s entire library follows this simple pattern as well—and there’s nothing wrong with it at all!  This is just simply how songs are made.

But remember Aquors’ theme?  In the obvious intention of subverting our expectations, Aquors flips this around.  A great number of Aquors songs change their verses musically, play with the idea of the order of things, and even double up on choruses.  As we are expecting the song to follow the simple pattern of verse, chorus, verse chorus, Aquors subverts those expectations and does something beautiful to build intensity, hype, or excitement.
Just to name a few of the many, many examples, Jumping Heart starts off the trend by following the classing song structure up until the final Chorus, where instead of just playing the chorus straight, as expected, we get this beautiful moment at the end where they extend the chorus.  The line, “Yume o tsukamae ni yuku yo,” or the translation of it, “Let’s go and catch our dreams!” is always the second to last line in the chorus, when they sing this line, we know the chorus is almost over as we can feel it musically and lyrically.  However, in the final chorus, they add a new line, then repeat this one, building the excitement up for the final line and outro of the song.  (Refer to about 4:11 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZYtti58gE.) 

Another time this happens is in the opening theme of season two.  Mirai no Bokura wa Shitteru yo continues the trend of Aquors’ theme by altering the song twice to build more excitement than one can handle alone.  With the second verse ending entirely differently than the first, the second chorus then shines all the more brighter and as they continue to build hype during the song they cap it off with the chorus yet again changing things up by adding an additional line, this time ending the song with an exciting, “We got dream!”  (Refer to 1:56, and 3:46, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-CSBhjA1t8.)
It’s no coincidence that both of these songs were the opening theme songs to each season.  Altering a song in such a way to subvert the listener’s expectations is an easy way to make things more exciting than normal—and a perfect opening theme song does just that; excite the viewer and entice them to continue the show.  But these examples certainly aren’t the only time Aquors subverts expectations in their music.  There are several examples of Aquors doing this same exact thing in many of their songs—give them a listen!  There’s honestly too many to number in just this one blog!  It’s just one reason Aquors tends to feels more hype and exciting than our girls in μ’s.  They’ve perfectly embedded their theme into the music itself.
They prove this once again with the beautiful Awaken the Power by starting the song off with a melodic intro, then exploding into a energy infused blast!  Yet instead of ending on a strong powerful note, the song stops suddenly and goes into a totally different phrase, making for an incredibly unique outro to an amazing song.  (See 4:11 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-aik6gCcE.)

They follow through with the same kind of theme set up within Mirai ticket—a song with only one verse!  Starting off instead with an instrumental intro, plunging straight into the pre-chorus, then the only verse, the song then works its way through the chorus, back to the pre-chorus, then brings the energy back for the chorus one final time before ending on a beautiful repeat of the chorus with the girls “la-la-ing” to the end.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMVW6-cqlo0.) 

And yet another example of Sunshine subverting our expectations is even in the music itself!  But this time, I mean the style and not necessarily something within the songs themselves.  Aquors certainly has a particular style to their songs, as most groups do, but one of their strongest traits is that they don’t shy away from branching out and trying different styles.  Whether that be the hard rock yet traditional Japanese infused blast that is My Mai Tonight, or the super cute and fun 60’s surfer rock Miracle Wave—lets be honest, the outfits to this song are to die for—or some of the songs that didn’t make it into the anime like yet another Japanese traditional song Sunshine Pikkapika Ondo, or the perfectly nailed “doo-wop” song MY LIST to you!

Even the subunits and rival group in Sunshine follow the same theme of subverting expectations!  Whereas A-RISE was the rival group due to their superior skills at being idols, their music wasn’t all that different from what μ’s did.  Saint Snow, however?  Pure.  Metal.  Badasses.  And with BiBi being the ‘edgy and sexy’ version of μ’s, we have Guilty Kiss over here kicking more ass and taking more names than BiBi could ever hope to.  Strawberry Trapper still remains the one song I show my hard-rock loving friends that cute anime girls can rock JUST as hard as them, if not harder. 

The list goes on and on!  These are all just a few of the many, many examples of Sunshine’s musical theme of subverting expectations!  I am SURE there are dozens more that I haven’t found yet, but I am certainly more than enjoying my journey through Aquors catalogue of amazing tunes.  What about you though?  Any specific instances when Aquors subverted your expectation or did something you weren’t prepared for?  Sound off in the comments below!  I love hearing other people’s stories!

Hopefully this little blog opened your eyes a bit and made you see Sunshine in a different light.  I know personally, this realization made my jaw drop, haha.  But it’s such an amazing thing that I felt like I had to share this with you.  Realizing this gave me an even more appreciation for not just Aquors, or even simply Sunshine—but all of Love Live in general.  And it all comes full circle in a beautiful way with each series having it’s own unique theme and message.  

And if μ’s can be summed up by the phrase, “A story achieved together,” then it’s certainly no exaggeration to say that Aquors, and all of Sunshine, can be summed up by this one.  

“Expect the unexpected.”

Edgy BiBi Pics!

Hello everyone!!

So it’s been a little while since I’ve done a photoshoot—well, okay maybe not that long.  But it felt like it, so I decided to go ahead and do one that’s been on my mind for a while now!!

If you know ANYTHING about me, you know that I absolutely love μ’s.  Their music is amazing, the anime is too cute, and the live performances always put me in a good mood—and send me through SO MANY emotions.  So, obviously, some of my favorite figures to pose and take pictures of are none other than the goddesses of μ’s themselves!  And recently, I’ve really been kicking to some of their subunit BiBi’s songs!

So, while jamming to Cutie Panther and Love Story on repeat for over an hour, I decided to do a goofy edgy photoshoot with these girls.  It’s too easy to do a cute photoshoot, so I wanted to do something funny.  And since BiBi is the edgy side of μ’s, I had to take the opportunity to do this.

Without further ado, here are the best of the pics!  Let me know what you think in the comments below, again I always love hearing from you all!  I’ll —hopefully— be doing more of these in the future, so advice, tips and suggestions are greatly appreciated as well!!

~Cheers!!