Love Live! School Idol Project

Love Live!
ラブライブ! (Rabu Raibu!)
Genre	Music
Manga
Written by	Sakurako Kimino
Illustrated by	Arumi Tokita
Published by	ASCII Media Works
Magazine	Dengeki G's Magazine
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	January 2012 – present
Volumes	1
Anime television series
Studio	Sunrise
Original run	April 2013 – present

Love Live! (ラブライブ!, Rabu Raibu!) School Idol Project is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine, music label Lantis and anime studio Sunrise. The project launched in the August 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, and went on to produce music CDs, anime music videos and a manga adaptation. An anime television series will begin airing in Japan in April 2013. The project revolves around a group of fictional school girls who become idols in order to save their school.

Characters

Honoka Kōsaka (高坂 穂乃果, Kōsaka Honoka)

Voiced by: Emi Nitta

Eri Ayase (絢瀬 絵里, Ayase Eri)

Voiced by: Yoshino Nanjō

Kotori Minami (南 ことり, Minami Kotori)

Voiced by: Aya Uchida

Umi Sonoda (園田 海未, Sonoda Umi)

Voiced by: Suzuko Mimori

Rin Hoshizora (星空 凛, Hoshizora Rin)

Voiced by: Riho Iida

Maki Nishikino (西木野 真姫, Nishikino Maki)

Voiced by: Pile

Nozomi Tōjō (東條 希, Tōjō Nozomi)

Voiced by: Aina Kusuda

Hanayo Koizumi (小泉 花陽, Koizumi Hanayo)

Voiced by: Yurika Kubo

Niko Yazawa (矢澤 にこ, Yazawa Niko)

Voiced by: Sora Tokui

Production

Since the first issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine was published, the editors of the magazine have hosted reader participation games whose development is directly influenced by the people who read the magazine. The project was first announced in the July 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, which revealed that the magazine would be collaborating with the anime studio Sunrise and the music label Lantis to co-produce the project. The project officially began with the August 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, which introduced the story, characters, and a more detailed explanation of the project. The original plan for the story was written by Sakurako Kimino, who also writes the short stories for Love Live! featured in Dengeki G's Magazine. Original character design and illustrations are provided by Yūhei Murota.

Starting in August 2010, online mobile phone popularity contests have periodically been held to rank the characters, which influences the positions of the idols in the anime music videos produced by Sunrise. For example, the idol who ranks first in a given contest will be in the center position in the front row in the music video that follows. Other polls are used to determine different aspects of the idols, such as hairstyles and costumes. Starting with the November 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine, readers were polled to determine name of the idols' group. After the editors narrowed down it down to the five most popular names, readers were polled for a final time, ultimately choosing the name μ's. A similar polling system was used to determine the names of the three mini units Printemps, BiBi, and Lily White.

Media

Manga

A manga adaptation, written by Sakurako Kimino and illustrated by Arumi Tokita, began serialization in the January 2012 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine. The first tankōbon volume was released on September 27, 2012.

Anime

An anime television series produced by Sunrise will begin airing in Japan in April 2013.

Music

The idol group μ's (pronounced muse) contains nine members: Honoka Kōsaka (Emi Nitta), Eri Ayase (Yoshino Nanjō), Kotori Minami (Aya Uchida), Umi Sonoda (Suzuko Mimori), Rin Hoshizora (Riho Iida), Maki Nishikino (Pile), Nozomi Tōjō (Aina Kusuda), Hanayo Koizumi (Yurika Kubo), and Niko Yazawa (Sora Tokui). Their first single "Bokura no Live Kimi to no Life" (僕らのLIVE 君とのLIFE) was released on August 25, 2010. Their second single "Snow halation" was released on December 22, 2010. Their third single "Natsuiro Egao de 1, 2, Jump!" (夏色えがおで1,2,Jump!) was released on August 24, 2011. Their fourth single "Mogyutto 'love' de Sekkenchū!" (もぎゅっと"love"で接近中!) was released on February 15, 2012. Their fifth single "Wonderful Rush" was released on September 5, 2012. Each of their singles was released with an anime music video.

There are three mini idol units μ's is divided into: Printemps, BiBi, and Lily White. Printemps is composed of Kōsaka, Minami and Koizumi; BiBi is composed of Ayase, Nishikino and Yazawa; and Lily White is composed of Sonoda, Hoshizora and Tōjō. Printemps' first single "Love marginal" was released on May 25, 2011. BiBi's first single "Diamond Princess no Yūutsu" (ダイヤモンドプリンセスの憂鬱) was released on June 22, 2012. Lily White's first single "Shiranai Love*Oshiete Love" (知らないLove*教えてLove) was released on June 27, 2011.

Other singles are released as duos or trios. The single "Mermaid festa vol.2 (Passionate)" was released on April 25, 2012 sung by Kōsaka and Hoshizora. The single "Otome Shiki Ren'ai Juku" (乙女式れんあい塾) was released on May 23, 2012 sung by Yazawa and Tōjō. The single "Kokuhaku Biyori, desu!" (告白日和、です!) was released on June 27, 2012 sung by Minami and Koizumi. The single "Soldier Game" was released on July 25, 2012 sung by Nishikino, Sonoda and Ayase.

An album titled Umiiro Shōjo ni Miserarete (海色少女に魅せられて) featuring songs sung by Sonoda was released on November 23, 2011. A second album titled Kotori Lovin' you (ことりLovin' you) featuring songs sung by Minami was released on December 14, 2011. A third album titled Honnori Honokairo! (ほんのり穂乃果色!) featuring songs sung by Kōsaka was released on January 25, 2012.

External links

• Official website Template:Ja icon
• Love Live! School Idol Project (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia