[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Kanan felt natural, rather than like someone trying to overplay a part, and while they were with her Chika and You got pulled into her pace and weren't really overdoing it either.

Right. Kanan was good herself, and she also helped Chika and You lower their pace a bit, which helps round out Chika and You's characters.

There's nothing wrong with Chika being enthusiastic, or Yohane acting chuuni, or any of the rest, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying everyone should be mellow. Anime has been making use of various character types like these for ages without a problem. But right now, the way these girls move, the way they react... it doesn't quite feel natural.

Agreed. I was pleased and amused by Yohane's introduction. Personally, I felt there was a little bit of intentional self-parody to it, which helped a lot. I also liked how Yohane's voice changes considerably from in-character to out-of-character. Very deep voice in-character, much more cutesy voice out-of-character. Very good work by Yohane's seiyu there.

In any event, yeah, a lot of the issue is that they actually overdid the animation, making certain movements seem fluid to the point of "do these girls have superpowers?" Combine that with the frequent overacting, and it just felt like a bit too much at times. I'm cautiously hopeful that future episodes will be better balanced here, as there's a lot of pressure on Sunshine to make a very good first impression given the massive success of the original Love Live. I'm sure everybody involved in Sunshine has this huge weight on their shoulders, and are giving it their all, especially for the first episode. Once the animators and seiyu feel more comfortable/confident, the show will probably hit a better balance, I think.

Although some people might find it hard to believe, sometimes too much animation can be as much of a problem as not enough.

Agreed. There's a reason I watch anime a lot more than I do Bugs Bunny-style cartoons.

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who felt that way. Similar to you, I didn't watch the first series, so I wasn't sure if this was just the series worked or something. It did seem like they pushed the hyper side a little too much.

Chika and Riko's scene on the beach was the best one in this episode to me because it was more relaxed and really established Chika's character.

Chika and Riko's scene on the beach was also my favorite in the episode. I agree with you on it.

The first series' cast includes some very genki and/or highly emotive characters, but the first series probably did have more balance between genki and mellow.

I strongly recommend the original Love Live to both you and Random Wanderer.