Just-turned 16-year-old Yohane is friendless, jobless, and with barely a penny (G?) to her name. The lack of money leads Yohane to call home to ask her mother for more funding, but mom’s response is unexpected: Yohane is told that now that she’s reached adult age, she won’t be supported financially by her parents anymore. However, she’s welcome to return home and housesit for the summer. Sounds like a good opportunity to rest and reexamine her choice to become an idol, except that Yohane doesn’t want anything to do with her hometown of Numazu. Hmm…maybe her “sister” Lailaps (see “talking dog”) and a childhood friend can convince her there’s really no place like home.
Yohane the Parhelion is an anime adaptation of an AU manga featuring the members of Aqours from Love Live!, and as such, it is full of fanservice nods to that group and the Love Live! Sunshine!! anime. It was fun reading up on Yohane and seeing all the connections, so I can only imagine how over the moon the die-hard fans will be for the show. But for someone like me, who only knows only the very basics about the franchise, episode one is a terrible entry point. In fact, I would describe it as an absolutely miserable watch in general. Yohane is obnoxious, the climactic music scene was meh, and most of all, the setting and theme for the series were super confusing: it’s an idol show, no it’s sci-fantasy, no its slice-of-life set in a modern world…or a steampunk world…or cyberpunk…or all of the above! And there’s mecha and magic, too? More like anime genre overload.
In other words, this series is only, only for Love Live! fans. But will these fans enjoy the series? Our resident Love Live! expert, stardf29, will give you his insights from that perspective in the coming days, so be on the lookout for his post!
Yohane the Parhelion -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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[…] this opening episode didn’t seem to go over well with someone completely new to the Love Live franchise, and watching the episode, I can see why. Even as a Love Live fan, the […]