Love Live Bluebird: I Voted
Oct. 11th, 2025 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gildedstageI finally became motivated to post again after nearly 2 months because with the three user participation polls ending today, it feels like it’s another good point to pause and reflect before things start happening all at once again (I swear betting on something will work this time).
I’ve always been jealous of people who were there early enough to decide the subunit names, so I’m glad I got to participate this time, even if it made me doubt the merits of democracy at times.
I can’t be too upset because I couldn’t think of a name to submit myself, but the suggested names that were just one random English word, English words with vowels replaced with numbers, abbreviations of the names of the characters in the unit, or parodies of the song they are covering really made me doubt the creativity of the average person.
In particular, s-cat (pronounced scarily similar to scat and was distressingly one of the top comments) and shicretion (too close to secretion) will forever live in infamy in my heart.
I was extremely relieved that they ended up giving us options to pick from instead of choosing it themself in the end, even if dragged out the cover song release even longer.
For Asakusa: ShichitenHAPPY!! is good wordplay that didn’t make me roll my eyes (sorry Kusakusa Tempura, as clever as your reasoning was, it still didn’t make it a good name). I won’t be upset id Fortune-Fourtunes win though.
For Fukui: There’s four options for Fukui that are really just ship names (Norikuru is there twice, Mirako, Mi x Nori), so are we deciding their unit name or what fix Miranori is? I may have lucked out with s-cat and shicretion not making it into the Sendai options, but unfortunately MixNori=Tea (pronounced Minority) still slipped in. There are still a lot of great options for Fukui though. Fraise Phrase, twin syrup, and Daina Twins are all cute and I could be happy with any of them.
Also, Daina sounds like diner, so I really like the idea if they had a dinosaur themed waitress outfit as their unit uniform.
I ended up going with Fraise Phrase since it was one of the comments I actually liked on the YouTube video. Plus, I like that they actually tried to include Noriko’s dream and not just Miracle’s… but I also really like the twin names.
For Umeda: I dislike all of the Umeda options. I don’t think any of them fully captured the potential image the girls could have as a unit. I was tempted to vote Meloppy at first since it’s so bad and silly that it’s funny, but I like the meaning of LumiLien for them more even if it still feels like a nothingburger for a 2D idol group.
For Sendai: I genuinely felt sick waiting for them to reveal Shion’s name options because they were easily the worst suggestions I saw in the comments (besides the two I already mentioned, there was also Shaun, SH1ON, Shione, and a bunch of other boring variants). Thankfully, there were a few good options, like Solistar, Yofukashi, kitty noise, and & you. I voted for Solistar, but I slightly regret not voting for & you.
The voting for the color names is silly since no one ever uses them, but I still enjoyed voting for it so I’ll just include it here so I don’t forget what I voted for.
Polka: Dandelion Yellow
Mai: Lapis Lazuli (they should have added Blue Screen as an option…)
Akira: Soyokaze Color
Hanabi: Fire Red (basic but evocative of her passion)
Miracle: Mii Color
Noriko: Restless Amethyst
Yukuri: Noble Sky (though any option would work for her)
Aurora: Love and Pink
Midori: Eco Green (all of her options are terrible)
Shion: Noisy White
The start felt really slow, but since I last posted it has started to pick up speed. In the past two months, the character solo singles (which will put us at 20 character songs already, jesus) release events have started, which includes the Lisani and LLD interviews (20 interviews!) and their new radio program to go alongside it.
Odoru Polka: This song surprisingly ended up being one of my favorites from the combination of the circus-like instrumental, Polka’s silly phrases, and the almost bittersweet lyrics that represent Ikizuraibu’s “life is hard” motto. I was wondering what the bittersweet circus melody at the “toriaesu anata mo nakama ni natte” part reminded me of, but I think it’s Will Wood’s “Willard!,” which was a funny and baffling realization to have.
Special My Mai Mode: It seems like it’s an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t really care for it and don’t listen to it. The chiptune instrumental sounds fake and superficial to me and the lyrics are filled with shallow game and math references. With that, it’s hard to live uo to the more personal and genuine “Public Style,” a Vocaloid inspired song about a nerdy girl who proudly faked her way through life and embraced her isolation, who decided to take the plunge and be herself.
Jet Starter: I think it’s a good song that suits Akira and Ikizuraibu and I love their commitment to this specific style of chill J-Pop for her, but it’s not a song I would listen to personally.
First Ride: I cheered mentally within the first few seconds of the intro because I love this specific type of gritty rock sound. The lyrics can be a bit cringe at times since she’s singing her about her pure and innocent love for kimono directly over a very awesome rock track. I love this and the direction they’re going with her. Also, I just need to let out that her lyrics remind me of that meme about how guys imagine bleeding out in the snow in war. Except about kimono now.
Magical <3 Recipe * S’il Vous Plait: Okay, I may be a hypocrite considering my opinion on “Special My Mai Mode,” but this is one of my favorites to listen to alongside “Odoru Polka.” I really, really love their chaotic and unique instrumentals. I wish I could describe it in words. Also, the chorus melody is really catchy.
Centimeter * Rendezvous: I know expectations for this song were high since a lot of people didn’t like the sexual lyrics of her title track “Koi no One Time Password.” Personally, the song has grown on me but I honestly understand the complaints more now that the 1st live visual reveal shows they’ve clearly chosen Noriko as their sacrifice lamb for fanservice (and really terrible fanservice at that).
I think they did a great job with this song. It’s a cute, retro inspired song about anxieties in a relationship. Sekoria mentioned a duality between “cute” and “sexy” in her interview and I like how this song is the pure sugar “cuteness” to the title track’s “sexiness.”
Futari wa Itsudemo Happy End: This was nothing like I expected. I’ve seen the track described as Broadway inspired, but I don’t know how to describe it other than extremely Western. I was hoping that it would have implication heavy lyrics like “Pray for love,” but I actually love Yukuri having a song where she can be the shining star on Broadway, inviting others to dance and smile along with her. I wasn’t expecting her song about their meeting to turn into a love song. The song is extremely catchy too.
Claritobright: My first impression is that the dark, sassy pop instrumental was also outside of my expectations but I’m sure it will be a fun live performance tomorrow and Akane had a lot of good vocal moments.
They’ve done an amazing job with picking a variety of genres so far and I think it’s telling that even LL fans that don’t like them or want to get into them acknowledge that the music is their strength.
Aoi is really fascinating to me… I thought it was just bias from Shion being my favorite at first, but after watching more of her performances, I’d say she is very similar to Rina in terms of bewitching charisma. She’s just as effortlessly flirty, but more introverted and/or reserved. That self-assuredness really stands out compared to the more inexperienced girls.
I’m even more intrigued to learn literally anything about her background at this point in her interview and her radio appearance with Kotochan. I wonder how the latter will go since it’s the only duo where they don’t belong to the same satellite or have many opportunities to interact. From the interviews I’ve read so far from the other members, it also seems like Aoi is just as mysterious as Shion is, even to her cast members. I wonder if that’s what they saw in her.
I still need to read the interview from the voice actor of my other Ikizuraibu favorite, Oyuki, but from what I’ve seen from their performances and livestreams so far, there is an endearing gap between her and Yukuri. Yukuri is graceful and reliable, but Oyuki is very clumsy and awkward. Based on the Osaka performance footage and commentary from someone who went to her release event yesterday, it seems like she’s vocally skilled, just really awkward.
Also, when I was mentally comparing Aoi and Rina’s performance skill to the other members, it made me think of Shake. I don’t think I’d consider Shake to be charismatic in the same way as Aoi and Rina. Rather than wowing people with her charm, Shake seems confident in making people laugh with her gremlin antics.
Since the planned interviews and radio appearances are only about halfway over (and I’m slow at reading them), I do want to make a full post about how my thoughts have changed later.
And far beyond my wildest dreams! Back in May, I predicted that they could make a good duo since they’re the only characters not commonly paired up with another and they have an interesting contrast as Yukuri has to abandon her dream because of illness and Shion is depressed and doesn’t have a dream.
I was already fanboying a bit when Yukuri was the first to meet Shion IRL when she went to pick her up and said her uniform suited her, which almost made Shion cry (and got adapted into an adorable chibi piece in LLD).
So I was completely blown away by the posts they made on Yukuri’s birthday. Two high school freshmen with thoughts completely unbefitting for their age.
Shion, the girl who doesn’t want to take saying “happy birthday” lightly because these fleeting moments of happiness become invaluable after spending most of your time wishing you weren’t even born.
Yukuri, the girl who understands the miracle of living to hear another “happy birthday” when not everyone is given equal time in life and who carries the weight of the unrealized dreams of the dead.
I already made an entire post about why Yukuri is just as mysterious and angsty as Shion, but I’m so glad they’re connecting them more openly and so resonantly. I love all the “ゆくしお！？” posts made on Yukuri’s birthday and the fanart (especially the one referring to it as the 9/22 incident lmao).
I doubt it’ll be Yukuri-Shion again, but I’m curious to see what they’ll do for Shion’s birthday in a month from now (and I should also plan something myself since I was too depressed for Yukuri’s).
I’ve always been jealous of people who were there early enough to decide the subunit names, so I’m glad I got to participate this time, even if it made me doubt the merits of democracy at times.
I can’t be too upset because I couldn’t think of a name to submit myself, but the suggested names that were just one random English word, English words with vowels replaced with numbers, abbreviations of the names of the characters in the unit, or parodies of the song they are covering really made me doubt the creativity of the average person.
In particular, s-cat (pronounced scarily similar to scat and was distressingly one of the top comments) and shicretion (too close to secretion) will forever live in infamy in my heart.
My Unit Name Voting Thought Process
I was extremely relieved that they ended up giving us options to pick from instead of choosing it themself in the end, even if dragged out the cover song release even longer.
For Asakusa: ShichitenHAPPY!! is good wordplay that didn’t make me roll my eyes (sorry Kusakusa Tempura, as clever as your reasoning was, it still didn’t make it a good name). I won’t be upset id Fortune-Fourtunes win though.
For Fukui: There’s four options for Fukui that are really just ship names (Norikuru is there twice, Mirako, Mi x Nori), so are we deciding their unit name or what fix Miranori is? I may have lucked out with s-cat and shicretion not making it into the Sendai options, but unfortunately MixNori=Tea (pronounced Minority) still slipped in. There are still a lot of great options for Fukui though. Fraise Phrase, twin syrup, and Daina Twins are all cute and I could be happy with any of them.
Also, Daina sounds like diner, so I really like the idea if they had a dinosaur themed waitress outfit as their unit uniform.
I ended up going with Fraise Phrase since it was one of the comments I actually liked on the YouTube video. Plus, I like that they actually tried to include Noriko’s dream and not just Miracle’s… but I also really like the twin names.
For Umeda: I dislike all of the Umeda options. I don’t think any of them fully captured the potential image the girls could have as a unit. I was tempted to vote Meloppy at first since it’s so bad and silly that it’s funny, but I like the meaning of LumiLien for them more even if it still feels like a nothingburger for a 2D idol group.
For Sendai: I genuinely felt sick waiting for them to reveal Shion’s name options because they were easily the worst suggestions I saw in the comments (besides the two I already mentioned, there was also Shaun, SH1ON, Shione, and a bunch of other boring variants). Thankfully, there were a few good options, like Solistar, Yofukashi, kitty noise, and & you. I voted for Solistar, but I slightly regret not voting for & you.
The voting for the color names is silly since no one ever uses them, but I still enjoyed voting for it so I’ll just include it here so I don’t forget what I voted for.
Color Name Voting Choices
Polka: Dandelion Yellow
Mai: Lapis Lazuli (they should have added Blue Screen as an option…)
Akira: Soyokaze Color
Hanabi: Fire Red (basic but evocative of her passion)
Miracle: Mii Color
Noriko: Restless Amethyst
Yukuri: Noble Sky (though any option would work for her)
Aurora: Love and Pink
Midori: Eco Green (all of her options are terrible)
Shion: Noisy White
The start felt really slow, but since I last posted it has started to pick up speed. In the past two months, the character solo singles (which will put us at 20 character songs already, jesus) release events have started, which includes the Lisani and LLD interviews (20 interviews!) and their new radio program to go alongside it.
Thoughts on the B-Sides Released So Far
Odoru Polka: This song surprisingly ended up being one of my favorites from the combination of the circus-like instrumental, Polka’s silly phrases, and the almost bittersweet lyrics that represent Ikizuraibu’s “life is hard” motto. I was wondering what the bittersweet circus melody at the “toriaesu anata mo nakama ni natte” part reminded me of, but I think it’s Will Wood’s “Willard!,” which was a funny and baffling realization to have.
Special My Mai Mode: It seems like it’s an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t really care for it and don’t listen to it. The chiptune instrumental sounds fake and superficial to me and the lyrics are filled with shallow game and math references. With that, it’s hard to live uo to the more personal and genuine “Public Style,” a Vocaloid inspired song about a nerdy girl who proudly faked her way through life and embraced her isolation, who decided to take the plunge and be herself.
Jet Starter: I think it’s a good song that suits Akira and Ikizuraibu and I love their commitment to this specific style of chill J-Pop for her, but it’s not a song I would listen to personally.
First Ride: I cheered mentally within the first few seconds of the intro because I love this specific type of gritty rock sound. The lyrics can be a bit cringe at times since she’s singing her about her pure and innocent love for kimono directly over a very awesome rock track. I love this and the direction they’re going with her. Also, I just need to let out that her lyrics remind me of that meme about how guys imagine bleeding out in the snow in war. Except about kimono now.
Magical <3 Recipe * S’il Vous Plait: Okay, I may be a hypocrite considering my opinion on “Special My Mai Mode,” but this is one of my favorites to listen to alongside “Odoru Polka.” I really, really love their chaotic and unique instrumentals. I wish I could describe it in words. Also, the chorus melody is really catchy.
Centimeter * Rendezvous: I know expectations for this song were high since a lot of people didn’t like the sexual lyrics of her title track “Koi no One Time Password.” Personally, the song has grown on me but I honestly understand the complaints more now that the 1st live visual reveal shows they’ve clearly chosen Noriko as their sacrifice lamb for fanservice (and really terrible fanservice at that).
I think they did a great job with this song. It’s a cute, retro inspired song about anxieties in a relationship. Sekoria mentioned a duality between “cute” and “sexy” in her interview and I like how this song is the pure sugar “cuteness” to the title track’s “sexiness.”
Futari wa Itsudemo Happy End: This was nothing like I expected. I’ve seen the track described as Broadway inspired, but I don’t know how to describe it other than extremely Western. I was hoping that it would have implication heavy lyrics like “Pray for love,” but I actually love Yukuri having a song where she can be the shining star on Broadway, inviting others to dance and smile along with her. I wasn’t expecting her song about their meeting to turn into a love song. The song is extremely catchy too.
Claritobright: My first impression is that the dark, sassy pop instrumental was also outside of my expectations but I’m sure it will be a fun live performance tomorrow and Akane had a lot of good vocal moments.
They’ve done an amazing job with picking a variety of genres so far and I think it’s telling that even LL fans that don’t like them or want to get into them acknowledge that the music is their strength.
Random Thoughts on the Seiyuu (Aoi, Oyuki, Shake)
Aoi is really fascinating to me… I thought it was just bias from Shion being my favorite at first, but after watching more of her performances, I’d say she is very similar to Rina in terms of bewitching charisma. She’s just as effortlessly flirty, but more introverted and/or reserved. That self-assuredness really stands out compared to the more inexperienced girls.
I’m even more intrigued to learn literally anything about her background at this point in her interview and her radio appearance with Kotochan. I wonder how the latter will go since it’s the only duo where they don’t belong to the same satellite or have many opportunities to interact. From the interviews I’ve read so far from the other members, it also seems like Aoi is just as mysterious as Shion is, even to her cast members. I wonder if that’s what they saw in her.
I still need to read the interview from the voice actor of my other Ikizuraibu favorite, Oyuki, but from what I’ve seen from their performances and livestreams so far, there is an endearing gap between her and Yukuri. Yukuri is graceful and reliable, but Oyuki is very clumsy and awkward. Based on the Osaka performance footage and commentary from someone who went to her release event yesterday, it seems like she’s vocally skilled, just really awkward.
Also, when I was mentally comparing Aoi and Rina’s performance skill to the other members, it made me think of Shake. I don’t think I’d consider Shake to be charismatic in the same way as Aoi and Rina. Rather than wowing people with her charm, Shake seems confident in making people laugh with her gremlin antics.
Since the planned interviews and radio appearances are only about halfway over (and I’m slow at reading them), I do want to make a full post about how my thoughts have changed later.
Finally, My YukuShio Prediction was Vindicated 🥳
And far beyond my wildest dreams! Back in May, I predicted that they could make a good duo since they’re the only characters not commonly paired up with another and they have an interesting contrast as Yukuri has to abandon her dream because of illness and Shion is depressed and doesn’t have a dream.
I was already fanboying a bit when Yukuri was the first to meet Shion IRL when she went to pick her up and said her uniform suited her, which almost made Shion cry (and got adapted into an adorable chibi piece in LLD).
So I was completely blown away by the posts they made on Yukuri’s birthday. Two high school freshmen with thoughts completely unbefitting for their age.
Shion, the girl who doesn’t want to take saying “happy birthday” lightly because these fleeting moments of happiness become invaluable after spending most of your time wishing you weren’t even born.
Yukuri, the girl who understands the miracle of living to hear another “happy birthday” when not everyone is given equal time in life and who carries the weight of the unrealized dreams of the dead.
I already made an entire post about why Yukuri is just as mysterious and angsty as Shion, but I’m so glad they’re connecting them more openly and so resonantly. I love all the “ゆくしお！？” posts made on Yukuri’s birthday and the fanart (especially the one referring to it as the 9/22 incident lmao).
I doubt it’ll be Yukuri-Shion again, but I’m curious to see what they’ll do for Shion’s birthday in a month from now (and I should also plan something myself since I was too depressed for Yukuri’s).
