gildedstage

I should have taken it as a sign that my dread woke me up and kept me from going back to sleep at 4 in the morning, 3 hours before the livestream. Mentally, I wasn’t nearly as worried since there were good options for every group, but, oh man, I should have been concerned. My first experience at being there for unit name voting (even if it’s just for cover song units for now, or so they say) is frustration and despair at the average person’s taste. At least it’s memorable, I guess?

The names selected were CHAKI! for Asakusa, MixNori=Tea for Fukui (the name pronounced minority…), Plumina for Umeda, and SH1ON for Sendai. SH1ON, the least creative option that just switches the I in Shion with a 1. The option where the suggester literally confessed that they had no better ideas so they submitted it. The meltdown in the Ikizuraibu fan discord was immense when that was revealed (and my first reaction was literally “fuck off.”)

SH1ON is especially frustrating because it brings nothing new to the table. If they do ever reuse these unit names in the future, the names have a lot of influence on the aesthetics and themes of the group. For example, if Solistar won, space could have become an association of Shion’s. There were so many names with actual effort and meaning put into them. As much hate as & you got, it was at least thematically relevant and sweet for Shion because she only felt accepted online and cherishes that connection with her audience.

CHAKI! is cute and I’m probably only taking my anger out on it because of SH1ON, but it does annoy me that the reasoning provided makes no sense. They said it’s inspired by “chakichaki no edokko,” but Akira isn’t even from Tokyo. I think I can also accept MixNori=Tea since it’s a visually pleasing name, even though I know that pronunciation will be a sticking point for the English-speaking side of the fandom. Plumina is plain and boring, but I guess that’s the best we could have hoped for. So disappointing…

It did make me feel a bit better that they revealed some new PNGs during the stream. I love how the characters look like there are no thoughts happening behind those eyes in the chibi icons. That adorable middle school Mai from this month’s LLD is making me excited that we’re finally getting to see the backstory of girls other than Polka.

The new art of them in their WiML costumes for their 1st Live merch is also fantastic and I’m tempted to buy an acrylic stand if I have the chance. All the poses are great. I’ve taken so many screenshots of Aoi making that exact pose they chose for Shion, so that’s perfect. I’m surprised that Noriko was not only spared from the fanservice curse, but she also has a lovely self-confident pose that tempts me just as much as my two oshi… Yukuri is as elegant as always and Aurora looks so adorable with her gentle face and stretched out arms. I also really like Mai’s dorky pose, but I’ll be here all day if I talk about all of them.

Yukuri is likely the most mysterious Ikizuraibu character outside of Shion, which is signifcant considering that Shion has mystery as an explicit part of her appeal as a character. While the other characters work towards their dreams, Yukuri seems to have given up on chasing hers. Despite her deceptively calm exterior, Yukuri has a great emotional depth that has been held back by a tragedy shrouded in mystery. Yukuri has different facets worth analyzing, but this post will start with the mystery surrounding her changing mentality towards her dream of becoming an otokoyaku actor in the Takarazuka Revue after her illness.

Since she began posting on April 2nd, Yukuri has revealed her backstory in pieces. I have attempted to create a timeline, but it may be inaccurate since there is no explicit dating.

Yukuri’s Influential Life Events:
- During her childhood, she saw a theater performance for the first time after she was invited by a relative and fell in love with it (Posted May 8th, 2025).
- She reminisced about the first time she saw the Takarazuka Revue with her “still small little sister.” At the time, her sister was obedient and quiet due to “being in a hospital environment.” However, that day she grinned with her full face and danced rowdily. Yukuri considered this her “starting point,” as she “wanted to give her more and more” (Posted July 15th, 2025).
- After Yukuri became obsessed, she went from theater to theater and found “that” troupe. She saw it alongside her little sister and the two of them were so moved that they acted it out together. Yukuri was so excited by it that she could barely use her chopsticks at dinner or sleep that night. She declared it was her “koi” (romantic love) (Posted July 1st, 2025).
- After Yukuri began ballet, her “small little sister” always took a deep interest in her leotard and pointe shoes and tried to copy her (August 19th, 2025).
- An unknown amount of time passed and Yukuri had to cut down on her theater activities due to an illness. She already had her “last appointment” by April 2nd (Posted April 2nd, 2025).
- Sometime between May 16th to May 18th, Yukuri met Polka at the Sanja Matsuri (Posted May 23rd, 2025).

These backstory posts give useful insight into Yukuri’s motivations for wanting to become an otokoyaku actor. Though she was passionate about theater since her first viewing, it was her sister’s uncharacteristically gleeful reaction that pushed Yukuri to pursue it as her dream. While this can explain why Yukuri was later able to easily shift perspectives when she found another medium that can bring happiness to others, it still raises some questions.

The reference to a “hospital environment” is worded so awkwardly that it seems intentionally vague. It’s hard to believe that it’s meant to imply Yukuri was the one hospitalized, considering she would still go on to pursue intense training in dancing and singing afterwards with little room for breaks. If it does refer to Yukuri, that could mean that she has a long-term condition that later worsened and stopped her activities. Her calm exterior could then come from acceptance over the years.

However, there is interestingly no mention of Yukuri’s little sister or their relationship in the current day, only reflections on their past together. 4 out of 5 Tweets mentioning her always refer to her using phrasing such as “my still small little sister” or “when my little sister was still small” (and the one that doesn’t is still explicitly set in the past). Considering her importance to Yukuri as a character, it seems strange that her present day little sister doesn’t impact her, only memories of the past.

It’s especially strange with the knowledge that Yukuri’s little sister also had a strong interest in ballet and loved to act with and copy her older sister (July 1st and August 19th posts). How did Yukuri’s illness impact their relationship? Is her sister also still passionate about ballet, or is it just a distant childhood memory for her? Perhaps it will be explored further in the serialization.

After Yukuri’s illness, her view of her shared dream with her sister and her situation as a whole shifted in unexpected ways.

Yukuri’s Changing View of Her Situation:
- Yukuri decided she wouldn’t lament what can’t be recovered, so she decided to see a theater production for the first time in a while (April 2nd, 2025).
- She had no idea what to strive for now, but she unexpectedly found it a bit fun not to know (April 8th, 2025).
- Her instructor told her it’s too early to give up on her dream even after they heard her report from her last appointment, but Yukuri privately disagreed and thought it would be “difficult.” Despite her contentment with the way things are, she still yearned for the stage and decided to practice (April 23rd, 2025).
- She mentioned that she “might not be able to aim for stardom anymore,” but she still loves it. She believes a star is someone who shines on their own, but she wonders if she can still become one if she gathers “small stars” together into a larger whole. She asks if it’s okay to think like that (May 8th, 2025).
- “Black tailcoats really are the greatest 🎩✨ I keep remembering yesterday and am left with nothing but sighs for today…” (May 16th, 2025)
- “Even if your steps are small or if you take a step back at times, 🌧️ all you can do is free your mind and continue to walk toward your dream without giving up. I’ll be swept along towards what I yearn for.” Yukuri thought she lost her dream, but now she wondered if it simply changed shape. She thinks receiving and giving smiles is what unites theater and school idol activities (May 30th, 2025).
- She realized that she enjoys “the dance that springs out while dancing with my companions” possibly even more than the “the dance I dreamed and yearned for over that shining silver bridge*” (June 20th, 2025). *Common name for the apron stage of the Takarazuka Revue.
- When she compared seeing “that” troupe with her little sister to her “koi” (romantic love), she also compared her new school idol activities to “ai” (love) (July 1st, 2025).
- For Tanabata, Yukuri wished for Ikizuraibu’s activities to spread across Japan. She believes that in April, she would have wished for a world without illness (July 7th, 2025).
- After she assisted young ballerinas at a dance school, it reminded Yukuri of her sister again and she said “after all, I want to become someone who dances in order to bring smiles to people” (August 19th, 2025).

It may seem contradictory for Yukuri to insist that she is satisfied with the way things are now, even as she regularly continues to yearn for and reminisce about the stage of her dreams. The clue to understanding Yukuri’s mentality could potentially be found in one of her posts on May 30th, 2025. She uses the word “無心,” which is defined as “a mind free of obstructive thoughts” or “detachment” and is closely associated with Zen Buddhism.

Despite the depth and strength of emotion Yukuri exhibits in her posts and videos, Yukuri is still not controlled by her emotions in the same way a character like Shion is, because she does not allow herself to avoid them. Just as she will allow her exhilaration and sentimentality to pass through her in a sudden outpour of Romantic musings or sudden dance (after meeting Polka), Yukuri will also let her regret and yearning pass through her as she continues to take steps towards the next chapter of her life. Though the exact reason is still unclear to the audience, Yukuri believes her dream is over and therefore even her yearning for the stage does not alter her course of action, as deeply as she feels about it.

Yukuri’s solo song, which is tied into her July 15th, 2025 posts about her sister’s joy being the starting point for her dream, also gives great insight into her mentality. The song itself is full of grief and longing for something or someone that is no longer with her.

The speaker is the one left with “crying” and “silent tears,” while the “you” the song is directed at appears to be missing. There are many signs that point to this: “If only I could freeze time in the season you were there,” “wherever you are,” “you fade into the distance,” “alone by the window,” “believing that you’re smiling on me helps me carry on,” and “clinging with nothing to grasp.”

The song invoking Orpheus when the meeting between the speaker and that missing person is explicitly temporary (“I’ll cast the spell so stay with me for just a little while” and “until dawn arrives… stay here with me”) feels especially on the nose when the song ends with the speaker themself casting the spell that will bring dawn (look back) and therefore end their meeting (sent back to the Underworld). The song ends with the speaker deciding to “set off for anywhere” now that they have no dream to follow.

The September Love Live Days issue also touched on this a bit more in the commentary for Yukuri’s solo song: “Don't the opera style lyrics filled with grand tragedy and mourning show the worries the always calm Yukuri is carrying inside? A profound meaning can be sensed in the appearance of the name Orpheus, who descended to Hades.”

It’s unclear where Yukuri’s arc will head in the future. In a project centered around the characters’ lifelong ambitions and the theme of continuing after failure, it makes sense from a narrative perspective to have a character that had to give up their dream due to outside circumstances. In that interpretation, it seems likely that Yukuri could move on from her dream, but bring the parts of it she learned from and loved to her new pursuits. If that is the case, the main question is what her new lifelong dream will be, since her dream in her introduction was still listed as “otokoyaku actor,” even after she came to believe her dream had ended. Perhaps like Shion and Polka, she will work towards finding a dream as she “raises this shared dream” with Ikizuraibu.

However, given current knowledge, it also doesn’t seem like the door to her dream has been completely shut off to her yet. From her conversation with her teacher who told her it was too early to quit on the 23rd, it seems like it’s not just a question of physical ability, but also mental. For now, this is all speculation, but it doesn’t seem like her character can be resolved until the tragedy she is privately carrying is brought out into the open at last.

My next meta post on Yukuri will be centered around her relationship with Polka, specifically Polka’s parallels with her young sister (from the similar way Yukuri refers to them to even having a dream bestowed on her by both of them).

It took me less time to fold and start drafting a post about Shion’s relationships than it did for Miracle to give in and join Ikizuraibu after swearing she didn’t have the time (2 days).

Ikizuraibu → Shion
Polka: Her only mention of her is replying “as expected of Shion-sama!” to an idea of Shion’s in the cover request YouTube video.

Mai: Shion “waging war” on Ikizuraibu was the first time she heard of a Sendai satellite of L High. Completely glossing over the “war” part, she bemoaned that she can’t be a correspondence student like Shion (June 17th).

Akira: N/A

Hanabi: She learned what exactly school idols are from Shion and said things were much clearer now. She also decided to listen to the “many” songs Shion introduced her to (June 18th).

Miracle: N/A

Noriko: N/A

Yukuri: She praised Shion’s video editing skills as being cool (alongside Aurora), her dance skills also being cool with an elegance to it (the specific word also has many sexual meanings which took me off guard but I don’t think that’s Yukuri’s intended meaning), and called her the “brain” of the group due to her love and detailed knowledge of school idols (June 25th).

Aurora: She praised Shion as having “an unfair smile,” “a cold attitude,” an “Angel Smile,” “the Icy Beauty,” and ended it with “I want to do her makeup” (June 16th).

Midori: N/A

Shion → Ikizuraibu
Mai: In Shion’s self-introduction video, she specifically called Mai out and wondered if she was even trying to match the others, though she also praised Mai for her serious face.

Other than Mai, Shion hasn’t mentioned any other members specifically.

Ikizuraibu: She felt that they were disrespecting school idols (especially Umi) by starting a group so haphazardly and there was no point in saving an online school. She made fun of the group with her followers. In private, even though she thought the pun was lame, she still recognized herself in the “hard life club” moniker. She also felt moved to tears by how seriously they were trying even while having fun.

Tokyo Satellites: She got mad at them specifically for potentially meeting a Muse member.

Other Members: She was frustrated when Ikizuraibu continued to grow in size.

It’s still very early into their story (the other groups have around 5 years minimum of interactions to draw from at this point), but I’m looking forward to seeing the relationships that someone as standoffish and combative as Shion forms.

I did wonder if Mai and Shion would become friends since they both have nerdy interests, so it’s funny that they ended up with a slightly adversarial friendship instead. They don’t seem to hate each other, but they did take some shots at each other. I’m honestly hoping they’ll continue with that. Yukuri contrasts Shion well (optimist vs pessimist) and I wasn’t expecting Aurora to compliment and romanticize Shion’s standoffish nature but it’s a fun dynamic.

Regardless of anything else, I think it’s great for someone as depressed as Shion to have a place where even her “waging war” on the members was greatly appreciated. I want to see her happy.

I’ve been thinking about Shion a lot again. I did wonder if it had even been long enough to write another full post about her, but I was surprised to see it’s been exactly a month since my first post so I’ll take that as a sign.

In my last post, I mentioned Shion’s pattern of avoidance, weather symbolism, and speculated about what her dream could be. This post will be about the developments in each of those areas.

The main reason I wanted to make the post is because I thought the changes in Shion’s pattern are cute. It’s very difficult to develop a character that entrenched in maladaptive habits in the span of a month, but I think they managed to show change without erasing her flaws.

- May 29th: Shion was told by her parents that it’s better to transfer sooner rather than later. At first, she was about to avoid it by falling asleep to ASMR on the futon. Instead, she decided to hate-watch the Ikizuraibu video, which she saw over a week before, with her followers. Most importantly, we learn that idols (specifically Umi Sonoda) are important to Shion and she feels that Ikizuraibu is disrespecting their legacy by being so bad and inexperienced. Shion avoids her pain with another source of pain for her, which is a first.
- June 6th: Shion was very distressed to see that Ikizuraibu was successful enough to increase its members to 7. Shion is very clearly trying to avoid thinking about this, posting “it doesn’t matter because it has nothing to do with me” and “leave them alone? is leaving them alone the right thing to do? ugh enough, it’s pissing me off.” Unlike her previous posts, she doesn’t jump to the next distraction but concludes that the best thing to do is to teach them a lesson about Umi herself by transferring to L High.
- June 12th: Shion came to the conclusion that try as she may, she can’t pretend like she hasn’t seen the video. She has to act on her feelings.
- June 15th: Shion reflected on her transfer and joining Ikizuraibu. It was only through her nervousness now that that she realized she never intended to go to school from the start. She used lofty language like “a once in a lifetime adventure” and “a time where you need to stand up for what’s right.” She made fun of herself for using grandiose words and admitted it was just something she couldn’t let go.
- June 20th: Shion became angry again, wondering if she should pretend she didn’t see it again before complaining “the Tokyo girls aren’t fair, not fair, not fair, not fair.” Shion then calmed down and admitted there was nothing to be done.

I really like that even as Shion has realized there is something she can’t give up (her respect for idols and the youth they represent to her), she still has difficulty accepting change. She struggles against it, rages, and lashes out at others. She reverts back to old habits, but can catch herself doing it.

However, now that the “weather” has been lifted, what is holding Shion back? Since my last post, two videos have come out that give more information on Shion.

- “On Days Where I Skipped School, I Want to See You” / May 28th Video: Like Shion’s first video, this video broke form and instead of a self-introduction, we got a clip of Shion streaming.

Shion blamed anything and everything for why she misses school: rain, any weather at all, waking up late, and a crease on her uniform. Partway through, Shion became even more impassioned than when she talks about fashion. She raged about the Ikizuraibu video and considered it disrespectful to school idols to the point wanted to act about it.

- “No Way Ikizuraibu! I Joined Them… Ugh” / June 16th: The name “Ikizuraibu,” even if a lame pun, still made her heart ache. She criticized them for their terrible dancing, but admitted that she was so moved by their seriousness that she cried. Even if they were sloppy, they made her realize she also wanted to be a school idol. Shion also concerningly mentioned not going to school normally like the other girls, but instead using an avatar. However, she believes that they can still feel connected and be together even if they’re far apart.

It seems like there is still something unresolved. So far, Shion is the only character besides Polka that deeply resonated with the “life is hard” moniker. Considering that Shion is still using an avatar, she still feels people online know her better than people who know her IRL and struggles to have her self-expression recognized in real life. I also think it’s interesting how Shion admires Umi specifically for her gap between seriousness and embarrassment at cute things, especially since Shion considers herself serious while also loving uniforms. I doubt that’s the only reason why Shion is isolated, though.

Finally, in my first post I speculated that based on Shion’s pattern of avoidance, she potentially has a dream but was repressing it. There hasn’t been any new information on her dream in the past month, so it’s possible she really doesn’t have one yet. I still think it’s interesting that there hasn’t been any mention of her piano or violin skills yet. As of right now, she seems to parallel Polka. Both faced failure and have no dream, but sincerely want to be idols more than anyone else in Ikizuraibu.

For a few days I convinced myself that the YouTube upload schedule actually made sense since it would end with Shion on the 16th (the day before the seiyuu streams and the “real” start for their activities), but they threw a curveball again with Shion as #5.

It’s interesting to see how they’re fitting this in the timeline. It feels confusing in some of the videos since Polka’s original character introduction mentioned wanting to make friends, while Akari’s introduction took place in a future where even the satellite girls were already in the group.

Since Yukuri joined Ikizuraibu around the 27th/28th and now Aurora (doubtlessly with Midori in tow) is about to break down their door to join, that will only leave Miracle-Noriko and Shion. Surprisingly, we know more about how Shion could potentially join more than Miracle and Noriko.

Ikizuraibu’s Reactions to Polka Inviting Yukuri

I am dying for character interaction crumbs.
Mai: Polka entrusted the logistics to Mai, so Mai mostly focused on coming up with a solution to the distance problem that wouldn’t cause Polka to give her “puppy face.” She talked more about Polka than Yukuri, but she mentioned Yukuri’s ballet training as an asset to their group and also a way for her to not stand out herself.
Akira: Akira thought it would be a waste not to at least try it out. She also thinks Yukuri will be a much better dance teacher than Polka, who doesn’t know proper dance technique and just tells them to “do it like this, like that.”
Hanabi: Kimono queen Hanabi already began to think of what this means for kimonos and wants to go on a kimono date with Yukuri.

Umeda Satellite Meeting

I was wondering how Yukuri, Aurora, and Midori would meet, but I wasn’t expecting Aurora to take charge herself. I love the unhinged level of confidence to not only declare to hunt down someone she’s never met before just to insert herself and her friend into an idol group, but also to give that stranger a nickname (Yutti). While Mai has trash-talking Polka in her digital footprint*, Aurora has the stalker-like “Harumiya Yukuri-chan, huh? No matter how many times I think about it, it’s such a beautiful name!! 🏖️🏝️✨ Alrighty~ I won’t wait 🔫 I’ll definitely capture Yutti 💝💘💖”.

Aurora said she’ll do it first thing tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to the chaos that causes (unless Midori talks her down after waking up). I’ve thought before about her potential dynamics with the princely underclassman Yukuri and “not like other girls” Mai, so I’m looking forward to seeing their canon interactions.

*Shion also has this honor now.

Shion’s New Video

Since this video is very similar to her character introduction video (grrrr no new character sprites), I am glad we got explicit confirmations and lore drops.

Just as I thought, Shion skips school because of her feelings but will blame it on any weather, whether it’s rainy, windy, or sunshine. She lives outside of Tokyo and is potentially outside of major cities altogether (she thinks online school is just a quirky Tokyo thing). She talked more about her collection of uniforms (a lot for a girl that hates going to school) and dancing (a K-POP styled dance for that stream, so she’s good enough at dance to know different styles).

Most significantly, she ranted about the Ikizuraibu girls’ video (probably why Shion’s needed to be posted now). She was angry and derided them for wearing casual clothes instead of school uniforms, performing a cover instead of an original, having their terrible skills, and for the idiocy of trying to save an online school instead of just transferring. She views the latter especially as an affront to Umi and the dwindling legacy of school idols.

My current prediction is that her rage and passion could be enough to get Shion out of her depressive episode to “fix” Ikizuraibu, like a combination of Nico and Maki.
Speaking of μ's, I started to rewatch the entire franchise and I plan on writing a big post about it, but I probably should start drafting it so I don’t forget the details. >.>

5/30 Edit:

July 2025 Love Live Days Issue

It’s so late but I want to write it down before I forget. We finally got explicit confirmation that Shion is enrolled in a regular high school and we even learned she’ll be transferring to the Sendai satellite school in Tohoku (though she’ll be alone). It’s funny to know this while reading her new Tweets about hate-watching Ikizuraibu videos with her viewers instead of thinking about transferring like her parents asked. Also, it was nice to get confirmation that how the Fukui satellite joins Ikizuraibu is also intentionally mysterious.

Speaking of the Fukui satellite, I was not expecting the lore drop that Miracle quit confectionary (?) school after getting into an argument with her teacher. I also really like the quote about Miracle and Noriko that even the waves from the seas of Japan can’t stop their dreams.

The short reflections that went with the chibi art were also great. It’s cute how 7 out of 9 of them talked about another girl (mysterious Shion didn’t have one). I keep hoping Hanabi will mention any of her friends, but she is always in kimono girlboss mode lol. Even Akira “friends are meant for different types/worldview” Gotou will at least talk about Polka.

Most of all my favorite was Yukuri’s, who continues to be the most hopeless Romantic out there. She described Polka as a smiling dance goddess who was put right in front of her just as Yukuri was losing her dream, as if she was in a storybook. It’s implied that Polka’s dancing and song gave her courage and smiles, which is what Yukuri loves most of all.

We got left on a cliffhanger this week for Aurora’s tweet but honestly I expected that. The LLD issue said that all three Osaka members became involved with Ikizuraibu on 5/30, so I’m looking forward to it next week.

This was intended to be scattered thoughts about Blue Bird, but the Shion Sasaki portion overwhelmed the rest of it.

To be honest, I really made this post to talk about her in the first place. I am really enjoying the mystery they’ve set up around her. Let’s analyze what we know about her so far :D. The girls post batches of Tweets at a time, mostly a minute apart. The majority of Shion’s Tweets were posted on Mondays (which she has a contentious relationship with) and she is one of the two girls who consistently posts during early morning.

Her batches follow a similar pattern of avoidance. She’ll introduce an emotion or situation she’s struggling with, then end with what she’ll do to avoid it:

- April 14th (Monday): She struggled with conflicting emotions of whether to go to school or not, but finally quieted those emotions by swearing to study instead. She also streamed this day.
- April 21st (Monday): She felt stressed about the deadlines she kept putting off, but distracted herself by talking about her dream of dancing in knee-high socks and a pleated skirt.
- April 28th (Monday): When the atmosphere in her home and with her parents became suffocating, she acknowledged for a moment that it can’t stay like this forever but then immediately changed topics to a stream where she will coordinate her new uniform.
- May 10th: After she fought with her parents, she talked about how her noise-cancelling headphones have helped her carve out a space for herself at nighttime and that she’ll be okay since she has her viewers.
- May 21st: Shion saw a video (presumably the video with dancing that Yukuri and Aurora also saw) that made her feel frustrated (“unfair”). She explicitly said this time that she’ll pretend she didn’t see it. I think it’s important that she brought back and expanded on the weather symbolism in this Tweet, as it shows the video’s impact on her mental state.

When Shion mentions not going to school, she uses “rain” as her reason, but there is reason to believe this is not meant to be taken literally:

- April 14th: Her first ever Tweet used “rain” as her reason not to go to school.
- May 12th: Her introduction video mentioned “rain” as her reason again, even after she said she rarely goes to school anymore to begin with a moment before. This, combined with her Tweet on the 21st, makes it more likely that the rain isn’t literal.
- May 21st: After Shion saw the video that made her uncomfortable, she wondered whether tomorrow would be sunny. She said that even if it was sunny, she’d still skip school. This makes it more likely that the rain is about her mental state and not her physical environment.

There are other fun associations in her Tweets so far, mainly the divide between morning/night and Internet/reality:

- April 14th: Shion believes that the people she talks to online know the real her better than people in real life who have seen her face.
- Despite her difficult relationships in the real world, she seems to love and feel loved by her viewers. Every Tweet thanking them for watching ends with “I love you, you know 🩷” and in her introduction video she became sentimental about the phrase “next opportunity,” because it means “they’ll be able to meet again.”
- May 10th: Night is “her time” and she wished morning would never come, but for the sake of others contents herself with sleeping through it.
- April 21st: Monday morning is specifically the hardest for her. By then, she already feels a bit free from her burden after the weekend, but then Monday and her responsibilities come crashing down on her.

Though this much can be gleaned from her few Tweets and only video so far, there is one thing conspicuously absent. In a branch as focused on individual dreams as Blue Bird, Shion having no dream in her introduction video stands out. Even Polka, who doesn’t have a dream yet and hopes to find one at L High, still has that listed as her dream in her introduction video.

It seems unlikely that Shion doesn’t have a dream, but instead is avoiding it in the pattern established in her Tweets. There are a few potential avenues for speculation on her dream from the information currently available: fashion, streaming, dancing, and music.

In one of her April 21st Tweets, she mentioned a “dream” of dancing in knee-high socks and a pleated skirt. Styling a school uniform was also mentioned an April 18th Tweet and her livestream. However, it seems significant that live-streaming was mentioned only as a hobby, among puzzles and plastic models, and fashion was not mentioned at all. It’s also notable that her interest in fashion is so limited in scope and only centered around a school uniform. It seems more likely that it’s fulfilling an unmet need for her to be accepted as she is, rather than her actual life’s ambition to wear these clothes.

Dancing has only been mentioned twice and potentially implied once, but that’s still a lot for Shion. Both explicit mentions of dancing were only in the context of wearing the knee-high socks and skirt. The potential mention comes from the video Yukuri, Shion, and Aurora (individually) saw the week of May 19th. Yukuri was notably impressed by the high school girl’s dancing ability even as someone involved in ballet and theater as she is. If Shion’s dream is to dance, then it makes sense why she reacted negatively to another high school girl accomplishing what she wants (“unfair”). It seems unlikely since Yukuri covers a similar niche, but it’s possible.

Music is another possibility that opened up from her introduction video, which lists Shion’s special skills as piano and violin. Since the group lacks a composer, it would make sense if she is the girl aiming to be a musician. It also seems potentially significant that the teaser song has piano and strings as the instruments. Also, It’s hard to imagine Shion keeping up with the regular practice required for piano and violin in her current state, but it would make sense if she were avoiding it if if was related to her dream in some way.

For now, I’ll just have to be patient for more information.

Thanks for reading!
大好きだよ❤️

I didn’t expect to have this much fun getting hyped for a new project, so I thought it could be fun to have a last minute reflection before the floodgates open (either 15 minutes from starting this post or 12 hours from now). For quick context, Love Live Blue Bird is the next entry in the Love Live, a multimedia franchise centered around school idols, and it will start on May 12th, 2025.

I haven’t been invested in Love Live for about 4-5 years now, so when they announced the new project back in February, I thought of it as my chance to potentially get back in. I was worried I missed it until they posted the first teasers in April, which gave us two silhouettes for each of the 10 girls (one in casual wear and the other in what appears to be their group costume).

There were a lot of theories based on the new teasers, ranging from there actually only being 5 girls with 5 virtual avatars (thankfully disproven with the second teaser), the girls being from across the entirety of Japan and nearby countries like South Korea and China (unfortunately disproven by Tweets, this one was my favorite), and finally to this group being Love Live’s drama-centered show as a response to the popularity of AveMygo. The latter is still up in the air. Since new generations seem to come out on a 5 year cycle, it’s possible it was planned far before AveMygo. The idea of a generation called Blue Bird with activities centered around Twitter and Youtube does feel especially dated. It’s also difficult to grasp the tone of the project so far. While the original February teaser has the protagonist crying in a dramatic composition with somber piano music, the rest of the project seems like classic Love Live. There are later reveals that do give some credence to the drama theory, but not a lot.

10 days before the start, the official account began to reveal a girl’s image color per day. Honestly, it baffled me at first that this seemed to be the only way they were generating hype, as funny as seeing everyone’s over-the-top reactions to the colors has been. Then around May 3rd, people found The Tweets.





8 out of 10 of the girls’ in-character Twitter profiles were found, which suddenly gave us more information on their names, personalities, interests, and relationships. The story seems to match up with the traditional Love Live formula, where the girls form an idol group to save their school from closing down. This time, the Blue Bird girls go to an online/hybrid high school, which leads to interesting character motivations. There are characters attending because of poor academics/attendance (Polka, Mai, and likely Shion), family reasons (Laura and Hanabi), and, my favorite, personal ambitions (Yukuri, Noriko, Miracle, Hanabi, and likely “Midori”).

The reason I believe the drama-centric theory hasn’t been completely disproven yet is that there is a lot of evidence that could be interpreted as either for or against it. The complete title of the project, “Ikizu Live! Love Live Blue Bird!” has been spelled by the official account as both “living is hard club” and “live (show) is hard.” However, the Tweets revealed that it wasn’t named that as a reflection of the feelings of the group founders, but was instead already called that by an unused club channel in their school’s online communication platform.

What does seem to support the “living is hard club” reading is that many of the girls have personal failure and struggles in their Tweets (Polka failed her entrance exams and had to go to online school instead, Noriko is failing her seiyuu auditions, Yukuri has health problems that prevent her from achieving her dreams, Shion is depressed, and more). At the same time, there are also girls that don’t seem to have any failures or struggles that make their life hard, or at least not yet (Miracle, “Little Green,” Laura). It’ll be interesting to see what tone we’ll get.

I was and remain skeptical of using Twitter as a primary platform for storytelling considering its recent instability and ephemerality, but it is fun piecing their stories together. The potential for unreliable narration is also great (which would be very interesting in a drama-focused Love Live!). From Polka’s (the protagonist) Tweets, Mai seemed like a sweet girl who was more grounded in reality. I was surprised to realize from her own tweets that Mai is actually a tsundere with a short-temper.

Finally, I think it will be interesting to see how my perceptions of the girls change after the Big Reveal, so I’ll dedicate the rest of this post to that. This goes from left to right of their YouTube teaser.

Edit: now that I know slightly more about formatting, I’ll hide this block of text under here lol

- Girl 1 / “Little Green”: She was one of the two girls that weren’t found until around May 9th, which led to her being a lot more mysterious than she actually was. She was one of the silhouettes that initially caught my eye since her hairstyle reminds me of and makes me nostalgic for Nanami Hiromachi. We now know from her Tweets that she is a fierce environmentalist, worked a part-time job and donated her earnings to charity (seemingly on her birthday too?), and has a green image color. I’d like to see more about her other than her One Thing.

- Girl 2 / Laura: A hair and makeup enthusiast and one of the two influencers of the group. That alone doesn’t appeal to me (I like my influencers emotionally tortured like Ena Shinonome and Nyamu Yuutenji), but from her silhouette she could possibly be a gyaru. I love gyaru characters, especially those with a personality as kind and with an unashamed liveliness as Laura does so she has potential. It also helps that she has a very lovely pink as her image color.

- Girl 3 / Yukuri: She caught my attention as one of the two girls with actual short hair in this group, but I still didn’t expect to like her this much. She joined an online high school to work towards her dream of playing the male role, but her dream is now uncertain after unspecified health problems. My main worry is that Love Live will pull an “it’s okay for girls to be feminine” arc instead of letting her fulfill her dreams, just like Gakuen Idolmaster did to their princely character.

- Girl 4 / Akira: I was a bit smug when my guess of her being the sporty character was right. She’s a girl who takes her exercise regimen very seriously (most of her Tweets are about it). Her most intriguing trait to me is that she seems to have given up on the idea of being able to connect with other students as friends, even as she interacts with her classmates.

- Girl 5 / Mai: Since she is the shortest girl and has short hair, she already interested me the most and she did not disappoint. She’s an older sister, a programmer, and a bona fide tsundere. She shittalks (literally using the poop emoji) the girl who she ends up joining in an idol group the same month.

- Girl 6 / Polka: Polka is the protagonist of the group and she makes an unexpected impression by failing all her high school entrance exams in her first Tweet and getting banished to the online L High School (that is the name) as a result. She hates math, loves dancing, and can barely use technology. I don’t have a strong opinion on her yet, but she seems like the typical protagonist.

- Girl 7 / Hanabi: I was already intrigued by her kimono silhouette, but my guess for her personality was completely wrong. I thought she would be the elegant and big sister character, but she’s actually a dork. She wears a kimono everywhere and believes traditional Japanese clothes should be casual wear again. When she realizes other students in her hybrid classes might think she’s a weirdo, she thinks the solution is to wear a different kimono. We don’t really know much about her other than that her family’s kimono shop has been around for 4 generations, but I think she’s adorable in her earnestness.

- Girl 8 / Shion: She was mystery girl number 2 and was also found on May 9th. My original guess was that she would be the computer nerd of the group, but after Mai took that place as programmer, I thought she would be the musician/composer. Now that her Twitter has been found, it seems like she is a streamer and/or Vtuber. She seems to fit the “life is hard” worldview the most out of all the members. She makes concerning Tweets on Mondays about not wanting to go to school and talks about getting into arguments with her parents. Shion believes that only people online know the real her and wishes that morning would never come. She’s one of the members I’m most interested in.

- Girl 9 / Noriko: She has the personality I thought Mai would have. She’s a gentle and sweet girl who aspires to be a seiyuu, though she keeps failing her auditions. We don’t know a lot about her other than that, but she is one of the girls I like most so far.

- Girl 10 / Miracle: Okay, I didn’t have the highest opinion of her at first, but she grew on me. She is an aspiring pastry chef and friend of Noriko (so far the only connections between the 10 girls are Polka-Hanabi-Akira-Mai, Laura-“Little Green”, and Noriko-Miracle). She thinks Noriko has a cute face that is begging to be fed sweets, which is the most bizarre and adorable compliment ever and that wild worldview is what made me like her a lot more. Like Hanabi and “Little Green,” I hope to see more of her personality outside of her One Thing.

So far, Yukuri, Noriko, Miracle, Shion, and Mai are competing for my favorite. That’s a lot more than I thought I would have going into this. They got their claws into me this time. I’ve been working on this post for over an hour, so the Big Reveal may have already happened if they scheduled it for midnight JST (!!!).