[Love Live Spoilers] Sound Direction in Love Live (Pt. 2)

So, I’ve talked at length about this topic and how much I appreciate it, and I had thought about turning it into a multi-part write-up. I’ve finally decided to do it, so I’ll re-iterate the way I started my last one:

I absolutely love the sound direction in Love Live

As I’ve continued along with my rewatch, I’ve continued to notice more and more tracks that I absolutely love from this show’s soundtrack, both from the quality of the individual tracks and then how those tracks are used within the show. Love Live has a way of precisely conveying the emotions it’s looking to capture in each of it’s pieces and this really shows in how these songs are used within the show. I’m going to go again with the same type of format I used before, linking individual tracks and talking about what it is I love in each of these tracks. (Once again, a big thanks to /u/Falthie for graciously hosting the links for these tracks)

Kanashimi no Yoru – Kanashimi is a track that I have grown to love a lot more since buying the first season’s OST and I’ve grown to realize what a subtle, spectacular piece it is on it’s own. The piano that overpowers the first part of the song carries such a somber tone, tinged with a feeling of regret and remorse. This makes the track itself absolutely beautiful. The low notes coming into provide a backing serve to push this somber feeling even more. Even sitting here listening to the track for this write-up cuts deep for me. The song itself pushes the feeling it wants to get across as well as possibly any piece I’ve listened to, from Love Live or otherwise, and it’s just a masterpiece of an OST track.

Kanashimi is one that many people likely recognize for a different scene (*cough cough train*) than the one I’m going to discuss here today, but I feel this is a scene where the song itself really powers the scene emotionally and lets this scene itself take on a new level of meaning. The scene I’m referring to comes to us from Season 2 Episode 5. The track begins when Eli calls Honoka telling her that Hanayo is to be the center for the group’s performance at the fashion show. Rin remarks on how cute the frilly dress looks on Hanayo and seems to take back her normal, cheery attitude. However, as Rin begins to leave the room, she looks back at Hanayo as the other girls begin to adjust the dress. With the scene zooming on Rin’s face, she carries in her expression a sense of regret, longing deep inside to be the one to wear it despite being too embarassed to let herself. With Rin thinking it doesn’t suit her, Hanayo is shown calling Honoka herself asking her about what to do and trying to decide what to do. Hanayo can see Rin’s inner struggle and wants to help her, but doesn’t really know how to herself. The somber tone of Kanashimi no Yoru carries through this scene very strongly, depicting Rin’s feelings of remorse and Hanayo’s unsureness on what to do about her closest friend feeling this way.

Hanayo no Ketsui – Another track likely better known for a different scene, namely the scene in Episode 4 where Hanayo and the other first-years initially join µ’s, there was a scene in Episode 5 of Season 2 where I thought this track was used spectacularly, despite the scene itself being focused more on Rin. Before we get into that, let’s look at the track itself. Ketsui starts off soft with the strings creating an intro into the piano itself. The piano, while being soft, serves to create a feeling to me of dreams becoming reality and the strings coming in serve to carry this further into a happy track with the feeling of victory and overcoming one’s greatest obstacle: themselves. Finally, with the woodwinds coming in, the track grows into a grand victorious melody with the sense of a new door being opened in front of you, with the strings and high woodwinds beckoning and calling to a new future lying just ahead.

As amazing as the song itself is, it becomes exponentially better when looked at in the context of the show. The example I’ve chosen to use today comes to us from the ending of Episode 5, with the fashion show arriving and Rin going to prepare for the concert. With Rin opening her curtain to reveal the dress, she turns to see the others dressed as grooms. With Rin questioning it, the others explain how they had practiced with the intention of Rin being the center. As the piano kicks in, Hanayo comes forward and talks to Rin personally. She tells how she thought about how Rin felt and accepted the position because of Rin’s distress. However, Hanayo calls back to when she joined µ’s and Rin gave her a push to join, and Hanayo wants to do the same for Rin. With Hanayo beginning to say how everyone thinks Rin is cute, the strings begin to pick in and Hanayo reinforces how cute she thinks Rin is and how the rest of the group thinks she’s the girliest as well. Maki then says that the outfit suits Rin the best and both first years give Rin the push. The strings themselves pick up when Rin finally looks at the dress and accepts wearing it, before stepping out on stage. The victorious sound of the track fits perfectly with Rin’s personal victory and conquering her own inner struggle to finally embrace her girly side.

Nozomi no Mune no Uchi – Another sad, somber piece comes to us when looking at Nozomi’s past. This piece is one that I really didn’t notice as much on my first watch, but it really is a beautiful track. So, let’s do as with the others and take a look at the track itself. The woodwinds and soft strings open up the song with a sad, melancholic feel, an atmosphere that rings to me with a feeling of loneliness and desire to connect with others while being unable to. The piano continues to push this feel and the flutes pick up, continuing to stress the somber tone that the song begins with. However, as the song begins to pick up, soft strings begin to pick up and the backing strings begin to change their melody. As the song picks into it’s conclusion, it takes on an entirely different feel with the scales of the flute and the strong strings giving it a whimsical feel and the sense of the fulfillment of the first part of the song, the loneliness of the early parts of the song is cast off and replaced with a fuller, more complete sound.

While the track itself is incredible and I could go on for a while about just the music, I really want to stress how well this song fits it’s scene within the show perfectly. This track comes to us in Episode 8 of Season 2 with the track’s title girl, Nozomi, and her backstory. With Maki in Nozomi’s apartment, Nozomi comments on how µ’s as a group itself is her miracle. The track picks up with Nozomi’s introduction as an elementary schooler, moving around constantly and never really making friends. The lonely feeling of the woodwinds and strings in the early part of the song resonate with Nozomi’s feeling of loneliness, never being able to make friends at school. Progressing through the scene, the piano itself begins with Nozomi seeing Eli for the first time and realizing there’s someone like her out there, finally deciding to try talking to Eli and make friends with her. Moving forward, the strings start to change tone as she notices the other girls who would eventually become members of µ’s around the school. The strings finally break into the final portion of the song with reminiscence of the performance of START:DASH!! and moving into the formation of µ’s. With this transformation of the track within the scene, Nozomi is finally able to cast off the life of loneliness she had always known before and embrace a new adventure with new friends, finally cutting back to the apartment with the reflection of young Nozomi in the tea showing a smile. Nozomi looks TO BE on the verge of tears as she realizes how it is that µ’s has changed her life and given her new friends that she never had before, achieving her one wish.

Seitokai no Oshigoto – Seitokai is a special piece for this write-up because I feel it was perfectly used in more than one scene and for completely different reasons. Starting with just the sound of the song, the woodwinds that carry over serving as the melody during the first part of the song work perfectly to create the feel that the song is going for. It’s a soft, humble feel that carries with it a feeling of softspoken pride and a sense of everything being left in the right hands. This feeling grows as the song progresses into bombastic, powerful strings that move the song into a full-on display of success and prideful passing, with soft piano carrying into a soft, melancholy, and yet, at the same time, satisfying mood. While I could go on about how good this song is from a musical standpoint, I want to talk about two moments this track was used during Love Live and how well the song works in these scenes.

For our first scene, we go to Episode 7 of Season 2 and Eli worrying about the second years handling the Student Council work on their own. The piece picks up slowly with the high woodwinds as Eli questions if the three girls will be alright handling the student council on their own, to which Nozomi dispels these doubts. Nozomi reminds Eli that the girls will have to fend for themselves after the third years have graduated. Where this song really picks up though and captures the scene is when the low woodwinds come into play as that is when the scene transitions to Honoka, Kotori, and Umi in the student council room. The track here captures the togetherness and bond shared by the second years, as pointed out in the Love Live rewatch by Falthie. The track and scene both depict the girls working hard together and the strings pick up when the girls enter into the last leg of their work and pick it up, with the closing piano coming before the start of the student council meeting. The song flows incredibly well with the transitions of the scene, flawlessly bouncing from one set of characters to the other, and the music makes this transition seamless. It seems to capture perfectly the worry felt by Eli, moving into the determined attitude and hardwork being put in by the second years, finally ending with the questioning by Hanayo and Maki.

This track works again in a much different way in Episode 9 of Season 2, picking up when Cotaro shows Nico the snowmen he made of µ’s. The high woodwinds here work perfectly for expressing the sweet, loving scene between Nico and her younger siblings. Nico is overcome with pride and joy inside from her younger brother’s present, eventually leading into Nozomi and Eli arriving to walk to the venue with Nico. The low woodwinds here work to show the bond Nico has developed with her fellow third years over the course of the show, agreeing to walk with them and going as far as to even invite them in to her apartment, which Nico never would have done before. The strings finally pick up with Honoka, Umi, and Kotori preparing for the student council’s presentation and their confidence therein. This piece, to me, is one of the shining examples of the show’s OST because of how well it is used in multiple scenes.

In conclusion, I have this to say: Love Live has an absolutely spectacular soundtrack. Further than that, Love Live is shown over the course of the series to have fantastic sound direction, with each song being used within the series coming at a time where the track matches perfectly with the emotion it carries. While I may have used fewer tracks in this write-up than the last one, I felt like these were some of the most powerful tracks out of the entire soundtrack and served the best to capture the emotion they aspired to achieve. I don’t know that I’ve ever found a series where I felt so strongly about the sound direction throughout and how well I feel it is executed. Love Live cuts to the pinnacle of music anime for me by moving past the threshold of having quality insert songs, but by also knowing exactly how to use it’s backing tracks and how to make each moment of musical direction within the show meaningful.

[Love Live Spoilers] Sound Direction in Love Live

Okay, another impromptu write-up, but I can’t help but take a minute (or 30) to talk about this after ranting at length about it in the Discord chat.

I absolutely love the sound direction in Love Live

From more than a standpoint of just “Oh, the music is good”, I love this soundtrack to the point of ranting and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. More than just the quality of the music in Love Live, the sound direction of the show and the use of builds, silence, and instrumentation in the Love Live soundtrack feels on a whole other level from any other show I’ve seen. I’m going to just link a bunch of tracks from the OST and talk about them each individually (Thanks to /u/Falthie for the Dropbox links, you’re awesome)

Yuujou – What better way to start a write-up about the sound direction in LL than with my absolute favorite track from the first season’s OST? There is so much about this song that I love, the piano in the beginning, the strings and chimes picking up as the song starts to build, the low tones picking up on the piano as the strings and everything else begin to fall in around it. More than that, though, is the general feeling of this song and what it symbolizes within the show (as taken from it’s translated name): Friendship. This song to me epitomizes and symbolizes the friendship and deep bonds between Honoka, Umi, and Kotori. It carries that feeling of the girls being connected at a deep level, and my absolute favorite use of this track was in Episode 3, just before the first Live. After Umi not wanting to go on and being embarassed to be seen on stage, to the girls all not knowing what to do once the curtains open, the three second-years truly feel like an inseperable unit and this song just does that so much with it’s build. Even in the way it builds, it starts with just the piano and then, as the song begins to progress, the instrumentation picks up around it and the song comes together, in just the same way the three girls come together when they’re as a unit as opposed to when they’re alone.

Osanaki hi no Yuuhi – This is another great kind of feelsy piece used at about the halfway point in Episode 1. This piece kind of contrasts what Yuujou did, in that it starts strong with multiple instruments and a strong instrumental and eventually softens into just the woodwinds. I can remember exactly which scene this comes from and it moves me every time: The scene with Honoka looking at her mother’s yearbook before she had decided on trying to keep the school from closing. Honoka had been more worried beforehand about what to do about transferring and worrying about her entrance exams. But, then, she starts reading the yearbook and it’s as if, right with the rest of the instruments, all her worries about transferring fall away and she is revealed to the truth of the matter and how much the school closing is hurting her mother. Otonokizaka was an important part of her mother’s teenage life, and the sadness she feels about the school closing finally reaches Honoka and hits her with this feeling of remorse, and this piece really symbolizes that. It’s a soft somber piece, with the strings and woodwinds taking precedence, that really gives a feeling of remorse and a piece of Honoka’s mother’s past slipping away with Otonokizaka to be closed. The woodwind solo that picks up right when Honoka begins flipping through the yearbook and seeing pictures of her mother as a high school student is so sad in it’s tone, and really captures the essence of this scene.

Nico no Kako – This piece comes from one of my favorite scenes from the entirety of the first season of Love Live: The scene in Episode 5 with Nozomi explaining to the rest of µ’s about Nico’s past and the history of the Idol Study Club. I can’t talk enough about how much I love the way this show’s OST uses it’s instrumentals: The soft introduction with the piano, into the somber melody from the piano that eventually grows into the oboe taking over and setting the tone for the entire song. It’s a softer, mellow song with tones and melodies that ring with regret and a feeling of loneliness, which I’ve come to realize this piece kind of synergizes with Nico’s character. In the same way the oboe overpowers the piano when it’s playing and becomes the main melody of the song, Nico tried to be a super idol and lead the rest of the Idol Study Club under her command. But, the other members of the club could never reach the same level as Nico, just as the piano always plays understudy to the oboe in the oboe segments, which causes the other girls to drop out. This entire piece and the way the instrumentation is used rings with the story of the Idol Study Club under Nico and how the group falls apart, coupled with Nico’s remorse and sadness about her dreams of being an idol crumbling in front of her.

Arisa – Okay, so I have a bit of a thing to say here. I love Arisa, I love everything about her character, and I absolutely ***LOVE*** the way she is introduced into the show. With her first meeting Umi outside the school and becoming starstruck while explaining how she got that recording of the µ’s first Live, her introduction into the series felt absolutely flawless to me and that is in big part thanks to how the OST itself sets her up. The little piano line at the very start pops her into the show and the rest of the track has a very innocent feel to it. It sets up Arisa and her character as this young, innocent girl with nothing but love for µ’s in her heart, in stark contrast to her sister. The main piano line has this youthful, pure melody to it that carries throughout the track, with the strings (and I think I hear an acoustic guitar in there) picking up as the track goes on. This pure feeling of the song resonates with Arisa’s character and sets up her introduction and what she is going to come to be, as one of the driving reasons why µ’s is finally able to become 9, and it’s just executed so seamlessly and smooth that it’s left a lasting impression on me.

Shinken na Manazashi – A scene I’ve come to appreciate more on my current rewatch and a really strong early scene for Eli early on comes in the park scene with Umi, where she tells Umi she views other idols as amateurs compared to her. This piece really couples with the scene itself perfectly in the entire way it’s executed: The quiet, almost ominous introduction to the piece with the strings soft and the piano overpowering really manifests the feel of this scene and how it starts, with Eli putting down how she feels. It eventually grows into a piano melody with Eli talking about how other idols seem like amateur, and it rings with a feeling of disenchantment and a ring of a bit of Eli’s past and her own confidence in herself through the piano melody that persists throughout the song. This isn’t one of my absolute favorites from the OST, but it’s a strong piece and I felt it deserved to be mentioned, now we get to one of my favorites…

Eri no Yaritai Koto – I already talked a lot about the scene this track goes with and how much I absolutely think that scene might be the best scene in Season 1, but I just have to talk more about this scene and what it means for Eli and what the OST does for it. This scene is the moment Eli finally begins to break down and question her steadfast resolve to save the school by her own methods, and this track rings with that sense of doubt. Eli begins to doubt herself and the piano line goes along with it, giving a feeling of “Is this really what I should be doing?” and a feeling of self-doubt, regret, and remorse. The scene in Episode 8 with Eli and Nozomi in the hallway has risen so much in my opinion and this track moves me on a deep level just listening to it and there are so many things it does right. It relies heavily on the piano throughout the course of the song as the main instrumentation through the entire track, and that piano melody that it carries rings so close with the feeling of Eli’s character at this point in the series, and her inevitable breakdown. Eli finally comes to realize, through Nozomi’s help, that she’s been shutting her own desires away and denying herself what she wanted, solely for the purpose of saving the school.

µ’s no Hajimari – And, here, we come to the other major scene from the second half of Episode 8 and one of the best composed scenes and one of the best uses of OST from the entire first season. This track literally moves the scene, with the soft introduction of the instrumental and the slow build of the beginning part of the track, with the track itself building and building and more instruments being added as the track goes on. Not only is this piece perfect for this scene, but this track literally lives up to it’s name: Beginning of µ’s. The track starts as one or two instruments and slowly builds with more instruments being added into the track as the song goes, which rings right along with the formation of µ’s. It grows as time goes on and builds from the early instrumentals and Honoka, Kotori, and Umi trying to save the school and builds, grows, and evolves with the other six members and the rest of the instruments in this track joining in, until finally we reach the grand climax of the song: All 9 members of µ’s and every instrument in the track joins together to create one big victorious-sounding piece. With the conclusion of this track, µ’s itself and µ’s no Hajimari are finally complete, with each instrument and each member complimenting each other and creating a completed picture. (Thanks to /u/Sephallia for reminding me of this last part) I think, as well, one of the best parts of how µ’s no Hajimari comes into play and how the scene develops is the very start, with Eli sitting along in the classroom. The music is completely silent and it gives off a reflective feel, with Eli thinking about what it is she’s doing and what she wants to do. I feel this silence is really powerful, in that it epitomizes the level of inner turmoil Eli is facing throughout this entire episode.

I could keep going on and on about how many great tracks there are in this OST and how much I absolutely adore the OST, but I’ve already broken 10,000 characters and I need to stop at some point, so I’ll leave this one off with a few finishing words. I’ve come to love the Love Live OST more than probably any other OST I’ve seen, but from more than just a standpoint of I really like the sound of the music like other shows. I love Love Live’s OST for how seamlessly the tracks themselves are woven into their respective scenes, and how much each track captures the essence of the scene it’s accompanying. The sound direction is truly some of the best I’ve seen from any anime, and the tracks themselves ring with each scene and really make me able to picture a scene just by listening to it’s OST. If there’s one thing a music anime should be able to do well, that thing is to use it’s soundtrack effectively and Love Live uses it’s soundtrack as good as any show I’ve seen.