wait I haven't kept up with LoveLive since μ's and a bit of Aquors what's all the new stuff?
muse and aqours are so old school now lol prepare for a LOT of content rn
basically the next “generation”* of love live after aqours is nijigasaki high school idol club, a group of solo school idols who occasionally perform together.
three of them--emma verde, kanata konoe, and shizuku osaka--were previously unvoiced N rarity cards from school idol festival. a popularity poll was held i think in 2017 asking fans who their favorite N girls were without really explaining what the poll was for, and those three came out on top and became voiced characters in the next series, which at the time was dubbed “perfect dream project” or “PDP” for short (they don’t use that name anymore). the rest are original characters. their anime just finished, you can watch it on funimation or do a little yo-ho-hoing if you know what i mean 🏴☠️ there’s no 2nd season or anything confirmed at this time, but i wouldn’t be surprised if we got one
nijigasaki has kinda broken the mold of muse and aqours in a lot of ways. besides all of them being solo idols instead of a real “group,” they also have 10 members now, instead of 9, and possibly more coming in the future. unlike previous gens, all their seiyuu are pretty experienced singers and voice actresses, and because they’re all so busy they don’t do many livestreams or events all together.
*should be noted that nijigasaki is NOT an official “generation” of love live, they’re a side project that got more popular than the writers intended. they were never even supposed to get an anime in the first place. everybody argues semantics over whether or not niji IS a real love live gen idk i consider them to be but it’s all subjective. the official next gen is:
liella. their group just got named and their seiyuu are doing their first livestream in 2 days where they will probably reveal a preview of their first single. they’re still VERY new, we just barely learned who their seiyuu are. this is a group of all first years who attend yuigaoka, a new school that just opened up after being closed for some time. most of the seiyuu are complete newbies, i think the only one who has a singing career is liyuu, a popular cosplayer who debuted musically in 2020. one of the seiyuu is even still a high school student! this group notably only has 5 members, as opposed to the traditional 9 from previous gens (tho nijigasaki already kinda broke that formula so it’s all up in the air rn). if they follow the same pattern as the other gens, they’ll likely get an anime some time after their 2nd single releases, so probably in 2022.
school idol festival, the game, has mostly stayed the same with a few UI updates. it’s kind of in a weird transitional period rn from corona and also possibly preparing for liella to be added into the game, so it’s really boring to play rn and lots of the cards that come out are really ugly huehue but don’t worry, now there’s
school idol festival all stars. the newest game, it’s a rhythm/strategy RPG with 3d models that perform the song choreography in the background while you play, and you get new outfits by scouting the cards. the game features muse, aqours, and nijigasaki all together, and the story mainly focuses on nijigasaki, with muse and aqours being the experienced groups that they learn from. instead of muse being 5 years older than aqours like in the anime canon, all the characters are the same age in SIFAS. you also play as an actual character now, takasaki yuu, who wants to become a manager to her school’s idol group. here’s a gameplay video from the japanese server, it’s a little outdated but it’s mostly the same. this game is WAY more focused on strategy and scoring than actual rhythm skill. the beatmaps may look simple, but there’s a lot more going on than you might think. i’m not going to outline all the gameplay elements here bc that’s like a million word essay but suffice to say if you’re looking for a regular rhythm game, you might be disappointed here. still, the MVs look nice and the card art is better than ever
also, aqours’s rival group, saint snow, had an official debut! they had a solo concert and a single release and everything! very proud of them
ummmmm love live fes 2020 happened. muse, aqours, saint snow, and nijigasaki all performed together, and it was muse’s first performance since their final live in 2016. it was really special and i cried. muse released a new single too, also their first time releasing music since 2016! they aren’t officially “coming back,” but it’s nice to see them still doing love live stuff from time to time :”) i missed them
that’s like a really bare-bones description of the newest love live developments. there’s SO much stuff i glossed over, like nijigasaki’s 2nd live (which was streamed online w/ no live audience bc of covid), aqours’s 5th anniversary campaign + all their new music, aqours subunit solo lives (azalea’s was postponed twice due to covid and is scheduled to happen in february), more events that got cancelled/postponed, the aqours live in los angeles (I WENT TO IT!!!!! IT WAS AMAZING) where an earthquake happened during the middle of brightest melody lol, lanzhu zhong giving us the first love live song to feature FOUR languages in it, mia taylor giving us the first love live song almost entirely in english, new aqours solo songs and ruby kurosawa’s acid trip of an MV, and lots of other stuff especially in 2020--despite everything, that year was STACKED for love live fans.
that’s basically it tho have fun lol