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The story
We’re covering a topic that had 5ch buzzing about stage production in the Love Live! franchise. One unit’s concert drew praise for having “the best camera work and stage direction in series history,” but fans disagreed over whether the effects gear used was an actual drone or a wire-rigged light-up unit. The thread then snowballed into comparisons of production scale and budget across units like Nijigasaki, Hasunosora, and Liella!, eventually turning into a debate over which unit puts the most effort into its live shows.
What people said
Great camera work and stage set design
If they'd just gotten the Ikizurai-Live anime (a fan nickname punning on 生きづらい, "hard to live/awkward") going sooner, it might not have flopped so hard
What's "Nijigazaki"? (mocking the typo in the post above)
Me partway through: "Wait, it's a moving stage and set pieces keep popping up from below… and they've got ten different cart variations, one per member…"
Me watching Silent Stella: "Is that… a drone? They're doing the effects with drones… so THAT'S why they couldn't put anything on the stage…"
Me after the show: "Okay, that clearly cost a fortune…"
Wait, seriously?
They actually went for it
Barely any recent Love Live show has gone this hard
Though it looks like it majorly restricts where the performer can move, so it's probably solo-only
They didn't use drones at all?
If you mean the effect from Silent Stella, you could clearly see the cable hanging it from above on the screen
That's a drone that moves up and down on a wire — each one's an independent light-up unit. It's the same tech Ultraman stage shows only recently started using.
Also, there are drones with four legs or tank treads, so "propeller aircraft = drone" isn't even accurate
Your knowledge is ancient, pikaere… ("pikaere" — a mocking put-down thrown at posters seen as clueless)
The performers themselves aren't that impressive on their own
Crowd aside, can they really keep the staging at this quality every single time?
Honestly they're already above Liella! and close to Niji/Hasu level at making characters feel real, so it should be fine
Putting everything into a 2-day show would probably make for better staging and performances
For Liella!, don't they kind of have to tour since that's how the cast stays employed? Unlike Ikizurai-Live, there's no voice-acting work tied to the characters
With the fan club, putting the cast in media, leaning on pilgrimage-site tie-ins — going by how they market it, they're basically supposed to be Aqours' successor…
Well, it'd be nice to have at least one group that can keep pace with them
There's no real rivalry within the franchise, and having no good rival is bad for Liella! too
If they never have to compete outside, even Liella! risks getting complacent eventually
Can't hide that pikaere energy in this post lol
My read: Nijigasaki, the loaded rich-kid school, goes all out on the stage set, while L Academy, the digital school, goes all out on the effects instead
Probably just doesn't know, pikaere
Honestly it kind of bugged me that Ayumu is always the fixed center for Niji's group songs
That's just Niji being lazy — every other unit in the franchise actually rotates the center depending on the song
Re: #71
Why do pikaere always have such a shallow take compared to people who actually get it? That's exactly why nobody relates to them
The last time they really went big on staging was probably that lift-up circular center stage from the Yohane show
Hasunosora uses a three-tier version of that lift-up stage
Also, Nijigasaki used that bizarre LED staircase stage that slides side to side for "Mamimume Motor Girl"
There's no way just fitting panels into a staircase costs that much money…
Drone rental isn't actually that expensive
The laser lighting Niji uses so much of costs about double what the drones do
Ikizurai-Live went hard on lasers too though
I mean, at the end of the day, isn't the reality just that Niji, Hasu, and Ikizurai all built stages with a real budget, and Liella! is somehow the only one with no money?
Guess Niji really is a money pit after all
Same "Osare Company" (fan nickname, roughly "Fashion Inc.," for the production house) roots, but the budget gap between Liella! and everyone else has got to be more than double
That's why Nagi-chan twists her hips backward once before the spin, using the momentum to make the skirt and frills flare out
But that only works because of Nagi-chan's physical ability — the other ten can't do it, so theirs doesn't open, and on top of that it turns into an ugly-looking spin, which isn't pretty from a performance standpoint… it's honestly kind of a mess
Still, an open skirt beats a flat one, so it's the right call even if it's messy
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The Love Live! franchise runs live tours in parallel across multiple units, including Nijigasaki School Idol Club, Hasunosora Girls’ School Idol Club, and Liella! (Link! Like! Love Live!), and the scale of staging and budget reportedly varies a lot between them. The thread’s disagreement centered on two main points: first, a technical dispute over whether the stage equipment used was genuinely a “drone” or a wire-suspended light-up unit; second, a comparative debate over which unit spends the most on production. It’s worth noting that none of these production details have been officially confirmed — they’re based purely on what attendees saw or felt in the moment. It’s also worth explaining that nicknames like “Ikizurai-Live” and “Ikizurai-bu” are fan shorthand — wordplay on 生きづらい (“hard to live,” i.e. socially awkward) — used within the community and may not be familiar to readers unfamiliar with the franchise.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Love Live!) thread “Ikizurai-bu is becoming the dominant force in the Love Live! franchise.”
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