The long-awaited premiere of the first part of “ Love Live! Nijigasaki High School
Idol Club Final Chapter ,” a three-part film
project that will mark the end of the popular idol franchise, is off to an
unexpectedly disastrous start in Japan. A Twitter user shared a
screenshot of seat reservations for one of the 4DX screenings scheduled for
this Saturday at one of the country’s major movie theater
chains, revealing that the theater was completely empty, with all seats
available for sale.
The post quickly went viral on the social network,
unleashing a wave of comments from other users who reported similar situations
in different locations. Some of these comments highlighted the
worrying lack of attendance at the premiere screenings:
- « I'm
going to see the Nijigasaki movie on the evening of the first day at the
T-Joy at Yokohama Station, but it's completely empty. With
a 'fans-only' treatment, people just walk away .»
- « I
booked my seats for the movie on the first day and it was so empty that I
had no problems, but seeing so few seats occupied from the first day
worries me .»
- « There
were only 15 people and it was really empty, haha .»
The situation sparked a discussion about the factors
that could have influenced this surprising lack of attendance. Some
fans compared Nijigasaki’s film to the previous series, “Love Live! Sunshine!!,” which had managed to maintain a
strong following:
- « Now
that I think about it, Sunshine did a good job .»
One of the main complaints mentioned was the sudden
change in character design, which has generated a wave of discontent. Comments
criticized that the franchise, despite having had a character design that had
been well received, decided to change the visual style for the film,
commissioning the work to one of the artists who had worked on “Bocchi the
Rock!”. This change was perceived negatively by some viewers, who
pointed out that the quality of animation in the film was not up to
expectations:
- « The
character design for Nijigasaki was done by someone different from the
previous series, and it was very well received, but for the movie they
suddenly changed it to someone from Bocchi the Rock! »
- " Faces, just no ."
- " Of
course it will cause controversy, but the designer is not to blame ."
The debate quickly led some users to lament what they
see as the end of the “Love Live!” era , a franchise
once seen as an icon of idol culture in Japan:
- " Who
would have thought that Love Live! would become irrelevant? "
- " If
the content of the movie is good, the character design shouldn't matter
that much ."
- « Watching
the trailer, the movie looks normal, so it must be a boycott by otakus
because of the design change ».
- « They
should increase the saturation and add good reflections in the eyes. With
such a flat design, the characters have no life .»
- " Love
Live! 's heyday is over, no matter how much you call it, it's
not coming back ."
This box office failure could be a devastating blow to
the future of the franchise, which once led the school-idol scene and generated
a huge fan base both in and outside of Japan. However, with
two more films on the way to conclude this final trilogy, it remains to be seen
whether the team behind the project will be able to reverse this trend and draw
audiences back to theaters, or if the Love Live! era is finally coming to an
end.
Source: Otakomu
