I know you haven't been following it in a long time, but I thought you might be interested in knowing that I finally finished off all the Mami Lives! routes (one for Sayaka, one for Homura, various "Madoka loses out" and/or bad ends, and two for Mami).

Here are the things I like about Love Live! vis a vis other idol-themed works:

The cast are all "normal" high school girls. And the predominance of the high school setting (as opposed to some sort of idol talent agency) lends itself to more in the way of character distinctiveness, I find. With IdolMaster, I felt that the girls blurred/overlapped a bit too much because all of them already started out as idols (from Episode 1), and for all of them it was about finding a quirky personality characteristic that they could play for appeal. In Love Live!, the girls all have very distinct personalities that go well beyond trying to be an appealing idol. They're not defined by what they bring on-stage.

Love Live! actually makes me think of a really good superhero origin story, just replace "super-hero" with "school idol". The yuri isn't too much of a problem because the lack of business side means that there's very minimal internal competitiveness between the girls. For all of the girls, the team comes first because they have a team-goal (I'd say more, but it might spoil things).

Love Live! is like VRO, though, in that it teases yuri pairings in every direction rather than picking particular pairs and sticking to them (like Saki, say).


Anyway, I've really loved the show, and so I do recommend it to you. But be prepared - the first episode is probably the weakest. I know somebody who now loves the show as much as I did, but almost dropped it after the first episode, lol.

I hope University is going well for you!

I've enjoyed VRO, Love Live! School Idol Project, Little Busters!, Psycho-Pass, and Shin Sekai Yori. Of the 4 of those you haven't seen, I think you'd probably like Love Live! the best. There's a lot of good drama and plot twists in it, and a fair bit of yuri subtext and heartwarming friendship dynamics.

I also haven't decided what Spring shows I'll be following.

Hey, how's it going Sol? We haven't chatted in awhile. Are there many anime shows that you are enjoying right now?

I see, I still think you're missing the definition of objective. Probabilistic analysis will reach a conclusion, but that "objective conclusion" will address both the likely and unlikely outcomes. For your statements to be objective, they must address other potential arguments and conclusions. You are being subjective, not objective, but open to criticism and alternate interpretations.

Hey I modified my post, but didn't see your reply. Apologies if I got a bit snarky at you, but there is a reason why people do not throw around the word "objective" when stating their opinions.

Greetings. Just a little note after our discussion: I suggest you to check the post of someone you are quoting right after you made multiple quotes, as I noticed you often make an early quote, missing potential edit that occured between the initial post and the time of your post (which actually happened in the saki thread).

Sol, was that you as Nom de Plume over on Random Curiousity? If so, thanks for backing me up.

David

It's Ok. Thanks for clearing things up in PM.

Still, I felt compelled to defend my reasoning on Sayaka and Homura's narration a bit. Your other criticisms I accept without complaint, since they're more an issue of reader reception and taste than anything else, and I do see where you're coming from on them.