Love Live! The School Idol Movie (Limited Edition Blu-ray Disc Box) Unboxing

Love Live! The School Idol Movie is a 2015 theatrical anime film by studio Sunrise, directed by Takahiko Kyougoku, and published by Bandai Visual. It is a continuation of the Love Live! School Idol Project anime series that spanned two seasons during 2013 and 2014 and concludes the storyline with the idol group μ’s.

The film did pretty well to no one’s surprise and it eventually received a sequel series called Love Live! Sunshine!! that follows a different school idol group. The film was brought over in the United States by NIS America and in Australia by Madman, but before that had happened it was made available in Japan on Blu-ray by Bandai Visual with English subtitles like the main series did prior.

The version I acquired is the Limited Edition release. There’s a version of the limited edition Japanese release that also offers a box that houses all of the volumes from both seasons and the film together, but I mainly focused on the regular limited edition release.

Included with the limited edition set is a clear o-card housing a digipack that offers the main feature film on Blu-ray (English subtitles are included), an exclusive Blu-ray disc with more bonus features (no English support), and the film’s original song CD sung by the idol group themselves. Also included alongside the digipack is a booklet, a mini card, and promotional material for Japanese fans.

Released in December 2015, Love Live! The School Idol Movie from Bandai Visual contains the entire film on one Blu-ray disc plus an additional Blu-ray disc also known as the ‘Special Disc’. Audio options available include the main Japanese language with English subtitles for the main feature film only. All on-disc bonus features including the ‘Special Disc’ will require viewers to understand the Japanese language beforehand. The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are compatible with all regions.

The ‘Special Disc’ contains a Fan Meeting that was held at the Nakano Sun Plaza Hall back in May 31st 2015. The event is 2 hours 10 minutes total with chapter slots available to skip to certain parts of the performance. Also included are some theater manor shorts that total 6.5 minutes. The Original Song CD by μ’s contains the song “これから” (Korekara / From Now On) with both vocals and instrumental (off-vocal) versions.

Love Live! The School Idol Movie is available to order on Amazon Japan as well as a localised release by NIS America.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: Japanese
Audio: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video: 1080p High Definition Native format with 16:9 ratio
Region: A B C
Subtitles: English
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 1

Blu-ray Specs (Special Disc):

Languages: Japanese
Audio: Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video: 1080p High Definition Native format with 16:9 ratio
Region: A B C
Subtitles: None
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 1

Plot Synopsis (via NIS America US release):

“Although μ’s, the defending champions of the school idol tournament, plans to dissolve their group after the graduation of their senior members, they receive news that leads them to holding a concert event! The 9 girls continue to learn and grow in this new and unfamiliar world. What is the last thing that these girls can do as school idols? With the clock ticking, what kind of meaning will the μ’s members find in performing the most exciting live performance?”