Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow is a 2019 original theatrical anime film produced by studio Sunrise with director Kazuo Sakai, writer Jukki Hanada, and published by Bandai Visual. It was released in Japanese theaters in January 2019.
Background:
“Aqours reigned over all in Love Live, the last time they would be representing Uranohoshi Girls’ High School. Now, the first and second-year students are preparing for life at their new school–only to face a litany of unexpected trouble! Most alarming of all, the third-year students have set off on a graduation trip–only to have gone missing! As the group’s members drift apart, they quickly realize just how much they mean to each other. What will Aqours do to compel themselves to take the next step forward?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, September 2021.
Sunrise may be known for their Gundam franchise, but people tend to forget that they also produced the Love Live! franchise which currently has four shows already, each with different idol groups. The first series Love Live! School Idol Project is a favourite for many, but the second series Love Live! Sunshine!! definitely gathered more attention even if the formula was mostly the same as before.
Love Live! Sunshine!!, much like its predecessor, also received two anime seasons and eventually a theatrical film to wrap things off for the idol group Aqours. Aqours consists of nine members, three in each school year; Chika Takami, Riko Sakurauchi, Kanan Matsuura, Dia Kurosawa, You Watanabe, Yoshiko Tsushima, Hanamaru Kunikida, Mari Ohara, and Ruby Kurosawa. Each girl shared a spotlight throughout the anime series but many viewers can tell that a lot of their traits are borrowed/carried over from the previous idol series, and therefore comparisons are often brought up. That being said, Aqours does have some differences to make them stand out more, like Yoshiko having her alter ego, the sister bond between Dia and Ruby, and the backstories with the third years was also pretty interesting.
While Love Live! School Idol Project simulcasted on Crunchyroll and released on Blu-ray by NIS America, Funimation stepped in and acquired the rights for Love Live! Sunshine!! as well as the later instalments in the franchise. However, Anime Limited stepped in to acquire the UK & Ireland rights for Love Live! Sunshine!!, which is noteworthy as MVM had dropped any consideration for picking up any more due to poor sales of the School Idol Project seasons (and as such, Love Live! The School Idol Movie did not get licensed until just a few months ago by Anime Limited).
Since Anime Limited and Sunrise have a strong working relationship, allowing them to take over the Love Live! franchise made perfect sense and in return we received special collector’s edition sets for each part of the anime. And the same has been said for the film Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow, which was licensed this past year after they previously released the Japanese import version for UK customers.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Keeping the consistency with the first two seasons and also Love Live! The School Idol Movie, Anime Limited is once again offering their collector’s edition packaging treatment for their release of Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow.
This package offers a rigid box that houses the film in an Scanavo Blu-ray case and also comes included with a 24-page booklet. The booklet is brief but goes over character artwork and outfits for all nine members.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info o-card covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray is limited to 1000 units for an SRP of £34.99. While there’s currently no standard Blu-ray option, it is expected to be made available later down the line after a certain amount of time or the collector’s set sells out (basically whichever comes first).
I pre-ordered the film via Anime Limited’s store during its early bird week using the Anime (Un)limited membership with a 10% store discount, going from £19.99 to £18.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Scanavo packaging and clean artwork
- Info o-card for specification and BBFC description
- 24-page Booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 13th September 2021
The collector’s edition release for Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow contains the film on a single Blu-ray disc using the Funimation encode/author. The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub. The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are compatible with Blu-ray players set to A & B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Love Live! Sunshine!! Photo Sessions
- Original Japanese Trailers
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition Blu-ray release on Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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