Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (ラブライブ！虹ヶ咲学園スクールアイドル同好会, Rabu Raibu! Nijigasaki Gakuen Sukūru Aidoru Dōkō-kai) Season 1 is a 2020 television anime series that’s part of a multimedia project created by Hajime Yatate and Sakurako Kimino. The television series is directed by Tomoyuki Kawamura and produced by studio Sunrise (now known as Bandai Namco Filmworks). Staff credits also include writer Jin Tanaka and music composed by Naoki Endo. The first season of the series first aired in Japan on October 2020.
Background:
“Nijigasaki High School is known for their diverse subjects and the freedom they give to students. Second-year student Yu Takasaki has been turned on to the charms of school idols, so she knocks on the door of the School Idol Club with her friend, Ayumu Uehara.
Sometimes friends, sometimes rivals, the members of this club each contribute their own thoughts and motivations to the group.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, March 2023.
It’s interesting to see the Love Live franchise continue to expand throughout the past decade. We went from Love Live! School Idol Project with μ’s, followed up by Love Live! Sunshine!! with Aqours, and now Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club and Love Live! Superstar. Though for now, we’ll be focusing on the former!
What makes Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club stand out across the other shows in the franchise, is that it focuses on individual solo idols rather than one big group, though they can form mini-groups or perform altogether throughout. Much like the previous ones, these idols also received multiple singles and two anime seasons.
Funimation acquired the streaming and home video rights for the series in the United States & Canada, while Anime Limited did the same for the United Kingdom & Ireland, with simulcast provided through Crunchyroll though we lose out on the simuldub. While Funimation released the series as a regular Blu-ray release, Anime Limited kept consistency and offered a collector’s set for the fans of the franchise. Anime Limited also have the rights to the second season which has yet to see a release at the time of this point in any English-speaking region.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Much like the previous Love Live shows, Anime Limited also provided a collector’s package for Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club though this time the set is much bigger due to the choice of case and the added physical items.
This release is presented with a rigid box containing a Scanavo case to house the Blu-ray discs, and alongside the case is a 28-page booklet as well as 10 Art Cards. The booklet covers character bios, interviews with the Japanese cast and artwork.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The limited edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99, and is expected to receive a standard edition Blu-ray release later down the line.
I pre-ordered the series during the early bird line-up back in September 2022, when the series was initially planned to be scheduled for November of that same year, via their AllTheAnime online store for an additional discounted offer from their Anime (Un)Limited membership (therefore the price was £31.50 instead of the £34.99 early bird offer).
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Scanavo packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 28-page Booklet
- 10 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 20th March 2023
The collector’s edition release for Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Season 1 contains all 13 episodes across two Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Funimation (before they were rebranded as Crunchyroll). The audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.
The white subtitles are unlockable 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 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Comic Movie “Nijiyon Season 3” #1-12
- Comic Movie “Nijiyon Season 3” #13-30
- Comic Movie “Nijiyon Season 3” #31-46
- Comic Movie “Nijiyon Season 3” #47-61
- Promo Videos
- Commercials
- Textless Opening Song “Nijiiro Passions!”
- Textless Closing Song “Neo Sky, Neo Map!”
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Season 1 is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be purchased through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s online store, MVM’s Anime-on-Line, and United Publications.
(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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