Love Live! is a Japanese multimedia project created by Hajime Yatate and Sakurako Kimino and co-produced by Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa through ASCII Media Works; Bandai Namco Music Live through music label Lantis (company), Lantis; and animation studio ...

'' is a Japanese multimedia project created by

Hajime Yatate is a pseudonym for the collective contributions of the Sunrise animation staff. Name "Hajime Yatate" is considered to be named after a quote of Matsuo Bashō's ''Oku no Hosomichi'': Credited series This collective entity is credited as the o ...

and

Sakurako Kimino is a Japanese novelist. She created ''Sister Princess'' and ''Strawberry Panic!'', two very successful bishōjo series where almost all the characters in both series are young girls. She also created ''Love Live!'', which has been adapted into fo ...

. Each of the individual titles within the franchise revolve around teenage girls who become "school idols". A 13-episode

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series of ''

Love Live! School Idol Project is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by ASCII Media Works' ''Dengeki G's Magazine'', music label Lantis, and animation studio Sunrise. It is the first multimedia project in the ''Love Live!'' franchise. The project revolves aro ...

'' produced by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...

, directed by Takahiko Kyōgoku, and written by

Jukki Hanada is a Japanese anime screenwriter and light novelist. His grandfather is essayist and literary critic Kiyoteru Hanada, who also gave him his first name. Screenwriting * series head writer denoted in bold Television series *''Jankenman'' (1992) * ...

aired in Japan on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

from January 6 to March 31, 2013 and was simulcast by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

. An

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

episode was released on November 27, 2013. A second season aired on Tokyo MX from April 6 to June 29, 2014, also airing on

TV Aichi JOCI-DTV, branded as , is a television station in Nagoya, Japan operated by the Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ja, テレビ愛知株式会社, Terebi Aichi kabushiki gaisha) and is an affiliate of the TX Network. Broadcasti ...

Yomiuri TV JOIX-DTV (channel 10), branded as , is the Kansai region flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned by the subsidiary of the eponymous Yomiuri Shimbun#Yomiuri Group, Yomi ...

, and BS11, and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. Both seasons are licensed in North America by

NIS America is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and ''Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' character ...

, who released the premium edition of the first season on Blu-ray on September 2, 2014 and an English dubbed version was released with the standard edition of the first season, along with the premium edition of the second season, on February 14, 2016, as well as the standard edition of the second season on April 12, 2016.

MVM Entertainment MVM Entertainment, also known as MVM and MVM Films, is a British licensor and distributor of Japanese animation. The company also sub-licenses anime titles from US anime companies such as Media Blasters, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, Urban Visi ...

released the first season in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2015 on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

, with plans to release it on

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

in 2016 with an English dub. MVM Entertainment also released the second season in 2016.

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatri ...

released the first season in Australia and New Zealand on June 10, 2015 on DVD. A 13-episode anime television series of ''

Love Live! Sunshine!! is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by ASCII Media Works' ''Dengeki G's Magazine'', music label Lantis, and animation studio Sunrise. The project is the second series of the ''Love Live!'' franchise and is a spin-off sequel of '' ...

'' produced by Sunrise, directed by Kazuo Sakai, and written by Hanada aired between July 2 and September 24, 2016 and was simulcast by

. A 13-episode second season aired between October 7 and December 30, 2017. The series is licensed in North America by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

, in the United Kingdom by

Anime Limited Anime Limited, also known as All the Anime is a British anime distribution company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It releases anime for British, Irish, French and other European audiences. The company was established in 2012 by Andrew Partridge, b ...

, and in Australia by

. An English dub by Funimation began streaming from July 30, 2016. A 13-episode anime television series of ''

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is a Japanese multimedia spin-off project from the ''Love Live!'' series and its game series ''Love Live! School Idol Festival''. It was first introduced in 2017 as "Perfect Dream Project" and was initially created as part of the game ''Lov ...

'' produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks, directed by Tomoyuki Kawamura, and written by Jin Tanaka, aired between October 3 and December 26, 2020. It was also streamed live through the Bandai Channel, Line Live, and YouTube Live. A second season aired between April 2 and June 25, 2022. A 12-episode anime television series of ''

Love Live! Superstar!! is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by Kadokawa Corporation, music label Lantis, and animation studio Bandai Namco Filmworks (formerly known as Sunrise). The project is the fourth installment in the ''Love Live!'' franchise after ''L ...

'' produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks, directed by Kyogoku, and written by Hanada, aired on

NHK Educational TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK E, is the second television service of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, cultural or intellectual nature, periodically also sh ...

between July 11 and October 17, 2021.

has licensed the series for international releases. A second season aired between July 17 and October 9, 2022. A third season has been announced.

Series overview

Episode list

''Love Live! School Idol Project'' (2013–2014)

''Love Live! Sunshine!!'' (2016–2017)

''Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club'' (2020–2022)

''Love Live! Superstar!!'' (2021)

Notes

References