The Love Live! series has captured the attention of millions of viewers. The story of these schoolgirls working together to pursue their dreams of becoming idols connected with audiences, and fans watched as different amateur idol groups struggled with songwriting, choreography and self-confidence. These compelling storylines and memorable music have made the Love Live! series the powerhouse it is today.

The popularity and success of the Love Live! franchise can't be denied. This bubbly idol series has gained a dedicated fan base that has helped the franchise grow. From anime series, films, light novels, manga and video games, Love Live! has earned millions of dollars in revenue in all media forms. Even after years since its beginning, Love Live! remains one of Japan's most lucrative multimedia projects in Japan and has helped define the genre of anime idols and popularized it across the entire world.

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The History of Love Live!

An image of girls from Love Live.

Love Live! first began in 2010 with Love Live! School Idol Project. This multimedia project followed the story of Honoka Kosaka, whose school is scheduled to be closed due to a lack of applicants. Inspired by another school's idol group, Honoka decides to start her own to raise the popularity of her school in the hopes of attracting new students. Honoka gathers her eight friends and forms the amateur idol group μ's. The group saves their school and decides to enter Love Live, the greatest school idol competition in the country, where they win, proving themselves as the greatest idol group.

The success of Love Live! School Ido Project led to a number of other storylines focusing on different idol groups. The idol groups Aqours, Nijigasaki High School Idol Club and Liella! have now all received their own anime series under the main Love Live! title, and each group has produced dozens of iconic songs that have cemented their popularity. However, the Love Live! franchise is far more than just music and anime. Two feature-length films and a popular gacha game called Love Live! School Idol Festival has also been quite successful. The Love Live! franchise covers almost every piece of media from print and music to film and video games. Even 12 years since its start, Love Live! has not waned in popularity but continuously grown in viewership and popularity.

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Love Live!'s Impact on Idol Anime

Japanese idols have been generally popular for decades. Since the 1960s, idol groups have formed and gained immense commercial success, with thousands of girls from Japan coming together to create numerous idol groups. Despite the large number of real-life idol groups, animated idol series like Love Live! have still managed to carve out a spot for themselves in the industry.

Many of the characters and idol groups in Love Live! have become just as if not more popular than these real-life idol groups. The series successfully merged the characterization and storylines popular within anime with the fan culture found within idol groups. The anime and manga format that Love Live! uses means that idol groups never grow older and disband or find themselves caught in scandals. Because the groups are fictional, the storylines are completely controlled and unhampered by the inconveniences of real life.

Other anime have stepped into the idol genre, but none have become quite as popular as Love Live!. What makes Love Live! different is that each character in the idol groups has their unique personality and characterization. Fans can become deeply attached to them as both performers and characters, leading to Love Live! combining the best of both the anime and idol world and creating a worldwide phenomenon.