I think if Superstar wants to really be bold and surprise me they will lose the Love Live this season. That would be interesting to see how the girls react to that, especially with the stakes currently at play. I doubt that will happen but would be I think the best story beat.

I feel conflict can be good and still work in an idol story. A good example is Miki's growth in Im@s when she sees how hard Ryuuguu Komachi works which makes her want to work hard for the first time in becoming an idol. Satisfying growth.

of them coming to that conclusion on their own and all of the growing they did this whole season fall flat. The choices they made felt out of their hands and so all tension is gone. It's why I also felt Selection Project had a weak story.

Making them sing the same song, no real vote, the outfit change to the same outfit. I know both groups wanted to join together and that was the goal - showing both Tomari and Margarete's growth - but it just makes last episode's declaration

And I think that is a fine lesson to learn but the show just drops the ball. If you are going to have a competition arc then just do it. Having all this run around in ep. 8 of the inevitable just makes their eventual merge have less impact.

her way of thinking shows her that being an idol isn't a competition where you're either #1 or a loser but a stage where each other can be pushed to greater heights. This is the lesson Kanon (and probably her parents) want her to learn in season 3

Superstar tries their own hand at having a rival with Margarete and I think she is far more successful. She is introduced confident and knows she can back her talk with talent. She causes doubt in the group which causes them to come together to oppose

Niji's whole core is that they are all rivals pushing each other to be better, so a true antagonist who'd question with an opposing view would have been really interesting. Emphasis on would because it never happened, the anime's take was better but not a true ideological rival

I think the reason people hated that storyline was ultimately because the writers didn't write an antagonist and were scared to actually make real conflict. Lanzhu's perfection mentality was constantly portrayed with innocence which honestly was just frustrating and bad.

Not in the same way Lanzhu was supposed to be. I view her introduction as their first attempt to have a story with a real antagonist. And this might be a hot take but I was really excited for some drama. OC I know in the end it will all work out but pressure makes diamonds.

Love Live has a history with rival arcs starting with A-RISE and Saint Snow but those groups acted as rivals as a more exterior force, part of the competition of Love Live - they didn't impact the dynamics of the main groups.

I am going to start this off first by saying I am a huge LL fan so this is more meant to vent my frustrations on what could be. I also want to start positively and say the song in this episode has to be the best of the season