Event Summary: September 2025
Yes, it's December. I know this was supposed to come out sometime in October, but better late than never!
It's the end of another month, so it's time for another post highlighting the interesting events I attended (both physically and virtually)!
AiScReam Presents TOPPING LIVE ~Come See Me Before I Melt Away~♡♡♡
Date: 2025.09.06-2025.09.07
Setlist
EventerNote
If you've watched short-form content at all in the last nine months, you've undoubtedly come across this song as it steamrolled its way into the collective brainrot of the worldwide under-30 populace. AiScReam's catchy beat and imitable chorus sent it to the front of the tiktok algorithm upon its release, skyrocketing its popularity so hard that with just one single to their name the cross-generation subunit earned its own dedicated live event. Alongside them, (almost) all of the members' original units would be in attendance too for another cross-generational love live event, the 3rd this year!
"What could this really be other than a unit live?", "Will it really be worth traveling for?" we all thought. I'll tell you right now, it would've been worth it if I could and my oshis weren't even in it! Sure, it was a unit fes live, but the song and outfit selection and the performances themselves made it fun and memorable. It was a bit of a bummer that Saku-chan was still on her hiatus (and returned a few days after), but I'm just glad she's back and doing better now!
It felt a little weird watching a live alone in my apartment via streaming at 3am again instead of attending in person. It's been a few months since the last time and I'd kind of forgotten the feeling. I still had a ton of fun watching it while chatting with other friends watching along though!
no picture, because it was 3am and I forgot to take one
Aqours Documentary
Date: 2025.09.26
Venue: Cinema Sunshine BIVI, Numazu
Following their Finale Live earlier this year, LoveLive! staff created and released a theatrical documentary detailing the history of Aqours, and I was able to go see it in theaters on release day! There was one theater I wanted to see it in more than any other, Cinema Sunshine in Numazu! The first showing sold out, but I was able to attend the second and third showings that day. It was two jam-packed hours detailing the history of Aqours, their struggles during the pandemic, and the lead up to their finale live. It featured interviews from the entire cast, producers, and choreographers, as well as a lot of unreleased footage and stories from Aqours' past. I understood maybe 30% of it, and I absolutely cried my eyes out.
No one's really sure how long it will show in theaters. With no Blu-ray release announcement as of my writing this, go see it if you can. This post is so delayed that the Blu-ray release has been confirmed! It's an emotional rollercoaster. It's raw, painful at times, and doesn't shy away from addressing the painful parts of Aqours' history. In my opinion, it's a must-watch for any of their fans (even if it's painful).
Spoilers in this paragraph: the most painful part to me was seeing and hearing firsthand what the pandemic did to the members of Aqours. It destroyed them mentally, just as it did to me (and so many others). Anchan tried her hardest to make everything work and be the positive leader she thought everyone needed to be, but by taking on the weight of the world on her shoulders she silently suffered to the point where she said the thing she lost during the pandemic "was herself". According to the documentary, Finale Live on their 10th anniversary was a goal created to keep Aqours going through the pandemic after their outdoor lives were cancelled in 2022. Without it, it's possible Aqours would've suffered a quiet disbandment. Finale wasn't the grand ending they deserved, but it was the one Aqours were able to create for us to celebrate the ten years we had together. Aqours has always been about struggling to turn dreams into reality, and I'll certainly treasure the final dream they struggled so much to achieve (along with every moment I spent with them) forever.
I'm so glad I could see it in their hometown. I didn't want to leave afterwards. I wish I could've sat the day and night away down by the harbor.
Their story isn't over yet, and hand-in-hand I'll keep walking forward with them.
Update! - LoveLive! Staff have confirmed that the documentary will also be available on Japanese video streaming sites like Amazon and U-Next for a limited time starting on Christmas Eve (12/24) at midnight JST! You can find the information here, and the twitter announcement here. You'll need a VPN (mullvad, nordvpn, etc) with a Japanese exit node to watch it, and the acceptance of foreign payment cards is spotty at best. The most foreigner-friendly will likely be AmazonJP, but I haven't used their version of Prime Video so your mileage may vary. I won't outright say U-Next will work, but give it a try if you can't use Amazon (wink wink). HuluJP does not accept foreign credit cards.
Lieraji! Public Recording & Public Live Broadcast 2025
Date: 2025.09.28
Venue: Ushiku City Central Lifelong Learning Center Culture Hall
Eventernote: Session 1, Session 2, Livestream Broadcast
Oh god, this was so much fun! The second and third generation members of Liella! recorded two episodes of Liella!'s weekly web radio show "Lieraji!" and one of their livestream broadcasts with an in-person audience In Ushiku, the city home to the characters Natsumi and Tomari Onitsuka! I managed to win tickets to all three sessions. Each one was absolute chaos in the best way, especially during the "game" corners.
This was Sakakura Sakura's (voice of Onitsuka Tomari) first in-person appearance as a member of Liella! since June, when she took a three-month hiatus for personal health and mental health reasons. I was so happy to see her again! She has a warm, gentle smile that always brightens up the room she's in, and behind it lies a mischievous goofball who's Liella!'s biggest fan! We all warmly welcomed her back each session. The crowd was noticeably louder when it was her turn to walk on stage.
Somehow during the livestream broadcast session, my seat was in the second row in the center! They were so close, and we received a lot of love and attention from each of them! (Three visibly foreign guys in the front row will do that, lol.)
At the beginning of each session (and most Liella! events), the members will read a couple of messages off the Twitter hashtag and ask if the poster is in the audience. I had tweeted a photo and a few words between the second radio session and the livestream session just because, as I normally would. I thought nothing of it, seeing others' tweets get read until Kuma-chan called out the name "マイケルさん？". No way she just said my name, right? Time slowed to a crawl and by the third time she called out my name I pulled myself out of shock enough to shoot my hand in the air and wave. The six of them immediately lit up with massive smiles realizing it was me, bemused at my stunlocked reaction to hearing my name called. I brought Tomari goods with me to support Saku-chan (both for myself and on behalf of my fiancé), and embarrassingly Yabu-chan had to motion to me to look over to Saku-chan because I was a complete deer in headlights. I waved over to her and made a heart, and she leaned down and made one back to me with a smile so dazzling I felt like I'd go blind!
The six of them have amazing chemistry, and all of the corners were hilarious. We were shown options for the outfits for the solo songs on the Aspire album and a preview of the 2nd and 3rd gen's new song 「High! モチベーション」too! The livestream broadcast is available for free on youtube if you want to see what they're like together!
Date Sayuri 23rd Birthday Fanmeeting ~See you tomorrow~
Date: 2025.09.30
Venue: Nissho Hall, Tokyo
Eventernote: Afternoon, Evening
For the second year in a row I was able to attend Date Sayuri's (Sayu-chan's) birthday event! This year, instead of just one session she had four, two in Tokyo on her birthday and two more in her hometown of Sendai the following weekend. I was able to secure tickets to both sessions in Tokyo in the first round, and I was so glad! Unfortunately the date of the Sendai sessions coincided with a friend's wedding, so I could only make it to the two. Thankfully, those were livestreamed online.
Her outfits for both sessions were incredibly cute! Words don't do them justice, so here are some pictures!
At this point I roughly know what to expect from an event like this; they're typically some sort of talk/games segment, a raffle of some sort, and then a singing part. I was so excited to hear her sing her solo songs live again, but the games session was fun too! The audience worked with her as a team on a quiz about things that happened in 2002, which was way more challenging than I thought. There were some unintentional trick questions (to me, as a foreigner), such as "Which game console released in this year?" with both the "GameCube" and "Xbox" as options. I knew the original Xbox came out in 2001 so I figured it must've been the GameCube, but I forgot that in Japan the Xbox actually released in 2002. That one really threw me for a loop, but I got about half of them right! She also did a game where she drew object names from a box, and she'd have to scavenge the item from someone in the audience to get points. I was too slow understanding most of them to get my hand up in time, but one of them was "foreign currency" and I hastily whipped out the only thing I had, a crumpled US$5 bill. She came up to our section and I really thought she was about to pick me, but she took the Korean Won from someone in the row in front of me. So close!
Knowing only a little Japanese and not being very confident at it, the raffle (chuusen-kai) part always scares me a little bit. My biggest fear is being called on without knowing what's being asked of me and looking like a fool in front of everyone. Usually after the first couple of people are called on I can piece together the rules of the game and feel less nervous, but this time the rules were completely different. The past two years, she's drawn six seat numbers out of a box, and the people sitting in those seats would 1) pick a line off a list shown on screen for her to read to them and 2) get a signed can badge after the event was over that they could pick up from the staff. While the signed can badge was still the prize, she started calling out multiple seats without stopping to do the line readings, and this had me spooked. At one of Inami Anju's live events in 2023 she brought the winners up on stage with her, and while that experience would be amazing to me it'd be equal parts awesome and mortifying. Turns out, the chuusen-kai was to have her come to your seat and personally sign the can badge in front of you! I sat through the entire first session's drawing scared of winning, but in reality I had nothing to worry about. I didn't win in either session, but it meant that she came all the way to the back and to the second floor to sign the badges for the winners, and we got to say hi and congratulate her up close!
Finally, at the end of the afternoon song she sang her original song 「Love Song」, and in the evening she sang 「1up!」! It'd been a year since the last time I'd seen them performed live (at her birthday event last year, to be precise) so I was super happy! Nothing could've prepared me for what came after her song in the evening session though. Her voice cracking before she even began, she announced through tears that she was officially making her solo artist debut. A thunderous roar erupted at the words 「アーチストデビュー」, and through tears of our own we shouted our congratulations back. This was it, the moment we were all silently waiting for with bated breath! She was finally ready to make this leap, and I couldn't have been more proud! Alongside this amazing news was the announcement of the release of her first mini album!! A real mini album too, not just a single! (Though it wouldn't surprise me if it's a new single + a cd release of her first three songs. Either way, I'm glad!) It releases on March 25th next year, and I can't wait!
If I know you and you want a copy, I'll definitely have extras to hand out!
Bonus photo! The ad created by the wonderful もりおさん celebrating Sayu-chan's birthday, which was dispalyed in Harajuku Station in Tokyo for one week! I donated a small portion of the funds to help make it happen, he accepts donations every year for the ad!
Musical 「On a Night Guided by the Stars」
Date: 2025.10.02
Venue: Theater H, Shinagawa, Tokyo
EventerNote
Show Info
Bonus round! I'm including this in September's roundup, since it's the only event I went to in October and is right at the start.
At the last minute, I got a ticket to a musical featuring a star-studded cast of LoveLive! seiyuu. While the plot was a little too advanced for me to fully grok, it was a story of five girls living in a foster family who really grow to know each other when the eldest, an astrophysicist, discovers a comet hurtling towards the Earth. Their peaceful family life was thrown into chaos by this discovery (it leaked out, since the eldest daughter was too scared to break the news to the others). Turns out, the sisters had a hidden magical power that they had to discover how to awaken, and come together to both defeat an evil cult hell-bent on stopping any opposition to the comet crashing into the Earth and combine their magic together to divert it. It was weird, it was quirky, and the songs were gorgeous. A great way to spend the afternoon before flying home.
The cast rotated out between performances. The LoveLive! seiyuu in the performance I went to were Kobayashi Aika (voice of Tsushima Yoshiko), Emori Aya (voice of Onitsuka Natsumi) and Yoshitake Chihaya (voice of Hijirisawa Yuna).
There was an after-talk session too with some of the cast, where they were able to share their thoughts about the performance!
End
Thank you as always for reading until the end! I'm grateful that I can share some of my crazy memories and experiences with you, so thank you for taking the time to read them. Getting to travel for events like these makes me incredibly happy, but so does sharing those feelings with others. Never stop reaching for the shining light and working to turn that day's 0 into a 1.
The November recap post will be up soon, followed (hopefully) by a year-in-review!
By the by, I'm not kidding about the cd thing. If I know you and you want a copy, it's yours! (as long as I have stock left)