Fans mourn the impending death of Love Live!

The long-awaited premiere of the first part of "Love Live! "Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Final Chapter," a three-part film project that will mark the end of the popular idol franchise, has gotten off to an unexpectedly disastrous start in Japan. A user on Twitter shared a screenshot of seat reservations for one of the 4DX screenings scheduled for this Saturday at one of the country's major movie theater chains, revealing that the theater was completely empty, with all seats available for sale.

The publication quickly went viral on the social network, unleashing a wave of comments from other users who reported similar situations in different locations. Some of these comments highlighted the worrying lack of attendance at premiere performances:

"I'm going to see Nijigasaki's film on the evening of the first day at the T-Joy at Yokohama station, but it's completely empty. With a 'fan-only' treatment, people just walk away."
"I booked my seats for the movie on its first day and it was so empty that I had no problems, but seeing so few seats occupied from day one worries me."
"There were only 15 people and it was really empty, haha."

The situation sparked a discussion about the factors that might have influenced this surprising lack of attendance. Some fans compared Nijigasaki's film to the previous saga, "Love Live! Sunshine!!", which had managed to maintain a strong following:

"Come to think of it, Sunshine did a good job."

One of the main complaints mentioned was the sudden change in the design of the characters, which has generated a wave of discontent. Commentary criticized that the franchise, despite having a character design that had been well received, decided to change the visual style for the film, commissioning the work to one of the artists who had worked on "Bocchi the Rock!". This change was perceived negatively by some viewers, who pointed out that the quality of the animation in the film did not live up to expectations:

"Nijigasaki's character design was done by someone different than the previous series, and it was very well received, but for the film they suddenly changed it to someone from Bocchi the Rock!"
"Faces, just not."
"Of course it's going to cause controversy, but the designer is not to blame."

The debate soon led some users to lament what they consider the end of the "Love Live!" era, a franchise that was once seen as an icon of idol culture in Japan:

"Who would have thought that Love Live! become irrelevant?"
"If the content of the film is good, the character design shouldn't matter as much."
"Watching the trailer, the movie looks normal, so it must be a boycott by otakus because of the design change."
"They should raise the saturation more and put good reflections in the eyes. With such a flat design, the characters have no life."
"The rise of Love Live! It's over, no matter how much they call him, he's not coming back."

This box office failure could be a devastating blow to the future of the franchise, which once led the school-idol landscape and generated a huge fan base both inside and outside Japan. However, with two more films on track to conclude this final trilogy, it remains to be seen whether the team behind the project will be able to reverse this trend and bring audiences back into theaters, or if the Love Live! It's finally coming to an end.

Source: Otakomu