Top 10 Stylish Love Live! Characters

Love Live! Sunshine!! is currently airing and it also reminded us how great and memorable the original Love Live! series was. Season 1 had a rough start, but makes up for it in Season 2, and the story finally concluded in the movie. If they fix some of the problems the original had, and keep the idol formula, Love Live! Sunshine!! will become another success and who knows, it may even surpass the original.

Before that (eventually) happens, let’s look back at the original series and reminisce how great the cast was. Sure the characters were flawed like some of them having chipmunk voices, Kotori almost ruined season 1 with her angst at the end (put down the pitchforks, please…), etc., but nobody is perfect, right? Flawed or not, one thing’s for sure is each character is unique and each can win the hearts of the audience in their own way.

Again there are lots to talk about, so for this list how about we narrow potential topics to who are the most stylish or well-dressed Love Live! Characters? Yeah, let’s do that! It’s time to show off!


10. Principal Minami

Now, now, the principal isn’t part of µ's, but she is the mother of µ's member Minami Kotori and contributed a lot to the school idol project, and heck, she helped the girls go to America in the movie. She’s no idol, but she’s part of what made µ's as it is today.

Principal Minami was never seen in casual clothing, and most of the time she’s in school with her suit. But despite that, she is a very sharp dresser with a suit matching her overall appearance. Her long dull gray hair goes perfectly well with her white and gray colored suit, that literally defines color uniformity. Nothing in her appearance stand out of place and with that snappy look, you can be confident that this woman can get any job done thrown at her.


09. Hoshizora Rin

Good at sports and often seen as a tomboy at first, Rin had undergone a major transformation over the course of the series… in terms of fashion sense. You see, back when she was young, kids see her as this tomboy who loves sports and doesn’t wear any skirt like any other girl her age, and they teased her appearance at lot. Around high school and a member of µ's, we see her more of her feminine side coming out, and there’s even an episode dedicated to her transformation. Ever since Rin wears skirts with matching clothes and oftentimes her clothes have cat-themed designs on them. Rin can’t “Nyan~” without cats, don’t you agree?


08. Kousaka Honoka

If you put Honoka on a cute-to-mature scale, Honoka is around the middle part of the cute spectrum—cute, but not overly cute. Honoka isn’t the stylish type and doesn’t have any noticeable preference in clothing other than preferring the color orange and sometimes pink, but any casual clothes look good on her. And that to her cheery, optimist and determined personality plus orange-brown hair, blue eyes, and that side ponytail hairstyle, anything she wears gives off that cute aura.


07. Koizumi Hanayo

Shy and sometimes quiet (outside her enthusiastic self when doing idol stuff), Hanayo is that perfect high school sweetheart that will take care of you when you’re sick and is more than happy to cook for you. Outside for being an idol and wearing either cute dresses to ridiculously designed ones, Hanayo is very modest with the clothes she wears favoring normal length skirts (anime standard kind of short), pants and the typically patterned sweater. Though her choices are nothing to drool about, it goes well with her high school sweetheart look and her modestly sized breasts. It must be the white rice she loves to eat every day… All the time.


06. Toujou Nozomi

Aside from her typical casual clothes modern Japanese girls wear, Nozomi wears shrine garbs because she has shrine duties, and is often seen as a traditional Japanese girl like Umi. But unlike Umi, she is more open, playful, and mischievous, especially towards her friends. If Umi is the traditional and well-reserved Yamato Nadeshiko, Nozomi is the free-spirited type who loves to play around. And it’s kinda silly knowing she follows Japanese shrine traditions while reading fortunes with Tarot cards.



05. Sonoda Umi

Umi is a conservative type who is conscious on what she wears. She avoids cute styled dresses and if you force her to wear one, chances are she’ll die of embarrassment within seconds (unless you compliment her that she’s cute). She also prefers wearing full tracksuits during training when running through town or around a school. Eventually, she got used to wearing short skirts and while she still avoids the frilly types, her choice of clothes are often mature and oftentimes unspectacular. However, this goes well with her tall height, long bluish hair, and almost droopy eyes, making her one of the most well dressed and mature-looking girl in the group. A natural Yamato Nadeshiko.


04. Ayase Eli

If you take Eli’s picture in her casual clothing and edit her in magazine covers about fashion, you can easily convince people that Eli is the actual cover girl. Eli is a tall young girl with well-shaped proportions, has blue piercing eyes and has blonde hair, often tied in a ponytail. Plus she’s partly of Russian descent so she’s a natural-born supermodel. Aside from the frilly style clothes µ's use, Eli commonly wears Western-styled clothes like buttoned shirts, preferring jeans with matching boots. Eli’s style of clothing is nothing spectacular, her height and Russian blood makes her one of the mature-looking girl in the group. She does wear a skirt sometimes, but jeans naturally look better on her.


03. Yazawa Nico

Nico, despite her, well, “colorful” personality, she prefers frilly clothes or anything that gives off a cute vibe. You see this in her casual wear, choice of clothes when at home, and the clothes she wears when practicing. Even without the NicoNico personality, frilly clothes goes well with her small build, black hair and her twin tails hairstyle. And let’s not forget the fact that Nico is interested in fashion and she’s µ's costume designer. If you want some of the most stylish of clothes, Nico is the right girl to ask. And for now let’s ignore the fact Nico’s look and personality were retconned in the anime—OH MY GOD WHY DID YOU DO IT SUNRISE?! LADY NICO WAS PERFECT!!! ;_;


02. Minami Kotori

Kotori is no stranger to fashion and like Nico, she is also the costume designer for µ's. She knows how to make the group stand out and let’s not forget that part of the appeal of an idol group is how they look. For the most part, Kotori shares the same style of clothes with Nico, Eli and Maki like wearing coats, buttoned shirts, with patterned scarfs (depending on weather), cotton or linen shorts paired with knee socks, or sometimes jeans. But ultimately, Kotori has natural beauty with long grayish-brown hair, amber eyes topped it off with her pleasing personality and voice that makes any casual clothes look fantastic on her. Remember, she is once known in Akihabara as the “Legendary Maid” due to her combined looks, a personality that goes will with those stylish maid outfits.

Oh and a bit of a trivia, according to the Love Live! Diaries, Kotori used to wear longer skirts because she had a defective leg. None of the girls knew this besides Umi. Eventually, Kotori had undergone surgery and started wearing shorter skirts after the marks were gone.


01. Nishikino Maki

What makes Maki number one? The simplest answer would be: She looks good with everything. LITERALLY everything. Yeah, that’s it.

Some of the girls are good at one or two things like Rin looks good in cute clothes, and nothing much else, while Umi and Eli prefer mature-looking clothes. In Maki’s case, she looks good at everything from frilly clothes, kimonos, suits, and even casual wear. Give her a few clothes and chances are Maki will look good in them.

Why is this? It’s the combination of her looks and personality: She has reddish hair, striking purple eyes, with modest height and body sizes. At first glance, she looks very mature and very unapproachable, but once you get to know her, she has the qualities of a tsundere who is unsure of her feelings. She can be very stubborn at times but often shows off her cute side by blushing at silly mishaps, or getting all embarrassed when her friends found out she still believes in Santa Claus.

This kind of reasoning won’t give you that definite solid answer, but physical looks and personality is a big contributor when looking good and any plain clothes will look spectacular or stylish if they’re worn by the right person. Maki is arguably the most beautiful girl in the anime and the most versatile when it comes to looking good.


Final Thoughts

If you look at the girls at a glance, they’re your typical teenagers who love wearing clothes they like. But as mentioned before, your looks and your personality add flair to the clothes you wear. Love Live! has a colorful cast of characters and we’ve grown to love them, and in our time we spent with them, you can easily tell that these girls look good in their own way. You could say these girls have style and substance.

So what do you think of the list and the rankings of each girl? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Love-Live-School-Idol-Project-wallpaper-20160727221938-606x500 Top 10 Stylish Love Live! Characters

Writer

Author: Antoine Rizal

I've been an anime fan for as long as I can remember. Actually, anime is very much a part of me now for I have extended my reach beyond just watching them. I am a fansubber for more than 8 years now and contributed a lot to the anime community. Me and my group has translated shows, manga, drama CDs and doujinshi. Right now I'm learning Japanese so I can better serve the community and read interesting stuff about the Japanese culture as well.

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