Love Live! Superstar!! Group Liella! Adds 4 New Members

The official website for the Love Live! idol franchise announced four new characters for "Liella!," the main idol group of the Love Live! Superstar!! part of the franchise, on April 28. The site unveiled a new visual and profile details for the characters, but did not reveal cast members for them.

The new characters include:

Kinako Sakurakōji, a girl from Hokkaido who enrolled in Yuigaoka after seeing Liella! perform, even though she thinks of herself as completely average and unable to live up to the school idol ideal. She has a special affinity for animals.

Mei Yoneme, a girl who is self-conscious about how her expression can be perceived as constantly hostile, and still thinks it makes her unsuited to being a school idol.

Shiki Wakana, a curt, scientifically-minded girl who is also a member of the science club. She lists insects and Mei as her likes, and is not much for crowds, but likes singing with the others on stage.

Natsumi Onitsuka, a popular "L-Tuber" who decided to give being a school idol a try. She likes drinking smoothies while thinking up the next plan to make Liella! more popular, and asks fans to like and subscribe to her channel.

The first season of the Love Live! Superstar!! television anime premiered on NHK Educational in July 2021 and aired for 12 episodes. Funimation streamed the series as it aired. The anime will have a second season that will premiere later this year in July.

"Liella!," the idol group that stars in the anime, debuted their first single "Hajimari wa Kimi no Sora" (The Start Is Your Sky) for a limited time digitally on February 28, 2021. The song debuted in a 2D version in the Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS game on April 7, 2021, and the single with an anime music video also went on sale on April 7. The group held their debut release event for their single in May 2021.

The members of Liella! include:

• Sayuri Date as Kanon Shibuya
• Liyuu as Tang Keke
• Nako Misaki as Chisato Arashi
• Naomi Payton as Sumire Heanna
• Nagisa Aoyama as Ren Hazuki

Crunchyroll streamed the first season in the U.K. and Ireland, and it describes the story:

The first students have arrived at Yuigaoka Girls' High School, a new academy built on the crossroads of Omotesando, Harajuku, and Aoyama. With no history, no upperclassmen to rely on, and no name to speak of, this school's totally starting from scratch!
In the midst of this, a team of five girls led by Kanon Shibuya discover “school idols.”
—I love singing! I really do! And I want to accomplish something with it!
So the hopes of these stars, still small in stature, begin to accumulate…and so begins the “School Idol Project” of five girls with a blank slate and infinite potential.

Hajime Yatate, the collective pseudonym for the staff of Sunrise, was credited again for original work. Sakurako Kimino was also credited again for original concept, as in previous Love Live! anime. Takahiko Kyōgoku, the director of the original Love Live! School idol project and subsequent film, returned as director alongside Love Live! School idol project and Love Live! Sunshine!! writer Jukki Hanada. Atsushi Saitō (Black Fox) adapted franchise character designer Yūhei Murota's original character designs. Yoshiaki Fujisawa also returned from the first Love Live! series as composer for the music.

The anime project features the tagline, "Watashi o Kanaeru Monogatari — Hello!!! Love Live!" (The story of my dreams coming true. Hello!!! Love Live!"). This is a reference to the franchise's previous tagline of "Minna de Kanaeru Monogatari," which refers to the fact that the school idol group's names, center performers, song lyrics, and other aspects are decided by fan vote.

Source: Love Live! franchise's website