Love Live! Superstar!! Anime Season 3 Casts New Liella! Member

The live-streamed "Love Live! Superstar!! Liella!" program announced the cast member for a new member of the Love Live! Superstar!! project's Liella! group on Sunday. Sakura Sakakura won the open audition this past spring to play Tomari Onitsuka.

Tomari is the sister of Liiella! member Natsumi Onitsuka. Where Natsumi chases after every money-making opportunity, Tomari is ruthlessly practical, prizing efficiency and optimization of time and effort above all else. She becomes curious at the school idol activities that Natsumi has recently been obsessed with.

 

Yuina reprises her role as Wien Margarete (above), the other new Liella! member who already appeared in the second season of Love Live! Superstar!!. She was a constant rival figure to Liella!, and [highlight the white text to read spoilers] transferred to Yuigaoka High School at the end of the season. A native of Austria, she is known as a vocal prodigy with a gifted musical sensibility.

 

Sunday's stream also announced the names, as chosen by fans, of the group's new official sub-units, The first unit, CatChu!, will be Kanon, Sumire, and Mei. The second unit, Kaleidoscore, will be Keke, Ren, and Wien. The third unit, 5yncri5e! (pronounced "syncrise"), will be Chisato, Kinako, Shiki, Natsumi, and Tomari.

The group's first live concert tour will run from August 19 to September 10, and fans can enter the lottery for the first batch of advance tickets until June 18. In addition, the group's mini album goes on sale on August 2. The seven-track album will feature the first song with all 11 members, as well as two songs from each of the three sub-units.

 

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's second season premiered on NHK Educational in July 2022. The anime will have a third season.

Crunchyroll streams the anime 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, is credited for original work. Sakurako Kimino is also credited for original concept. 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.

Sources: Love Live! franchise's official website, Comic Natalie