Love Live is one of the biggest Japanese idol franchises of all-time, focusing on different high school girls who take up the role of idols—stylized musical performers at the crossroads of singing, dancing, acting, and modeling. ‘Yohane the Parhelion’ is a recent sub-franchise to Love Live, focusing on an idol named Yohane who imagines and daydreams of herself as a magical girl witch in an expansive fantasy world. The Parhelion subfranchise was originally conceived as a series of fantasy illustrations created by illustrator Taira Akitsu. With two major projects in two different mediums, it’s safe to say that the Yohane brand can stand out against the juggernaut that is the wider Love Live world.
Of the foremost importance to ‘Yohane the Parhelion’ is of course the namesake ‘Love Live’ idol Yohane, who is voiced across the franchise (both Love Live and the Yohane subfranchise) by real-life Japanese idol, Aika Kobayashi. With Kobayashi making a special appearance at Anime Expo (not even her first—she’s done concerts with the Los Angeles mega-convention in past years!), the time felt right to give updates on two major Love Live projects, an idol-themed isekai anime and a retro-tinged combat-exploration game.
‘Sunshine in the Mirror’: A Fantastical Spinoff Anime to a Love Live Favorite
Described as a sort of fantastical isekai imagining of several main Love Live girls, Sunshine in the Mirror is an imaginative and isekai-tinged spinoff anime that recently launched its debut episode on Crunchyroll in late June. The official description of the anime is below:
A story about a girl that everyone knows, but the story is not known by anyone. Numazu is a picturesque port town surrounded by the sea and mountains. A girl named Yohane, who does not fit in with her surroundings since she was a child, lives at a distance from everyone in town. "What I want to do, Where I truly belong to, they are--." A mysterious world you know, walking with a girl who can't be honest. "Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror" Another sun, which has just appeared.
To promote ‘Sunshine in the Mirror’, Aika appeared as well at a special appearance at the announcement panel of Bandai Namco Filmworks—the specific anime studio attached to Bandai Namco’s library of properties across their games division and more. Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror is currently airing in simulcast on Crunchyroll as part of its offerings for the Summer 2023 anime season.
‘Blaze in the Deepblue’: An Idol’s Aquatic Metroidvania
In addition to the anime series, Yohane has an interesting gaming project that offered an exclusive demo at the Inti Creates booth of the convention. ‘Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue’ is a 2D exploration game set to be released this winter.
Focusing on the story of Yohane going to explore a mysterious, seemingly-endless underwater temple, the game’s combination of platforming and 2D exploration brings Yohane together several with fantastical renditions of several related idols in the form of magic-based combat. The exclusive Anime Expo demo of the game focused on the aspect of unlockable characters and attack moves that are granted by exploring the various layers of the underwater temple. Coming off of Inti Creates’s specialty with 2D games series, ‘Blaze in the Deepblue’ is rendered in a retro pixel style that also integrates detailed 2D artwork and animations for the game’s light story elements. As the main voice actress for the game, Aika Kobayashi and her entourage stopped by the Inti Creates booth to try the game’s demo immediately after the Filmworks panel that highlighted the anime show. Many of the Love Live fans from the panel followed her all the way there to see her reaction to the demo of the game on the convention floor.
Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue is set to release on November 16, 2023. The game will be available on PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Games Store, and Steam. On Steam, the game is currently available for pre-order.