Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror

This story is centered on Yohane, our favorite deluded Fallen Angel from Love Live Sunshine. Here she is from Numazu, a small coastal town. She has gone to a big city hoping to become famous as an idol singer. Unfortunately, her money has run out and she must return home where she feels she does not belong. She tries to become a fortune teller, but ends up as the town handyman doing miscellaneous chores. This leads to her meeting many people and she begins to make friends. This clever plot device allows us to gradually meet the girls from LL Sunshine living new roles in this alternate reality. This aspect of the story is especially fun to watch.

A large wolf named Lailaps lives with Yohane. Lailaps becomes her steady sidekick and advisor. Yohane can understand the wolf talking to her, but others only hear barking. Hanamaru is a baker and forces her friendship onto the reluctant Yohane. Hanamaru urges Yohane to sing in the forest, and the music becomes magical and creates a magic staff for Yohane.

The plot is very entertaining, but the scripting falls short of its potential. Yohane seems a bit too subdued and we could use a few more flashes of her wacky personality. A little bit more music would be nice, even if was just short bits of characters singing to themselves. The magical aspect of the story needs more development. A secret organization protecting the town appears suddenly, then seems to vanish. This needs more explanation and would provide a good subplot to strengthen the story.

The art design, animation, and voice acting are all good quality.

In conclusion, this series will be entertaining for many people and will strongly appeal to fans of LL Sunshine. It is frustrating though, because it has the potential to be better.