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Yu Takasaki

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Yu Takasaki[1] is the primary protagonist in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club. She is a second-year student at Nijigasaki High School. She is the manager and founder (and later honorary school idol) of Nijigaku. Her image color is black.

She also served as the adaptation's representation of the player character in Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS.

Background

Yu is the budding school idol enthusiast of Nijigasaki High School, and is often seen with her characteristic thigh-high socks and twin-tails tips dyed green. She is Ayumu Uehara's inseparable childhood friend, having grown up as neighbors in the same apartment building near Odaiba. Eventually, the two of them ended up at Nijigasaki together and are now classmates. Yu's love for school idols blossomed after seeing a performance of the legendary school idol, Setsuna Yuki. Along with Ayumu, Yu's very first experience of school idols that day would lead her to seek out Nijigasaki's School Idol Club.

Personality

Yu adopted a lot of the player character's personality prior to the anime. She is described as insightful, reliable, quick to take action, and very caring of the Nijigasaki idols. She is shown to have a deep passion for idols, which inspires her goals and actions just like her game counterpart.

She's shown to be very kind, empathetic and sociable, easily creating bonds with others. She has a passionate and charismatic nature, which easily attracts others. However, her passion for music and putting her efforts in it sometimes makes her neglect her schoolwork.

Appearance

Yu has a slim figure with medium-length black hair with green tips that she has tied into twintails and has green eyes.

Songs

The songs featuring Yu are:

Chronology

Ep. Title Air Date
01 "The First Thrill"
(はじまりのトキメキ "Hajimari no Tokimeki") 		October 3, 2020
02 "Cutest♡Girl"
(Cutest♡ガール "Cutest♡Gāru") 		October 10, 2020
03 "Shout Out Your Love"
(大好きを叫ぶ "Daisuki o Sakebu") 		October 17, 2020
04 "The Uncharted Path"
(未知なるミチ "Michi Naru Michi") 		October 24, 2020
05 "Something I Can Only Do Right Now"
(今しかできないことを "Ima Shika Dekinai Koto o") 		October 31, 2020
06 "The Shape of Smiles (〃＞▽＜〃)‎‎"
(笑顔のカタチ(〃＞▽＜〃) "Egao no Katachi (〃＞▽＜〃)") 		November 7, 2020
07 "Haruka, Kanata, and Beyond"
(ハルカカナタ "Haruka Kanata") 		November 14, 2020
08 "Shizuku, Monochrome"
(しずく、モノクローム "Shizuku, Monokurōmu") 		November 21, 2020
09 "Friends but Rivals"
(仲間でライバル "Nakama de Raibaru") 		November 28, 2020
10 "Summer Begins."
(夏、はじまる。 "Natsu, Hajimaru.") 		December 5, 2020
11 "Everyone's Dream, My Dream"
(みんなの夢、私の夢 "Minna no Yume, Watashi no Yume") 		December 12, 2020
12 "Blossoming Feelings"
(花ひらく思い "Hanahiraku Omoi") 		December 19, 2020
13 "School Idol Festival (The Place Where Everyone's Dreams Come True)"
(スクールアイドルフェスティバル（みんなの夢を叶える場所） "Sukūru Aidoru Fesutibaru (Minna no Yume o Kanaeru Basho)") 		December 26, 2020

No. Title Air Date
1 "A Brand New Thrill"
(新しいトキメキ "Atarashii Tokimeki") 		April 2, 2022
2 "Overlapping Colors"
(重なる色 "Kasanaru Iro") 		April 9, 2022
3 "sing! song! smile!" April 16, 2022
4 "Ai Love Triangle"
(アイ "Love Triangle") 		April 23, 2022
5 "Dreamland Is Now Open!↑↑（＊'▽'）"
(開幕!ドリームランド↑↑（＊'▽'） "Kaimaku! Dorīmurando↑↑（＊'▽'）") 		April 30, 2022
6 "Choose Your "Love""
(“大好き”の選択を "'Daisuki' no Sentaku o") 		May 7, 2022
7 "The Memory of Dreams"
(夢の記憶 "Yume no Kioku") 		May 14, 2022
8 "TOKIMEKI Runners (The Place Where the Rainbow Begins)"
(虹が始まる場所 "Niji ga Hajimari Basho") 		May 21, 2022
9 "The Sky I Can't Reach" May 28, 2022
10 "Kasumin☆Wonder Tour"
(かすみん☆ワンダーツアー "") 		June 4, 2022
11 "The Past, the Future, and Now"
(過去・未来・イマ "Kako, Mirai, Ima") 		June 11, 2022
12 "Cheer!"
(エール！ "Eru!") 		June 18, 2022
13 "Let This Thrill Resonate—."
(響け! ときめき—. "Hibike! Tokimeki—.") 		June 25, 2022

Etymology

  • The name Yu is a widely used unisex name in Japan. It can be assigned various different kanji characters. 侑 means "urge to eat" but It is not named with that meaning.
  • Yu's surname Takasaki means "tall, high" (高) (taka) and "blossom" (咲) (saki).
  • Takasaki is a common surname in Japan, but the character "咲" (saki) is rare. 高咲 is a fictional surname that doesn't exist in reality.

Trivia and Notes

General

  • Prior to the reveal of her name, the character was nicknamed "Anata (あなた)", which literally means "You".
    • This also results in a recurring joke of the fans designating Yu as a fictionalized version of themselves, generally referring to her as "We/Our/Us".
  • Unlike the other Nijigaku members, Yu does not have entries for four of the official statistics: three sizes, birth date, horoscope sign, and blood type.
  • The meaning of her name (高咲 侑) was given by a fan, who chose the 高 kanji because of Kousaka (高坂) and Takami (高海). 咲 is because she comes from Nijigasaki. 侑 is because as it is written, "Anata" means "You". It sounds like "Yu", which could also mean "to help" which fits Yu's personality and role as the club's manager.
  • Unlike the player character who is initially enrolled in the music course, Yu is initially enrolled in the general curriculum course before she applied for the music course. Yu is also missing the electronic keyboard in her room where the player character had placed it until Everyone's Dream, My Dream, in which she mentioned that she has been practicing a lot.
  • Like Honoka Kosaka and Chika Takami, Yu also wears a shirt with a Japanese character, though it was used on her childhood. However, unlike the two, the character in question is not the first syllable of her name ("Yu / ゆ"). Instead, it says "Pa (ぱ)".
  • Yu is the only main character to not have an official birthday. This is mostly because her game counterpart's birthday is defined by the player in ALL STARS. However, some fans have regarded her unofficial birthday to be January 29, as it is the day when her design was unveiled to the public.
  • While she has been featured in several merchandises such as Gyugyutto keychain, the Movic plush, and the AQUA SHOOTERS! figure, it wasn't until July 2022 when a scale figurine of Yu was released: this one, manufactured by Wave.
    • The Chobirume figurine of Yu Takasaki by FuRyu features the anime version of the bowtie, making her seemingly inconsistent with the previous waves' figurines with the game version of the tie.
  • Prior to the reveal of the second visual and her voiced appearance, some fans speculated whether Yu's energetic personality is merely an informed attribute since she is shown to have an emotionless expression on her design, even though she is said to be enthusiastic as written in the description.
  • There's speculation regarding Yu's image color: as black is the absence of color and cannot be used as a lightstick color. This was likely meant to represent her role as a supporter rather than being a school idol.
  • Hinaki Yano's line "I can't just choose one! (ヒトリナンテエラベナイヨー!, Hitori dake nante erabenai yo!)" in the pre-Episode airing live streams has led fans to view it as her signature quote, or even as her "call-and-response". While this was officially acknowledged by the official staff in a 3-panel comic for the 3rd Live, and canonized in Nijiyon Animation, the line is not referenced in the anime's main timeline.
  • Japanese fans online have mixed reactions to the possibility of Yu ever becoming an idol. On one hand, some would like to see her voice actress sing and dance live, while others argue that taking away Yu's role as a manager would simply "rehash" the plot from the previous Love Live! shows, rather than bring something fresh and new to the series. But many are at least open to the idea of having a character song released.[2]
    • The 13th episode of the anime's second season reveals that she's labelled as a "School Idol" by the rest of the girls.
      • In the same episode, two scenes of her playing the piano for the Future Parade segment showed her mouth had some slight movements, implying that she was inaudibly whispering several portions of the chorus, as this method actually helps her to keep track of where they are in the song.
  • Despite not being a member of NijiGaku, Yu is featured in a NijiGaku group song.

Appearances in illustrated media

As she doesn't appear in the ALL-STARS illustrations due to being a separate character from her original counterpart, Yu only appears in illustrations and other published media that is tied with the anime timeline.

The Player's Identity

Even though she is the anime equivalent of the Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS player, there is a debate about whether she is the true POV protagonist of the game, as many English-speaking players commonly inferred the player as her (mainly due to the international version of the game explicitly refers to the player character as such by other characters) though her unique personality may clash with the player's featureless characteristic.

  • The original Japanese version of the game and the books such as the kizuna comics refers to the player character as "あの子", it can also imply “that girl” or “that boy". The word "子" has more of a feminine implication (as lots of girls' names end in 子), so it's often translated to as “that girl.”
  • It's noted that the usage of "She/Her" in the global version is mainly due to the translation team's choice to not use gender-neutral pronouns in an English-speaking perspective, and that Nijigasaki High is presumably an all-girls school so it would not make sense if a male POV character attended the school.
  • While the player's true appearance remains officially undisclosed after the release of the game's final chapter on May 30, 2023 and the game's closure on June 30, 2023, there are several hints of the player's true gender in this game:
    • In the 17th episode of Nozomi's Bond Story (SIFAS), Nozomi, Rin, Umi and the player character went to the Uranohoshi High School. However, Dia caught the four of them sneaking around and she mentioned afterwards that the whole school was talking about a suspicious group of four girls.
    • The 20th episode for Dia's Bond Stories, however; Shows two stills of a hand holding a donut in the player's POV, with the lighter skin ultimately indicates that the player character is canonically female.
  • The drink and food coasters for the SEGA's "LIVE with a smile!" collaboration also features Yu as part of the artwork. Unless it's a case of artist inconsistency, this may possibly indicate the POV player's true identity as Yu herself, as artwork of Lanzhu and Mia for this collab were shown in their video game hairstyles.
  • The "Yu-Sanpo" segment for the NijiGaku Fan Disc had a game-based bowtie on Hinaki's uniform, though the chibi art of Yu still retains the Anime-styled bowtie.
  • On January 3, 2023, it was revealed that Yu is set to appear in the Love Live! School idol festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! game, complete with the bowtie seen in the anime. She is also confirmed to be a separate character from the game's player character (where they're depicted as a member of the Newspaper Club).
  • Like the Japanese version of the game, the international release of the TOKIMEKI Roadmap to Future game refers to the player as gender neutral.

Gallery

Please refer to this character's Image Gallery.

References

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/LoveLive_staff/status/1261204932490932224
  2. ↑ Love Live! Matome Channel. "On Yu-chan Becoming an Idol: Yes or No?"
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