, also known as Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror, is a fantasy anime spin-off television series. It is the sixth television series in the Love Live! franchise and a spin-off of Love Live! Sunshine!!, reimaging the characters from the series in a fantasy setup. The series is produced by Sunrise and directed by Asami Nakatani and written by Toshiya Ono, with Yumiko Yamamoto designing the characters, and Tatsuya Kato returning to compose the music. It premiered in July 2023 on Tokyo MX and BS11.

Premise
Yohane, a wannabe idol afflicted with "delusions of grandeur" is re-imagined as a girl with the ability to tell fortunes, living in a scenic town named Numazu, and has aspirations beyond the town, while refusing to follow rules as she journeys across the world.

Characters

A girl who, after failing to become an idol in the big city, is called back to her hometown. In Numazu, she started a fortune telling service, though the people in Numazu treat her as a "handyman” instead, something she doesn't like but comes to enjoy it nevertheless. It seems that her singing has something to do with the "resonance" that is lately happening in the town.

A talking wolf lives with Yohane. She also helps her out when she is in trouble.

A baker in town and Yohane's childhood friend. She is often occupied by a boar-like animal named .

The executive director of the town's administrative bureau, and a talented perfectionist.

A tiny magical fairy who assists her older sister Dia, including in battles. She is relatively shy and self-conscious of her unusual appearance.

The youngest of three daughters whose family runs an inn in the Uchira district. Bright, sociable, and competitive, her secret identity is "Katy" in the Million Dollar group. She has a pet dog named Shiitake (シイタケ), who is the Tochiman Ryokan inn's mascot.

A girl who works as a messenger in Numazu, who is very bright and energetic.

A mechanic of a shop in the Uchira district. She makes a living making and repairing ships based on materials salvaged from the ocean.

A zoologist who came to Numazu to research about unusual animals, who is inquisitive and calm.

Referred to by the locals as the "Demon Lord," but prefers to be called by her actual name. She lives in isolation in her castle on Wassimer Island, and doesn't often interact with those outside the island, as she is afraid of their judgments. She has a familiar assistant at the castle named , who guides Yohane and Lailaps to the island.

Supporting 

Mother of Yohane, she is a scholar who often travels to the countryside. She worries about Yohane's attempt at becoming an idol and encourages her to return to the small town where she grew up.

The mother of Chika, she runs the Tochiman Ryokan inn and has a personality which is cheerful. Her secret identity is "Big Mom" in the Million Dollar group, a mysterious organization operating in Numazu.

The eldest sister of Chika and eldest of the Takami family in Love Live! Sunshine!!. In this series, she is the eldest of the three sisters at the Tochiman Ryokan inn. She has a personality which is gentle, but doesn't like being offended. Her secret identity is "Marcy" in the Million Dollar group.

An older sister of Chika's older sister and middle child of Takami family in Love Live! Sunshine!!. In this series, she is second daughter of the three sisters at the Tochiman Ryokan inn. Her personality is lively and bubbly. Her secret identity is "Tommy" in the Million Dollar group.

She runs a photo shop in the town of Numazu. She is the cousin of You and has two twin sisters named  and .

Administrative assistant to Dia. She is also Dia and Ruby's relative, knowing them since their childhood.

Production and release 
In October 2020, the Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror fantasy illustration series, drawn by Taira Akitsu, first appeared in the Love Live! Days magazine. It inspired a Genjitsu no Yohane: Unpolarized Reflexion manga series, launched by Kōta Matsuda in the same magazine in February 2022, both of which featured Yoshiko as the main character. The Love Live! franchise posted an April Fools' Day video in 2022, hinting at the series. The series wasn't officially announced until June 26, 2022. The series has Asami Nakatani as the director and Toshiya Ono as show writer. It features music by Tatsuya Kato, who composed the music for Love Live! Sunshine!!, and Yumiko Yamamoto as the character designer. Aqours sings the opening and ending songs,  and .

The series was picked up by Crunchyroll, an American streaming service, where the first episode premiered on June 25, and by Abema, a Japanese streaming service, the same day. It premiered on Crunchyroll India on June 26. The series later premiered on July 2 on Tokyo MX, Nippon BS Broadcasting, Sun Television, KBS Kyoto, and TV Aichi, and on Shizuoka Broadcasting System on July 3.

In June 2023, it was announced that a short video would be posted on YouTube to commemorate the anime, and the launch of "Yohane no Uranai Koheya" (Yohane's Fortune-Telling Booth) web radio program, which will accept submissions from fans. The same month, Inti Creates revealed that a game entitled Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue based on the Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror series, would be launched on various platforms on November 16. On June 21, a crossover chibi anime using characters from the Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror illustrated series and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime debuted.

Episodes

Reception
In Anime News Network's "Summer 2023 Preview Guide", looking at the first episode of the series, Nicholas Dupree argued it was "accessible to newcomers" but was critical of it for "standard...plotbeats" and called it more of a "musical than a fairy tale adventure", and praised the series for translating Yohane's "Chuunibyou gimmick into an actual fantasy world". In the same post, Rebecca Silverman was more critical, said the episode disappointed her and didn't sympathize with Yohane, while James Beckett described the premiere as "boring" but understood the appeal for others, and Richard Eisenbeis said it was "nothing to write home about". Also in the post, Caitlin Moore argued that the episode was like reading an alternative universe fanfiction for a series she "knew nothing about" and called it a "fans-only affair" which would appear to those who like idol anime.

Kevin Credo of Game Rant argued that the series is an "imaginative and isekai-tinged spinoff anime".

Notes

References

External links
Official website 

2023 anime television series debuts
Anime spin-offs
Crunchyroll anime
Dengeki G's Magazine
Japanese animated fantasy television series
Japanese idols in anime and manga
Japanese musical groups
Lantis (company)
Love Live!
Madman Entertainment anime
Music in anime and manga
School life in anime and manga
Seinen manga
Sunrise (company)
Tokyo MX original programming