Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror

Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror (幻日のヨハネ Sunshine in the Mirror) is a Japanese multimedia spin-off project from the Love Live! fantasy musical anime series. It is a fantasy re-imagining of Love Live! Sunshine!!, and follows Yohane, a failed idol turned fortune teller in the quiet city of Numazu, and her exploits with the other members of the community and her talking wolf, Lailaps.

Yohane the Parhelion originated as a series of fantasy illustrations included in the monthly Love Live! Days magazine starting in October 2020. In February 2022, these were adapted into Genjitsu no Yohane Unpolarized Reflexion, a manga published in ''Love Live! Days''. On April Fools' Day 2022, the Yohane the Parhelion anime series was teased, ostensibly as an April Fools' joke, before eventually being confirmed as a real production and airing for 13 episodes from July to September 2023 on Tokyo MX and other channels.[1] The anime was produced by Sunrise, directed by Asami Nakatani, and written by Toshiya Ono, with Yumiko Yamamoto designing the characters and Tatsuya Kato composing the music.[2]

Characters

Yohane (ヨハネ)

Based on: Yoshiko Tsushima (津島善子)

A young girl and wannabe idol who returns to her hometown of Numazu from Tokai to settle down and start a fortune-telling business, though she is established to be unskilled at this and finds herself serving as a helping hand more often. She initially hates her situation and dislikes Numazu, but eventually learns to become content with life there. Unbeknownst to her, her singing is magical.

Lailaps (ライラプス)

A large talking wolf that lives with Yohane and has a friendly sisterly relationship with her. Lailaps is implied to be Yohane's familiar, and it is suggested that only Yohane can understand her when she speaks.

Hanamaru (ハナマル)

Based on: Hanamaru Kunikida (国木田花丸)

A baker who lives in town. She is also Yohane's childhood friend and knows her very well. She is often accompanied by a large boar-like animal named Shishinoshin (シシノシン).

Dia (ダイヤ)

Based on: Dia Kurosawa (黒澤ダイヤ)

The executive director of the town's administrative bureau, and a talented perfectionist. Dia is a fairy like her sister Ruby; however, she is capable of controlling her size, allowing her to maintain the appearance of an adult human. She moonlights as Scarlet Delta, a masked and armored superhero riding a magical motorcycle, inspired by heroes in tokusatsu works that her actress Arisa Komiya also has roles in such as Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters and Kamen Rider.

Ruby (ルビィ)

Based on: Ruby Kurosawa (黒澤ルビィ)

Dia's younger sister and assistant. She is relatively shy and self-conscious of her unusual appearance. Ruby is a fairy like her sister Dia, though unlike her, Ruby is not yet skilled at controlling her size, and is thus often seen in her smaller fairy form. When Dia is Scarlet Delta, Ruby is capable of possessing her motorcycle, boosting it and allowing her to control it independently.

Chika (チカ)

Based on: Chika Takami (高海千歌)

The youngest of three daughters, whose family runs the Tochiman Ryokan Inn, a ryokan in the Uchira district. She has a pet dog named Shiitake (シイタケ), who is the Tochiman Ryokan Inn's mascot. Chika and her family moonlight as Million Dollar, a group of masked vigilantes armed with wind cannons tasked with protecting Numazu; in Million Dollar, her secret identity is "Katy".

You (ヨウ)

Based on: You Watanabe (渡辺曜)

An energetic girl who works as an aerial messenger in Numazu. She works for a postal service that operates by firing messengers out of large cannons, using gliding flight to maneuver to their delivery points and custom retrorocket boots to land safely. In Unpolarized Reflexion, You adopts a hat-like bird named Piyosuke (ぴよ助) after accidentally colliding with it in flight.

Kanan (カナン)

Based on: Kanan Matsuura (松浦果南)

A mechanic at a coastal repair shop in the Uchira district. She makes a living making items and repairing derelict structures throughout Numazu, using scrap materials salvaged from Suruga Bay. She built a companion and assistant, Tonosama, out of scrap metal.

Riko (リコ)

Based on: Riko Sakurauchi (桜内梨子)

A zoologist who came to Numazu to work with unusual animals. Though -Unpolarized Reflexion- depicts Riko as an animal caretaker, the anime depicts her as a researcher instead. As the nature of her work demands that she move frequently, she is closer to animals than humans and tries to avoid making friends. She is generally inquisitive and calm, but becomes obsessively hyperactive when seeing a species she is unfamiliar with, such as Lailaps or Ruby.

Mari (マリ)

Based on: Mari Ohara (小原鞠莉)

A woman of an unspecified age who lives in isolation in her castle on Wassimer Island. Mari distinctively has a pair of large ram-like horns on her head and ultrasonic hearing, said to be the result of a genetic condition unique to her family. Her appearance and struggles with her abilities led to her being judged and ostracized by locals, who refer to her as the "Demon Lord", giving her a distant personality and considerable social anxiety; despite this, she still uses her abilities to help the town from a distance. She lives with numerous familiars loosely based on sea creatures and is assisted by Pellapie (ペラピー), a rotorcraft-like familiar that follows her.

Supporting

Yohane's mother (ヨハネの母)
Yohane's mother. She is a scholar who often travels for business. In the anime, she calls Yohane back to Numazu after a deal between them (Yohane succeeding in becoming an idol in Tokai) fails to materialize, and tasks her with finding friends over the summer while she is away for work.
Chika's mother (チカの母)
Chika's mother. She runs the Tochiman Ryokan Inn. In Million Dollar, she serves as mission control, and her secret identity is "Big Mom".[6]
Shima (シマ)
Chika's oldest sister. Like the rest of her family, she works at the Tochiman Ryokan Inn. In Million Dollar, her secret identity is "Marcy".[6]
Mito (ミト)
Chika's older sister, and the middle child of her family. Like the rest of her family, she works at the Tochiman Ryokan Inn. In Million Dollar, her secret identity is "Tommy".[6]

Production and release

In October 2020, the Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror fantasy illustration series,[7] drawn by Taira Akitsu, first appeared in the Love Live! Days magazine. It inspired the Genjitsu no Yohane: Unpolarized Reflexion manga series, launched by Kōta Matsuda in the same magazine in February 2022,[8] 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,[9] though it was not officially announced until June 26, 2022.[2] 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.[2] Aqours sings the opening and ending songs, "Genjitsu Mysterium" (幻日ミステリウム)[10] and "Kimi no Tame Boku no Tame" (キミノタメボクノタメ).[11]

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.[12][13] It premiered on Crunchyroll India on June 26.[14] 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.[1][15]

In June 2023, it was announced that a short video would be posted on YouTube to commemorate the anime, and the Yohane no Uranai Koheya ('Yohane's Fortune-Telling Booth') internet radio program would be launched, which would accept submissions from fans.[2] The same month, Inti Creates revealed that a game entitled Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue based on the anime would be launched on various platforms on November 16.[4][16] On June 21, a crossover chibi short premiered using characters from the Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror illustrated series and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.[17]

A compilation film of the series was announced on June 30, 2024.[18] The film premiered in Japanese theaters on November 29, 2024.[19]

Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror

Premise

Characters

Supporting

Production and release

Episodes

Reception

External links

References

type	tv series
director	Asami Nakatani
writer	Toshiya Ono
music	Tatsuya Kato
studio	Sunrise
licensee	Crunchyroll
network	Tokyo MX, BS11, SUN, KBS, TVA, SBS
first	July 2, 2023
last	September 24, 2023
episodes	13