School Idol Project is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by
ASCII Media Works'
Dengeki G's Magazine, music label
Lantis, and animation studio
Sunrise. The project revolves around a group of fictional school girls who become idols in order to save their school from shutting down. It launched in the August 2010 issue of
Dengeki G's Magazine, and went on to produce music CDs, anime music videos, two
manga adaptations, and video games. A 13-episode
anime television series produced by Sunrise and directed by Takahiko Kyogoku aired in Japan between January and March 2013, with a second season airing between April and June 2014. Both anime series and film are licensed in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand by
NIS America,
MVM Entertainment and
Madman Entertainment, respectively. An animated film titled
Love Live! The School Idol Movie and distributed by
Shochiku was released in June 2015. A separate project,
Love Live! Sunshine, was announced in February 2015, focusing on a new group of school idols. An anime television series based on the project will premiere in July 2016.