Lanzhu Zhong

ショウ・ランジュ

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Appearances: 1anime
Voice Actors: 1actor
Languages: 1dub

Lanzhu Zhong transferred into Nijigasaki High School from Hong Kong, bringing a fluent command of both Mandarin and Cantonese along with a confident, charismatic presence that quickly makes an impression on the rest of the idol club. As a second-year, she joins the subunit R3BIRTH, where her polished image and rose-gold color theme stand out from the club's more easygoing members.

Her confidence has a sharper edge to it than most of her clubmates, though. Lanzhu pushes people hard, expecting everyone around her to chase the same high standards she holds herself to, and that demanding streak can come across as insulting even when she doesn't mean it that way. In a version of the story told through a mobile game rather than the anime, this side of her personality is even more pronounced, showing her as openly arrogant despite secretly craving real emotional connection with the people she pushes away.

The anime softens that edge considerably, letting more of her genuine desire to befriend others show through even when her methods are clumsy. She stays close with clubmates Kasumi Nakasu, Kanata Konoe, Ayumu Uehara, and Shizuku Ousaka, gradually learning that pushing people to be their best works a lot better once she also lets herself be a real friend to them.

On screen

Appears in

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club The Movie – Finale – Chapter 1

Main Role2024Movie1 episode7.60

Slice of LifeMusic

This movie is the first of three films made to bring the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club anime to its end. It opened in Japanese theaters on September 6, 2024. Sunrise made it, the same studio behind the TV series, and Tomoyuki Kawamura directed it. Jin Tanaka wrote the script, Takumi Yokota designed the characters, and Naoki Endo wrote the music. Bandai Namco Filmworks and Shochiku handled the release. The plan for three films was first announced in June 2023. It helps to know the series first. Nijigasaki is a big, free-style high school in Odaiba, a waterfront area of Tokyo. Its idol club is full of students who want to be school idols. A school idol is a student who sings and dances on stage to represent their school. Unlike most Love Live! groups, these girls do not always perform as one team. Each member has her own solo style and her own dream. Yu Takasaki, a friend of Ayumu since they were little, is the club's manager rather than an idol. She cheers the others on and writes music for them. The anime ran for two TV seasons, in 2020 and 2022, followed by a short theater episode called Next Sky in 2023. This film picks up right after all of that. In this first part, the club gets an invitation to the GPX, a large grand prix contest for student idols from all over Japan. The contest will decide which school idols are the most loved. Six members travel to Okinawa, a warm island area in the far south of Japan, to compete. They are Ayumu Uehara, Kasumi Nakasu, Shizuku Osaka, Kanata Konoe, Emma Verde, and Lanzhu Zhong. Okinawa gives the film a bright, summer feel, with blue sea, sunshine, and green nature. There the girls meet strong performers from other schools and see just how many talented idols are out there. Ayumu, though, does not feel right about the contest. She has mixed feelings about it, and her friends soon notice that something is wrong. Part of the story is about why she feels this way and how the group handles it. Like the TV show, the film mixes friendship drama with big song and dance numbers. It is gentle and warm, with a focus on chasing your own dream while still caring for the people around you. The Japanese voice cast returns, including Aguri Onishi as Ayumu, Mayu Sagara as Kasumi, Kaori Maeda as Shizuku, Akari Kito as Kanata, Maria Sashide as Emma, and Akina Homoto as Lanzhu. The other club members also appear. The next film follows a different group of six on their own trip.

Cast