Why I Love Riko!!!!

For Riko's birthday, this is my TED Talk about why she’s my best girl and why I love her so much. When I first saw Riko, I knew she was THE ONE. And as I watched Love Live Sunshine I just fell in love with her even more. Here is a comprehensive, way too long list about what I love about her:

Her deign

• Her hair/eye color combination is just so good. There’s something so wonderfully soothing about her dark red hair and warm honey eyes, she looks so elegant and sweet all the time, and both look WONDERFUL with her sakura pink image color! Very good color scheme all around!!
• Also her hairstyle is so friggn cute like alkjslkfs the half clipped up and some of her bangs showing, her lil hair clip, I love everything about her hairstyle!!
• And her name!! Sakurauchi is one of the most beautiful surnames! I found out the meaning is ‘the cherry blossom tree inside,’ it’s so feminine and poetic, how can I not love her name?! It fits Riko perfectly!

Her personality

• Riko started as a very closed off character, but as the series went on she opened up more. I honestly really liked that she went from being very clingy to Chika to becoming super close to You, Yohane, and a few of the other girls in the group. It’s so relatable to be the person in the group that’s super shy but becomes more comfortable and opens up more once you get to know someone. I just wish that I got to see her interact with Kanan, Hanamaru, and Dia more! Also how she usually tries to be very serious but just ends up having a lot of silly moments, esp with her reactions to other people’s dogs and how easily she flusters, it’s so cute haha
• Also!!! In her birthday story!!! How she wrote a thank you song for everyone!! She's so thoughtful and grateful to those around her, especially Aqours, she's just so sweet I love her <3333 - She’s so encouraging of others, especially Chika. And she’s so receptive to others encouraging her. I love her bit with the GAO!! and the Riko-chan Beam!! on the beach. And her episode with Yohane in S2 was just *chef’s hand* wonderful. Even though she gets embarrassed easily (as you can hear in some of the GiruKiss song convos like Hop-Step-Waai!) she still tries things with her friends. Also how she interacts with You!! The way that they trust each other to take care of Chika is so fkn precious like ??? They’re such girlfriends I can’t. - She’s so brave. I think it’s very relatable as an artist to hit a point where your passion in art disappears for a while, and you feel so helpless because you can’t do the one thing you love to do… I’ve hit that point with my drawing and watching Riko hit that point and then overcome it with her piano playing is so inspiring to me. Additionally, taking a step to become and idol with Chika is something that inspired me to try harder. I’ve never been good in school, but watching Riko struggle and overcome her problems inspired me to try harder and be better as an artist. I got accepted to art school! And Riko was just one reason that I was able to do that! - Her expressions and body language. She has The Sweetest :> smile next to Hanamaru. Honestly I just get so happy whenever I see her soft happy expression. And her laugh??? Have you ever heard an angel laugh???? NOW YOU HAVE.
• Her range of expressions is really expansive! I love that she can make a soft neutral smile, a shy smile, or a worried or sad face, something more flustered and embarrassed, or something like grr rrRRRR!! angry, or even something playful and ‘guilty’ as Mari describes it. And I love that she expresses difficulty with making expressions on cue but still tries hard; I also love how you can watch her expressions develop the more she gets to know the other girls (her energetic smiles with Chika and You, her more shy/flustered frowns with Yohane and Mari, and even her playful expressions with Yohane/Mari in their subunit)
• I love the little hand wavy thing she does when she’s embarrassed. Also I think it’s super cute whenever she waves or puts her hands behind her back in poses. Very Riko.
• And this face is the best face: >:<>

Her cards!

• She has some really cute outfits and hairstyles!! All of her looks are so elegant and youthful, which is the perfect match to how she is. She never fails to disappoint me when she gets a UR! And some of her SSRs are some of the prettiest cards in the game! Don’t let me leave out her SRs, even when she doesn’t have a background she shines!!
• Some of my personal favorites are her initial UR (my absolute favorite card of her!!!), autumn SSR (my second fav card!!!), dancer UR, wonderland UR, summer beach SR, punk rock SR, fairy tale UR, over the rainbow SSR, valentines SSR, initial SR, koi ni R, kimi no kokoro R, and white day event SR!! Except for punk rock, dancer, and initial, I have all these cards and cycle through them as my partner ^^

Why I love Rikyako, because I can’t talk about best girl without talking about her VA.

• Her voice is so beautiful to me. The way that she puts emotion into her music, I can’t stop listening to her ever. When Pianoforte Monologue dropped I deadass couldn’t stop listening for like at least a solid two weeks. And the first time I heard her sing Yume no Tobira?? I fell in love with her voice. Her solos are always amazing!! Her voice acting is so good!! I just!!! Really love Rikyako’s voice!!!
• My fav songs/solos are Pianoforte Monologue (of course), Shojo ijo Koi ga Shitai (my fav of all her solos tbh!!) Kimi no Hitomi o Meguru Bouken, Kowareyasuki, Strawberry Trapper, Marine Border Parasol, Kimeta Yo Hand in Hand, Guilty Night Guilty Kiss, Mattete Ai no Uta, My MAI tonight (I love when she sings with Chika and You in that song salkfj slkf ), WATER BLUE NEW WORLD OF COURSE!!!, Humming Friend, and Daydream Warrior!
• She’s really cute in the live interviews and game shows and such haha Also her english is very impressive! I honestly had a good laugh but was equally impressed at her describing Riko in english. Riko is very piano!!

• Sidenote, I think it’s really cute that ‘Rikako’ and ‘Riko’ are very similar names haha

• I’ll always remember the first Live when Rikyako played the piano for Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare on day 2. When I heard about what happened, how she missed a note and broke down crying, but hearing that everyone including the audience supported her, and that she was able to stand back up and finish the song when they restarted, I broke down in tears too. I was so, so proud of her. The fact that she learned piano from Suwara just to play that song live with the rest of Aqours, and not only did she do it perfectly, she was able to get back up from something devastating and try again… Watching her fingers shake on the last note of the song made me realize how nerve-wracking it must have been for her. She’s so brave, and so talented, I wish I had an ounce of the courage Rikyako has.

• Sidenote, I went to see Aqours live at AX and when I saw Rikyako come on stage I instantly started crying. The guy next to me saw me looking up/wiping my eyes/sniffling and asked if I was okay. When I told him, “yeah, I just—Rikyako’s just so beautiful,” he was like “um, okay.” I'm not sorry he had to witness that.
• Also when everyone was yelling “ANCHAN I LOVE YOU!!” I had to yell “RIKYAKO I LOVE YOU!!” as well akfsj f;ajkj I’m kind of glad that I don’t think she heard me lol;;

Those are most of the reasons I love Riko. You know best girl is a keeper when even just LOOKING at her sparks joy. I never fail to smile when I look at my daughter Riko or listen to her sing, she always makes me so happy, I love her so much.

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