Ho Yay / Love Live! Sunshine!!

For intentional examples based on official material, see here.

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Other

• Yoshiko and Hanamaru's backstory: Separated after kindergarten, reunited by the Red String of Fate to remember their Forgotten First Meeting. Your classic romantic setup.
• Some fans also note that some of the lyrics of Dia's solo song "WHITE FIRST LOVE" might have strongly implied to have incestual subtext on it: (Not helped to the fact that this song is released simultaneously along with Ruby's)
  Your eyes really are unfair, aren’t they?
  The twinge of loneliness in them
  Attracted me because they are so similar to mine; I may become unable to turn back
  This is the beginning of love, right?
• Some fans believe that RED GEM WINK is a RubyLeah-themed (duo) song due to Ruby standing on the same place where she took Leah in the anime on the cover.
• Like the mothers in the previous Love Live! anime, several of the Aqours members' mothers are shipped with each other, with the most popular ship being Riko's and Yoshiko's mother, due to talking to each other often.
• The dub for Season 2 Episode 4 ramps the Les Yay due to the Affectionate Nicknames used instead of Japanese honorifics. Here's a comparison video of the differences.
• While what she means isn't quite clear, during the group's time in Hokkaido, Yoshiko suggests going down the streets to "hunt for little demons"...
• One of the fans pointed out the "subliminal context" on the cover of the Love Live! Sunshine!! Third Fan Book; Kanan, You, and Mari gazing on Dia's rear bottom, with Riko feasting her eyes on Chika's spreading legs.
• The reveal of Aqours 5th Love Live! 〜Next SPARKLING!!〜 Memorial Box reignited the Kanan x Chika ship which started with the "Takami Kanan" merchandise.^note One of the 5th Live gacha items for Kanan (the puzzle piece) had her name mistakenly written as Takami Kanan. Cue jokes about Kanan marrying into Chika's family.

Voice Actresses

There's a lot more Actor Shipping in Aqours, mostly due to the amount of Ship Tease the voice actresses are actively doing. The most popular ships seem to be AnShuka^note Anchan (Chika) and Shukashuu (You), KyanRika^note Aikyan (Yoshiko) and Rikyako (Riko) and NanaAinya^note Suwawa (Kanan) and Ainya (Mari).

• In the Sunshine!! LIVE & FAN MEETING event in Nagoya:
  • Shukashuu (You) talks about planning to sharing a bed with Rikyako (Riko).
  • Suwawa (Kanan) and Ainya (Mari) pretending to share a chocolate bar.
  • Aikyan (Yosh-Yohane) and Arisha (Dia) doing the "Sustenance, Shower or Sex" roleplay. ^note A very popular meme in Japan which usually involves a girl saying "Welcome home! Do you want food, a bath, or me?" to her spouse.
  • And again, Shukashuu considers playing a pocky game with Anchan (Chika).
• In a Guilty Kiss livestream, a fan asks which one of the members of Aqours is cute and cool, Aikyan asks if Ainya is cute, and when Rikyako asks her if she's cute, Aikyan (and Rikyako) immediately blushes. To make things better, Ainya makes a heart-shaped hand gesture in between them.
• The "Welcome back" skit ^note A variation of the "Sustenance, Shower or Sex" roleplay above. appears in an Aqours Second Year Niconama. The Les Yay comes in when Anju delivers this line to an unsuspecting Shukashuu and Rikyako.
  • Shukashuu responds to Anchan during this punishment game.
• Nanaka Suwa actually ships herself with Aina Suzuki. They have a lot of these moments from pictures, videos and interviews to the point that the other members continuously remark on their special relationship.
  • They have a sizeable amount of various photos posted on their social media on them teasing, including one of them with their faces got within kissing distance.
  • Shanghai FMT - Suwawa and Ainya reenact the Princess Carry scene between Kanan and Mari.
  • The A&G Tribal Radio with Suwawa, Kinchan and Aikyan - In the Q&A portion, the hosts present a set of questions about the three while the answers are provided by the unavailable members. All answers by Ainya to Suwawa are pretty much what a girlfriend would answer to her lover (in fact, she answers 3 times for questions regarding Suwawa). Kinchan and Aikyan lampshades it during the same interview. Highlights include:
    Ainya: She takes me by the hands and guide me around amongst the crowds.
    Ainya: Her laidback, caring actions make my heart race.
    Suwawa: Ah. My boyfriend quality leaked out.
  • Uranohoshi Girls' High School Radio - Ainya talks about how cute Arisha is during the first time they met. Arisha says that she could already feel Suwawa being jealous and Ainya counters that she loves Suwawa the most. Suwawa comes in later at the show to present Ainya her surprise birthday cake.
  • In this Aqours Niconama, Suwawa flirts with Ainya for a bit.
  • The Aqours 1st Live BD captured Suwawa and Ainya together in their free time as the other members saw them at a distance and commented on their arena date.
  • Another instance of the two flirting in this skit from Trio da yo! Episode 6.
• During live concerts, Suwawa's intro includes her saying her character's lines and after saying "Yoshi, jaa hagu shiyou" (Alright, let's hug), she goes to hug one of the other seiyuu. There have been at least three different occasions where she runs past the other girls to get to her target with those she had run past having disappointed faces.
• This cute picture of Ai Furihata (Ruby) and Hinata Satou (Leah), featuring teddy bears and Held Gaze.
• The Ultra Jump's 100 Questions:
  • Suwa Nanaka's:
    • 88th question: Suwawa jokingly answered that the advantage being a woman is being allowed to touch with other girls.
    • 89th Question: Suwawa wanted a harem if she's a male although she is surrounded by the other members in several photos, which is seen as a harem by the LGBT Fanbase.
• A translation of Men's Non-No magazine throws things around.
  • Q: "If you could date someone in the Aqours cast, who would it be?"
    • Anchan: Kinchan
    • Rikyako: Shukashuu or Ainya
    • Suwawa: Ainya
    • Arisha: Shukashuu
    • Shukashuu: Ainya
    • Aikyan: Everyone, but if she had to pick one then it would be Kinchan
    • Kinchan: Aikyan
    • Ainya: Aikyan
    • Aiai: Aikyan
• The live concert choreography for "G Senjou no Cinderella" practically reeks of subtext once the rest of Aqours join the third years on stage and start dancing with them.
• The Aqours members relationship diagram gives us a bit of insight on what the members think of each other. Some notable entries are:
  Shukashuu: (about Anchan) When Anchan wakes up and is half-asleep, her face looks like a baby and I find that cute... I said it even though I wanted to keep it a secret.
  Arisha: (about Rikyako) The way she eats is kind of cute.
  Anchan: (about Arisha) Her face is small and brimming with cuteness, and during recordings I am drawn to her eyes!
  Arisha: (about Shukashuu) She has a nice body.
  Anchan: (about Kinchan) She has such a genuine face that is my type! (and her smile, her sleeping face, her white skin… etc.)
  Suwawa: (about Ainya) The part I like is… everything!
• In this segment of the 2018 Aqours Sub-unit Battle, Anchan swears she will protect Riko while Aikyan feels a little bit possessive.
  Anchan: STOP IT! Don't lay a hand on Riko-chan.
  Aikyan: That's no good. I'm the one protecting her.
• The hug guessing game during the Numazu Fan Meeting is filled with Les Yay. Bonus points for Ainya for correctly guessing Suwawa as the hug receiver by stroking her leg.
• This conversation between Shukashuu and Anchan during the Hakodate Unit Carnival.
  Shukashuu: You’ll turn into a crab if you eat that much (crab).
  Anchan: Yeah, I want to be crab.
  Shukashuu: Eh?!
  Anchan: If I turn into a crab, would you still be my friend?
  Shukashuu: Ye-yes.
• This picture of Ainya kissing Anchan on the cheek during 4th Live Day 2.
• A popular recurring segment from their fan meetings is the "ikemen challenge", where two members of the cast are pitted against each other on who can best woo the referee/judge (who is another member of the cast) in a given situation.
• In this segment from a post concert livestream, Shuka refers to Anchan as "My Inami Anju".
• Ruby and Dia's Duo song "Manatsu wa Dare no Mono?" is more in line with Homoerotic Subtext, but the live performance as Inferno Phoenix at the 2nd Live, especially that one part where Arisa and Ai's faces got within kissing distance is more of this trope.