AKB0048 was a late addition to my spring anime lineup a few months ago. The series was the final title to be released for the season, with the other anime titles already nearing the half dozen episode mark.
My anime lineup from the previous season was pretty much jam-packed, prompting me to drop some okay titles that I would have normally watched on a less crowded season. So, I was apprehensive to add AKB0048 to the mix.
Yet, I decided to give the first couple of episodes a try and found that there's so much more than it's rather messy summary that I felt had too many elements when I first read it.
AKB0048 is set in the future, when humans inhabited different galaxies. After an interplanetary war had broken out many years past, the humans began anew, starting with a new calendar and a new society that banned any form of entertainment. Music and art are no longer allowed, since they are considered to be elements that can "disturb the heart". Many planets and their inhabitants fell into a dispirited state. 48 years after the war, a group called AKB0048 appeared, staging guerilla concerts to bring entertainment to the various planets. AKB0048 is based on a legendary pop idol group AKB48 and its members are named after the original idols. While extremely popular among the people, they are branded as terrorists and hunted down by the government military unit DES. The AKB0048 idols are trained in combat and will fight those who try to capture them, even if they are in the middle of performing in a concert. Their exploits have made them a source of inspiration among girls who aspire to become a member. AKB0048 holds regular auditions to recruit new generations of girls that they can train to potentially inherit the name of the original AKB48 idols. A few years after watching their first AKB0048 concert, Motomiya Nagisa, Sono Chieri, Aida Orine and Ichijo Yuuka audition to become a part of the 77th generation of trainees and, together with other aspirants, embark on an fateful adventure.
You have to admit, the summary incorporates quite a lot of elements, which is reflected by the numerous genres that I felt I had to label this post with. I was prepared to be confused and wasn't sure if I should be prepared to be overwhelmed or underwhelmed. I expected the action and the music.
What I wasn't expecting was to feel touched in the first episode.
From the onset of the first episode, you get a sense of what their future worlds feel like. An oppressive background matches the intimidating force that prevented people from attending a guerilla concert that will provide them a much needed break from their bleak lives. It is this background that makes the audience understand why the spectacle created by the AKB0048 can inspire hope in young girls to become an idol in a society that decried their existence. The moment the airship descends from the sky, transforms into a concert stage, unleash a barrage of colorful beams of lights and the music starts to play, you just know that there is no way the experience will not be imprinted in their minds.
Once the girls audition to become understudies for the famed group, the plot evolves into individual and collective stories that involve new experiences, struggles, conflicts, forming bonds and finding strength in one self. With the addition of fellow 77th generation trainees Kanzaki Suzuko, Shinonome Sonata and Yokomizo Makoto, as well as 75th generation trainees Shinonome Kanata and Kishida Mimori, the girls experience a new life involving singing lessons, choreography sessions, media campaigns and combat training. Their goal is to become an understudy and eventually become a successor by inheriting an AKB48 member name.
The series isn't without its flaws, including the weird CGI rendering when the girls are performing their numbers in rehearsal or in concert and the occasional ho-hum episodes. Yet, it more than makes up for it when it gets to the heart of things, especially when the plot involves personal struggles and their collective effort to stage a concert are at play.
The animation features music heavily, including numbers by real life pop idol group AKB48, and is used to great effect to convey and elicit the excitement felt every time an AKB0048 concert happens. Yet, the real anchor are the characters, which the animators and writers were able to successfully convey as individually memorable. That in itself is a feat, considering the large number of characters including the current group of successors, manager/producer, Tsubasa Katagiri, choreographer Mr. Ushiyama and the mysterious presence known as Sensei-Sensei or S-Quadruple.
The series also featured its token mysteries, starting with the force known as S-Quadruple, who seems to give cryptic instructions relating to the AKB0048 recruits and writing new lyrics every few generations. The series also touches on the puzzle relating to the disappearance of every Center Nova, the group's coveted lead entertainer position, from the previous generations. While the series touches on the purpose of the kirara, cute flying creatures that glow in the presence of idols, there are still many mysteries relating to them that are left unanswered by the end of the series' 13 episodes.
By the last couple of episodes, I was afraid that I would be left hanging when it came to the mysteries, especially since the series is an original production and was not adapted from a manga. Fortunately, the series ended with the message that there will be a second season, which will kick off with the general elections and will be the setting for the selection of Maeda Atsuko the 14th.
AKB0048 still needs some work, in terms of pulling off the stylized look that they want to showcase whenever the girls are performing and in eliciting more empathy for the current AKB0048 successors, who have their own struggles to contend with.
Yet, despite these areas for improvement, there's no denying that AKB0048 puts on one heck of a show by successfully melding different genres, great personal and collective stories, and action that you wouldn't normally associate with a group of cute teenage idols. The series is well on its way in telling a great story to match the spectacle of the concerts that they put on.
Happy viewing!! Labels: Action, Adventure, AKB0048, Anime, Drama, Music, Must-Watch, Sci-fi, TV
