ARE YOU READY?!
What the hell is this?It's an original sci-fi anime from the Spring 2012 season that's being done by Satellite, with a second season currently airing as part of the Winter 2013 season, that is based off the Japanese idol group AKB48. The director is Shoji Kawamori, of Macross and Aquarion fame.
Alright, so what exactly IS this anime about?Synopsis by
MALIn the beginning of the 21st century, a world war breaks out over interplanetary travel tech. The environment is pretty much destroyed so mankind leaves Earth, settling on other planets, and starts Star Calendar 00.
Entertainment and songs become heavily regulated and eventually banned on several planets due to their power to move people, but a brave idol group puts on guerrilla performances in these systems in the name of a famous act from earlier times that sang to Earth's bitter end, AKB48. Famous throughout the galaxy, the group's name is AKB0048.
This story centers around a group of girls from various planets, some where entertainment is banned and some, where it is not, striving to become great idols and join AKB0048.
Therefore, they participate in the entrance exam and eventually become undergraduates, aiming to someday succeed the current members of the group.Basically, at it's simplest it's an anime with AKB48 songs in it.
StoryThe story basically follows a group of 9 young girls as they join the guerrilla idol group AKB0048 and their experiences. The first half of the first season, it's pretty clear they didn't have a clear direction and focused on character development and introduction, but the second half is a pretty good storyline that leaves many questions unexplained, which they're focusing on in the second season. The episodes themselves contain many genres, from comedy slice of life, to dramatic moments that make you want to cry, and awesome mecha action. In space. As for the characters, they all have distinct characterizations and designs, so it's hard to get them confused. There are clearly more significant girls and others who basically fall to gag/background material, but they're all still main characters and get plenty of screen time. You thought it was about cute girls doing cute things?
You'll learn that being an idol is far from being all fun and games.
VisualsAnimation isn't that bad. They're no KyoAni, so there's a lot of meguka frames in the background that's easily noticeable if you look, but in general you won't notice it too much. CG for concert animations is a money saver, since Satellite doesn't have that much of a budget, but it gets the job done. It's a hit or miss thing. Character designs, they're pretty good. And the studio cares for small details. The characters will constantly be wearing different outfits, and the extremely detailed concert costumes are awesome to say the least.
As for the background art, IT IS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. I kid you not, look at some of the concept art
here. If you're a fan of Macross, you will not be disappointed, and these French artists are amazing. The backgrounds are detailed beyond all belief, and the buildings take many different styles and combine them in a way that just work.
SoundNaturally, being a weekly AKB48 commercial, the soundtrack features nothing but AKB48 songs. And being an Japanese idol group, all of their songs must be happy flirty songs, right? WRONG. Unlike other idol groups, AKB48 performs many styles of songs, from happy flirty songs, to songs about hope and courage, to
retro style based off the Jackson 5 era. And none of the major featured songs are out of place. In fact, some episodes are based off the songs, utilizing them perfectly, to the point where
it feels like it's the actual music video (Episode 3 spoilers). In particular, episode 3 (Beginner), 6 (Anti), and 9 (River) are beautifully done episodes, with the songs being the ultimate finish. Another thing about AKB48 songs is that they are EXTREMELY catchy. I guarantee you that after a few episodes, you will hear at least one track you will love a lot and blast on repeat (Mine was Shoujotachi yo).
Now for the BGM, it is amazing. The soundtrack is absolutely outstanding. And this is incredible considering that a third of them are orchestral remixes of AKB songs. I still have no idea how they managed to turn HebiRote into something as beautiful as
this. The rest of the OST is filled with sad songs, inspirational tracks, action tracks, and peppy songs. And they're all beautifully used in the anime.
For the voice actors, the team went a completely unorthodox route. For the 9 kenkyusei (understudies), they had idols from the *48 groups audition for the spots, and then set them up with the character perfect for their voice by having them play multiple characters before deciding. And they told them to basically go about it as natural instead of trying to be like professional voice actresses. So the 9 main characters are voiced by amateurs, and as you go through the show they also get better at it. It may be a hit or miss tactic for some, but I love the voices, as the characters were molded to fit them. For the other 9 main idols they use professional voice actresses from the pool.
All right, so I'm slightly interested. Do I need to be a huge AKB48 fan to enjoy the anime?Absolutely NOT. Although you may miss many of the small details, the anime itself is very enjoyable if you have absolutely no idea about AKB. Which leads me to my next point.
Wait, all the characters are girls. Don't tell me this anime is filled with fan service and yuri galore.Damn right it is. At least, fan service not in a perverted way. For AKB fans, it provides a lot of service and details exclusive to them, from all the songs and the choreography (they didn't cheap out, all the choreography animated for the songs is the real dance choreography for the real songs), to the ever hilarious WOTA chant from episode 6, favorite fan pairings (MaYukirin), and other small details like the outfits the characters wear, like
Takamina's banana jacket, and even dropping song lyrics in the script. Another big throw out is turning Mayuyu, whose real life nickname is the Idol Cyborg,
. These small throw outs are present everywhere. As for regular fan service, there's some of that as well, but it's not a prevailing factor. They are pure idols after all, there's no pantyshots and slight? yuri undertones. As for other things, they get inspiration from other series, such as Macross and Star Wars, and there are many references to though series as well that you can look out for. Especially Star Wars.
All right, now where do I start?The seasons are currently using the same numbering system, so season 1, or First Stage, goes from episodes 1-13. The second season, Next Stage, are currently from episodes 14-17+ as of now. For subs, check out EveTaku, as they're the only group providing english subs (Screw you Crunchyroll, you bandwagoners), and they provide quality, pretty quick releases. As for the episodes, they air on Sundays 1am JPT (11am Saturday EST), with a stream at the time I'll provide for those interested. So please watch the anime, as it's become one of my favorites. I give it a solid 9/10. Everybody I've seen watch, including myself, went in with either no or terrible expectations, and we came out amazed at how well it was, so it deserves more views. If anything, give it the 3 episode treatment, as episode 3 is particularly amazing. It may not be a masterpiece, but damn if it isn't enjoyable as hell.
