AKB0048

Summary: In the far future, humanity has expanded across the galaxy. However, the ruling body of mankind, the DGTO, has outlawed all forms of entertainment, including art and music. One group of rogue idols looks to spread the joy and love of music and entertainment to free speech oppressed people everywhere. That group is AKB0048.

Review

Plot: AKB0048 follows a group of nine entry level trainees to AKB0048 as they try their best to become full fledged members of the group. The story has two parts. In the first half, the trainees work towards participating in their first live concert. They learn what it means to be an idol, and practice their song and dance until they eventually get their chance. In the second arc, the story focuses on the chance for one person to become the Center Nova. The Nova is the leader of the entire group, and the one who causes the Kirara to shine brightest. Kirara are small motes of light and energy that shine brighter when an idol is pouring her heart and love into her song. The thing that makes the plot more than just a group of happy girls fighting an oppressive government are the many dark subplots, chief among those being the fate of all previous Center Nova. Every Center Nova has disappeared without a trace, and no one has ever discovered what occurs to them. Furthermore, the Zodiac group, an anti-idol corporation that produces weapons for the DGTO, is attempting to harness the power of the Center Nova and the Kirara for some nefarious purpose. That purpose, unfortunately, is one of the weaker aspects of the show as it is barely, if ever, explained.    

Characters: There are two detailed and well developed characters in AKB0048. The first is Chieri Sono (aqua haired girl front center above). She is the daughter of the CEO of Zodiac. She has multiple reasons for joining AKB, and her character might be the best on the show because of how these reasons constantly are at odds with one another. Her ambition, love of singing, friendships, family, and other factors influence her. Most are well explained and developed, though her issues with her father are never truly resolved in a satisfying way. The second is Nagisa Motomiya (pink haired girl front center above). She is a passionate character who dreams of being in AKB with her friends. Her depth comes from the conflict of what her dream is versus the reality of being in AKB. Then, there are a few other characters of note, chief among them Yuko and Minami. Unfortunately, Yuko fails to get much screen time in the first half of the show, and Minami all but disappears in the second act. The rest of the cast is full of interchangeable characters. A few are a little better developed, but most of them are just generic stereotypes. Because of the sheer number of them, illustrated in part by the image above, it is hard to care about the cast as a whole outside of Chieri and Nagisa. On a side note, I was bothered that every single enemy of AKB0048 was male. There was not a single female enemy soldier.

Presentation: The animation is solid and generally looks very nice, but at times can be a bit choppy, especially when compared to the smooth, though awkward, CGI. I write awkward because the CGI transitions can be rough, and occasionally, the CGI and normal animation are on screen at the same time. The music is, unsurprisingly, full of catchy j-pop tunes. Some of them, most notably the first closing theme (Yume wa nando mo umarekawaru), are very good and fit the tenor of the show perfectly. Others are just generic j-pop fare. The voice acting in English is excellent, and the actors did a great job getting the emotions across. Unfortunately, the English track can be awkward because the singing is in Japanese, and therefore the voice changes whenever a character starts singing. The Japanese track flows much better, as the speech and song are the same person, but the actors are not nearly as talented in terms of line delivery and emotion. I lean towards the English language track as the better one, but it's really personal preference.

Entertainment Value: Extremely varied. Some episodes have drama, action, and awesome to watch concerts. Other episodes are based on mediocre comedy and irrelevant plot-lines. While the two lead characters are easy to care about and root for, the rest of the cast leaves much to be desired, and is hard to get into. Even the action can be a mixed bag. Some scenes are full of cool combat, songs, and mechs, while others just show enemy soldiers who attended the stormtrooper school of marksmanship (ie. they can't shoot anything). It makes the show both enjoyable, and frustrating to watch. The X-factor, so to speak, is the music. All the songs are by AKB48, the largest and most popular pop-idol group in Japan. I was not a fan of some tunes, but others are definitely catchy, and I was happy to listen to them. If the viewer likes J-Pop, or just AKB48, they will love the show.  

Rating: 7.5/10 - A fun concept with strong lead roles that is not helped at all by its weak supporting cast and inconsistent story.

AKB0048 - 26 episodes

Note: AKB0048 is based on the pop idol group AKB48. Each of the characters the trainees are trying to succeed were members of AKB48 at the time the show aired. The Japanese voice actors were members of AKB48 group NO NAME, and many of them later joined the main sections of the J-pop group. There were four different manga released based on the series, as well as an iOS/Android CCG. The anime was released in English by Sentai Filmwoks. As stated above, I watched the show in English. I then re-watched the most impactful episodes in Japanese for comparison.