HomeAnimeAKB0048 First Stage - Anime Review

AKB0048 First Stage – Anime Review

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web_akb0048_part1dvd_3dIt seems that any anime adaptation based on a music group either fictional or real in recent years finds a need to incorporate some sort of mecha or action into it. The Idolm@ster series for example proved it was successful in doing an anime adaptation based on the development and elements of its video game franchise, but first opted to release The Idolmaster: Xenoglossia, which despite featuring characters from the original game had little to do with performing and more to do with the girls piloting mecha.

Fortunately AKB0048 which was released this month in Australia by Hanabee Entertainment, while not flawless, managed to achieve a better balance between these elements which complemented each other and provided an enjoyable watch experience.

A word of warning before going any further into this review: if you are not familiar with the Japanese all-girl idol group AKB48 which AKB0048 is based on, I strongly advise spending some time to read up on the group to get a gist of their history and how they function as a team. While not necessary to enjoy the series, it does help!

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Storyline

For reasons that in my opinion aren’t fully explained in the first season at least, the human race have set residence upon many planets around the solar system, however some live better qualities of life than others. While some are granted the freedom to enjoy music and other forms of entertainment… other societies are hit with wide-scope entertainment bans, resulting in poor morale of the inhabitants residing within these planets. Years later the Japanese all-girl band known as AKB48 form once again under the new header AKB0048, with its members performing on both free-expression and hostile planets.

Several years prior to the events of this series, four young girls – Nagisa Motomiya, Chieri Sono, Orine Aida and Yuuka Ichijou attend an AKB0048 concert on Lancastar which is enduring an entertainment ban. Moved by the performance which consisted of singing, dancing and fighting against the “Destroy Entertainment Soldiers” (DES), the four girls make the decision to audition as members when they are older. When it comes to applications for the recruitment for the 77th Trainees of AKB0048, all put their name down and begin their journey to becoming main members of the group, aided by current AKB0048 successors who have taken on the name of previous members and other trainees from the 75th and 77th Generation… each boasting a different cliche personality from the frantic worrier to the happy-go-lucky type.

AKB0048 puts itself all over the place in an attempt to harmonize the two core elements of this series. In the episodes taking place on secure planets without entertainment bans you can expect the girls to be doing hand-shake events, training, undertaking gravure photoshoots or mingling with each other in ways. On the other hand, on the less stable planets with entertaining bans the girls are more than likely performing guerilla concerts to ignite happiness within the masses (Complete with attendees in-explicitly carrying glow-sticks and not worrying about the possible implications after the performance) while fending off the attacks of the DES.

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To assist in carrying the storyline along, there are also several mysteries behind AKB0048 that pitches it in a slightly more sinister light – the mysterious song-writer “Sensei-Sensei” and the disappearance of former Center Novas (A sort of leading role) that has remained empty for years. Unfortunately very little gets resolved in this first season, with the climax pretty much consisting of a concert and a teaser of things to come. All I will say is that I am glad that the first season didn’t flop…. leaving big promises and not following up on them is a BIG no-no (I am looking at you Kamisama Dolls). The second season is set for release next month by Hanabee.

One of the major issues with AKB0048 is that the character cast is far too large for such a short series. Aside from a handful of the girls who receive satisfactory development, several of the trainees and even more of the AKB0048 successors receive very little in terms of development during “First Stage” and feel like background characters to boost numbers rather than contributing much to the overall plot despite attempts to integrate them into the story whenever possible.

All that being said, while the premise and character development may be average-at-best to some degree, AKB0048 makes for an enjoyable watch which in my case was completed in a single sitting. Merging idol and action genres worked well and I look forward to seeing just what they throw at us in the second half.

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Design / Music / Voice Acting

Perhaps the biggest issue I had with Hanabee Entertainment’s release of AKB0048 in Australia was that they decided to release it as a DVD-exclusive release rather than in North America where Sentai Filmworks made it available on Blu-ray as well. Unfortunately I wasn’t fully impressed with the DVD visual quality and think it would have been enhanced by releasing it on the newer media format.

Keeping with the “entertainment” vibe that AKB0048 is supposed to represent, the anime-style character designs are all well detailed, bright and vivid even if the heart-shaped designs ingrained in each idols hair and eyes might be a step too far on the cutesy side. Character animation is pretty good with the standard character models, but for the more intricate moves such as when the characters are in a fast-paced dance training session or actively performing on stage where 2D animation wouldn’t fit perfectly… they opt to use CGI character models. These models aren’t as well designed as their 2D counterparts, but do the job well.

The environment designs were also suitably designed, managing to suit both the dark, murky areas suffering from restrictions on fun and futuristic-modern areas that can benefit from having more freedom in what they can do.

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Given that AKB0048 is based on a real life idol group, you would have to expect that the music in this series is pretty good. While I personally prefer instrumental music over lyrical music (Despite my rants for decent opening and ending sequences in any anime series), I really enjoyed the wealth of music complements of AKB48 that was included in this series. The mixture of on-stage performances plus action plus singing at the same time resonated well with this reviewer, and must admit it has left me curious about checking their other songs. The opening and ending sequences titled Kibou ni Tsuite and Yume wa Nando Demo Umarekawaru both worked well, with strong animation and were solid musical numbers by a AKB48 sub-group NO NAME who also voiced the trainee characters in this series.

Following on that note, the Japanese dub of AKB0048 reversed the voice acting roles as you might have expected. While the “trainee” characters were all voiced by actual AKB48 members, the successors who are the ones usually set to perform on stage are voiced by professional voice actors including Akemi Kanda, Yui Horie and Yukari Tamura to name a few. The English dub commissioned by North American anime publisher Sentai Filmworks features a satisfactory range of voice actresses to fill all their roles.

The singing roles were a small issue when it came to the English localization, as while the main song numbers were performed in Japanese – small snippets were performed in English during the episodes. While the voice actresses chosen to sing have often had singing roles in other anime series, I do question if it might have been more consistent to leave any singing piece in Japanese. Subtitle tracks for each of the AKB48 songs wouldn’t have gone amiss either.

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Extra Content

While I suppose some of the extra content I am imagining might have been trivial to acquire the rights to, I was a little bit disappointed that this entire release only contained a small set of trailers, a handful of promotional videos and a clean opening and ending sequence. While to be fair this is more than we have received with some other Sentai Filmworks originating titles… I was expecting more.

Final Words on AKB0048 First Stage

With the wealth of titles that have never been licensed for release in Australia, I am actually left quite surprised that Hanabee Entertainment chose to pick up AKB0048 rather than one of the other titles that might appeal to a wider branch of the general anime market. However despite AKB0048 being far from perfect and may require some background reading by those not familiar with the idol group, there was enough present in terms of storyline and production values to warrant checking out and keeping my interest for what I assume will be its conclusion in “Next Stage”.

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.
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