AKB0048 Episode 1 [First Impression]: Towards Our Future

Aitakatta, aitakatta, aitakatta, YES! 

No seriously, this stuff is actually quite cool.

[adsenseyu1]

Summary

After a war over interplanetary technology, mankind leaves Earth and populates the galaxy – however on planets like Rankastar, entertainment and singing is heavily banned. When they hear that the guerilla group AKB0048 will be singing at Rankastar, four girls decide to sneak in and watch the concert, where they watch the idols perform songs and battle the government. Four years later, three of the girls – Nagisa, Yuuka and Orine decide to audition to be recruited into AKB0048, but each of them has to come to terms with leaving their old lives behind.

Impression

When the synopsis mentioned a guerilla singing group standing against the government, what I did not expect was literal sci-fi flying in the air, dodging missiles fired by the army and idols fighting with stun items and throwing back their own grenades, complete with mecha flying everywhere. My first impression – this is some cool shit we’re dealing with. The CG surprisingly didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would, though it seemed out of place at first.

I’ve been converted to another fan of the real-life AKB48, since those songs weren’t half bad xD From what I understood, the AKB0048 performing are the current versions, and will raise trainees in the form of our protagonists. I kinda like the current members actually, I really hope they stick around – Takamina and Yuko especially (the ones with the stun scrunchie and grenade).

I’m in love with the storyline, and I will continue to be as long as they don’t trip over and mess it up sometime in the future. Post-apocalyptic is always good, and gives us a scenario of what Earth could be like in the future – though I doubt entertainment will be banned forever (just think of what life would be like without music!) illegal groups labelled “terrorists” when they aren’t really are not too off the mark. Why would anyone even ban singing anyway? You can see just from that concert turnout how many fans love it.

So the main characters – all lolis. Please don’t shoot me, I honestly didn’t know xD Nagisa’s voice did annoy me a little at first, but eventually I got used to it – it must be the slight awkwardness to have that vocal range come out of a loli-like character. She looks all innocent and everything, but has domestic issues especially with her father =/ He probably has his reasons being an important figure, but I still think he’s a bastard to stop his daughter from even having an idol poster or singing in her room. Hopefully after Nagisa becomes a famous AKB0048 idol, her dad will accept her and she’ll make up with her parents.

All three girls are leaving something behind to go chase their dream, like Nagisa leaving her family, while for Yuuko it’s her love interest and for Orine the factory where she works at. I love how normal people like these girls can be inspired to leave their home planet and want to make a change, both within themselves and for everyone else – which is hopefully the same sentiment shared by the other trainees we’ll meet, Chieri (the 4th girl) among them. Overall I have high hopes for this – please don’t let me down Satelight.

Possibility of Blogging: No way am I missing this.

• Random Note: Looks like the trademark set by this show is to have all the idols have hearts in their eyes xD