AKB0048 Episode 2: Birth of an Idol

Our scattering sweat shall turn into song.

Our flowing tears shall turn into stars.

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Summary

Nagisa, Orine and Yuuka meet some of the other girls also heading for the AKB0048 auditions, and find out through the news that their friend Chieri is missing, and is suspected to be heading towards the auditions too. When the government takes control of the ship in an attempt to secure the auditionees, AKB0048 turn up to fight them and rescue the girls, one of which is revealed to be Chieri in a disguise.

Impression

I’m getting some very ominous vibes from just the OP – I’d expected Kibou ni Tsuite to be an upbeat kind of thing, but seeing those frames of the various girls crying gives me the idea that there’s something dark that AKB0048 are hiding, that will probably be something along the lines of sacrifice and possibly related to the weird deity-like thing that I’m not too sure of the meaning of right now. I approve…just try not to kill anyone off, kay?

We met a few of the other auditionees, most notably with Chieri among them. Out of the original four, she’s definitely grown up the most, having being groomed as an ojou-sama and lived a completely different life from the other three. She showed signs of being really bitter about the whole audition process, as if it was just a never-ending competition – I may just be over-speculating, but I’m willing to bet that she knows more than she’s letting on. After she was “inspired” by Nagisa, it might have just been me but did her voice get softer and less harsh? On a completely unrelated note, I love her long hair (complete with random hearts all over it xD) Best character design so far.

I’m confident all the auditionees will pass, even though they have completely unique personalities. Sonata (the stowaway) isn’t even supposed to be there, and one of the others has a serious self-confidence issue.

The government just had to attack a random cruise ship that had other normal passengers on it besides the AKB auditionees didn’t they? And even then, I’m slightly appalled at how they’re shooting at little girls that aren’t yet even AKB members. If they had managed to shoot Chieri, all hell would have broken loose since she’s in the same position as Nagisa – the daughter of a huge company figure that is expected to take over the business instead of joining a guerilla idol group.

What did interest me was how Yuko mentioned that a Kirara glowing marks the presence of an idol. In this case she probably referred to Nagisa and her refusal to leave Chieri there, but it must have hit Chieri’s self confidence hard, since the Kirara hasn’t ever glowed even once for her. Still, it’s been following her around all this time, which must carry some weight.

It’s just occurred to me that the girls are going to have to learn to arm themselves and fight with weapons – Chieri already has some experience, but I can’t imagine Nagisa or the others would have ever held a gun or a grenade before. Also, I never knew AKB48’s Heavy Rotation was a spell o.O Looks like we’re following Symphogear’s “magical power through song” concept.