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| AKB0048 trainees, who are the main focus of the anime. From left to right Suzuko (aka Linda), Makoto (aka Grumbly), Sonata (Kanata's sister) aka Sonati, Mimori, Chieri (aka Cherry), Kanata, Orine, Nagisa, Yuka. All pics are from internet searches |
Seeing as I've recently finished this show (& started it again in the same night...) & seen it over 5 times I figured a review was in order!
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| Front to back row: trainees, current succesors, previous successors |
It's a little review, as I tend to comment on it in my weekly
What Are Your Reading? memes (the link takes you to the latest one), since I add what I watch to what I read. But being a short(ish) review is by no means is an indication of how great this show is. Because I want to talk about all aspects of it, there will be
SPOILERS. You have been warned! Edited to add: instead of a small review, trying to cram everything in, I'm just going to write about 1 character and 1 other aspect of the show each time I review it, which will be whenever I finish watching the entire series.
Regular blog readers will know that I think this show is
TOTALLY AMAZING!
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| Yay! |
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| Winx season 5, top row Bloom, Musa, Tecna, bottom row Leila (French version, other versions she is Aisha), Flora, Stella |
I can't remember how I first came across AKB0048. I do know that thanks to the bizarrre set up on the Crunchyroll app on my tablet, I saw a few episodes of the second season (which is really just eps 14-26...), AKB0048 Next Stage first. I couldn't understand why not more of an explanation was given for who the girls were, what they were doing. I had the sense to Google the show, and then discovered the correct order to watch. Funny how I understood it perfectly after that!
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| Trainees - see if you can name them from previous pictures! |
As far as genres go, it's not a magical girl anime, which I'm rather fond of. It can be filed under drama & sciencefiction, as it is on
Anime News Network, who summarise the show as follows:
At the start of the 21st century, an interplanetary war broke
out. Earth's ecosystem was damaged, and humanity was forced to flee the
planet. In this new society, things that "disturb the heart" like music
and art are forbidden. 48 years later, a legendary idol group is
resurrected as AKB0048. Labeled as terrorists, they must take up arms to
defend their careers and their fans.
I class this as being a 'music' anime, because there are lots of songs (since the girls are training to be singers) - some of which I'm listening to now.
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| Winners of the election singing (Yukirin top right) |
I love how the songs played always match the scene perfectly. For example, when Orine is dealing with her first hater (the opposite of a fan) the song is all about why haters are so necessary.
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| Orine with hater |
The songs are highly addictive. It doesn't matter that if I ignore the subs I don't always understand the meaning, I can still sing along.
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| Heehee! |
They are extremely uplifting, which because of their frequency makes this anime a regular on my screen. If you watch the girls train, the dance moves to each song are pretty hard, especially as they often aren't on a stable stage.
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| trainees in concert |
When preforming 'guerilla' concerts, the girls are often using their flying stage thingies (it's near lunch, my brain isn't up for thinking of a more accurate word) which can transform into mini planes!
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| Takamina getting in LAS plane thingy |
That's part of the science fiction part, I guess. How they manage not to fall off must be an anime mystery ^o^ If you like the songs as much as I do, you can find them on Youtube. I've created a playlist with 1 song on repeat, and another with a variety of songs on (not repeated). I'm not linking to my playlists as I'm not sure how to do it and my tummy is rumbling.
So, it's time for a character viewpoint! As I am hurrying for lunch I will pick one of the successors, Yuki Kashiwagi the 6th - Yukirin! (the 6th refers to the number of times someone has 'become' that person, as it were. You can search for info on successions online, as it's a bit complex)
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| Yukirin in concert uniform (there are lots of uniforms...) |
I love her hair style and colour, as well as her non-uniform clothes.
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| Yukirin in normal/practice clothes |
She's very sweet and dainty in her moves - but she can still fight when she needs to!
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| Yukirin laughing |
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| Yukirin fighting, singing & relaxing |
Some of her qualities, like the way she cares so much about how the other successors and trainees feel, and wants to disperse arguments reminds me of Mimori (who I'll definitely write about n the next review!)
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| Mimori with kirara (spirit thingy) |
Yukirin has lots of fun. She gets in virtually all the concerts as she's a successors and got elected in the election...
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| Yukirin gets a place in the election! |
She gets to be in charge of the spaceship & operations when the AKB0048 manager Tsubasa isn't around....
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| She's got her eye on the space around her... |
She seems medically trained...
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| Yukirin checking over Nagisa |
She gives good advice to the trainees with Nyan-Nyan...
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| I couldn't find the shot I wanted, so left to right is Nyan-Nyan, Mayuyu, Yukirin in concert costume |
She gets caught up with DES when they capture Sonata & Chieri...
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| Sonata, Chieri & Yukirin standing on trial |
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| Yukirin, Sonata & Chieri at the trial when the calvery arrives to save them |
She hangs around with Mayuyu a lot...
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| Good friends singing together |
All in all, what's not to love about Yukirin!
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| Go Yukirin! |
I hope you've enjoyed this first of many AKB0048 reviews. If you've seen it, do you like the songs, music & Yukirin? If you haven't seen it, do you want to? Thank you for letting me chat about one of my favourite animes!
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| Bye! |
3 comments:
I really want to see this! it looks great :)
You must - it's awesome!
Who doesn't love Yukirin?? She is awesome! (Also her real name is Ayako Kuroki)
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