(L) Akb0048

[Wild Goose]

Thing is, I see that preview, and I can't help but think of two words which cause Macross and Robotech viewers to shudder at:

"Pineapple Salad."

It's giving me a strong Pineapple Salad vibe. On the other hand, Kawamori did throw out all those death flags for Ozma, and that episode was a thorough homage to the original pineapple salad... right until the part where he survived, so who knows?

[mochichan]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

And I just remembered something that worries me a bit. Chieri's kirara disappeared when she was embarrassed about trying to pull Yuuko's sexy pose in front of the window. I don't think it ever came back throughout the rest of the episode. That... makes me concerned.

I don't think Kirara follow her everywhere. In the past eps, I don't remember the Kiara in every scene either.

Originally Posted by MisaoFan

If you don't want Takamina to die, there's another solution : turn her into a evil cyborg for the next season.

We already got one cyborg. Why not

[DmonHiro]

A peace conference in Kazakhstar + Kanata chosen as next TakaMina + current TakaMina must graduate = R.I.P.

Wave that funky death flag, white boy!

[Random Wanderer]

No one's dying!

[asaqe]

For those who are AKB48 fans, any idea what could Kawamori and Okada use for the Trainee's VA as injokes? Namely Makoto's and Mimori's? I knew about how Chieri's affinity for Applachias and Nagisa loves Tomatos.

[Kazu-kun]

It seems this comes from one of the official websites:

Spoiler:

Damn, Chieri really kicked everyone's ass here. Why I'm not surprised.

[mochichan]

^
It help Chieri is voiced by Watanabe Mayu too.

Originally Posted by asaqe

For those who are AKB48 fans, any idea what could Kawamori and Okada use for the Trainee's VA as injokes? Namely Makoto's and Mimori's? I knew about how Chieri's affinity for Applachias and Nagisa loves Tomatos.

....no idea since the VA for those 2 aren't popular and don't get promoted that much so I have no idea the inside jokes about their personal lives. Nagisa's love for Tomato come from her resemblance to Maeda Atsuko, Acchan, not from her VA Iwata Karen. Sonata's love for bunny ears come from her VA Yagami Kumi, Orine being an orphan might come from her VA Nayaka Sayaka who suffered from poverty once?

That's the only references I can spot.
------

SONATA~~~ <3

[SeijiSensei]

Does Japan have child-labor laws that would apply to groups like AKB48? I know that California has extensive laws governing the use of children in entertainment. Kids under sixteen can be at the place of employment (e.g., a movie studio) for nine hours per day, but three of those hours must constitute schooling, and one of them is a break. There is also an extensive process to obtain work permits for kids and requirements for an on-site teacher if there are ten or more kids at the workplace. Are there any real-life AKB48 girls as young as ten-year-old Sonata? Does Japan require that they receive schooling in conjunction with their training? I haven't seen any evidence of such things in AKB0048 so far.

Of course, training kids to use weapons would probably contravene most any reasonable child-labor statutes!

[DmonHiro]

Originally Posted by mochichan

She hops like a frog, sounds like a rabbit, but she's a bear.

I LOVE SONATA!!!!

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

It seems this comes from one of the official websites:

Spoiler:

Damn, Chieri really kicked everyone's ass here. Why I'm not surprised.

Spoiler for Indepth look...:

Here is my thoughts on the popularity vote

-Well Chieri was the most popular because right now she is "The plot is centered around me". And she has the most exciting subplot of the series and people want to know what is going to happen next. Also, she is the only famous Senbatsu Idol to also have Mayuyu voicing her.

-Nagisa is second because the AKB48 fans are all hyping her up to become the next Acchan, it is not a matter of how but when. Plus she is rather likable and act as a foil to Chieri.

-Makoto gets third place because she is an aspiring AKB48 trainee incarnate. The very thing that defines AKB48 is the idol isn't some sort of perfect masterpiece waiting to be unleashed to the world. No, Makoto is a nervous, neurotic and cowardly girl with good looks and the fire in her belly to attempt to become an AKB0048 trainee. I remember a post about how does AKB48 audition works and one thing of note is Akimoto doesn't see Talent as something that will get you a spot as a trainee so much as having the desire to work extremely hard to become an idol even if they are flawed individuals

and now the middle 3...

-Linda is pretty much the guiding hand into the world of AKB0048. She is there to guide the oblivious anime fans into knowing what AKB48 is all about and act as a "fan within a fan" in a show. She is there to also be Sonata's second sister figure where Kanata goes off and angst it up about her desire to take out the DES.

-Who can't love Sonata? She is 10 years old, she appeals to some of the creepy aniota who would watch it just for her. She is adorable, cute and just act as a nice contrast to her sister. Not much to hate about her given her child like attitude. Granted she will have to grow up and face the same harsh realities her sister is going to face.

-Orine is like Kanata-Lite, she is Kanata in the fact both are orphaned, both dealt a shitty past. But where as Orine at least had her co-workers supporting her. Kanata had only herself and Mimori as support. And even Mimori is her rival and her generation has so many people giving up their dream to inspire and sing for others. Orine comes off as a softer Kanata

And then the bottom three:

-Kanata is a walking angst and disaster device. She is seemingly designed just to so we have "WE ARE SERIOUS NOW" and someone to break. If Takamina bites it (unlikely but I will be cautiou), then she is a jinx who only there to remind us of how MadoMagi ruined a genre for everyone. If Takamina doesn't bite it, then she has hope to be more popular.

-Mimori right now comes off as rather unidealistically perfect. She is like Sheryl Nome right now, large breasts, a sexy personality and absolutely no weaknesses that Kawamori designed for her. Of course that may be an double edged sword if she suddenly gets flaws and become more angsty...

-Well I am not surprised Yuka is on the bottom on the list. Has she done anything really significant aside from breaking up with her boyfriend to become an idol? If Kawamori wants to, her boyfriend could come back as an elite bishounen officer of the DES and Yuka could get some potential back.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by mochichan

SONATA~~~ <3

Sonata ( ＾ω＾ )ﾍﾞﾛﾍﾞﾛ

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

It seems this comes from one of the official websites:

Spoiler:

Damn, Chieri really kicked everyone's ass here. Why I'm not surprised.

Had to search directly for it to find it, but this:
http://festa.hangame.co.jp/shop2012/akb0048.init.nhn
Can't vote until you purchase something though. Truly AKB.

[mochichan]

^
Rather than that, I see it as fans bought these things because they're cute...since the stuffs look like the extras you buy on the social dress up games and they get a vote for the characters as an extra. Also considering the marketing...this anime is giving me the idea it's targets are girls and teens

Holy fuck..I want an account on that site just to dress up the avatars..they're so damn cute...

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Does Japan have child-labor laws that would apply to groups like AKB48? I know that California has extensive laws governing the use of children in entertainment. Kids under sixteen can be at the place of employment (e.g., a movie studio) for nine hours per day, but three of those hours must constitute schooling, and one of them is a break. There is also an extensive process to obtain work permits for kids and requirements for an on-site teacher if there are ten or more kids at the workplace. Are there any real-life AKB48 girls as young as ten-year-old Sonata? Does Japan require that they receive schooling in conjunction with their training? I haven't seen any evidence of such things in AKB0048 so far.

Of course, training kids to use weapons would probably contravene most any reasonable child-labor statutes!

Yes Japan have a law that under 16 isn't suppose to work past 10. During their election that just happened, all the under 16 members were made to leave the event before that time.

There's no real life girl that's 10...I think some of the youngest are 14 but they don't get promoted much so their workload is mostly training, and the night theater performances. They don't work that much since most don't get mainstream promotion usually till they're 1, 2 yrs older. All but one of the mainstream promoted members that get the most work loads are 18-26.

IDK...about the school..but I know the members now do go to school since there's members that make it into prestigious Waseda University, or they have corresponding schooling.

[FlareKnight]

Good old Sonata is always there to make you laugh. She was a bear, it was so obvious.....

Finally bringing more of Chieri's background into this. Was expected that kind of development would arrive sooner or later. Good timing with the resentment of the 76th generation pushing them to come up with something to push Chieri into a corner. Good time to develop her character a bit. Yuuko's comments to her made sense as well. Chieri is technically good, but is seriously lacking in expressing her emotions while performing. Her seriousness got her this far, but she's got to shift gears a bit. Still a credit to her ability to get picked to step in.

Nice development for Kanata. Not overreacting to Chieri's family situation showed how far she's come in a short while. In the end for her it makes sense since her issue isn't with Chieri and not her fault who her father is. This time being the one who helped pull Chieri back together. Also a good laugh with Nagisa walking in on Kanata and Chieri like that . Interesting to note that it was less her personal issues holding her back than the fact that the spot she was to take already had someone there.

Rough time for Takamina though. Tough to know that long as she's there Kanata will never be able to move ahead and also that Kanata fits the soul of Takamina more right now. Though it kind of feels wrong that Takamina reflecting as herself is bad. The fact that she can be out there and perform should mean that she's become her own person. Though suppose that's an issue with the successor system. They can only stand there if they can replace an original member. You can't make original members anymore. Be nice instead of graduation or whatever might happen that Takamina could just become the 1st of whatever her real name is.

[chaosprophet]

Rewatching the scene, poor Takamina. While the image was starting to form she made a face like she was really looking forward to seeing the original Takamina appear there. If she looks up to her a lot, then that may come an an even bigger shock.

Funny that all the original members had normal hair colors. After humans started living in space their gens for hair color mutated! XD

[mochichan]

^
and start having hearts all over their hair.

Seriously....even tho Nagisa is the main character...Chieri is just really taking over the spot light



And I wanted to support Nagisa more since her VA is less popular than Mayuyu :\

[SeijiSensei]

I think it's more likely that Chieri will be the "main character" in the long run. Chieri's back story offers a lot more dramatic options than does Nagisa's.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I think it's more likely that Chieri will be the "main character" in the long run. Chieri's back story offers a lot more dramatic options than does Nagisa's.

The way I see it, Nagisa is the POV character, and Chieri is the PLOT character.

Chieri is definitely at the center of the plot, more than any other character, but we'll watching this story unfold from Nagisa's perspective, and I also think she will have a key role in it at the very end.

EDIT: In fact, I think the reason Sensei-sensei has been so active since the 77th gen appeared is because both Chieri and Nagisa are in it.

[Faerie]

Long time I haven't had time to post here ^^

I see there's a bit of talk about a possible deathflag for Takamina. Am I the only one who thought her graduating or dying so Kanata can take her place would be too easy? I mean, she's already declared that she wants Kanata to become a successor badly enough to go break the rules... it woud be super obvious.
Kanata is establishing herself as leader/mother hen of the lead characters, especially Chieri. Plus, she has a baby sister who idolises her and Takamina who wants her to succeed. She's also just declared how she's become more invested in AKB and isn't fixated on revenge anymore. She'd be the perfect candidate to be killed off, if they were going for shock value/emotional impact on the cast.
.... or well, I guess that's what would happen if this was AKB0048 as envisioned by Urobuchi Gen. Kawamori might just be playing it straight, and Takamina will step down for Kanata after some drama.

With regards to the polls, quite expected, though I somehow thought Orine would rank a bit higher. Glad to see Chieri on top, she deserves it. Not surprised Yuka is at the bottom. Since breaking up with her boyfriend, she's been a pain- completely the opposite of what I expected she would be doing. I thought she would be really committed, similar to Chieri, but she's just been whiny.
Happy about Makoto too, you would normally expect characters like her to be at the bottom. Go, Makoto!

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by SkullFaerie

Long time I haven't had time to post here ^^

I see there's a bit of talk about a possible deathflag for Takamina. Am I the only one who thought her graduating or dying so Kanata can take her place would be too easy? I mean, she's already declared that she wants Kanata to become a successor badly enough to go break the rules... it woud be super obvious.
Kanata is establishing herself as leader/mother hen of the lead characters, especially Chieri. Plus, she has a baby sister who idolises her and Takamina who wants her to succeed. She's also just declared how she's become more invested in AKB and isn't fixated on revenge anymore. She'd be the perfect candidate to be killed off, if they were going for shock value/emotional impact on the cast.
.... or well, I guess that's what would happen if this was AKB0048 as envisioned by Urobuchi Gen. Kawamori might just be playing it straight, and Takamina will step down for Kanata after some drama.

With regards to the polls, quite expected, though I somehow thought Orine would rank a bit higher. Glad to see Chieri on top, she deserves it. Not surprised Yuka is at the bottom. Since breaking up with her boyfriend, she's been a pain- completely the opposite of what I expected she would be doing. I thought she would be really committed, similar to Chieri, but she's just been whiny.
Happy about Makoto too, you would normally expect characters like her to be at the bottom. Go, Makoto!

She carries the virtue of being having the raw potential of an AKB48 member. Would be nice to know more about her backhistory and where she had come from.

[chaosprophet]

Originally Posted by mochichan

^
and start having hearts all over their hair.

Oh lol I forgot those... indeed the original also don't have them. XD

I was looking at the Episode 0 manga first chapter. It happens on year 0041, 7 years before the start of the anime. The main character is the girl who apparently on the start becomes Atsuko Maeda the 12th and is one of the girls from the 68th generation of understudies.

It doesn't seems like her story will be a very good one, after all in less than three years A-cchan the 13th would already be a member. Also interesting to note that the current Takamina the 5th and Mayuyu the 3rd were already on the team 7 years ago. Two other named members I could recognize is Yuuko the 8th (one before current one, and one before the Yuuko that was a center nova), Mariko-sama the 7th (doesn't looks much like Tsukasa imo... but then the art is quite different), and Tomochin the 10th (one before current one).