(L) Akb0048

[sa547]

Spoiler for Unvandalized version:

[maximilianjenus]

nice, do you happen to have the "paste-over" part of the vandalized sign ?

[asaqe]

Wow, no shoot on sight orders? Well at least the Orde...I mean DGTO is nice enough to consider mercy.

[Arabesque]

I will admit, I walked into this show with a certain set of ''expectations'' mainly that part of me (around 75%) thought that this was going to be an insane experiment of newly touched grounds that Kawamori's abstract mind had breathed into life with Okada's ambition to showcase kust how ''creative'' she was and make a huge splash. There was also a part of me, 15% to be exact, that thought this show was going to be awful, in the sense that the script was going to be a huge mess, the story nonsensical and the entire concept a bust, or at the very least it would hold together like Frankenstein's monster, but I would end up enjoying it ironically, sort of like how duckroll had ended up. The 10% left was more a feeling of anticipation like I was about to face a dragon coming out of it's cave, still thinking of a way to tackle it without getting eaten (which, to be perfectly fair, how I felt about any idol based anime I go into, since I'm really not a fan of the idol concept with very few exception)

So needless to say, reading a bit through this thread and seeing the impressions posted on twitter sort of made me think that this show would end up exactly how I thought it was going to be. So I sit down, it's SHOWTIME and ... ... ... ... it's better than what I thought?

Oh, for sure, the idea itself is still pretty absurd, with an amalgamation of several famous anime tropes into a single entity, and the thing coming off with a feeling of being ''manufactured'' for success, but for some reason, I actually ended up not only liking what I seen, but also thinking it was, on some level ... good?

It's curious, but out of all the shows that premiered this season, the one anime that gave me a similar feeling to this show was Eureka Seven AO, even if there is nothing outside of the surface level compressions between the two, I couldn't help but think ''Anime! Hellz yeah!'' after finishing with both shows.

I see that SeijiSensei compared the premise for AKB0048 to Oh! Edo Rocket, and now that I think about, I agree. In a lot of ways, this anime does give me vibes of Oh! Edo Rocket meet Macross , which might have been part of the reason why I liked it so much. But more than that, I think it was how the premise held on to look plausible for these characters to act in that really sold it it to me. Not introducing everyone straight on helped I suspect, since it's pretty clear that Okada-san clearly placed a lot of thought on how to balance this cast, and it shows that she's going for the best route to help put every member of the cast in the spotlight and have their moment to shine.

The musical for the show is really impressive, if not really my cup of tea. I didn't find myself thinking it was obnoxious like I expected, but rather emphasizing the more fan aspect that the show is clearly aiming to go for. The vocal talent is really good as well, with the AKB girls first venture into the Seiyuu world being done quite well. overall, I thought the vocal aspect was well done, even better than I had already imagined.

The art was faithful to the original designs, a tough task and one I wonder how long will Starlight be able to maintain, even if it will take a while for me to really warm up (if ever) to the alien designs of there moeblobs The animation on the hand was ... competent, to say the least where the 2D aspect was concerned, at times good, but the CG segment scared me. Sorry, but I have to say that the designs of this Universe AKB band was terrifying more than cute, and the hearts in their eyes didn't help much lol.

But even then, I couldn't help but feel like this was a very good episode. I didn't enjoy it ironically at all, but genuinely, even it's pretty insane. But past that there was a bit of sincere quality to it all, past the artificial layer of idol glamor and merchandising that I thought the show would wear from the start.

Overall, I give the premier a 7.5/10. I will check it out again for a few more episodes, but I don't know if I can actually watch it since I already have a full plate this season ...

[sa547]

Originally Posted by maximilianjenus

nice, do you happen to have the "paste-over" part of the vandalized sign ?

Spoiler for the sticker:

Thought up the whole thing after I remembered seeing a great deal of sticker bombing across town, and "Kilroy Was Here"... and listening to Cypress Hill's Rise Up.

Originally Posted by asaqe

Wow, no shoot on sight orders? Well at least the Orde...I mean DGTO is nice enough to consider mercy.

The orders given to the troops presumably was to arrest them alive and unharmed, which explains why there's riot gear, water cannons and capture nets, while the girls physically retaliate with nonlethal weapons.

Yet we wonder why the heck at the last minute the DGTO troops brought out assault rifles and opened fire... Whom they're aiming the guns at? The performers or at the crowds? Looks like there's something even darker here that this portion could have been excised as being too violent.

[SolarAquarion]

1 thing that is interesting about this show was the fact that Horrible Subs was one of the subbing groups of the anime and it is the first anime which they subbed themselves. Of course HS, being HS... They created marvelous trollsubs.

Aquarion Evol is one of my favorites of this anime season, and I happen to love Kawamori (the master troll himself)
.

Because of the fact that I was interested I downloaded the HS FanSubs and that anime was GLORIOUS. Mecha fights, Singing, Drama, Romance, Missile Spam, and the good ole Kawamori brand of pot will make this one of the most entertaining anime of the season.

Did I mention the MMM?

[sa547]

^
Yep. As one of the characters has the surname Itano, I'd love to see her to do the Circus as her secret weapon.

An odd thought came up after rewatching.

Spoiler for What?:

Sometimes Karen's voice reminds me of Megumi Nakajima's Ranka, especially at the bedroom scene.

[SolarAquarion]

Originally Posted by sa547

^
Yep. As one of the characters has the surname Itano, I'd love to see her to do the Circus as her secret weapon.

What kind of Missile Spam attack is that? That shit will be Banana's.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I agree with Arabesque that "AKB0048" should be capitalized in the thread title. This may be more correct, but it looks funny to me. Can the moderator edit that? Would the thread-starter (totoum) agree?

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

This may be more correct, but it looks funny to me. Can the moderator edit that? Would the thread-starter (totoum) agree?

It hasn't bothered me but it makes sense since the show itself uses capital letters,so I agree.

[mochichan]

Originally Posted by sa547

Yet we wonder why the heck at the last minute the DGTO troops brought out assault rifles and opened fire... Whom they're aiming the guns at? The performers or at the crowds? Looks like there's something even darker here that this portion could have been excised as being too violent.

I think that part was just to create dramas and for visual sake. Because Acchan still sparkling while singing and being shot at look epic/badass/however you want to describe it lol

Spoiler for true idol:

[SolarAquarion]

Originally Posted by mochichan

I think that part was just to create dramas and for visual sake. Because Acchan still sparkling while singing and being shot at look epic/badass/however you want to describe it lol

Spoiler for true idol:

Think of Macross Frontier.... Or the fact that there was there was J-Pop while the Mechas were fighting. I think this anime will just be a Macross Frontier remake with a bigger budget. But still it will be awesome.

[mochichan]

MTE. Basically this whole show scream Macross to me from the beginning. I was kinda disappointed at Kawamori recycling his idea but w/e because Macross Frontier48 won't be so bad. Macross Frontier concert scenes were gorg <3

LOL..just finally saw the Horriblesubs ver..

wtf...man..............................XD
"change is pointless. look at america!"

[totoum]

Well there's this japanese acticle recap on AKB0048.

Can anyone translate it?

Google translate gave me stuff like Producer Akimoto saying "Okada is a genius"

[Patriot's Blade]

who the fuck dares tries to bans entertaiment through out the whole frickin' galaxy?, somebody should make a satelite universe crossver with the UN Spacy/SMS & Marika with the Bentenmaru crew spamming the fucking soul out of the DGTO into a bloody mess of pulp to met with satan.......

& add the Aquarions to the mix too.....

[SolarAquarion]

Originally Posted by mochichan

MTE. Basically this whole show scream Macross to me from the beginning. I was kinda disappointed at Kawamori recycling his idea but w/e because Macross Frontier48 won't be so bad. Macross Frontier concert scenes were gorg <3

LOL..just finally saw the Horriblesubs ver..

wtf...man..............................XD
"change is pointless. look at america!"

"Quickly answer your riceball".
I'll be watching the HS version for those gems.

[SolarAquarion]

Originally Posted by DRAGUN H.E.X.

who the fuck dares tries to bans entertaiment through out the whole frickin' galaxy?, somebody should make a satelite universe crossver with the UN Spacy/SMS & Marika with the Bentenmaru crew spamming the fucking soul out of the DGTO into a bloody mess of pulp to met with satan.......

& add the Aquarions to the mix too.....

Kawamori Super Robot Wars!

[Sylphic]

I'm confused. Which one is Yukirin? Can someone kindly post me a picture?

As for the Japanese recap

企画スタートは一年半ほど前
・大月が河森に「AKBでアニメを作りませんか」と話を持って行った
・その後2週間くらいして今の設定が書かれた企画書が上がって来た
・AKBという存在にこれだけ踏み込んだ設定なので「僕（大月）が責任を取ります」
　とスタッフに話して秋元に企画を見せに行った
・（秋元は）「襲名制というのがいい、これやろうと！」と二つ返事
・（秋元は）岡田さんの脚本を読んで「この脚本はすごい、
　自分はすごい脚本家といっぱい仕事をしてきたけど、この脚本家はそれを超えている」
・AKBは今の資本主義のリアリズム
・（AKBグループ内の）オーディションで「声優になりたかった」というメンバーが本当に多い
・声優になるためにAKBに入ったメンバーもいる
・選考では人気メンバーだからとかそういう裏交渉は全くなし

秋元インタビュー
・この企画に乗ったのは岡田磨里さんのすばらしさ
・初めてプロットを読んだ時も第一稿を読んだ時も、もうこの人だったら何やってもいい
　全部任せられると思った
・岡田さんは天才
・仕事柄膨大な数の脚本を読んできたけど、あそこまで上手く書ける人はいない
・岡田さんや河森さんに任せておけば問題ないと思った
・アニメの世界にAKBを渡すので好きになって下さいというコンセプト
・河森さんや岡田さんは「この人たちは本気だ」とすぐわかった
・アニメの話を頂いて一回会おうってなった時に（二人とも）語る語る
・（アニメの）仕事場で一日中（AKBを）流してるらしい
・福岡でやったHKT48の初日にわざわざ来てくれたので
　「この人たち本気だな」と感動して、お願いすることにした

Plans were started about a year and a half ago.
- Otsuki (I might have the name wrong) went to Kawamori asking him if he would make an anime with AKB as a part of it.
- About 2 weeks later the plans for the premise were completed.
- Otsuki said to the staff he would take responsibility for changing what everyone knows as AKB this much as he took the plan to Akimoto.
- Akimoto said two things. "I like the idea of succession, LET'S DO IT!"
- Akimoto also said. "This script by Okada is fantastic. I've worked with plenty of great script writers in my line of work, but this is clearly on a different level."
- They wanted to keep some aspects of the current AKB in the anime.
- There are many girls who say in their internal group auditions that they want to be a voice actor.
- There are members of AKB who joined specifically because they wanted to become a voice actor.
- There were no backroom deals to pick on the most popular members for roles in the anime.

Akimoto interview:
- The plan was completed thanks to the marvelous efforts of Okada Mari.
- When I (Akimoto) first read this plot, and from the very first draft, I was confident that I could leave this person in charge of everything.
- Okada is a genius
- I've read many many scripts on the job, but I've never seen something as great as this.
- I have no doubts leaving Okada and Kawamori in charge of this project.
- I'm handing AKB over to the anime world. I hope that more people will come to like AKB. (*sorry kind of confused by this line)
- It didn't take long for me to realize that Kawamori and Okada were very serious about this project.
- After accepting the job for this anime, Kawamori and Okada were deep in discussion from the first meeting.
- I heard that they played AKB songs for the whole day at the production work place.
- Kawamori and Okada showed up for the HKT48 debut day in Fukuoka. I was moved by their sincerity and I decided then to entrust this project to them.

[sa547]

^
No biggie, but this is great piece of information... and thank you! That clears things up as to how this show came to be.

As for the info, here's a quick face ID:

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by sa547

^
Yep. As one of the characters has the surname Itano, I'd love to see her to do the Circus as her secret weapon.

An odd thought came up after rewatching.

Spoiler for What?:

Sometimes Karen's voice reminds me of Megumi Nakajima's Ranka, especially at the bedroom scene.

Yeah, for a few moments I thought it was her VA and had to go online to double check. A pretty similar voice at times.