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Midonin · 2013-03-31, 08:45

AKB0048 The Last Live - Welcome to Idol Valhalla

The concert from the end of the first half of the show would be tough to top, but did they ever find a way to do it. The arrangement with Nagisa and Chieri seems like a win-win situation for everybody, and narratively, the show did close off many of its major points. I was only aware of AKB48 in the vaguest sense before this show began, but now that it's finished, I feel like I know them pretty well... even if it's in the same context as 765 Pro and μ's, both of which are slightly less real in this case. It's been a really, really enjoyable ride, with emotions running high at several points. Loved seeing all the old characters in the montage - the Funghi, that kid from the handshake episode of the first season - everybody. It feels like a full universe. Whatever's next in the field of idol anime, I'm looking forward to it.

sa547 · 2013-03-31, 09:13

I thought of Chieri having the micsaber ready in the downed DES trooper's face, and then remembered the final part of Black Ops 2 where

Spoiler for game ending spoiler:

I'm still trying to settle down in the aftermath of the finale... Yeah, it's too easy to start nitpicking for all the mistakes, and then the seemingly ridiculous premise of defending entertainment (when it could've been expanded to include Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: of speech, worship, from want, and from fear), and the lack of a credible villain or the figurehead of the dictatorship (does it remind you that in Serenity that there's only the nameless, faceless Parliament leading the Alliance, and trying to stop Mal and his crew?) mocking the girls.

It could've been better, but then I'll remember this show for one thing: it has slowly weaned me away from anime.

Benigmatica · 2013-03-31, 10:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Short on time, so all I can say is this: I'm perfectly happy with this end. Why? Because it leaves open the possibility that Chieri will never succeed anyone, but instead that her name will be added to the list of possible successors in the future. Which to me, is probably the highest honour that can be bestowed to an AKB0048 member.

So yeah, if there is a third season, I hope it's an all new cast with one of them succeeding as Sono Chieri the Second.

Nah, it won't happen unless Kawamori and Aki-P finds an idol from AKB48 and its sister groups to replace Sayaka Nakaya and Sawako Hata since they graduated.

Hooves · 2013-03-31, 11:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Short on time, so all I can say is this: I'm perfectly happy with this end. Why? Because it leaves open the possibility that Chieri will never succeed anyone, but instead that her name will be added to the list of possible successors in the future. Which to me, is probably the highest honour that can be bestowed to an AKB0048 member.

So yeah, if there is a third season, I hope it's an all new cast with one of them succeeding as Sono Chieri the Second.

I like this optimism. I'm completely content with this ending simply because it sparked just as much as the last episode for the first season. Seriously though, they leave so many things open-sided that a third season has to explain all of this. If they are going to end it with this season, then I'm a little disappoint that we won't know who killed Chieri's father. Did DES do it? It did imply that after all.

Either way, enjoyed the ride from start to finish with this anime.

Azuma Denton · 2013-03-31, 12:26

It is a superb ending...
Nagisa become 14th Atsuko Maeda and Chieri become the new Center Novae.

But they dont resolve the issue between Kanata and Takamina.

And we still don't know who is the killer of Sono Papa.
That's the only minus point from this finale.

So 3rd season please !!!

EDIT: And that Yuuka scene is a message that idol doesn't suppose to have romantic relationship??

Kazu-kun · 2013-03-31, 12:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cytrus

From what we saw with Yuuko, CN-hopefuls worry about meeting the requirements for CN. But those who actually achieve it can't just fulfill conditions - they reinvent those conditions on their own. As long as you believe in a rulebook, its rules will keep restricting your potential. If you do become a Center Nova, you'll be bending time and space like it's nothing. Worrying whether you are fit to do that is pointless. Nobody is. If you want to achieve it despite that, you have no choice but to throw away that common sense thing and entrust yourself to the otherworldly chaos of just 'doing it'.

When I saw Chieri become the Center Nova, and what she's capable of, I couldn't help to remember this post. You nailed it perfectly there.

garbage · 2013-03-31, 12:44

hmm CNs maybe possibly could bend space-time like it was nothing, but in the last episode. What they did actually did was just use the DGTO ship's own kirara drive, forcing them to warp to a different location away from Akibastar. so it's not quite the same.

Kazu-kun · 2013-03-31, 12:58

^ I was talking more about Chieri teleporting or multiplying herself into three.

To be honest, if Chieri's father hadn't mentioned in episode 24 that the Center Nova has control over time and space I would have called bullshit, but I suppose this all part of the powers a Center Nova possesses.

Chieri is quite literally a demigod now.

maximilianjenus · 2013-03-31, 13:04

I for one loved the ending, the ony way we could have gotten a better ending was if we had got a better series, they explained enough fo the misteries that matter to keep the possibility open for later members of the franchise to epxlore that in detail (be it another anime season, a game or a manga).

totoum · 2013-03-31, 13:07

I see it as Chieri now being free from the matrix

Dop · 2013-03-31, 13:23

Wow. Kawamori definitely went into full on DECULTURE mode there, it was all gloriously preposterous and I loved every minute of it.

A good place to end the show, but leaves plenty of plot hooks to hang a third series off.

Fingers very much crossed here.

KamoDriver · 2013-03-31, 13:42

So sad to see this end but that was one glorious finale!!

SeijiSensei · 2013-03-31, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by garbage

I feel the ending is somewhat pandering, that's why it felt a bit off and forced. I suspect the writers are trying to please so many people and groups that in the end it just felt a bit disconnected.

I had that feeling throughout much of Next Stage. The whole premise of the show concerning freedom and repression got lost for a while during the general election episodes. Okada's script for the first season seemed more focused than this one. Like you, I expect Kawamori and Okada found themselves having to negotiate a lot more fan and commercial pressures this season than the one before, when no one knew what to expect of AKB0048.

And, really, someone assassinates Chieri's dad, and that's it? I don't think the motive was ever made especially clear either.

Still this show was entertaining and often fun to watch. If I were giving scores I'd rank the first season an 8, but this one just a 6.

totoum · 2013-03-31, 14:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Okada's script for the first season seemed more focused than this one.

The one big difference with the first season is that Okada wrote all of the first season's episodes herself while she only handled slightly less than half (6 out of 13) of the 2nd season's episodes herself and a couple other writers wrote the other half.

Which is quite uncharacteristic of her, she works with other writers on 2 cour shows but for single cour shows she tends to write everything herself or at least the majority the episodes.

AyuAyu · 2013-03-31, 15:56

I really like this episode, but i don't really get what exactly happened to Acchan and the other missing Center novae. Are they forever shut away in some weird dimension, alone?

Kazu-kun · 2013-03-31, 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by AyuAyu

I really like this episode, but i don't really get what exactly happened to Acchan and the other missing Center novae. Are they forever shut away in some weird dimension, alone?

That dimension isn't a physical place, but a representation of the collective subconscious of all the living things in the universe, channeled through the dualium. Basically, they've become one with the universe.

You could say, they became Madoka.

Random Wanderer · 2013-03-31, 16:04

Well... This finale felt awesome. The second season as a whole kind of ended up feeling weaker and less focused (or perhaps weaker because it was less focused) to me than the first one. Which is a shame, because it had some points in it that I consider to be really really good. But it couldn't seem to make up its mind whether or not it really wanted to properly explore its potential, and I feel it kind of suffered as a result.

Quote:

The one big difference with the first season is that Okada wrote all of the first season's episodes herself while she only handled slightly less than half (6 out of 13) of the 2nd season's episodes herself and a couple other writers wrote the other half.

That may explain that.

Quote:

I really like this episode, but i don't really get what exactly happened to Acchan and the other missing Center novae. Are they forever shut away in some weird dimension, alone?

They went to Heaven/achieved nirvana/attained enlightenment/whatever take your pick. They are where they want to be, so they aren't suffering. Yuuko only had trouble because she wasn't ready to join them.

chaos_animagic · 2013-03-31, 16:06

one Center Nova = a Harem's dream? (LOL... I wonder how many clones she can turn herself into...)

Probably why DES wants to either capture or eliminate the Center Nova, with just one, you could possibly rule the entire universe.
However... since most of their power comes from the people's emotion, I don't think you can really rule the universe through fear, it requires through LOVE.

PS: da wedding dresses = awesome.

Also, looks like their eyes got more hearts after they succeed... lol

Dr. Casey · 2013-03-31, 16:35

The fact that this seems to be the end left me butthurt enough that I wasn't able to enjoy the ending as much as I should have. AKB0048 had a lot of potential, a visually beautiful show with very endearing characters... now if only there was a coherent story to go along with it. This would be like if the Harry Potter series ended after Harry won the first round of the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire or something. I know that bite-sized anime of 13 or 26 episodes has been the norm for a long time, but I do wish that AKB0048 was a much longer series with a definite beginning, middle, and end rather than a fairly random and disorganized sequence of events.

The last episode was quite nice in and of itself, though. Chieri discarding her light saber and choosing to instead sing to that fallen soldier was a bit of a whyboner moment - she looked like she was coming on to him by leaning in so close - and it's nice to see Nagisa rise to glory, seeing as she's always been my favorite character.

asaqe · 2013-03-31, 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by sa547

I thought of Chieri having the micsaber ready in the downed DES trooper's face, and then remembered the final part of Black Ops 2 where

Spoiler for game ending spoiler:

I'm still trying to settle down in the aftermath of the finale... Yeah, it's too easy to start nitpicking for all the mistakes, and then the seemingly ridiculous premise of defending entertainment (when it could've been expanded to include Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: of speech, worship, from want, and from fear), and the lack of a credible villain or the figurehead of the dictatorship (does it remind you that in Serenity that there's only the nameless, faceless Parliament leading the Alliance, and trying to stop Mal and his crew?) mocking the girls.

It could've been better, but then I'll remember this show for one thing: it has slowly weaned me away from anime.

Spoiler for BLOP2 Response:

But with AKB0048, Zodiac was the representation of the big company behind everything and even then at the top, Chieri's father was working against the government in his own way. Had he lived he would have persuaded the government to stop banning entertainment since it is profitable for the Dualium market.

Of course then we have a new war of soulless idols vs AKB0048

2013-03-31, 09:13	Link #3742
sa547 Senior Member Author Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Philippines Age: 47	I thought of Chieri having the micsaber ready in the downed DES trooper's face, and then remembered the final part of Black Ops 2 where Spoiler for game ending spoiler: David Mason had Menendez pinned down and ready to pull the trigger. It's a moral dilemma, whether to act on personal impulse or taking account of social justice. She decides if vengeance is worth trying, but then she must have recalled Kanata's personal experience and attempts at revenge, and puts away the micsaber. I'm still trying to settle down in the aftermath of the finale... Yeah, it's too easy to start nitpicking for all the mistakes, and then the seemingly ridiculous premise of defending entertainment (when it could've been expanded to include Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: of speech, worship, from want, and from fear), and the lack of a credible villain or the figurehead of the dictatorship (does it remind you that in Serenity that there's only the nameless, faceless Parliament leading the Alliance, and trying to stop Mal and his crew?) mocking the girls. It could've been better, but then I'll remember this show for one thing: it has slowly weaned me away from anime. __________________

2013-03-31, 12:44	Link #3747
garbage Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011	hmm CNs maybe possibly could bend space-time like it was nothing, but in the last episode. What they did actually did was just use the DGTO ship's own kirara drive, forcing them to warp to a different location away from Akibastar. so it's not quite the same. __________________

2013-03-31, 12:58	Link #3748
Kazu-kun Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006	^ I was talking more about Chieri teleporting or multiplying herself into three. To be honest, if Chieri's father hadn't mentioned in episode 24 that the Center Nova has control over time and space I would have called bullshit, but I suppose this all part of the powers a Center Nova possesses. Chieri is quite literally a demigod now. __________________

2013-03-31, 13:07	Link #3750
totoum Me at work Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Dublin, Ireland Age: 36	I see it as Chieri now being free from the matrix __________________

2013-03-31, 15:56	Link #3755
AyuAyu Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Age: 38	I really like this episode, but i don't really get what exactly happened to Acchan and the other missing Center novae. Are they forever shut away in some weird dimension, alone? __________________ http://myanimelist.net/profile/Ushio_Furukawa KuroFai is Canon! Accept it!

2013-03-31, 08:45	Link #3741
Midonin Last Engage Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Florida	AKB0048 The Last Live - Welcome to Idol Valhalla The concert from the end of the first half of the show would be tough to top, but did they ever find a way to do it. The arrangement with Nagisa and Chieri seems like a win-win situation for everybody, and narratively, the show did close off many of its major points. I was only aware of AKB48 in the vaguest sense before this show began, but now that it's finished, I feel like I know them pretty well... even if it's in the same context as 765 Pro and μ's, both of which are slightly less real in this case. It's been a really, really enjoyable ride, with emotions running high at several points. Loved seeing all the old characters in the montage - the Funghi, that kid from the handshake episode of the first season - everybody. It feels like a full universe. Whatever's next in the field of idol anime, I'm looking forward to it.

2013-03-31, 12:26	Link #3745
Azuma Denton ~AD~ Join Date: Oct 2006	It is a superb ending... Nagisa become 14th Atsuko Maeda and Chieri become the new Center Novae. But they dont resolve the issue between Kanata and Takamina. And we still don't know who is the killer of Sono Papa. That's the only minus point from this finale. So 3rd season please !!! EDIT: And that Yuuka scene is a message that idol doesn't suppose to have romantic relationship??

2013-03-31, 13:04	Link #3749
maximilianjenus [E] Join Date: Mar 2008	I for one loved the ending, the ony way we could have gotten a better ending was if we had got a better series, they explained enough fo the misteries that matter to keep the possibility open for later members of the franchise to epxlore that in detail (be it another anime season, a game or a manga).

2013-03-31, 13:23	Link #3751
Dop Mmmm.... Join Date: Sep 2006	Wow. Kawamori definitely went into full on DECULTURE mode there, it was all gloriously preposterous and I loved every minute of it. A good place to end the show, but leaves plenty of plot hooks to hang a third series off. Fingers very much crossed here.

2013-03-31, 13:42	Link #3752
KamoDriver Mecha Idol Join Date: Mar 2013	So sad to see this end but that was one glorious finale!!

2013-03-31, 16:06	Link #3758
chaos_animagic Senior Member Join Date: May 2009	one Center Nova = a Harem's dream? (LOL... I wonder how many clones she can turn herself into...) Probably why DES wants to either capture or eliminate the Center Nova, with just one, you could possibly rule the entire universe. However... since most of their power comes from the people's emotion, I don't think you can really rule the universe through fear, it requires through LOVE. PS: da wedding dresses = awesome. Also, looks like their eyes got more hearts after they succeed... lol

2013-03-31, 16:35	Link #3759
Dr. Casey Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Tennessee Age: 36	The fact that this seems to be the end left me butthurt enough that I wasn't able to enjoy the ending as much as I should have. AKB0048 had a lot of potential, a visually beautiful show with very endearing characters... now if only there was a coherent story to go along with it. This would be like if the Harry Potter series ended after Harry won the first round of the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire or something. I know that bite-sized anime of 13 or 26 episodes has been the norm for a long time, but I do wish that AKB0048 was a much longer series with a definite beginning, middle, and end rather than a fairly random and disorganized sequence of events. The last episode was quite nice in and of itself, though. Chieri discarding her light saber and choosing to instead sing to that fallen soldier was a bit of a whyboner moment - she looked like she was coming on to him by leaning in so close - and it's nice to see Nagisa rise to glory, seeing as she's always been my favorite character.