Let’s Appreciate AKB0048, EP2

  May 14, 2012

AKB0048 EP2!!
Let’s dig into the story from the opening scene!
I thought this place was ‘Lancastar orbit station‘ which was on the flight ticket appeared in the last episode, but compared to Lancaster station where they had gotten on the space ship, this place is too big for being a transfer station for that humble station…
Or maybe they skipped Lancaster orbit station and have arrived at next transfer station, named ‘transfer station between stars’?
The airport announcement in this scene was voiced by Anna Murashige. The latter half of the announcement was in Russian (if I’m not wrong).
While Orine is looking for the gate for the next space ship, Yuka is expressing her discontent to Nagisa’s choice of her coloths.
I thought the reason she is wearing a school uniform is to avoid being suspected by her parents, but she said “I can only think of a school uniform when I think about formal costumes.” lol
I don’t know whether this is inspired by her voice actress, a junior high-school girl Karen Iwata or just a coincidence.
Nagisa had worn a slim hoodie and short pants when she was recording the sound material for the audition.
She had been wearing a hoodie of similar design when she was a little (The live concert scene at the beginning of EP1)
Is this circle element her favorite design motif? Or this is based on a real member’s fashion??
The scene where she was arguing with her parents.
Long socks, short pants, and layered shirts.
  
Yuka is adorning her front with a little ornament.
First I thought this was a pendant but it’s her cellphone (with function of hologram projection). Small bell-like ornament is attached to it.
Orine has less repertoire of fashion than other 2 girls.
She only has this onepiece and work cloths.
Because she is living the poor life?
In this scene where they found laying down Nagisa at the former concert venue, maybe they are just wearing overcoats over their usual cloths?
These details tell how creators of this Anime put their time and efforts to describe characters into tiny details consistently.
Let’s go back to EP2
Electric signboard flashes the news, says “A daughter of Zodiac cooperation family has been missing.”
This is pretty easy indication that a girl they run into right now was the daughter.
Destinations include ‘Mars’ and ‘Luna’… so the setting of this Anime is Solar system? Since there already have invented warp travel by the time i n which Anime is set, maybe distances between planets are no longer a problem?
While indicating she is the missing daughter, her identity has been hidden with this big hat (I don’t know how to call this. type of hats..).
This depiction arouses our curiosity in when and to whom her true identity will be revealed.
「また散歩かい、キララ?」
“Have you been to a stroll again, Kirara?”
Not sure where Kirara had been to, but Kirara’s answer was ‘No’.
I think this exchange indicates Kirara detected Nagisa was near her and tried to find Nagisa.
But because she didn’t want to cause any jealousy or rivalry from Chieri (a girl in blue hair), she told a lie.
Though I thought of this after I watched this episode til the end.
「さぁ、行こう。」
“Let’s go.”
Though Mayuyu’s voice depicts poised attitude of Chieri, this low pitch voice somehow conveys fragility or anxiety are behind her heroic looks.
I think she is doing a fantastic job.

Your sweat become songs, and your tears become stars.
AKB0048 will come to meet you traveling over the space.



AKB0048 EP2 Start!!!

The background is a compass which indicates the directions where girls will be heading for.
Current members of AKB0048 appear in front of the compass may mean the direction the girls are heding is AKB0048, and they’ll succeed them?
If this compass holds another meaning, it may be a navigation of space travel.
Spaceship, Kirara Drive and travel across stars, this Anime can’t be described without the concept ‘space travel’, and to travel through the space we of course need a compass.
Current members are,
Yukirin, Sayaka, Tomochin, Mayuyu, Takamina, Yuko, Kojiharu, Sae and Acchan(???)
uhmm it’s obviously not Acchan, if it’s not her…. who is the other girl, and what happened to Acchan!?
This camera work is awesome!! It circled around members from the back to the front, and then girls turned around, crouching down to the title AKB0048, except Yuko and Takamina who are standing in the center back to back.
Obviously Acchan, the center of AKB48, is’t in this opening scene.
She wasn’t in the introduction movie of the audition, too.
Why she hasn’t appeared except in the concert 4 years ago?
What has happened to Acchan during these 4 years?
I think this may the hint of the dark side of this story…
Rivalry, bond, friendship, jealousy… as essences of AKB is condensed in the relationship in these 2 girls, the story will revolves around them, I guess.
Chieri is practicing dancing in her room.
Alpaca doll is displayed on the cabinet.
(This is the reference to the voice actress of Chieri, Mayuyu, who loves Alpaca)
  
A hand trying to reach the stage, but couldn’t.
Orine is working in the factory. The scene in the right was… does this scene, where she talked to the machine part she made, have a symbolic meaning?
In that scene she said,
“Some day, when Sakura bloom, let’s meet again here…”
Yuka is washing dishes, singing to customers in the Izakaya, run by her parents?
I thought she is a daughter of a rich family but it looks she obviously isn’t.
All members cuts are from the previous episode except Yukirin, whose cut is from Shake-Hands event lol
Acchan is symbolically depicted as the center.
Mimori (voiced by Suuchan) is practicing ballet.
Suzuko (voiced by Sawako) is writing a lyric over the song.
Is she just writing down the lyric of this song, Kibou ni Nosete, or the song writer of this song is her in the setting of this Anime?
Sonata (voiced by Kuumin) is singing in her room.
A lot of dolls and posters of AKB0048 conveys us that she is a huge fan of 0048 and her personality is probably depicted as childish.
Makoto (voiced by Mao Mita of NMB) is in Karaoke alone….
The video displayed in TV screen is something what we’ve seen before.. yes it’s the scene from a live concert of Aitakatta.
Becasue her voice actress is from Kansai, there’s Takoyaki on the table?
A fan who knows well about facilities of Japanese Karaoke store implied the Karaoke system Makoto is singing with may be this system, which AKB48 had been featured in it’s commercial.
Kanata (voiced by Harukyan) is kneeling down, praying in front of someone’s grave.
This probably is the grave of someone died in the battle…. but who died? Her contemporaries (she is 75gen KKS)? Or members of current AKB0048?
Kanata is described as 75gen KKS, which means she is a senior to the girls including her younger sister Sonata.
The weapon she is holding is ‘Assault Mic Saber’.
When they push the button on the mic, the blade will appear according to the power of their will.
Number 0 printed on the stage (it’s become hologram in this Anime) of AKB theatre of course means the center position ,where you can only see audience, having no one to follow, the goal of all members of AKB.
This seemingly solitary scene describes the void after we lost our Ace??
Sae, Mayuyu, Sayaka, Yuko, Kojiharu, Takamina, Yukirin, Tomochin and ???
Who is in the far right?? It’s absolutely not Acchan.
Acchan has retired from AKB0048??
「希望について、僕は語ろう」
“Let’s me talk about hope.”
「名もなき詩人のように熱く、」
“Talk passionately like poet with no name.”
「君が涙に、暮れているなら、」
“If you are in tears…”
I’m a bit scared by these teary scenes depicted over this one phrase….
So many scenes and hints have already set our minds that tragedy will happen….
Of course this pose is from Beginner.
Makoto, Sonata, Yuka, Chieri, Nagisa, Orine, Mimori, Kanata and Suzuko
77gen Girls  (2 are 75gen) with Flying get in the back.
“Selected lights”
By the way I have no idea how she could have been (Makoto) chosen for Seiyu Senbatsu…
I had a hard time to catch her words… (still impossible after listening for multiple times)
But maybe from Anime Ota’s viewpoint, she did a good job to convey the character’s personality?
She is described as negative, Hetale and easily-get-high character.
Uhmmm compared to 4 girls already appeared, voice actresses of these two girls are not so impressive… They so far have completely failed in lip syncing…
EJIMAEN Appare Soda?
She drunk whole bottle of soda at once… handsome!
Kuumin’s voice is best match for this childish character!
But it seems a bit unfortunate for her that her first scene is this seemingly difficult one to voice.
Her voice couldn’t have fully expressed the springy move of this character in this scene.
Tommy Lee Jones is there…
Suzuko is giving her sign to Suzuko in exchange to keeping silent about her, who are stowing away.
Suzuko is asking Sonata to add her name with Sonata’s sign.
Suzuko…. Suzu (bell) rings, so your nickname is Linda from today!
Why Sonata can sign so professionally lol
When she was found by crews of the spaceship, she said
「うぉっ、ヤバス!」
Kuumin’s voice in this line was so cute…
Orine reminded girls that Chieri was there when they have gotten the determination to be AKB0048.
She further revealed that Chieri had been Lancaster only in the summer of 4 years ago.
Compared to first 4 girls, characters of these 3 girls who first appeared in this episode are really easy to understand in a short time.
While Makoto is in desperate mood that she completely lost her confident as surrounded by many other candidates, Suzuko calmly took a (memorial) photo of Makoto, stating ‘First dropout..’
lol
  
To crying Sonota, who actually failed to pass the 1st audition, Suzuko said she has a high posibility to pass the audition because she meets the standards of typical applicants who pass the audition. She added her maron color hair is the same color of 3rd Paruru…
  
Once again the news reports “A daughter of Zodiac cooperation family has been missing.”
Is the man with a pink scarf her father?? He looks a bit nasty!
News also said Zodiac corporation is a huge supplier of military equipment to DGTO(?).
Navigated by Kirara, Nagisa reached the place where Chieri is hiding.
「昔は輝いていたんだ。でも、今はその輝きを失ってしまった。。」
“It was shining before, but now it has lost it’s brilliance.”
This indicates Chieri’s attitude which put supreme priority in surviving competition is not resonating with Kirara?
But what the brilliance Kirara exudes means? 
This exchange, between Chieri’s voice in a nihilistic tone and Nagisa’s voice full of positive will, is simply awesome!
“How many tears (since the beginning)…”
“Sensei!! That’s a sacred lyric!!!”
“Tears”
Obviously it’s this AkiP who wrote the lyric of the ending song.
After how many tears you will give up?
After how many death our dream will come true?
(lyric of the ending song)

“We will send Flying Get.”
“Makoto Yokomizo… Personality: Negative”
Suzuko is texting data on her cellphone?? It may be like Ota databank?
Nagisa is touching the Chuchu her mom handmade for her.
DES has no hesitation to assault the ship….
!?
!?

This (the legs of these machines) is, this is what Orine was making in the factory!!!
That means… the reason Chieri had visited Lancastar in that summer is…
Because her family, Zodiac cooperation had been visiting the military factory!!??
It looks like even DES cares about safety of the passengers as they are trying not leaking out air from the ship… But how they’ll do when they leave the ship??
Yuka shows her quick wit by making the way to escape from DES by drawing their attention with this glass bottle.
Makoto suddenly goes nuts and rush to nowhere…( ̄皿 ̄;;
How come this girl can be AKB0048!?!?
Suzuko runs after her and both are found by DES.
Yuka once again acts bravely, she falls down the trash bin to gain a time to escape from them.
DES armies are not shooting at them but at ceiling lights to slow down girls by falling broken pieces of glass onto them?
Why they stopped running after they entered the hall!!!
Nagisa pushed Orine trying to save her, ended up being caught by DES armies.
Chieri is trying to look indifferent but being unable to hide grief on her face as she is hearing the scream of her old friend who she just reunited after 4 years.
As the song AKB Sanjo! starts, Kirara starts shining, flying to Nagisa.
AKB 参上!
Here comes AKB!
AKB Sanjo! is the first song for the encore of team A’s 5th Revue, Renai Kinshi Jourei.
Takamina… how many ribbons do you have!?!?
Or her ribbon changes according to the song?
This choreo is completely loyal to the actual one of the song!
Drawing ’48’ in the air, stretch right arm straight forward and lights on their hands flash!!
Kojiharu’s special move ‘Heart Attack!!’
It looks like a stronger version of stun gun since her stick has two electrodes on it’s tip.
Her pose is from Sexy Janken!
「ウッホッホ~」
lol
This is of course based on team K’s song Uhho Uhhoho, in which she is being a gorilla.
Following this Tomochin said something when she did a palm strike, but it like “Txeey”, which I couldn’t figure out where it’s idea comes from…
「凄い、この人たちは、ただ歌って踊って可愛いくて、それだけじゃない!」
“They are not just about dancing, singing, being cute!”
「あの時だって、いつも必死で、命がけのチームワークで!!」
“They’d been the same 4 years ago, always courageous, risking their lives for the teamwork!!”
This phrase is what Karen-chan talks about AKB48 in Cupnoodles commercial.
As the song is reaching the hook, Karen said “This is AKB0048 we’ve admired!!”
Karen-chan is more than professional Seiyu in scenes where she fully express her emotion straight forward. 
If there’s one homework for her, it’s to voice more naturally in more laid-back scenes like the conversation in the cafe in the spaceship.
But she has enough to compensate this drawback, as her acting in serious scenes where she eloquently talks about her dream, her admiration for AKB, is exactly what makes this Anime so captivating.
I + slash = No Idol?
  
As already depicted, Nagisa has a habit to unconsciously touch her Chuchu, which naturally leads this scene where she noticed she dropped her Chuchu.
lol Why Chieri has already become so strong!?
And… I can’t believe that a shout of Mayuyu!!
She is too cool that it’s hard to believe she will be the same 77 KKS along with other members…
Wait…
It just reflects on the real AKB which shows stark contrast between regular Senbatsu members and Hi-Senbatsu members?
Why Chieri carries such a big gun?
It’s of course because she’s already finished off another DES army (without any weapon!) and took this from him.
It’s hard to understand why she is still alive…
No matter what Chieri says to try to persuade Nagisa into abandoning her, Nagisa never stops saving her, firmly saying that Chieri’s idea of AKB0048 is wrong.
When Nagisa denied Chieri, orchestra version of Heavy Rotation starts playing…
This scene is touching all the more because we know this is the idea on AKB Karen actually holds.
「そりゃ、ゼロゼロは競い合っているかもしれない、
ライバルなのかもしれないけど、」
“Like you say, 048 is competing each other, being rivals each other… but..”
「仲間を信頼して、助け合って、それが私のなりたいゼロゼロなんだよ!」
“they are trusting each other, saving each other…. and that’s 00 that I want to be!”
「だったらなれなくてもいいの!!」
“You won’t be 00 for that reason!”
「なるよ!」
“I will!”
「口ばっかり!」
“Just a mouth!”
「私、ゼロゼロになる!智恵理と一緒に、絶対に、、!!」
“I will be 00! Together with Chieri… !!”
This sequence sounds like the real exchange between members! I can even picture Mayuyu and Karen are talking like this!!
Camera focuses on the close up of Nagisa and Chieri by turns as each speaks their lines.
Simple technique but anything extra is unnecessary for this scene!
Kirara starts shining further.
Yuko said “Kirara shines when she feels the aura of idols.”
So far we can only guess what the aura of idols means from Nagisa’s attitude.
“Kirara also serves as the lighting for our live concert.”… lol
Is this a usual scene of real AKB???
Super Saiyan!!!
“This is…. the brilliance of the 48’s name!!”
Literal translation of Chieri’s remark is ‘This is the brilliance of the name succession!’
I’m not sure that a person who succeeded the name of 48’s member have this brilliance only during she holds the name or that a person who has enough caliber to succeed the name has obtained this brilliance after years of career as an idol.
By the way Yuko’s costume has transformed into…
(It’s not that their costume changes according to the songs)
Arrived at airlock (decompression chamber)
After checked out Chieri has no severe wounds, Yuko punched her stomach lol It’s just like Yuko…
DES’s unmanned machine emerged just to be defeated…
As official site introduced her as 3型目 / 3rd prototype, everyone had been curious about how cyborg Mayuyu is introduced.
I think it’s rather elegant to introduce this scene without any effect than sell out to Ota fans.
What she shot is the same thing what Guardian Angels (Sae) shot at DES machines in the last episode.
The idea of Mayuyu’s character comes from this cosplay of herself…
Mayuyuloid
「み~んなの援護は~おまかせまゆゆ~」
“Minna no Engo ha OmakaseMayuyu~”
Of course this is altered version of her real catchphrase “Minna no Shisen o ItadakiMayuyu~.”
How does Mayuyu feel that Yukari Tamura, of whom Mayuyu is a huge fan, does her own catch phrase for her alter ego in the Anime….?
2nd shot was different from the 1st one, since 1st one was a missile, which obviously can be stored only one at the maximum in her slim arm.
  
    
Mayuyu is so fast to exit… or since she is cyborg, she can transform into this small spacecraft quickly?
Nagisa “Kirara hadn’t chose me….”
Chirei “She hadn’t shined though she’d been with me… since then…”
Rivalry and sisterhood….
Like Senbatsu (or election votes!?!?) Kirara cruelly shows their aura as an idol…
  
Yukirin has big tits!!! <- this is the biggest reactions from Japanese fans! kinda
Kirara starts spinning fast….
Emergency KiraraDrive!
….
As early as in 2nd episode, Rivalry has surfaced between two main characters in this Anime…
It’s a bit surprise that Chieri re-joined girls so soon…. but as other 3 new characters added comical aspect in this Anime, Chieri’s serious character might have ben essential in this episode to keep the right balance.
Since Mayuyu have played only serious parts so far, it’s too early to conclude her ability as Seiyu, but her cool and low pitch voice is a perfect match for Karen-chan’s voice which tells straight her pure emotion!
I thought Karen-chan’s acting is amazing last time, but she proved that she can be more awesome when she plays serious scenes with Mayuyu, who is also an promising actress!
I personally thought it’s really difficult to understand what’s Makoto was speaking, but except this point, Mao Mita successfully played Makoto’s Hetale character, I think.
She and other 2 girls, Suzuko and Sonata will improve their voice acting skill as the story progresses?
I hope they will…
TV news announcer was voiced by Suuchan and an operator of Flying get was voiced by Harukyan.
These two girls will voice 75gen KKS in later episodes.
According to official website, this place is Akibastar, though it looks too clean for Akihabara…
Sky dome has set up for protecting residential areas from radioactive contamination.
Passion Sympathy, Freedom, Love, …manity…De….
AKB theatre. Notorious two columns look even bigger in the Anime…
….
I first heard the ending song of this Anime.
人は生まれて、人は死んでいく、肉体は滅びるよ、
灰の中から蘇るものは情熱、次の世代へ
Human being are born and die, our bodies diminish,
What re-birth from ash is passion, for next generations…
夢はリンカーネーション、何度でも、、
Dream is lincarnation, unlimited times…..
いくつめの涙で諦めるのか、
After how many teas will we stop trying…
いくつめの命で叶うものなのか
After how many loss of lives we can realize our dream….
Just think normally, it’s obvious that the lyric of this song implies that someone will die.
Contrary to the general impression of the term, ‘Name succession’ system may be involved someone’s death… but who will be someone?
I think one answer is already depicted enough in these 2 episodes.
What’s interesting yet scary is the numbers before the names of each member.

13th Atsuko Maeda…
11th Tomomi Itano
10th Sae and Sayaka…
9th Yuko…
8th Kojiharu….
6th Yukirin..
5th Takamina..
(3th Mayuyu…)
If we see this as the order of graduation of AKB members, it somehow makes sense, as Tomochin and Sayaka may be the most likely major members to graduate next.
What’s relieved me is the depction of Mariko that she has become management side (captain of the ship, manager of 0048 theatre and producer) while she still keeps her succeeded name (her real name is Tsubasa).
There’re many scenes makes us believe that this is not a serious Anime that it’s supposed to be watched as a gag. The setting of the Anime ‘No Idols’ is already quite nonsensical.
But if there’s no gags in this Anime, it might be just too depressing as the story will probably progress into more tragical way… the way we can’t help but projecting the progress of the story of this Anime onto the real AKB…
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Let’s Appreciate Anime AKB0048, EP1