[TV Series] AKB0048

AKB0048
http://images.wikia.com/akboofourtye...b0048.1032.jpg

Type: TV Series, 2 Seasons of 13 episodes, 23min per episode
Genre: Music, Sci-Fi

Synopsis:
In the beginning of the 21st century, a world war breaks out over interplanetary travel tech. The environment is pretty much destroyed so mankind leaves Earth and starts Star Calender 00. Entertainment and songs become heavily regulated and eventually banned due to their power to move people, but a brave idol group puts on guerrilla performances in the name of a famous act from earlier times that sang to Earth's bitter end, AKB48. The illegal revival group's name is... AKB0048.

(Taken from AKB0048 Wiki)

Introduction:
Hello AF! AKB0048 is my favorite anime of all time, so I decided to write a review on it, but I'll try to keep it as unbiased as possible despite this. Also, this is my first time ever writing a review, for anything, including non-anime related stuff, so bare with me.

AKB0048 is an anime based on the real life J-Pop group called AKB48. The story will follow the 75th and 77th generation of trainees who aim to become members of the AKB0048 group.

Story/Plot:
On the surface, this is just a story where in the future, members of the real life AKB48 group go to different planets to "save the world." But if you dive deeper into this, in the far future, the government has become oppressive and controls our daily lives to the point where entertainment is regulated. The idols at AKB0048 act as the "spark" for revolts against this unfair government by performing and showing people there's something to fight for.

Now that we've got a more concrete premise, onto the plot. The anime has a strong plot, going into different themes, such as the unfairness of the entertainment industry, how hard work can or cannot pay off, and other themes. The plot tends to take unexpected turns, with every episode will keep you guessing, and some events having their roots in events that happened with the real life AKB48 group.

Rating: 8/10

Characters:
AKB0048 has a multitude of characters, but overall is separated into two groups: Senbatsu (Current AKB0048 members) and Kenkyusei (trainees), so I'll separate this section in that way.

Kenkyusei: The anime follows the story of the two members of the 75th generation of trainees and the seven members of the 77th generation of trainees. Despite the large cast here, all characters get their own screen time and all develop, some more so than others. All the characters have unique personalities and all play their roles nicely.

Senbatsu: This is where the anime lacks. The Senbatsu cast is filled with the most popular members of the real life AKB48 group. With a cast of 8 Senbatsu, we only learn a about a couple of them while the rest are just sort of "there" to fill in the rest of the team. Early on, they fill their roles of the people they represent in real life correctly, but the story tends to focus away from them except for a couple.

Rating: 7/10.

Art/Animation:
The art style used in the anime focuses heavily on colors, a lot of bright lights just like a J-Pop performance. The characters are all drawn well and are unique to the eye, easily keeping them apart. Performances look great with the exception of a few badly animated CGI scenes. Great detail was taken into account when animating AKB0048.

Rating: 8/10

Sound/Music:
What do you expect? This is an anime about music. The music is top notch. The BGM during scenes set the mood very nicely, adding to the mood. The Voice Actors of the nine trainees are all voiced by real life AKB48 members, most who have never done VA work before. Despite this, they do a very good job and this also adds a uniqueness to the characters having fresh voices to the industry.

Rating: 10/10

Anime Rating: (8 + 7 + 8 + 10) / 4 = ~8.0

Enjoyment:
This is the final section that I add into my own personal ratings, and this all comes down to preference. I loved nearly all the characters in this anime, I'm a sucker for good J-Pop music, and highly enjoyed the plot, but especially the music. Those songs... Yep.

Rating: 15/10 (if that were possible.)

Personal Overall Rating: 10/10

Closing comments:
Thanks for reading this far! As I said above, AKB0048 is my favorite anime of all time and will most likely stay that way for a while to come. If you're a fan of Japanese music, don't have anything against idols or an all female cast, and are looking for an entertaining series to watch, look no further!