AKB0048: Next Stage

What would you do to turn your dreams into reality?

It is our names which we cherish the most. They are titles; testaments to who we are and what we have accomplished. Would you be willing to sacrifice your name, along with your home, lover, or family in order to achieve your dreams? AKB0048 is a story of growth. A tale of naive youth struggling to fulfill their ambitions and spread happiness in a dystopian universe weighted under a ban on entertainment. Directed by Kawamori Shoji (Aquarion EVOL, Macross), AKB0048 proves that even an anime about space idols can be enriching and enjoyable.

Story

We are introduced to ... a planet under the entertainment ban; a wasteland devoid of any color, resources, and enthusiasm where we become acquainted with our lively protagonists. Chained by the irons of desolation, the appearance of a rebel idol group advocating entertainment spurs generation after generation of hope in the hearts of young girls. The bleakness radiating from planets under the entertainment ban juxtapose the vibrancy of unregulated planets. In a universe suffering under the entertainment ban, the dreams of idols come with a heavy burden as they inspire hope and defend the right to enjoy oneself.

Characters

Hailing from lush cities to smoggy factories the outrageous cast of fifteen plus girls assemble with the same dream in mind: to succeed the name of an AKB48 member and advertise happiness amidst a broken society. And despite the dauntingly large cast the qualities of each girl were lovably unique, making it quite simple to remember their names. They are the new generation grasping at the chance to become idols that spark the fire of passion in young girls similar to who they once were. The characters are a selling point in any idol show, and they sell very well here.

Sound

AKB0048 was inspired from the hugely popular idol group in Japan - AKB48. The show borrows songs produced by this idol group and animates them in a galactic music video fashion. Remixed instrumental versions of classic AKB songs are also present as flavorful BGM. However when the soundtrack truly shines is during performances by NO NAME. In addition to setting the tone of the show during the ending sequences, the bittersweet ballads capture the emotions of the scenes they accompany. The variety of songs will keep anyone interested, whether they are idol fans or not. Not many shows have a truly memorable soundtrack, but AKB0048s is outstanding.

Art

Crisp backdrops of smoldering wastelands, bustling metropolises and primitive alien forests are sharp and immerse you in the world. And while the character designs might take a little getting used to, they begin to grow on you rapidly. During concerts standard animation is replaced with CG models. Yet despite the negativity attributed to CG, the models are well done and dramatically increase the fluidity of the animation while allowing for complicated choreography that couldn't be achieved with standard animation. The fights and concerts are well animated, and the show does not suffer from many bouts of bad quality.

Enjoyment

I find I only have two reactions when following currently airing anime. The first reaction isn't really a reaction at all: I download the new episode, watch it, enjoy it somewhat, then eventually finish the show and move on. The second reaction is anticipating every episode whether it’s because of the directing, suspense, characters, or other attachments, and feeling a bittersweet satisfaction as the curtains are drawn on the stage of a quality performance. AKB0048 definitely falls under the second category.

Overall

I went in to AKB0048 with low expectations. I was never an idol fan, and the songs of adolescent girls never coincided with my previous tastes in anime, but the reward I received sticking with AKB has left my expectations in shambles. I came expecting mediocrity, but instead I was told a tale of growth. A story of youth in a broken world, willing to sacrifice even their names on a journey to liberate the hearts of humanity. In the end, this show is underappreciated and not even given a chance due to people thinking it’s trying to coast on AKB48’s popularity. In the end, it was a remarkable story with lovable characters in a detailed world. And in the end, you should take a chance and watch this show... who knows, the girls may spark inspiration of your own.

Unlike first season, it failed in the balance between silly magical logic / naive plot and amount of awesome needed to properly excuse it with rule of awesome. Amount of awesome is slightly less than first season, while amount of the former is considerably higher. The disparity is almost enough for the whole thing to fall apart.

So what this results in, is that one moment I'm like ''oh fml this is so retarded/naive I can't possibly recommend this to anyone'' and then next moment I'm like ''fuck me this is so fucking awesome everyone should see this''. First season had more of the latter, ... second season has more of the former. It could have also worked if it tried to be less dramatic, then it would genre shift into a silly moe comedy with awesome concert battles, and it would be excused one half with rule of funny and other half with rule of awesome.

Some scenes and episodes in second season are really good and really enjoyable to watch. If you're in it just for the moe, you'll have an easier time enjoying it. If you're in it for the story and original setting, you will probably have a hard time not quitting. If you're in it for the awesome and liked the first season, definitely give second season a shot.

Music wise, It's slightly disappointing that most songs are the same ones from first season, but if we count OP/ED, I think there are 4 new ones. OP is not as good as s1, but isn't bad I suppose. ED is quite close to being as good as s1. Other two songs seem okay, but all the really awesome ones are the same ones from s1.

What this show needs is less talk of succession, radiance, elections, competitive spirit, center nova, and the magic of their succession system... and more of political, psychological and social aspect of entertainment ban, and actual fight against it. Then it would have even been a masterpiece.

I've never written a review so sorry if this comes out really crappy but I just need people to know the reasons of why this anime was so beautifully crafted, so lets begin.

Also, reminder, this is the second series, it is crucial to watch the first series if you want the full experience.

Story- A group of girls fighting the ban of entertainment across the galaxy. Sounds like a little girl shoujo-style anime right? Welp no. That is very far from what AKB0048 is actually about. Next Stage picks up right where First stage finished. The girls are back to Akibaster, and General Elections ... have restarted. The girls are now competing with each other, and Nagisa doesn't know how to feel about this. The point is, General Elections were a super interesting way to start the second season, and after you finish the ending it just all ties together so beautifully and I believe it really masters the story telling process.

Art- The art style is super similar to the first series, except slightly better in my opinion. The animation is cleaner through out, and the 3D scenes look more realistic and blend together better with the other animation, plus the effects look sooo awesome. My favorite part of the animation is the opening. After the 5th episode, you can really tell they put extra effort into polishing it up for us. Plus I'm just a huge sucker for this art style, so that maybe why I gave it such a high score, but the hearts everywhere are sooo cute~

Sound- Obviously an anime about idols needs to have good music. Personally, I enjoyed the songs much more this season than the last, the opening and the ending being my favorites. They also brought back some great songs from the first season, and incorporated new AKB songs as well. The OST is still sooo great, and I think it was the same one they used as first season.

Character- My favorite part about this anime is the characters. They feel so real and genuine to me, its crazy. Again with the mastery of story telling, I believe they also captured the essence of their characters just as well, especially the 77th generation girls. Even though this anime has so many characters, you feel like you know them so well. I think it might have something to do with the idea of succession or something, but believe me, this anime does not lack in the character development area.

Enjoyment/Overall- This anime is my favorite. The first series was soooo great, but if I had to pick between the two, it would be this one. This story is much greater in this one and I enjoyed it a lot more, so if you stopped after the first series, please continue and I don't think you will be disappointed. ' u '
sorry this review sucked;;;;

I watched this a while ago but I feel like this season had much more fan service (photo shoots) which I really hate. It prevents me from recommending shows to people that otherwise would enjoy them a lot. At any rate, the story is still as insane and fluffy as ever, the characters develop well and its highly satisfying to watch. I feel that the story gets particularly muddled when you have to remember several names of characters: who they represent, who they want to represent, who they should be representing, and ultimately their real name and nicknames. The story also takes some really bizarre ... and at other times serious and heartfelt turns making the second season both more intense and more fluffy that the first. The climb to the final climax had some of the most suspenseful moments I have yet to experience in anime and this show really took me on a emotional ride. I feel its worth mentioning that this anime was probably one of the most emotion-packed outside of the romance and slice of life genres that I have seen, borderlines a 9 for me. The ending was everything I could have hoped for, I enjoyed this season as much as the first and I highly recommend it.

While watching this, I quite enjoyed watched this (second) season and the previous season before this. This anime has exceeded my expectations, as I had believed that this anime would only be 'alright' 'average' 'something to kill time with. ' Being an anime based upon the idol genre or should I more accurately state that an anime based upon the actual idol group AKB48; music was definitely one of the vital aspects of this anime. Through that utilization of music in the opening, ending songs and insert songs during the anime; the moods of each scenario could be captured well. This was not an ... boring anime to watch, surprisingly a number of conflicts did arise but in the end AKB0048 did manage to see it through. I'd recommend this anime to anyone who enjoys anime based on idols or is a fan of AKB48.
Sorry if you found this review to be bad, I'm still learning on how to review anime.; I promise that I'll make my reviews better next time.

AKB0048 : Mecha fights with guns, pistol, or beam saber is normal, BUT Idols singing, dancing, and fighting, no one does all of that, only AKB0048 does.

ALERT : There will be spoiler.

Okay, I write this review in conclusion from the first stage which is aired in 2012 and this second part. I had watched 10+ mecha anime, and I am also a fan of the actual group AKB48, so I will write my review based on that.

The background story of this anime was actually WEIRD, the future world has an entertainment band and the idol group AKB0048 is the only resistant group that fight against ... that rules. This background story give this series only 7 point although the rest of the story somehow reasonable.

The character is very good (8). They change a character from a coward like child into a superstar that can shake the entire galaxy.

The sound is the best part from this anime for me. The insert song, the opening, and the ending are all related to the anime. They even play a matching song as the insert song in the anime scene. That's make it great (9)

For the enjoyment, I really enjoy this anime. I even sing along with them. I had seen a lot of mecha series such as Gundam, Macross, Code Geass, etc, but this anime give a different feeling from all of them. In the last episode the girls fight with a BATTLESHIP. They're not using weapon to fight, but instead they just sing to them. The BATTLESHIP shoot out a MEGA PARTICLE CANNON like weapon, and those girls defend it with just their radiance. This thing never be done before by any other mecha robot that I had seen.

Overall I rate this anime very good (8), if the story was better I think I would give it 9.

So, for those who wish to watch this anime, give it a try. If you are a fan of AKB48, just watch this. I think you're like watching the AKB Theater inside an anime. For those who loves mecha, this anime is also great. The mecha fights is good and the animation is amazing.

I write this review based on my personal opinion, so If you like it, there will be good. If you don't like it, there will also be good, it means that you can discuss with me which part from my review that you dislike. Just message me or put comment on my profile if you want to have discussion. I will gladly accept it.

Please enjoy the show...
WineZ

I'm not quite sure how to put into works exactly how much I LOVE this anime.

Overall -- Just like the first season, AKB0048 Next Stage does an outstanding job of reaching their audience... and I don't mean their audience IN the anime... by audience, I mean "me". I find my heart racing throughout every performance and through the emotional ups and downs with the characters as I share in their joys and disappointments.

Enjoyment -- 100%, Every moment is exciting! From the suspense of the elections and succession, to the emotional drama involving Chieri and her father, to the intensity of each and every ... battle-concert... which gives other musical and action-mecha anime a run for their money... I can't get enough.

Character -- I love them all. There isn't a single character I dislike... that isn't something that happens very often. Each of the girls have their own unique, yet relatable, personality making it possible for me to care about each and every one of them and how they feel.

Sound -- I like jpop, so I love the soundtrack. Every episode has several performances of various AKB48 songs. They aren't used as insert-songs for the background... the girls actually sing them in the anime! The background soundtrack is a classical score of the AKB48 song's melodies, making the full AKB0048 soundtrack perfectly themed.

Art -- Very cute with vibrant colors. The heart reflections on the hair and in the eyes of every 0048 member is an excellent touch. The visuals are sharp and the CG is excellent. Did I mention there are lasers? I didn't... yea... there are lasers too. The "idols in space" theme is wonderfully executed.

Story -- This is the one weak point... there isn't really much of one to tell... and it doesn't matter. Every performance and every battle has a tremendous amount of excitement that is able to bring joy to me as I watch with a smile. This season has a lot more emotional drama than the first, and it is portrayed with excellence.

I LOVE THIS ANIME SO MUCH!

Is the disappearance of a Center Nova an analogy of them being in the real world to us?

AKB0048: Next Stage leaves us right where the first season left off with and ohh boy has this season given LA the missing plotlines and coverage of the character developments the first season was dangling at us.

AKB0048: Next Stage starts off with the Chieri being held for trial for being in 00, however after a breakout by 00 to save Chieri her popularity skyrockets, however a looming enemy has plans with Chieri. This season also deals with some of the characters that didn't get the development they ... needed in the first season, with the likes of Makoto, Mimori and Mikako Minamino ranging from plotlines concerning them or oneshot episodes focusing on them. Yes however LA's favourite character Suzuko was relegated to exposition fairy for this season, but nonetheless LA was surprised by the character development not only form the minor characters but from Chieri, Nagisa, Hikari and even Tsubasa and mostly given them resolutions to their plot points brought up in the first season.

This season does focus ALOT on Chieri and her daddy issues and it becomes a HUGE focus as the "looming enemy" having affiliation to Chieri so the focus DOES have sense.

LA's grievances with the first season was "a hodgepodge of bogged down ideas with the AKB48 brand implanted into it", this season rectified this with the aforementioned focus on the main characters but this also includes the world building that was left dangling from us the first season, namely the entire deal with Sensei-sensei, Center Nova and Chieri's dad especially. Sure the plotlines and never out rightly stated by the end of the anime, especially with the "Disappearance of Center Nova" being the biggest offender, but LA would like to think Shoji Kawamori wanted us to think for yourself (and even in a slightly meta way) to figure it out and considering the anime given off real life happenstances in to the real life AKB, LA thinks this might be a given. So for LA, LA thinks he entire disappearance of a Center Nova is an analogy of them being in the "real life AKB group" and them "making it, immortalized" as it were and what were given yeah LA is keeping to that.

Shoji Kawamori has a REAL knack to intertwine the plotlines he brings up and give them resolutions that also links to their characters and all the grievances LA put towards the first season was heavily remedied with this second season and LA quite enjoyed this season, surprisingly.

AKB0048: Next Stage's production value is pretty much the same as the first season, with some slight improvements in some regions, namely the choreography and atmosphere. The 3D CGI use is still used but sparingly (even though LA could easily tell when they switched between 3DCGI and traditional) but the "Lives" were the best use of the animation done by Satelight (expected from them) and for a music anime, this was expected and with Satelight use of bright colors in their animation it wasn't overpowered let alone implemented into the plots with the Kirara's made sense. The character designs still looked like something from Aikatsu but nonetheless, Satelight did a fine job,

In the voice cast department, well LA could tell the majority of the voice actors got used to their roles over this second season, Karen Iwata was still bit iffy with her almost monotone-ish delivery but nonetheless. The standout MVP's in this seocnd season however easily goes to Mayu Watanabe as Chieri, Akemi Kanda as Hikari and Sumire Sato as Mimori with her latter change.

LA takes back MOST of what LA said in LA's first season review, namely the bogged down ideas as they were flehsed out in this season that enriched the characters which helped immensely in this season in general, the premise of AKB0048 in general was incredibly hard to get into but with Shoji Kawamori's writing and vision, there was something there, that potential and he mostly delivered it here. LA was mostly impatient with the first season but more or less Next Stage delivered LA's expectations for it's overly alienating premise streamlined into an anime about the AKB in the future where entertainment is banned. Sure there are "some" off handed plot points that get handwaved away but LA presumes that "because plot" but it still works to AKB0048's favour......a bit.

AKB0048 is FOR the fans of AKB and what with the numerous real life nods to it and with the anime LITERALLY having AKB members as standins to these characters' voices, it's expected.

AKB0048 is the heart of Akibahar- *ahem* star idol culture...LA still prefers Idolmaster but nonetheless AKB0048: Next Stage was a valiant effort in making those hodgepodge of ideas into a cohesive story by the end of it, good job Shoji Kawamori you always SOMEHOW pull through in all your crazy convoluted plotlines glory.

Note: This is my first review, don't expect to see a gigantic review..

Akb0048, the anime that got me in my heart.

The music is awesome, you'll simply enjoy it! I wish it didn't end, but sadly, every anime comes to a end. Even though i'm sure there's gonna be a season 3 showing the other understudys succeeding.

Story: 8/10
I liked the story.

Art: 9/10
... I simply enjoyed the art style of this anime. I also love how they used GCI animations for the dancing.

Character: 8/10
The character designs are good..

Music: 9/10
I enjoyed every song that was put into the anime, my favorite is Kibou No Tsuite

This is a fun and bubbly show geared towards pre-teens and maybe teens. I like the music, its not really that bad. There are many characters and each and every single one seems to have a backstory that you get glimpses of. Character progression is pretty nicely done and it is nice to see how each one progresses from where they were to where they end up. The story is pretty far fetched but it keeps you intrigued with being more character based which isn't bad. For the adults, this show is not really for us, but it you have pre-teens and younger girls, I'm ... sure they would really dig this show and the music isn't bad to listen to so overall, for adults, its fine, for kids, its pretty good.