The first few episodes of the show are concerned with the main characters' route into becoming 'understudies' - girls who train to become 'successors'. The successors have the right to bear one of the names of the original AKB48 members and sing as them in concerts, while the understudies have to content themselves with practicing and occasionally putting on much more minor concerts.The series is largely plotless, and that's a good thing rather than a bad thing. There's no real enemy besides the faceless DES, who are mostly just there to add some kind of tension to the concerts, which would otherwise bore anyone who didn't already have an interest in AKB48. The individual episodes generally fit together very well, though. There's generally a couple of mini-plots that focus on a few individual characters and some development of the relationships between all the girls. In general, the pacing is very solid.
Of course, it's very much a character-driven show, so the characters are the important thing. Not all of the characters manage to sidestep the stereotype hole that all-female casts so often fall into. Sonata is very much the 'childish character' and Suzuko very much the 'glasses girl'. But in general, they do a pretty good job with that. Chieri and Yuuka were both obvious candidates for 'the tsundere', but the fact that the writers resisted stuffing them unceremoniously into that stereotype makes their interactions with the other characters much more interesting and less predictable. The tension of them all both being friends and being in competition with one another for a spot amongst the successors also adds an interesting tension between them. Furthermore, the fact that for the understudies to become successors, the successors might have to 'graduate' and leave AKB0048 creates a level of tension between the understudies and the successors, something that's quite rightly explored in greater depth in the latter half of the series. It touches on serious issues a couple of times, and there are a few emotional moments, but it never goes too deep into drama or stays there for too long.
The show's probably still really entertaining even if you're not an AKB48 fan, but if you are a fan, it's going to be a whole lot more entertaining, and you're probably going to feel a lot more involved with the characters. Knowing the personalities of the most popular members of AKB48 will mean you get a whole lot more of the jokes and references, and there's (obviously) also a lot of AKB48 music used throughout the show. Most of the successors get a couple of scenes where the focus is on them, which is something you can look forward to if your favourite member is someone who appears in the show (Harunyan for me~). You'll also identify a bit more with the understudies' awed respect of the successors, and you'll enjoy the concept of the heroic WOTA (rather a far cry from actual otaku, I fear, and I speak as someone who could not unjustifiably be accused of being one).
All in all, I'd wholeheartedly recommend AKB0048, although I do so with the caution that I'm not sure what it would be like to watch it without already being an AKB48 fan. I'm not the kind of fan who would buy up multiple copies of their election single, but I do know about most of the popular members and most of their popular singles, which I think really added to my own enjoyment of the series. If you're looking for a fun series that doesn't take itself too seriously and doesn't outstay its welcome, it's a fantastic one to go for.
http://james-neve.com/blogposts/5-anime-review-akb0048
