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;;;;
