What They Say:
At the start of the 21st century, an interplanetary war broke out. Earth’s ecosystem was severely damaged, and humanity was forced to flee the planet. On several planets of this new society, things that ‘disturb the heart’ like music and art are forbidden. That is, until AKB0048 is resurrected…
The Review:
Chieri’s in shock following her father’s murder, and while she and Nagisa have returned to the Flying Get, she’s in no shape to take part in the raid to retake Akibastar. The planet hasn’t been in good shape since the girls left, with DES and DGTO ruling with an iron fist, but WOTA and the 76th Generation have been fighting a guerilla war against the occupiers since the rest of the girls left. But, feeling that AKB abandoned them when they needed them most, the city’s residents aren’t keen to see the group return…
From legions of adoring fans waving glowsticks, the girls are reduced to performing in front of legions of pissed local throwing molotovs. Hardly the ideal return to action – but then what would you expect, after the group collectively turned tail and ran when DES first appeared on the planet..? Especially after the episode focussing so strongly on the girls preparing for this particular concert.
Like many recent shows, with this penultimate episode AKB0048 almost steps back to take a breather ahead of the grand finale – time for Chieri to recover from the shock of last week’s episode (which I couldn’t help but notice she was left to do on her own), for Sensei-Sensei to drop his usual cryptic utterance by way of a clue to the resolution of the Akibastar situation, and for the girls to quite literally get their act together ahead of the final showdown. I can see why doing this sort of slower-paced episode is thought to be a good thing, but it never really works for me – by this stage of any series, I just want to get down to the action. Which AKB is clearly saving for next week.
It’s not without its moments of interest, though, especially when the girls seem to be gifted a vision by Sensei-sensei, showing that as well as the residents of Akibastar, Yuko seems to need their help, being trapped between the ‘real’ world and whatever world the disappeared Center Novae disappear to. Add one more thing to the ‘to do’ list.
In Summary:
I have old album here (I won’t admit to who it’s by) with a slogan on the spine: “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus”. Running with the musical connection – it’s particularly apt for this show – AKB0048 is at the stage where no matter what they do, the reaction is “get to the good stuff”. We get there in the final scenes of this episode, albeit not in the way the girls would have hoped, but most of the rest of the episode is largely uninspiring. Roll on the finale.
Content Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: 27” Apple iMac, 2.9GHz Core i5, 32GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.8.3
