0048 Handshakes and WOTA

After yesterday's somewhat cursory post about AKB0048, I ended up marathoning the rest of the season (plus a bit of the next) with my bro. What an amazing experience it was indeed.

I'll probably string a few posts along following this quick ride through this series that really surprised me.

First fan letters! This is going to be good right?

For now I'll start at episode 6, an episode about anti-fans and mainly focusing Orine plus their first handshake event. The handshake events are, from what I gather, an actual tradition for the real AKB48. Of course their original, and possibly current, motto was something like "We are the idols you can meet!", which at their main stage at Akihabara was really true when they first started. Though of course, they're now ultra famous so that might not be quite as true anymore.


The anti-fan of the future(?)

Handshaking. The best way to meet your idol.

A great reference introduced in that episode are the WOTA's who are these super fans that do more than loud chants and wotagei. They also protect the idols with their own machines and cyalumissles! They even have their own itasha robots that they use to fight!

Tiger! Fire! Cyber! Fiber! Diver! Viber!

This episode really brought together a greater sense of community with the fans, and brought about more than just bitterness from even the so-called "Antis" or "Haters". It also provides ongoing growth and exposure for the 77th understudies as they aim to be successors.

And now for some assorted episode screencaps.

Takamina, giving a pep talk. Great leadership as always.

Sashiko (aka Rino Sashihara)!

Cyalumissles! Courtesy of WOTA.

Itasha of the future.



Orine fighting for justice with her micsaber.



And happiness for all.

Idols in Space vers. 0048

Idols in space have certainly been done before (like Macross), but what if you add in one of the most prolific idols groups of all time into the mix?

And that's where AKB0048 comes in heralding the name of AKB48 into anime.

Now today I got around to seeing the first 5 episodes of the show. I find it quite funny that the so-called successors are actually not voiced by their namesakes, but are voiced by famous voice actors instead. Although I'm not really a fan of AKB48, I still did a bit of research and knew about probably half of the successors' like the General Manager Takamina or the "android girl" Mayuyu. Even funnier is seeing Chieri, who is voiced by the real Mayuyu, talk with 00 Mayuyu, voiced by Yukari Tamura.

Anyways I'm not really sure how I feel about the show right now. I'm not a huge fan of purely ensemble songs if I can't hear at least some distinct groups/solos, though I have to admit that I loved "Aitakatta" when I first heard it all those years ago. Some of the orchestraic mixs of the AKB songs were actually really nice, as I felt some chills hearing Aitakatta like that. Even Heavy Rotation sounded quite different and nice. The fact that I can recognize the majority of the songs sung probably meant my "research" was successful.

Aside from songs, I'm quite liking the characters, though I believe they have a lot more development to go before they become much better characters. Nagisa kind of reminds me of Ranka from Macross F, with her amateurish voice that really fits as newbie idol character. Though I have yet to hear her sing solo, so I'm only comparing the voice acting part.

The random references to stuff were also amusing though it also made everything that should be "serious" sound quite funny like the ship "Flying Get". Though I guess this is the type of show that you're not supposed to take too seriously. Though there is that serious reference to Acchan being one of the greatest AKBs to graduate, which was nice.

Now I just hope this series decides to develop their characters more and be enjoyable even to a cursory AKB fan. Perhaps it'll get me into them a little bit more. Though I am still a "Beginner".

Brain Bursting Accelerated World

Such a smug Princess.

Took me long enough to start watching this. Anyways, pretty interesting concept, especially with that main character.

Hyouka 4 + 5 : Curious MYSTERY (resolved)

[more deliberations, flashbacks, and general quality scenes]

Hyouka 4:
And so uncovering the mystery of Hyouka and the literature club continues as they unravel the case of the past school festival.



Hyouka 5:
And so the mystery is solved and all is good. What will happen to the Hyouka gang now? I guess they'll be finishing up they Hyouka book for the festival/fair.

Hyouka 3 : A Curious Request

The Ultimate Request! With additional motion blur for emphasis.

This episode was quite intense. Chitanda requests something of great importance from the ultimate energy conserver. Then there's the continued search for the Hyouka Anthologies which leads to more mysteries! Mayaka Ibara joins in on the fun adventures of the Literature Club, while Fukube is not present for the majority of this episode. And the mystery deepens near the end.

As a note, this is one week later than the normal airing date. Hopefully I'll get around to finishing my backlog of stuff.

Upotte 1 : Guns as Girls

[Gun girl with a gun (herself as a gun) shooting stuff]

Well that was an interesting watch. I'm sure gun enthusiasts could get a laugh out of this. I certainly only caught a few of the references myself, and it seems like the next episode will be lots of fun. Not sure if I'll continue though. Got to recommend it to my gun enthusiast friend.

Hyouka 2 : A Curious Book

[more sparkly eyes -or- those menus -or- those kanji pictograms]

A slow start leads to an interesting conclusion for this episode's "case". The introduction of the new character Mayaka Ibara (voiced by Ai Kayano) leads to some more fun. The ending leaves with a cliffhanger that I was not expecting. Seems like this isn't just going to be purely episodic stuff.

Natsuiro Kiseki 1: A wishful start to the summer

[the Sphere girls in OP shot doing karaoke stuff -or- the sphere girls as their younger selves]

A great summer adventure featuring the four Sphere idol group girls doing what they do best: being Seiyuu. But really, it seems a tiny bit mystical and lot of slice of life, so that's pretty good. Also, the animation is quite excellent, so that's a plus.

I find it funny how they mention the in-universe "Four Seasons" as being a used-to-be popular idol group, that one of the girls still fangirls over. I feel like this is their way of doing satire about themselves, since I really don't see them that often anymore. Also, I feel their anime songs are better than their normal albums. Perhaps generic anisong is better than generic J-pop.

Anyways this series seems to be a pretty easy watch, so I'll continue watching, if only for the good animation and the Sphere girls.

Sakamichi no Apollon 1: First Jazz Jam Session

[that jazzy jam session]

That was actually unexpectedly enjoyable. Well, other than me expecting some nice tunes, there was some great character moments and hints of romance everywhere! And here I was expecting some K-on, but jazz. Waiting for the next episode!

Hyouka 1 : Those Curious Eyes

[sparkly eyes of the one and only Chitanda Eru]

Well that somehow met my expectations with an added twist to it. I though it was going to be quite a slow paced show with MYSTERY time being a moderate part of it. It was that and then some. Those eyes. And of course the interesting character's personality and traits. Those really grabbed my attention.

Of course it's Kyoto Animation doing their thing with the beautiful animation and those eyes. As an added bonus, the used classical music for the BGM. And they had a Choucho song for the OP! Her voice is as wonderful as always.

Sankarea 1 : Not a Zombie Yet

[insert episode 1 screencap here]

Well, that was quite good. Having read the manga and finally seeing it animated is great. I really like the voices they used, and the animation is almost too good. It has some SHAFT-style vibes. Now what else is there to like? The OP was nice, hearing Nano.RIPE's signature style is always good.

Now what could've been different? I guess the pacing of it all seemed really quick. But for a first episode, I'm sure it'll grab the attention of anybody watching it.







Looking forward to the next episode!




Time to continue through my backlog of current Spring 2012 anime.