AKB0048 (Anime)

In the future, the universal government has discovered the power of music and songs have over people emotions. An organisation called DES exists and entire planets have been put under an entertainment ban. 48 years ago, the pop idol group AKB0048 began to fight against this plan, and to this day, through inheriting titles and roles, the group still exists to bring music to the galaxy. A new group of understudies joins the girl group, and the series follows them and their adventures as they train and learn to become full time members.

(Anime: 1 Season, second in the works, 13 episodes, finished)

Honestly from the description you would expect this series to have much more impact that it did, but apart from good song and dance animations, there wasn't much exciting about the series. Before going into that, I should explain that this anime is based on the real life girl idol group AKB48. The characters voices are done by members of that group, and the songs are the same ones they sing. This is a fun fact to know, but unless you are a current fan of AKB48, this anime may loose its impact somewhat (but if you are, be aware that you are the otaku's who give us a bad name.)

As for the anime, as I said the songs are pretty good and the animations for the dance and performance routines are pretty good. But apart from that there isn't a lot about this anime that stands out. The characters are good, but look and feel very generic. The story is a good idea, a fun concept, but its lacking: perhaps its because of the shortness of the series, or the lack of an overriding goal or ambition (such as an evil boss to fight) but the pace doesn't feel good enough. Even the space/robot battles aren't good; too short and simple.

The result is that AKB0048 is a good anime, fun to watch and all that, but because of several lacking qualities and flaws, it doesn't stand out as being very memorable. The real entertainment comes from the music, and this will most likely appeal more to AKB48 fans than anyone else.