Around ten years ago, beach episodes and hot spring bath episodes were already a staple. Somewhere along the way though, creators got clever. Why not combine them into one? Granted, this is more bearable, but it still is a really dead horse that gets used way too much. Mari Okada, you should know this.
Still, underneath all of the boob jokes was the same kind of cynicism of the other episodes, with the extreme focus on looking “sexy”, being forced upon teenaged girls like that. This did give the beach part of the episode a point. As for the bath scene though… that was pointless like a broken pencil.
Also, while it was previously hinted that “graduation” could possibly mean death, that rumour turned out to be false. It seems like you simply get kicked out because you’ve gotten too old. Instead the big fear is never being able to achieve your dream of making it into the spotlights, which I guess does fit quite nicely into this series’ themes. Instead, there were members who lost their lives, and that mostly had to do with that mysterious front line position.
I’m a bit puzzled right now about the structure of this series. I mean, from my experience, one of the earliest ways to determine how many episodes a series will b is to search for DVD releases on the Japanese Amazon. If six or seven are scheduled, the you can bet your hat that there will only be 13 episodes. AKB however is a bit of an oddball in this, because I can only see 5 dvds listed. That fifth DVD will carry up to episode 13, but it seems a bit of a weird number for a series that just is scheduled for 1 cour, especially since this is a type of series that people want to cash in on: there is no reason to have less merchandise than usual.
Rating: * (Good)
Considering they’re suspiciously in every series, I suspect there’s a list of things anime involving cute girls are required to have to get funding, and this is one of them. That’s the only explanation.
Closer to end I tend to believe rumours that AKB0048 is writen for 2-cours and it depends on popularity/sales/etc if they will realize it. Otherwise ending will be really rushed.
This beach episode brings more questions than it answers too.
“that was pointless like a broken pencil.”
That was pretty funny
“Also, while it was previously hinted that “graduation” could possibly mean death, that rumour turned out to be false. It seems like you simply get kicked out because you’ve gotten too old.”
This is what happens inJapan with these Idol Groups, especially with AKB48, once they turn 25 (which is “too old”) for the Idol business you”Graduate” i.e. are kicked out. Some singers go on and do great things, some dont. . .and some go and do porn out of spite-there was a “scandal” about a former akb48 member doing porn after her graduation however, the people that own these idol groups gain significant amount of power and the girl was “persuaded” to stop doing porn. . .so the fact that they put that in this show (which granted, I’m still not watching, just reading your blog of it every once in a while) means that they put a little more social commentary in there than most people would give it credit for (and suprised me).
So, girls graduate when they are too old, and that line is at 25. Seems odd, since the real Mariko is 26 and was just named as the new Team A Captain this past August. She has also announced her intention to pretty much stick around forever.
I was slightly disappointed when they made all of the characters for 0048 so young. The real AKB isn’t anywhere near this young. In the real AKB’s election senbatsu, there is only one member that is under 18. Most of them are at least 20.
With regard to the former member who turned to AV: she was never, to my knowledge “persuaded” to stop. She has something like 7-10 DVDs out and recently (in the last 6-8 months) got her younger sister in on the action. Kinda weird, really.