AKB0048 - Episode 5

Mayuyu~

On the surface, it's perfectly valid to say that nothing happened in this episode because, in a way, nothing really did. There was no major plot progression or character development; no insert song, dance sequence or fighting, either. However, the setting up of a basis for the future episodes to build upon, in the form of hinting that Sensei-sensei is someone/something important, as well as having the current successors talk about their experiences and overall motivation to keep moving forward, were significant enough to make this episode not a complete waste. Personally, I think my bias for AKB48 allows me to make the most out of every episode, no matter how objectively "bad" or "boring" it might be.

In regards to the identity of Sensei-sensei, one of the more prominent suggestions that have been floating around is that he is Akimoto Yasushi, the man behind everything AKB. When you think about it, this idea is definitely plausible. In the world of AKB, Mr. Akimoto is someone who has transcended onto a higher level, like a god of some sort. He was the one who created it all and continues to govern the idol group today, much like how in many religious ideologies, there is a god that governs the living. It'll be interesting to see how his character, assuming this claim is correct, affects the storyline.

Another thing that I took note of is the idea of "graduation". In AKB0048, the verb "graduate" is different from what we know it as. I don't think it's necessarily about being promoted to a higher position or the signalling of a new beginning, but rather an act of "retiring" from being an idol. While this term is common in Japanese music groups/bands, I find it's more mysterious here in the sense that it seems like the graduating member vanishes right after doing so. What I'm wondering now is if the girls who have graduated thus far will ever show up again.

While there was unfortunately no insert song in this episode, I really liked the BGM (or is it an instrumental version of an AKB48 song?) that was used during the collection of scenes near the end where the successors talked with the understudies. I just hope that it's an actual song and that it'll be used as an insert later on. As a side note, I've recently been getting into AKB48 even more and started to watch the PVs of their singles. If you want to do so as well, you can find AKB48s official YouTube channel here.