Something tells me this DES machine is special.
What's more important to you: Your own success or the success of those you love? In general, most people would choose the former as it is in human nature to think of oneself above all else. However, if you take a step back and analyze that decision, you might actually find it to be a slightly selfish one. This is exactly what I believe is troubling Takamina now. Sure, there's no doubt that she wants to stay as Takamina and perform with her fellow AKB0048 members. But in doing so, she's preventing Kanata from reaching her goal. Adding on to the difficulty of the situation is the fact that Kanata has been an understudy for more than two years and that she absolutely looks up to Takamina. Because of these things, as well as what the Kirara of Succession revealed, it's understandable why Takamina is starting to lose her composure.
Information on insert songs used in this episode can be found below.
While Yukirin and Mayuyu are keeping quiet about this matter, Yūko decided that it was time to speak up, for the sake of her close friend. Her serious words at the end towards Takamina seemed to act like a catalyst for 0048's captain. Through her, I think Takamina will be able to find the answer to her struggles in the near future. It's hard to guess which route she'll take—whether she decides to pursue her own dream, at the cost of robbing Kanata of hers, or sacrifice herself for her determined understudy—so I'll refrain from making a guess for now. However, I believe that the next episode will make the imminent decision more clear, especially since Kanata's voiced determination at the end seems to foreshadow a drastic course of action that will occur soon, with the possibility of it ultimately causing an event that will trigger something inside of Takamina.
Regarding the short talk between Nagisa and Chieri, it looks like the two have now become very close friends. However, I personally feel that this is used to mislead viewers into thinking just that, making the impact of their major conflict in the future all the more powerful and shocking. Like Yūko said, even though all the girls in 00 are chasing the same dream, it means a different thing for each one. And because of these differences, conflicts are bound to occur, even between two of the closest friends—Nagisa and Chieri, in this case. When that time comes, prepare for the drama to get real (not that the drama right now isn't).
Episode Count Note: I've heard rumours floating around that AKB0048 will be 24 episodes instead of the 13 that's stated on MAL. If this is the case, I'll be extremely happy. I feel that AKB0048 is the most underrated show of the season so if it's going to air for two seasons, I think more people will catch on to the fact that it's not just about cute girls doing cute things (Note: Don't get the wrong idea. I really loved K-ON!), but that there's a decent plot and a surprising amount of emotional drama included.
| Insert Songs | |||
| Kanji | Romaji | English | Links |
| 会いたかった | Aitakatta | I Wanted to Meet You | Lyrics | Video |
| N/A | N/A | Beginner | Lyrics | Video |
I think you're overlooking the simple nature of a competition. Like in a race, there are winners and losers. But is the winner selfish because they did their best to win even though it'd mean the other participants would lose?
ReplyDeleteNo, there's no selfishness there, because everyone knew from the start that it was a competition, and that means that some people win and some people lose.
It's the same in the real AKB. If someone is promoted, it means that someone else won't be. Your success is someone else's failure. There's no way around it.
Takamina is feeling extra pressure because she got attached to Kanata, but throwing the game for Kanata's sake would accomplish nothing. Kanata herself would see it as cowardice, and a coward Takamina is not the Takamina that Kanata looks up to so much.
That was what Yuuko wanted Takamina to understand.
I am aware that the girls are in constant competition; that is not hard to see. However, what I was trying to say in my review was that Takamina lost sight of that since, like you said, she became too attached to Kanata.
DeleteMaybe the use of the opening question and then leading in to talking about being "selfish" was unclear. I was not claiming that attempting to win a competition is an act of selfishness. I was simply analyzing Takamina's actions/thoughts and writing about what she might be feeling right now (i.e. she may think that by "selfishly" pursuing her dream, she's crushing Kanata's).
Anyhow, thank you for your comment. I'll be more wary about my use of possibly easy-to-misinterpret thoughts in the future.
I actually thought the same as what Jeff did when I was watching the episode.
DeleteIt seemed as if Takamina was distressed because she was worried about taking her own dream in priority to Kanata's, and was worried that wasn't the "right" decision to make. In the past few episodes, she has taken a liken to Kanata (and vice-versa), and she even became worried that she wasn't becoming "Takamina" enough, due to what the Kirara showed.
I'm actually quite happy with Yuko's talk with Takamina, and the subject of being "selfish" did come up, because Takamina was worried that she was being selfish for wanting to stay in AKB, however Yuko was saying that was a dream that everyone there held, and it wasn't wrong to hold your dream in priority.
I believe the biggest problem for Takamina here is how Kanata is closer to the original Takamina soul than her. The girls always thought that for becoming a successor the only thing that really matters is the soul of an idol, even though Tsubasa told her there are other things that are important too Takamina feels like Kanata deserves her place more than her, as if Takamina herself would be cheating by being there.
DeleteIn your race terms, imagine as if Kanata and Takamina were both F1 racers for the same company. Kanata is currently the best racer, but because Takamina would be the racer that been there for longer and is a symbol of the company, they would ask Kanata to let Takamina pass her on the races. Takamina was unaware of it but recently discovered that, and now she doubts whether she really deserves her place. I believe this is how Takamina is feeling like now.
I believe the main point her would be whether Takamina will regain her confidence, noticing like Tsubasa said that she really deserves her place as the leader, that for her and for the group it's better for Takamina to remain in her position now than letting Kanata take over.