AKB0048 Next Stage - Episode 11

Of all the reckless things that Chieri has done throughout the course of AKB0048, stowing away on a ship back to her home planet must surely be one of them, although arguably Nagisa's decision to go with her could be considered as even more so.

Still, once they actually arrive on that home planet of Sagittariustar, Chieri has contacts she can call upon to ensure a safe transit to her home for both herself and her friend, whereupon it;'s simply a case of waiting for her father to return.  This gives us an opportunity to fill in some gaps about Chieri's youth, namely how she became aware of AKB0048 on a planet where entertainment is completely banned, and her relationship with her father down the years all the way through to her running away from home.

While the rest of the AKB0048 crew are figuring out how to take back Akibastar via an audacious plan which involves every member becoming a Centre Nova to power a hyperspace jump into the depths of the planet's underground caverns, Chieri eventually receives a rather rude invitation to meet her father, involving armed security forces.  Although Nagisa has no intention of becoming a Centre Nova simply to be used as a weapon for her father, it seems that she has little choice when threatened with the prospect of DES forces acting against both the Flying Get and Nagisa.  Thus, it's time for her to show her radiance to her father (it sounds filthy when I put it like that, does it?) - but perhaps there are other forces at work that want to ensure that the Zodiac Corporation's grand plan failed.

After a reasonably good episode, this week's AKB0048 was really all about its shocking final scenes - I'm sure I wasn't the only one who didn't expect things to take quite that turn at this point in time, and it's piqued my curiosity as to where we're headed for these final two episodes as surely it isn't just going to be an easy, protracted victory for our heroines?  That aside, the filling in of Chieri's back story worked well enough, and there was something very Macross-esque about her performance for her father, so all in all this was a satisfying installment to lead us into the final couple of episodes.