AKB0048 - Episode 11

Things continue to move apace for our understudies as we enter what seems to be the final straight of AKB0048, in the midst of developments which look set to square the circle for a number of its characters.

The main reason for this is quickly revealed by a big, brash announcement at an event, exclaiming that the next AKB0048 will be held on Lancastar, with an aim to serve as a full debut for the current generation of understudies.  As well as the poignancy of a trip home for some of our main characters, there's also additional pressure piled upon Nagisa as she's selected to perform a solo song as part of the event - a tune rarely performed due to that solo nature, and a song usually selected to celebrate the promotion of a new individual to the now inactive Centre Novae position.

The shocks just keep on coming however, with news breaking that AKB0048 are about to be granted an even bigger rarity - a brand new song to perform, which just so happens to be the ending theme to the series.  Who'd have thought?!  With all of this news piling up, it's clear that something big is in the offing, but this is quickly put to one side as the current situation on Lancastar takes centre stage, having become a hard-line anti-entertainment supporter since we last visited it.  Of course, this means danger aplenty for the guerilla concert in the offing, but more importantly it seems to have had serious consequences for the friends and loved ones of some of our understudies.  Can they do what it takes to make sure the event goes ahead?

Although I should be used to it by now after eleven episodes of the stuff, I have to admit that the whole idea of the use of lethal force to try and obliterate entertainment from the face of the universe is becoming ever-more ludicrous, and it's played with such a straight arrow here that it somehow only makes it worse.  Perhaps more importantly for this particular episode, there's almost too much to consider here, with so many characters situations facing some kind of crisis or other that we don't have enough time to dedicate our focus to any one of them and instead end up with a bit of a mush of half-baked ideas, thoughts and emotions.  That doesn't prevent this from being another okay episode from an okay series to be fair - it's clear that AKB0048 isn't going to do anything to blow us away at this point, so we might as well just stick along for the ride and see where it ultimately takes us, particularly in terms of some of its more intriguing "mysteries".