AKB0048: Season One

(pronounced "AKB-zero-zero-forty-eight")

IN THE FUTURE, humanity has had to abandon Earth & populate other planets. On certain worlds, entertainment ("things that disturb the heart") is forbidden. Signs with a teenage girl have the "no" sign placed over it with the words "NO IDOL."
In this sad & dystopian future where people work in factories, A GROUP OF TEENAGE GIRLS PERFORM GUERRILLA CONCERTS AND FIGHT AGAINST GIANT MECHAS WHILE DELIVERING HOPEFUL MESSAGES THROUGH THEIR LYRICS.

It is amazeballs, you guys.

AKB48 is an actual musical group in Japan, releasing music NOW. Currently comprised of 86 girls, they perform live concerts almost every day in Tokyo's Akihabara district. They are ridiculously popular, & a cultural phenomenon. The second time we went to Japan, we were asked by some school kids at a shrine who our favorite members were (they were appalled by my choice, lmao).
When we went out for karaoke with some of Steph's friends, a group of boys knew & performed the entire dance to Heavy Rotation.
This series may be viewed as one giant advertisement if you have no soul.

Here's what Heavy Rotation looks like when they perform it live:

As you can see, when they perform it live, Heavy Rotation is pretty adorbs & awesome - they have military-style jackets, colorful skirts, & awesome dance moves. I like how they shout "ONE TWO THREE FOUR!" in the beginning.

Their studio music video for the same song is, uh, a little different. The girls (most of whom are teenagers) spend most of it in lingerie, lying in bed or feeding each other decadent desserts (while wearing pink cat ears). The video literally begins by zooming in through a key hole to one of the girls taking her clothes off; I'd classify this as NSFW.

While popular with young girls, AKB48 has been criticized for having its members "graduate" in their mid-twenties to make room for young girls. Adult men also make up a huge % of its fanbase (much like moe anime).
There was a pretty widely-publicized story a few months ago when one member was caught having a boyfriend (not allowed!). She shaved her head and tearfully apologized to her fans on camera in a YouTube video.

In this season at least, the semi-problematic things like this are not really addressed. The exception is when they do so fail-y. In one episode, one of the girls receives traumatic hate mail. She meets this "hater" in person, & ends up thanking him for his vitriol because it helps her become a better member of AKB0048. :(
I guess they also imply that older girls making room for younger ones is part of a divine plan.

I typically rely on Wikipedia to tell me an anime's target audience, but this one doesn't say. I assume it's seinen (adult men).

Girls don't join AKB0048 because they need money, but rather because they believe in AKB0048's mission of providing joy (through music) to other girls like themselves.
When teenage girls join the AKB0048 of the future, they leave their home planets to live with other members on a spaceship. They're branded as terrorists & hunted by the military, who try to shut down every concert they perform. Which is why each girl performs on a moving hovercraft, and also why their microphones turn into lightsabers. SHOW OF MY HEART.

Before each concert, they recite their motto: "Calmly, carefully, correctly."

Episodes deal with the girls' angst, as their family members have various roles related to anti-entertainment governments, weapons manufacturers, etc. Like all idols, their personal relationships with friends & family change when they join this popular group.

Overall, I love this series quite a bit. Girls helping girls, believing in each other, helping each other move forward & perform together in some of the best-animated scenes I've seen. They use rotoscoping for some of the concert portions, to much better effect than it's being used in Flower of Evil, imo.

Here's the older generation performing Aitakatta in episode one; the four little girls watching end up being protagonists in the main series. They're so inspired by this concert they end up joining AKB0048 themselves :*)

My favorite character was Chieri.

There is a second season that just wrapped up in March. I'll be watching it!

Early Summer Plant Update

Growing stuff is going better this year than it did last year.

My spider plants are a little crabby about the buckets of rain - I finally brought them inside yesterday. Right now they're hanging out on the porch, but I expect to bring them in this afternoon, when our chance of rain gets to about 60%.
Spider plants are gr9 because not much maintenance is needed. Sometimes, cut off yellowed leaves. I do need to get some pots for the two small babies growing off of the main one.
I am now one of those people with "too many" spider plants. BUT. These are about the only ones that last through the winter, so it will be nice to have them around then.

Other Indoor Plants
The peace lily, which is large, is doing well. No flowers for a long time, but the leaves are quite beautiful. I keep this one in our bedroom. I like to think that the plant helps make the air better, although I have no idea that's actually true.

My rabbit foot fern has seen better days - I won't be surprised if it dies soon, but I have had it for a few months.

I had bought an orange flowered plant from the farmer's market a couple weeks ago, & it just went through a mostly sudden and violent death :(

Things I'm growing from seed
This is going much better than last year.
Instead of using toilet paper rolls, I got some black plastic planters, the ones where each "pack" has six segments. These work way better! Out of things I planted into 5 segments, 6 are doing great.

While I live in the same apartment building as last year, I'm now on the top floor. I think this means that the plants outside & the ones next to the patio door are getting more sunlight.

One plastic segment = marigold, which is much bigger than the tiny tendrils I planted last year.

I planted two segments of arugula. This morning, I moved them both into a tiny pink pot. I hope they get over the trauma of being repotted & continue to grow - they're about 2-3 inches tall right now. I keep wanting to bite one :3

I also have two segments of Mexican sour gherkin, which are looking nice!

Lastly, there's the basil growing inside a miniature plastic greenhouse that I bought at Target for $1. These are growing strong!

Things I bought as plants
Lettuce: bought from the farmer's market as a variety bush. I should cut & eat a few leaves today.
This morning, I moved it from its plastic holder into a larger pot. This wilts dramatically when it wants water, bahaha.

Cucumber: For this one, the plant itself looks sturdy. I moved it to a pot this morning, from its plastic holder. Although there's no flowers or etc. yet, it smelled like cucumber when I did it.

Thyme: Very bushy! Smells & looks amazing.

Pictures & Advice
I posted about my Mexican sour gherkin & thyme plants over here on GrowStuff because I'm seeking some advice. So if you have any, I'm happy to hear it!

Future Plans
--Move thyme to a pot.
--Plant scarlet runner bean seeds directly into pot & place outside with trellis. These grow so well that no starter time-period is needed in the black plastic holders.
--Break off two baby spider plants & start them in their own pots.

I still feel very much like a novice with regard to plants. I'm not sure how to cultivate them, a little scared to eat them (need to get over this with the lettuce, I think!), etc.
BUT, I still think I'm doing a way better job than last year.

Bike Rides #6 & 7

Should I stop numbering these?! idk.

For ride #6, I took a b-cycle to WisCon last Saturday. It solved my travel dilemmas for that day, helped me cool down when I was too hot, & let me look at one of the lakes. It was especially nice given that I was in a hotel most of the weekend.
This was my second trip using the bike elevator at the Terrace, & it went fine.

---

#7 was errand-based.
I re-potted a bunch of stuff this morning, but I still needed 3 additional pots.
I also used up all my soil, & wanted some AA batteries so that I don't have to raid our Wiimote next time I want to use the Swiffer wet-jet.

SO. Got a bike & went to the hardware store at the opposite end of my neighborhood.
This was my first time using the bike lock that's embedded into the basket/handle.
The instructions heinously refer to the "male end" of the bike lock, omg. Anyway, I'm glad it pops out a key, & there's no code to remember!
The bike lock is super convenient. Maybe I'll use it for other things too, like stopping at the comic book store or etc.

Got everything I wanted, & went home.

This bike ride was exhausting for me. I went around 3pm, and it is about 75 F here today. Days like today are what make me hate boobs, people.

THAT SAID, I think I might need to purposely stick to mornings/evenings in the summer, so that I don't overheat.

Lately, whenever I bike lately, there are lots of people on the trail with me!


Ride the Drive is happening tomorrow, so I'm considering checking it out. I typically find this event a nuisance because it always happens when I need to run a car errand & I get trapped in my neighborhood -_-
The "Bike Avenue" stations look interesting.
B-Cycle rentals are free tomorrow, though, so I might not even be able to get a bike.
I've also heard that some hardcore bikers go & get mad at slower bikers :(
We'll see!