There's a dear friend of mine, the only reviewer of this manga, that I met on the internet a few years ago now and even if we have different tastes we've all always been sharing works that we love between each other. Our reading style really differs but we (tried) reading stuff together even if it didn't really work well (my bad). This person since 2020 I think, kept bugging me to read this shonen idol manga illustrated but NOT written by Reiji Miyajima that he's obsessed with. Until very recently I never really tried to read it, I work in a way that's very impulsive in the way I approach medias and so I always had something else completely eating away my time and my interest. I must say that I apologize to him, I've always been telling him that I'll read it soon and never did ...However 2 months ago I did start reading it out of nowhere.
I have to say that It didn't hook me much at the start. Jumping in a very obscure universe that doesn't interest me much being JP idols was obviously not going to capture my heart instantly but it's just like Takamina says, "making efforts will pay off", AKB49 kept making efforts pushing its characters somewhere slowly but surely. Then during the &J/Maya arc which at first didn't interest me much, I got hooked, especially by the final concert just like Alice. It was so hype and so cathartic at the same time, really embracing that connection and symbiosis an artist bonds with his audience by putting all his passion, heart and soul into his work because, and it's even more true for an idol, one cannot exist without the other. They realized it wasn't about enemies, but that they should perform for everyone with a warm welcoming feeling. They put an end to their enmity and just performed for everyone.
The trio of main characters keeps evolving throughout the work and while at the start all the dreams and ideals are quite unimaginable from the kenkyusei to Gekokujyou it feels like they don't exist in the same universe as the senbatsu. But when the first sousenkyo happens and everyone is on the same ground everything becomes so much tangible, they realize that their work paid off and that the Gods are not unattainable. That's here where the race toward the dream starts for each one of them going their own way with their dreams in mind, never stop looking forward, because there's a reason.
Maeda's graduation definitely opens the gate to the dream anyway. If her graduation serves at the end of an era it also acts at the start of a brand new one where everyone is allowed to dream of that 1st rank, and, in my opinion, that's where the story actually starts. Hiroko and Minori going in SKE together and Okabe joining team B, aim higher, crush the gods.
"It doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman, whichever you were born as, a passionate person is passionate. A different person is different."
A manga with an androgynous main character that cross-dresses as a girl to attain his dreams. A man who finds himself trapped in this world because he realizes it's what he wants to do and he loves doing it. Of course it would talk on what it means to be you and yourself. You're not defined by your gender or whatever, what you make out of yourself is who you are and who you'll be remembered as, as you define your identity and your existence. This manga has a profound anti-essentialist message and Minori/Minoru stands at the top of this message but Alice and Hiroko are obviously part of it. The end of the manga obviously push this messsage to its utmost where Minori is revealed to be a man to both its colleagues, friends and his fans but as much as they are shocked when they learn his real identity they all know that he hasn't done all of this for something as trivial as being a pervert or something. He worked his ass off during years, looking forward, carving his confidence and rushing to his dream never looking behind. Everyone knows how much he worked, how passionate he is about AKB, how fucking profoundly he has put his soul and his body into his work as an artist. They all knows from the fans to his closest friends who feels like they've been betrayed that Urakawa Minori is real and that her love for AKB, her dream of being the 1st, beating the gods and making Hiroko the center, every single one of them they've felt this fire that animated her soul, she exists and she's not just a fake. Even when Alice discovers that Minori is a man, she doesn't care because she loves Minori and she knows probably more than anyone that whether Minori is a man or a woman doesn't matter because she's the person who made her feel alive again, because she loves her.
"Because and Idol is the "Outfit", everyone is wearing an "Idol". If you become naked, you're just a Human, the audience is waiting for you... for the one and only Urakawa Minori."
Hiroko has been formatted by her father to be a perfect daughter, she was just supposed to be a girl that studies well, gets a well paid job, find a good husband, get married and perpetuate this cycle but she rises and revolts against this. Because she managed to grasp an infinitesimal part of her dream, she'll keep following it and give up on what she was supposed to be since the day she was born, burning the boring life she never asked for. His father will also realize it, he sees his daughter wear a smile he had never seen before, a smile so happy and honest. She will never let off her dream whatever her "sins" may be, she endures and fight through it because she trusts the people who put their trusts in her.
"But even then, I can't give up my dream".
Hiroko Yoshinaga might just be my favourite character of the manga in the end, even if I love Alice very much. Her growth as a person is so interesting to witness and, while she grows, she stays true to her beliefs and values. Minori acts as the usual shonen character, in the eyes of Hiroko at least in my opinion. She doesn't show much growth because she doesn't need to grow as a person and instead she influences everyone around her and almost acts as the sun of that new AKB generation. Hiroko constantly gets influenced and inspired by Minori's reckless and audacious behavior while keeping what makes her special, i.e her very close relationship with her fans, through social media and meetings, her profound honesty and straightforwardness and her tenacity.
What makes Hiroko special in my heart is that, she's living her dream and she's aware of it and with that in mind she's just ready to do anything. She knows the people who helped her getting there in the first place and she respects them but she's also iconoclast toward herself in her relation with idols. It happens very early when she breaks her bond with Maeda and finally becomes an Idol instead of just being an Idol fan and then when Minori chooses to create the rivalry between the two of them so she can grow enough to overcome her and become the center. Obviously the Minori/Minoru/Kurokami - Hiroko relationship is dangerous to both of them because love, in all its forms, whether it's romantic, friendship, fan - oshii relationship , etc... exists between the two of them but it drives these two to grow.
"Saying Love is forbidden is the same as saying 'Stop being a girl'."
She falls in love and breaks the rule against love, and while it acts as her ultimate hardship she makes the choice to face it and bear the weight of what she did instead of letting Alice sacrifices herself because she couldn't bear to live her dream thanks to someone elses sacrifice. Obviously she states that she will keep being an idol and show every stupid idol fan that she ain't here just for fun or some bullshit.
"Check out the stage tonight, to see if I'm all talk and no show"
Alice was scouted as an Idol when she was 9 but she was diagnosed with a deafening disease so she just stopped her activities. Until that day when she went to the &J show and witnessed Minori's performance. She got completely captivated by Minori and became a fan of her. However, during the show, she completely lost the use of her right ear but Minori managed to blow away that fact with her performance throwing sparkles back in a life that has been greyed out and drained of life because of her disability. She's going to completely ignore everything she is supposed to do and be, because she fell in love with that person who breathed life back in her life again, because she just wants to live her dream and be alongside that person forever, forgetting her disease because whatever happens the end will be the same.
"Where I can see the same scenery as the senpai I adore. Where the voice of the person I love can be heard best. Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, my divine seat is on Minori senpai's right."
"I want to hear it... forever. So that i'll never forget it...".
Something as fatalistic as deafening disease can honestly feel like death, and even more when you've been working as an idol. Being diagnosed with a disease feels like the whole weight of the world crushes you, when the doctor announces you that forever since now, it's never going to be the same again you feel like cursing the world why it had to happen to you, have you ever done something so evil you deserved this ? It's like everything that came beforehand was just a dream and that it just can't happen again, you're cursed to carry this burden and it's so painful. However, things like arts and artists just breath life into you again with their work, they make you forget, they make you want to live, they make you look forward. You feel like you can just live again, you can dream and you can love.
"That person's performance completely blew away my fears about the disability. During the 3 hours of the live, I completely forgot about my ears."
Having myself a chronic disease, Alice character just broke my heart through and through. Obviously stories like hers touches me profoundly. It's just like REAL (Takehiko inoue) that hit even harder. Even if in REAL case it's more about sport than art as the therapy of the disabled body, all while keeping the dream something so important to the characters and the story.
I think this manga, while being a whole ass ad for AKB48 and idols still manages to slip in its story some bit that makes it a little more nuanced than just "Wow idol is the best job ever man you work hard and your dreams come true just believe :)". Well first of all, about idols the thing I hate the most is the fans, especially the fact that it's crowded of incels which makes the girls not being able to do whatever they want. I believe AKB49 talks about how important fans are for idols but also states that if the rule against love exists, it's their fault. Then how the job itself is sometimes plainly wrong. What do you mean Alice started being an Idol at 9 ? What do you mean HKT is a group of middle schoolers ???? Maya is also symptomatic of whatever is wrong with this industry. She gets elevated to a number 1 idol role and gets mentally manipulated by her company making her feel like she's above everything and anyone so she can be confident. Of course, when she faces hardships (and eventually that one person who humiliated her when she was a kid) she just breaks down, it hurts her physically and mentally. Then there's all the cases of idols on the edge of dying because they worked too much like okay I understand you want me to realistically believe that hard work pays off but dying trying doesn't sound worth it lmao. In the end I don't think you should read this manga expecting to read a realistic take on the idol industry because it just isn't the point of the work but it's not like they did try to hide away all the problems either.
If you really loved AKB49 and what it had to say, I think you'd probably love Inu-oh (2022, Masaaki Yuasa) or Macross 7 (1995). Inu-oh really shares the theme of creating and being an artist as a (literal) therapy to the prison of flesh that the body is, the characters just go and they perform whatever they want, the way they want, going against whatever is established. they do their things and they just have lot of fun. It also shares the thematic of the mask/coat that artists wears. Macross 7 is more on the pure passion side of the story but it also shares a deep anti-essentialism discourse , the main characters absurd dream that seem impossible is challenged throughout all the story because his dream seems like it just can't be realized. He goes through slumps and depressed periods where he doubts even himself but in the end he just overcomes everything and he achieves what everyone except him and his closest friends thought impossible making the antagonists overcome what they are with the power of music. Minori really reminded me of Basara in the way they just never give up and are ready to do the impossible.
In the end I think that if you like shonen and sport shonens type of works you'll definitely like this. It sweats of passion and hard work through all its pores. It respects its titles since the romance is kept as a motive and a drive instead of being the core of the story. The triangle of main characters (especially when Alice joins) is great, it keeps being fun and when sad time comes you got so attached to these characters and the time they shared it just hits you deep. If I ever feel like talking about this manga I'll just add stuffs here honestly. Anyway, thank you for reading my review, I loved AKB49. love you egg.
(^this is an edit obviously)
(1st edit, added most of the text about Hiroko. 22/01/24)
(2nd edit, added the text about the idol industry. 22/01/24)
(3rd edit, fixed the issue with the picture not showing up 27/02/24)