AKB48 23rd Single [Kaze wa Fuiteiru] Full PV + Narration + Impressions

The full PV for [Kaze wa Fuiteiru] has just been leaked, and while about half of it shows the dance version again, the half that is new is certainly very interesting.



Other songs' PVs can be found now as well:
Kimi no Senaka
Gondola Lift
Vamos


Well, I'm sure everyone can judge for themselves, but the initial feeling I got from the PV was more of desolation, not exactly fitting for what they claim the message of the song is supposed to be.  They said it was supposed to be encouraging and uplifting, right?  The PV I guess you could interpret as leading to something encouraging, but is in itself kind of... fatalistic.  Let's just say that the post-apocalyptic interpretation of the dance setting is supported by the new material.  Before we interpret, however, let's figure out what exactly is even happening here...

The PV begins with a globe in flames, which presumably represents the state of the world before the story happens.

Now, story begins with the girls walking through a barren praire, and it becomes clear from later parts that they are in search of a large... creature? God?  Who knows.  It looks like a gigantic Diglett covered in hair and with derpy front teeth instead of a nose.

In any case, they find this Diglett dead and restrained with ropes tied to two gigantic walrus teeth stuck in the ground.  All around the Diglett are animal skeletons, blood-stained rags, and it looks like there was some sort of ritual killing of the Diglett after it was restrained.  The girls see it and some of them are (rightly so) like OMGWTFBBQ.  They all think it's dead, and they all become really sad (Tomochin bows her head; Acchan + Yuko and some other pairs comfort each other).

But, leaders Acchan and Yuko decide to put their ears up to the Diglett (eww why would they do that) and the dialogue overlaid on the song goes something like:

Acchan: It's alive.
Yuko: Yes, it's still alive!

IT'S ALIVE!!!  This certainly cheers the girls up a bit.  Now here's the key part of why they're looking for this Diglett in the first place:

Yuko: Let's rebuild a new world once again.
Acchan: Let's go!
Everyone: Yeah! (well, so they just grunt and nod, but that's the idea).

Commence all the girls trying to untie the Diglett from the walrus teeth, using axes, gigantic shears, whatever, to cut through the ropes.  It takes awhile, and they seem to have trouble, but in the end, they get rid of the ropes binding the Diglett.  WAHOO!  Leader-samas move the hair out of Diglett's still-closed eyes.

The girls then form some sort of spiritual circle, all holding hands around the Diglett:

Acchan: Spread all over the Earth.
Yuko: Please help us with your strength.

As the girls kneel, they channel the power of the Diglett, create electric current, and awaken it.  It's pretty awesome and very ugly, and the girls scatter to the side in awe and terror.  Electrified Diglett then makes a powerful roar, and spits a blast of air and dust that extinguishes the flames surrounding the globe.

Presumably then, the eerie world the dance is set in is the new Earth, after Diglett has blown out the fire, and still harnessing Diglett-power, the girls are going to rebuild the Earth.  A world built by AKB48... I wonder what that would be like...

So it seems that in the end, there is in fact a message of hope for rebuilding a better world in the future.  It may seem in the moment that the state of the world is terrible, everything is dead.  However, if we can just find a common source of strength, and share it with those around us, as a whole we can have the power to extinguish the terror and start anew.

I'll be honest, my first reaction was WTF and then I watched it a few more times to catch the actual dialogue and it made waaaay more sense.  I don't understand why they chose the Diglett-creature to be the source of power, but I guess maybe it's metaphoric: even the most ugly and terrifying of things can be a great source of power.  I do like that the PV has a storyline, and the cinematography is overall well done.  I really love movie-like PVs (for example, I love love loved the Team Dragon PV), and I would've preferred if the PV had more of the actual storyline and not the dancing, which we've already seen before.  Plus, that might've made it easier to tell exactly what was going on.

That said, I think it's worth watching the PV more than just once if you can stand to, because I really didn't get it the first time either.  After a few rounds, it starts to make more sense, and you can start to get over the derpiness of that Diglett.