It felt really weird to watch the PV after the show, but aside from that it was a good reminder about the dog-eat-dog world of idols. Most of the PV focused on real-life AKB subgroup members who were selected to voice AKB0048 characters (as we know, all of them voice understudies, while recognized anime seiyuu voice AKB0048 members). We were shown the announcement ceremony. The chosen ones cover their faces and cry before climbing the stage, then deliver short acceptance speeches. Sawako Hata said how much she wanted to be a seiyuu, Karen Iwata promised to make most out of this chance, and everyone declared their dedication to the cause.

The scene was quite reministent of Tsubasa calling out stand-bys in ep.7, except that the disappointed losers didn't try to crash the ceremony, but clapped politely instead.

How do we understand it? Did the girls think of AKB0048 as a chance to ditch the life of the 2nd string AKB expendable? I imagine it may be the case of Miss Iwata, stuck on AKB Team 4, or of Sawako Hata from SKE48. But surely a seiyuu career would be a step down for Mayuu Watanabe, wouldn't it? Come to think of it, they didn't show her crying tears of happiness when announced.

All in all, it was chilling and mystifying.

UPDATE: The Stage48 Wiki says that Karen Iwata was promoted from Team 4 to Team A in August 2012 (was accepted in Team 4 in March). It makes her a peer to Mayuyu, theoretically. She totally outflanked her competition with that seiyuu move. No wonder they were crying.