K-ON!! – 13
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「残暑見舞い！」 (Zansho Mimai!)
“Late-Summer Greeting Card!”
I never thought I’d describe an episode about our favorite light music band as “trippy”, but that’s exactly what this one revolving around Azusa felt like as she kept zoning in and out of daydreams. It was like she was stuck in some sci-fi thriller she couldn’t escape, especially with how deceivingly happy some of her dreams were. The main emphasis seemed to be on Azusa feeling lonely with Yui and the others busy studying for exams over the summer break, which incidentally gave her and Ui a lot of screen time this week. There were a lot of the usual quirky moments between the two of them, but I got so psyched out by the seamless transitions to Azusa’s dreams that I lost grasp of what was real a lot of the time. While they did make it fairly clear after the fact, it was pretty hard to discern what was Azusa’s delusion and what wasn’t during the scenes themselves, which got even trippier when some of the stuff she imagined actually happened later on. It looks like the horror-themed summer anime season has already started with the Bon Festival in K-ON this week, as I couldn’t help but think of Flatliners during all this.
Reiterating that notion, Azusa and Ui even hit up the movie theaters for a summer horror flick, where it looked like Mio showed up for some special training to get over her fear of… almost everything. It was funny how Mio fainted almost instantaneously, provided that it actually happened. It turned out that was all just a dream and they ended up seeing a tearjerker instead, during which Azusa was caught up in another one about taking up an urgent lottery assistant job. As cute as it was to see Mugi thrilled about winning the pocket tissue pack and Azusa winning the seven days/eight nights vacation to Finland, I was not so thrilled when that turned out to be a dream too. Something didn’t sit well with me when Mugi and Ui pinched Azusa at her request and very eerily said how it’s all right if it’s just a dream. I have to say that I was even disturbed on some level because these random delusions were getting pretty creepy.
In terms of fan-service, the sight of Azusa’s clear tan lines may appeal to some though I can’t say I’m a huge fan. However, the recurring joke about how no one recognized her because of her tan was pretty cute at times. The “yakisoba slider” delusion at the pool was just plain weird more than anything else, but I’m not the least bit opposed to the swimsuit shots of Mugi, Yui, and Mio that came from it. For whatever reason, I got a good chuckle out of Azusa’s sarcastic remark about how easily she was able to even out her tan when Jun was praising her about it, as well as Jun getting all envious about the K-ON club’s trips to Mugi’s summer villa and the recent summer music festival. Interestingly enough, that did result in Jun agreeing to join the K-ON club next year if Azusa can’t find any more members.
Anyway, the actual summer festival had me laughing when Yui was chomping away at roasted corn, but once again questioning what I was watching when Yui dragged Azusa and ran towards the fireworks in the distance. With the surreal slow motion way that scene played out, it sure as hell felt like another dream of hers, but turned out to be the real deal. After feeling toyed with this entire episode, I was happy about the Azusa bath scene fan-service to make up for it. It was still eery how her first delusion about mixing shaved ice with tempura will make your stomach sick proved to true for Yui in the end though, albeit her original “vision” entailed watermelon and tempura. Upon seeing that, I couldn’t help but think that Azusa was possessed by a wandering spirit during this episode. Next time it looks like we’ll see some summer training of sorts, and things will be about cake again rather than trippy dreams. Whew.
Preview
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June 30, 2010 at 12:18 amEspada
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sunburned again? =3
June 30, 2010 at 12:30 amFreya
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Dang so close to 1st comment.
Azusa is so badly sun burned.
June 30, 2010 at 12:37 amdivine
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You guys should really give up on the whole “first” thing, because you may be viewing a cached page when you think there are no comments. :P
June 30, 2010 at 12:39 amfall3nbs
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WHOA the yakisoba slide was a dream?! I thought it was real since Azusa was actually tan in that sequence unlike the other delusions. During the scary movie delusion, I thought Mio was gonna scare Azusa and cause her to wake up because of the whole scary movie theme.
June 30, 2010 at 12:40 amSiege
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I found it interesting azusa wasn’t shown sunburned in some of her dreams. During the transitions to the next scenes I couldn’t tell if she was dreaming unless they showed her sunburned.
June 30, 2010 at 12:46 amdivine
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Yeah, the sunburn was the usual visual queue, but the yakisoba slider turned out to be a dream too. KyoAni’s just messing with us as far as I’m concerned. :)
June 30, 2010 at 12:47 amFreya
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Azusa has a pretty nice house too.
June 30, 2010 at 1:10 ammegalith
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Yesterday was such a crazy night. Worldcup!! LOL! Japan lost. I’m glad I watched JP vs Paraguay. Epic fail for a crucial kick.
KOOOMAAAAAAANOOOOOOO!
Good thing I decided to stay up for a few more hours to watch the streaming. RAWS were soooo delayed.
Anyway.. This episode was trippin b*lls.
I lol’d when she’d have a dream sequence again all of a sudden. I was like… Again!? Seriously…
Though I can totally relate to this. Happened to me once but not in a number of consecutive times. Stayed up so late and had to wake up 5 hours after. I set my alarm, and it rings. I dreamed I was waking up. Afterwards I realized it was a dream… Viola I overslept.. Woke up 2 hours late. AMAZING!
June 30, 2010 at 11:59 amKinny Riddle
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And Japan was that close. Poor Komano.
Speaking of which, was this episode aired at the same time as that Paraguay game or was this delayed as a result? Surely not all stations aired the World Cup?
June 30, 2010 at 5:12 pmmegalith
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Well I only have one good streaming link which is for TBS so I wouldn’t know if most channels showed this. But yea it was aired in the same day at this.
World Cup -> Short News Segment w/ epic fail replay -> short comedy show -> K-ON!!
I didn’t actually get to see the penalty kicks since the streaming suddenly died for a while. Only saw it through the news segments they had.
June 30, 2010 at 1:10 amPao
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Sunburned, hehe.
June 30, 2010 at 1:29 amZaku Fan
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Luckily Azunyan did’t go for the 15000 yen per day part time job! Poor girl, i wonder what will happen when Yui and the rest graduate.
June 30, 2010 at 1:49 amWatermelon
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Looks like Endless 8… So, the preview is fake and next week is~
June 30, 2010 at 2:05 amnoririn
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This has to be the most fan service-y a K-ON episode’s ever been.
June 30, 2010 at 2:30 amsea slug
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I wonder what’s happening in the preview.. Volleyball? lol
June 30, 2010 at 2:37 amgary
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26 in one go?
would’ve preferred 13+13
that way interest would be reignited
June 30, 2010 at 2:45 amRaso
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This ep so reminds me of a family friendly Perfect Blue.
June 30, 2010 at 3:34 amAznCoffee
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You’d think there’d be enough doujinshi about tanned Azusa as it is. <_<
But no, Kyoto Animation wants more.
June 30, 2010 at 3:50 amrazgriz
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What’s with yakisoba and slides? Perfectly waste of good noodles and ingredients. I’d rather eat the thing in the pool and get stomach cramps (which is disproved by Mythbusters, kudos!).
Looks like we’ll be seeing more K-ON!! after all. The senior year is the longest in the manga.
June 30, 2010 at 4:43 amRei
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The animation of the pool reminds me of Endless Eight animation …. *shivers* But Mio is in it so completely forget about it afterwards =]
June 30, 2010 at 5:27 amstarss
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Well at least this isn’t Endless Eight– HO CRAP! I JUST JINXED THE THING!
June 30, 2010 at 5:43 amKoosha
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hmm~I hope to see more of Saya-chan… ^.^
June 30, 2010 at 6:02 amIncognito
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While the rest of my country’s population was celebrating the inauguration of a new president after almost a decade under the rule of the previous one, I was watching this episode… That and re-playing a portion of Modern Warfare‘s single-player campaign. Anyway…
D’awwwwwwww… Flustered Azu-nyan is just cute…
Meanwhile, this scene (where Ritsu compared Yui to a hamster) made me imagine Yui being paired with Ayumu (since I already ship Mio/Hinagiku). LOL. Damn crossover shipping goggles…
Between those scenes, Azusa has some really weird dreams…weirder than Yui imagining Mugi’s eyebrows as pickled radishes, even!
And including the screenshot of blank-eyed Mio’s entire face would’ve been nightmare fuel… O.O Though an avatar of the scene would be interesting. At least Azu-nyan and Ui were there to balance out the scene.
I still wonder what other new content will KyoAni include in the next 13 episodes…considering that they have to stretch out the current content from the manga.
June 30, 2010 at 7:05 amIsland Esper
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Who is this? LOL
I was so confused most of the time. Was using the tan as a real/dream differentiator; but at the end it was too hard. However if Jun answer is real : YAY we got a guitar and bass for next year K-on band :) If only we could get Ui on that boat too. She didn’t look happy when Azusa Said that Yui still can read music… so could that be a challenge or motivation to join.
Finally every time they talk about graduation and letting the girls go is really making me sad. Plus Azusa all alone. That plot line is too serious for this show!
June 30, 2010 at 7:21 amtheburntshadow
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That’s one heck of a sunburn.
June 30, 2010 at 8:09 amsealouse
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I like trippy stuff. I might check this one out.
June 30, 2010 at 8:17 ameharper256
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Yep, the times when she was un-tanned were the delusions.
Man, after this trippiness, part of me wants to play Chaos;Head again.
June 30, 2010 at 8:21 amCroosboy
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azusa have sensitive skin since she gets sunburn easily
June 30, 2010 at 9:01 ammegalith
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Hahaha! Lives are out! The VA’s instrumentals were passable. Props to them for putting effort into those two songs.
This two were them performing the whole thing.
My love is a stapler
Fuwa Fuwa time
This one they’re singing it only.
Cagayeke! GIRLS!
dataki.jpg
June 30, 2010 at 11:07 amDivine
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Oh, you beat me to the chase posting about this. :P
For the instrumentals, it looks like they’re lipsynching to “Watashi no Koi wa Hotchkiss” to make their lives easier. It looks like they’re actually singing for Fuwa Fuwa Time though. Aww, a lot of them started tearing up at the end of it…
June 30, 2010 at 12:13 pmKinny Riddle
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They were lip synching? It sure didn’t look like it to me.
The large screen behind them looked a bit laggy and looked as though their singing didn’t match their lips, but if you don’t look at the large screen and focused on them directly, then they sure don’t look like they were lip synching to me.
Not bad for amateurs not having any prior musical background to begin with (except Kotobuki Minako on piano), and salute to Hikasa Yoko for going so far to play the bass left-handed if she’s actually a righty.
June 30, 2010 at 2:32 pmDivine
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I’m not too sure now, so I’ll have to wait and see what the BD looks like (and not these YT re-encodes). Anyway, I wasn’t basing that on the big screen for Hotchkiss, but by how Aki and Youko’s voice didn’t fade/waver at all even as their mouths moved away from the mic when they were looking down at their instruments checking chords. It didn’t sound like the CD track, but a prerecorded stage performance. Fuwa Fuwa Time was clearly live though, since they got all choked up at the end of it from tears.
I agree they’re pretty good for amateurs in the short amount of time they had to practice. Satomi on drums was particularly impressive to me.
June 30, 2010 at 5:10 pmDC/AC
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The description of these YT vids says it looks like they mostly uses singers’ actual voices on the stage but patches them with recorded rehearsal here and there, where singers are off the mic.
June 30, 2010 at 5:40 pmmegalith
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Yea them crying was ;__;
Good job girls!
June 30, 2010 at 5:26 pmIsland Esper
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When is the world tour!!! Is it me or the tempo is a bit slow, so the VA can play the instrument? Also noticed that they still look at finger placement to strung. I read the keyboard in the only one that have proper music background. maybe here or in sankaku ?
Nevertheless I pay to see that show ;) otaku alert!!!!
June 30, 2010 at 7:49 pmShinjiro
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I posted earlier to thank Megalith for posting the links. We had gone into cuteness overdose. I also agree with Divine, Satomi was pretty cool on the drums but we honestly loved everyone of them. Cute Seiyuu ftw!
July 1, 2010 at 12:02 amLurker
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Wow, thanks for the links. Satomi (Ritsu’s VA) looks exactly like Jun with her hair that way. Checking the other vids, it’s nice to hear Nodoka, Ui and Sawako’s VAs sing Let’s Go.
July 1, 2010 at 7:13 pmSelpheed
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Anyone have details of this show?
Date, place, amount of people?
July 2, 2010 at 12:59 ammegalith
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Sorry got none. I dunno if it’s written in the video descriptions since I can’t read moonrunes. I got a case of no read no write. :P
July 2, 2010 at 2:43 amLurker
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K-On Live Event “Let’s Go”
December 30, 2009
Yokohama Arena
June 30, 2010 at 9:09 aminfo600
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…yet I’m just as amazed @ how azusa’s sunburnt skin return to normal (based on the preview anyway)…
June 30, 2010 at 10:16 amRaso
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Whats bad about soba + Tempura + watermelon anyway?
June 30, 2010 at 10:46 amdiet otaku
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i’m wondering that myself. first if it’s true, and if it is, why?
June 30, 2010 at 11:09 aminnerchihiro
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Wow, E8 vibes… KyoAni is good at that huh.
June 30, 2010 at 11:53 amVsin
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I think that Watermellon + Tempura thing has to do with…I’m not sure exactly what it is, but my parents occasionally mention “hot food, cold food”. No, not heat, I mean type. For example, veggies are cold, fried stuff is hot. When you mix them, it’s not good for you…or something.
Of course, unless there’s some weird chemical in soba I’m not aware of, it’s entirely up to your intestines to decide.
September 24, 2010 at 6:11 amKrey
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The soba doesn’t actually enter into it, but there’s a common folk saying in Japan that tempura and watermelon is bad for digestion. Also to avoid is eel with salted plums and mixing daikon and carrots.
The “hot\cold” foods thing is more of a Chinese idiom.
June 30, 2010 at 12:17 pmKinny Riddle
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Kyo-Ani showed their financial prowess by broadcasting their second (animator recruitment) commercial during last night’s episode.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwtx0-ZFz4c
Title – Kyoto Animation – Draw Your Dreams
(Perhaps Kyo-Ani taking a piss at AIC’s Strike Witches 2? lol)
June 30, 2010 at 4:24 pmVexx
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I’m impressed they are adverting for domestic talent… maybe the outsourcing mania is losing its sheen with the need for local jobs in Japan.
June 30, 2010 at 5:28 pmmegalith
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I was expecting KyoAni lolis and shotas…..
BUT NOT WITH ROCKETS…. O_O
June 30, 2010 at 12:26 pmKinny Riddle
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As long as it’s a moe Azu-nyan, then it matters not whether she is tanned or not.
<3 at Ui and Jun's bikinis.
Jun getting envious of Azu-nyan's various club activities (and she gets them all for free) sure is cute.
When Azu-nyan was being pulled by Yui for the fireworks display, for a while, she probably had an epiphany moment in realizing at last that she really loves her senpai a lot. :)
Here's looking forward for upping the ante on the laugh-o-meter next week. I liked Yui's priceless expression when Nodoka nonchalantly ate the strawberry on her cake. It just read "Et tu, Nodoka?" XD
June 30, 2010 at 2:39 pmFarisX7
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today’s epsiode was so fun… i felt like biting Azusa’s cheek when she was blushed b/c of her tanned’s body (sunburned) @ the bath place . m^ w ^m <– biting right now :3
June 30, 2010 at 2:40 pmFarisX7
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she was so cuteee lol .
June 30, 2010 at 4:22 pmVexx
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Azusa reminds me of my wife …. she’s the same height, weight, and some of that serious personality/cynicism and deep tans in 10 minutes, while I simply burst into flames on contact with the sun.
Great episode … like a bit of Twilight Zone “am I awake or not, dammit?”
June 30, 2010 at 6:42 pmLucy
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Okay so once again there was a Finland reference? This is getting creepy… Japanese have weird taste in vacation locations.
June 30, 2010 at 11:16 pmewok40k
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Finland is a great place for vacation, actually…
And as for the episode itself, I liked the Azu-nyan centric episode, but the whole daydreaming thing was making me wonder about her psychic health… Anyway the bathtime reflections on the club and loneliness mademe kinda sad. Azusa might not look like it but shereally depends on her senpai’s.
July 1, 2010 at 7:05 amLucy
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I’m finnish and I don’t see anything exciting in this country :D Finland is a okay place to live due to good educational system and healthcare but as a vacation place Finland is pretty dull choice…
July 1, 2010 at 5:15 amkaineng
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wow the show is not ending, also means there’s more moe-ness to enjoy over K-ON!! again…
the episode is great, I don’t regard Jun-chan as someone unfamiliar anymore (after her prescence in some episodes this season), and azu-nyan dreaming in the summer holidays sure brings enviousness man, SOOOOOOO wished to get back to MY school holidays…
more K-ON!! = more moe-ness. and yeah, when’s their next school festival performance coming by?
July 10, 2010 at 2:37 pmvinn
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i felt this episode was more like a reminder that the year (and the season) is halfway through and the issue of not having enough members next year is yet to be solved. because the members were not there with azusa, she was feeling some sort of “withdrawal symptoms”, i.e. loneliness. she keeps dreaming of the band members when they are actually not with her, which shows that she realises how lonely she is without them, even though she’s with ui. this main theme in this episode was further reaffirmed when she was at the summer festival, as well as in the bath.
well it’s just my 2 cents. since this ep is one of the few times there is a real conflict (i.e. what will happen to HTT after they graduate?) actually dealt with in the series, so i thought it might be somewhat significant in some sense.