First Impressions / K-ON!

「ドラマー！」 (Doramaa!)
“Drummer!”

If you were to ask me which HTT member would go all emo about playing her instrument first, Ritsu probably wouldn’t have been on the top of my list. I’ve always seen her as the overzealous drummer who leads the group down paths of idiocy, but never one who would get all bent out of shape because you can only make out her forehead on stage. After seeing how hilarious that was though, I quickly realized that she’s probably the only one who’s fickle enough to make a huge commotion over something like this. I mean, Yui’s too dumb to even notice these things, Mio and Azusa are way too practical to even care, and Mugi is too innocent to ever be the source of problems. In Mugi’s case, all you have to do is convince her that her keyboard can actually speak and she’ll be on cloud nine for days. Closet lesbian in an all-girls school, keyboard that can speak… yeah, Mugi’s not going to get all emo anytime soon. Ritsu on the other hand is quick to pounce on the opportunity to try other instruments and give up just as quickly.

While that really comes off as no surprise, I did get a good laugh out of Yui crying over how “Gitaa” was cheating on her when she herself happily lent him to Ritsu. It was such a random spur of the moment thing that it ended up way funnier than it should have been. The absolute highlight of this episode had to be Yui’s “awesome” ideas to try and make Ritsu feel better about being all alone in the back as the band’s drummer. With ideas ranging from placing her front and center to giving her a dedicated and blinding spotlight, Yui’s best one was having the other band members communicate with Ritsu more during performances by having a “look back”. Seeing as it was more or less giving Ritsu the evil eye periodically, I couldn’t stop laughing when she felt so intimidated by it. God damn, that scene didn’t get any less funny even on the third and fourth times I watched it. Stupidity rocks!

Aside from Ritsu and her fickle self eventually realizing why she started drumming in the first place, Sawa-chan turned out to be the other goofy one this time around. As a newly appointed homeroom teacher, all that extra attention to her personal appearance did her wonders for the class photo, but going overboard netted her the Michael Jackson-like sunglasses and mask look. What was more notable though were all the other good looking girls in their class. Sure, the character designs only entail a hairstyle change for the most part, but our HTT girls are looking fairly plain compared to some of their classmates as of late. They’re just lucky they aren’t worried about dating guys or else they’d be up against some stiff competition.

In addition to having a new light music club member going by the name Ton-chan, it looks like we’ll get to hear a new song written by Mugi sometime down the stretch. Titled “Honey Sweet Tea Time”, it’ll be interesting to hear what lyrics Mio comes up for it. I fear we’ll have to wait awhile before we get to hear it, but here’s to hoping that it’ll be sooner rather then later. Finally, I should mention that this series is slated for two cour (24-26 episodes) based on the number of DVD/BD volumes that will be released (9), meaning that we’ll have moe goodness for the next five plus months. Given the much longer run, I wonder exactly how many field trips we’ll see this time around. Next week looks to be the first though with a trip to Kyoto.

 

Preview

50 Comments

  6. Hmmm…24-26 episodes…that’s about 2 seasons given the first was about half that…and there was 2 Beach episodes there…so…carry the 3, divide by Pi and multiply by the speed of light and the square root of the radius of the Earth…

    I expect at least 4-5 episodes based solely on going to the Beach with Mugi’s beach house getting exponentially bigger each time.

    Horus
    Reply

  8. I never really got round to watching the K-on series. Always thought it’d be waaay too filled with cute music songs for my taste. However, reading through these blogs on this site kinda makes me feel like giving it a go.

    Morridin
    Reply

  10. LOL! Yui’s plans were so fantastically stupid. Reminds me of her fantastic fail on ep 1.

    I cracked at the communication part. Doing that in a performance would look like Ritsu did something wrong. XD

    megalith
    Reply

  11. Actually, I notice that the drama feels a lot more natural this time around. Ritsu’s jealousy over Mio’s friendship with Nodoka in the first season felt really forced, but they really played up Azusa’s anxiety and Ritsu’s reflections in a believable way. Overall, I’m enjoying this season a lot more than I thought I would.

    AzarelHikaru
    Reply

  12. Forehead of Doom spotted!

    Maybe they should have sneaked in using cardboard boxes…

    Hee-hee! (Rest in peace, King of Pop.) Don’t worry, Sawa-chan, you’re still hot!

    With commentary aside, it’s nice to see a character development episode after the comedy of the last one. I hope the next character development episode focuses on Mio’s motivation to play bass. Still, I had a little laugh at the scene where Mio and Ritsu were running late for school, because Ritsu watched a DVD of The Who (probably a DVD of one of their concerts) the previous night.

    Apparently…*glasses pull*…Ritsu’s a Keith Moon fan…

    YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

    (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

    @divine: So…who’s your favorite HTT girl again?

    Incognito
    Reply

  13. First the Lucky Star girls get their Kyoto trip, now it’s the K-On girls’ turn. Expect every Kyo-Ani comedy series to feature an episode about Kyoto from now on, and maybe some shameless Kyo-Ani studio plug. (The fact that Kyo-Ani studios is an unnoticeable building helps it to blend into most non-otaku related scenes. )

    Ritsu surprisingly looks good with her hair tied this way:
    https://randomc.net/image/K-ON/K-ON!!%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2031.jpg

    Mugi and Mio are increasingly becoming the Lennon/McCartney of HTT, though they’re still doing music and lyrics separately. That’s now two new songs hinted (the first unheard one in the concert in episode 1).

    It’s been a long while since there was any reference to real life rock bands since the very 1st episode last season. This week features mention of The Who and Keith Moon in particular. I wish they could lecture us with more.

    I think the comedic effect of Sawa-chan’s Michael Jackson treatment was amplifying by NOT revealing her face. XD

    And wow, you’re right, Divine, Yui and co’s classmates sure are hot.
    https://randomc.net/image/K-ON/K-ON!!%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2022.jpg

    Wonder if we’ll see more of Azu-nyan and Ui’s classmates.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. @Kinny – Every Japanese high school goes to a famous landmark for a field trip at least once. Kyoto is one of the most popular choices. It’s more common sense than anything else that a Kyoto trip would be featured in a lot of anime, just saying.

      starss
      Reply

      1. Of course I bloody well know that every school anime always have a field trip episode.

        I’m just saying that showing off their mastery in drawing Kyoto’s scenery just happens to be Kyo-Ani’s speciality, seeing as they’re based there. 🙂

        Kinny Riddle
        Reply

  14. I was about to do pic-link comments on Ritsu’s shining Forehead of Doom, sneaking in using a cardboard box and a random Michael Jackson comment (Rest in peace, King of Pop), but I keep on tripping the anti-spam sensor… Oh well. ^^;

    Anyway, it’s nice to see a character development episode after the comedy of the last one. I hope the next character development episode focuses on Mio’s motivation to play bass. Still, I had a little laugh at the scene where Mio and Ritsu were running late for school, because Ritsu watched a DVD of The Who (probably a DVD of one of their concerts) the previous night.

    And Ritsu…*glasses pull*…is a Keith Moon fan…

    YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! (*insert Epic Oneliner link here*)

    Sorry, couldn’t resist.

    @divine: So…who’s your favorite HTT girl again? And I guess “a href” tags are not allowed in comments?

    Incognito
    Reply

      1. I thought it would be appropriate, considering that some of The Who’s songs are connected to one CSI series or another…

        Besides, Keith did one hell of a drum solo in “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (a.k.a. the CSI: Miami theme song) at the part just before Daltrey’s memetically famous “YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” No wonder Ritsu’s a fan of his!

        I’mma try linking Epic Oneliner again, though failure may be my only option on this (it’s just not my day today, I guess.)

        http://www.epiconeliner.com/

        nyoro~n 🙁

        Incognito
        Reply

      2. “Besides, Keith did one hell of a drum solo in “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (a.k.a. the CSI: Miami theme song) at the part just before Daltrey’s memetically famous “YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” No wonder Ritsu’s a fan of his!”

        Amen…

        megalith
        Reply

  16. Ricchan is so awesome. I guess it’s the new goofy but cool moe they’re trying to get at. Can’t think of anyone else who fits that type though, jaalin probably knows more lol.

    Chen^2
    Reply

  17. It’s not that bad the Ritsu wants to have some spotlight. I guess it’s more that when we see the other girls up front, you realize that being in back sucks. (As an example, in basically every musical or season performance, being the keyboard player, I was pushed in the corner while the brass and other instruments got the stage and the spotlight. Kinda made me mad actually cause I was in a dark corner until my senior year when I got to put a keyboard on stage and be in the front. It makes you happy actually, getting recognized).

    And I didn’t know this was a 2 season season. Weird…but that just means more senior year goofiness of the K-ON! girls. 🙂 And I can’t wait till the first volume of the 4-koma comes out in the states! YAY!

    queenie
    Reply

  20. K-On!! this season is ok but i am missing the moe moe moments from last season. It is good and funny but i really want to have a little more of those moe moe moments back to me.

    banzemanga
    Reply

    1. ahh, I believe it represent the friendship between yui, mugi, mio and her.
      when you taked pictures like that in you school, I believe you did something like that :3

      sorry, bad neglish, I know.

      lol
      Reply

  29. I can see why they wanted to give Ritsu some time as the center of attention, but making her mopey for most of an episode certainly doesn’t make her any more likeable. In my opinion this was a pretty “meh” episode, with only Yui’s outbursts and Mugi’s sheer cuteness saving it. I still have hope for the season, but I think if it continues like this I’m going to wish they hadn’t been given 24-26 whole episodes to meander around.

    Also, Afternoon Tea Time is already getting their as kicked by Girl’s Dead Monster (Angel Beats) this season as far as music goes. I guess that’s all a symptom of this being a slice of life show, but I still hope they get around to actually playing some new music soon.

    Thomas
    Reply

    1. about the girl`s dead monster is true, i really liked the music.
      but i trsut KyoAni, so lets see.

      the ending of k-on!! is much better than the ending of angel beats, sooo much better. xD
      Im just saying 😛 xD

      lol
      Reply

  30. Boy, this one… sucked. It had no idea what it was about. Ritsu was out of character — she’s energetic and annoying, but she’s not a flake. Spontaneously giving up drums like this is something I’d expect Tomo from AzuDai to do. I really hope the non-manga episodes won’t all be like this.

    Zeke
    Reply

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