Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「マラソン大会！」 (Marason Taikai!)
“Marathon Rally!”
I can’t say it’s surprisingly to find out that a group of girls who sit around eating cake and sipping tea all day isn’t the most athletic bunch, but Yui takes it to a whole all new level of struggling during a 4-5 kilometer marathon run. She doesn’t seem unfamiliar with the whole mind over matter ideology though, as the risk of not getting the promised sweet red-bean soup sent her legs into high gear. Food, it’s always got to be food with Yui. However, just when I thought there were no limits to this girl’s love of desserts, Mugi’s kombu and hijiki flavored blancmange quickly disproved that idea. Naturally, it’s all about the flavor and not the nutritional aspect with Yui. Sawako didn’t seem like much of a fan either, though she was pretty gung-ho about the marathon and all the visual temptations along the course (i.e. cake shops and stores with cute stuff).
In retrospect, there wasn’t a lot to this episode outside of the marathon itself and Yui not looking forward to it one bit, but somehow I was pretty amused from start to finish. The return to school after the summer break with Azusa all radiant about school life with everyone again did bring out quite a reaction. Following that, I thought it was pretty cute how Yui actually tried hanging Teru teru bouzu upside-down to bring about rain, though it was somewhat creepy too now that I think about it. In any case, I don’t think I’ll ever quite get tired of seeing Yui reach the breaking point before things even got underway or during the actual climb up the hill from Hell. In comparison to Yui sweating all her cake juices out, I’m pretty amazed that Jun didn’t fall terribly behind and go outright missing. Given their struggles, it looked like a shoo-in that they would come dead last, but that honor was reserved for Mio regardless of how much she wanted to avoid it. Talk about getting the short end of the stick after everyone went out of their way searching for Yui. Mio did look pretty slick with that tumble she unexpectedly pulled off to say herself from a full-out face plant, especially with the whole ponytail look going on.
Overshadowed by all that and their attempts to make things fun by singing as they jogged (and failing miserably) was the hint that we have a new song on the way. Thanks to Mio’s “runner’s high”, she somehow came up with new lyrics to a heartbreak song that the preview suggests will be performed at the next school festival. As we’ve only had “Pure Pure Heart” so far this season (excluding OP/ED themes), I was wondering when some new songs would be introduced in this sequel. I gather Pony Canyon wants to hold another live event after all, given the ridiculous success of the first one. For that, they’ll need songs to sing! I still plan to post about the live at Yokohama Arena after spending a good five days prepping some videos for it, so stay tuned for that in the next week or so. Below is a sneak peak for those who haven’t seen anything from the DVD/BD released at the end of last month. The first is the seiyuu’s first live music performance which they practiced playing instruments for, whereas the second one is the encore performance of “Don’t say ‘lazy'”. Given the crowd’s reaction to the latter, I think it’s easy to see why this series got a two-cour sequel that airs on 28 different television stations across Japan. (Yokohama Arena’s max capacity is 17,000.)
* Note: I more or less collapsed from exhaustion after work today, hence the late post. The last time I recall feeling that tired was back in university during final projects. Anyway, I’ll probably have the RAINBOW post out much later today.
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Totally did not know they can actually play
They’re all amateurs and only learned how to play two songs, “Watashi no Koi wa Hotchkiss” and “Fuwa Fuwa Time”. “Don’t say ‘lazy'” was performed to a karaoke backtrack.
As far as I’m aware, Kotobuki Minako (Mugi) is the only one with any sort of a musical background since her mother’s a piano teacher. (Funny how well that worked out for her.) Hikasa Youko (Mio) is actually right-handed, but learned to play the bass left-handed to fit Mio’s character.
I just watched part of hotchkiss, even tho aki toyosaki wasn’t that great on the guitar, it just amazed me they learned to play an instrument for the show
It would have been amazing if they could play all the songs
btw kotobuki minako is the most beautiful out of the bunch =O
Not only is Minako the prettiest, she’s also the best singer of the bunch =D It was pretty obvious when she sung Mugi’s character song ^^ A shame that Aki gets most of the songs =/
In a couple of months’ time though, Kotobuki Minako will be debuting solo as a singer, so we’ll finally be getting to hear her proper singing~ http://www.kotobukiminako.com/
We get to hear Minako a bit more in sphere at least, including their new single for the opening theme of Asobi ni Iku yo. I was wondering if she’d ever see a solo release though.
Say, how about Satomi Satou and Ayana Taketatsu… do they have experience on their respective instruments?
Minako is cute but I have a big soft spot for Aki. I also find Ayana real adorable. Satomi is seemingly perky and Yoko’s voice is one of my favs.
Not sure if you’re feeling a bad heat wave where you’re at, Divine. Here, without an a/c, it’s just plain unbearable.
It’s been alright this week, but last week was pretty damn hot.
Hikasa Youko’s voice is really good, seems that they have all worked a lot for this performance, i guess it’s no that easy to do something like this when you are only amateur =O
Really enjoyed “Don’t say lazy”.
Thanks Divine!
Do I see that thing that Yui uses as a microphone in the new OP in the last picture of the Preview? ._______.;;
Yeah, it’s her pencil case. I originally thought it was her cell phone.
Yui cake mode is awesome >_<
I remember coming last at my school marathon (we call it cross-country cus it’s not really a marathon), behind the fat and dangerously obese people. My school had a field we had to run around 3 times, not sure how it compares to the K-ON girls but hey:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st+asaph+road+se4&sll=53.278023,-3.46428&sspn=0.038953,0.079565&g=st+asaph+road&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=St+Asaph+Rd,+London+SE4,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.462517,-0.046735&spn=0.005073,0.009946&t=h&z=17
I made sure next year not to turn up 🙂
I’ve been listening to Hotchkiss ever since I got my hands on the concert. Hikasa’s live voice totally won me over.
Now, if it’s not difficult, maybe someone can make mp3 of all their performances?
i been waiting for the albums for Utauyo!! MIRACLE and No,Thank you! which is release on the 4 of August i can’t wait for the new albums to come out!
Mio discovers a new acrobatic skill! Lv +1
Ui probably has a telepathic link to her sister, otherwise I cannot think how she managed to find Yui in no time.
This episode was back to its slower-than-usual pace. It’s kind of… what was that word you K-On haters like to use a lot… ah, yes, “boring”, this week can indeed be described as quite “boring” for once, compared to the average K-On episodes. Maybe there was too much laugh-inducing moments last week that the writers had to cool down a bit.
Still, there’re positives. I’m still grinning from ear to ear with the girls’ antics by the end, Yui in particular, with Aki being top par as usual in playing her eccentric cuteness.
I cried manly tears when Chika Fujito(Nodoka’s VA) thanks the audience. ;___;
Made me think how lucky some people are just to even get one big chance in such an event.
Anyway.. KyoAni pulled another weird crap… I lol’d so hard at the slow-mo reverse scene. Seriously… WHAT THE HELL!?
Yui, last Cake!
Yui is Mad…
Chika Fujito(Nodoka’s Seiyuu) nailed her performance Coolly Hotty Tension Hi!!, watched most of the performances and was impressed most by the individual ones for the K-ON! Live Event
Yep loved her voice. Back then I was actually surprised when I it randomly played on my playlist. She actually has quite a good singing voice.
Things which I was really looking forward to was Azusa’s song, Yui’s Song(Giita ni Kubittake), and Let’s Go!
Whichever of the two tracks from Azusa’s image song since they’re both awesome. Not to mention how catchy this one is.
@ Divine
“I more or less collapsed from exhaustion after work today”
Man we told you! Take care of yourself. Don’t go dying on us. Rest and get well soon.
Anyway… oh why…why??? It has to be Mio always suffering!!!! The newspaper vision, Ritsu foresight… I was no it won’t happen they just teasing us. Then she is last and falls. tears cake to my eyes. Even with the acrobatic safe at last minute didn’t bring me up…
My take in the songs is that they are postponing then until the end of the show to end in a high note. oh well have to wait a full week again.
off topic “Katanagatari”
I spent some time to get up to date with Katanagatari. I hate episode 3 by the senseless kill. However, I’m so upset by episode seven. Why Shichika had to kill Nanami. His own sister! Boo Lol She was a cool character and I liked her. The way Togame is leading her sword is bad. They are morphing into what they are trying to fix (evil bad guys). Not going to watch for 3 or 4 months; but I hope they die at the end too.
🙂 got to love rants
Thats the more of a reason why I like it so much :D, and as Nanami said, Shichika is becoming softer and softer over time, ep 3 was just to show his initial attitude. And Nanami apparently wanted to die so u cant blame anyone for that.
Cursed that Typhoon Basyang for not watching this episode
Watched it like a bro…
UPS, Modem, UTP, and Laptop. Watched up to 15 minutes of the live streaming.
Damn it…
About 0:18 (when Mio “appears”), that girl in front of her… her hair is way too similar to Yui’s >.>. Oh, and the girl behind Mio looks like a version of Mio with glasses LOL
I don’t want to be rude but those costumes the VA’s wore at the concert are just weird. It works fine in an anime but in real life…. not so much.
Just goes to show that there is a fine line dividing fantasy and reality.
I learned that the hard way at Sankaku.
OMG! Both Mio and Mugi ponytail looks in one episode! My heart exploded.
@Divine Rest up my friend. We can’t have a dead blogger flinged around.
This marathon’s Rice Cake and sweet Read Bean soup should do the trick! 🙂
Oh noes! Summer’s over and no training camp at Mugi’s most palatial vacation home!
*sob* (I was looking forward to seeing it after the first two camps where Mugi complains she couldn’t get the home she wanted!).
Perhaps they’ll go for Christmas/New Years to train for HTT’s farewell concert.
I thought they would cross the finish line together, but great acrobatic skills from Mio. Yui running for food, Mio running to avoid attention are just like them. Poor Sawako.
YES! I’m stoked that you’re covering the live!! I love you Divine!
As for those two videos, I’m actually very impressed seeing as they’re all amateurs. Somehow, Toyosaki Aki’s voice was more refreshing this time, and it’s fun to watch them try and act the way the characters do in the show.
My only disappointment was their costumes. I wish they’d played in their seifuku, and I REALLY wish we could have seen them in the Don’t Say Lazy costumes. It would have been awesome to see them recreate the original ending.
Still, can’t wait for that post!
And good episode too lol.
If I was Japanese,
And I held all of my current traits and beliefs,
The Japanese Media Industry,
Would Most Likely have all of my money.
K-ON LIVE?! AND ACTUALLY PLAYING THE INSTRUMENTS?!!!!!!?!?
Japan, you win.
I hope things are okay Divine, you’ve been doing a top notch job. I don’t know why people haven’t been enjoying K-ON!! this season, I’ve really enjoyed it. I would be interested in listening to what people’s opinions are.
well, first things first:
food! levitation!
Lina Inverse reaction to seeing Amelia loaded with supplies on a hill
some characters will do amazing things for the food
poor Sawako-sensei, left alone to wander in the woods
Mio is getting tumble skill up 🙂
fully awaiting AMV to the “Chariots of fire” music by Vangelis
I don’t know why, but Yui just seems really annoying this season. Last season, she was just awesome and stupid at the same time. This time though, I feel as if she needs to like.. stop being so Yui? (Kinda the feeling I got from the first episode of Ookami, where the protagonist needed to stop being so shy?)
And, people who wear glasses are awesome.
https://randomc.net/image/K-ON/K-ON!!%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
It’s really funny that the seiyuu beat their characters to Yokohama Arena, hahaha.
Did they ever mention Yokohama Arena? I thought their only goal was Budokan.
Yokohama Arena is actually a step up though since it’s a larger and more modern venue.
LOL Everyone dashing for the finish because of the rice cake was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in while XD
Yui has a Rice Cake Seed Mode apparently.
And Mugi makes a hlarious face while running XD
The random slow mo just made me lose it XD
Well, they’re band is called “After School Tea Time”, so I didn’t really expect them to be excited about the marathon but at least it got them outside and running all over town. ^^
Still, it was a pretty fun episode and Yui’s short attention span was definitely entertaining.
Oh and looks like spamming teru teru bozos doesn’t work at all. LOL
hahha xD loved it
so funny xD
when they start to run at the end xDDD
omg, loved it, and when they sung xD
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/492759
quick k-on poll.
I like how k-on season two have twice as many episodes but half the virtual time as season one. really s1 episode 1, they just go to hs and by s1 episode 8, one year already passed… and 6 more episodes, another year passed… too rushed
Great!!! Bookmarked this page that has this striking guidance. Will come back to see if there are any updates. You, the author, are a master. Many thanks