First Impressions / K-ON! / OVA/Movie

「ライブハウス！」 (Raibu Hausu!)
“Live House!”

We know there’s a second season sometime down the road, but we have the 14th DVD/Blu-ray-only episode to tide us over until then. Included with the 7th volume is the extra live house episode that follows up where the TV series left off.

I briefly mentioned back in the Best of Anime 2009 post that if there were a cuteness category, K-ON would’ve been my pick hands down. Well this bonus episode reiterates that notion, as Houkago Tea Time attends their first ever live house. It’s already been half a year since the original run ended, so it actually felt kind of weird watching a brand new K-ON episode all of a sudden. However, I was right at home again with Yui’s silliness, Mio’s shyness, and Ritsu’s outspokenness. Throw in Mugi’s innocence and some good ‘ol Azusa teasing and we have all the pieces for our lovable light music anime. (Hmm, that “music” part sounded so tacked on.)

The quick rundown is that Ritsu middle school friend Maki invites them to take part in a live house performance. It turns out their bassist Aya is a big fan of Mio, having attended their performance at their school festival. Originally, neither Mio nor Azusa wanted to take part in this year-end live house, with the former being too shy to perform in public. However, a majority vote has Mugi surprisingly siding with an emphatic Ritsu and Yui, so they decide to make the best of it. Much of the humour comes from the usual character nuances, but more so with how the whole live house operation is new to them. They’re pretty lost when it comes to the setting sheet for their performances, but Yui gets along really well with one of the scary looking bands there that Mio’s afraid of. Despite their appearance, they’re actually really nice people and even encourage Yui and the others when their rehearsal goes awry. In the end, their performance goes without a hitch and they even wake up to see the new year’s sunrise the next morning.

For some reason or another, I found Yui’s reaction to Maki’s “Love Crisis” band name pretty hilarious. She thought it was so cool and made her question “Houkago Tea Time” until they were told that it’s a cute name. Normally I find Yui silliness a bit too dumb to laugh at, but the K-ON dry-spell evidently made her hilarious to me this time around. This includes her pre-prepared autograph for Nodoka, which she doesn’t want but ends up accepting so that Yui doesn’t feel bad. The highlights for Mio were her shyness in front of strangers, her “moe” appeal when she wanted pink lighting, and her swearing that she won’t trip onstage again. The last one was good foreshadowing for a repeat of one of the things that made Mio so popular, as she did end up taking a spill during their rehearsal. Unfortunately, there was no stripped underwear (shimapan) flashing this time around. I think my only complaint with this bonus episode is that they glossed over the actual performances, much like in episode 12. Also, I blame Mio for convincing everyone to perform in just their school uniforms, as I was hoping they’d finally dress up like the ending sequence.

Anyway, cute bonus episode, especially with the band logo Yui made up on the spot with the help of Mugi. (It’s a teacup.) Worth checking out if you’re a K-ON fan. I included lots of screenshots this time around so people won’t ask about the lack of screenshots. As for me, it’s back to Final Fantasy XIII. Letter Bee 15 will be blogged… eventually. >_>

 

47 Comments

  12. https://randomc.net/image/K-ON/K-ON%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2042.jpg
    ^ Yui’s face = My face after watching this

    I miss watching K-ON! Instead, I get Sora no Woto this season (which I hope will turn out well).

    @Divine – When you say “they glossed over the actual performances”, do you mean that we don’t even get to watch or listen to what they are playing at all? If we do, is it a segment of a new original piece, or just an old track like Fuwa Fuwa Time?

    Phocus
    Reply

  14. fullmetalQAF:
    I know a lot of people have said negative things about it, but I like it so far. This is coming from someone who grew up playing Final Fantasy 1 on NES too.

    Pw3age:
    Fixed. Thanks.

    Phocus:
    We got to hear them performing the last bit of Fuwa Fuwa Time and that’s it. Very little camera time of them on stage as it was focused on Sawako talking to her old friend (who runs the live house).

    divine
    Reply

  19. Wow…and we got this a short while after Mio’s birthday too! (January 15, for the benefit of those who care.)

    With that aside…

    I’m in despair! The fact that I’m now attracted to Mio Akiyama has left me in despair!

    Incognito
    Reply

  22. It’s the “But wait, there’s more!” deal. Watch this now and get the second season free!

    I thought the 2nd flick had started already after looking at the number ’14’. Then again, it pays to read the fine print.

    razgriz
    Reply

  24. wow nice ova, and it got subbed quick! cannot resist more moeness…

    live is good, sadly is short again, and I like the pasting that Yui did, and yeah, some also pasted on their feet what…

    kaineng
    Reply

  28. My only gripe for this otherwise cute-as-usual bonus (much to the chagrin of the usual haters out there) would be the glossing over of the actual live performance itself. Fuwa Fuwa Time may not be a new song anymore, but they should at least show at least a minute of them performing live in front of a brand new audience in a stage they’ve never experienced playing before.

    And what a coincidence to have a K-On post quickly followed by a post on K-On’s supposed “clone series” So-Ra-No-Wo-To. lol

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  31. people saying FFXIII stinks?!?!?! really?? I’m so out of the loop! damn divine, since nes days? wow! and i thought i was a decorated veteran cuz i started at part 2. do the walk through please..

    BROOKLYN otaku
    Reply

  35. Raso:
    Omni’s been bugging me to write up a post about it and some thoughts about the game, but I’ve been too busy playing it. For now, I’ll say that I really like the story so far and the fact that I get the full Japanese seiyuu experience with the imported version.

    The NA/EU versions aren’t going to be dual audio so importing was a given for me. (PS3s aren’t region-locked for games and share the same region code as NA for Blu-ray movies. i.e. Region A.) Speaking of which, Mugi’s seiyuu Kotobuki Minako plays Serah Farron, Lightning’s younger sister.

    Yay, some relation to K-ON since I’m talking about it here.

    BROOKLYN otaku:
    Yeah, just look up the all the negative reviews about it being “as linear as a piece of string”. I find that it’s just the same as FFX and 12 though, so I personally don’t see what the big deal is. You lose the vastness of open areas (save the Gran Pulse), but it’s not like everyone ran off to the edges of the worlds back in the old FFs when there’s nothing there. Keep in mind that the most vocal people are always the one with negative things to say.

    As for FF1, that game was so fun once I figured out how to actually make progress. i.e. Farming for a while to level up. I still have a novel-style guide about it, which has absolutely no pictures or maps!

    Andy:
    I actually really like the new battle system, because they’ve finally made FF somewhat challenging. As you already know, you can easily die to trash mobs and have to pay attention every fight. Sure you get healed to full after every fight (saving you the chore of doing it yourself via the menu), but that probably allowed Square Enix to balance all enemies around the fact that you start each fight with full life.

    It’s all about understanding game mechanics if you want to do well, which of course includes the Optima Change system (a.k.a. Paradigm Shift in English). Use your Enhancers to buff, use your Jammers to debuff, and make sure to scan new tough-looking enemies with Libra so that you find out their weaknesses/resistances. The party AI acts accordingly based on the information revealed.

    All of this is explained in the tutorials and manual. I actually took the time to read them all. :X

    divine
    Reply

  36. I like the challenging part but what I do hate is the time limit you get in order to get full 5 star for great item drop, I am up to the point in that grand pulse cavern where I have to fight that choo choo train looking monster, I have np problem beating him but it took me a full 6+ min and the game give you a 3 min limit to get any score. I try buff debuff everything and it just impossible to get his ass down in 3 min or less, so I just went and say screw it. Continuing the storyline and get crystalization lvl up. I swear once I get lvl 10 crystalization and fully lvl up I swear I will go back and hunt every monster in the game till they near extinction. ahh that giant turtle there be hell to pay I swear.
    Overall is not a bad game but definitely no replay value I rather hang myself than replay this game ever again, only negative thing I have to say is the time limit in each battle, I hate anything that has a time limit I like to play every battle at my own pace and totally enjoy each and every single battle with all kinds of weird tactic, but now I can’t cause of the stupid time limit and grading system. So far I refuse to accept any battle with less than 3 star, if I see a 2 star I just reset and load from last save point.

    Andy
    Reply

  38. Oh yea, I didn’t know mugi play Serah, I know Shiki play lightning the moment I hear her VA, I was like hmm you sound so familiar, then I look it up and say snap is Shiki, she sound so perfect as lighning. I always have a blast whenever Snow call her Nee-san and lightning respond immedately say whos your Nee-san, just so funny.

    Andy
    Reply

  39. Andy:
    I’m not there yet, but I read that the time to beat scales with your level and equipment to a degree. i.e. They’ll expect you to do fights in less time if you’re stronger. However, being stronger almost always outweighs the loss in time, except in some rare cases. e.g. Mission 64 is supposedly easier with weaker weapons. So yeah, I’d say level up your Crystarium and then come back to retry those monsters.

    I agree that the whole time-to-beat business does make it hard to enjoy fights though. It becomes a bit of a spamfest since you’re so focused on getting a good time for 5 star drops. (Or for 5-star ranking on all Missions to unlock Snow’s XMB theme.) That said, I don’t think it’s worthwhile reloading for all fights (especially back to your last save), as there’s plenty of time later to get materials you need for crafting.

    You’ll likely end up dedicating time to do this in specific areas against specific enemies. Unless you know an enemy has something you want, there’s no need making the game play experience such a grind during the story parts. They already removed a lot of those pains with the Restart System.

    As for replay value, I find that I usually play an FF to death but almost never play through a second time. The only ones that I have are FF1, FF4, and FF6 (2 and 3 in the US). I’ve probably played through FF4 and FF6 at least 3-4 times each.

    And yeah, Snow’s calling her “big sis” because he thought he was going to be Lightning’s new brother-in-law. Heh. Good ‘ol Ono Daisuke playing Snow.

    Island Esper:
    Well you know what they say, show us a photo or it didn’t happen. 😛

    divine
    Reply

  43. Yui FTW!!!!! The rehearsal scene was so hilarious
    Can’t wait till the second season which looks like it will be the older girls final school year?
    Poor Azu-nyan will be the only one left, if they don’t recruit new members

    kyonkun
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *