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Mouse over screenshots for captions
Summary
The episode starts out with Yui eating Mugi’s eyebrows, which are made out of that yellow pickle thing you get in bentos. I like them very much, but the thought of eating hair is kinda icky. I guess if I think of it like Chiyo-chan’s detachable pigtails then it becomes more palatable.
Anyways, Yui is sick now, after catching it from Ritsu. Wow, first we had two beach eps, now we have two sick eps? Cmon guys…
At any rate, the show must go on. The other girls are busy with the preparations for their school festival live, which of course includes costumes. Maybe Yui didn’t get her cold from Ritsu, but got it from wearing a yukata all day instead. I highly doubt that, as the immune system of a pichi pichi 2nd year joshikousei at the peak of her reproductive prowess would not be so weak. Anyways, Ui is pretty worried about her nee-chan, and what’s more, she’s afraid that the club will replace her with the much better Azusa during the actual performance. What a tragedy that would be.
So, as luck would have it, Ui actually looks exactly like Yui when the animators draw her to look exactly like Yui. Mind-blowing, I know. She shows up at the club saying she’s completely healed (clue 1), then goes through practice with perfect rhythm and technique (clue 2), not to mention her voice sounds completely different (clue 3), but it’s not until (clue 4) she calls Ritsu and Mugi using -san that they realize something weird is up. It takes sensei’s byakugan to see through her ruse – they are sisters, after all.
Moments later, realYui shows up, does a mighty sneeze, then collapses on the sofa in a pink heap of moe blob. The club tells her to stfu and go home.
On the day of the school festival, Yui still hasn’t shown up yet, but then Nodoka tells them to chill out, cuz 10 years ago Yui fished out a ton of crayfish from the neighborhood stream. Cuz you know, persistence has a lot to do with the amount of B cells your body produces. Probably just an excuse to show loli Yui again, and scare the crap out of Mio again. Yui really does show up – but uhh she forgot her guitar. So while sensei plays backup, Yui runs home to grab her guitar. We get a similar montage of what we saw in the first episode, except this time Yui is supposed to be grown up, which means she not only doesn’t trip coming down the stairs anymore, but also doesn’t help the old lady across the street. I don’t really get that.
Meanwhile, the band is playing their first song with Mio doing the lead vocals, and it’s pretty damn cool. Except, since Yui’s not there, they are all making this emo face like they all want to die or something. After the first song, Yui shows up and they start smiling again like they’ve found a reason to live. Teenage girls, I’ll never get them…
Preview
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Up next on K-ON!: The other last episode
Thoughts
Some people will love this episode cuz it had extra Mugi, had music, had “substance” – but damn, it just felt so awkward for me. Something with the directing, I think. It’s not really about expectations – as I’ve said before, I always try to remove any sort of expectations when evaluating a show because it might turn out completely different than I had hoped/wanted – that said, standards are still important. Being a KyoAni production, I have no qualms about holding it to the highest standards, and this last ep just didn’t step up. The whole season we were waiting for that one “God Knows” concert moment, but instead in this one we got some weird angles with Yui doing some horribly animated mouth movements, jumping around like a complete moron on stage. I’ve tried to keep K-ON and Manabi Straight separated in my mind, because to me, Manabi was always one of those “whatever” shows while K-ON is supposed to be serious business, but they are making it very hard for me to do so.
On a more positive note, the music that has been produced from this show has been quite good. The OP is catchy, the ED is real cool, the B-side on the ED single is amazing; the insert songs (especially the ones where Mio sings lead) have been great, and the one in this episode is no exception. I still think Mio is a much better singer than Yui, not just in singing ability but also the sound of her voice. Fuwa Fuwa Time is like the only song we can really compare them with, which is a bit weird, cuz the rhythm and style of song seems to fit Yui’s voice better than Mio’s, but I still think Mio did a better job of singing it in ep 6. Not to mention their costumes were much better.
So chronicles the rise and fall of K-ON, at least in my eyes – by the end of the 2nd ep I had already declared it my favorite show ever (surpassing even the hallowed Lucky Star), but as the season progressed, the lack of anything new and original made the show stagnate – heck, it’s not even my favorite show this season anymore. Azusa was a pretty cool character and helped add some life to the show, but then Amae Koromo showed up and captain Hisa did her aerial tile slam move and the tables completely turned. Oh, and Takamura is world champ (epic fight).
Not to mention that the new ep of Haruhi was awkward as hell. Didn’t feel like Haruhi, you know? Cmon KyoAni, you slipping.
Oh well, you can’t win em all…
not enough K-ON! but time goes on…so lets see what else kyoani will give us in the future 🙂 keep them coming ^^
1STLOL
A very weak ending marred by some pretty bad animation work during the singing scenes. I think I’ll be more than glad once this series is over so I can get around to watching shows with substance to them.
this show was meh for me from beginning to end…don’t get me wrong the characters, art and animation were great but something just didn’t click with me the way lucky star did..maybe its because i’m not really into music. I guess I loved lucky star because there was a character in that show I can relate too and situations i understand.
Maybe animators should wait out and see how their source material plays through in other media (in this case, the manga) before animating it. I mean there was like 15 or 20 chapters of the manga when they started this show? How the hell do you make a decent series out of that?
They’re mostly going from the original material (in both K-on! and Haruhi).
The whole running back from school part did annoy me to no end, and it was possibly K-on! worst episode in my opinion.
As for Haruhi, well I didn’t read that part yet, but Endless Eight is all from volume 5, and seems to cover the same activities as in the book, from a quick glance over it. So I wouldn’t blame KyoAni over that.
I actually quite enjoyed this series. I treated it as any other anime series I watch: on its own merits, and not worrying about which studio produced it or voice actors/actresses are in it.
I think the problem here is that K-on! (and maybe the Munto TV series) fell victim to Kyoto Animation’s latest string of successes: Haruhi, Kanon, Lucky Star and Clannad. Some people were expecting it to be of a certain level and when it did not quite hit it, they were very disappointed. Maybe Jaalin felt it too.
Remember that Lucky Star also almost headed in the same direction as K-on if not for Kyoto Animation’s choice to change directors after Episode 4. Jaalin noted that the first 4 episodes of Lucky Star were also rather “less than overwhelming” and had hoped the new director would “inject some more life into a show”:
https://randomc.net/2007/04/29/lucky-star-04/
The last episode was as grandiose as I think many of us may’ve anticipate 2 months ago, but for the type of show K-On is, it was alright; simple and fun. I do like how Yui’s life was contrasted with how she was from beginning HS, she’s widened out and such, huzzah. Let’s get some Little Busters! now, pl0x.
wtf with yui’s mouth.
https://randomc.net/image/K-ON/K-ON%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
KAH-WAH-YI DESUUUUUUUUUUUU !
so many complaints, enjoy what you get, or don’t watch it at all, i’d say.
and dont give me this ‘freedom of speech’ bullcrap.
PUH-LEASE LADIES!
They randomly departed from the manga in this episode too…
Show Spoiler ▼
Probably would have been better if they had gone for a 24 ep show… It felt really rushed when Azusa came in… Aw well, I’d put it in 3rd or so this season. Saki has been really interesting though, not sure how they’ll end it with only two episodes left, it’ll piss me off if they chose to have them win and we never get to see the nationals…
EPIC AERIAL TILE SLAM MOVE!!
I still loved the series, it was close to overtoping Lucky Star like you jaalin. But I still felt something was missing.
Absolutely love Mio’s lyrics that melt you instantly. Fantastic Yui reflection of the series :DD
In teh end, Mio still stole the show for me XD THE PREVIEW OMG THE PREVIEW. THE MACBOOK + HEAPHONES + ALL THE STUFF ON THAT ONE CAPTION + ALL HER OTHER POSSESSIONS = OVERLOAD
I never thought I would enjoy watching K-ON since I’m not really into moe shows. I didn’t expect too much, so it wasn’t a huge disappoiment to me. I’m actually sad that there’s only one more ep to go. T_T
So what’s your favorite show from this season? Saki?
lol would you like this as an ending then jaalin ?
http://www.chihiro-subs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/kon12.png
this may sound (read) wtf but when mio sang fuwa fuwa time, it gave me the impression that she was a “maiden in love” while yui’s version gave me the impression of how she came to “love her friends”. also, i don’t think the yui running again was annoying. her self realization put some sense into it where back then, she was running with little confidence in what she can do but now, she ran with the will to protect something she has accomplished and i think it ain’t that suck at all. even though most scenes were different from the manga, i think they were all necessary in order to flesh out some development.
though i do agree with jaalin on the facial expression and mouth weird part. still had the god knows touch where haruhi looked ?! while she raged at the lyrics but i guess not everyone can sing rock while looking like hatsune miku and co. ~_~
and for the offtopic haruhi mentioned, i guess the whole ep was a calm before the storm as they will be Show Spoiler ▼
Sure, the ending had its ups and downs but K-ON! was srs business? =O
Jaalin, you expect way too much of a slice-of-life show.
WAY TOO MUCH.
I have never ever posted and never will again, but seriously, your commentary has be pure “ISSITGONNATRAINWRECKITHINKITSGONNATRAINWRECKOHYESTRAINWRECKTHISISCODEGEASSWITHLOLIS” and it’s been very off-putting, especially for a show like this.
It was a 13-ep show about four girls attempting to form a band, for crying out loud. This is not Gundam.
Jeez.
Lucky Star had the same feeling.
weird mouths were very weird indeed. Still a nice last episode though.
https://randomc.net/image/K-ON/K-ON%20-%2012%20-%2038.jpg do they have mics near their mouths as well?
Well, I never expect KyoAni to make other LIVE of Haruhi-standard because there is only one GOD…
However, I hope KyoAni can make Season 2 of K-ON!
@Jaalin
I have the same feeling about the episode being weird. It is true that we had a lot of expectations in this show but the awkwardness i think it had to do because the flow was not right.
About it the best show of the season, it still is for me because i don’t see any other anime better than this in this season. But i still like lucky star better. Lucky start doesn’t have the moe but it has a lot of funny scenes.
WHY CAN’T YOU GUYS BE LIKE THESE GUYS?!!!
http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showthread.php?p=1598955#post1598955
I dare some of you post in that thread!
“K-ON is supposed to be serious business”
seriously, how did you ever get that idea? oO
I like more when Mio is singing fuwa fuwa time, becouse her voice is much better than Yui’s.
Definately my favourite anime of this year. I mean, the whole storyline caught my heart and this episode really landed it quite well. After looking back at the part where Yui ran from home back to school, I nearly cried because of what she felt. Its exactly the same though I had in mind. Its very very touching. I prefer Yui’s singing for Fuwa Fuwa Time than Mio’s though.. The Encore was cool as well. Now I hope that there is a new season for this anime now.. (though its very hard to confirm..)
I did enjoy this ep. Not that epic though. In fact I actually liked the previous performance more.
I found some parts weird and just funny, including the edible eyebrow, and Nodoka’s story. Seeing the manga wasn’t even finished and still on going. Well 2nd season here we come. See you in 3 FRICKIN YEARS…….Hopefully not….
I agree with jaalin here – this episode just felt awkward from the school festival onwards and I wasn’t fond of Yui-crying-to-the-stage and getting all mushy-seishun with the rest of the girls.
At least the music is top-notch, including the character songs.
Lemme guess…Saki is your new favorite show? Loli tacos yumm
Jaalin, it really seems like you’re just being stupid for no reason.
>while K-ON is supposed to be serious business
*facepalm* The show has never done anything to make anyone consider it serious. What are you talking about? That’s like claiming Lucky Star had some deep philosophical meaning behind it all.
>extra Mugi
No one noticed because she’s not exactly high on the popularity list.
>Yui doing some horribly animated mouth movements
In your opinion. Yes the mouth movements were very different to Haruhi’s concert but that doesn’t mean they were horribly animated. And *gasp* it was the same style Mio’s singing was animated in. It fits K-ON!.
>but then Amae Koromo showed up
Lol… are you somehow suggesting she’s a better character than Azusa?
>Oh, and Takamura is world champ (epic fight).
You’re comparing one of the best series out there to a slice-of-life show.
>Not to mention that the new ep of Haruhi was awkward as hell.
There was a ton of things in the episode to keep it feeling like Haruhi. How would you adapt all those events into one episode?
>but also doesn’t help the old lady across the street. I don’t really get that.
You can’t see that you’re totally looking for excuses to dislike the episode/series? It doesn’t suggest that at all.
>I always try to remove any sort of expectations
No wonder. How can someone enjoy something if they have absolutely no expectations while watching? If you don’t go into something expecting to enjoy it, you probably won’t.
I find the mouth movements weird! Super nice ending! xD Yui grown after all. =] Hope there will be 2nd season or I will cry…Didn’t except it to be 13 episodes. *CRYS*
I still think Yui was the best character of the show. She got the most development and better interactions with the rest of the characters. Mugi is pretty flat, Ritsu had that horribly forced drama, Asuza didn’t have enough screen time, and Mio would be fine if the writers didn’t milk her moe qualities dry. Also, Fuwa Fuwa time is a much bettter song for Yui.
Overall, it certainly isn’t the best of KyoAni’s works, but it was still a fun ride.
As for Haruhi that was a faithful rendition of the novel. It’s not KyoAni’s fault. There is a twist in it though.
They went for the ‘full-circle’ ending, which I think worked well for K-ON. Plus who doesn’t want more musical performances for a light music anime? Very much enjoyed it. Also of note is how they animated Yui’s guitar playing in Fuwa Fuwa Time – it’s actually very close to how you’d play it IRL.
It’s Kyoani’s best way to tear away the rabid Keion fans into Haruhi’s submission!
To decreases Keion’s quality a bit so Haruhi look a bit more appealing…
“while K-ON is supposed to be serious business”
Why was it supposed to be, actually? :/
I loved this series except for this episode. Yui forgetting her guitar and all the running home to get it while the teacher played with the band was akin to “jumping the shark” and took all the positive flow out of this episode.
Something I found out (and I bet you guys just did ages ago).
KyoAni’s weakness lies in the creation of a proper storyline. Haruhi, Lucky Star, K-On!? IMHO they inclined too much on the animation to compensate for the lack of substance in the storyboard. But for me that’s not going to cut it.
Rather than wait for a second season (or if there’s one), might as well bear with scanalations.
Mouth animation?
Just go Karaoke with someone who loves to sing and watch the guy singing from the side.
His/her mouth should look just as weird as Yui’s mouth.
After all, you don’t use 17 animaters(all top notch ones!) in a single episode for nothing. The whole stage scene was insanely fluidly animated, not that just looking pretty, cute, moe or whatever, but that you can almost feel Yui and her friends are actually living, singing and having fun in there. I think that’s the most important thing for this show. And for this matter, yeah K-ON! is serious business and they mean it.
I’m going to disagree with Jaalin here. I thought KyoAni did a great job adapting this series. Remember guys that this is a slice of life 4-koma adaptation we’re talking about. I think most people are expecting too much from this series.
Everyone seems to forget that K-On!’s theme has never been about the music performances, its about “the friendship of 5 girls having fun and playing together”.
And looking back at the series, I think KyoAni did a great job sticking to this core theme.
Although the series could have been much better, Overall, I still enjoyed this series with its fun characters, good choice of music, and with great animation detail.
It’s also been a fun and relaxing show to watch after a hard day’s work week after week. This show may not be one of the greatest anime out there, but it still remains a solid “slice of life 4-koma adaptation” nonetheless.
Only until now did we get Mugi service shots.
Okay…I want to have something cleared up for me. I’m not too familiar with the term “moe.” From what I can see from following this series is that it has to do with everything from actions(such as raised pinkies), to clothes(like turtlenecks), or accessories(like headphones), and even goes on to cover things like ponytails and computers. A lot of people criticize this anime because of the overload of moe in it(and lack of plot, but that’s not what I’m talking about here). So here’s a question I have: what isn’t considered moe, that normal teenage girls still do?
@sycu
There is no definite meaning for the term, but a very good description of it is here http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Moe and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_(slang) . And since you asked, you probably haven’t been following Lucky Star either. 😉
I actually loved the episode. It was a fitting ending for a fairly entertaining series. Probably because they surpassed the source material with some extra development for the characters, when there really isn’t much development in a 4-panel comic.
Love the music too. XD
lulz hi2u jaalin
my impression with all the disappointment is people have built up this myth for themselves of how good Haruhi and Lucky Star (and in turn KyoAni) really were.
Don’t get me wrong, i thought they were great, but ppl have created this legend of their greatness that not only is unrealistic (and inaccurate; but inaccurate in terms of ppl’s memory and perception, not in terms of the quality of those 2 series), but is one no studio could live up to.
Its just like how you’re constantly hearing on boards how the new Haruhi episodes don’t have the quality of the old eps. Are they truly so lacking in quality, or are you comparing them to an imagined legendary standard of quality that was never really there?
To be honest, some of you people expect way too much. Even for a company of epic proportions. So what if they’ve done it differently, I enjoyed it and even the end was great. Yui’s whole cold thing was touching as hell. Like you said “You can’t win them all”, but in my opinion “you can never get what you want” and you can’t get it always 100% constant. Slipping or not, I actually didn’t see any slipping and I highly enjoyed Haruhi too, it was calming and enjoyable. Actually I thought the quality was great in Haruhi but whatever, it’s just my thought. Anyways, don’t ever keep hopes high because not everything is perfect.
I kinda get what u mean about K-ON but I can’t agree on what u said about Haruhi, to me it feels like something big is gonna happen. Isn’t the new episodes a part of The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi novels? When Haruhi is not happy she freakin does something about it.
I noticed that When Ui was in disguise, she was still wearing her first year shoes.
This show has been a lot of fun, no complaints from me.
i think this anime is really well done afterall. Everything that had happen is really real, i really enjoy watching this show. i wish they will hve more OVA to it, perhaps a second season to it might even be better
I think these ppl have said everything i wanted: Kanao, Anime Junkie, Meery, Why Rant So Much, Kevin, Noway, LQY, Minikui, Megalith, NegiNegi, Fragbeth, g0o, Masamune and Jason Isenberg. I have enjoyed this as much as any KyoAni title(i love them all), i`m very much into J-Pop too, and have played in bands since awful long time ago. This wasn`t meant to be serious to begin with, even Haruhi wasn`t/isn`t, it parodies pseudo-scientific stuff. My only wish is girls playing of their instruments was shown more, but i guess it`s quite demanding to animate if one hasn`t played him/herself. I definitely like Yui`s singing, can`t think something more moeish!
Like Ritsu in episode 11, the angst here was a little unexpected (e.g., “Is it over yet?” and “thank god”).
>> It’s not really about expectations…
>> …by the end of the 2nd ep I had already declared it my favorite show ever…
Wat. Come on, you can’t say it wasn’t about expectations when you declared it your favorite show only two episodes in.
>> The whole season we were waiting for that one “God Knows” concert moment, but instead in this one we got some weird angles with Yui doing some horribly animated mouth movements, jumping around like a complete moron on stage.
We got that moment (I did anyway) when those stage lights lit up in episode 8. Anyone ever been to a concert and were too far away to see the band? Mio’s save and Azusa standing on tiptoes made it perfect (was also reminiscent of Konata’s “What is this feeling?” moment). I think the reason Haruhi’s concert was so awesome was because you didn’t expect it at all, especially when Yuki opened that riff and floored everyone. Short of actually performing at the Bodokan, I’m not sure how fans would have them pull it off.
Anyway, lot of great shows this season including K-On! and dying for a season 2 (hopefully they’ll have more than only two volumes of manga to work with). Peace!
And thus the craze that is moe has stagnated after using the same tricks over and over again without offering anything new to the table.
Now that the dust has settled, and fanboys take a setp back, I think we can all safely say the hype got the better of this one. Very average series that doesn’t deserve to be compared to the likes of Haruhi and Lucky Star.
As also touched upon, even the two new eps of Haruhi have been rather ‘meh’.
Not looking too good for the genre as of late… :/
enjoyed this show and its music.. 🙂
Thought the ending was ok-ok.Though the animation quality made it look like they had “monkey” faces with the jaw and everything IMO.Anyways still hope for a second season peppered with more Moe-goodness.
sint jaalin being way too mean to k-on…. i kinda like the performance… though the weird mouths were weird….
PLEASE DON’T SAY SPOILERS ABOUT UNRELATED ANIME! If I hadn’t already watched Hajime no Ippo I would be mad about the outcome of the fight being revealed here.
Yup i enjoy this show from beginning to end, it pretty much follow the manga 90% of the time, don’t care what u all think, but it is definitely one of the better show i seen for a while and a favorite to me.
I can’t believe I’m finding this ancient post after all these years, but let me just keep this brief:
This dude had no business writing posts for K-ON, with how he constantly downplayed a lot of the emotional moments in the show and tried so hard to be witty and edgy with his commentary. The numerous jabs that were made at Yui throughout his K-ON posts in general greatly irritated me, as they fail to acknowledge her good traits and character growth multiple times throughout the series.
For the most part, the posts on this site (And comment sections) are higher quality than most anime blogs, but posts by this guy not so much. Oh well.