Monday, January 27, 2020

K-ON!! Part 5 Episodes 17-20


Disaster strikes the Light Music Club in more ways than one.  When their beloved Club Room needs repairing, the girls must find a new refuge.  But what can take the place of the sanctuary that bought them together?  There’s still a school festival performance to prepare for…but first there’s a special stage play of Romeo and Juliet with Mio and Ritsu in the lead roles.  How can every balance the drama of the stage with the burden of their final performance as a band?  Amidst all the wacky chaos, it slowly begins to dawn on Yui, Ritsu, Mio, Mugi and Azusa…that the end is closer than they think.

K-ON!! begins it’s march towards the end in this weeks set.  Honestly though, this week could have been the grand finale and I would’ve been totally satisfied.  Seriously, how is next weeks final set of episodes going to top the gauntlet of feels that ran through the last three minutes alone?  I know I’ve been a little hard on this second season at times but this set I don’t think I have any complaints…save maybe one but there’s so much good around it, it hardly matters.

It's hard to say what the last four episodes of K-ON!! will look like so I can only imagine this week was about giving the girls one last little adventure and one final showstopping musical act together.  As such, everyone got to get into the spotlight at some point.  Sawako, Ui, Jun, Nadoka and even Mio’s Fan Club were all given shoutouts at the School Festival Performance, and rightfully so since they’ve all had pretty big roles to play this season and they’ve played them so well.  Perhaps most important was an episode where the girls were stuck without their club room for a period of time.  In a precise case of “Don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone…you know until the finale next week”, you really felt the absence of the room and how important it has been to our amazing quintet of rockers.  It’s almost like looking at the Starship Enterprise or the Firefly class ship Serenity as core members of “Star Trek” and “Firefly” respectively.  The LMC Club Room is just as important a character in K-ON as anyone.

I was a little worried about splitting the Romeo and Juliet story arc into two episodes but it was worth it to see all the prep everyone went through.  Pairing up Mio and Ritsu as Romeo and Juliet respectively was a lot of fun and we got to see these two besties at their best together, fitting since theyre kind of the core duo in the main cast.  It doesn’t surprise me that they were able to pull off their roles with ease when the time came for the actual play.  As many noted, when anyone from the LMC really needs to pull through, they do and Mio and Ritsu rocked Romeo and Juliet in style.  Though my one gripe with this set came into play around this time.  Azusa has been playing with Yui and the others for two years now.  She knows how they operate and knows that even with a minimal amount of practice, After School Tea Time can play the greatest shows ever put on by modern man.  So why was she so worried that everyones dedication to Romeo and Juliet would ruin that streak?  Plus, Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi are all Seniors so theyd have their hands full with class projects for the School Festival.  Point is, Azusa was worrying about nothing and she should’ve known better.

And then came the School Festival show itself.  I don’t know how Kyoto Animation can make High School Festivals look like the greatest place on Earth but man can they.  The overall Festival looked like so much fun to attend, full of life and unique projects from each class in the school.  As for LMC…well they brought the house down one more time.  U&I, which was written by Yui about her sister, brought me to tears.  It’s not just about Ui, when you think about it, the song is about Yui’s time with the LMC altogether.  How much fun have they had?  How much have they grown as people being in each others company?  It’s no wonder the school loves them.  And it’s no wonder that it was after the show, the Seniors finally broke down.  And it was done in such a heartbreakingly beautiful way as they all mapped out what they wanted to do next year…aka the year they weren’t going to have because this was their last show.  My God it’s impossible not to star getting all weepy and cry like a baby.  This was the best show Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi and Azusa have played together and it was so spectacular and practically perfect…that I repeat I think I would be fine if the season (and the show) ended here.

But, this isn’t the end, not yet.  The Season/Series finale of K-ON!! drops next week right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.  Should I bring tissues?  I think I’m gonna need tissues. 

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