K-ON!! Part 6 Episodes 21-24

Three years ago, Yui Hirasawa stumbled into the Light Music Club as a gifted amateur.  Now she stands tall with four incredible young girls as one of the greatest bands in the clubs history.  As Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi prepare for one of the most important days of their lives, Azusa finally breaks down at the prospect of never being able to play with her best friends ever again.  The girls gather in their club room one more time for celebration and remembrance.  No matter how far they travel in different directions, this is far from the end for the Light Music Club, whose music will last forever.

It did it.  It really did it.  I shouldn’t be shocked, there was no way the finale was going to fall flat on its face.  What I didn’t expect was for it to be this powerful, this moving.  And it was all done in “The K-ON Way”.  What does that mean?  Scatterbrained, carefree and in the moment.  K-ON did it right, so, so right.

The final four episodes of K-ON had two distinct paths to follow: The last days of Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi’s time in high school and Azusa coming to terms with this change.  The latter has been built up to for a very long time, especially in the back half of this second season.  The only question remained was: When was Azusa finally going to break down and hear what we all wanted to say too…please don’t go.  The answer to that question was one of K-ON’s crowning moments.  In tears, the cute little Junior let it all out and was showered with love, gifts and possibly the best song After School Tea Time has ever produced.  I’ll admit, I’ve only paid attention to the lyrics of a couple of songs but I definitely looking at them for “Tenshi ni Fureta yo!”.  This song, along with Fuwa Fuwa Time, I think best defines After School Tea Time’s members and the love they have for one another.  It’s a love that is immortalized and forever.  And even though the adventure continues for Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi as they head off to the same college, their Azusa will never be far from their thoughts and always with them in their hearts and vice versa.  There really was no better song or scene to end this amazing series on.

Wow, hard to believe I just jumped right to the end.  What about everything leading up to it?  Everything was great, really it was.  Azusa got one more episode with Ui and Jun to make Valentines Day goodies for Yui and the others, while Ui and Jun began to help Azusa suss out her feelings over the girls eventual departure.  The second to last episode was pretty magical too and it was just the girls wandering around the school the day before graduation.  It was a great way for Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi to reflect on everything and get some private time with this place of memories one more time before their big day.  They got to hang out with the every awesome Nadoka (possibly the unsung heroine of this series with all she’s done with the power at her disposal) and naturally spend some time with Sawako, the teacher who deserves all the love and adoration possible.  Crap, it was hard not to start tearing up well before the last episode even started.  Bonds and character writing as sharp, witty and fun as the ones found in K-ON aren’t ones you find in any other Anime.  This was all about saying goodbye and yet, for the most part, the girls just treated it all like any other day filled with tea drinking and goofing off.  Like I said, “The K-ON Way”.

Now, there are three bonus episodes that followed the finale, little side stories that I think might help set up the transition into The Movie.  But I’m going to do something different and offer my final thoughts here and now.  Why?  Because…we’ll honestly I wasn’t sure I was going to watch or review those episodes before The Movie.  The final episode is one of the most perfect in all of Anime and it would feel wrong to say anything else about K-ON!! past that point.  But…alright, Final Thoughts first.  It might have had a couple of odd stumbles and kind of worked too hard to fill out its extended episode run.  But K-ON!! managed to continue to stellar adventures of Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi and Azusa in bigger and sometimes better ways.  Extending the Senior Year made it more special when the final graduation did arrive and everyone got their moments to shine, reflect and make a beautiful memory throughout the season.  I liked the expanded roles for Sawano and Nadoka and giving Azusa a storyline of her own to help her on the path to continuing the LMC legacy once her Seniors departed for college.  I like most of the music, though the Season One tracks hold a special place in my heart.  But U&I and Tenshi ni Fureta yo more than matched Fuwa Fuwa Time and Fudapen Ball Pen excellently.  At the end of the day, even if an episode wasn’t great (sad to say I do think one or two could’ve been jettisoned all together), getting to spend time with Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi and Azusa is the best kind of day no matter what they end up doing.  Real life could only be this amazing and it’s the kind of Real Life only Kyoto Animation and the Light Music Club are capable of showing us.

I’m awarding K-ON!! a 9/10…and K-ON the series as a whole a special 9.5/10 award…this is one of my all time favorite Anime series now that ive seen it all the way through (almost kind of) and I think it deserves a score to reflect that kind of praise.

But, the journey isn’t over yet.  I’m going to do a special bonus review of the three bonus episodes next Monday, followed by the final chapter, K-ON! The Movie!, on the same day.  Will this extra material bolster what has come before?  Or will I just love spending time with these girls to care about such things?  Whatever happens, find out next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.