Senior Year has begun.
While Yui, Ritsu, Mio and Mugi enjoy a class trip to Kyoto, Azusa is
left alone back home. She finds comfort
in her friends, Yui’s little sister Ui and their classmate Jun. Could this be the new beginning Azusa has
been hoping to find when her Sempai’s graduate? And speaking of graduation,
it’s coming soon and the girls need to think about their future. Naturally, Yui and Ristu aren’t having an
easy time making up their minds. And Mio
finds herself being watched…by someone who desperately needs a favor from
her. Change is coming…leave it to the
Light Music Club to make it the most epic change ever.
There’s been a lingering thought at the back of my mind
going into K-ON Season 2. Would doubling
the episode order hinder things or make the season overstay it’s welcome? Is it
possible I’d actually become bored of the Light Music Club’s adventures? At the moment the answer to that is a very
strong…NAHHHHH. At the same time though,
there was one episode in this set that just seemed “eh” compared to the others. But then again, when you can say it’s “eh”
and not terrible, that still means you’ve got a strong second week of episodes
on your hands.
Much of Season Two is about looking ahead to the girls
futures but also living in the moment with friends. Thankfully, we also got an opportunity to
look behind for a little bit and gaze into the totally adorable past of several
main characters. The upside of the Yui
and Nadoka backstory was seeing the return of Little Yui…who is so gosh darn
adorable and even more of an airhead than her present day self. The Mio and Ritsu flashback packed a bit more
punch. Naturally, Mio wouldn’t want to
get along with the overly loud wild child that is Ritsu. But when she needed help with public
speaking, Ritsu was there in her “go get em” way and I could see how it
solidified their friendship and everything that’s come since. It can be easy to forget that many of these
girls have prior histories with one another despite looking like everyones been
life long friends in the Light Music Club.
It’s good to build the lore like this.
We got a special companion episode to the Kyoto Trip from
last week. Just what was Azusa up to
while her four Sempai’s were off touring the old capital of Japan? Turns out she might’ve been starring in her
own backdoor pilot for the next generation of K-ON led by herself. Ui seems like a sure fire candidate for Light
Music Club 2.0 considering she can play the guitar as well as her sister (if
not better) and remember she did disguise herself as Yui once before and
impressed everyone. I’d forgotten that
we’d seen Ui’s classmate Jun in Season One, but really she was only around a
handful of very brief times its easy to forget.
Still, these three made for a great trio with their own different
vibe. They’re not quite the energetic
powerhouse as Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi but that’s ok, not every group needs to
gel the same way. So long as they do gel
somehow and still maintain the fun of K-ON, bring on the new group dynamics.
Where things did kind of slow down for me were two
particular points. The first was the
Rainy Day episode (the one after Azusa’s side story). The episode was just slow and it even Yui
freaking out over the state of her guitar during the neverending rain poor was
just…eh. The other point was the episode
where Mio finds she has a fanclub dedicated to herself and Nadoka was forced to
be part of it by the groups OG founder, an upperclassmen who adored Mio. On the one hand, the group seemed harmless
enough during the Mio Celebration (I’ll get back to that in a second). On the other hand, Mio feeling creeped out by
a creeper and an upperclassman the year prior being the culprit seems…well for
lack of a better term creepy. Then
again, only K-ON could make a scary real life premise seem endearing and
forgivable. Maybe I’m thinking too much
about it.
That said, one part of Mio’s Fan Club Tea Party that was
a highlight was the first new song of the season outside of the OP and ED
Themes. “Pure Pure Heart” has a nice
vibe of maturity to it, both via Mio’s more mature sounding singing voice and
the way the song is played by the band.
It feels very different from and of Season Ones offering outside of
“Don’t Say Lazy” and I loved it. As
always, the wait for new music from the Light Music Club always pays off in
spades. It’s no wonder Yui and Ritsu
both really want to continue doing this after high school ends. Which is weird. Yui talks to a ton of classmates about the
kind of schools theyre going to for college: Photography, Foreign Studies,
etc. You’d think there’d be a school out
there that specifically caters to up and coming musicians. Again, maybe I’m thinking too much about it
but at least Yui has a better idea of what she wants to do with her life.
My nitpicks about one or two things aside, im nice and
comfy checking out this new season and I’m kind of glad it’s not even halfway
over yet. K-ON is continuing to find
ways to make everyday life the most exciting thing ever. And with a continued focus on growing our
main cast while spotlighting the supporting players more and more, I think
Season Two could be poised to stand superior to Season One…but we’re only two
parts in from a 6 Part review session.
Let’s just see where it all goes.
See ya next week everyone.
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