k-on! 9
Categories: episodic review, k-on
Tagged: k-on
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Moe moe… nyan?
K-On! just consistently delivers the goods. Week in, week out, another entertaining episode… about… well… nothing. In fact, they’re doing nothing well. Like how Seinfeld redefined nothing with pointless complaints, Larry David, and bad luck, K-On! is defining nothing with copious amounts of sugary, buttery, silky, Miolicious moe– the kind you just want to lather up and down your body with.
Though I wonder why kakifly introduced Azusa at first as there’s already a club DFC (Ritsu) and a club pet/mascot (Mio). One thing it didn’t have was a tsundere, and I speculate kakifly decided that this club needed someone in that explosive, tsundere DFC role a la any Rie Kugimiya / JC Staff team-up. Still, Azusa is more deredere than tsuntsun; nevertheless, does shake things up in the club. If anything, she gives Mio an ally. Sure, they’re still useless and powerless against the dominant Ritsu/Yui/Mugi/Sawa-chan costume raping power bloc, but it at least gives Mio someone to sympathize with. And that shows in the gelbooru standings for this week:
k-on returns 2,163 results this week with Mio @ 1,325, Ritsu @ 525, Mugi @ 512, Yui @ 687, Sawako @ 37, Ui @ 68, and Azusa debuting @ 89. And a majority all of the newer stuff involves either Azusa or Mio and Azusa. Needless to say, Azusa is well-poised to be the Ed McMahon to Mio’s Johnny Carson.
(And, yes, for whatever goddamn reason that I still don’t completely comprehend, Japan loves this Rie Kugimiya / JC Staff character type.)
“But what is this feeling of loneliness…”
Mio’s the best. She misses being teased and toyed around with… uh, Mio, we can fix that! Nurse Mugi, get me a meido uniform, a mini top hat, and a fistfull of barnacles, STAT!
(Loved how Ritsu didn’t miss a beat for her response to Mio’s melancholy…)
“No one’s looking… wear them… you know you want too… do it… do it… wear them… WEAR THEM! DO IT! WEAR THEM!!!”
That’s what I was screaming at my TV when Mio went back upstairs with her flimsy excuse of leaving something behind. We all knew she secretly wanted to try out the nekomimi.
I’d say that nekomimi improves Mio’s moe by 40%, which is a bigger moe stat boost than the mini top hat. I’m just shaking my head knowing what the costume choice is for their next concert, and it doesn’t involve nekomimi. Sawa-chan, I’m so disappointed in you. I fully expect Yui as a bunny girl, Mio as a nekomimi meido, Azusa as her understudy nekomimi meido, Mugi as a dominatrix, and Ritsu in a school-issued swimsuit for their final year concert. Anything less would be unacceptable.
Reason number 8,117 as to why Sawa-chan is awesome: nekomimi meido! Great minds think alike. I like how she has yet another different meido uniform ready to go… Sawa-chan’s the best.
(And there sure are a lot of nekomimi… I wonder if Sawa-chan blew the club’s budget on clothing accessories? Mmm… is it too late to petition Obama to make Sawa-chan America’s Fashion Czar?)
Reason number 8,118 would probably be not one but two animal-eared accessory ninja rapes. Now that’s impressive. Those are numbers not even Haruhi Suzumiya can put up.
Reason number 8,119 definitely has to be her never-ending supply of cute outfits. I think Sawa-chan’s compensating for her unlucky love life by dolling up the club girls. (Um, this isn’t a bad thing unless Sawa-chan shows up at a secret Dateline taping with a six pack of beer, a bag of weed, and a nekomimi meido costume explaining, “But I thought she was 18!” to Chris Hansen.) Though I wonder if Sawa-chan would drift in style like she did in her high school days and become more and more hardcore… what am I wondering? That’ll be awesome. The rock band club is not complete until dominatrix Yui is whipping pig of capitalism Mugi.
(Just look at that world-class cowering that Azusa is putting up. We need more Sawa-chan in our lives. That’s an understatement.)
Love that expression on Yui. She looks like Olive from Popeye the Sailor Man.
Azusa’s tamed expression reminds me of Fuko’s daydreams. It’s probably not a good thing so many expressions in K-On! reminds me of Fuko, and I’m continuously terrified that Mugi will one day bring in a starfish-shaped cake.
“Dame ni naru… dame ni naru!”
Would you rather be in the SOS Brigade and play Othello against Itsuki while Mikuru serves tea with Yuki reading quietly in the background, or join the rock band club and costume rape Mio and Azusa as Mugi serves tea and cake with Ritsu taking pictures for blackmail in the background? Mmm…
I kept staring at Mugi during this scene. Love the look on her face as Yui force fed Azusa ca-kii. (Please don’t subconsciously misspell that.)
Love how Mugi is staring so intently at Mio wiping ice cream from Yui’s face. I want Kyoto to go back and remake that scene where Nagisa thinks Ryou is confessing to her with Mugi in the background somewhere. This has to happen, right? And then insert Mugi somewhere in the scene where Ryou and Kyou are taking a bath together. That should be it’s own OVA: Clannad, now with Mugi. I’d watch it.
Wait, did Mugi Vision™ just kick in?
Speaking of inserting stuff… WHAT DID THEY DO?! Kyoto hasn’t changed up an OP/ED midseason since the original Full Metal Panic, and this really isn’t the time to start again. Yes, I realize Azusa is a new member, but inserting her in half-assed ways into Cagayake! Girls is just horrible. One, you can tell she’s almost an afterthought. Two, they got rid of the best scene in the OP (the girls jumping) to insert her framed pose scene. Third, they didn’t bother editing any of the non-band scenes to insert Azusa. I should just be relieved Don’t say “lazy” wasn’t fucked around with.
(You know what would be a better idea than inserting Azusa poorly into the Cagayake! Girls OP? Make a new OP to My Love Is a Stapler or something. Think of all the CDs that could be sold and money made. After all, Cagayake! Girls only debuted at #4 on Oricon’s singles chart and sold like 60k copies in a week.)
Highly enjoyed Yui’s “Wait, she kicks my ass at guitar, but I have to still pretend I’m better than her” face. Also liked how Yui has absolutely no shame in defending her status as the lead guitar.
(Musically, Yui is a cross between Fuko and Nodame. That’s an awesome combo for comedy and either excellent, once-in-a-lifetime music or utter train wreck music. There’s just no in-between. She’s feast or famine.)
A missed emo facial distortion opportunity… sigh. *shakes head*
“Because it is fun…”
Sometimes, it’s just that easy. That’s just great life advice. I think a lot of people just plain forget what it’s like to have fun like poor Azusa. I’ve said this many times in the past, and I’ll say it again now: the key to blogging is to have fun doing it. You’re not blogging for other people. You’re blogging for yourself. And if you’re having fun doing it, others will eventually come around and respond to it. If it’s like a chore or a job or you think you’re cool because you have a blog… well… you’re not going to last long. toybox… err… Anime on My Mind… err… Derailed by Darry… err… blog好ã is now 7 years old. And I’ve enjoyed having fun all seven years.
I don’t know how much more do I have in me, but, as long as I’m having fun, I’ll continue to write. And, as long as anime continuously gives us awesome moments like Azusa putting on her nekomimi, Sawa-chan breaking out her outfit suitcase, and Don’t say “lazy”, I think there’s plenty of fun to be had.
JK: kudos to the basketball commentary btw. its just so interestingly random in a k-on review blog.
Xtian: looks like somebody has been watching the playoffs lately xDD
Something tells me neither of these two are familiar with the history of this blog. Sigh. Rookies.
Good news everybody! I finally figured out the mystery behind Mio’s mini top hat. See, there’s no why in holy hell that thing could adhere to her head based on physics. So I narrowed the possible scenarios:
1. The hat is added via CGI. Don’t say “lazy” seems like any other cheap jpop music video, so I doubt they’ll burn their budget CGI-ing a hat.
2. Copious amounts of glue/peanut butter/other adhesive substances were involved. Just to adhere a hat? Eh, doesn’t seem likely.
3. A special hair clip attaches the hat to her hair. Maybe.
But what do I think is the most possible scenario? It’s actually hiding a Futurama brain slug underneath. Look at the attachment angle of the brain slug– it’s exactly the same angle of Mio’s hat! The hat is also exactly– not too big nor too small– to house the brain slug. I also think in terms of enslaving humanity, who better to enslave the traditional male population and the non-traditional female population than Mio? In any case, I’m too paralyzed by Mio’s moe that I can’t alert the proper authorities to this prelude of an alien invasion. After all, I, for one, welcome our new bassist overlords.
27 Responses to “k-on! 9”
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I have to say that the most you can do in life alone. Just. Have. Fun.
On a different note, I love Azusa and its feel like Mio got a little sister to take care of……. QUICK……
somebody and a poster of sailor Mio with her sidekick “Neko-Azusa” lol
I have to say that the most you can do in life alone. Just. Have. Fun.
On a different note, I love Azusa and its feel like Mio got a little sister to take care of……. QUICK……
somebody make a poster of sailor Mio with her sidekick “Neko-Azusa” lol
(sry, I need to check my grammar ever now and then) :(
I loved the random images of Mick and Keith and Kurt this week, we need more random music references. I’m getting frustrated by the lack of actual music in the show. All will be forgiven if they do a full length concert for the finale or even as a DVD extra/OVA.
If it’s Mio, I don’t mind being probed. All hail the new bassist overlords!
Sigh…. it’s a cross between insulting my musical intelligence and making me peach and fuzzy on the inside every week. My drug is data analysis and equation derivation, not cake and tea, though. Mmmm delicious differential equations…..
The boring answer about the hat attachment, is that it has a ribbon you tie under your chin. A friend of mine went to Japan and bought a gothloli outfit for herself, and the tiny hat came with it.
need moar words and pics!
.
go lakers!
When Azusa called Yui “Yui-sempai”, I thought, “ah, cue the ‘immature person gets all crazy about being called sempai’ scene”. I was not disappointed. It may be predictable at times but this is a fun show.
Jason said:
> But what do I think is the most possible scenario?
> It’s actually hiding a Futurama brain slug underneath.
…does that mean that I’m legally entitled to slap ridiculously little hats off of people if I see them again in real life?
Please say yes.
I was so excited about this show when it started. It was hit or miss, but when it hit it was strong. It had so much heart and the perfect stylings to adapt the source material in a dynamite way. And then. It has just kind of floundered.
Of course, part of this could have been due to the newness of Mio’s top hat wore off and my memories of Bolivian streets full of tiny hats on the sides of women’s heads took over. There is only one type of woman that wears those little hats clipped on their head, and the entirety of that demographic is older, short, round… and so not moe.
You… You were just being sarcastic about Kyoani being responsible for the original Full Metal Panic OP/ED… Right??
I for one am outraged, outraged I tell you, that KyoAni regularly omits the occasional peek into Mugi’s train of yurithoughts as they appear in the manga. One can only hope they include a softcore all-Mugivision bonus on the DVD.
Also, I’m having a hard time figuring out where Azusa’s loyalties lie. One the one hand, she seems to respond most to Yui whenever cae-kii is offered. On the other hand she seems most attracted to Mio just because Mio is the quiet one and doesn’t bug her (just like how a cat would respond…Azu-nyan, indeed). More info is definitely needed.
(I also miss the jumping shot in the OP, but I think a second guitar-rubbing-girl shot makes up for it.)
>A special hair clip attaches the hat to her hair. Maybe.
I went over this in a previous post but…. yes. There are many ways of attaching these hats but a hair clip is most likely the way Mio’s is attached. However, I am not counting out the brain slug theory. High possible.
You finally got your wish, Jason, after one year and three months or so.
http://blogsuki.com/archives/2008/02/21/1308/
Of course you’re not alone in hoping for a nekomimi meido…
Finally, some mio competition. :/
>Kyoto hasn’t changed up an OP/ED midseason since the original Full Metal Panic
Not true. Clannad After Story’s ED “Torch” had Ushio and Tomoya’s granny added to the characters march when they first appeared.
BTW the original FMP was by Gonzo…
>“But what is this feeling of loneliness…â€
>Mio’s the best. She misses being teased and toyed around with… uh, Mio, we can fix that! Nurse Mugi, >get me a meido uniform, a mini top hat, and a fistfull of barnacles, STAT!
>(Loved how Ritsu didn’t miss a beat for her response to Mio’s melancholy…)
Wasn’t that Ritsu saying like it was Mio’s thoughts?
It’s a hair clip.
*looks in corner at collection of hairbows, mini top hats, and meido headbands*
Well, hair clip or ribbon. Oh God, why do I know this
It’s funny how I couldn’t get any of friends interested in Haruhi a few years ago, there was only passing interest in Lucky Star (except one friend who adores it), but suddenly every one of my friends has been sucked into K-ON! And it’s not that they are tolerating it, they are actively asking to watch the next episode when they come over. And they don’t even know why. But we know why. Kyoto has perfected the addictive moe formula. And they just keep adding on the sweetness. “. . . defining nothing with copious amounts of sugary, buttery, silky, Miolicious moe” indeed!
>It’s probably not a good thing so many expressions in K-On! reminds me of Fuko
Haven’t you considered that the only reason they remind you of Fuko is because she was the first ‘random comedy’ type character Kyoto Animation had the opportunity of messing around with? If you exclude Lucky Star which had a pretty different art style to their other works it’s pretty obvious they haven’t had many chances till now – they may even have chosen to animate K-ON due to it’s characters.
>Good news everybody! I finally figured out the mystery behind Mio’s mini top hat.
If you check the Umineko no Naku Koro ni anime’s explanation for Maria’s crown here’s another possibility: http://umineko.tv/web/main/character/index.html
By the way, if this adaption is half as good as the visual novel it’s going to kick Higurashi’s ass and have many ‘Battler is awesome’ moments. At the least I’m expecting you to watch it for Shannon. You never ignore a show with meido, right?
Asuza: *thinks* She’s really pretty.
Sawa-sensei:*thinks* I wonder how she’d look in nekomimi?
Win.
It’s official – Sawa-sensei has broken the K-ON!: http://www.onemanga.com/K-ON/23/06/
On the DFC angle, it was interesting that was brought up. Save for the single beach incident, its been mostly a non-issue I think. Ritsu is the “sporty tomboy” character, so her DFC is probably in that moe category. Azusa is the…more classic style.
That said, anyone else think Azusa reminds them as a cuter, more mellow, Kana?
And stuff.
This episode had way too much moe… I was able to hold it up till Azusa’s “nya,” but nekkomimi Mio pushed me over, I have now experience my second heart attack.
http://www.onemanga.com/K-ON/23/06/
Oh My Goddess…
Mugi is Sawa-chan’s “secret” financier, as well as her main co-conspirator. That’s got to be the only logical explanation for Sawa-chan’s limitless resources for cosplay outfits. And why Mugi is modeling them. And why it fits her so well, come-hither expression and all…
(Would also explain Ritsu’s disbelief in the background.)
Definitely looking forward to seeing this sequence animated. This might be the “magic bullet” that will break female viewers to the Yuri Side.
Not enough Mio rape this ep. Azusa is cute, but we need more Mio~~
The bunny band definitely looked better on Azunyan and Yui’s ability to tame her is shocking to say the least. But Azusa is lucky, Mio has to deal with Ritsu…
The mini top hat is probably a clip by itself.
Nice episode, but I found the lack of Mio disturbing. And I would like to see Ui in the club… sisterly love for the yeay.
Sometimes I swear KyoAni picked up this show just to appeal to Jason’s tastes and the break the Broken away from Minami-ke on the road to the return of Haruhi.
We’ve getting on screen symmetrical dock now even. More MiguVision. Even a Siscon.