So, in truth, absolutely nothing has changed as K-ON!! kicks off, aside from most of the girls now enjoying their final year of high school as seniors while Asuza is now a junior. With a new school year beginning, the good news comes early for the main four girls, as they find themselves fortuitously grouped together in the same class... surely that's no coincidence?
From here, the opening episode takes on a familiar feel, with the girls performing as part of the ceremony to introduce the freshmen to the school, before going out hunting for a new member - An all-important task, considering that Asuza will otherwise be left in the club all on her own once the others graduate. As you might expect though, any recruitment drive attempted by the light music club isn't exactly successful, with numerous plans falling by the wayside and not a single new member in sight.
In a way, it's rather a shame that this series won't be introducing any new characters (at this juncture at least), but after an almost painfully sluggish start, the second half of this opening episode manages to recapture the K-ON! of old, bringing together a bit of humour with the kind of relaxed fun and entertainment we tend to expect from this particular series. Indeed, there are a few decent gags and moments on show here, not least Yui's new-found windmill guitar-playing technique which probably impressed me more than it strictly should have done. Anyway, with that awkward first half of this episode out of the way and the series now hopefully back in the swing of things, I can't help but get a slight warm and fuzzy feeling at K-ON!!'s return, additional exclamation mark and all.
Starting off from the past season, K-ON season 2 does not disappoint. The girls are their usual funny selves which makes us want to squish the snot out of 'em. Yui's partial stupidity is extremely appealing and Ritsu's accompanying humour contrasts the rest of the characters' attitudes.
ReplyDeleteK-ON being a music-type anime, it does not betray its genre. Their OP and ED showcases cute, pop, and rock at the same time. The anime also has a sort of solid plot. With humorous animes like this, sometimes the plot gets lost in the funnies. K-ON maintains a solid plot which is easy to follow. This doesn't distract from the music, characters or funnies.
All in all, a solid anime. As seeing K-ON season 1 didn't win #1 anime in other blogs that I frequent, K-ON season 2 has a pretty good chance if it keeps up the things that made it popular in the first place.
I'm up for it. The OP sounds like helium-enhanced performance a la the old Chipmunks recordings, but it & the ED are still pleasing, and it's nice to know that (unlike, say, Sora no Woto) we won't be interrupted by any major dramatic twists or world-threatening cabals. More tea, please -
ReplyDeleteThey had me at the first scene with Yui playing that guitar. Love all over again.
ReplyDeleteEven though it is rather slow, it has a similiar feel as the first ep from first season. It’s light, humorous and cute – a nice introduction back to the series. Overall it’s a pretty good episode
ReplyDeleteloved the beginning when Yui was jamming with Gitah!