K-ON!! - Episode 9

It seems a little early in this series to be saying this, but it's finals time for Yui and her light music club class mates - A time which sees even the usually unreliable Yui at least attempt to be rather more disciplined when it comes to being a mature and hard-working student.

Surprisingly, and despite a few decidedly Yui-like setbacks, things actually seem to be working out for her, as she puts the effort into studying give or take those occasional lapses. However, an offer from the kind old woman next door who has always looked out for Yui could well put paid to all of this hard work, consisting as it does of the chance to compete in a talent contest which takes place just a single day after the final exams finish.


Not wanting to burden the other light music club girls, but while still wanting to do something for her neighbour, Yui decides to go it alone; juggling studying and practice, or at least trying to. Eventually, Azusa steps in to help, with her predictably draconian scheduling while also offering a second pair of hands to take the strain from the talent contest to boot. Thus, we welcome the birth of YuiAzu, although we're sadly (or thankfully, perhaps) saved from an enka remix of Light and Fluffy Time come the day of the talent contest itself.

Despite my surprise at our having reached this point of the school year already (or are we going to take a leaf out of Hidamari Sketch's book and let each episode jump around within the show's overall time line?), this was a pretty decent episode of K-ON!! all in all, which contained enough moments of slapstick, one-liners and neat little gags to get a fair few laughs out of me, which isn't always something that this series can lay claim to. It was also oddly pleasant to see Yui actually succeeding and proving her worth across the board rather than simply playing the "dumb but adorable" role she so often occupies, while Azusa also seems to have come out of her shell to add an extra comic dimension to the episode this time around. Overall then, a rather pleasing watch from a series which remains as enjoyable as ever.