Between Linux and Anime

Kind of like Schrodinger's Cat

K-ON!! 04-05 ~ KyoAni Honki Moodo?

It’s funny how when I’m being steamrolled over by work I have plenty of post ideas that I could not get out due to said steamroller but when I’m suddenly released I just find myself blanked out, not knowing where and how to start. Anyways, here’s me finally making a heroic attempt at breaking out of my quasi-hiatus. Hopefully the posts would come rolling out as per normal after this :P

Of course, close your eyes and close your ears you know I was bound to say something about K-ON S2. And what better time than now while Dustin has his back turned and I get free immunity from being blasted to bits by his promised criticisms :D Yes! As you must have inferred by now, I’ve been enjoying the show quite immensely. I was sure KyoAni would have little trouble carrying over smoothly from season 1 (which never really “concluded” anyway), but I was somewhat surprised at how “levelled up” the new K-ON is. It would seem like KyoAni, having become aware of the K-ON franchise’s power as a cash cow, has decided to give it a good investment boost. Now if only Haruhi S2 had been as much of a level up from its predecessor. Anyway…

Kyoto! Again! I gotta start counting all the anime school trips that end up at Kyoto. Well, not like it’s a bad thing or anything – quite the contrary. I had the priviledge of paying the place a brief visit once, and I like it a fair bit. Happy recollections of Lucky Star and Seto no Hanayome are also welcome bonuses.

Well, Mugi monkey-feeding is a little less epic than Tsukasa’s deer r@ep, but Ritsu’s terrible kansai-ben speaking attempts and her eventual epic pwnage by Mugi do go some way to make up for it. Incidentally, it is in part to actually understand language jokes like these that I started picking up Moonspeak.

No money skimping here. Look at them glorious waters.

You could get disappointed in the real life originals after seeing some of these stuff. I don’t need to tell you that production values have kicked up a couple of notches and then some. Almost every episode so far could probably have rivaled the best of Haruhi S2 in terms of animation and art quality. Really pretty stuff. I always digged the random stills they used to show in S1 in between events and during insert songs and such, and boy have they been given a gorgeous facelift this time around.

Season 1:
Tasteful, but evidently the quicker job

Season 2:
Dayamn

For that matter some of them aren’t even exactly “stills” anymore.

And if you think the stills are over-the-top, pay attention to the transition effects. Someone just went nutshit over them, I tell you.

Our girls though, remain just as we always knew them.

She understood my Kansai ben1!!

Ritsu’s still Ritsu.

Mugi’s still Mugi (epic pillow fight!).

Yui’s…. definitely still Yui.

Let’s all do the v thing and make Sawa-chan sensei and the rest wait!

And Mio’s still.. wait what? Well mannered, self conscious Mio was in on the crime without even a half hearted, stuttering protest?

Mio? Happily trotting along with the racket? The Mio I knew would’ve been trying gamely to blush-yell her unruly companions into order, even if she knew deep inside that she really wanted to be playing around with them.

The Mio I knew would’ve been the only one still “awake”, looking confused and desperately flustered. Since when has she learned how to be a proper accomplice anyway? Yui and Ritsu must finally be getting through to her.

Somehow I found myself amused in an oddly warm kind of way at Mio’s akward outbursts of laughter. Mio had always been the “nay-sayer” of the four, constantly lamenting and facepalming the outrageous exploits of her fellows. It’s nice to see her laugh in such a loose and relaxed way for a change, especially at the end of the episode in the train. To be true, I’m not sure how I feel about the apparent victory of “Yui-ism” being portrayed here, but I guess I could live with it in a slice of life anime.

Didn’t know you had such an active imagination there Azusa

Speaking of Yui-ism, Azusa too seems to have somewhat given in to it. If episode 5 said anything about her, it is that she really does like spending time with her senpai after all. Especially Yui, much as her rational self might try to deny it.

Not sure what I feel about this little performance they hacked together. Decent I think, but doesn’t quite have it (though that sunset there is just so totally overblown hot!). We’re gonna need better songs before long, KyoAni. Creeping up on the halfway mark and still no sign of an impending performance? Well, at least the BGM stays good.

HOLY SHIT DID SHE JUST BLURT OUT “NYAN” !? Really getting into the role of Yui’s pet now aren’t we Azusa. She’s even comparing you to the turtle thing now.

As detrimental as Yui-ism is to useful work though, it does flaunt a power for forging fondness and camaraderie. The powerful sense of happy belonging demonstrated here by the two people who were initially the most reluctant participitants is K-ON!!’s testimony to that. Truly, this is an anime about taking things easy, and laughing and taking delight in the little, foolish things.

On a side note I think it’s nice that we can actually start talking about Mio as a dynamic (albeit simple) character now, instead of the unadulterated factory of moe she had been around this time last season. Glad we got past that. Well, mostly.

Yes, Sawa-chan sensei is succumbing too.

Oh, and the ED is damn awesome. I think Don’t Say Lazy set a ridiculously high bar back in the day, and I gotta hand it to KyoAni for actually parring it. I really like the way KyoAni plays with the facial expressions and eye movements in the mv. Needless to say, a leading candidate for Anisong of the Season. The OP could’ve been pretty great too really – if Yui hadn’t gone completely chipmunk on it.

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9 Comments

  1. Passerby

    As much as I would like to take vengeance upon you for ruining the “Those Who Talked Last” side bar on Yin no Piano again, and as much as K-ON’s philosophical strawmen bug me, I am not actually watching K-ON this season, and in any case Dustin is in a much better position to hurl whatever criticism he promised at you. If he were actually around.

  2. Jason "moofang"

    As much as I would like to take vengeance upon you for ruining the “Those Who Talked Last”

    But but but, I only dared commit such a daring act after having noted that dabookman had already ruined your streak (again) anyway D:

  3. Psht, it hardly matters now because I have already found your blog post Jason. My alarms went off when they found K-on in your RSS feed allowing me to turn my back quickly to it’s proper position so my eyes could stare accusingly at your prose.

    Actually K-On this season hasn’t been all that bad. They haven’t been all that blatent with the Yui-ism (Way to name that philosophy btw) and they’ve been more true to the slice of life philosophy. Unfortunately it’s taken them until this episode to actually put the band performing in the show, but my favorite moment was actually Ui and Yui singing together on that rainy day. It was a great moment of how music can still be fun even outside bands. I also really liked Azu-Nyan’s jab at Ui making Yui into a dependent (She voiced my thoughts). It’s not my favorite show this season, but it’s not my least favorite either. I actually feel really sorry for Mio and Mugi at this point. I feel like the other characters continue to have developing personalities while those two are just stuck in this static depth-less phase. It’s a little sad really, but it’s not so untrue of real life. Still, I just can’t board the Mio-fandom boat.

    All this to say you’re safe from my rant today. You laid good evidence and even considered the counter arguments with your play to Yui-ism. A well argued point drawn no criticism only further discussion :)!

  4. Jason "moofang"

    Oh noes you’re back! :D Haha. Personally I find Mio more likable this season. To some extent I’d rather she get “converted” to Yui-ism than she stay “blushing serious-girl that gets embarassed and scared all the time”.

    So they finally have a band performance in the latest ep? That’ll be something to look forward to :)

  5. I think I’m an utter embarrassment to every slowpoke in the universe by saying that I’ve just finished watching these two episodes. :p

    Anyway while we’re on the subject of K-ON!, 5 episodes in and I can safely say I’m still on the bandwagon for this show. Ahaha humor, check. LOL stupidity (in a good way), check. Not a tiny whiff of stinky melodrama, check (although it’s still too early to bet on this). Looking good there, K-ON. Looking good (Yes, I’m not setting my expectations too high yet thus the low number of criteria at this point :p). I kind of think the flow and atmosphere of the series this time round feel a lot more natural compared to the previous season, especially with regards to the comedy which seems more smoothly executed in Season 2. In Season 1, it’s as if the writers were trying too hard to shove every imaginable joke n’ trope into our faces. For instance, there’s only so much you can do by exploiting Mio’s moe factor over and over again like it’s nobody’s business. I mean, come on! Give the poor girl a break, starting with a curb on the “Scare Mio to death” campaign! Hence…

    I think it’s nice that we can actually start talking about Mio as a dynamic (albeit simple) character now, instead of the unadulterated factory of moe she had been around this time last season

    …why I’m very grateful for this fact. I want to see Mio grow. I want to see Mio break out of her stereotypical shell of being just the shy girl plagued by chronic bad luck with all things scary. Well, she can keep those traits but it would be nice to see some other sides of her as well. Me thinks they should pay more attention to her “kakkoii sempai” side -> KyoAni really needs to adapt the Valentine’s Day and Romeo + Juliet school play chapters.

  6. Jason "moofang"

    And I must be penning the slowpokiest comment reply ever ;) Personally I thought K-ON!! has been pretty fantastic this season. The first half had a decent number of enjoyable episodes, and the second half actually gets better.

    You must have heard by now that KyoAni adapted the Romeo and Juliet arc (hurrah!!) I actually like Mio’s character a lot now, it’s nice that she essentially stays timid all the way through but instead of freaking out and making moe noises every time she actually starts making attempts to overcome it. Laudable, laudable. I think I’m gonna quite miss this show when it’s done.

    Thanks for reading + commenting :) And sorry bout my super-slowpoke reply.

  7. Cheese

    What’s the name of this show

  8. WtfCheese

    What’s the name of this show man

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