And just like that, K-ON! has come to a close. The past couple of episodes went towards a more serious route, deviating from the usual random antics the girls would go through. One thing I liked about these episodes though is the character development, especially with episode 11. I have to admit, I actually shed a tear

Even though the series has come to an end, there’s a special coming up! Definitely looking forward to that. I’ll also be looking into the 4-komas to get my K-ON! fix, too. For those who have already read the 4-koma, are there any similarities/differences from the 4-koma to the anime?

Episode 10: Another Training Camp is yet again, another training camp episode: this time with Azunyan. The girls come out to the beach and stay in another one of Tsumugi’s family’s villas, this one even bigger than the last. Eyebrow-chan is definitely a baller ;x

Mio and Azusa want to go and practice (since, of course, that’s the main reason why they came out for their training camp!), but Ritsu and Yui want to go out and play. Tsumugi, being the tie-breaker, rules in favor of playing outside.

It’s funny how everything turned out, since Azusa was against it at first, but ended up having the most fun. She ended up being the most tan, afterall!

Yui showing her appreciation to Azusa for helping her out with guitar. They’re so cute ;____;

Yeah, they didn’t really get much practicing done, but at least Azusa enjoyed herself and got to know the girls more!

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Episode 11: Crisis! has to be my favorite episode in the series so far. It was a break from their usual loafing around, drinking tea, and the like. The beginning was Yui-centric, but then it quickly went towards Mio and Ritsu’s friendship.

The episode starts off with Nodoka reminding Ritsu to turn in their application form so that they can perform in the festival again. The group then realizes that they don’t have a name yet. All of them have different ideas and can’t seem to think of a name as one. Haha, “Hirasawa Yui & the Weird Sisters.” After Nodoka tells them to give back the application later, Yui chirps in, saying her guitar hasn’t been sounding good as of late. Azusa checks it out, only to see that the neck is bent, the strings are rusty, and overall, the guitar’s in bad shape. Yui’s way of taking care of her guitar is quite…unusual

They take it into the music shop to get it fixed, only for Yui to realize right after she gets it back that you have to pay for maintenance. Luckily, Tsumugi was around and, she being the daughter of the owner of the store, bailed out Yui from paying.

Azunyan tries to save the day as Ritsu and Mio start arguing. Ritsu started getting jealous over Mio hanging out with Nodoka more since they’re in the same class, and things escalated from there. After their argument, Ritsu stopped showing up to school. Everyone later found out she ended up with a fever and couldn’t come to practice.

Mio comes by to Ritsu’s to talk things over. She even tells her she misses her ;_____; Aw, Mio. With a little consolation and love, everything is patched up. All is well in the K-ON family.

Because Ritsu wasn’t at school, the application form still wasn’t turned in. Nodoka even helped out, backing them up as they pleaded the student council for an extension. Ritsu then realized how much of a good person Nodoka really was. As for their band name, Sawako-sensei ended up picking it out for them since they were so indecisive. After School Tea Time has a nice ring, don’t you think? At the end, however, Yui is seen sneezing. D:

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Episode 12: K-On! picks up with Yui being extremely sick, fever and all. She probably got sick due to being in a yukata for too long.

Poor Yui. She still sleeps with her guitar even when she’s sick.

It’s cute when Ui tries to take Yui’s place in the club, disguising herself as Yui so that they can all play in the festival. However, she slips up because her guitar playing is way too accurate and she couldn’t say Azusa’s nickname Yui does end up showing up, but is still extremely sick.

Yui finally gets better the day of the performance and is able to play with the band. Azunyan was worried the most ;_; Everybody’s getting ready until Yui realizes her guitar’s not there. Ui ended up taking it home and leaving it there. For the first performance, Sawako took Yui’s place while Yui ran back home to get her beloved guitar.

Yui reminisces on the way to and from her house, thinking about how she’s finally found her place and that her future self need not worry. When she finally arrives on stage, she starts crying in front of everyone, worried that she keeps troubling the group. Ritsu reassures her that everyone likes her, followed by the crowd shouting her name. They go on to have another performance with Yui giving a little shpeal in the beginning, telling them the story of the beginnings of the light music club and all the memories they’ve had. The school festival had become their Budoukan.

FUWA FUWA TIME ENCORE!

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Was anybody bothered by the quality of this particular episode? I didn’t seem to mind as much. I actually enjoy quality animation ;x hahaha.

Any final thoughts? Discussion? Anything you like and/or disliked about the series? Share!

With that said, now to look forward to the special!

Before continuing on with other posts, I really wanted to squeeze this in. I finally have some art! Azunyan is here to help me out with that.

I’m in the process of catching up on commissions and will be finishing them up as soon as possible. I’ve updated the art section so that it’s reflective of what’s posted in here. I’ll post again when I’m available for commissioning. I’m excited to start on new projects

Here’s Fujiwara no Mokou of Touhou 7: Imperishable Night. One of my most favorite Extra Stage bosses and the main reason why I got into Touhou in the first place. For more info, please watch this:

Yeah, I love her ;_;

Another piece of her, this time done in Tegaki E. Anybody out there have a Tegaki E account? If you do, you can follow me here. I’m going to try and utilize it more often. I used it a lot when I was really into Gundam 00 :3

Recently got back into Gaia Online just for the heck of it. Last I was active was around the end of 2007. Things sure have changed since then You’ll find me in the Art Shops & Requests/Art Auctions forums. As for my username? It’s “two bell silence”

An overdue commission for my friend, Shiro Nishida, staying classy as always. Working on his 2nd commission as we speak

And lastly, I’m reworking one of my original characters, which I hope to have as my blog mascot. The last time I really drew her was back in 2007 *___*; You can view pictures of her in the original portion of the art section.

After watching 3 episodes of K-ON!, I really wanted to catch up in time for episode 11, so I ended up having a marathon for the remaining 5 episodes, witnessing more Mio-teasing and an arrival of a new member. I watched 10 already, but I’ll bundle that up with episode 11 once I catch the subs for it.

Before I go on, I just wanted to note that I changed the layout’s theme, changed the header (and possibly wanting to do rotating headers; if anybody can point me in the right direction as to going about doing this would be appreciated), and added a couple of counters. I’m really happy: this theme allows me to have threaded comments! Comment Luv is also fixed, too. Hooray! Also! I’m still down for exchanging links and may be looking for more hostees. I have way too much web space I’ll have more information in the next post.

Episode 6: School Festival! revolves around the group’s first gig at their school festival. Mio’s worried that today’s the day and really wants to practice before the actual gig, but everybody is preoccupied. She goes to inquire with Tsumugi, but has to endure through their class’ haunted house. They eventually get some practice done, but Mio’s still jittery and nervous that she’s going to be singing in front of a ton of people. Poor Mio ;_; Prior to the actual performance, The girls encourage her to fight on and do her best as they see her secretly practicing by herself.

Mio does not enjoy haunted houses D:

Even in their childhood, Mio was easily embarrassed. Little Ritsu’s so adorable!

The show was a great success! However, Mio accidentally trips before leaving the stage, exposing her light blue & white-striped panties and ends up getting a fan club because of it.

Here’s a Youtube video of their performance of “Fuwa Fuwa Time:”

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Episode 7: Christmas! is, well, about Christmas! The episode starts off with Yui and Ui in their childhood celebrating Christmas and Ui wishing for a White Christmas. She does get it, only to find out Yui took out stuffing from a pillow and decorated a pillow. Totally something Yui would do, haha.

It’s the group’s first Christmas together and Ritsu plans a Christmas party for everyone, originally wanting to have it at Tsumugi’s place. They end up celebrating at Yui’s house, including Yui’s childhood friend Nodoka and an unsuspecting Sawako. They also have a gift exchange.

Yui and Ui keep each other warm Yui lost her mitten and Ui lost her scarf. They’re so cute! In the end, they end up getting each other their lost accessories.

Never trust Yui with cooking

Sawako gets punched in the face by Ritsu’s gift, only to explain that this is the best Christmas ever! Sawako’s such a strange character.

The group gets together for the new year at the shrine, giving one another well wishes for the upcoming year.

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Episode 8: Freshman Reception! starts off with Ui getting accepted to Sakura High and also introduces Azusa Nakano. The group find out their class assignments and Mio is the only one separated from everyone else. She’s afraid that she doesn’t know anybody in her class, only to find out Nodoka is also in her class and is relieved.

Eager to get new members but not knowing how, Sawako gets them to promote using animal costumes. Personally, I’d be worried if giant animals started approaching me with flyers, but that’s just me.

Ui and her friend make their way up to the music room, only to see Sawako racing down the stairs, dragging Mio along with her.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t garner Ui’s friend’s interest, but they did perk Azusa’s interest. The group does a gig for freshman orientation, only to find out that Yui suddenly forgets the lyrics of the song she was supposed to sing. Mio ends up filling in for her, despite being embarrassed from their last performance.

Amazed at their performance, Azusa goes over to the music room, wanting to become a member of the group. Of course, Ritsu, the president, is extremely ecstatic over this.

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Lastly, Episode 9: New Club Member! is Azusa-centric, as she’s the newest addition to the family. It turns out that her guitar-playing skills are exceptional, even better than Yui’s! However, Azusa looks up to Yui as her senior and loves her guitar-playing. Little does she know that Yui’s just playing by ear. She’s eager to practice and get some work done, but is disappointed at the fact that everyone is relaxing, drinking tea and eating cake. She’s angered at first, but…

Nobody can resist Tsumugi’s cakes

AZUNYAN~

How to mute!

After hanging around them a bit more, Azusa starts to question why she even joined the Light Music Club when all they do is lay around and eat cake all day. She takes a hiatus and ponders deeply about it, trying to figure out why Mio hadn’t joined an additional band and why they play better than some of the bands that play professionally at clubs. In the end, she comes back to the music room to see all of them performing together and Mio explains that it’s fun when all of them are together. This alone is enough for Azunyan to stay with the club

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I’m contemplating on what I want my next post to be after I watch episode 11. Should it be filled with random, fun photos made with Photofunia inspired by Gordon? Should it be an art dump (I’ve finally finished some pieces! One which includes the newly-designed header; hooray for Touhou)? Or should it be about online presence (That I’ll get into more detail eventually; I just took a trip down memory lane and my, was it mind-boggling and hilarious)?

Nevertheless, I’ll get to it! Till the next post!

In an attempt to get caught up with K-ON!, I’ve embarked on a marathon full of tea, cakes, guitar-playing, and moe. Episode 10 is the most latest episode! Where have I left off last I watched this series? Episode 2 Time to get crackin’!

Episode 3: Special Lessons! involves midterm season and Yui flunking her midterm due to her getting distracted and playing her guitar rather than studying. She tells everyone that if she doesn’t pass her retake, she won’t be able to partake in club activities, rendering the club nonexistant. In order to save both Yui and the club, Mio and company help her study so she can pass her retake and make sure the club stays alive.

Yui’s room often reminds me of my room on a daily basis

If studying were only that easy…

lol, Yui passes with flying colors.

In the end, Yui ends up getting a 100 on her retake, but forgets everything that she’s learned on the guitar, exclaiming that there is such thing as an x and y chord. Oh, Yui.

[nggallery id=5]Episode 4: Training Camp! starts off with Mio finding a box of things from the previous keion which included a photo album and a cassette tape. Inspired by all of this, she proposes an idea to the rest of the members to have a training camp over the summer in order to prepare for the school festival. Everybody’s scared about the cost of traveling until Tsumugi says she so happens to have a villa near the beach. When they get there, Mio is set on practicing and training; however, Yui and Ritsu think otherwise and persuade Tsumugi and Mio to go out and have some fun.

KONATA LIVES

Obligatory oppai shot.

I-I seriously couldn’t stop laughing after I saw this part. Mio, you crack me up.

S-so moe ;_;

The episode ends with Yui epicly playing against a display of fireworks and suddenly playing amazingly on the guitar, even learning how to use vibrato! How in the world… D: That girl amazes me.

[nggallery id=6]Episode 5: Advisor! gives a whole new light to the music teacher Sawako Yamanaka’s character. An alumna of their high school, she was also a member of the school’s keion and really into the death metal scene. After finding out that their club was not officially recognized by the student council due to them not handing in a club form (in which Ritsu is to blame for getting distracted with cake) and not having an advisor, the crew set off to find Sawako and ask her to become their advisor. However, Mio recognizes her as a member of the previous keion, seeing her in a picture from an old photo album. Ritsu uses this as a way to get Sawako to become their advisor, promising to not leak her past if she agrees to being their advisor.

Both Sawako and Mio are horrified at Sawako’s death metal-screaming.

Although the club has music down, they had yet to find a vocalist and write lyrics for their son. Mio writes up lyrics for their original piece, titled “Fluffy Fluffy Time.” Ritsu objects to this monstrosity; however, everyone else seems to be fine with it, even death metal-loving (and sugary sweet-loving) Sawako gives her approval.

Yui is initially set on performing vocals for their song for the school festival, but she can’t handle playing guitar and singing at the same time. Sawako offers to put Yui through rigorous training so that she would be able to perform both tasks at once.

Unfortunately, Sawako overworked Yui and her voice pretty much gave out, which means Mio is the vocalist!

[nggallery id=7]I’ll catch the next batch of episodes tomorrow and do some more posts. So far, I’m enjoying it! My favorite part thus far has to be Mio’s “moe moe kyun~” but as for favorite characters, Yui has to be #1. She’s absolutely dorky, ditzy, and carefree. Plus, I can’t wait to see how she develops her guitar-playing skills.

Until the next batch of episodes!

I’d probably react the same way if I were to get something that I always wanted

This week’s K-ON revolved around the acquisition of Yui’s guitar. Definitely lots of Mio and Yui in this one! For those following the series, what do you think so far?

Yui as a child always gets me. She’s so adorable! This is explaining how ever since kindergarten, she’s always lived a carefree lifestyle. It seemed more like randomly spacing out at times than carefree

The thought of performing guitar and harboring so much pressure as a guitarist made Mio’s head burst Which is why she chose to play bass instead.

As for Ritsu, she can’t play instruments like the guitar and the piano. It’s too complicated for her

S-SO CUTE *_*

Yui didn’t realize that guitars cost a hefty amount, the cheapest being around 50,000 yen. She asks Ritsu whether they can use the club’s allowance to help get the guitar. The answer is no ;x To remedy that situation, Yui asks for a 50,000 yen advance from her mother so she can go get the guitar at the mall.

Unfortunately, Yui has a habit of getting distracted easily and they end up doing everything but look for the guitar They actually end up looking at the music store and the guitar that Yui wants is nice and sparkly; however, it costs an even heftier 250,000 yen.

Mio wouldn’t do too well in a fast-food chain restaurant for a part-time job. In order to help pay for Yui’s guitar, the girls end up getting part-time jobs being traffic examiners, recording how many cars pass by in a particular intersection.

*__________* s-so cute

Tsumugi: princess of the highlands!

Yui is entertained by Tsumugi’s long locks of hair flowing in the wind

Yui promises the girls that she’ll practice her newly bought guitar every single day. Such determination!

Being a traffic examiner isn’t as fun as it seems to be. I’d get exhausted too if I were to just sit there and record every car. I constantly need something to do if I’m at work.

Yui was about to leave the girls; however, she ended up getting distracted and started dancing for no particular reason. Haha, Yui’s starting to become a favorite of mine

The girls go back to the music shop to look at the guitars again and see that Yui’s still interested in the shiny guitar she set her eyes on the first day. Impressed with Ritsu’s skill to bargain for her second-hand drum set, Tsumugi tries it out and goes to the store clerk and asks for a discount. Turns out she’s the daughter of the company’s president, which resulted in the guitar’s price whittling down to only 50,000 yen! It must be the eyebrows.

It sure is pretty

Yui: the next Guitar Hero!

She was so excited about having the guitar that she actually slept with it. I would’ve been afraid of breaking the guitar if I slept next to it! D:

Yui brings her guitar to the club room to show it off. Curious, the girls ask her to play something since she vowed to practice once she got the guitar. Unfortunately, all she could play was a really simple melody. Hey, at least you got to start somewhere, right? Also, Yui learned what happens if you unplug your guitar from the amplifier without lowering the guitar, hahaha.

COMING SOON TO BUDOKAN!

I didn’t realize this series was all hyped up until now! I’ve been so focused on Gundam 00 and everything else that I didn’t really keep up with upcoming anime news. I decided to pick this up since this is KyoAni’s latest series and the premise of the series seemed interesting – 4 girls getting together to revive the “karui ongaku” (light music club, hence the name K-ON) on campus without much knowledge on playing the instruments they pick up.

I’ve been meaning to pick up Clannad, too. Never got past the first episode, but I’m willing to give the series another chance. For those who’ve seen it, do you recommend it?

Enter the main character, Yui Hirasawa. She’s already seen running late to her first day in high school, only to have read the time wrong and arriving on time, lol

Yui’s trying to decide what club she’s going to join, but hasn’t decided what she wants to be in, despite being mobbed by clubs left and right. Her friend chastises her for it ;_; Poor Yui.

The starry-eyed Ritsu is shown trying to get Tsumugi to join the light music club. Ritsu and Mio joined the light music club and are in search of at least two more people to keep the club alive. Tsumugi is the 3rd to join them even though her original intent was to join the chorus club.

Ritsu’s interpretation of her and Mio’s promise to make a band.

According to Mio, that was all in Ritsu’s head

The carefree Yui is still deciding on what club to join. Decisions, decisions. I wonder which club she decided on joining!

Tsumugi cracks me up. The whole segment of her trying out fast food for the first time was hilarious!

The only instrument Yui knows how to play: castanets. B’awwwww ;_;

Looks like she finally decided on joining!

LOL DETROIT METAL CITY. Anybody recommend the series and/or the live action?

Yui starts bawling after confessing that she can’t play guitar even though she wrote it down on her application.

Mio, Ritsu, and Tsumugi give Yui a brief demo of how they sound altogether. What is Yui’s verdict?

LOL

Regardless, she dives in and joins, reviving the light music club and uniting them as a band. Picture time!

Here is the breakdown of the members:

Ritsu on drums. Definitely has a fiery passion especially for keeping the light music club alive.

Yui on guitar! Wait, Yui on guitar?! I’m curious as to how she’ll develop as a guitar player, considering she has no experience whatsoever with it.

Lookin’ good, Tsumugi. I actually like the fact that she has thick eyebrows

Lastly, Mio on bass. Already a favorite among watchers, she’s quite a cutie. The bass is actually one of my favorite instruments. Songs with an intricate bassline =

I’ll be keeping this on my watchlist. Don’t disappoint me, KyoAni!