Thursday, September 16, 2010

K-ON!! 24 [END]

it ends. excluding the extra episodes to come, this is the end of the long, and rather influential series.

Having decided to meet up earlier before heading to school for the graduation ceremony, Yui was the only one that was late. The others waited for her and when its turns out that she had woke up early to play her Gitah and had lost track of time, with that, the girls rush to their last day in high school. In their class, Sawa-chan had came to make sure everyone was prepared and ready for graduation but the keion girls have yet to arrive. Meanwhile, Azusa's class were given flowers, just like the other classes, where they'll give it to their seniors to celebrate their graduation. While heading to the venue, Azusa, Ui and Jun then sees the girls rushing up to their own classroom and while looking at them, Azusa did not realise a wall in front of her and hit her forehead, injuring it as a result. The girls then arrived in class, but Yui had tore her tights which Nodoka had a replacement, probably with Ui having a sixth sense about how things are going to turn out. Another classmate then hands Ritsu a board where everyone had written their messages for Sawa-chan, treating it as a surprise gift for her. Luckily enough for Azusa, her bangs were long enough to keep her bandage away from sight and which it properly patched up, they headed out to give their flowers to the graduating seniors. While in the auditorium for the graduation ceremony, Yui had no choice but to hide the board in her shirt but that prompted Sawa-chan to worry about her as she thinks that she was hiding something else. Mio realises that they could be in trouble and passed the message that Sawa-chan was worried about Yui but when the message reached Yui, it had transformed into "Sawa-chan has failed" instead, which sounded similar but confused Yui as she didn't quite understand what Mio was trying to tell her. Back in their classes, Sawa-chan gives out their graduation certificates and wish them all the best for their future and she was very happy about each and everyone as this was the first class she was in charge in as well. It was then time to hand the board to Sawa-chan which made her realise that the thing Yui was hiding during the ceremony was the board all along; she really appreciated it and tells everyone to come back once in a while. Azusa was meanwhile daydreaming until Jun managed to snap her out of it and tells her that she was leaving for the Jazz club. Ui then tells Azusa that she'd be celebrating for Yui's graduation and it would seem wierd for her not to see her sister wearing the same uniform as her again. Azusa then grabs Ui's hands, telling her that she'll celebrate their graduation as well and they should send them off with a smile. Back in the class, the keion girls were having their pictures taken by people who love their music and would hope that they continue to play music even after they go into University. Before heading to the music room, Nodoka separates from them and Yui reconfirms with Nodoka that they'd walk home together that day which Nodoka agrees. At the same time, Sawa-chan walks into the now empty classroom and thinks about all the time spent here and as she looks back, she begins to tear when she sees the entire chalkboard filled with messages to her as well. Azusa later arrives at the music room and apologies for not being able to serve them tea. She sits down and gives them each a letter she had wrote for them and while congratulating them for graduating, the truth that they are leaving sank in when she sees their graduation certificates. Azusa then whispers that she doesn't want them to graduate and leave and would want to them to stay on with her; and she'd not bug them to stop drinking tea or clean the room if they continue to stay. Azusa then breaks down and Yui rushes forward to comfort her and Azusa apologises again for crying as she had wanted to send them off while smiling. Yui later gives Azusa a photo of them with a small cut-out print of Azusa sticked onto it, and also a flower with five petals, representing the Keion-bu. Mio then tells Azusa that they had all prepared a song for her and performs for her. With the lyrics of the song, Azusa is touched and tears began to well up in her eyes and when the song ended, she stood up to applaud, causing a drop of tear to land on the photograph given to her. Sawa-chan and Nodoka later steps into the music room as well and the keion-bu decides to perform for them as well and its fuwa fuwa time. The End.

the series has really came a long way, ever since it first started on Season 1. I was first captured by how they delivered their 1st ED, Don't Say Lazy, got hooked to it and started watching ever since. Story-wise on the 1st season was somewhat better than the 2nd season, until about the last few episodes where the situation starts to feel heavy and it was the end of the girl's high school journey. Seeing how the manga had ended, it does seem to be pretty much similar to the animation's end, Azusa in tears... honestly, it felt sour watching that. Having the thought that being left alone after all your close seniors graduate isn't something that one can overcome so easily. I mean come on, just look at the time they had spent together, it was indeed, a tight bond that had to be broken when graduation arrived. Sawa-chan had her emotional side as well with wishes from the students being given to her, and they were her first graduating batch as well. In the manga however, Mio did teared later after holding it in in the school. Leaving that aside, the song they had wrote for Azusa was just marvelous, the lyrics had such deep meaning to it and i was really touched by it as well:



what did spur me on to continue watching the series was the songs, really. They had all some rather interesting lyrics but most of it had rather deep meaning to it, just like U and I. Clearly enough, their last ED song, No, Thank You!, had the quality of Don't Say Lazy back into the spotlight. Ritsu with her hair down in the ED is already full of win :D a more crucial part of the song they had sang to Azusa is that everyone sang, yes, everyone did, if you had seen or heard closely. Seeing that Azusa is someone close to them, Mio really didn't felt shy while singing it. It must be difficult for Azusa to send them off and she'll probably won't see them much often and it was, too, touching when she became honest about how she felt about their graduation when she saw their graduation certificates. With the manga ending the entire K-On! series, a 3rd series is rather impossible, and i wouldn't think it would be practical as well, this was quite the ending i think i quite appreciate, definitely NOT because Azusa teared OK? it someone made me feel that it had placed a full stop to such a rather wonderful series. All in all, this is a great series to enjoy as a slice-of-life (or you're just looking for moeblobs). Their songs are hits and i enjoy listening to every single track of their song, especially how the ED are animated and their accompanying songs as well. K-ON! has left a deep track in the animation "world" (which it did), all the hooha going around when it's approaching its end and how some other people reacted to it as moe overdose. At least they didn't focus too much on FS, and luckily, they didn't. For myself, this 2 wonderful seasons did make me enjoyed it and i laughed through it, heard their live (at AFA 09), felt sour with it, and nonetheless enjoyed their songs. It would be a series i'd miss watching and definitely something worth remembering. The K-ON! legacy has now come to an end. A full stop is placed in the series and its really, the end.

Kei-On! SAYONARA!

P.S. well, literally, IT IS the end for the story, but there's still an extra episode coming along.

P.S.S would go on a hiatus after the current series i'm blogging ends, all the way till around mid/early Oct as i'll be focusing on my exams so till then! :) which also means that K-ON!! 25 might not be blogged. Note: *might*