[Infinite Zenith]

2011's K-On! The Movie acted as a swan song for the K-On! franchise, providing one final chance for Houkago Tea Time to go on an adventure with one another before the next step of their journey began. When the movie premièred, it was to overwhelmingly positive reception, and I myself had noted the movie excelled in its aim of portraying how a token of gratitude would go on to set in motion events that left Yui, Ritsu, Mio, Mugi and Azusa with lifelong memories of the time they'd spent together. While it is understandable that K-On! The Movie is not going to be for everyone, one egregious rant stands out for me; I'd been cleaning out my hard drive and found the following passage stored to a text file. Upon reading through it, memories returned to me: I'd been taken aback that anyone could agree with it, and I remember now that I'd saved said rant with the intention of refuting every point that was raised, but never got around to it until now. I wished to revisit this exercise with the aim of trying to gain a better understanding of what about this rant, if any, makes it worthy of even the remotest bit of consideration.

K-ON! has always been one of the most disingenuous anime franchises of all time to me. If there is any big reason why this movie ultimately falls flat on its face it is because they try to strike a sentimental chord about the nostalgic high school years in a franchise whose sincerity has gone completely bankrupt a long time ago. Not to mention the amount of distraction that is caused by what ultimately felt like a minor side point to this story, their trip to London.

This rant's unlearned, crude voice makes it clear the writer had no intention of understanding K-On! The Movie, and right out of the gates, this confrontational voice indicated an irrational hatred towards an anime that had found considerable success both in Japan and amongst international viewers. Viewers generally report K-On! as being an immensely enjoyable series whose charm lay precisely in how sincere the series was about portraying a journey of discovery, friendship and above all, appreciation for the people in one's life who've made so much possible.

Seriously what was the point of this movie in ever venturing off to London? Half the movie, if not maybe a little more actually takes place back in Japan. The time they do spend in London is just waltzing around random parts of the city and hardly utilizing any elements of the culture and setting for the purposes of the movie. When they did their little performances, one was at a sushi bar and the other was at a Japanese cultural fair. Home away from home? Give me a break. This movie never needed to go to London to do what it did because it never actually really used the goddamn setting in anyway meaningful. The focus here is completely off.

From a writer's perspective, the choice to send Yui and the others to London had been motivated by the fact that Houkago Tea Time's music was very much inspired by the likes of Jimmi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, David Bowie, The Beatles and numerous others. Having Yui and the others go here was to pay homage to the fact that they'd been inspired by rock and roll, applying their own style towards things. For Yui and the others, their in-story explanation for London is simple enough – it is a happy accident born out of a wish to keep their surprise for Azusa a proper surprise. This typifies the easy-go-lucky, free-style approach Houkago Tea Time takes towards whatever they do.

In this way, exploring London, its attractions and culture was never intended to be K-On! The Movie's primary objective. Instead, the musical history and backdrop of London is meant to provide Yui, Ritsu, Mio and Mugi a more subtle source of inspiration: as they travel, they begin to really see anew why Azusa is so special. The setting was therefore utilised in a meaningful way, to demonstrate that Houkago Tea Time is who they are no matter where they are in the world, because it is the people, and not the place, that makes them unique. The focus, if any thing, is spot on, and London serves to provide a minor bit of inspiration for each of Yui, Ritsu, Mio and Mugi to help them with their intended graduation gift for Azusa.

I also have to note why people in London were portrayed like the biggest weirdos ever. I mean c'mon now, I know Japanese people tend to not be very good with foreign countries but this sort of ridiculing portrayal of foreigners has got to stop. I usually forgive TV more for this since well they don't got the budget and stuff, but this is a goddamn movie and they can't actually do a better job here? Worst the engrish still exists and they can't get proper english speakers? Give me a break.

There was no need at all to insult the staff on the film, and this claim is outrageously wrong. In fact, this paragraph alone invalidates the entire rant, and it is only out of my generosity that I've read through the entire thing. The film had English speakers playing the London citizens: Jon Klein voices the taxi driver, while Kate Mills plays the Ibis receptionist. Meanwhile, Christoffer Rudquist is the sushi restaurant manager. A look around finds that these individuals are competent English speakers, and a behind-the-scenes notes that director Naoko Yamada had wanted their rate of speech and pronunciations rendered accessible towards Japanese viewers. As it is, the dialogue is acceptable and understandable given that the film was aimed at the Japanese market, first and foremost. Moreover, the London citizens were presented in a completely positive fashion: they are friendly and helpful, as well as being very receptive to Japanese culture.

If this movie was supposed to be about how they wanted to say goodbye to the their good friend, then good grief did they go about in the most roundabout manner possible. It does not help that most of movie is pretty much recycling the same old jokes and personality quirks that have long since gone past their life time of freshness and amusement.

Every paragraph demonstrates that the ranter has no understanding of K-On! The Movie: the film wasn't about saying "goodbye", it was about saying "thank you". It is a common misconception that K-On!'s anime was a pure comedy that necessarily needed to be about the jokes: the original 4-koma manga was a comedy, but with Naoko Yamada directing, she had intended the series to deal in some important life lessons, too. The whole of K-On!! was about being mindful of all people do for others and properly expressing gratitude for this. K-On! The Movie is similarly an extension that shows how "Tenshi ni Fureta yo!" came about. The song had moved Azusa deeply in the second season, but the anime did give the impression the song had materialised from nowhere. K-On! The Movie rectifies this – a fateful trip to London has Azusa planning the trip and keeping everyone organised, allowing everyone to see what Azusa had been doing for Houkago Tea Time ever since she joined.

And like always this franchise hasn't been about music. That became very clear in its very first season and it still is clear now. I never got the impression that the music was something deeply important to the character, rather it was the experience with themselves as friends that they seemed to value more. Essentially the hobby didn't matter, it was just that they all interacted with this hobby. To the very end this permeated the show, and I still have to ask the question here, why music? If K-ON!! ever truly sent the message here about why music was here in the first place, I never got it. It had about as much purpose as it did in something like Angel Beats, it's just sort of there. This franchise is still completely false advertising in this regard.

While K-On! has an emphasis on music, its themes were never directly tied to musicianship. This much had been demonstrated in the manga, and Yamada continued conveying this during the anime. Music is the catalyst for the experiences Yui has, and gives her something to focus on. This focus allows her to grow – the Yui at the end of K-On! The Movie is considerably more mature than when she first joined the light music club, more aware of those around her and more confident in taking on the future in her usual, easygoing manner. It is unreasonable and immature to expect that K-On! was supposed to an animated set of tutorials on how to play the guitar; the manga had emphasised the moments outside of practise because these are the moments people tend to forget about where in reality, they help people understand one another better and correspondingly, work better together as a team. This is why team-building exercises exist. To suggest that K-On! The Movie is "false advertising" is to be willfully ignorant, demonstrating a stubborn refusal to understand what the creators' intentions were behind this series.

I also do not like how they always manage to play so damn perfect in their songs. Oh we wrote a song, we don't really practice it and all of a sudden they're on stage and the whole crowd eats it up. Great. It's a disservice to the process of music completely. The only time they did any different was the very last song that they prepared for Azu-nyan, but these scenes were far and few in between through this entire franchise and even in the movie.

This criticism is invalid – throughout the whole of K-On!, from the first season onwards, viewers are meant to see the girls practise on occasion, but it is never the emphasis because the band isn't going for a competition, and therefore, technical finesse is secondary to the moments spent with one another. The accusation that Yui and the others are undeserving is a disservice to music: Azusa pointed this out on day one, that the girls play with heart, and so, while making technical faults during their performances, the biggest thing about their music is sincerity.

In reality this didn't need to be a film. The pacing throughout was completely off and very uneven. The production values were honestly a bit disappointing for a Kyoani effort. A lack of a cohesive narrative structure plagued the film all throughout because of two completely different focuses never meshing together. The sentimentality doesn't work because it never properly built a base by distancing itself from its obvious 4-koma roots in the first place. When most of your show consists of eating cake and drinking tea with 4-koma styled humor and interactions throughout, it just does not feel sincere. The film wasted too much time in an ultimately pointless side adventure to make up any ground here on this front.

In reality, this rant didn't need to exist. The pacing made sense, since the movie was written about crafting a suitable gift for Azusa rather than being about travel. K-On! The Movie's production values far surpass anything in the TV series, and in fact, exceeds the animation and artwork of even anime today. Such a poorly-argued perspective demonstrates an inadequate understanding of the series and its intentions. K-On! never was aimed at being a music-focused series about competition and the drive for self-improvement, nor was it a pure comedy intended to evoke laughter every other minute. The series is about an appreciation of friendship, how relationships grow, and ultimately, how people find creative and meaningful ways of expressing appreciation for all of the times they spend together. The anime and films are very consistent in this regard, and K-On! The Movie absolutely succeeded in conveying this to viewers.

I hope this is the last we ever of the K-ON franchise. This film was extremely, extremely poor.

Quite personally, I hope to never encounter such a misguided rant again: this was an extremely, extremely poor effort. I understand that all people are entitled to their opinions, but in this case, given the rant's noticeably poor understanding of K-On! and its themes, it is plain that no effort was made to see what the film's goals were or why there are a set of people who found it enjoyable. Blinded by bias and malice, this rant cannot be said to hold any weight as an opinion. To demonstrate how flimsy the rant was, I have done a very thorough job in presenting counterarguments to every point in the rant; if K-On! The Movie or the K-On! franchise as a whole has any shortcomings, it certainly isn't disingenuous, emotional assertions like "false advertising" or "lack of ambition". I would therefore wonder why one would forcibly sit through a series they were biased against from the start, and suggest that, because time is a finite resource, one simply not watch series that not appeal to them were this to be the case. Insistently believing that one must watch all series to be a credible critic is a mark of immaturity: unless one were a professional film critic or similar, there is no obligation to watch all shows and films of a given season.

With all of this in mind, there is nothing to agree with in this rant. The London trip was well-chosen (in universe, to show that Houkago Tea Time makes the most of things, and how no matter where they are, they're mindful of those around them, and out of universe, to pay homage to the musical styles that influenced the music in the series). The series never "tricked" anyone: the goal was to simply have music as being a catalyst for growth, not have it be an end-all detailed enough to act as a technical manual on how to play pop music). On the off chance that there are those who do agree with the rant, I would therefore be curious to understand the reasoning behind why that rant has any merits at all, least of all being something worth defending or agreeing with. It is one thing to dislike a work for failing one's personal expectations (which are subjective), but quite another when a rant aims to disingenuously insult and mock those who put so much effort into creating work that was evidently enjoyed by a large number of people. I accept and welcome opinions from all sides of a spectrum provided they are rational and fair, but if one expects agreement despite having just spent a few hundred words insulting a work's creators, they’d better be prepared to work very hard for said agreement.