(L) K-On! Manga discussion

[kaitok]

Holy crap! UI'S GUITAR IS SO CUTE!!!! O___O

I hope they release both Uni and HS vols in Chinese too, so I can buy them locally instead of getting the Jap one!

[Misago]

Yen Press are licensing the final two manga volumes, K-On! College and K-On! Highschool. Not that surprising but good news!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/ne...t-k-on-volumes

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Misago

Yen Press are licensing the final two manga volumes, K-On! College and K-On! Highschool. Not that surprising but good news!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/ne...t-k-on-volumes

Hurray! That means I'll be able to get the full collection in english

[Forte]

Originally Posted by kaitok

Holy crap! UI'S GUITAR IS SO CUTE!!!! O___O

I hope they release both Uni and HS vols in Chinese too, so I can buy them locally instead of getting the Jap one!

ordered the Jap ver... I can't wait for the local ver since the local publisher in my place would take some time before the College and Highschool edition licensed in my country...

[Vexx]

Ordered the japanese release ... I've gotten to where I can't depend on english distributors to *finish* what they start. Downside is my library is about 1.8x shelf space with holes still left for ARIA, Moon Phase, and a few other series.

However, Yen *seems* to be avoiding the stupidity other publishers suffered.

[Goggen]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Ordered the japanese release ... I've gotten to where I can't depend on english distributors to *finish* what they start.

An unfortunate danger in collecting manga in English, but I don't think it applies in the case of K-ON! now that Yen licensed the final two volumes. 'course, it's always nice to have the original version. (Although, the English version of K-ON! scores extra points for having more color pages than the Japanese version, oddly enough).

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Goggen

An unfortunate danger in collecting manga in English, but I don't think it applies in the case of K-ON! now that Yen licensed the final two volumes. 'course, it's always nice to have the original version. (Although, the English version of K-ON! scores extra points for having more color pages than the Japanese version, oddly enough).

Yen has so far been a shining exception to the history of manga licensing in terms of reliability and quality (e.g. translation and leaving the original material intact). Not perfect but yeah ...

[Misago]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Ordered the japanese release ... I've gotten to where I can't depend on english distributors to *finish* what they start. Downside is my library is about 1.8x shelf space with holes still left for ARIA, Moon Phase, and a few other series.

Same here. What is even more frustrating for me is browsing amazon.co.uk and seeing all the stuff available in German/French/Spanish and yet no English version, particularly light novels - damn wish i was at least bilingual >.<

[ForwardUntoDawn]

Originally Posted by Goggen

An unfortunate danger in collecting manga in English, but I don't think it applies in the case of K-ON! now that Yen licensed the final two volumes. 'course, it's always nice to have the original version. (Although, the English version of K-ON! scores extra points for having more color pages than the Japanese version, oddly enough).

The extra colour pages are one of the reasons why I'm holding off until the English versions come out. That, and the fact that it's easier for me to go to my local bookstore and buy a copy

[Yui Is My Wife]

On a slightly more serious matter.

Having read the Final University Chapter, one gets the sinking feeling that Kakifly has come to hate his own creations, and is deliberately punishing the fans for pushing him beyond his vision/ability.

Think about it; K-ON was his first mainstream work, an (admittably warm hearted yet) everyday life story about five kids growing up.
Then it was Kyoto Animation that turned it into the Cultural TITAN that it was, pushing the story above and beyond its intended scope; into pop-music stardom and even International Adventure. Something Kakifly could NEVER have done alone.

When all he wanted was a laid back slice of life story.

It must be quite humbling an experience for someone whose previous work was a To Heart 2 Doujinshi, and just wanted to get by.

Spoiler for Speculation on Kakifly's anger at fans:

Having HTT LOSE the final battle of the bands and ACCEPT that they'll never make it big, having Mio (a firm fan favourite) fade into the background over the mean-spirited and decidedly UN-Cute Akira, having Yui's idiocy cranked up to incredulous levels by LOVING said mean-spirited bitch..... In fact, the most heartfelt chapter was a reunion with Nodoka back-home, a brief respite to simpler times. And even then, Kakifly admonishes the fans for their obsessive love of the Yui/Ui relationship by having their relationshp grow COLD and NOT having Ui rushing to hug her beloved sister in reunion.

All this just reeks of a CALCULATED slap-in-the-face for fans who asked too much of one man to do what it took an entire studio to accomplish.

For pushing you too hard, Kakifly, we apologise. We can only hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive us and Hokago Tea Time, and one day in the far future, we can meet again in happier times.

[ForwardUntoDawn]

I don't really get those vibes from the final chapters of the manga myself. I do have some speculation as to why such elements were observed, though, so bear with me while I gather my thoughts and explain what might be an alternative account for some of the things we see.

Things change considerably at the post-secondary level: I considered engineering in high school but my path has since diverged. The same likely holds true for the band and can be seen as a minor allusion to reality: that making a band successful is an endeavour that is out of scope of HTT despite their high school aspirations and have since become more realistic about what they wish to do in the world.

The introduction of Akira (who is my least favourite character in the series) is harder to explain, but I think it has to do with the new cast introduced in university. Depicting a larger number of characters simply means that Mio et al. make fewer appearances. With this in mind, the manga depicted most of the characters evenly for the most part. Kakifly himself stated that Mio was a favourite on the virtue of being left-handed.

Calling back to the idea of changing character maturity, perhaps both Yui and Ui have matured slightly in the year that elapsed since Yui went to University. It is possible to maintain a close, cordial relationship without the degree of intimateness (read "lots of hugs") that was depicted in the TV series.

All in all, I cannot definitively say whether or not Kakifly is giving the fanbase a take-that. Granted, some of the things the fanbase does can be seen as excessive and even somewhat offensive, but I don't believe Kakifly intentionally hates the fanbase. Perhaps, he merely wishes to reinforce his original intent and ideas for the manga over the decidedly more-well known TV series.

[GMT]

Originally Posted by Yui Is My Wife

Spoiler for Speculation on Kakifly's anger at fans:

Having HTT LOSE the final battle of the bands and ACCEPT that they'll never make it big, having Mio (a firm fan favourite) fade into the background over the mean-spirited and decidedly UN-Cute Akira, having Yui's idiocy cranked up to incredulous levels by LOVING said mean-spirited bitch..... In fact, the most heartfelt chapter was a reunion with Nodoka back-home, a brief respite to simpler times. And even then, Kakifly admonishes the fans for their obsessive love of the Yui/Ui relationship by having their relationshp grow COLD and NOT having Ui rushing to hug her beloved sister in reunion.

Eh?

None of that reeks of "ZOMG, AUTHOR RAAAAAAGE!!!11" to me. In a way, they've always known that their little high school garage band was something that they were going to have to put down someday. What was it that Yui said? "Houkago Tea Time will always be . . . after school?"

That's a theme that's hammered on over and over again in both the comic and the anime. The girls acknowledge that Death Devil shreds their faces off . . . but where is Death Devil now? The women of Death Devil are all friends, or still acquainted, at least. But their band is something they left in the past; to the extent that Sawako wanted nothing to do with the wedding gig, and had to be shamed into doing it by Yui's deliberately bad performance.

You have to have a certain hunger to make it in the music business. The author seems to paint it as something you have to choose: Music is something you do for fun, so it takes a backseat to having a normal life and normal friends. Or music is the center of your life and you're prepared to do everything you can to make it.

Yui has seen both sides of the coin. She has friends who view music as a hobby (the girls in HTT with the possible exception of Azusa,) and friends who view music an end unto its own (Akira and her friends, and possibly Azusa.) I felt it very mature of her when she makes the pronouncement to the effect that going down Akira's path is not something that's really for her, and that she's just in it for the fun factor.

As ForwardUntoDawn said, things change when you leave high school and get into post-secondary education. In the college series, the girls pick different majors; just as friends tend to do in real life. Your social circles change, often dramatically. When you're first dropped into that big pond known as college, you may stick close to people you knew in high school; but eventually you make friends elsewhere. Not to mention that not even "college prep" courses in high school really prepare you for how much like beating your face into a brick wall college coursework can be. Because of that, your hobbies and interests can change too.

Nothing in the college series came as a real surprise to me, because, having gone through the whole college experience I'd "been there, done that," as it were. Not even the change in Yui and Ui's relationship.

I see it as a mark of Yui's maturity that Yui and Ui's relationship grows past the "co-dependent cuddlebug" phase, because Yui has learned to stop leaning on her sister so heavily (you see hints of this when she pens U&I, when she acknowledges that things won't always be the way they've been.)

So . . . no, I don't see any "take that!" from the author here.

[Vexx]

I'm going to admit that some of the expectation that I'd be seeing a band try to "make it big" is from the animated series ED "music videos". It planted a huge notion in my head that this was a path the story might take. That may have been an error on my part but I'm always keen on any story that actually moves into college and into professional life - that is, grows past the high school scene.

There are anime series that do that and I'd like to see more. It seems to me like Kakifly's motivation may have a little of Forward's speculation and more of GMT's speculation -- there's too strong a sense of "yeah, it was fun now get back in the rut of society" in K-On! and a lot of anime.

Stories about the *outliers of society* tend to be more appealing to some of us, though.

[Misago]

looks like we might have some release dates for the last two manga volumes in the west
K-On! College on 23rd Jul 2013 and K-On! High School on 29 Oct 2013, according to amazon.co.uk

[Goggen]

Originally Posted by Misago

looks like we might have some release dates for the last two manga volumes in the west
K-On! College on 23rd Jul 2013 and K-On! High School on 29 Oct 2013, according to amazon.co.uk

Sweet! Though that means it'll be close to another year before my K-ON! collection is complete... Or more, depending on how long it takes for the movie to get a NA release. It never ends.

[Mokoko]

I don't understand... They are others volumes after the volume 6?

[Goggen]

Originally Posted by Mokoko

I don't understand... They are others volumes after the volume 6?

No. But the last two volumes haven't been published (officially) in English yet.

[Mokoko]

Oh ! Thanks !

[Triple_R]

I decided to read up on this thread since I was interested in seeing how the K-On manga was doing. I was pretty surprised to read that it's apparently completely finished. Some further comments in spoiler space below.

Spoiler for Manga thoughts, some spoilers:

I also was surprised to read that the original four (Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi) never went pro. Much like Vexx, I felt that the various K-On EDs strongly hinted at this high school band eventually going pro.

Nonetheless, if Kakifly really did want to clue this up once and for all, then having the girls go pro would have totally undermined that goal.

"Read about pro music stars Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Mugi!" has a much more appealing ring to it than "Read about Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Mugi live normal adult lives!" As long as the potential for following the pro music careers of HTT is there, the fan demand for the story to continue would never end. By closing off that possibility, Kakifly is more likely to persuade the fans to accept this ending as the ending.


Nonetheless, I am concerned about some of what I've read concerning Yui and Ui. Yui and Ui meet for the first time after a long time apart, and they don't even hug? Wow, that is cold.

I make a point to always share hugs with my sisters when I first meet with them after a long time apart. And there's a seven year age difference between my two younger sisters and I. I'm not as close to them as Yui was to Ui. But to me, this sort of basic warmth and love is what family is all about. For Yui and Ui to go to the point that they don't even hug each other after lengthy absences... Wow, that's disappointing. It especially seems out of character for Yui. It also does make me think there's some underlying issue there between the two sisters, like maybe Ui is glad to be free of Yui and both sisters are aware of this...

Gotta say that it sounds like Kakifly did indeed get tired of writing K-On - That popularity forced him to go deeper than what he ever intended. He certainly wouldn't be the first mangaka to face that.

I'm not surprised, because I felt that the finale of K-On!! was beautifully handled, and had a real sense of finality to it. Yes, you could go beyond it, but the way everything led up to a major emotional crescendo with Azusa saying goodbye to HTT gave me a sense of overarching narrative climax - That nothing within the world of K-On could top this.

[Afternoon Tea]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I decided to read up on this thread since I was interested in seeing how the K-On manga was doing. I was pretty surprised to read that it's apparently completely finished. Some further comments in spoiler space below.

Spoiler for Manga thoughts, some spoilers:

I was also surprised to read that the original four (Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi) never went pro. Much like Vexx, I felt that the various K-On EDs strongly hinted at this high school band eventually going pro.

Nonetheless, if Kakifly really did want to clue this up once and for all, then having the girls go pro would have totally undermined that goal.

"Read about pro music stars Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Mugi!" has a much more appealing ring to it than "Read about Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Mugi live normal adult lives!" As long as the potential for following the pro music careers of HTT is there, the fan demand for the story to continue would never end. By closing off that possibility, Kakifly is more likely to persuade the fans to accept this ending as the ending.


Nonetheless, I am concerned about some of what I've read concerning Yui and Ui. Yui and Ui meet for the first time after a long time apart, and they don't even hug? Wow, that is cold.

I make a point to always share hugs with my sisters when I first meet with them after a long time apart. And there's a seven year age difference between my two younger sisters and I. I'm not as close to them as Yui was to Ui. But to me, this sort of basic warmth and love is what family is all about. For Yui and Ui to go to the point that they don't even hug each other after lengthy absences... Wow, that's disappointing. It especially seems out of character for Yui.

Gotta say that it sounds like Kakifly did indeed get tired of writing K-On - That popularity forced him to go deeper than what he ever intended. He certainly wouldn't be the first mangaka to face that.

I'm not surprised, because I felt that the finale of K-On!! was beautifully handled, and had a real sense of finality to it. Yes, you could go beyond it, but the way everything led up to a major emotional crescendo with Azusa saying goodbye to HTT gave me a sense of overarching narrative climax - That nothing within the world of K-On could top this.

Maybe not enough panels on the four-panel comic strip, therefor anime adaption so they can fix that （*´▽｀*） lol just kidding.