(I ended up typing this since I had to study. I wasn't supposed to but it ended up like it anyway. Sorry if it's rather long.)
The Music Never Dies
Life as always inevitably goes on, even in anime. I never expected that these girls would be in high school their entire lives, but you never really expect that sort of self-awareness of the inevitable future. They’ve skirted the issue before, as seniors, content in ignoring the gorilla in the room as they eat cake, sip tea and procrastinating before eventually going on to practice.
Some will argue that having only three songs played, and the second song not even presented, is a big letdown. Honestly though, we’re people expecting an half an entire album’s worth of material to be rocked to high heaven in a school festival concert? I am perfectly fine that only 2 real songs were presented, given the fact that these were 2 NEW songs, and both songs were really, really good. U&I was (as I expected) the better of the two, and the best song the group has played to date. Mugi’s song was conspicuously absent as was I think at least one more but hey, if those are the group’s magnum opus, wouldn’t it be better for them to be played at the end?
Yui’s hyperactivity again comes into full force. For what it’s worth, and some people were probably annoyed by it, it is still consistent with everything she has ever been since day one. This was the same ecstatic, excited and genuinely eager Yui we have all come to know over their three years of high school.
And then it hits.
The high of playing in the festival now over, the group comes down from the clouds back to reality. It’s time to face the music, so to speak. They try to plan ahead for their group like for the entrance ceremony, the freshmen orientation and whatnot. It’s the same excitement they had when they first started almost three years ago as the renewal of the school K-On. The same excitement when they finally managed to recruit Azusa as the sole new member of the group. The very same excitement when they played their very best as seniors to welcome the freshmen.
But reality is always there, always ready to headshot the fragile dreams of children. The gorilla that had been in the clubroom ever since the day Yui pointed out that they were seniors, that they had tried so hard to ignore as they make plans for themselves and their music, makes itself known once again to all of them.
The moment Yui’s eyes filled with tears, as Mugi mumbles to herself and Ritsu tried to make a joke towards Mio, we knew.
We knew they knew.
And so it hits.
Was Budokan always such a lofty and impossible goal?
Childish as dreams may seem to some, these had always been parts of us growing up. We dreamed of great things, things we wanted to be, things we wanted to reach, even if we never really understood them. As children and teenagers these dreams meant the world for us even if the adult world scoffed at them. Dreams are what drove us out of the world of fairy tales and into the world of real life. They may have been impossible, but they made us aspire. They made us believe. They made us who we are.
They cried of course. They didn’t want the fun days of music to end, even as a high note (again, no pun intended), but even they knew that the days of fun music at the clubroom was about to come to an end. As graduation looms in the horizon, they wanted to continue dreaming of Budokan, of playing in the grandest stage of them all, rocking the shit out of everyone’s minds and having a blast in the process. This was the dream they shared and the dream they wished would continue on. But they knew. They knew that these days would not last forever. At the end of their final festival performance, they knew that their K-On days were in its twilight.
Does the dream die this day?
Fuck no! They all said it best: It was great playing with all of you!
Perhaps the club, their club, ends on graduation, but dreams only end when you stop believing in them. They could always still make a band after high school, in college and even after, and with greater time the greater opportunity to make their dreams real. Just because you went your separate ways in high school doesn’t mean the friendship and the music stops. If you really believe in the music and the dream you all share, you will find ways to continue making the music you want to make. You will continue to be friends and continue trying to rock the shit in every performance you deliver.
I do not expect them to reach glory soon, but even if they never make it to Budokan, I fully expect them to keep trying in their own way: eating cake and drinking tea while procrastinating and complaining about the heat. Maybe they’ll be a bit too lazy to practice, but they’ll get to it eventually and when they do, they pour their heart and soul into every note and every lyric. This is what makes them who they are: Houkago Team Time.
High school may end, but Budokan will always be there waiting for you. As you continue to dream, so will you continue to play.
That is why the dream never dies.
The music never dies.
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