K-On! - The Movie - Discussion Thread

[rulfo]

Good gracious I can't stop reading the spoilers....

I'm pumped up even more.

[Nimnutter]

Okay I give up. *reads spoilers quickly* yay!

Thank you for spoilers! Waiting for the film to come to the UK is going take a while...haha. ( .__.)

[Goggen]

So, question for Sparvid (or, I guess whoever else might have been lucky enough to have seen the movie already) ...

I don't want to know any more about the plot than I already do, but I gotta ask this - how was the animation, in comparison to the TV episodes? Specifically, did the music performance(s)(?) have kick-ass animation?

[Afternoon Tea]

I'm so tempted to read those spoilers... read them

Spoiler for funny part:

Azusa's line at the immigration thing was TOOO FUNNY LOLOLOL!!!

[Ryonea]

Wow, that's a very good memory you have there, Sparvid

I've read them and thanks now the wait will begin XD
It makes me wonder about the upcoming insert song cd for the movie, what will it contain?

[Goggen]

Originally Posted by Ryonea

It makes me wonder about the upcoming insert song cd for the movie, what will it contain?

My thoughts exactly. If the movie mostly has old songs apart from the OP/ED, etc, then what is the new HTT album coming out? Will it be just new versions of old songs?

[Afternoon Tea]

Spoiler for A picture of new characters:

Spoiler for are your sure?:

Spoiler for okay this is going to spoil the movie sort of:

Spoiler for last click:

Yui's Parents

[all_flying]

Must... resist... must... resist...

Anyway, anyone have any report from the scene?

[winhlp32]

Lets look at box office revenue in Japan for recent anime films 2 days after release:

One Piece - 1,038,439,600 yen at 188 cinemas
Eva 2.0 - 512,182,000 yen at 120 cinemas
K-On! movie - 316,31,0000 yen at 133 at 137 cinemas
Eva 1.0 - 280,424,200 yen at 84 cinemas
Summer Wars - 127,538,200 yen at 127 cinemas
Disappearance - 89,010,100 yen at 24 cinemas
Macross F - 88,154,771 yen at 30 cinemas
Nanoha - 61,292,300 yen at 19 cinemas
Fate UBW - 37,699,500 yen at 12 cinemas

Not bad at all.

[Sparvid]

Originally Posted by Ryonea

Wow, that's a very good memory you have there, Sparvid

Thanks, I'm a bit surprised myself

Originally Posted by Goggen

So, question for Sparvid (or, I guess whoever else might have been lucky enough to have seen the movie already) ...

I don't want to know any more about the plot than I already do, but I gotta ask this - how was the animation, in comparison to the TV episodes? Specifically, did the music performance(s)(?) have kick-ass animation?

Just was I'd been writing down:

The animation is very good. It's not like the basic character designs lends themselves for realism (there are plenty of scenes with deformed heads for humorous reactions), but the backgrounds are absolutely beautiful. What impressed me the most was the shot of the plane taking off (the last moments of it are seen in the trailer), because instead of using a 3D model, it looked 100% handdrawn as it flew past the "camera". There was only one obvious CG-moment, for an establishing shot where the camera flies through air and the buildings are 3D models. There was also a shot showing the Thames, with a boat being reflected beautifully in the water, but it panned away very quick before I could tell how it was done. Definitely a movie to own on Blu-ray.

Spoiler for Animation thoughts with a couple of song titles named, but no plot spoilers:

I would say that the animation for the performances are better than in the show (but not on insane God Knows level). The only time they really went out of their way to show the crowd or random buildings was Fuwa Fuwa Time. Otherwise a fair amount of actually playing is shown, especially for U&I. There's one point where Yui and Azusa are facing each other and it cuts back and forth between them as they're playing. Also at the end of the song Mugi is jumping up and down behind her keyboard. One early scene has Yui rolling an orange in her hand out of boredom while she's talking, and the hand movements looked great.

Although one thing during U&I that stood out for me was a shot of five or six people standing close to the stage, where all of them were repeating the same small movements at least five times. Sure, it's in beat with the song, but couldn't there have been at least some minor variations? Seemed surprisingly cheap for KyoAni.

Spoiler for plot spoilers:

Overall, of the five girls, I think that Mugi got the least to do overall. The sushi restaurant is the only scene that stands out, outside of her problems with the cake in the beginning. She doesn't get to speak much English. Her excitement of random things doesn't exactly stand out when all of them react that way in London. Although I just recalled that there is one time her strength is shown (even though no one points it out) when her keyboard arrives and she holds it pretty much as if it's an empty box.

She's closely followed by Mio, which is weird since she was the one who suggested London, and would presumably have lots of ideas of what to do there. She doesn't get to sing lead vocals much either.

Ritsu's lack of English skills makes her a replacement for subtitles, since the others (mostly Mio) have to repeat some of the lines in Japanese that might be useful to understand, such as the man who tells them that it's time to do a soundcheck.

It's mostly focused on Yui and Azusa. They sit next to each other on the plane, they share a hotel room, and even though all four older girls are writing the song for Azusa together, most of the work being actually shown on screen are Yui's problems with coming up with ideas for lyrics (and having to hide them from Azusa). And when Azusa starts to suspect something, it's not "What are they doing?", it's "What's Yui doing?". Also, like the last episodes of season 2, Azusa has her own ongoing subplot about how it's going to be for her when the others graduate.


Some things I forgot to mention:

* For the opening with the heavy metal music playing, there's a metal K-On! logo showing, with a skull in the middle of the "O", among other things. The actual opening credits have the regular one.
* I can't recall that the opening credits had any footage of them playing their instruments. It just shows various everyday life shots, along with many simple drawings of flowers and such. They kind of look like if Yui designed them.
* The return of Yui's "Jakka Jan", except this time to a different, non-HTT-related melody.
* At two times Yui refers to Azusa as "Azunyan-nyan-nyan" with a little melody to it, which seems to beg for some future Nico Nico Douga remixes.
* Their reaction to seeing the London Eye (Mugi is very excited, Mio is terrified and has to be dragged there)
* Azusa having a slightly weird dream.
* Yui getting elbowed in the stomach.
* What Mugi wants to eat when they enter the Japanese fair (well, take a guess).
* Not sure if it's been shown in promotional material or not, but they do bring their school uniforms with them, and wear them for the performance at the fair (and once in the hotel, which looked out of place, but was presumably just to establish that they did indeed bring them).
* When Mio is looking through photos after they return to Japan, there's a quick shot of a group photo, where someone has just grabbed Ritsu's headband

[Bikerider]

I remember saying some many months ago about something ....

Spoiler for for when HTT plays....:

The band would be mistaken for another band and called up on stage to play... I figured it would be a music festival... Not a sushi bar.... Still... NAILED IT !!

[teja208]

Thank you so much Sparvid for taking your time writing such a splendid spoiler and of course Kyoani for producing this spectacular movie. Yes, I recall what you said Bikerider, congratulations for your awesome spoiler self-fulfilling prophecy. Looking back now I find it funny how your idea were shot down so quickly back then.

[Goggen]

Originally Posted by Sparvid

The animation is very good. It's not like the basic character designs lends themselves for realism (there are plenty of scenes with deformed heads for humorous reactions), but the backgrounds are absolutely beautiful. What impressed me the most was the shot of the plane taking off (the last moments of it are seen in the trailer), because instead of using a 3D model, it looked 100% handdrawn as it flew past the "camera". There was only one obvious CG-moment, for an establishing shot where the camera flies through air and the buildings are 3D models. There was also a shot showing the Thames, with a boat being reflected beautifully in the water, but it panned away very quick before I could tell how it was done. Definitely a movie to own on Blu-ray.

Spoiler for Animation thoughts with a couple of song titles named, but no plot spoilers:

I would say that the animation for the performances are better than in the show (but not on insane God Knows level). The only time they really went out of their way to show the crowd or random buildings was Fuwa Fuwa Time. Otherwise a fair amount of actually playing is shown, especially for U&I. There's one point where Yui and Azusa are facing each other and it cuts back and forth between them as they're playing. Also at the end of the song Mugi is jumping up and down behind her keyboard. One early scene has Yui rolling an orange in her hand out of boredom while she's talking, and the hand movements looked great.

Although one thing during U&I that stood out for me was a shot of five or six people standing close to the stage, where all of them were repeating the same small movements at least five times. Sure, it's in beat with the song, but couldn't there have been at least some minor variations? Seemed surprisingly cheap for KyoAni.

Thanks, this is the kind of stuff I was waiting to hear.

And now, to steer clear of further spoilers for the next X months...

[Ritsu Tainaka]

Spoiler for plot spoiler:

I think they wear school uniform while performing because it's their band outfit.

[winhlp32]

- Over the December 3-4 weekend, The K-On! Movie filled a total of 237,817 seats over 137 movie theaters.

- Ranking of latest released movies over the weekend. K-On! placed 2nd:
http://movie.walkerplus.com/ranking/japan/

I laughed at how K-On! is ranked higher Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tin-Tin".

[Procrastinator_CA]

Originally Posted by CaptnAwesomee

Spoiler for A picture of new characters:

Spoiler for are your sure?:

Spoiler for okay this is going to spoil the movie sort of:

Spoiler for last click:

Yui's Parents

They're not new characters...they were 'seen' in Season 1 Episode 7 and Season 2 Episode 20!

[kaitok]

Originally Posted by CaptnAwesomee

Spoiler for A picture of new characters:

Spoiler for are your sure?:

Spoiler for okay this is going to spoil the movie sort of:

Spoiler for last click:

Yui's Parents

yeh not exactly new. they can be seen in the manga too. but omg yui's so cute there! XD

[blaze0041]

Originally Posted by CaptnAwesomee

Spoiler for A picture of new characters:

Spoiler for are your sure?:

Spoiler for okay this is going to spoil the movie sort of:

Spoiler for last click:

Yui's Parents

Originally Posted by Procrastinator_CA

They're not new characters...they were 'seen' in Season 1 Episode 7 and Season 2 Episode 20!

Originally Posted by kaitok

yeh not exactly new. they can be seen in the manga too. but omg yui's so cute there! XD

Spoiler for Movie speculation/spoiler + question:

To be exact, Vol. 4, Chapter 11. My hunch is that the KyoAni version of this manga chapter is in the movie... Ensuring that Yui gets to the airport on time, the other four come to wake her up.
Who plays the voices for these two?

[Afternoon Tea]

I said new characters because I didn't want to say, Pictures of Yui's Parents, that would just spoil a surprise in the movie.. I guess that's too late now.

[Sparvid]

Kanji test in the past, and friends being busy = second viewing!

Which made me see some things I missed the first time, and realize that I was slightly wrong about the timeline.

Spoiler for spoilers:

As it turns out, while the whole planning stage takes place in November-ish, the actual trip is very shortly before graduation. On the first school day back, Azusa's class is seen preparing the flowers they later give to the graduating students. I didn't notice since the very first scene after the time skip is Yui packing her suitcase and going to the airport, with few visual cues for the season. I don't know if March snowfalls are common in London.

And in general, Aki Toyosaki is great throughout the movie. Especially minor mutterings when Yui walks by in the fore- or background. Some scenes reminded me of Yuru Yuri, and her "teenage girl sounding kind of like an old woman"-voice.

Wow, I googled the hotel just for fun, and it turns out it really exists: "Hotel Ibis, Earls Court". The building is seen from that angle twice. According to the map they look at, the hotel they mistakenly go to first is "Hotel Ibis, London City"

• The very first scene is just like the very first scene of the first episode. In fact, now that I check that episode out, it's pretty much exactly the same shots from the same angles, except that instead of the photo showing Yui and Madoka in middle school, it's of the light music club (as shown in the trailer), and instead of Ui coming in to the room, Yui herself realizes that it's morning.
• In the extremely minor details department, I was wrong about the metal logo. The skull is the dot in the exclamation point
• When Mugi is having problem with the cake package, Mio turns to her and - while not saying anything - motioning "Here, let me help you with that", and Mugi's reaction to that is to ignore her and struggle even harder.
• The time skip is visualized by showing various clips of Giitah being dressed in different clothes and accessories.
• When they first exit Heathrow:
  Yui: [points at the sky] "London sky!"
  Mio: [takes picture of the sky]
  Yui: [points at a taxi] "London taxi!"
  Mio: [takes picture of taxi]
  Yui: [points at a sign saying "Airport Lounge"] "London English!"
  Mio: [takes picture of the sign]
• Ritsu's explanation to the restaurant owner of why they shouldn't play starts with "I am buchou, we are okyakusan", with Yui standing behind her shouting encouraging words.
• When they sit outside of the restaurant, Yui is still wearing her blue robe. The others are wearing their coats, so I'm not sure if they all got to keep them, or if she simply forgot to give it back (she still wearing it when they get to the hotel).
• They don't take the bus to the hotel, they use the subway. Azusa's feet hurt from her new shoes, so she gets to ride on one of the suitcases.
• Speaking of animation, there's a somewhat gratuitous shot in the hotel elevator, which has mirrors on two walls, so when Yui and Azusa walk by the "camera" there are 6-7 mirror images of them in the background, presumably for the reason of "Hey, why not?"
• To answer my own question, instead of the word "angel", an early draft of the song is shown to simply use "you". When Yui comes up with the change, Ritsu is against it at first, feeling that it's too embarrassing.
• The very last shot of the film, after Yui asks about next years trip, is a wide shot showing that Madoka and Azusa are walking ahead of the others. Yui runs up to them and throws herself at them just as it cuts to black.
• The end credits starts over a black screen, but then music video!Mio rips away the blackness revealing herself behind it.