[Manwards]

Oh, man, that solo by "Catherine" was gorgeous! Not just the sound, but they animated all the finger movements too! After watching BECK recently, I really wish they'd do more stuff like that. Sure, BECK's animation was terrible until someone picked up a guitar, because it was probably using half the budget, but it sold the musical aspect of the show so much more. In my wettest dreams, KyoAni go on to make a two-hour K-ON! film, where they play all their songs, with every chord, every solo and every drum fill rendered in masturbatory detail...

I'm truly loving the slice-of-life aspects this year, though. The girls really do come across as best friends, not just character archetypes. Little moments, like Azusa getting lost in the moment, and Yui and Ritsu nudging each other about it, really work.

To intrude upon kitten320 and Master Chibi's conversation, while I'm not a fan of the really extreme metal myself, I'd disagree that there's no talent involved. I thought that way myself until about a year ago, and then I got into a Canadian musician named Devin Townsend. He sings in every style, from whistles to whispers to clean vocals to rage-filled roars, sometimes within seconds of each other, and they all serve to get across the emotion of the song. 99% of songs are about love, or sex, or sadness... but that doesn't mean rage isn't a valid emotion that can be represented in music, too. And hell, you try screaming like that without your throat falling out of your mouth! I sure can't.