K-On! - Episode 9 Discussion / Poll

[DidCart]

One of the funniest episode so far! I LOLed a lot in this one!
And, for me, Azusa didn't seems forced into the OP, it was kinda unexpected.

Great episode, great fun, moe moe kyun!

[Keio]

Originally Posted by SuperKnuckles

The way Yui coaxed Azusa was hilarious. Just reminds me of nosy relatives/parents doing that. Offering food with disheveled hair.

This scene?

I just love Mugi's reactions. :3

[Ithekro]

There are about a dozen great reaction scenes in this episode.

[Master Chibi]

Originally Posted by Tamad

So what did I like? Besides the whole build up to the second half of the episode, not much really. Yui teasing Asuza with the cake was probably the most amusing moment, but apart from that none of the other gags really stood out. The gags actually annoyed me more than humor me, and this is actually the first episode that has done this. I wonder why...

On a side note, this episode really makes me wonder where and how they're going to end this series manga wise...

Yeah I'm with you completely on this.

If anything this episode proves that the 'band mechanic' is just a huge plot device that barely holds the plot together.

I was excited, I thought we'd get to see some chemistry as a fucking band, see Asuza play, get some new shit going, but instead all I got was this awful, awful vibe.

I mean really sit down and think about it for a second, if you had a new member come in wanting to join, and in a few days time you have her scared and confused to the point where she doesn't even know why she joined to begin with, you should feel fucking awful. The poor girl was crying for god's sake, what kind of club (outside of retarded shit like fraternities) are you to do that to a person?

The entire episode made me dislike everyone outside of Mio, which is horribly ironic because up to now it was usually the other way around; where I was sick of her being too much of a focus in one way or another. Sawako's 'cosplay fascination' is still out of left field and horribly forced / lame / contrived / extremely overdone at this point (they gave NO indication to her even being into such a thing and suddenly she's bringing outfits to picnics and carrying around cat ears, suuuuuuuuuuuuuure I'm going to buy that).

The contrast with Asuza and the group of slackers we call K-On just didn't work for me at all. And once again we're deprived of seeing people actually PLAY INSTRUMENTS in any damn fashion. For all I don't know Ritsu could have shoved the drumsticks into either nostril and sneezed out her entire performance at the end of the episode. This further annoys me because Asuza is clearly a good guitarist but we get these lame rock legend overlays instead of seeing even just a few worthwhile frames of her playing the guitar. Oh, let's remind her why she wants to join by SHOWING STILL FRAMES OF OUR COFFEE TABLE. Awesome.

That shit means ALOT. Everyone does their thing differently. Some people close their eyes when they play, some have them wide open, some stick their tongue out, some get down on one knee, some hop back and forth, some sway in place, it adds a huge amount of personality and characteristic to performance. We haven't gotten ANY of that yet, and I don't think we ever will. I mean is that alot to ask? I don't think so, it could definitely add a new layer of humor to the show, but this show practically REFUSES to dive in deeper to what's supposed to be the selling point to begin with. The music should compliment the rest of what goes on in the show, but instead this series treats it as a bonus or reward to sticking through 8 episodes of Mio being a moe skank.

Five more episodes of the same old same old I guess.

Well whatever.

:\

[chikorita157]

Episode 9 is pretty entertaining and it made me like Azusa-chan more because she is a tsundere type... also she looks cute with those cat ears on.

Rating: 9/10

Full Episode 9 Reaction

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

Episode 9 article is up:

[RIUVA] K-ON!, Episode 9

The Breaking of Nakano Azusa may have gone at a slightly hurried pace, but the last portion of the episode, despite the change in tone, seals the deal for me for a very good reason. 9/10.

If you haven't noticed, Kyoani seems to be more concentrated about the breaking of Mio, until they realised that they have to break the nekomimi too, but by then, it is too late.

[KiNA]

Originally Posted by Master Chibi

...
If anything this episode proves that the 'band mechanic' is just a huge plot device that barely holds the plot together.
...
Five more episodes of the same old same old I guess.

Well whatever.

:\

Welcome to K-On. Takes you 9 episodes to realised that, eh?

[TubZzz]

this one was great... hope there'll be more eps as entertaining as this one

[fish eric]

Originally Posted by Master Chibi

Yeah I'm with you completely on this.

I mean really sit down and think about it for a second, if you had a new member come in wanting to join, and in a few days time you have her scared and confused to the point where she doesn't even know why she joined to begin with, you should feel fucking awful. The poor girl was crying for god's sake, what kind of club (outside of retarded shit like fraternities) are you to do that to a person?

I don't think anyone made her cry. She made herself cry. And then when Mio tried to consul her she yelled at everybody. and then yui gave her a hug to make her feel better. Yea... They should really feel awful. Someone throws a tempertantrum and instead of kicking her out they give her hugs. How do they sleep at night? Oh, and then they threw her a party. You can't expect someone to join a club who has no seniority to expect everyone else to bend to their whim. If she doesn't like the club she doesn't have to be in it. It wouldn't be fair to expect 5 people to adjust their behavior to please one person.

Sawako's 'cosplay fascination' is still out of left field and horribly forced / lame / contrived / extremely overdone at this point (they gave NO indication to her even being into such a thing and suddenly she's bringing outfits to picnics and carrying around cat ears, suuuuuuuuuuuuuure I'm going to buy that).

We must be watching different shows. Sawako's been making them outfits the entire time. And she will continue to.

The contrast with Asuza and the group of slackers we call K-On just didn't work for me at all. And once again we're deprived of seeing people actually PLAY INSTRUMENTS in any damn fashion. For all I don't know Ritsu could have shoved the drumsticks into either nostril and sneezed out her entire performance at the end of the episode. This further annoys me because Asuza is clearly a good guitarist but we get these lame rock legend overlays instead of seeing even just a few worthwhile frames of her playing the guitar. Oh, let's remind her why she wants to join by SHOWING STILL FRAMES OF OUR COFFEE TABLE. Awesome.

That shit means ALOT. Everyone does their thing differently. Some people close their eyes when they play, some have them wide open, some stick their tongue out, some get down on one knee, some hop back and forth, some sway in place, it adds a huge amount of personality and characteristic to performance. We haven't gotten ANY of that yet, and I don't think we ever will. I mean is that alot to ask? I don't think so\

I would love to see them animate the girls playing like how they do in the tiny band clip during the OP, but it is in fact extremely difficult to animate people playing instruments. Not only do you have to draw percise finger movements, but you have to film someone playing their instruments and put it in slow mo so you can see what they are doing and then to get it in synch with the music is no easy feat.

Granted they are animators it is their job.. but im sure they have a budget to work with.

I would be happy if they do one big concert and animate they whole things.

Please don't take all the above the wrong way. I respect your opinions I just disagree with these points.

What would they have done if 10 people joined their club. Do they have to let everyone in? What instruments would they play? Could they do two bands?

[Willen]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Actually in the new Azusa thread Kurt Cobain was mentioned as being the second rocker seen. Looking him up, he does fir the visual a little better than Jeff Beck does. Also those sunglasses fit Cobain as does the Mustang guitar Azunyan uses.

Yeah, the picture fits Kurt Cobain better than Jeff Beck. And the link with the Fender Mustang is a strong argument for Cobain. The hair is more like Cobain's than Beck's except for the color, but I guess it goes along with Azusa's twin-tails.

Here's a pic of Cobain with the same style sunglasses:

[MeoTwister5]

For one honestly, I found the first half of the episode to be meh. Same old same old stuff we see. The final 8 minutes were very good to build say an emotional connection between Azusa, the club and what I believe the is core reason that keeps a group of musicians playing together, if it felt rather rushed.

[Tatiana Razajev]

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

Btw, I actually like how they added Azusa to the OP, contrary to the general opinion in this thread...

I'm fine with the way they handled bringing her into the opening as well. Although I will admit I would have liked a few more scenes with her. Also, I figure it this way. A finalized opening with Azusa is better than having no Azusa.

[zzeroparticle]

I think most everyone's touched on this, but the first half of the episode really raised my ire, partly because these antics have been played out quite a few times already and they've gotten old real fast. That Azusa would be broken in this episode was a foregone conclusion in light of the lingering image from last episode, so I can't say I was surprised. But what did catch me off guard was how annoyed I got with how they sledgehammered the light-hearted, goofiness of the character. Furthermore, while the Mio abuse incidents in the earlier episodes were pretty ridiculous in of themselves, thankfully, they were spaced far apart so that they were tolerable. Them cramming all that Azusa abuse into this episode was just too much and it became annoying as a result.

While I've considered this show to be light entertainment, it'd always been tolerable at worst and amusing at best, but never did it get to the point of being actively irritating. This episode crossed that line and if it weren't for the final few minutes of the episode (which was rife with holes), this one would rank among the worst episode that I've seen from any series this season.

[Karlson]

I have mixed feelings about this episode as well. The first half is really more or less dependent on one's own view of what they find comical/annoying. When the club wasn't busy abusing Asuza the first half tended to drag on most of the time neither of which were pleasing to me. That isn't to say it was all bad tho, it had its good moments. In particular the moments with Mio and Ritsu I found hilarious (lol mustache). With a new member to the club comes new gags, most were unfortunately forgettable. And as for the cutting out of guitar playing to those still shots of Rock legends, I admit the first time I laughed just seeing that (to those 4) watching Azusa play was like watching said legends play. After that, I see where people start getting annoyed. Like the rather shoddy effort in Azusa's inclusion to the new OP...lazy...

On the plus side, the first half did its job in setting itself up to the tone change. Now I'm sucker for drama so this change was a welcome addition and most every band goes through its series of problems and drama so it was fitting here. But then after watching Ritsu and Yui right at the end there I was left wondering what the whole point of all that tension was about. They may as well have just left all that out if nothing at all was going to come out of a serious situation like that. I dunno...I'm just ramblin on at this point so I guess Mio's words of wisdom will have to suffice here.

Never thought I would say this but my stance on Mio as a character has risen alot. Probably because she wasnt a typically moeblob this episode which I am thankful for considering how the rest of the cast besides her and Asuza grained on my nerves.

Originally Posted by fish eric

We must be watching different shows. Sawako's been making them outfits the entire time. And she will continue to.

I dont remember seeing anything remotely resembling her cosplay fetish in episode 5 unless we're counting that crazy outfit she wore during that flashback sequence of her past. Episode 6 it was kept to a minimum and wasn't forced. But from then on it really started kicking itself up a notch and now its gone quite a bit overboard. I agree that its part of her character and all but it needs toning down just like Mio's Moeness did because taking these costumes out to a picnic of all places is quite obsurd but I guess that's just me?

[risingstar3110]

Watched Ep 9 (yay..).
It's entertaining. Yui's experiment of "Azusa and cake relationship" must be the most hilarious part. Someone loop that screen pls(found it in avatar thread actually)

Ritsu's Mio monologue was also funny as heck.... for a moment i really thought that's Mio's.

Azusa at last proved that she's not a younger "Ritsu-without version" of Mio. I start to like this new girl more, but she have no chance to rival Mio ^^

Back to the OP. Yeah it's kind of forced. Actually the original opening was (almost) perfectly done; so try to fix Azusa in does not work. You can see clearly that the OP was not prepared to insert Asuza, especially if comparing to other similar OP (Higurashi Kai for example, their inserting and its "answer-arc aura" sent the chill down my spine)

Edit: ah yeah, the cutest moment is Yui's "Good girl, good girl" + the first nyah ^^

[SuperKnuckles]

I think the forced insert of Azusa was a nice touch actually. Forced girl is forced. lol. That is actually sort of like her personality when it clashes with the other girls'.

Hopefully we might get a totally new OP/ED.

I sort of hoped Azusa wasn't the only new girl though... BAND VS BAND!

[Wargumm1i]

I kinda understand her feelings in this episode, Im a guitar player myself and when I joined my band I was insecure and felt a bit annoyed over the matter my band players were well lazy and never seem too make any progress at all, but it gradually fixed itself and when we played together we notes changes and that i have made improvements.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Originally Posted by Keio

This scene?

I just love Mugi's reactions. :3

Why I do see a drug addict going through withdrawal in this scene and having the innocent young one a taste of her addiction.

Does this mean Mugi is Cake Dealer given the effects on Yui and Sawa-chan?

[escimo]

Originally Posted by ReddyRedWolf

Why I do see a drug addict going through withdrawal in this scene and having the innocent young one a taste of her addiction.

Does this mean Mugi is Cake Dealer given the effects on Yui and Sawa-chan?

Maybe Mugi's cakes are a bit beefed up with some herbal ingredients, Amsterdam style.

[Patriot's Blade]

is it just me again, that Ritsu's moe meter somehow increased dramaticly during the scene where she does the ~nyan-nyan~ at Azusa after she did her first k-on ~nyan~.