K-ON!! 5

With her sister off on the school trip to Kyoto, Ui remains at home by herself. Carefree eating her breakfast, the responsible girl soon tidies up her older sister’s room and notices Yui forgot her digital camera.

Showing her older sister’s goofy text messages to Azusa at school, Ui’s enthusiasm isn’t shared by the guitar player who sighs Yui always slacks off in the club. Curious, Jun joins the conversation, soon mocking the irresponsible aura of the light music club.

Tagging along with Ui, Azusa and Jun cautiously enter the abandoned third year classroom, looking for Yui’s lunchbox, the aloof girl having forgotten it there.

Picking up the lunchbox, Ui sits down at her older sister’s desk and soon breaks out in tears when she realizes her sister won’t be coming home for a few nights. Faced with Ui’s crying face Jun and Azusa console their friend by offering to spend the night at her house and hang out together on Sunday.

Having promised to help out Jun at the jazz club in return, Azusa is initially embarrassed when some of the jazz club’s first year members approach her saying how they heard much about her.

Asking Azusa to teach them some tricks, Jun has the light music club guitar player guide the young girls into playing a few chords. Noticing they are having trouble, Azusa switches to doing finger stretches but surprisingly Ui is the only one able to keep up, even Jun has to forfeit.

Arriving at Ui’s house later that evening, Jun brought along a box full of donuts while Azusa brought sushi, neither of the girls having anticipated the sheer banquet of dishes Ui has prepared. Completely stuffed, the girls are tuckered out after dinner and Jun soon falls asleep, though Azusa doesn’t want to sleep yet.

Feeling left behind, Azusa laments the other girls are probably having such a good time they will have forgotten all about her and not bring her any souvenirs. Consoling Azusa, Ui suggests they go somewhere the following day and soon likes Azusa’s idea to visit the zoo.

Waking up to a gray day with nothing but rain, they ultimately head to a baseball batting center on Jun’s suggestion. Unable to score even a single hit on the fast balls whipping past, Jun quickly gives up and Azusa soon follows suit.

Ui on the other hand turns around her inability to hit into a home-run in a mere instant after she sees a father explain the principles to batting to his son. Jumping with joy, Ui finds Azusa and Jun waiting outside, exasperated at their friend’s incredibly fast learning pace.

Suddenly recalling she had to feed the club mascot Ton-chan, Azusa and the girls rush to school through the pouring rain. Relieved to find the turtle in good health, a still depressed Azusa laments the continuous rain, so Jun suggests they play a few tunes. Enthusiastic about the idea, Azusa has Ui join as well and the three girls have a great time playing music together.

Finally cheered up, Azusa’s mood brightens even more when it finally stops raining and the sun breaks through, casting the music room in golden rays.

Back from the school trip, Yui’s first order of the day is pouncing her beloved Azusa and she swiftly drags her cute underclassman to the music room where the girls give Azusa a souvenir from Kyoto, a hiragana ぶ hanger. Unsure what to think of it, Azusa couldn’t be happier when the girls show they all got a different character, which together spell けいおんぶ.

Thoughts on this episode~

An adorable interlude episode that focused on Ui, Azusa and Jun, which I feel is an excellent choice. Considering the timeframe was not only the same as last week’s episode, but it also linked back to it through the various text messages exchanged with Yui it didn’t feel out of place at all.

While we got to see plenty of Azusa and Ui, didn’t really discover much about them that that was new or not in line with their established character. Ui remains akin to the classic perfect wife character often witnessed in anime, while Azusa showcases her typical timidness peppered with a few tsundere token moments.

Most interesting was what we got to see of Jun’s character that was yet unknown, discovered she’s actually quite aloof and goofy at times, which while not unlike Yui still differentiates her from the other girls and thankfully fleshed her character out more.

Appreciated how through the many details, the managed to illustrate that Ui, Azusa and Jun are good friends, regardless of Azusa’s bond with the others in the light music club.

Can’t help but adore Azusa, she’s such a cute character, the scenes where Yui hugged her in the hall was priceless. Although she may ostensibly protest, the twin tailed girl’s expression shows she’s happy to be dragged along by Yui into such joyous fun and skinship.