K-ON!! 10

Unaware that Tsumugi saw her being dropped off by car that morning, Sawako takes a breather in the music room, exhausted from being on her feet all day long at school.

Lamenting her poor tired feet, the bespectacled teacher swiftly snatches away the photo Ritsu waves about of her hard rock alter ego during her high school years, berating the cheeky drummer for threatening her precious image.

When Sawako’s mobile phone suddenly rings, she hesitantly answers it and bolts outside. Considering Sawako’s behavior, it’s obvious to the light music club girls that their teacher is hiding something.

Spotting Sawako suspiciously look about her as she takes a different route after school, the five girls engage in pursuit, with Tsumugi, Yui and Ritsu far too enthused about such a makeshift detective stakeout.

Their eyes glued on Sawako, the five girls wonder what she is up to and if their teacher might have a boyfriend, contrary to what they were led to believe. Seeing another woman meet up with Sawako and head into a family restaurant, the light music club girls give chase.

Failing to act inconspicuously as they try and cram themselves onto the benches of a nearby table, the girls are soon spotted by Sawako’s friend, who surprisingly seems to play along and says nothing of the five girls to the bespectacled teacher.

Forcing her way back on the same bench as Ritsu and Azusa, Yui’s goofy behavior gets the girls plenty of stares from the waitress when she brings them the menu to order. Having forgotten all about stalking Sawako, the girls soon engross themselves in picking delicious deserts to feast on, especially Yui who’s mesmerized by a large fruit parfait.

After watching them leave, Mio wonders who Sawako’s friend might have been and Yui surprises everyone by identifying her as one of Sawako’s friends she saw in photos of the light music club taken during their teacher’s high school years.

Sneaking up on the girls, the woman introduces herself as Christina from ‘Death Devil’, later revealing her real name is Norimi, she soon asks the girls for a favor.
Jokingly confessing all the fuss is about Sawako and marriage, Norimi soon explains to the shocked girls that actually one of her and Sawako’s friends from high school is getting married and asked them to play at her wedding reception as ‘Death Devil’.

Concerned for her image as a teacher, Sawako refused to play onstage, prompting Norimi to now ask the five girls’ help in convincing the bespectacled teacher.

During self study the next day, the girls can’t come up with a plan, they soon get sidetracked by partaking in Tsumugi’s plea to stand out in the hall in punishment for passing notes.

At the wedding reception, Sawako is surprised when she sees the other members of ‘Death Devil’ are performing backed by the current light music club girls. Missing a few notes, Yui’s typical aloof nature soon has the crowd laughing which irritates Sawako for such lightheartedness is not the true soul of ‘Death Devil’.

Unable to take it any longer, Sawako determinedly jumps onstage and shows everyone what ‘Death Devil’ is really about. Unleashing roaring guitar riffs, Sawako leads an eardrum blowing hard rock song that soon has the crowd go wild while Yui, Tsumugi, Azusa, Mio and Ritsu watch in awe.

The next day at school, Sawako wallows in despair that her image is now forever ruined but she actually remains as popular as ever for some first year students drop by, fawning over how cool her performance with ‘Death Devil’ was.

Thoughts on this episode~

Absolutely loved every minute of this episode. Had always liked Sawako from when she appeared in the first season but regretted how throughout most of that “K-ON!” season the cute teacher was relegated to a shallow character used solely for comic relief.

Hence rejoiced when her character not only got more depth, but became more three dimensional and interesting, especially in this second season where while still the source of many jokes, Sawako has become an interesting character.

In fact her kind demeanor and genuine care for the students being offset against the hard rocker part of her character doesn’t make her unrealistic or an eclectic mix of clashing traits, but quite the opposite, a more real, tangible person one could relate to.

And let’s be honest, Sawako looked gorgeous when she started rocking onstage!

Liked how this episode touched upon such themes as growing up, joining the working world which can change how one wants to be perceived and cultivate a different image, it was moving but ever so lightly, perfectly digestible as it should be for a fun slice-of-life comedy.

Previously already commented how Kyoto Animation has been doing a good job at consistently animating the light music club girls’ classmates, it was nice to see them again include details like the girls having their hiragana letter hangers brought back from Kyoto in the school trip episode hanging on their school bags. A nice touch!