K-ON!! 17

Praised by Nodoka for working so diligently, Yui promises her childhood friend she’ll be careful not to fall ill from exertion with the school culture festival so close. Heading for another afternoon of practice, Yui and her light music club friends are aghast when Sawako reveals they can’t use the music room for a while.

Explaining the music room is off limits while they are conducting repairs to the ceiling of the classrooms below it due to water damage, Sawako sees the girls are worried about where they could practice in the meantime.

Asking the wind ensemble and the chorus club if they can share their room with the light music club, Sawako alas comes back empty handed and suggests the girls use their own classroom for now.

Not unexpectedly, the ruckus caused by the girls playing music in their classroom bothers the students in adjacent rooms so the girls set off to find another spot. Trying to practice in the gymnasium doesn’t work out either so the girls call it day.

Heading out for some burgers, the girls discuss possible song lyrics for new material. With Ritsu rejecting Mio’s earlier lyrics that seem centered on featuring animals, Tsumugi suggests they all try to write something by the next day.

Regardless of her efforts, Sawako was unable to find a room for the girls to practice in so she suggests they hire a studio space. Heading to a nearby studio, the girls relish in this new experience, in awe at the plentiful equipment and large mirror that fast becomes the main object of attraction as they start tidying their hair or fixing their clothes, the girls being girls after all.

Seeing Tsumugi prepared some instant tea, the staff interrupts to remind the girl there’s no eating and drinking allowed inside the studio. Taking a breather outside the studio space, the girls discuss the lyrics they wrote but alas, those written by Yui, Tsumugi and Azusa all prove to be unsuitable. By the time the girls get back to practice, their rental time expires.

Luckily, Sawako soon delivers good news, the music room is available again now that repairs have been completed. Able to practice again every day, all that’s left for the girls is to write suitable song lyrics. Seeing Yui mull over what to write, Ui helps her sister working on the lyrics until the early hours.

When Yui calls Mio the next day with a quivering voice whimpering about having caught a cold, the girls fear the worst and rush to the guitar player’s house. There, they realize it is actually Ui who’s fallen ill, leaving Yui helpless with worry. Putting the feverish Ui to bed so she can get much needed rest, Azusa, Tsumugi, Ritsu and Mio take their leave and instruct Yui not to burden her younger sister.

Worried for Ui and having to handle all the chores by herself now, Yui realizes how much her sister actually does for her every single day. The guitar player soon puts those thoughts on paper and manages to write a terrific song.

Thoughts on this episode~

Lovely “K-ON!!” episode again this week, it was well balanced, most characters appeared and played their part, and it had a little bit of everything, comedy, music, touching moments. The animation also seems to have gone up again in most scenes compared to the past episodes.

Azusa and Mio had some lovely scenes that emphasized their cuteness, from Azusa being shy about reading her lyrics out loud, to Mio typically coming up with odd, eclectic song lyrics.

This episode it was time for Yui to shine again, being her goofy, adorable self and in the end realizing how important her little sister is to her. Not only how she cares about her sister Ui, but she finally notices that Ui is a massive pillar of support in her every day life.

Episodes like this do illustrate that while music is plays a large role in the series, “K-ON!!” is not really a show about music. It’s a series about a group of girls enjoying their high school years while having fun together in the school’s light music club. The music itself or making music isn’t the main character or element, the girls and their antics are.

Though must ask KyoAni, where’s my Tachibana Himeko?