K-ON!! 23

Thinking how their upperclassmen will be gone after tomorrow’s graduation, Azusa is surprised to see Yui run across the school grounds, the aloof guitar player having come to school anyway.

Joining her friends in the music room, Yui and the girls leisurely hang around, alas having tea and snacks only entertains them for so long. Deciding against playing music for the first and second year students are still in class, the girls set out to find something else to occupy them.

Cleaning out their desks, it comes as no surprise that Ritsu’s is still filled with her study books and Yui’s spews forth a mountain of scribbled notes. Observing their class feels awkwardly different being deserted, Mio is surprised to see Tsumugi ask Yui if she can have the old message notes.

Running into Nodoka, the girls learn their friend was still working on her graduation speech as student council president, having Sawako read it over for approval. Trying to enlist Sawako in joining them for tea, the girls see their teacher refuse for she still has plenty of preparations to make for next day’s graduation ceremony.

Following Nodoka, Yui and the girls barge in student council room to take one last look around. Noticing a photo album, Yui, Ritsu and Tsumugi are awed to see photos of Nodoka in it. Explaining each school year the student council makes a photo book, Nodoka blushes shyly when the girls exclaim how cute she looks in them.

Borrowing Nodoka’s glasses, Yui’s hopes to invoke the more intellectual flair of a student council president seem for naught.

Spotting Azusa during lunchtime, Yui pounces her treasured friend and soon pleads with her to buy them lunch. When Azusa asks why they’re not buying their own lunch, Yui replies it would be embarrassing to do so on a day the third year students aren’t supposed to be in school, so the twin tailed girl complies and has lunch with her upperclassmen.

Lazing about, the girls wonder what to do and eventually set out to clean the entire music room. When the bell chimes to signal the end of classes for the day, marking their final after school tea time, Yui panics, desperately looking for a way to leave something behind, like Nodoka with the student council photo album.

Deciding to leave their music behind, the girls take out an old cassette recorder and Azusa relishes in how they discuss which songs to play and in what order. Having some fun recording their chatter first, the girls soon write up a track sheet and Yui, Azusa, Mio, Ritsu and Tsumugi play their songs together.

Writing their band name on the cassette, Yui, Azusa, Mio, Ritsu and Tsumugi, together with Sawako enjoy their final hours in the music room as ‘after school tea time’.

Thoughts on this episode~

With the third year girls’ graduation only a day away this episode takes a leisurely pace which may fill avid fans with a sense of dread, for we know the end is approaching fast. In contrast, no time is spent on showing how Azusa or the other girls feel anxious about soon having to part ways, but the fact the series focused on exploring this in previous episodes, it successfully engraved that emotion into the viewer.

Some may lament how this episode showed little of substance, but I think it was in a way also ideal, to show how the けいおん girls approach graduation day, feeling they ought to do something meaningful but spending most of the day just hanging around to ultimately try and leave their mark by recording their music.

While such a mellow, subdued episode may come as an odd choice before the finale, for a slice-of-life series such as this it makes perfect sense, enabling to go for a more moving ending which will stand out more.
Am anxious to see next week’s graduation episode! No doubt the girls will shed many tears.

And でれでれ blushing Nodoka made my head explode, she’s so cute!