K-ON!! 26 extra

Looking back at the photo her upperclassmen made to commemorate her joining the light music club, Azusa smiles as she remembers the silly prank they pulled by mimicking classic family portraits and having silly eyes drawn on their eyelids.

Enjoying some tasty tangerines with their daily cup of tea, the light music club girls anxiously await Nodoka’s arrival. When the student council president arrives, Yui, Mio and Ritsu quickly jump on the book Nodoka brought along.

Having a trial copy of the year album, Nodoka lets the girls take a sneak peak at it. While Mio and Ritsu lament their photos which still came out well, Yui is in despair at her bangs, which she had accidentally cut too short right before the photo session.

Although Mio and Tsumugi try to cheer Yui up, Nodoka delivers the coup de grace by observing the photo’s probably captures Yui’s childlike aura well. Pleading Nodoka to have her photo tagged as inappropriate to get it redone, Yui is distraught when her friend dryly refuses.

Hearing Nodoka sighs she’s in quite a pinch because their teacher Sawako needs to review and approve the album, Azusa gets worried something has happened to their teacher. Of course, Ritsu and Tsumugi play a trick on the girl by insinuating that something bad might have happened to Sawako. Luckily Mio soon reveals the teacher is simply home sick with a cold.

Thinking this is her chance to get her photo rejected, Yui suggests they visit Sawako’s at home to show their teacher the album for review. Heading over to Sawako’s apartment, Ritsu, Yui and Tsumugi are even more enthusiastic to see their teacher’s lodging when Mio suggests they might intrude on Sawako and her boyfriend.

While she seems glad to see her students care for her wellbeing enough that they pay her a visit, Sawako is reluctant at first to let them in. Persistent as they are, Ritsu, Yui, Mio and Tsumugi soon force their way in and relish in seeing what their teacher’s home looks like, soon embarrassing poor Sawako.

Having Sawako review their year album, Yui’s attempts to get her own photo rejected once again fail. When Tsumugi notices an out of place hand resting on Yui’s shoulder in their class group photo, the girls’ initial shock turns into suspicion when Ritsu’s reaction betrays she’s the one responsible for the prank.

Deciding to help out their treasured teacher, the girls set to doing Sawako’s house chores and prepare dinner while Sawako watches her dearest students, thinking back with melancholy on her time spent with them throughout the past years.

When Sawako’s friends from her own high school band ‘Death Devil’ barge in, the four young girls take their leave and head back to school. Arriving at the music room, Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Tsumugi realize Azusa is actually practicing with Jun and Ui for the next school year’s student welcome ceremony performance. Smiling, the four girls leave the school building with a sense of satisfaction.

Thoughts on this episode~

Another lovely “K-ON!!” episode and terrific choice to close of the series airing run with such an extra episode.

While some may lament that “K-ON!!” did not end its run on the emotional climax of the girls graduation day, where the series could have faded out on that scene of hearing the けいおん girls together playing their songs one last time in the music room, this episode is certainly just as fitting.

While episode 25 was clearly an extra episode featuring a story earlier in the time-line without too much attention for the girls’ graduation which marks the series’ end, this 26th episode was a perfect mesh between a more light-hearted extra episode and one with all the significant emotional scenes and impact of the joyous and sorrowful mix of their graduation day and the end of the light music club as it was then.

Showing us the light music club girls typical antics and shenanigans, loved the added Easter egg scenes that showed how the girls made photos such as the prank photo when Azusa just joins the club, snapshots that may seem familiar since they are based on the illustration art used for the first “K-ON!” anime season’s BluRay/DVD covers.

Of course the big news at the end of this episode which you’ve no doubt seen float around online already is the announcement that a “K-ON!” movie is in the works!

Am curious to see what the “K-ON!” movie will be like. Will it be like seeing one extra long episode featuring the girls during their prime time in the light music club or will it be an epilogue movie of sorts showing what happens when the girls enter university?

Although it will still be quite some time before it will be here I can hardly wait!