Review for K-ON! - Volume 4 (Review)
Monday, 9th January 2012, 17:24

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Extras
For once, I got to look at the packaging with a clear Amaray case providing the storage for the disc. The cover gets a nice, simple effective image of all five girls being energetic, while the rear has all the blurb, including one of those god-ugly smartphone barcode blobs. The inner lining simply has an episode listing. K-ON! gets the usual treatment of static menus and a jacket picture.

The only extra features on the disc are a brief music video for one of the group’s songs, “Brush Pen, Ballpoint Pen”, although only the English version, and a 7-minute interview with the English voice of Tsumugi, Shelby Lindley. She discusses the character and the show, and also talks about how the show relates to her own experiences of high school.

Conclusion
I’ve never been fond of anime discs with low episode counts, and three episodes on a disc seem just ridiculous in this day and age. Of course that’s a resentment left lingering from when I had to review three episodes of a long running shonen action show on one disc, 75 minutes in which nothing happened except brief bursts of fighting action broken up by long periods of standing around talking about it. Then again, you can’t at all compare three episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho with three episodes of K-ON! What we have here is the perfect distillation of cuteness in animated form. It’s a delicious confection of feel-good sweetness that envelops you for its brief runtime, and watching just one episode of K-ON! at a time is enough to leave you with a warm glow that lasts for the rest of the day. Yu Yu Hakusho never did that.

It turns out that the first episode on the disc is actually the final episode of the series proper, and brings things about full circle with the girls’ second Cultural Festival, the culmination of another year’s work at growing the band. It’s Azusa’s first festival, and she’s looking forward to performing live with the other girls, except that Yui has caught Ritsu’s cold. As usual for the Light Music Club, it’s a matter of leaving everything until the last minute, and panicking all the way there. Perhaps the most charming moment in this episode is where Yui’s little sister Ui decides to help.

The series concludes with two bonus episodes, and following the series structure of alternating music focussed episodes with slice of life stories, we get the slice of life first, that sees the girls go their separate ways on a winter’s day, while being overwhelmingly cute at the same time. Still, there are murmurings of disaffection when the show starts, with Yui’s invitation to a nabe party being snubbed by everyone, and everyone keeping schtum as to just why. Ritsu’s surprisingly subdued and preoccupied, Mio can’t write lyrics if she’s surrounded by Yui and Ritsu’s innate stupidity, rich girl Mugi is exercising her independence by working at a burger restaurant, and Azusa is babysitting a friend’s kitten, trying to overcome her fear of cats. Cuteness abounds throughout, while events conspire to bring the girls together again.

Of course the final episode is the perfect note for the show to bow out on, with the Light Music Club getting their first live gig in the outside world, and coming face to face with a steep learning curve. The prospect of performing for people other than their schoolmates is a daunting one, as is the reality of a live house, as well as the other, more seasoned bands that they will be performing with on the same bill. Once again, it’s Yui’s gormless enthusiasm, and Ritsu’s unfocussed passion that will see them through. K-ON! is at its best when it has the band battling, what passes for adversity in this sweet and harmless world, and coming out unexpectedly on top, and both the first and final episodes on this disc are prime examples of that.

I started off this review with an overdose of bad news. Well here’s the good news. K-ON! is the epitome of cute heart-warming anime. It’s the ultimate feel good experience. Forget that the Blu-ray has been cancelled, as these DVDs aren’t to be sniffed at. Forget that the collapse of Bandai in the US has drastically reduced the chances of the second series ever being licensed in the West, as these fourteen episodes are complete in and of themselves. Yes, they leave you wanting more, but there are no pesky cliff-hangers or loose ends. And forget that 2012 is the year that the meteorite strikes and the world ends, as while civilisation may fall, as long as there is electricity flowing to your home cinema system, you can lose yourself in the ultimate distillation of cute!

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