Ranked #364

K-On! (Movie)

While the fansub watching community stretch their patience as they wait for releases, those lucky enough to have already seen K-On! the movie bounce around with knowing smiles on their faces, contentment and delight bursting from within, wanting to but unwilling to spoil the surely great experience for those still anticipating.

Although in retrospect, there really isn't much that can be spoiled about the K-On! movie. It's just ... well it's K-On! What more can you really say?

The members of Hokago Tea Time return for their big screen appearance, only this time, instead of lounging around at home or in the club room drinking tea, they decide to do something film-worthy and go on a trip to London in celebration of their graduation. This comes of course with all the obligatory language barrier jokes and quips involved in such a story and while I won't spoil anything, I will say that the band has some 'amusing' levels of English proficiency. London itself was a sight to behold and having been there recently myself, I can say that the movie does a great job incorporating the atmosphere and liveliness of the great city into it's animation.

What surprised me the most was that K-On's usual fluffy and carefree approach with it's episodic plot translated extremely well into an almost eight times as long feature length. Much of what was loved about the original anime, the delightful bantering, the nonsensical expressions, poses and general silliness can all be found here in copious qualities. The movie does a great job in balancing the scenes that K-On! are famous for with the ones that move the story forward, keeping the pacing of the film seamlessly refreshing.

There's not much to say about the characters, other than how they continue to be the characters we know and love them for. The time spent in introducing each main character might have been rather short; newcomers to the series may very well find themselves lost as to why the characters are appealing the way they are, but that's more of a nitpick rather than an issue in quality. K-On! is nothing if not known for it's accessibility to a wide audience anyway.

KyoAni, as per their usual style, delivers magnificently on the levels of production value. Character animations feel fluid and K-On's trademark backgrounds continue to make regular appearances. Many of the scenery shots are rendered gorgeously; there is a noticeable improvement in the vibrance and colorfulness of the animation compared to the TV series. Other than the technicalities however, most of style remains unchanged. I was happy, but not at all surprised that the movie decided to stay true to it's roots rather than to go for something radically different.

Of course, no review of any K-On material would be complete without talking about the insert songs. The movie features two new singles by Aki Toyosaki, "Ichiban Ippai" and "Unmei wa Endless", both of which are charming pieces in their own right. Unmei wa Endless is strongly reminiscent of K-On!!'s 2nd OP and Ichiban Ippai is a very light piece featuring (strangely) trumpets. Unfortunately Yui's singing seems to have improved a lot over and she no longer sings adorably out of tune. Or maybe that's a good thing. And seriously, when did they get a trumpet player in their band?

If I had to find one fault with this movie, it would be that perhaps K-On! isn't suited to be enjoyed in a movie theatre where silence is usually the rule of thumb. I know that I for one wouldn't be able to contain myself from snickering and cracking up every other scene, and I'm pretty sure I would annoy the hell out of the entire cinema, or at least the 6 foot football jockey which knowing my luck, I would definitely be seated next to. And yes, I know 6 feet football jockeys who watch K-On! Which is actually pretty awesome now that I think about it.

Not much left to add that a K-On! fan wouldn't already know and an anti-fan couldn't care less about anyway. Definitely give this movie a go. Even if you've never touched the series before, if you've got a night in 6 months from now and 2 hours of time to kill, I can't think of a better way to spend that time than grab a pillowing, jumping in some pink slippers and indulging in some delicious animated light and fluffiness.

I mean, it's K-On! What more can you really say?

*Will be updated once Blu-ray releases are out to cover any relevant changes. And to change the Intro. =P* read more

I watched it while a tourist vacation in Japan last December. I've been a great fan of the series since it came out (thanks to the fansubbers), and my friends convinced me to go and watch it despite we didn't understand almost any japanese.

It was a great experience and a nice way to say goodbye to Kyoto. It's funny, heartwarming and matches perfectly with the final episodes of the series. Can't wait to watch it again. ^^