K-On!!: Keikaku!

I gave everything an 8 except for the overall is a 9. Why, you ask?

This "ova" is basically just an extra episode that could have easily fit in either season of the amazing anime that is "K-ON!" but for some reason they decided to have it be an ova (which is fine I guess).

This episode basically starts out with them all passing around gifts (I guess) and one of the girls mentions how she got it on a trip when she went on vacation, so one of them says "fuck it, let's go on a trip" and they decide to spend an entire episode getting their passports. But not before trying to learn whatever language they need to know before going there (which they never use in the movie anyway so that was a waste).

The art/sound/characters are all the same from the main show, not really much to talk about here. Let me just say that this might be the only episode in the entire show where they have a glass of iced tea instead of hot tea like they normally do (I could be wrong but trust me on this one). I just thought that was kind of funny.

Reason I gave it a 9 is because I gave the whole show a 9, and I don't really want to change my rating because of one episode. I personally liked every episode of the show, and I don't really want to discriminate on the rating so there.

Overall, watch it if you are going to watch the movie. It's a fun episode with a couple fun scenes and Yui acting like Yui (which is always great).

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Review in brief:

This OVA is about Hōkago Tea Time planning for the overseas trip they take in the movie. The focus on this leaves the episode a tad light on comedy, but it’s still K-On! at heart.

Review in full:

Released roughly a month after the K-On! Movie was announced, Keikaku! could be seen as a prequel episode for it. It didn’t need to be an episode, but this is K-On!, so a simple story isn’t really an issue. Not much happens, not just because it’s K-On!, but because the setup of “planning an overseas trip” is actually what this is about rather than being the backdrop for a bunch of goofy moments with the Keion-bu. There’s still goofing around to be had of course, but with what is effectively an actual plot focus that lacks drama it leaves less than K-On’s optimal amount of room for tomfoolery. Like a fair amount of K-On!’s 2nd season, it’s more mundane than it needs to be.

That’s not to say it’s a worthless watch. K-On’s colorful cast of characters are still very much themselves, and there’s even little sprinkles of minor development for some of them through their dialogues. Plus, the comedy that is present is of good quality, even doing a better job with some jokes than season 2’s versions of them. While the episode’s conclusion isn’t very solid in the context of why it was made, loose endings are little more than a nitpick in slice of life stories as standard as this.

Though this OVA certainly hits KyoAni’s above-average standard for production quality, it is a step down from season 2. Sure, there wasn’t very much to animate in this episode, but even then, the imagery was a little more static than normal. Perhaps it was the framing; there are a few noticeably odd choices with it, and K-On! usually has excellent framing. Still, the visuals overall are colorful and highly detailed. This episode is rather quiet in the background, and calming background noise with a lack of K-On!’s usual pop is a tad odd. Plus, the Keion-bu does not so much as set foot inside the club room, so there’s no real place for insert songs either. The important thing is that the ever-talented seiyuus still found ways to be creative, this time with the Engrish portions of the OVA.

Verdict:

Keikaku! Is hardly a necessary watch, but fans will appreciate getting an extra episode out of what could have been just a movie preview, and that’s what matters in the end, not whether it’s the best K-On! episode ever or not. If you ask me, it’s not the worst episode of K-On! either.

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