×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
REVIEW: K-ON! The Movie [2015-11-24]




Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
SaitoHajime101



Joined: 31 Mar 2013
Posts: 280
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 9:48 am Reply with quote
I like the review, easy read and well put together however I have to disagree of some of the positives this review gives the movie.

The movie as a whole felt directionless. It felt like each section of the film felt like its own episode that didn't quite tie together as well as it should've. Pacing was all over the place at times, especially more so at the end.

The movie is very superficial in its obstacles it tries to present to the the main characters and if you try to think on any given part with any real logic, the movie makes no sense. My wife and I were completely baffled at how any of them were able to generate the money for this trip... keep in mind that Yui struggled to even get Gitah in the series, only to wind up having all that cash necessary for an international trip (again very superficial).

This movie (and series) worked well in character interaction which is the point I suppose, but there's no real story to this (again which I guess is the point of it all).

Fun entertaining movie, but lacked in any depth whatsoever.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Actar



Joined: 21 Nov 2010
Posts: 1074
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:35 pm Reply with quote
This movie is, in my opinion, phenomenal.

...and I think that most K-On! fans will agree. Not only is it done in the classic K-On! slice-of-life style that fans will be familiar with, the movie aslo has a running sub-plot to it.

The thing that I really adored about this movie is that it was not only it's own thing, it actually added to the main series as well. What do I mean by this? In the finale of the second season, we get to see Azusa's perspective of her seniors graduating and the doubts and misgivings that she had. In the movie however, we see the perspectives of Yui and the gang. And this is all tied together very, very well with the creation of the song, "Tenshi ni Fureta yo" or "Touched by an Angel" in English. The song was indeed a wonderful surprise and a perfect gift for Azusa that undoubtedly pulled many heartstrings in the ending of the second season. And throughout the entire movie, we see the just how that song was made, from conception to creation and the emotions that went into it.

So, in that sense, the movie really complimented and gave us much more emotional depth and meaning to the song and to the main series which is something that not many movies are able to accomplish. Speaking of complimenting, you even get to see the full classroom performance from second opening of the second season.

In addition to that, the portrayal of the experience of traveling to a foreign country and the performance scenes are all executed brilliantly. And as such, I think that this movie is a stellar sign off by Kyoto Animation to the K-On! franchise.

Not to mention, this movie solidified Yui as my favorite character of the series. Throughout most of the movie, Yui was the one who was consistently thinking about Azusa’s song – even when she was supposed to be enjoying herself and seeing the sights of London.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:07 pm Reply with quote
The tea in London is alright as long as you except that 7 other people have most likely drank it before you. Also you'll be hard pressed to ride on an old London Routemaster bus these days. Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4064
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:40 pm Reply with quote
I got to agree with the review, the movie's good but not great. Still, there's no way a K-On! movie could be great because the show's jus not structured that way. So it's the best that it could be.

So it's perfect. Wait, what?

Yeah, one thing the movie could do with an extended run time that the TV series could not was get the viewers into Yui's head. A frightening experience but very informative, the repeating phrases and single minded passions circling around her aloof airheaded nature makes for a ticking time bomb of creative power.

For Mio, she puts on headphones and writes words to Mugi's music, what Yui does is go to war with her own unfocused nature and works out whatever's closest to the surface.

And that's the narrative flow for the movie, not so much how the vignettes connect but why they connect; Three of the four songs the band plays all the way through are written by Yui; The first half of the movie deals with the "sky high" ideas that Yui has for Rice is a Side Dish, then there's U and I during the classroom performance whose base sentiment should be a serviceable start for the song they want to do for Asuza but Yui needs to back off and think about the band and Asuza, not just what Asuza means for herself.

So the first one culminates in a creative improve burst which most creative people should be able to recognize, I always though of them as "brain frizzles" myself, the gap that spans from A to C in a single insight while the second is a deliberate creative exercise left hanging for that one image to pull the whole thing together. So it's not just "creative people are creative" but "creative people are creative in creative ways"... maybe.

Even if you don't buy all that, there's still the gag of Yui trying to figure what she needs on the trip, then deciding there's no way Ui would fit in the suitcase. That's worth the purchase of the BD by itself.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Actar



Joined: 21 Nov 2010
Posts: 1074
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
The tea in London is alright as long as you except that 7 other people have most likely drank it before you.


Wait, what? (^.^;)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber



Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3016
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:59 pm Reply with quote
My absolute favorite part of the K-On movie is when the girls get back from London. Their classmates are asking them what songs they played, and they tell them they played "Rice is a Side Dish". On the other side of the room, some girl playing with her hair goes, "Donaiyanen?" Ritsu turns around, points right at the girl, and yells: "THAT'S RIGHT, ICHIGO!"

I laugh - and feel like a total dork for getting the pun - every time.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 2:20 pm Reply with quote
Actar wrote:
Mohawk52 wrote:
The tea in London is alright as long as you except that 7 other people have most likely drank it before you.


Wait, what? (Anime smallmouthWink
http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cycles/accessible/sewage_treatment.html
Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
vonPeterhof



Joined: 10 Nov 2014
Posts: 729
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 2:50 pm Reply with quote
@Actar Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Well, except that I don't think I really have a favourite in the cast. I guess I have a soft spot for Mio because of her little speech about why she plays the bass, while Azusa is the only one all of whose character songs I liked, but that's about it. Also, I feel so stupid for never having noticed the connection between the classroom performance in the movie and in the one in the opening.

BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:
My absolute favorite part of the K-On movie is when the girls get back from London. Their classmates are asking them what songs they played, and they tell them they played "Rice is a Side Dish". On the other side of the room, some girl playing with her hair goes, "Donaiyanen?" Ritsu turns around, points right at the girl, and yells: "THAT'S RIGHT, ICHIGO!"

I laugh - and feel like a total dork for getting the pun - every time.
I love that part as well but, um, what exactly is the pun? Confused The way I see the joke it's that Ichigo's line can be taken both as a quote from the song and a reaction to the fact that they performed it in London (similarly to the earlier scene where "Donaiyanen?" is uttered by Sawako), whereas Ritsu's line can be interpreted either as her saying "Yes, that's the song!" or "Yes, that's the proper response! Wink" I don't think this counts as a pun, since there are no multiple meanings to the words themselves, just the ways Ichigo and Ritsu use them. And if there's some situation-rerlevant pun in the fact that "Ichigo" means "strawberry", I don't see it either.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber



Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3016
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 3:24 pm Reply with quote
vonPeterhof wrote:
I don't think this counts as a pun, since there are no multiple meanings to the words themselves, just the ways Ichigo and Ritsu use them. And if there's some situation-rerlevant pun in the fact that "Ichigo" means "strawberry", I don't see it either.


http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneTwoThreeFourGo

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoroawaseNumber

Ichi - - - go.

It's one of those things that probably seems like a stretch to non-native Japanese speakers, but would be instantly picked up by Japanese audiences because they're so used to goroawase.

I feel like a dork when I laugh at it because the only reason I get gorowase puns is "I watch too much anime". Laughing
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5400
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 4:42 pm Reply with quote
Actar wrote:
...and I think that most K-On! fans will agree. Not only is it done in the classic K-On! slice-of-life style that fans will be familiar with, the movie aslo has a running sub-plot to it.

I am not a hardcore K-On fan, but I enjoy and like this franchise. The first season is well done and very effective, the second season is less focused but more emotional. The movie is messily written, too long and without a doubt the weakest part of the whole anime franchise.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
vonPeterhof



Joined: 10 Nov 2014
Posts: 729
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 5:19 pm Reply with quote
BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:
It's one of those things that probably seems like a stretch to non-native Japanese speakers, but would be instantly picked up by Japanese audiences because they're so used to goroawase.
Have you actually observed and/or heard about a native speaker's reaction to that particular line? Because I'm aware of goroawase and your interpretation still feels like a bit of a stretch to me in this case, to be honest (not the fact that the name/word "Ichigo" can be rendered as "15", but the idea that this was a deliberate reference to the line in the song). I would be more open to interpreting it as a pun on a meta level if this were the first time the name was used, but the character in question had been referred to as "Ichigo" in the TV show as well, so it's not like they named her like that for that one joke.

I admit that my feelings about this are to some extent derived from being partial to my own interpretation (which is incompatible with the goroawase interpretation, as the latter would remove the ambiguity of the intent behind Ritsu's line) and/or being butthurt about getting out-weebed Wink, but I'd like a confirmation from a native speaker before I buy your interpretation. Unfortunately, none of my Japanese acquaintances are fans of K-On!, so there's no easy way for me to get it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber



Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3016
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 5:35 pm Reply with quote
vonPeterhof wrote:
I would be more open to interpreting it as a pun on a meta level if this were the first time the name was used, but the character in question had been referred to as "Ichigo" in the TV show as well, so it's not like they named her like that for that one joke.


I think that's a fair point. Really, all I have to support my interpretation is that this particular scene is mentioned on the TVTropes pages I linked to above.

Of course, since basically anyone can edit that site, all that really means is that I'm not the only one who interprets the scene this way. Laughing

Regardless, I really like how this particular scene is presented: with Ichigo, a "background character", in the foreground of the shot, and the main cast members in the background. KyoAni has a long history of populating its world with memorable background characters (the book that came with Sentai's Chuunibyo special edition actually includes a height chart for all the background characters), and I feel this is one of the things that the K-On movie really nails, visually.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
lemurs



Joined: 01 Aug 2012
Posts: 101
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 6:50 pm Reply with quote
The movie caps off the series pretty much perfectly. The senior trip which makes up much of the middle half is ultimately a secondary concern which is why all the wacky overseas hijinks and sightseeing soon fades into a montage before the farewell concert. What it's really about is the perspective of the four seniors. The very end of the TV series is mostly from Azusa's perspective and there's a tinge of sadness to it because she's being left behind in an empty club. But although the movie ends at about the same spot, its shift in perspective moves the tone to a brighter place full of forward-moving imagery.

It's just a happier way to end it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5516
PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:28 am Reply with quote
I always loved this movie. It does exactly what K-On is good it....making people feel good.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address My Anime My Manga
Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 4:18 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
Also you'll be hard pressed to ride on an old London Routemaster bus these days.

Outside of rush hours, Route 15 is still served by them. It can present quite a challenge attempting to board one during the weekends, not that this dissuades the tourists.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group