Use the Force, Yui!

After last week’s slight disappointment, I was hoping that this week’s episode of K-ON!! would be an improvement. Thankfully, it did succeed to some extent, but there were some noticeable problems in it. This episode felt like a giant tease, making us think the girls would stop procrastinating and actually practice for once. How foolish of me to get my hopes up; they spend the whole episode goofing off yet again, not getting a damn thing accomplished. But despite that, I somehow still ended up not hating this. The inherent moeblob charm that kept me sane throughout the more aggravating scenes. It’s one of those,”not bad but not good either.” episodes, in my opinion.

Read more after the jump.

Sawa-chan is so shocked, she's emitting crayon lines!

This episode begins with the girls headed to the music room, actually planning to practice for once. Unfortunately, their teacher informs them that the room unavailable due to repairs. This doesn’t stop our intrepid protagonists though, as they then attempt to practice in a variety of locations, from another clubroom to the gym. However, none of these work out. Ritsu then decides to rent a room at a local recording studio. This is where I got really annoyed at the non-progression of the plot; when the girls arrive at the studio, they immediately try to have tea. However, since beverages aren’t permitted in the studio, they go outside to finish drinking. Afterwards, they go back inside only to discover their time is up. Seriously, what the hell? They go to all the trouble of renting a professional recording studio, then waste their time drinking tea? Haven’t these girls learned anything from their past experiences?

After this ordeal, the girls find the music room has been repaired. Now they can finally practice, right? No, of course not! They go back to their usual creature comforts; lazing around and fattening themselves on snacks. Surprisingly, this isn’t the end of the episode. The final subplot focuses on Ui getting ill, and Yui and friends trying to help her recover. Nothing of interest comes from this, though.

The moeblob in its natural habitat.

While many people seem to hate this episode, my opinion is slightly more positive. The most frustrating part was the music studio scene, which seemed to promise that the girls would finally practice. As you know, this turned out to be nothing but a huge tease. Honestly, that scene could’ve been cut entirely and have no effect on the plot. It’s beginning to annoy me with seeing these girls play so exceptionally well without EVER practicing. Real people don’t just magically develop music-playing superpowers like that! I know these girls are supposed to be idealized, but this is ridiculous!

Despite this flaw, I didn’t really hate this episode. The beginning and ending weren’t all that bad. The ending in particular was especially charming; seeing Yui looking after her sister Ui was a charming role reversal, and made for a cute scene. Yui even tries her hand at cooking! Sadly, these good bits were outweighed by the bad, in particular the annoying music studio scene.

More crayon lines!

Overall, this episode was alright. The charming opening and ending was what made it worthwhile, even if it fell flat in the middle. It’s not going to disappoint anyone, but it’s not going to impress anyone either. Hopefully the next K-ON!! will actually give us a more substantial plot, instead of just promising one.