K-ON! Special: Live House! – The GREATEST SHOW EVAR is back!

Unfortunately, crappy, wet blanket Mio decided to come along for the ride too… And with that I’ve antagonized both the anti-moe trolls, as well as the Mio-moe trolls. By my calculations, this attack should have caused at least 80% of the anime fanbase’s collective heads to ‘splode like Mio under a spotlight.

Actually, no, I don’t think K-ON’s the greatest show evar, or that Mio is a terrible character (although one of those is closer to the truth). It’s just that we all know that Yui is the true queen of this show. Respect her authoritah!

A winter OVA episode just in time to cure the winter blues. Although it would’ve made more sense to air it 4 weeks ago. But whatever. I’m glad to see the band back, and growin’ on up, with their first chance to play live outside of the school, thanks to an invitation from Ritsu’s musician friend. Although Mio succeeds in her Sith lord/wet blanket training of Azu-nyan, thankfully Mugi will have no part of missing out on potential yuri opportunities and casts the deciding vote to perform. On a completely separate note, do girls wrap their scarves around their hair like Mugi does? I can’t recall ever seeing that. But it seems pretty smart; it’d definitely keep you warmer.

I think Yui meant to say "wimpy." Afterschool Teatime is indeed wimpy. Taking the girls outside of the school, and away from fanservice-friendly places like the beach was very cool, actually, and serves as a nice change of pace or the show. Meeting real musicians and getting familiar with the logistics of a live performance made this episode feel much more focused than most of the first season actually. I think it’s fair to say that for this episode, their musical development was the priority, and any resulting moe was simply collateral damage.

Ritsu knows Mio like the back of her hand. It’s not a performance without her falling. I think Ritsu should’ve went with the "When the bassist flashes the shimapan, put the spotlight on her bowl of rice immediately" direction though. There’s a lot less room for misinterpretation there.

Even though it was only one episode, you do get a sense for their growth – from the debacle first rehearsal to their successful performance. And I enjoyed seeing it. Actually, I’d love to see them take this direction even further during the second season. Get the girls out of school, out of their classroom, and allow them to be fish out of water, figuring out what’s what in the music world. Don’t lose the moe, but also add in the “coming of age” type of themes. It’d allow for more interesting scenarios and I think would give the show a lot more depth. You can only grow so much inside of a single classroom.

All in all, a very nice OVA. Good mix of non-melodrama drama, moe and Yui and co. hijinks. Had they stuck this episode in with the first season, it definitely would’ve been one of the better ones. Okawari!