The new series of K-ON! is so good that I had to devote an article to it.
Started to read the manga only recently - picked up the first edition, watched the first anime EP and then went out to get the second edition last Friday.
Some folks may see some of the screenshots as spoliers so if you don't want to be spoilt then check back another day.
The "Keion-bu" is a bukatsu for students who wish to learn and play musical instruments.
Didnt have such after school activities back in the UK which was a shame. I can see how bukatsu gives students the opportunity to learn while building relationships with classmates. Are there such activities organized by schools in your neck of the woods?
K-ON! starts off with the music activity group (Keion-bu) about to be abolished due to a lack of participants. There needs to be at least four members of the group in order for the school to maintain its existence.
This girl is Ritsu Tainaka - the drummer and the leader of the Keion-bu. She tries to gather the four members needed to keep the keion-bu alive.
Was watching K-ON! on the train and enjoyed it so much that I watched it again on the way home. Was supposed to change at Tameike Sanno from the Ginza line and was so captivated by the show that I looked out the window to realize that I overshot my stop by three stops. Dont you just hate it when that happens!
This reminds me that I need to interview a university graduate who said she would wear her high school uniform to do an interview for me. She currently works for Appliya - the folks making the Evangelion apps. Shes incredibly talented and has not had the need to go round to companies for interviews - they all approach her instead! I think it could be something to do with her cute looks too.
This is the closest you are going to get to fanservice in K-ON! While I do like the occasional fanservice, I think it has its place. Will continue to watch Queens Blade and having it full of oppai is fine. But they would spoil K-ON! if they made that dark bit under Yui's skirt pantsu-visible in the DVD.
The background art is based on the Miyazaki Prefecture offices and you can see some photos of it at Yunakiti.
This is the ED which I absolutely adore - just brilliant. Want to borrow that guitar and to a Rock Trooper to this tune.
And a lookie at the two manga editions of K-ON illustrated by Kakifly! The paper strip that wraps around the cover of Japanese manga/books is called the "Obi" 帯] and is used for marketing blurb. Here you see the Obi promoting the anime. The Obi are cheap to produce and allows publishers to message stuff without spending a ton of money redesigning covers.
Got this Korean edition of City Hunter when I was in Seoul last. Picked up most of my initial Japanese from reading manga - learning a language is so much more fun and effective when you are doing something you enjoy - and me loves reading manga. Everything works out much better when you are learning while doing something you enjoy *and* making a money at the same time - my job description at Mirai Inc ^^
The artwork and girls in Maken-ki is fab. Shame that Takeda-sensei's ero work is overly ero as you can see from the collection at Fakku - NSFW depending on whos behind you.