Rating: 8.6/10

K-ON is an overrated anime that if people admit to liking, at least some part of their credibility of having any sort of taste is often put into question. With that said, I still love this franchise. I loved watching season one, and then when season two was announced, I was genuinely excited. I even felt the second season turned out to be much better than the first. So after 39 episodes of me enjoying the daily lives of the light music club, this movie was announced, and it’s no surprise that I found this to be another amusing chapter to the franchise!

Often enough, when it comes to successful anime series getting movies, I’m usually disappointed. To milk the franchise even more, it isn’t uncommon that two hour recap films are made before they release then another film to actually give some new material. Although K-ON wouldn’t have much to recap, they still could have took a similar  route, but instead, they decided to give us a continuation from where the series left off, and a concrete enough story that most definitely left me satisfied. In this adventure, the girls take a graduation trip to London, and cuteness ensues!

This film was bursting at the seams with pure adorableness. If that’s not your style, clearly this is a franchise you should run away from, but I’m one of those people who like to get a near lethal dose of cuteness at least once a year. For a good chunk of this film, that’s all it was. Though I wasn’t all too surprised by this, not to mention this anime still does originate from a four-panel manga, so a lot of  it still is just set-up and delivery throughout the scenes. Nonetheless, maybe I’m just blinded by my not-so-secret love for this series, but the jokes that were written for this film, were actually funny.

This is the type of anime that if you can go with the flow and enjoy the fun that the characters are experiencing, it’s hard to dislike. It was a film that entertained from start to finish with its classic formula of just doing nothing. The only exception for this film was rather than sticking to the high school, they went to London and had mishaps from Sushi shop misunderstandings to hotel room blunders. Being a fan myself, I like to think this film managed to hit all the right notes for those who loved the series, while still delivering a fresh new feeling.

Let’s be honest, this film didn’t need to accomplish much. It was made just to pander the fans, and most of us were happy enough to just see the cast back. Though, this series managed to bring some closure for the club with how they were graduating and leaving Azu-nyan (I can’t call her by any other name now) behind. It was surprisingly sentimental. As Mio, Yui, Mugi and Ritsu bid their farewell to Azu-nyan, it felt like they were also bidding their farewell to the fans, giving us a perfect closure to the series. Though, I think we’re all pretty sure this isn’t the last we’ll see of them.

There’s only so much that can be said about a film that was to keep the money flowing as well as the fans happy, but I applaud this film for actually going that extra mile to make something that’s genuinely worth watching.

It was rich in animation, as we’ve come to expect from KyoAni, but seeing as in this case they had to paint the landscape of London, I think they did a wonderful job. The new songs were also welcomed with opened arms as they without a doubt continued the long running hits this anime has managed to deliver. Not to mention, the last song really did close the film on the perfect note.

At the end of the day, K-ON is clearly not a masterpiece and having stayed true to itself, not much really happened. Even with that said, this film has managed to prove that sometimes the only things you need to accomplish to be amusing is cuteness, funny moments, and some music thrown into the mix. I missed the cast, and seeing them back again for once last hurrah reminded me of fond memories had watching this anime in the past. If you’re a fan of the anime, this is a must-see film that doesn’t manage to disappoint!