Title: K-ON Volume 4
Published by: Madman Entertainment (Australia / New Zealand)
Based on: Manga Series under the same name by Kakifly
Genre: Comedy, Music, School-Life
Audio: English and Japanese Dubs
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 1080p High Definition
Runtime: 75 minutes
Cost: $24.95 (DVD), $29.95 (Blu-ray)
Classification: This title is rated G
Special Thanks: Special thanks goes to the Madman Entertainment PR Team for providing me with a review sample of this title.
Finally after four volume releases, we have finally reached the final K-ON! volume release in Australia for Season One at least. It does sort of surprise me how I have been able to write three reviews on eleven episodes considering that the series is of a more light hearted school-life series unlike say Madoka Magica which is soon to be released which is driven more by plot – but to be honest it has actually been a pretty enjoyable series to watch in the midst of other more plot-driven and series series I have been watching out of Madman Entertainment’s January 2012 releases. While I am sure you would have already purchased or are considering purchasing this volume if you have purchased all three prior… I hope this review contributes to those who are considering buying the series and for their own reasons want to know how satisfactory the conclusion is. Without further ago, read on for my review of K-ON! Volume 4.
Yui is still sick from her cold, which is possibly attributed to her wearing a short yukata for too long. The band tries to make do with Azusa as lead guitarist. Can Yui get over her cold in time for the big concert or will the Light Music Club have to do without their lead guitarist? After the concert, the girls are going about their daily lives inspired to learn more and more, and of course bond together and become even better friends, but what will happen when they play at their first live venue gig?
The first thing that must be noted that the first episode on this disc is the technical “Final Episode” which concludes the main storyline for the series about the girls holding their second successful school concert which as you may expect – doesn’t go exactly to plan. This first episode is quite possibly the more suspenseful and enjoyable out of previous episodes as it had that mixture of comedy, seriousness and warm fuzzyness. It was good to see that as actually performing music wasn’t as frequent in the show as one might have expected, it was good to see that they gave the lyrical tracks of the series another chance to shine. The second episode was I believe the final episode in the Japanese television release and toned down the pace a bit, focusing on each of the characters individually as they each plan a weekend away from each other trying to do different things while still bringing some comedy to the table (Such as Ritsu receiving a mysterious “love letter” and Mugi trying her hand at a job). Unfortunately I have never been a big fan of this style of plot as it seemed a bit too cliche given the number of other things they could have offered in this episode, but it was undeniably a sweet episode.
The highlight of the volume was most probably the third episode which from memory was an OVA episode in the original Japanese release. Asked by one of Ritsu’s friends to perform at a live performance on New Years Eve, the girls decide to try their hand at performing in public for the first time which worked the comedy throughout the plot with the very different levels of experience and band styles of the girls and the other performers. The episode gave them one of the few chances in the series to actually perform while showcasing the backstage efforts the girls had to go through which was nice considering the biggest problems they seemed to have before was a recurring gag of not filling in forms. It was an episode I think they had to add to this volume otherwise I don’t think there would have been much weight to justify a fourth volume. Overall however, while there wasn’t much actual plot in the story over a bunch of mini-storylines and performances, I have to say I really enjoyed watching this series and do hope that Madman Entertainment decides to release the second season when they get the chance (As there is something like 26-27 episodes in that, with any luck there will be more than 3 or 4 volumes per episode this time around).
As this is now the fourth volume release, there are no real amendments I need to make to my thoughts on the design and sound qualities for this series, therefore you can read them in my review of Volume 1 HERE. I will admit I did notice a greater use of facial expression changes in this release in order to put comedy across, and I must say it worked pretty well. To give a short conclusion for these two aspects, if you enjoyed the design and sound in Volumes 1, 2 and 3… you should be more than satisfied with the creative aspects of volume 4.
As usual, the disc comes equipped with a set of bonus extra features which should appeal to fans of the series. First off is an English dubbed version of the song Brush Pen, Ballpoint Pen with an accompanying music video which while being a fun listen to isn’t as good as previously released English dubbed songs in previous volumes. Going along with previous installments as well is the inclusion of a six minute interview with Shelby Lindley who provides the voice of Tsumugi Kotobuki which is interesting to listen to but would have been nice if they also provided an interview with Christine Marie Cabanos who provides the voice of Azusa. Finally, for the Blu-ray release they also included trailers for The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Tales of the Abyss and The Girl Who Leapt Through Space – with The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya being the only series currently available in Australia.
To conclude my last review of K-ON! Season One, I would like to say that this was overall a pretty enjoyable series to watch, especially when I wanted to watch something a bit more light hearted than a majority of the series I own which seem to be more plot driven. While splitting 14 episodes into four volumes with two or so months difference did the series a disservice, the story was enjoyable, the design was rather well done and it was essentially what it advertised on the box: it followed a “group of four vastly different High School girls, they decide to revive the schools light music and from there try to train to become a successful band” and I couldn’t really fault them in this regard. However I do hope that the second season takes a bit more time to develop each of the characters individually as it was perhaps one area that was slightly lacking.
Design: B-
Music/Voice Acting: B
Extra Content: C
Personal Preference: B
Overall Score: B-
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