Watching K-On! Episode 2 – “Instruments!”

The four members of the Light Music club take a part time job to save up money for Yui to buy a guitar.

Notes/Observations/Trivia:

• The writing on Yui’s pink shirt reads “Honeymoon”. The green and white one she wears later on reads “Romance”.
• Written on the white board: “Secured the member”
• The music store where the girls look at guitars is called “10GIÄ”. The store exists, but the real name is spelled “JEUGIA”.
• In the original airing of this episode, the Gibson Les Paul guitar Yui sets her sights on and eventually buys had the Fender logo on it instead of the Gibson logo in one shot. This was corrected for the later widescreen broadcast (and of course the Blu-Ray/DVD release).



Original Broadcast



Blu-Ray

Manga comparison:

This episode is based primarily on the second regular 4-koma chapter, with the first five pages of the third thrown in at the end (the part where Yui first tries out her new guitar in the club room and Ritsu removes the film). In the manga, Mugi secured Yui’s guitar on their first (and only) visit to the music store, so pretty much everything happening between the two music store scenes is anime original material (including the part-time job). Also unique to the anime is the scene where Yui asks Ui to lend her money – in fact, Ui has yet to be introduced at this point in the manga (she is first seen asking Yui to keep it down after she has brought the guitar home). The most significant anime addition, though, would be Ritsu proclaiming their goal to be a live show at Budokan, a dream that will persist throughout the anime but was never mentioned in the manga. And an interesting side note: In these early manga chapters, Mugi does not have thick eyebrows!

OST tracks used:

• Morning dew - 0:03-0:51
• Have some tea? - 2:24-4:40
• Happy languidness - 4:45-6:23
• Emerald green - 7:15-8:28
• Small flashing - 8:57-10:33
• Kendama-kun - 11:02-11:06
• Kawaii Inbou - 11:23-12:43
• Patrol of stroll - 13:31-14:30
• Happy End - 15:55-17:30
• Karui Joudan - 18:10-19:43
• Ukkari Kimi no Tame ni - 19:59-20:54
• Gatten da! - 21:54-22:08

My take:

When I first started watching K-On!, I was surprised to realize I recognized this episode from having seen it before. I still can’t remember when or where I did, but since I was still skeptical of the series when I eventually got around to watching it, it couldn’t have left too positive an impression on me.

Watching it now, though, there’s plenty to like here. Yui’s reaction to the double neck guitar is hilarious, and Mugi’s enthusiasm about common things like work or haggling over a price are quite enjoyable. The episode spends some time getting the viewer acquainted with the characters, which is obviously important this early on.