K-On is a series full of hilarious and emotional episodes, memorable for a whole host of reasons. But quietly laying among its most amusing sitcom hijinks and its most emotional dramatic high points, lies an episode that, in my opinion, goes severely overlooked as one of the series most interesting and well crafted. The episode in question is 16 of the second season, titled "Upperclassmen," an episode that is low on drama and isn't particularly comedic, and thus tends to get overlooked. But I truly believe that it's one of the most important and interesting episodes in the series, not only playing a big role in Azusa's character arc but also being structured and shot in a very intentional and clever way. So no flowery fanfare for this one, I want to dig in to K-On!! episode 16 (directed and storyboarded by Noriko Takao), and try to get across why I consider it to be one of the most underappreciated episodes of the series.
First, I want to establish a bit of set-up. This episode is a bit of a sequel to episode 13. In episode 13, Azusa starts to see her time with her upperclassmen as something like a dream that's going to end, and became fully, consciously aware that her seniors will be graduating and leaving her behind. Being the strait laced person that she is, she decides that she absolutely has to send her seniors away with a smile, and can't let them see how she really feels. This results in her deciding to bottle up her emotions. With the school festival coming soon, she doesn't want to hold her seniors back with her own personal drama, and instead decides to ignore those feelings to help ensure the festival performance is a success.
This leads to episode 16. This one is set just before preparation for the school festival starts, and Azusa has had a few episodes of bottling up her feelings. This episode is a result of all of that weighing on her, and it results in her coming up with excuses to rationalize her real feelings. At the start of the series, Azusa didn't like the idea of not being a serious band, but she's slowly come around to the idea that there's value in not being totally serious at all times, and that hanging out with people you love is a fulfilling experience that leads to growth. Azusa has changed a lot since her introduction and has been fine with it for the most part, but in this episode, she decides that this is a bad thing. She describes it as if she's been corrupted by her seniors, saying that they've rubbed off on her to the point that she no longer acts like herself. For her, this is a way to rationalize her feelings towards her seniors graduation. "It doesn't really matter that they've leaving me behind, they're a bad influence anyway. I'm no longer myself when I'm with them, so good riddance." In other words, she rationalizes something of an identity crisis to cope with the fact that her friends will be graduating and leaving her behind.
This leads into the episode itself. The episode is structured around three mini stories that all start and end the same way. At the start of each mini episode, Azusa talks to Ui and Jun about the weird stuff her seniors have been up to, and complains that they don't take things seriously. Then, Azusa goes to the club room. Every time she goes, we get to see some variant of this shot, and then it immediately cuts to Azusa entering the club room, without anything in between. Azusa ends up finding one of her seniors in the club room, she interacts with them, and she sees a side of them that she doesn't quite expect. Then the others get there late and they go home. Rinse and repeat four times and you have the basic structure of the episode.
In K-On, the turtle is a consistent symbol, representing the idea of taking things slow and enjoying the present moment. It appears in a few ways this episode, but the most important one is on the staircase leading to the club room, which portrays the classic story of the tortoise and the hare. If the turtle represents taking things slow and enjoying the present, the hare is its antithesis, the idea of rushing through life and ignoring your surroundings. Whenever Azusa is about to enter the club room, we see a variant of this shot, where Azusa stands in front of a statue of the hare standing over the turtle. The hare overpowers the turtle, and then the shot immediately cuts to Azusa entering the club room. This can be taken to mean that Azusa enters the club room with the "hare" attitude in mind rather than that of the turtle.
The first time this happens, Azusa runs into Mugi. In Azusa's mind, Mugi is a beautiful, refined, princess-like rich girl. But when she gets to the club room, Mugi acts mischievous and silly. She's found sleeping in the corner, having waited there to try and scare Azusa but ended up falling asleep instead. It's different from her initial impressions of who Mugi is, and ends up being a refreshing and adorable interaction for her. So with that in mind, she comes back the next day and stands in that same shot as before, but this time she's noticeably more dejected. And again, we immediately cut to her entering the club room. This time, she runs into Mio. Azusa's initial impression of Mio is that she's the most like her, the one who's strait laced, generally serious, and most passionate about getting better as a musician. It looks that way at first, but Mio picks up on Azusa's obvious mental hang-ups and tries to figure out what's wrong and take a quick break, and Azusa completely breaks character. Then Ritsu barges in and asks for help with her homework, and we head over to her house.
Azusa's first impression of Ritsu is that she's an irresponsible club president. She never takes things seriously, she's incapable of getting things done without help, and she doesn't care about the band as much as screwing around. In her mind, it's most natural to think that when they get to her house, they're going to screw around while someone else does her work. After all, that's why she couldn't get her work done in the first place, right? But instead, Ritsu acts extremely responsibly as a hostess. She politely introduces her friends to her brother, she provides everything they would need to help her, and she even makes them dinner. Azusa takes notice of how much she actually practices on her own, another way of challenging her conception of who Ritsu is supposed to be.
So once again, we return to the shot of the hare dominating over the turtle, but this time Azusa is the most dejected she's been yet, and we immediately cut to the club room. There, she meets Yui, and we discover that their pet turtle Ton-chan needs his tank cleaned. Azusa keeps entering the club room with the attitude of the hare in mind, so the attitude of the turtle has been soiled, and thus the turtle needs its tank to be cleaned. The girls clean the tank, and then Yui picks up on the fact that Azusa has something on her mind. She tries to hide it at first, but Yui is intuitive enough that it doesn't work, so instead, she tries to justify it. Like with the others, Azusa has decided that there's a certain way that "she" is supposed to act. But when Mugi or Ritsu act differently than her initial impression, she's happy to have seen a new side of them, and she can't seem to feel that way about herself. When she acts goofy, wants to fool around, isn't gung-ho about practicing, she isn't being "herself." The girls have corrupted her, they've rubbed so much of themselves on to her that she's lost her sense of self. In this episode, this is quite literal, shown by how she loses the keychain with her name on it. Yui helps Azusa understand that the "self" isn't something so rigid. People have many sides of themselves, and they change all the time. But nonetheless, "you" are whoever you are at that moment. Ritsu is always Ritsu, Mio is always Mio, Mugi is always Mugi, and Azusa is always herself.
In K-On, the turtle is a consistent symbol, representing the idea of taking things slow and enjoying the present moment. It appears in a few ways this episode, but the most important one is on the staircase leading to the club room, which portrays the classic story of the tortoise and the hare. If the turtle represents taking things slow and enjoying the present, the hare is its antithesis, the idea of rushing through life and ignoring your surroundings. Whenever Azusa is about to enter the club room, we see a variant of this shot, where Azusa stands in front of a statue of the hare standing over the turtle. The hare overpowers the turtle, and then the shot immediately cuts to Azusa entering the club room. This can be taken to mean that Azusa enters the club room with the "hare" attitude in mind rather than that of the turtle.
The first time this happens, Azusa runs into Mugi. In Azusa's mind, Mugi is a beautiful, refined, princess-like rich girl. But when she gets to the club room, Mugi acts mischievous and silly. She's found sleeping in the corner, having waited there to try and scare Azusa but ended up falling asleep instead. It's different from her initial impressions of who Mugi is, and ends up being a refreshing and adorable interaction for her. So with that in mind, she comes back the next day and stands in that same shot as before, but this time she's noticeably more dejected. And again, we immediately cut to her entering the club room. This time, she runs into Mio. Azusa's initial impression of Mio is that she's the most like her, the one who's strait laced, generally serious, and most passionate about getting better as a musician. It looks that way at first, but Mio picks up on Azusa's obvious mental hang-ups and tries to figure out what's wrong and take a quick break, and Azusa completely breaks character. Then Ritsu barges in and asks for help with her homework, and we head over to her house.
Azusa's first impression of Ritsu is that she's an irresponsible club president. She never takes things seriously, she's incapable of getting things done without help, and she doesn't care about the band as much as screwing around. In her mind, it's most natural to think that when they get to her house, they're going to screw around while someone else does her work. After all, that's why she couldn't get her work done in the first place, right? But instead, Ritsu acts extremely responsibly as a hostess. She politely introduces her friends to her brother, she provides everything they would need to help her, and she even makes them dinner. Azusa takes notice of how much she actually practices on her own, another way of challenging her conception of who Ritsu is supposed to be.
So once again, we return to the shot of the hare dominating over the turtle, but this time Azusa is the most dejected she's been yet, and we immediately cut to the club room. There, she meets Yui, and we discover that their pet turtle Ton-chan needs his tank cleaned. Azusa keeps entering the club room with the attitude of the hare in mind, so the attitude of the turtle has been soiled, and thus the turtle needs its tank to be cleaned. The girls clean the tank, and then Yui picks up on the fact that Azusa has something on her mind. She tries to hide it at first, but Yui is intuitive enough that it doesn't work, so instead, she tries to justify it. Like with the others, Azusa has decided that there's a certain way that "she" is supposed to act. But when Mugi or Ritsu act differently than her initial impression, she's happy to have seen a new side of them, and she can't seem to feel that way about herself. When she acts goofy, wants to fool around, isn't gung-ho about practicing, she isn't being "herself." The girls have corrupted her, they've rubbed so much of themselves on to her that she's lost her sense of self. In this episode, this is quite literal, shown by how she loses the keychain with her name on it. Yui helps Azusa understand that the "self" isn't something so rigid. People have many sides of themselves, and they change all the time. But nonetheless, "you" are whoever you are at that moment. Ritsu is always Ritsu, Mio is always Mio, Mugi is always Mugi, and Azusa is always herself.
This is a realization that comes from seeing an unexpected side of Yui. Yui is supposed to be the airhead, the dunce, the idiot, and not a reliable senior who gives good advice and helps you find yourself. But like she says, people are more complex than these basic traits you might gleam from initial impressions. And Yui has been telling this to Azusa the entire episode, by placing "Azunyan" stickers on everything she owns. It's a silly gag, but it's also quite literally having Azusa's identity "stick" to her, because who you are isn't something that can be corrupted, it stays with you no matter how you change. Azusa lost herself, and then with Yui's help she found it. Now that the turtle's tank is clean, Azusa has reclaimed the attitude of the turtle, and is much happier for it. She has found herself, and can finally be confident in her own person.
So once again, we play the episode from the start just like all the others. Azusa talks to Ui and Jun, but this time, instead of complaining about the worst traits of her seniors, she naturally leans into those traits herself. The light music club didn't corrupt her, she's just a member of the light music club, and repressing it is only going to hurt her. And that leads her to once again stand in front of the turtle being dominated by the hare. But this time, we don't cut to the club room until Azusa walks away from the hare, because that is no longer the attitude she brings to the club room. She's learned to be comfortable being herself, taking things slowly, and enjoying her remaining time spent with friends. She's found where she belongs.
So once again, we play the episode from the start just like all the others. Azusa talks to Ui and Jun, but this time, instead of complaining about the worst traits of her seniors, she naturally leans into those traits herself. The light music club didn't corrupt her, she's just a member of the light music club, and repressing it is only going to hurt her. And that leads her to once again stand in front of the turtle being dominated by the hare. But this time, we don't cut to the club room until Azusa walks away from the hare, because that is no longer the attitude she brings to the club room. She's learned to be comfortable being herself, taking things slowly, and enjoying her remaining time spent with friends. She's found where she belongs.
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