K-On The Movie: A Betrayal of its Series and Genre - Part 3 - Arriving in London, Journey to the Ibis & Sushi Bar Stupidity
At home, HTT are texting each other regarding Azusa's song and the London trip, with Yui texting “How about we write the song in London?”, which I'm sure everyone's gonna be on board with during the trip. A few days seem to pass as we cut to Ui helping Yui pack for the trip, with their parents, who are suddenly at home for once instead of being in some random place, handing her an English phrasebook and an outlet converter. Then Yui mentions that she'd feel safer if Ui came along with her, and then makes a joke about if she'd fit in her suitcase, which, I'll admit, is pretty funny. Not only is this something that I’d actually believe Yui would do, but it’s also heartwarming in hindsight because it really shows how much Yui would want to bring Ui along with her on the London trip. Good job, movie. You've told one good joke so far. A for effort. But trust me when I say that this is the pinnacle of the movie's comedy, meaning that humour wise, it's sadly only going downhill from here.
Anyways, Yui heads off to the train station and meets up with Ritsu there. Shortly after, Azusa joins them, and Ritsu brings up that she brought, Mustang???? Bruh, it's Muttan, Ritsu. You seemed to be aware of that earlier in the movie, because when it started falling, you called it by that nickname, so what made you switch to Mustang? Oh right, it’s because the movie still wants me to think Yui calling Azusa’s guitar by the nickname Azusa gave it is weird. Great. :/
With no additional context, this just looks like pure nonsense that Yui wrote for the fun of it, and doesn't at all add up with what she said it was about. I don’t think anyone with three collective braincells who sees what she wrote here is gonna believe it. And I can safely confirm that Azusa lacks said braincells because after coming back from the toilet, she starts thinking about what Yui wrote in the notepad, assuming that she really is trying to change the tone and vibes of HTT and might actually be repeating a year! Azusa, please think about this. Why would Yui thinking about her future immediately link to her repeating a year? For all you know, she could be just thinking about what she wants to do because she’ll be graduating in a few weeks and is still uncertain about what her future holds. And if you really think that everything she wrote in her notepad is related to that, why would you not assume that she would want to do something big when she’s finally in college? But hey, I’m sure you’ll come to realize that soon. No way you’ll start believing Yui’s gonna hold herself back a year again and is somehow hiding that from you when Ui told you that...
Surely you would never believe that Yui’s gonna do something like that with the information you have.
Right?!?
Nah, I'm sure you won't. Back to business. Azusa wakes up to Yui telling her that they’re about to land, and we get a scene where they’re asked about the purpose of the trip, with a joke about Yui mishearing sightseeing as side business. I don't see how she'd even fuck this up given that she's never had any issues with repeating words said to her in the past, but whatever. They then proceed to wait for their luggage, and everyone gets theirs except for Mio, where even after the carousel is completely empty, hers hasn’t showed up at all, which naturally makes her very worried. So, what's the best thing to do in this situation? Bring back the shitty double entendre of course! Ritsu teases Mio about not being able to cope without her panties, but then Mugi and Yui make a comment about how she even doesn't wear panties! groan Is this movie actively trying to kill the concept of comedy? Because it's been successful so far. Not only do they bring back a double entendre that already made no sense the first time, but now they make it even worse by having these characters say that Mio doesn't wear panties at all! Where the fuck did this come from?! I think I need to remind you all that this is only a tease they make in the first place because Yui and Ritsu interpreted Mio saying "I take them off when I sleep" to Mugi saying that she accdientally left her socks on when she slept that one time! None of this makes any sense, what is this writing?!? Also, I really don't like how they cut away from Mio's face when she's reacting to this bullshit. Was it really too much effort to show her expressions here? Then Yui notices that Mio’s luggage was actually on the left side of them the entire time?!?
Did everyone’s brains just turn off completely when they were on the airplane? You’re seriously telling me that in the time it took for everyone else to get their luggage, which I can confirm is a really long process, AND during the time you were looking at the empty carousel for, none of you bothered to look in that direction, or any other direction, for that matter, at any other point?! And how did none of you notice a person actively going out of their way to put Mio’s luggage at that very side since you’re clearly not too far from it? And if the luggage was placed there long before they even arrived at the airport, then that makes it even harder to believe that they never looked to the left of them to suddenly realise it was placed there! How are y'all this utterly idiotic?!
Anyways, HTT come out of the airport, and shortly after, Yui starts getting Mio to take pictures by pointing to several things she sees, ending with them taking a selfie together, and it’s a sweet scene of Yui and Mio taking the opportunity to take in every bit of London and enjoy the time they have there, perfectly encapsulating the appeal of the show’s beautiful vi-
Bruh, am I seriously gonna get jinxed every single time I get even a little bit of hope that this movie will actually try to be like the series it's based on? Like, come on, you couldn’t just let a moment of characters enjoying themselves just happen? You had to transition out of it with Ritsu giving the most uncharacteristically cold, dry and “done with life” response imaginable? Give me one reason why Ritsu would ever act like this in response to her friends enjoying themselves? If anything, she would have either joined in or been kinda pissed that she’s unintentionally being left out of the pictures, not telling Yui and Mio “Hey.” in a tone that screams “Just fucking stop already.”! What is this shit?!
HTT head towards a nearby taxi and since her dad supposedly told her taxi doors have to be opened manually, Yui tries to grab a handle, but when she can't see it and assumes there isn't one, Ritsu claims that it's automatic, which doesn't make any sense because for one, a taxi having automatic doors wouldn't mean it lacks a handle, and if you search up "automatic Japanese cars", you'll see that they actually do have handles, and for another, it doesn't take that much effort to, you know, look to the left. The handles are quite visible right there, so unless all of HTT somehow went blind during the flight here, how do none of them even think to look if the handle's anywhere else. Ah, but it seems like the taxi driver is more tolerant of these cultural antics than I am, because he’s nice enough to open the door for them while winking. Is it too early to call him the best character in this movie? Because I really like this guy. His enthusiasm and politeness in regards to wanting to take these foreigners to the place they want makes me smile a bit.
Azusa mentions that they want to go to Hotel Ibis when he asks where they want to go, and since there are multiple Ibises in London, he then asks which one they want to go to, and Mugi says that he's asking where it is. Uh, seriously? Mugi couldn’t translate the words “Which one?”? I assumed she would be able to grasp some of the more basic words in the English dictionary considering how she said “Don’t worry” in funny Engrish earlier. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Because it’s not like you can actually understand English or anything. Surely. After Ritsu makes a remark about the Ibis obviously being in London, the taxi driver assumes that they want to go to Ibis London City and drives them there as we get several beautiful shots to the point where they’re just flexing the fact that they presented such detailed backgrounds. Upon arriving there, Yui, Ritsu and Mio have a sit down while Mugi and Azusa go over to get their reservation checked, but oh no, they apparently don’t have a reservation booked there, so the woman at the desk checks the reservation paper to which she says that they actually reserved the Ibis at Earl’s Court. Azusa then asks Mugi what she's saying, and she says...
Oh, boy, where do I even start now? This one line opens up so many fucking problems, and it's regarding Mugi's English abilities. Anyone going into this would just assume that Mugi isn't good with English in any capacity, even in spite of the fact that she has a lot of cultural knowledge and has travelled to a bunch of foreign countries due to the family she's a part of. But when you actually think about this, the contradictions to this sentiment are through the roof! Going back to Plan, there was a scene where HTT were practicing English, and before they did that, Yui asked Mugi if she was good with English, and she said that she at least had a grasp of basic everyday language, and it seemed pretty evident in the episode Summer Classes where she said "Just a moment, please!" to Ritsu in English. So those are both heavily at odds with the idea that Mugi isn't good with English. "But Mugi only thinks she's good with basic English. That doesn't mean she's actually good with it." In what scenario would Mugi have ever said that if she didn't have any experience with it? Whether it be from the inevitable English classes potentially taught in Sakuragaoka High, picking up on it during her foreign trips or being taught it by people with that experience that her family brought in. Then we have this line of dialogue where she only says that the desk woman was too fast for her to translate. Putting aside the fact that said desk woman was speaking in a slower voice than a normal person, this just tells me that Mugi wouldn't have had any issues if she spoke slower! With all that considered, that horrific mistranslation of the taxi driver saying "Which one?" when it is one of the most basic English phrases in the world is fucking inexcusable on Mugi's end! And this isn't gonna be the only contadiction to the idea that Mugi sucks with English throughout the movie, so this might be something to note for later.
But even putting this aside for a moment, there are plenty more issues surrounding this scene. Such as the fact that HTT ended up here at all. Were they seriously not informed of exactly which Ibis they booked? I need to know how the booking process went down, because it shouldn't be a possibility for them to have not known that they had to go to a specified Ibis, whether they went out of their way to book it, or it was booked for them when they went to that travel agent earlier. Unless they were informed of the location, and my questioning would simply shift to how in the world none of them even bothered to remember the exact Ibis they were going to before they met up with that taxi driver. If no-one else, I'd expect Mugi or Azusa to have remembered or noted at the very least. The show implied that Mugi has been on several trips to foreign countries before, so she should have some experience with pinpointing hotel locations, and wasn't this movie just establishing that Azusa felt like she had to do all the preparing by herself? If she really feels she has to do that, for some stupid reason, then why wasn't this something she considered, especially when she was the one at the helm of telling the taxi driver that they wanted to go to Hotel Ibis?! And for my final point, even if we accepted all of this bullshit, when Azusa gives the reservation paper to the desk woman, she is quickly able to pinpoint that the Ibis is the one at Earl's Court, meaning that it was indicated or written somewhere on the paper, so WHY IN THE EVERLASTING FUCK DIDN'T ANY OF THESE MORONS BOTHER TO CHECK THE PAPER SO THEY WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS?!? This is the definition of idiotic. There were so many factors at play here that should have ensured HTT would end up in the right hotel, and this movie avoided approximately all of them just so we can force in some cultural shenanigans!
But it's okay, because Mio was able to understand what she said and translates it to the oth… WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK?!? SINCE WHEN COULD YOU NOT ONLY UNDERSTAND ENGLISH, BUT ALSO TRANSLATE IT IN JAPANESE WITH NO ISSUES?!? IF YOU COULD DO THIS THE ENTIRE FUCKING TIME, THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU STEP IN AT ALL WHEN THE TAXI DRIVER ASKED WHICH IBIS YOU WANTED TO GO TO?! If I'm supposed to believe Mugi sucks at this, you could have at least bothered to correct Mugi when she made such a blatant mistranslation! Okay, moving on, as it turns out, the Ibis in Earl’s Court is incredibly far away from their current location in London City. Yeah, it sure is inconvenient that neither Mio or Mugi used their brains when they could clearly translate English or else they wouldn’t be in this predicament. So what are they to do in their current situation? Well, they don't decide on taking a taxi agan for some reason, so they consider taking a bus, and it’s shown that Mio can read the bus times and locations, meaning that she can also read English perfectly fine, which is another thing that we might have to come back to later. But sadly, there’s no direct route, so they resolve on taking the subway there, and as they’re walking through, Yui notices that Azusa’s feeling a bit uncomfortable from having to walk in the new shoes she got from the trip, so she immediately decides that they should go and get her some new shoes, even if it means taking a detour from heading to the hotel as soon as possible because Yui’s deep care and value for her friends is stronger than anything else. After waiting for a train, HTT make their way towards a shoe shop, and they're all incredibly happy to head there with Yui even pushing her luggage along with Azusa still sitting on it, but even with all that and the fact that they even derailed their trip to their hotel just for her, Azusa has pretty much no expression whatsoever. She straight just looks like she's done with life, why is this her response to her friends going to these lengths for her?
Oh, and while they're on their way there, Yui decides she wants to take a picture with Giita, and it seems like the Azu-cat gag is spreadng as Mugi tells Yui she wants to "azu-sist" her with that. I'd question how the hell this caught on given that Mugi was talking with Ritsu and Mio while Yui and Azusa were doing their little act, but we have significantly bigger problems to deal with right now, because after getting Azusa new shoes, Yui notices a stand promoting a sushi bar, and they all decide to go inside. At this point, we are now about to witness what is debatably the most broken scene in the entire film. I am not exaggerating when I say that there's hardly a single second that passes where something isn't falling apart at the seams. So prepare yourself for the insanity that's about to ensue.
Upon entering the sushi bar, HTT are amazed by how classy it looks, and Mugi in particular is enamored by a spinning sushi conveyor belt. Meanwhile, Mio freezes up at the sight of it and says that she has a bad feeling about this? Why?! What's suddenly so scary about a spinning conveyor belt? Oh wait, it's because it reminds her of what happened at the aiport? Okay, that makes sense... except that it doesn't at all because there's no throughline between that scene and her suddenly believing that spinning things are a sign of bad things happening. In spite of the worry Mio had, she was ultimately able to leave the airport with her luggage still fully intact, so everything ended well. But now Mio believes that spinning things are signs of things going wrong?!? Where is the logic here?!? And if you thought the movie hadn't done enough to detach itself from the tone and vibes of the series in favour of awkward, discomforting insanity, don't worry, now it's delving into straight up horror. I would say I'm joking here, but they really do attempt to set up a scary atmosphere here. What do I mean by this? Well, Yui bumps into the manager of the sushi bar, who I’ll call Gordon Ramsay, and the only part we see of him is his body as with an unnerving usage of shaky cam and lighting that makes him look like some scary beast. My brain is about to burst with how much the K-On Movie just doesn't want to be anything like, you know, K-On, but this isn't even the worst part. Because while Yui is trying to make out what Gordon is saying, he explicitly asks..
...and neither Mio or Mugi think to speak up about the fact that they've only come here to eat and they're not the ones performing despite both of them having a grasp of understanding English in some form. What is the goddamn point of giving two of your characters the ability to understand and translate English if neither of them are actually gonna make use of them when they’d be really helpful in the current situation? Now, you may say, "Well, Mio's quite the socially shy person, and she's currently in a situation where's she's incredibly uncomfortable, so it makes sense for her to not speak up here." I can kinda see the logic behind that. There's just one problem with it, she's also been shown being incredibly open about things she doesn't want to do and has acted incredibly weirdly in episodes like School Festival or Leading Role, both of which involved having to perform in front of people, by the way. So she should actually be the first to speak up about this out of sheer horror and discomfort here, but why am I expecting any level of consistency after how much this movie has contradicted the show?
Since Yui doesn't have a good grasp of English, she ends up saying yes to everything Gordon says, which gets Ritsu to tell her not to do that. Come on, what the hell do you expect her to do? All 4 of you know how bad Yui is with foreign stuff, we straight up had 2 scenes in this movie that made it crystal clear, but now you expect her to have a good grasp of English? What is even going on right now? Okay, okay, Gordon gets the staff to provide HTT with happis and set up their instruments before telling them to get on sta-
Okay, why the hell is he lit like this? What's the point of making this guy look so horrifying?! He’s really not that scary in regards to his appearance or his demeanor, and yet here's the movie going to insane lengths to make it seem like he is. At best, it just comes off as discomforting in a scene that's already forcing needless horror vibes, and at worst, the lighting on him is incredibly tacky considering that literally no other person in this sushi bar is lit like this and the sushi bar in general has quite bright lighting everywhere else. Alright, moving on, HTT realize what's happening as they see their instruments on stage and they're all surprised by it, including Mio! Okay, even if she was too scared to speak up when Gordon assumed that they were the ones playing, this reaction should have come way fucking earlier when she can actually understand English, is not comfortable being in this place and would obviously be even more discomforted the moment she heard about them being the ones to perform. Then, Mugi finally decides to step in and do something. It would have been nice if she did anything earlier, but hey, it’s better than nothing, and I’m sure things will be cleared up well since there’s no way she’d think about doing anything else when all her friends just want to eat here and clearly don’t want to perform given their reactions to their instruments being set-
...she only went to request a keyboard?! Are you actually fucking kidding me?!? Putting aside the fact that her requesting a ketyboard to the staff here is another blow to the idea that Mugi isn't good with English, why would she ever do something like this?!? Maybe we can get some answers from Naoko and Reiko, so let's check back on that interview, shall we?
– There’s also some surprising points for the other members as well in the film. Like Tsumugi being shown to be unreliable in a foreign land.
Yamada: But she’s someone who could be strength for others. She has the strength to not hide or run away. (laughs)
Yoshida: She’s surprisingly stubborn, that Tsumugi.
– It was only her that could go “Excuse me!” and have them prepare a keyboard while everyone else was still in shock.
Yamada: It’s that part of her that makes me think she’s not very reliable. You start to wonder if she’s the one person you’re thankful who came, but then instead of conducting negotiations like you thought, she’s just saying “there isn’t a keyboard here.” (laughs)
She's... not very reliable????? Did I read that right? You're telling me that the person who constantly brings over cake and tea for the light music club, effectively got the price for the guitar Yui wanted reduced so she could afford it, had the means to provide HTT with the vacation homes for their training camps due to living in a rich family, and presumably got the funds for HTT to even book a flight to London in the first place since there's no other way they could have ever gone on the trip without any money, is an unreliable idiot?! You can't be serious with this sentiment! Unless, of course, you only want me to buy that she's unreliable in foreign countries, but again, given the amount of cultural knowledge Mugi has been established to have and all the different places she's supposedly been to, Mugi's incompetence throughout the London trip so far has been bnonsensical and baffling. ”Wait, but what about those instances where Mugi joined Yui and RItsu in goofing off? You don’t have a problem with her being unreliable in those situations, do you?” Here’s the thing; the difference with that stuff is that Mugi wanting to play around with Yui and Ritsu is, in her eyes, a way to experience partaking in “normal” activities. Plus, she never ended up doing shit that would inconvenience everyone involved, and simply followed along with whatever fun thing any of her friends wanted to do. But in this scene, everyone else wanted to come to thisi sushi bar to eat something, and their reactions to seeing their instruments suddenly set up was clear evidence that no-one else wanted to go through with performing, and yet Mugi drags everyone into doing the one thing her friends don’t want to do without a care in the world. Amazing.
Since Mugi failed to be even remotely helpful here, Ritsu now tries to convince Gordon that they're just here to eat with a somewhat botched attempt at coherent English, ultimately ending in her saying a line that literally every single fan of this series is obsessed with.
And it's pretty amusing. In isolation. Because within the context of the scene, the only reason that Ritsu is the one who has to try and intervene here is because Mugi's braincells didn't come to London with her. Then we cut back to Gordon Ramsay looking at HTT while they get ready to perfo-
The fuck?!? As if this motherfucker didn't look tacky enough the last time we saw him, now they're making him look so dark that his face isn't visible! This is just forcing the scariness onto him, and it isn't working! But whatever, HTT decide to go along with playing a song, believing that they have to do that to eat, and when RItsu asks Yui which song they should play, Yui observes her surroundings, and comes across an Indian man who she focuses on for a few seconds before saying that the song they should play is Curry Nochi Rice?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Look, at this point, it's become crystal clear that the movie cannot stay consistent with anything the show established about these characters. But is it too much to ask for consistency in regards to what this very movie establishes about these characters?! How does the character who had no clue that London was in Europe, and assumed that London and England were two separate places, also be able to immediately make the connection between Indians and curry?! As I mentioned earlier, the movie had two fucking scenes showcasing Yui's lack of cultural knowledge, how do you fuck this up?!? Okay, HTT are about to perform now, let's just move onto th-
...did that just happen? Did I seriously just watch Yui Hirasawa get painted as weird by her bandmates for being pumped up to perform for the sushi bar even in spite of their circumstances?!? What?! The?! Fuck?!? Yui has been consistently shown to have a lot of determination and passion when it comes to playing music throughout the series, and this very thing is what her friends praised her for (more on this later, because they're gonna nullify it beyond comprehension soon), but now all of a sudden, she's weird and confusing for having that same level of determination here?!? Get out of here with this shit! We can't be at a point where this movie is so reluctant to be a K-On movie that it's actively tearing Yui down for one of her best traits!
Then after cutting to a close-up of Gordon's darker-than-Azusa's-soul face to give us one final dose of tacky horror, Yui and Azusa tune their instruments in a hurry as we now get the first of 3 songs that are going to be played throughout the movie; Curry Nochi Rice. If this movie can’t excel at anything else, or do anything else on a basic level on that matter, then surely it can deliver on the other major element of the series; the music. And thankfully, we seem to be off to a good start on that front because in spite of the reason why Curry Nochi Rice ended up being played, it’s a great song choice on two different levels. It was one of HTT’s first songs, yet the only time we ever heard it was a short instrumental in the episode No Club Room, so getting the chance to finally hear the song proper is a delight, making its inclusion in the movie work really well. And since it's being played in a sushi bar that also has curry and rice, it also serves to tie into the setting very effectively. Top that off with the great animation and shots throughout, Curry Nochi Rice in general being a banger song and the mixing perfectly fitting the setting, and we have a relatively enjoyable performance here. It ends up being a success with all the staff congratulating them, and then, as Gordon sends HTT out...
sigh Seems like we're already back to the bullshit. This absolute clown knew the name of the band that was supposed to be playing here, yet never said their name at any other time prior to sending HTT out?! Wow, that sure is convenient, because if he did, things would have been cleared up immediately. Also, did none of them not hear Yui, through the incredibly loud microphone, say...
How did they hear a completely different band name from who they were expecting, yet still see nothing wrong and still call them Love Crysis afterwards?! Why is everyone in this movie so stupid?!? Okay, okay, moving on, HTT are now sitting outside the sushi bar as they think about Gordon saying Love Crysis. They remember that it's the name of the band that Ritsu's friend from middle school is a part of from the Season 1 OVA, Live House, and then Yui claims that they're "Love Crysis Japan", implying that there's a Love Crysis in the UK. Really? That's the logic you're going with? Earlier, Gordon asked you "You're the ones from Japan, right?", and the words "from" and "Japan" were the only ones you could make out. And since he got the rest of the staff to set up your instruments and prompted you to get on stage after you unintentionally said that you were Love Crysis, it’s clear as day that he was expecting a band from Japan to play for them. With all that in mind, why would there be a different band called Love Crysis in London?! And even if there was, HE FUCKING ASKED IF YOU WERE FROM JAPAN!!! Why would you make the assumption that he meant Love Crysis London and not Love Crysis Japan?! What are you talking about?!? And if you want to make the somewhat justifiable defense that it makes sense for Yui to not have enough braincells to connect the dots, everyone else seems content with her logic since abslutely no-one questions it?! Why?!? You question her when she’s pumped up to perform, but not regarding this?! What is happening to these characters?!?
Then after Mio makes a comment about how this whole rotating business is sketchy, which I've already explained the lack of logic behind, so nothing more to add to that bullshit, HTT decide to make their way to their hotel like they originally planned until they hear a familar voice, and then... we get... this...
It's official. K-On The Movie has officially killed the concept of comedy in approximately 21 seconds. There are at least 5 different reasons why this scene is unfunny and straight up broken. First off, do I even need to explain the pure stupidity of how Ritsu acts here? She hears a person speaking in her native language, and yet she thinks that they're speaking English. Literally how bad does her hearing have to be to suddenly comprehend your native language as a different language entirely?! And don’t tell me that they’ve spent enough time in London to not be able to differentiate English from Japanese, because their first day hasn’t even ended yet, and not one minute ago, they were all speaking to each other in Japanese! Second, that shouldn’t even matter anyways because the first thing Maki does when seeing Ritsu and Mio is call out their names! Why would Ritsu assume that an English person is speaking to her when literally no-one in London would know her name?!? Third, Yui, Mugi and Azusa are watching this unfold the entire time and neither of them bother to tell Ritsu that Maki's not fucking speaking English. Literally all they do here is just stare at Love Crysis while Ritsu moronically speaks to them in English, what are you fuckers doing?!? SPEAK UP!!! Fourth, Mio acts frightened in this scene, which made me believe that she also somehow fucking believed that Maki was speaking English despite the fact that she can perfectly understand the language and should be able to tell the difference between the two better than anyone, plus the fact that Maki also calls out her name, but no, she's the one who ends up telling Ritsu that Maki was speaking Japanese. SO WHY THE HELL WAS SHE ACTING FRIGHTENED FOR ANY PERIOD OF TIME?!? And finally, why did it take that long for Yui to call out "Love Crysis Japan!"?! Did she go blind and deaf the entire time Ritsu was being braindead here? This scene just serves to give everyone here an extra dose of dumbassery, and the lack of logic involving any second of this makes it feel like a string of anti-comedy!
But anyways, once Ritsu's braincells activate again, she's absolutely overjoyed to see Maki here as she goes up to hug her, and then Yui explains to them that the sushi bar staff made them play when they just wanted to eat, and didn't even let them eat in the end, assuming that they must have played really badly, except that can't possibly be the case. You can’t even fall back on the excuse that they couldn’t have understood the sushi bar staff saying “Thank you” because one, Azusa said thank you in English to that desk woman when they were getting their reservation checked, two, Gordon said thank you in Japanese after the performance and three, did she not see how the staff were surrounding and congratulating her and her friends because of their performance? It's straight up not possible to come to the conclusion that the staff thought you all sucked unless Yui's comprehension skills died along with Ritsu's, which seems quite likely at this point! Now it's time to hear exactly why the sushi bar staff expected a Japanese band to play tonight. And it goes like this: The sushi bar that HTT were in had just opened on this very day, and somehow, Kawakami heard about it since she just so happened to know Gordon, so she decided to set Love Crysis up for the place to commemorate its opening.
That explanation... just made everything here even more baffling. Was scheduling never discussed at all? If Kawakami set Love Crysis up for the sushi bar for the day that it opened, then surely the time they were supposed to play was discussed. If it wasn’t, then holy shit, was it a dick move on Kawakami’s end to not inform Maki about the exact time they were meant to play, but surely that alternative would be stupid. So if scheduling was discussed, and Love Crysis showed up to the bar a minute after HTT were sent out of it, and it was presumably over 3 minutes at least given the drastic change from when we previously saw the outside to now, then how the hell did none of the sushi bar staff question the fact that the band they presumed had arrived came this fucking early?! And Maki’s line about going to talk to the staff when she and her bandmates enter the sushi bar implies that she at the very least can speak English. Did Kawakami not tell Gordon about that? And if he was informed about it beforehand, then why was he so casual about Yui just saying yes to everything he said even if it wasn’t a question when he was welcoming her and the others?! And once again, WHY DIDN’T HE SPECIFICALLY ASK IF HTT WERE LOVE CRYSIS?!? With this new info, this entire chain of events does not happen if he had the brain capacity to say the name of the band they were expecting when he was asking Yui questions, but because he didn't, it resulted in the nearly 8 minutes worth of pure nonsense that relied on every character having the intelligence of a turkey during every second. Oh, did I forget to mention that HTT don't even get to eat in the end? Yep, all this insane and illogical ineptitude, and they're havng to leave on an empty stomach, meaning that, aside from the Curry Nochi Rice performance, this entire scene was an absolute waste of time! Isn't that just brilliant?
Yeah, no, fuck it, this is where we're stopping for now. I genuinely had a headache trying to write a huge chunk of this part with how much I had to think about everything that happened in the sushi bar, and it was a bit harder to write out why the occuring events were incoherent without my reasonings coming off as such. HTT's first day in London has been the worst type of absurd, and while there were a few bright spots, they were immediately overtaken by the movie's trademark insanity, which we're only getting more of throughout the rest of the trip. Not only are we really gonna feel the effects of the wasted minutes at the sushi bar as HTT go sightseeing, but the beginning of a semi-conflict that should have no reason to start in the first place is going to provide more significant damage to these characters and the series as a whole.
All of that and plenty more will be covered sometime next week, so thanks again for reading if you enjoyed this, and I'll see you all again for Part 4 of K-On The Movie: A Betrayal of its Series and Genre. Solaris/Indigo out.
forgot to comment on this, rip the characters traits
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