Somewhere around episode 12 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, it seems Kyoto Animation got it in their heads that they really liked drawing girls playing rock music. Whether or not that had anything to do with their eventual decision to animate a little known manga called K-ON! is up for speculation, but regardless of their motives they ended up crafting some of the best anime ending animations ever. We could only go so long without featuring K-ON! in OP/EDs, so join as we take a stroll into the Anime Song Hall of Fame and rock out to the series’ four EDs.
While all of K-ON!’s four ending songs are great, there’s no question “Don’t Say Lazy!” had the biggest impact. Let’s be honest: even if you like K-ON!, the first episode is really boring. I was completely prepared to drop it, but then this dark (by comparison), intense, theatrical rock song reached through my speakers and said, “NOT YET”. Was this glimpse of super stardom the eventual goal of Yui’s mind numbing ennui? I had to find out. Clearly that wasn’t the case but by the time I realized it K-ON! had already worked its charm on me. So if you want to talk about an ending song doing its job, here’s my best example.
After the smash success of K-ON!’s first season, “Listen” comes armed with a bigger budget and bigger concept but there just wasn’t anyway they could recapture the shock value of “Don’t Say Lazy!”. From that point of view, it was a smart move going with a different musical style and tone, giving the song a bit of a cool retro vibe with its heavy blast of electric organ and decking the girls out in trendy hipster clothes. They probably went a little too far with the cake thing, but a cool video nonetheless.
As the series takes a comparatively more serious tone in its final stretch of episodes, “NO, Thank You!” returns to a harder rock sound but with considerably less theatrics. No more fancy costumes or bright colors… well not TOO many bright colors, K-ON! wants to make sure you know graduation is SERIOUS BUSINESS with their no frills indie rock video. I may sound like I’m being sarcastic, but it actually works very well. At the point the song debuts you know the characters very well and the type of show you’re watching, so to see something so straight faced and passionate that late in the game is pretty striking.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsatnn_singing-houkago-tea-time-k-on-movie_shortfilms#.UQcr8rRrrMM
By the time the K-ON! movie came out, I honestly may have been looking forward to seeing a new music video more than the film itself. KyoAni delivers with yet another driving rock song and super stylish video, but much like the movie I can’t help but feel it’s treading ground they’ve already been through. It does have Mio and Yui singing suspiciously like British rock band Oasis and at some point the girls are all presumable wrapped in Union Jacks so that counts for something, right?
No matter which one is your favorite, all the K-ON! endings are pretty great in their own way and really raised the bar for anime songs since. KyoAni has carried on the trend themselves by delivering great EDs for Nichijou, Hyouka, Chuu2 and Tamako Market, and I’m sure that trend will only continue.
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