I can’t even begin to describe how delighted I am that K-ON! is back, and (supposedly) for two cours, at that. It seems I’m not alone. I’m feeling a lot of good vibes this time around. Perhaps the first season grew on people over time much the same way it grew on me? Or perhaps it’s because the old “it’s just a bunch of girls sitting around drinking tea, eating cake and being moe” critique is mostly irrelevant now that the show makes no bones about the fact that it is, for all intents and purposes, just that.

I mean, the show pretty much lays all of its cards out on the table by the seventh second of the OP animation, amirite?

That said, I never expected K-ON! to grow into a franchise. I think it goes without saying that, until now, Kyoto Animation’s output has mostly been defined by Haruhi and their various VisualArt’s/Key adaptations. Initially, I assumed K-ON! to be little more than a four month long part time job taken to help pay the rent. Oops. Of course, it may very well be that K-ON! is the very model of a modern unexpected hit to which all parties directly involved were just as surprised as I was. Not like anyone would ever publicly admit to that, of course (”Yes sir, I DID expect buckets of money all along, and, no sir, I don’t know why that bucket looks like it used to say ‘Melancholy of something-or-other’ on it.”), so I guess we’ll never know.

Here’s some food for thought, though…

K-ON! isn’t the only slice of life show to pull this “Franchise GET” stunt in recent years.

Watching a bunch of girls sitting around drinking tea, eating cake and being moe… or rowing boats… or having a nice soak in the bath at the end of the day… perhaps there are plenty of anime fans out there who really do like this sort of thing after all?

We should get together and start a club or something. Or write a book.