K-On!

[oyabun]

"Moe Moe Kyun" I understand why.

[David75]

That ep was so full of win again.
Incredible

[Nadouku]

Aw, Mio with an embarassed and scared look was full of win. I liked how Ritsu and Yui were arguing about Maid Cafe and Haunted Houses. I'm probably one that doesn't think Haunted House + Yui go together very well.

[Kraco]

I think the emphasis on Mio is starting to affect even me. Moe Moe Kyun!

I wasn't really giving her extra attention before this episode, but now I can't help but admire her character, with all the contradictions and traditional cuteness.

[animus]

The Maid transformation scene had Mio looking so clumsy, I love it.

[Ryllharu]

This episode had so much crammed into it, it felt 3 times longer than normal.

Mio's seriousness leading her to tears, getting scared, and Ritsu attacking her for her nice body was indeed a powerful force. However, Mugi finally got a little time, and by getting all embarrassed about how rich she is, and having a dream about jello on the train, she's made up for a little lost time. Ritsu's idiocy was in full force, and of course the maid cafe being her idea, she's getting the credit for that one. Then there is Yui. I'll admit I think I liked her swimsuit the best, it suited her perfectly. But then we discover that while she's fairly stupid when it comes to learning the actual chords and notes, she's a genius when it comes to playing-by-ear. Her little finger cramp and the noises she made when she did it were very cute too.

So for episode 4:
Yui = Mio = Mugi = Ritsu.

All of them entertained me equally. Even if I had wanted to pick one, I really don't think I could.

[Xelbair]

Damn i envy their gear:
Gibson guitar(looks like Les Paul, and humbuckers look a bit like white EMG ones, now i just want to know if its passive or active guitar), Korg keyboard, Marshall and Peavey amps, and Zildjian Crash, High-hat and Ride.

I just love watching K-on and practicing guitar at same time... its 1:57AM here and i just seen all 4 episodes while i was practicing.

And did anybody saw the reference to the Detroit Metal City?(SATSUGAI and Krauzer the Second)

But still i would prefer second season of DMC...

[Ryllharu]

I almost forgot. This was my favorite scene from the episode.

Discussing guitar techniques:

[I totally stole this screenshot from RandomC, thanks Jaalin for capping this and continuing to blog K-ON]

[Buffalobiian]

OMG..............Mio overload :3

Great episode again. All Ryll said, all the characters got their share this episode, though Mio still took the spotlight. What I really liked about this episode was how subtle Mugi's character is turning out, in contrast to her eyebrows. So far, she's been fitting the easy-going nice girl type without a distinct character, but this episode really showed she's not as passive as she seems.

She's actually pretty smart, unwinding Mio in that scene to get her out to have fun, as well as reassuring how everything will be alright near the end. I don't think she knew of Yui's talent, but somehow she figured everything will be alright, and made everyone (mostly Mio) at ease. All them sweets being offered mightn't be as random as you though neither.

Her falling asleep was alluded to the fact that she was too excited to sleep, but it may have also indicated how much planning she did for the trip.

If Mio/Yui/Ritsu are actively motivating the club forward, then Mugi's the one in the shadows, silently keeping it all together.

[shinta|hikari]

OMG..............Mio overload :3

For some reason, I felt exactly that, but not in a positive way. I love Mio more than the next guy, but they way they crammed her in this episode kinda felt forced.

If Mio is actively motivating the club forward, and Yui/Ritsu are the mascots, then Mugi's the one in the shadows, silently keeping it all together.

Fixed that for you.

[EinReB23]

Damn i envy their gear:
Gibson guitar(looks like Les Paul, and humbuckers look a bit like white EMG ones, now i just want to know if its passive or active guitar), Korg keyboard, Marshall and Peavey amps, and Zildjian Crash, High-hat and Ride.

I think I even saw a VOX amp in there... for the keyboard perhaps? And carrying a Gibson guitar is indeed heavy for a girl...

[Yukimura]

Screw the ruels Yui has Moe. Loved this ep, I'm glad they acknowledged that Mio is a moe factory in universe as well as from our perspective. The impression I got from Mugi was less that she was the Shadow King but more that she just had infinite faith in her friends and their endeavors from having been lonely and sheltered for a long time before meeting them. But I think there could certainly be even more to her behind the scenes as she does seem to be an unnaturally good catalyst for positive things to happen to the band.

Yui's mad skillz came as a mild surprise to me. I knew she'd have to have them for there to be a chance that the band would realistically be a success but I wasn't fully convinced until this ep that the show wasn't going to treat musical success as something to be sought after for the sake of binding the cast together instead of an end result that would eventually be reached or at least meaningfully approached.

And just a random observation I really liked the scene where Mio came and helped Yui as she was shadow chording (is there a legitimate term for practicing chords on an air guitar?) in the pool. I thought it was a nice scene showing in a simple way that it will all be all right since they are there to support one another.

[Ryllharu]

I knew she'd have to have them for there to be a chance that the band would realistically be a success but I wasn't fully convinced until this ep that the show wasn't going to treat musical success as something to be sought after for the sake of binding the cast together instead of an end result that would eventually be reached or at least meaningfully approached.

Maybe I'm just tired, but I read this sentence at least seven times and I'm not clear on what you are trying to say. A little help, Yuki?

[David75]

Regarding Mugi, for some reason I think she's the one who prepared -alone- the house so that it's tidy and ready for the music camp.

[shinta|hikari]

No way. That would completely go against her "dream." She even explicitly said that she asked the housekeepers (or something equivalent) to just do things normally (as if owning a beach front property can be considered normal), but they clearly prepared some things knowing that their Ojou-sama will be coming with her friends.

[narutosharingan]

I'm glad Mugi got a little more screen time. I know she may not be as popular as the others, but I think her character is interesting enough for there to be more dialogue for her.

[Buffalobiian]

No way. That would completely go against her "dream." She even explicitly said that she asked the housekeepers (or something equivalent) to just do things normally (as if owning a beach front property can be considered normal), but they clearly prepared some things knowing that their Ojou-sama will be coming with her friends.

Hmm, I'm not sure, since David does have a point. Mugi wants to appear as "normal" as possible since she doesn't want to appear "different", "special" or "a world apart", but at the same time, she wants to make this first-time experience most memorable. I can't say whether she prepared anything else, but wouldn't expect a villa to have a full set of band equipment. Especially not one that produced an award-winning piano player.

Maybe I'm just tired, but I read this sentence at least seven times and I'm not clear on what you are trying to say. A little help, Yuki?

Haha, you're not the only one Ryll. I don't think this rewording does much good, but it's a little less confusing:

1) She has to have talent for the band to succeed realistically.

2) Yuki is now convinced that the show portrays musical success as an end result that is reached/approached meaningfully, ........ instead of ........(portraying musical success as) something sought after for the sake of binding the cast together.

--------------------------------
1) Pretty self explanatory.

2) I think Yuki's saying that he was originally expecting the show to use "musical success" as a medium/theme to simply bind the girls together with something in common and make a show from there instead of making "musical success" an actual goal that they'll actually strive towards.

In short, musical success is something they'll be seriously working towards instead " ~X episodes of Moe later ~ oh, we're a kickass band now."

[David75]

No way. That would completely go against her "dream." She even explicitly said that she asked the housekeepers (or something equivalent) to just do things normally (as if owning a beach front property can be considered normal), but they clearly prepared some things knowing that their Ojou-sama will be coming with her friends.

She was too tired.
She really insisted on how the housekeepers have been overboard in the preparations as opposed to what she had asked. But we've seen no one, those girls were totally left to themselves.
So I'm just wondering. Of course there's absolutely no other details to further prove my point.

[Ryllharu]

Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that she stayed up the entire night excited about her first overnight stay with some friends, just like the reason Yui gave for oversleeping? Mugi has said before that she's had been somewhat isolated from others by her apparent extreme wealth.

[Buffalobiian]

She was too tired.
She really insisted on how the housekeepers have been overboard in the preparations as opposed to what she had asked. But we've seen no one, those girls were totally left to themselves.
So I'm just wondering. Of course there's absolutely no other details to further prove my point.

Indeed that seems to be the case, at least up to when they opened up the fridge.

Mugi did seem overly tired, as if she was up the whole night preparing the entire event, but they were also pushing it towards her not sleeping well due to excitement like Yui.

Looking back, her apology for having prepared the fruit basket could well have been one of humbleness when she responded to their shock/surprise. That lump of meat had her crying however, while Ritsu and Yui were simply delighted. In that regard, it seems she wasn't apologising as a response, but apologising because she thought it was a bad move, something she wouldn't have done in the first place had she organised it.

Meh, it's like impossible to figure out if we're overcomplicating Mugi's personality or not.

An interesting point that came to my attention when I rewatched those scenes was that when Mio asked Mugi about the villa, she actually said the word "villa" (別荘, besou), to which Mugi answered "I have" with funny eyes. (In Japanese, the syntax is reversed sort of, so the "villa" part comes first in the unfinished question). Not a big deal, but interesting nevertheless. It answered my question as to why Mugi guessed Mio was asking about a villa (according to the subs).