North American licensing company, Sentai Filmworks, announced that they have acquired the rights to the second season of K-ON! yesterday. Sentai Filmworks will collaborate with Bang Zoom! Entertainment in order to bring the hit television anime series to North America later this year. The 26 episode series will be released on both BluRay and DVD along with the an OVA in both English (dubbed) & Japanese (with subtitles).

This comes as welcomed news to fans of the series, since the license holder of the previous season, Bandai Entertainment, had shut down distribution activities earlier this year.

I know I keep promising no more talk of K-ON! but it's impossible to escape Yui. Through the magic of twitter, a Pony Canyon publicity representative by the name of "nojitetsu" has confirmed the date for the upcoming K-ON! movie. Director Naoko Yamada announced the film's release date to be December 3, 2011 at the Come With Me live event this Saturday.

The movie was announced at the end of the last episode of the second season of the series. Stay tuned for more details as they're available.

Source: ANN via Moe Ota-News Sokuhō

The third K-ON!! CD in the Triple Threat of "Forehead Drummer", "Rich Yuri-Goggles Keyboardist", and "The Nyan" will feature Azunya- I mean, Azusa Nakano's 2nd season Character CD. As much as I like Azunyan, I'll be blunt; her voice (Ayana Taketatsu) is more fit for doing Seiyuu work in comparison to singing, but I'd guess it's for completion's sake. Continuing to the usual data:

Release Date: 2010 November 17th
CD Length: 21 minutes, 44 seconds; 6 tracks (3 Instrumental Versions)

Of course, no expectations so let's get the ball rolling.

First up to the guillotine is "Over the Starlight". The singing leaves much to be desired again as she literally sounds exactly like most of the characters in many of her anime roles (Mio of MM!, Kirino of Oreimo, Ako of KissxSis, of course Azunyan of K-On, and the list goes on). The song itself isn't memorable again, as is most of the new K-On music but the Electric Guitar solo is good as always. Azusa fans who enjoy listening to her voice, you'll have a ball in looping this over and over.

As the second K-ON!! CD in the Triple Threat of "Forehead Drummer", "Rich Yuri-Goggles Keyboardist", and "The Nyan", this short review covers Tsumugi Kotobuki's 2nd Season Character CD. With her as the main vocalist, it's quite a rare occasion as she doesn't even get many lines in the anime series in itself. Will it be packed with singing talent or... The usual data here:

Release Date: 2010 November 17th
CD Length: 24 minutes, 12 seconds; 6 tracks (3 Instrumental Versions)

Ironically, the VA's name, Kotobuki Minako, shares the same last name as the character, Kotobuki Tsumugi. Continuing on, then.

Opening with Diaryはフォルテシモ / "Diary is a Fortissimo", it's fairly refreshing hearing one of the main characters with the least amount of character development and scripted lines in the whole series taking the main vocals. Her singing style is like a soft voiced Mio, which doesn't grate at the ears like hyperactive Yui or Ritsu. The song is contains quite a decent amount of the keyboard parts, with the intro having the Synth Keyboard starting off the song and switching to a Piano style during the Chorus parts. It's probably not memorable, but the song isn't bad at all, not one bit.

The K-On!! character CD sales tactics continue with the Triple Threat of "Forehead Drummer", "Rich Yuri-Goggles Keyboardist", and "The Nyan". This short review covers Ritsu Tainaka, "Forehead Drummer", 2nd season Character Song CD which features her as the main vocal for all the songs. From her previous songs in her first season CD, I don't really have high expectations but who knows, it could be surprising... I hope. Anyways, usual data:

Release Date: 2010 November 17th
CD Length: 22 minutes, 14 seconds; 6 tracks (3 Instrumental Versions)

With literally no expectations at this point, let's see what we've got here.

Starting off with "Drumming Shining My Life", one would think that this track would be light and fluffy. Of course, it is pretty hyperactive and full of energy, kind of like a Sugar Rush going on throughout the song. The introduction is more usual K-On fluff, with Synth Keyboard being the loudest of the bunch. The drum beats are quite prominent as it always should be, especially in the album featuring the drummer. Vocals are from Ritsu's VA and it does not impress, however. There's nothing memorable, maybe except her voice not really fit for singing these types of hyperactive and fluffy songs. The instrumental side is probably the saving grace to keeping the fluff going.

It's been a while since the last release in the K-On album series, so KyoAni and Pony Canyon decided to continue milking this franchise with the release of 放課後ティータイムⅡ / "After School Tea Time Second", a 2 CD compilation of many songs that were shown in both seasons of the anime series. At least it's a 2 CD album, including a Studio Mix and a Cassette Mix, so it would be decent at least... right? Moving on to the usual data:

Release Date: 2010 October 27th
CD Length: Disc One 『Studio Mix』: 41 minutes, 53 seconds; 11 tracks
Disc Two 『Cassette Mix』: 54 minutes, 21 seconds; 13 tracks

Right off the bat, this is probably the best bang for your buck, just in sheer length of both CDs in comparison to the first After School Tea Time mini-album. Despite all the recompiled songs from previous albums, they are slightly rearranged.

With the second CD in the K-On!! Character CD series of the 2nd season, we get Akiyama Mio, the shy, yet serious bassist. Another album release means another chance to take a shot at KyoAni and Pony Canyon. Let's see how much more the song quality has degraded in comparison to the early K-On days... More data:

Release Date: 2010 September 25th
CD Length: 23 minutes, 22 seconds; 6 tracks (3 Instrumental Versions)
Short Ver. Tab: I said lazy.

Starting off with the first song, 青春Vibration, or "Youthful Vibration". The intro leads off with the bass doing its thing, eventually being joined by the synth keyboard and the electric guitar. The song gives off the vibe of a band on a road trip for some odd reason which I cannot seem to explain. The vocals are the usual good stuff, but the song isn't too memorable. The guitar solo section is a bit messy. The song is decent overall, but nothing really stands out, similar to the concept of the bass part of a song which never really stands out while it plays a major part of a band. Music style seems to be vaguely similar in comparison to the first track of Mio's first character CD "Heart Goes Boom", but only similar with the short Bass solo intro.

Within another month, those guys over at KyoAni and Pony Canyon decide to use the Character CDs tactic again to continue to hoard their massive earnings from K-On. This time, they're using the 2nd season as an excuse to pump out one album for each character, starting with Yui and Mio. This wall of text will cover the upbeat, yet lazy and gluttonous Hirasawa Yui's character album. The usual stuff:

Release Date: 2010 September 25th
CD Length: 23 minutes, 6 seconds; 6 tracks (3 Instrumental Versions)
Short Ver. Tab: No like songs, so no tabs.

I don't even know where to begin, because the music quality is getting worse in comparison to most of the first season's themes... Oh yeah, I should start at the first track.

The first song is Oh My ギー太!!, which is "Oh My GITAH!!". The whole song reeks of a Cagayake!GIRLS copy again; most of this song's composition style is very reminiscent of the first season's Opening theme. With a fairly different intro, the chorus part of the song is pretty much very similar to Cagayake!GIRLS. As for the guitar chords played in the chorus section, it is used often in previous songs as well, like the first track of Yui's first season character CD song "Gitah ni kubittake" as an example. As for this song, it is the usual happy-go-lucky vocals with a pretty good guitar solo and nice guitar outro as well. Random bits of Engrish are added for flair, but the song is pretty average in comparison to their previous songs. There's nothing much to say because we've all heard this from previous songs (at least for people who listened to K-On music); just combine Cagayake!GIRLS with "Gitah ni kubittake", change up some Engrish, and it'll result into something pretty damn close to this song.

The next song is しあわせ日和, translating to "Happy Weather". This thing packs vocals that are just too moé. There's too much sugar in this song, and it's style is very relaxed. Whoever listens to this will want to take it easy for sure. However, the vocals do get pretty grating on the ears. All of that sugar will eventually lead to moébeetus, so listen in moderation. The music composition style is pretty similar to the 2nd track in Yui's first season character CD song "Sunday Siesta". I'm seeing a pattern here...

The final song takes the cake. Titled "Come with Me!! (唯Ver.)", it really confirms the suspicion that they're recycling music composition styles from Yui's first season character CD. Just like the previous two comparisons earlier, this one is similar on a low level to "Let's Go" from the first season's CD because of the chanting in the background of the song. With more upbeat and happiness going around, the vocals aren't too bad because it fits the style of the music. The good stuff always lies in the solos section, and this one is pretty good as the guitar solo is preceded by a well played, short bass solo.

A pink and white booklet with hearts everywhere... I don't even want to go too far into this, so I'll take my leave. Pony Canyon, please explain it for all of us. It is pretty small as usual, though.

TAO69 Grading Time:

• 6.5/10 (Oh My ギー太!! / Oh My GITAH!!)
• 5.0/10 (しあわせ日和 / Happy Weather)
• 7.0/10 (Come with Me!! (Yui Ver.))

Overall Score 6.16 -> 6.2. They would probably do better if they didn't make these songs sound so similar to the first season's CD. Oh, Namusan!

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