K-On!! is the second season of the anime based upon the four panel comic manga. It comes in at 24 episodes plus three OVAs and time skips ahead to the characters being in their third and final year of high school. It follows Yui, who, along with Mio, Ritsu, Tsumugi and Azusa form the light music club. The anime starts off with the start of the year, as the club members find out their class arrangements and with a sense of deja vu, have to compete with other clubs to recruit additional members. It is more important this time around since four of them will graduate at the end of the year, and Azusa will be the only one left.
The dynamic between the characters are fantastic and definitely the highlight of the series, lending itself well with a lot of gags. Yui is airheaded, Mio is shy, Ritsu is the prankster, Tsumugi is the innocent rich girl, and Azusa is the only sane one of the group (but finds herself slowly getting used to everyone else's antics). K-On!! focuses upon the outrageous slice-of-life aspects of the characters, interspersed with some drama from the pressure of putting on performances. It is a great balance and the humor continues to be spot on. While the series was already consistently funny, there are a few gags in this season that is just flat out hilarious. The best ones come with some foreshadowing and then when it happens, it works so well.
The season covers a variety of events including typical ones like a school trip to more unique ones where it focuses upon the bonds between the characters and their instruments. Despite Yui's airheadness, she is a natural for music (surprising the other club members), and it feels sentimental when you see how much she cares for her guitar. Nonetheless, Yui is shown to be even more ditzy now, the difference being now we see what she daydreams about. While some of these scenes can seem pointless and outrageous, it fits her character.
As the season covers the third year, there are bound to be repeats of similar events from the first season. However, there is usually a pretty big difference in what happens so it doesn't feel repetitive. For example, the school festival comes up again with the group making a live performance, instead of focusing on that, we get to see their efforts in performing a play that their class is holding. Or when the inevitable summer trip occurs but this time, they don't go to a beach but somewhere else with a different set of objectives.
In addition, the histories of each character is slowly explored and fleshed out. Mostly, it just covers how the characters met when they were young (i.e. Mio and Ritsu, and Yui and Nodoka) as well as how nice all the characters are. Despite however they might act, they mean well to everyone around them, and this gives an overall positive vibe to the atmosphere. The chance for each character to shine is welcome. Mugi's antics and eagerness to experience unknown things (which are normal everyday activities for most people like just going to the arcade) is charming. Uui is still as awesome as every, being organized and clever, in stark contrast to her sister Yui. Her admiration and adoration to Yui is cute and funny at the same time.
As the season nears its end, the time when the club has to be disbanded looms closer. The characters start to think about more and more, getting emotional due to the sense of loss. You can feel that everyone is having a lot of fun and it is such a shame that it has to end. Unlike some other anime, we do get to see the characters graduate and you feel as if you have had a great time with them, just lazing around.
The three OVAs chronologically take place during the season and are just some random events including creating a club recruitment video, finalizing the graduation year book and discussing on going onto an overseas trip together. The last one is obviously setting up events for the movie. Overall, K-On!! provides more of the same lighthearted humor with some sprinkling of great music here and there. The characters are all charming and having their own unique characters that make them interesting. It's a good thing that they near doubled the episode count because even that doesn't seem to be enough.
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