K-ON! College Manga (けいおん!college)

December 21st, 2012

Let me be up front here for a sec – there is less Yuri in this new volume of K-ON! than there ever has been, which is to say, there isn’t a single shred of Yuri, even if you work at it.* Even Mugi has nothing to work with. So if Yuri is your single criteria for interest in this series, you’ll be disappointed in this volume when Yen Press publishes it.

If what you liked about the series is the interaction between the members of Houkago Tea Time, you’ll still have to deal with some change, but you’re less likely to be disappointed. ^_^

In K-ON! College (けいおん!college), Yui and the others find that the “Light Music” Club at college has a number of previous members who perform as a band. Tall, attractive Sara, gadfly Ayame and punk-y Akira end up taking their new kouhai under their wings, sort of. Akira, by virtue of proximity is asked to take care of Yui who, without Ui doing everything for her, is more annoying than I can adequately describe. The focus of the volume is mostly on Akira, her transformation to the punk look and her desire to be a pro, with some plot side trips.

With the focus so heavily on Akira and Yui, the rest of both bands fall back into supporting character roles. The real victim here is Mugi. If she says ten things through this volume, it’s a lot. Okay, yes, one of those things is, “Sabotage? That’s something I want to try!” But that’s her best line.

As a post-series fanfic, it suffers from the fate of many fanfic – the shift of focus from the main characters to someone else. But the someone else is as goofy as the originals, so it’s not much of a sacrifice. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 9
Story – 7 There is a limit to how many “Wake Yui up” jokes we can read before they begin to wear thin
Yuri – 0*
Service – 2

Overall – 7

*There is a teeny-weeny window for implausible slashers to pair Yui and Akira, but the creator works hard at limiting even that.

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