AWTY 112 - Papa Guitar Center (K-On)

Oh, boy. I wonder if the Light Music Club knows what they're getting themselves into with this girl.

Hello and welcome to are we there yet? In exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert. dana hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough, your anime girl talk.

Oh.

Who gets the reference? Who gets the reference?

Not me.

Stephanie'S tanner Span from Full House. Obviously.

Of course.

Here's the season for Full House, as we all know.

Oh, yeah, right. Is there a season for Full House?

We got to watch the episode where.

There'S many seasons of Full House.

Got to watch the episode. The very serious episode where kimmy Gimbler teach a tanner, go to a party and kimmy gets drunk, and then they have to cover up the hangover the next day. That's a very special episode of Full House.

My favorite episodes of Full House are the ones where Michelle gets amnesia. Which are the last two episodes?

Holy shit. I don't know.

I don't remember all of it. I've just seen bits and pieces. Whatever is on TV.

Yes, I happened to catch those episodes. I didn't know they were the last episodes until more recently, but I don't know if they're my favorite or if they're just the ones that I remember best back then.

We just catch a random episode and it's just a rerun, and you don't know where in the continuity it is. And you just feel like Dr. Manhattan seeing all the past and present at the same time.

You see what episode where Michelle is like, six, and then the very next episode they show she's a baby again.

Yeah, it's just like, what's happening?

Why are you airing it?

This way, please.

I need some structure.

The wild west of cable. We're just knowing gabe of shit.

Yeah, it's more of the same show. Who cares? You're drunk on a Saturday.

Wow.

Cable. You know me so well.

Speaking of structure, let's have some. What are we watching today?

Speaking of drunk on a Saturday.

Not yet. Yeah, we're in peak anxiety time still. You the listener, I sincerely hope are in a better place. But we are currently still in hell, so we're keeping the chill vibes rolling. And we're watching chaon.

Yeah, the classic.

So some cute girls playing music in a band with little consequences whatsoever. Exactly the peak of how much stress I can take.

Yes. Had to look into this one to.

Do some research to be sure there wasn't some weird episode 13 twist.

So, yeah. Have either of you heard of this show or seen it?

I watched a little bit of it a long time ago. I remember the characters and, like, when I was in middle school, my friend group had this thing where we would be like, oh, you're this character and I'm this character. And we definitely did that with this.

I was double D from Ed and Eddie.

Is that who you can.

Not who I can. That's who was forced upon me because I didn't fit anywhere else.

Oh, man. Well, it suits you.

My compliment, I'll take it. Peak of spongebob. So that sort of cemented who I was in school.

Yeah.

There you go. I watched the first episode I've heard of go on for years. It's wildly popular. And then I watched the first episode of it recently because apparently I fucking love the genre of anime. Girls just hanging out in club activity shows, which I've discovered through this podcast. So I was like, let me give this one a shot. I just watched one episode, and then I saw it on the list. I was like, oh, let me stop here. Don't want to spoil myself.

Perfect.

Keep it fresh.

Yeah.

I'm glad some good has come from this show.

I have found plenty of shows I've enjoyed from this podcast. I have watched a lot of them and have rewatched some of them.

I mean, this is a delightful genre to discover.

Yeah. A place further in the universe made me cry. And I think that's the first TV show that has done that. So well done. Also recommended from a listener. So thank you for the recommendations.

Yeah, thank you for making me cry.

Thank you for reliving the emotions that are buried deep, deep, deep inside of me.

I almost cried just before we started recording.

So, you know, we're all on edge.

We're all doing good. We're all in a great place.

Yeah, completely.

Anyway, girls playing guitar and drums and such.

Yeah. So we're going to watch the first three episodes.

I'm tuning my guitar. Look at these girls just being good friends. Girls being friends.

The vibes. The vibes are delicious.

They sure are. Here.

Look at them just jam out and play their instruments. But like the one time, it's still the beginning. We're not quite there yet.

Jasper, please. No. jasper. Why?

Jasper also wants to make music. You can't stop him.

He's got to dance.

He please the blinds. He's very good at it.

He's like, you were talking about tax on the break.

I am one.

This is my tap dance routine.

Yeah. Well, okay.

Treal by cats.

Once again, let's talk about these sweet girls. So in episode one, we start off with an alarm. It's time to wake up.

Oh, no.

There's a girl. She's running late. Classic.

Just real quick, if you want to gauge how stressed and anxious I am, just how long this alarm clock goes off. I had to fast forward. It was making me bug the fuck out.

Yeah.

Hearing an alarm clock, I was like, turn it off.

Turn it off. Please turn it please turn.

Please press the button. So this is UE. She's our protagonist, pretty much. Her sister comes to wake her up. She's like, yeah, I get out of bed. yui. And then she's like, oh, my God, it's 08:00. I have to go and her sister's like, what's the rush? Because as we've learned from a lot of, like, quirky, girl led anime, they always think they're late for school, but they're not.

Actually, I was kind of surprised by this.

Yeah. She gets there and it's like, oh. Like, they don't say, like, oh on the first day. We start, like, an hour later. I think it's just like, did she just read the clock wrong? What?

Yeah, she's I think she says she did.

I'm going to miss it.

Yeah. But when she runs out of the house, she has toast in her mouth. Classic, classic chick. So, yeah, she gets to school, she is on time. It's her first day of high school. We get the opening, and the song is all right. It's girls being friends.

It's cute, it's catchy.

Yeah. And then first thing that happens is yui is bombarded with people who are trying to get her to join their clubs. And then time passes, and we know because she has a barrett change, she.

Adds one every hour of the day.

They multiply.

I think someone says, like, It's been two months. I'm just like what? What?

Two weeks?

Two weeks. Sorry.

Yeah, yeah. So she's she's, like, in her class looking at, like, the sign up paper for clubs, and her friend, who I'd forget the name of because it was longer than the others, she natoka. natoka. She's like, hey, you haven't joined a club yet. It's been two weeks. You have to join one. And yui is like, Well, I'm bad at sports, and I don't understand literary clubs, so I don't know which one to join.

Those are the only two options, and I have no discernible interests.

I feel like panic over joining a club should be on the bingo card as well, because it seems to be in almost every yeah.

If it's a club centric anime, the pressure to be in a club is insurmountable.

I think we're about to get to a plot point that is much more prominent. But we'll get there first. Yeah.

I forget what anime. There was one anime I watched where they're just like, I'm part of the Going Home Club, where I'm not in a club. I just go home. I was like, this guy gets me. This is the club for me. I'm sure it's different in the Japanese school system where clubs are more specialized and more harped on, but yeah, I didn't do shit, like, my whole academic career.

Yeah. So we see a girl, I forgot her name until later, but it's ritu. She goes up to her friend mio, and she's like, hey, let's go check out the Light Music Club. But mio is like, I was going to join the literature Club. And Ritzu was like, that's too bad. And then she rips up her application. These girls are very good friends.

Cold blooded.

Yes. And they find out from the teacher who advises the club that it is in danger of being disbanded because all of the members graduated. And then UE comes in, and the teacher, who is the music teacher, she gets up to give her some, like, paperwork to hand out to other students, but she's distracted by the other two girls. She's just, like, staring at them, and they're staring back at her. And then she drops all the papers and hits her head on the desk. And Ritzu is like, wow, she's useless and clumsy. Double fret.

She must be a protagonist.

And then mio turns to leave, but Rise stops her, and she's like, hey, wait. If we go get the club back up and running, does that make me the Perezden?

All this power.

I'm getting drunk off the fumes. I haven't even gotten it yet.

So yui is walking with the teacher to the class, and she's like, hey, what's that club about? And she's like, oh, that's the Light Music Club. They play light hearted music.

That's all it is.

Very sweet.

And yui in this quick scene, they also say Light Music Club, like, four or five times within a minute. Like, so many times. It distracted me.

But yui seems interested. So Ritzu and mio are in the club room, just waiting for people to show up. And then the afternoon goes on, and no one comes until a blonde girl comes in. She says she's looking for the choir club, but Ritzu is like, Please join. Please.

It's the same. It's just music still. Just please.

Close enough.

And then mio turns to leave, but Ritzu gets upset, and she has a moment. She's like, don't you remember that day we made a promise that we'd start a band together when we went to that concert? And mio is like, Why are you lying? We watched a concert on TV, and you were much more enthusiastic about making a band than I was. But mio is still interested. She's just not as excited about it.

As rizu wasn't like a lifelong promise.

Yeah. So their dynamic makes the blonde girl laugh. So she's like, yeah, I'll join the club. You guys seem like a riot.

You entertain me, monkeys. Dance for me. Dawn.

The banter. It's delicious.

She says she could play a keyboard, and her name is Sumugi, but they call her mugi chan. And now all they need is a guitar player. So yui is walking with her glasses friend again, lamenting that she needs to figure out what she should do. And then we see the other three at a fast food place, and it's muggy's first time eating at one because she's rich. And she's like, all my life, I wanted someone to ask me if I want fries with that. And now it's happened.

Finally. I can die happy.

Lifelong dream.

Lord, strike me down there's nothing left for me.

I've done it all. I'm 14 and I've done it all. So ritu calls the meeting to order. They need to get someone to join and maybe they should offer a prize. And moogie is like like a car or a plane. And they're like, no, jeez, no. We have they say like, oh, maybe we can offer like, homework help. There was another one, but whatever, it's not important.

Also foreshadowing. I didn't pick up on that.

Yeah, I guess so.

And then they make flyers. Time moves on, and they have one week to find another member.

It's been it's been I knew someone was going to this one out. I started with a full House reference. It was going to be May.

It's going to be may. Keeping the memes going. Okay, sorry.

Keeping them rolling. And she has a memory of her just going hard on some castanets when she was like in kindergarten. And she loved doing it. So she's like, I'm going to join.

I feel like even in kindergarten, teacher was like, oh, you're doing great. UE, you're bobbing your whole body with it as opposed to everyone else who can stand still for a minute. Even then it's like that.

Did everyone else have those colored tubes that play different notes when you hit them?

Yeah, it wasn't like a frequent thing, but I remember it.

Yeah.

I don't know why they only came out like once a year when it's like this. Probably cost the school like half of their music budget. $12.

We did recorders.

I think it was the one time a year. And then the music teacher learned, nope, never again. Going to take those away real quick.

They're just playing lightsabers now.

Okay, yeah.

Time to not break that.

I mean, that's creative. And it's making music, isn't it?

In a way, yeah.

You three hit them together. That's a chord. You're learning something.

So she decides she's going to join. She tells her friend, and she's like, it will be easy.

How hard could it be?

But like, they go back to the flyer and her friend is like, well, it seems like they want you to play the guitar. And she's like, but I can only play the castanet. And then the teacher goes to the club to tell them that yui wants to join. And they read her name and they think that it's a really cool name. And they're like, oh my God, she must be like a rock goddess, a powerhouse. Oh, wow. And I'm just like, well.

In a way, no.

And she's making her way to the club, making her way. And I had to do one. And she is really nervous because she's like, I kind of like, have to tell them that I want to quit because I can't play the guitar. And then she's like, but what if they're scary demons.

Immediately too intimidated.

And while she's standing outside the door, rizu shows up and she's like, oh, you're yui. Great. Come on in. You must be so good at guitar. And she introduces her to the other two, and they have some tea and cake, and she's like, well, now I don't want to quit. This is some tasty tea and cake. Yeah. And then Ritzu starts asking her all these questions about music, and she's like, I got to tell them. But she, like, can't spit it out. And they ask her who her favorite guitarist is, and she starts by saying Jeff. And they're like, oh, Jimmy hendrix. Jeff beck. You must be talking about Jeff beck. And then mio starts talking about Jeff beck, but youi hasn't said anything. And then one of them tells her, like, oh, we're so glad you're here. If you hadn't joined, we would have been disbanded. And that's when she shoots up. And she's like, I'm really sorry, but I have to quit. I can't play the guitar. But then mia is like, well, you wanted to join the club, so you must be interested in music. Are you interested in anything else? And she's like, no. And they kind of, like, look at each other, and there's just, like, a silent agreement that they're like, we have to get her to stay.

This is perfect. We're her one option.

She's impressionable.

I'm the most least interested in music out of all the people.

So they give her more sweets and ask her questions about herself, and they find out that she's lazy and likes to eat. She doesn't have that much going on.

Would you say, when it's hot in the summer, I lay on the cold floor? When it's cold in the winter, I lay under the hot blanket, and it's like that's it? That's all you got? Okay.

Yeah, I like it.

Same me being a lizard. I love my hot rock.

I mean, I enjoy a nap as much as the other person, but also something else.

I have interest.

Yeah, there's got to be something else. It can't be just that.

And then she gets up to leave, and Ritzu is like, listen, you can just hang out in here if you want to. You don't have to do anything. Please just say you're a club member. And mugi says she'll bring more snacks because she always has the best snacks. But she feels really bad for misunderstanding the club and joining even though she wasn't fit for it. And she starts crying, but the enritzu is like, we'll play a song for you, and then she calms down, and then they play a song, and it's, like, super simple, but, you know, they got to start somewhere.

Yeah.

And yui, while she's watching it, she seems pretty transfixed. And then when it's over, she claps for them, and she's like, wow, you guys aren't very good.

I am less intimidating.

But she's like, that doesn't matter, because it seems like you guys had a really good time playing together, so I would like to join because I want to have fun with you guys, too. And then reese and mio, like, pinch each other's faces to make sure that they're not dreaming, which I thought was really cute. And then they take a selfie to commemorate the moment. And then UE is like, oh, maybe I could be like the manager, the band manager or something. And they're like, no, we'll teach you how to play guitar. We can help you.

Also, we already agreed on guitar. You can't change your mind to any other instrument, nothing else.

And then her friend, her glasses friend is surprised that she ended up joining. And she's like, you have to buy a guitar now. And she's like, oh, can't I borrow one from the school? And she's like, I don't know. You should probably buy one. But they're more expensive than you thinks they are. whoa.

Like, what? $50.60? Not a bad, right?

But yeah, they're a club now. yay.

But yeah, we got the should be added to the bingo card of oh, shit. This club is about to be disbanded. We need one more character. Hey, protagonists, come here.

I also wanted to make a joke about UE kind of saving mio from joining a literature club. Because if we've learned anything from doki doki literature, it's that literature clubs are the devil.

Those are the best.

That's my joke. Also, I really like the ending song. I have always remembered the ending song.

Yeah, it's very cute.

I really like the ending song because it says all of their names on text on screen. And I was like, now I can actually know their names because I'm a dummy. But it did help a lot taking.

My notes for me this week.

Yeah, it's just like, oh, thank God. Otherwise they would have just been referred to as their instruments.

Yeah, I thought about it. I was like, I can't cheat out when they just hand me the results I need.

We already did that with Given. We can't do it again. Yeah. And the first episode ends with just yui daydreaming kind of just gazing to herself, kicking her feet in her chair, and just like, if she was just blowing bubbles like a toddler, I'd be like, yeah, that makes sense. She's just a big old baby.

She's just a child.

She has absolutely no agency. Like, how is she in high school? So we start off with episode two. And we get ue's friend asked her to walk home with her, and she's like, oh, I can't. I got club stuff because I'm in a club now.

This friend is the polar opposite. That's a funny joke because place for glasses friend in the place for the universe because that girl sucked. This girl turns out to be very nice.

Yeah, they had a very similar dynamic. And friend also had glasses. So I was like, ah, this is what the nice version is, where she takes care of her friend but doesn't but grudgingly hold it against her whenever she tries to leave her side. But yeah, she's like, I got club activities now, now that I'm in the Light Music Club. She's like, oh, you're going to play instrument? And she's just like cake. All right, yoey, I'll see you later. She only thinks about the snacks. That's all she really cares about. And then we get the opening. And then they talk about once they're in the club, they talk about all the instruments that they play. So they got the Me on basis, reads you on drums, Migumi on keyboard.

And that is not her name. What it's sumoogi, sumugi or mugi?

Mugi. What I say?

Megami.

Oh, yeah, we all know all bad at this.

Yeah, it's fine. I just wanted to clear it up.

I don't know names and I refuse to learn.

I am too old. And we also see mio kind of freaks out when they're like, oh, you play bass. Have you ever tried guitar? And she's like, no, no, you're the focal point of the band. I can't do that. And we kind of see, like, mio gets, like, very anxious when, like, attention is put on her and stuff. So she never wants to be like the lead. We see that come up a little later. Despite her being the lead vocalist in the ending song. Credits, hospital, character growth, hint. And we see. Now I'm self conscious about the name. We see keyboard, that's fine. They're like, oh, look at all this equipment. I keep thinking about the parasite hand, the moogie. Look at all this equipment. I could just borrow a guitar. Like, we borrowed all this equipment and muggy is like, no, I bought all this stuff, this stuff's, like, from my home. And she's like, what? Excuse me, there's a lot of stuff. mugi is like filthy rich. But yeah, so she already had all this equipment. We see in the first episode, the band room is pretty much barren, completely. So when we see it now, it's like, yeah, there's a lot of equipment that she must have just brought over and they're having tea and cake as they're one to do. And then they ask Kiwi about the guitar that she has and it's like, oh, you know, just buy one. It's, you know, save them some pocket change for a bit. Yeah. How much are they? Like, well, decent, maybe a little hand me down guitar so I can be like, five or 600. She's like, oh, no, go one will be like, a thousand or so. She's like, oh, boy. I have no real applicable skills, let alone a job and or money. It's like, yeah, it's going to be tough.

It's like the John mulaney bit. I am small and I have no money, so you can only imagine the stress I am on.

It's a very good summary of you.

But also if they're like, hey, I am learning guitar from scratch. I don't really have much interest in a guitar, but I'm going to learn. And they're like, great. Buy a very expensive guitar, not a cheap one. And they're like, yeah, okay. You can get a cheap, shitty one for, like, $100.

Find one on Facebook, marketplace.

Yeah, no, all new stuff. Nothing used. No handmade downs from the neighbors that went off to college and stopped playing. None of that.

No.

Must not be a brand new west.

Paul got to get that product placement in. We made a contract. We got to show them in a music store with all the branded equipment. And when she gets home, UE sister, UE and UE.

Yeah.

She says, like, oh, maybe you can ask an advancement on your allowance. I was like, that's a pretty big advancement. I don't know how much your allowance is, but that feels like a lot.

Yeah, she said, like, $500 would be, like, ten months of her allowance.

Okay, I missed that part. Yeah, I never had an allowance.

Me neither.

That seems like something that was in, like, old sitcoms and continued into other shows, like current day shows. But I don't know anyone that ever had an allowance.

I had an allowance, but then I turned 13, and my dad was like, yeah, you're old enough for a job. Right? And I've been working since.

Okay, so laos was just loophole for child labor until you could actually be employed.

Yeah, just like, hey, I'm going to teach you the concept of working capitalism.

This is the rest of your life.

Four year old.

Yeah, I just did chores around the house because I'd be kicked out if I didn't. She asked for an advancement of allowance, and it works. So her mom just gives her $500, I guess. And I say, mom, we never see their parents ever. anyone's parents, I presume they exist, but I have no proof of that. And then so once she has the money, they go out shopping together as a band to go try and find UE guitar. And this girl's got full blown adhd, just distracted every 5 seconds by something. And they see her across the street, and they go, there's yui. Hey, yui. And she's like, oh, hi, guys. And starts running across the street, and it's only her and one other man walking across the street in other ways. And she just shoulder checks him. I'm just like, what? God, that would have been so easy.

To be intentional at that.

Fuck this guy.

Any other place you could have gone to avoid him, it would have worked full on. Check him. And then when she gets across to the street, she sees, like, a woman waiting on the street corner with, like, a dog. And she's like, a dog. All right, that one fair. Like, that would get me. She's just so distracted, like, every 5 seconds by something. And we see them little montage of them shopping, but every kind of shopping there is except for guitars. So they're like, clothing stores and they're getting, like, snacks and doing, like a crane machine and all this crazy stuff. I guess he was like, oh, man, I'm tired. Let's head out. No, we're here for guitar. Let's at least do that.

The one thing you got the money for. Buy it before.

I was so scared that she was going to spend it all.

She immediately starts looking at a dress. I was like, oh, I can afford this now. And mia goes up and slap her like, no, I'm for an instrument. So they finally go to a music store and they're looking around for a little bit and we just find a guitar. And she's like, this one. And it's just like, fixated. And it's like the only one she really looked at. But she just immediately latched onto it, I guess.

Yeah, because they're like, okay, so you should consider the size, the weight, all the tones and all that. And she's like, oh, this one's pretty. My heart set on it. Now. I won't look at any other guitar.

Yeah, I refuse to look at anything else. It's like, cool. That's 2500 Gibson. It's like, but I want it. Yeah, I got that. I want a lot of things that I can't afford.

But you have a budget.

You got 20% of what you need.

But I wanted this guitar. It's like, you also don't know how to play guitars. One sorry, brief tangent. It's like my co worker who didn't have a car for a few months and finally got a car and he's like, I'll buy this reasonable car. I was like, yeah, but for 600 more dollars you can get a Mercedes. He's like, I'll do it. I was like, you don't, bitch. Why did you do that? He's like, every time I take it to the shop now, it's $1,000 automatic. You have the fucking Mercedes. What do you get out of your mind? It boggles my mind. I don't know. I've always been frugal. So anytime someone just splurges the last minute for like twice the price of their budget, I just like, what? Yeah, so we said on this very expensive guitar. And I'm like, all right. reese says, like, what if we all get temp jobs? We all get some money from that, pull it together, and then we go buy the guitar for UE. And then we could finally start practicing our band that hasn't been doing anything for four months. And so the next day they all plan what jobs they get. And we get, like another shot of miu freaking out at food service industry because she can't talk to people or ask them what their order is, that she's very nervous talking to strangers. But they all decide to be traffic surveyors. So they'll just watch traffic go by and count how many people are in the cars. And that's a job. I guess it is.

I actually saw a TikTok of a girl doing that.

Is it? I've never heard.

Yeah, honestly, a dream job for me. Listen to podcast and click a thing every time a car goes by.

It's kind of my job now. They meet up to work, and ue's sister makes them lunch, and she's like, oh, this is a heavy lunch. Oh, it's a lunch for everyone. I'm being considerate because they're helping you out. He was like, oh, yeah, it makes sense. Hope I don't eat it all on the way over. It's like, wow, come on, you.

These girls got a job to give you money.

Her little sister is really the mom, because we've seen no other parental figure taking care of this.

I love ui. She's a good character.

She's a good character and clearly the only nurturing force in ue's life, because she's just a big old walking baby who can barely handle herself. So they go and start working, I guess. They're just sitting outside of the boss's house, just watching that traffic go by. And moogie and Yui are the first ones to watch, and they're just counting the cars, clicking away, and we see ewe kind of getting sleepy, kind of getting drowsy. It's like, wow, you're really good at this. How are you doing so well? It's like yui yui, like one job. Come on, baby. One job. You got one thing. Just stay awake. Just stay conscious. And the whole time we see Ritzu and mio in the car, just, like, looking at magazines and stuff, it's like, oh, this is a contest. And if you win the contest, you can get a guitar. It's like, oh, that's a lot easier than working and buying one. Let's try for that. And then we see them switching, and we see reese, who starts counting people in the cars. And then as she's doing it, she's kind of getting a rhythm going. And then we see her, like, kind of tapping away on it because she's the drummer, just like and me, who just starts screaming at her like, you're not you're not helping anyone here. What are you doing? And then after, I guess they do this for, like, a weekend because they say after two days, they're finished their job and they count all the money. All right, it's $80 a person. Gather it up. With the $500 we still have, we still need a lot more money. So, like, we'll plan for more jobs. And yui's like, no, you guys just worked enough. I don't want you guys to spend the money you've earned doing your work. So I'll I'll figure out a way to get the money myself, and I'll buy for myself. But I still want to come to the club because you got snacks, and that's literally the only thing I think of.

Yeah, it's fine, but, like, that cake.

Muggy is bringing in that heavy cream cheesecake with the strawberrys in the middle of it. This definitely got a delicious cartoon food check on the finger card. And then they go back to the music store the next day, and he was just squatting down in front of that guitar because it's the only one she wants. She's she's dead set on it. Like, it is a good guitar, but also you don't know how to play it, so it's like and then earlier, Ritzu was saying how she bought mio saved up to buy her bass and then Ritzu haggled with a guy at like like a farmer's market or like a swap meet or something sort of place. And haggled with him to get the price of her drum set down low enough. And he was like, you made that guy cried. She's like, I wanted the drums. In the flashback, rita was like, definitely like, six. Like, she is a child and just screaming at this grown man and Muggy is like, Haggling. What a novel concept the peasants use. I would like to partake in this haggling process myself. And goes up to the store clerk at the music store, and she's like, hello. I would like to haggle. He's like, oh, rad, how how are we doing this? She's like, I want that guitar at a lower price. And he's like, I don't know if I could and seize her eyebrows. He's like, you're the president's daughter. President of the company. He's like, I'll get fired for sure. I got to keep you happy no matter what. And he's like, what's, out of calculator? He's like, what about this price? She's like no lower peasant. She's not actually this mean, but it's just she's very detached from how the real world works.

She's like, this is a fun game. And the clerk is like, I'm definitely getting fired for this.

Exactly. She's like, I could pay with this with the pocket change in my purse right now. It's nothing.

I offer to buy a plane for the person.

Exactly. So we see, like, a little back and forth with them. And then when she comes back, she's like, I got you the guitar for $500. How? It's like, my dad is the president of the company that owns a part. Or like, he doesn't just own the music store, like a corporation. Music he owns the corporation that owns the corporation that owns the music store. He's like, four levels above it. And it's just like I don't even know how the store clerk recognized her. I sure as hell one of oh, I'm sorry.

My full name is moogie Guitar Center.

Just call me moogie.

Just call me Guitar, please.

Guitar center was my dad.

Just the git Center. So you've said like, oh, that's amazing. I can't believe he got such a lower price. I'll pay you back the full price, like, someday, once I get the money. So we'll lay away to her friends, and then we see her back at home with the guitar, and instead of practicing it, she's just playing around with it, posing within the mirror thinking like, oh, I got to start practicing my autograph for when I get famous. It's like, maybe practice the guitar for when you play the guitar tomorrow. And we see her sister comes in and sees her sister comes in and wakes her up the next morning and sees that you fell asleep with the guitar. So once again, no proof that there's any parents anywhere in this world. And the next day when they're at the club, everyone calls her out for not practicing. She's like, oh, I can play this. And she plays, like, five little notes real quick. And they're like, that's nothing. You did nothing. And honestly, I was kind of impressed because I wouldn't know how to do yeah. So I was kind of like, oh, she's got a little and they're like, your garbage is like, oh, never mind. I guess I don't know anything. And they even call her out for still having the film on the guitar. Like the plastic coating on it, she's like, oh, it looks nice. And I don't want it to get beat up or anything, so I just want to keep it on there for protection, which is what my dad does. And it infuriates me to no end because, like, reese I just crave to peel it off. We see reese again. Her fingers wiggle like, I got to do it. And she peels it off. She's like, oh, thank God.

Absolute dumbest thing ever in my book is I had a phone for years, and just as I was going to upgrade it, I was like, oh, wait. What's? For the past two years, I've had the protective film on it and didn't even notice. Well, the touch screen was just super shitty.

I was like, my friend did the same thing. He tried putting the protective screen on the touchscreen. He's like, wait, why is it not working? Because there's already the film on there still. You have to take that off. I think my dad bought a microwave, and he said, yeah, it's a blue microwave. I was like, what? Now, why would it be a blue microwave when the COVID is black? And I peeled off and the film on it was blue and tinted it. I was like, dad, how long have you had this? You're a grown ass man. You raised me. What happens? So, yeah, you're like, well, now that it's kind of broken in now, I guess I got to start learning and get used to it and start practicing. And shoes are how to hook it up to an amp and kind of like the very basics of it. All right. Yeah, our band is finally formed. He was like, oh, let me unplug this. No, wait. And get the loud feedback noise that every band has ever gotten with a new member and say, oh, God, that sucked. Yeah, you got to turn it down before you unplug it. And yeah, that's episode two.

So yeah, we pick up episode three. More time has passed and ue still hasn't gotten her shit together. I want to play, but I'm just so worried about cutting my fingers on these sharp strings. And neo is like, hey, if you actually play it, you'll develop calluses and it won't hurt. And shows her calluses, and huey just like, grabs her hands like squishy fingers. I'm super into this because I am clearly the gay one. But.

Huey just got bad. Add just so distracted by everything.

But yeah, so Yui doesn't know where to start learning the guitar. So neo is like, hey, you should learn some chords because that's like the structure and that will help. And she throws like a music book at her. And Yui opens it up and is like, I can't read any of this. So she's super lost. Yui walks home with glass's friend natoka, and she's like, hey, you're not in a club, but you're at school super late. What were you doing? She's like, oh, yeah, I was in the library studying for midterms. He was like, oh, fuck, I just learned there were midterms.

Wait, glass's friend isn't in a club?

I think she was, but I don't think it's a club that's like after school maybe.

Yeah, I can't remember if she says if she's in anything, but she's like, yeah, I was there late because I was studying.

Okay, I was just going to say, if she's not, then why'd you put so much pressure on you to enjoy the club?

Or maybe it's like a sport where it's like certain days.

Maybe I'm in the rooster club. We meet before school, raise roosters.

Oh, God. I remember the track team would have, like, practice at my school before school. And in winter they would, like, shower in the locker room that was by the field. And it would come to, like, walk over to the school. And it's just like half of my buddies, like their hair was frozen because, like, still be wood went from the shower and walk across in, like January winter.

Wow.

I was like, man, I slept into it. It was great. I didn't do anything.

So, yeah, she forgot about midterms. And she's like, yeah, I'll figure it out, and decides to practice guitar instead. So we see later on. She's taking the test, just figuring it out. And then of course, afterwards she walks in and is like, hey, I failed my midterms.

She got two.

Yeah, real bad.

She got like one answer, right?

So she's like, I got to take a makeup test. And also, surprise, I can't do club activities because I'm on academic probation. Since you're under the minimum membership, if I don't pass this makeup test, the club will be disbanded. And everyone's like, oh, shit. Okay. You're not doing anything music related because you got to keep this club alive. They're like, okay, you'll study. It's fine. It's great. We trust you to focus. Oh, no. So she has one week to take the makeup test. So we basically just get a bunch of montages of her trying to study and then getting distracted and playing guitar. We see a few days into it, the club members are like, okay, she's clearly fucking up everyone tonight. Text her just like an encouraging message, and we'll go from there. So she gets encouraging messages and then reach you, sends a video of her, like, throwing food up to catch it in her mouth, but spilling everywhere and ends up distracting her even more.

It's funny to see that she doesn't book practice guitar for the first few days. And the only time she does practice guitar is when she should be studying for something else.

Yeah, that's how it is, man.

Yeah.

You always got to do the thing that you need to fuck. That made no sense anyway.

Do everything. Delete that. That was done.

Everyone needs to know I'm a genius.

You say you're an idiot at the beginning of every episode.

Patrick delete that too. She keeps studying or keeps trying to study and just fails. And it's the night before the test, and she's like, okay, mio, I'm begging you. Please help me study. I'm going to fail so bad. I have no discipline. And they're like, okay, we will all come over and help you study because we need four people to just force you to look at a piece of paper. So they go over to her house. They're walking over, and they're all like, hey, we're not going to disturb your family, right? I assume you have a family. And she's like, of course not. My dad's on a business trip, and my mom went with him for something.

Hate us.

She just got bored of us and just left.

So yeah, it'll just be us and my little sister. And they're all like, oh, God, what's a less refined, younger version of ui? But they arrive and they meet ui, and they're like, oh, she's the good one.

She's the one.

It all makes sense. She's so polite and professional and adult. She's like, ringing them snacks. They're like, how did we get the worst one?

By this point of the episode, I really was like, the show is just my three moms like, raising you.

Yes. Let's forget about music. You need so much basic life skills. So, yeah, they start studying. Reitsu is immediately off task and just distracting everything. So she ends up getting kicked out of the room because she's just making everything worse. And I brought a cake, but you cannot have it until you finish studying. And you're like, okay, that's the only motivation I ever needed.

That's all I needed to hear.

So yeah, they're going through it, getting distracted. Every once in a while. Reitsuit keeps trying to break back into the room to be like, hey, I'm not distracting anymore, and just keeps distracting with every entrance, so she's still damaged.

Look at me. Look at me. I could even tension.

Nutoka also comes over and meets the club for the first time, which is pretty weird when this is midterm. So we're like halfway through. You haven't met any other friends. Cool. Great. Perfect.

Yui was just scared that they would clash.

Classic.

When you have different friend groups.

We're scared they'd be too good of friends and they'd kick her out. Oh, God, no.

Natoka is a legendary guitar player, so.

I think she's kept it a secret.

Also, just everyone brings food to everywhere they go, which is honestly delightful.

I need to pick up that practice. I want that for me.

I am that friend, typically because I like to eat, so I'm always like, what can I bring? And people are like, Whatever you want. And I'm like, no, tell me. Please tell me.

I try to be, but I am a horrible cook that lives off garbage and food and trash scrapings. So I usually just buy something on the way there. And I teach you. Like, hi, I went to 711. What up?

I brought one slurped overall skill set.

I was the kid at the school parties. I would always bring, like, the utensils or trash bags. I was the soda kid. Yeah.

But yeah. So she comes over, she brings sandwiches, and they all just start getting to know each other. And then they look up at the clock and they're like, oh, we lost an hour just chatting. We should get back to work. It's like midnight and everyone's falling asleep. Yui actually falls asleep, has a dream they're in a place further than the universe.

There's a crossover episode.

Yeah. So has a dream that like, Ritzu is like outside because they banished her from the room. So she wakes up and starts crying that Ritzu is dead out there in.

The snowstorm, going to die. What?

They're like, yeah, this is probably a good time to call her the night. So they leave the next day. She takes her tests, everyone's dead tired, but she gets the results back and she got 100 maybe.

Yeah.

I don't buy it.

I don't either. She goes on like, oh, God, she needs this.

Okay, just get her out of here. I don't want to see her anymore.

She needs one win, but yeah.

So she passes and they're like, all right, great. Let's focus on music again. Hey, since you goofed off all those days and kept practicing guitar, let's hear some chords. And she forgot everything she learned. She can learn one thing at a time, which oh, boy. I assume you're learning so many subjects in school. Oh, God. What other tests did you fail?

That's the thing. This is one class. We don't know how else she's doing.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention I have a zero in every class.

I know it's exaggerated for the show, but if I had a buddy who's like, oh, yeah, I've gotten, like, single digits test scores on every test I've done up so far this year. I'd be like, brah. What? You can't just let that slide. That's real bad.

You can't tell me this in May, graduating in a week.

You have one test left. That's not going to turn it around.

But, yeah, that's episode three.

Yeah. Very simple.

Good chill, really calm anime.

Yeah. Just cute. Pure gentle. That's all we need. That's all we can handle.

So are we there yet?

Yeah. This is just a delightful show. Just a little, hey, forget about the world. This is a better one. This is a better existence. This is a simple one song for a little bit. So I'll take it.

I thought it was really cute. I found, especially with the third episode, I feel like if it was, like a half time anime, like 1511 minutes, it probably would have suited it better. Just because it literally took duggan, like, less than ten minutes to recap that episode because all they did was help you restudy, which was great. It was very cute.

Yeah.

But it felt like it could have been shorter.

Yeah. It's not, like, quite as fragmented of, like, a nietzsche Joe, where it's like, yeah, these are basically sketches, but it sort of feels like that because they are feeling a lot of time. In case you didn't forget, she's still clumsy and distracted.

Yeah.

Even for the episode I was covering, I had very little notes because I'm just like, there's just not dead air. But we got a few shots of, like, youie walking away and just, like, practicing guitar in her head as she's walking away. It's like, that doesn't need to be recapped. But it's also, like, those are, like, 7 seconds of that episode. That was a lot of time to give that one scene. So I'm like, all right. Yeah, I'd agree with you. If it was, like, a short format of me, like eleven or 15 minutes, it could probably do just as well without as much fluff. And the fluff is not bad, but it's just, like, it is fluff nonetheless.

Yeah, because, like, I did in my notes, when they're like, okay, we found out she failed the test. It's technically two different days, but for some reason they're like, okay, let's just, in the middle of this, just have her rewalk into the room and be like, okay, I wasted the day studying, but here's more vital information. And it's like, you could have just continued that scene. We didn't need that weird transition of, okay, it's a different day anyway, picking up where we left off.

Yeah. Like, when she failed her test, I knew that it would be that she wouldn't get to be in the club. So yeah, they could have just said it.

Yeah. But it's a calm show. It's pleasant overall, real fancy headed, really empty headed. Like, ue. Yeah, smooth brain off the thing. You could just unwind and relax. Yeah, maybe it's less of like, here's content to entertain you, here's background noise to drown out the thoughts. You don't need to see anything right now. It's like, yeah, you're right. I'm okay with this. That's fair.

You're right. Yui.

Kao is definitely one of the forebears though of this genre of just like cute girls in a club doing a thing and doing activities. It's definitely like a prominent one. So I think this is definitely one that established I don't even know if this would be its own genre at this point, but if so, it probably established it and helped it grow from there, which led to laid back camp and place for the universe. And people are learning to learning from the mistakes and learning like, oh, we can do this now, or like, if it's going to be a quiet moment, maybe have a lot of scenery in there instead of just the same classroom we've been in the last five episodes and stuff like that.

When I was looking this up, I was seeing places be like, yeah, this is one of the definitive originators of moe. And I was like, let me research that. Number one, that's not true, but I think it works in the new school style of like, yeah, we're just hanging out in a club because I was checking in. Like, moe goes back to the stuff, but just like in this style. This was 2009, so it has gone eleven years, like a decade of shows that built upon this. So it is definitely formative for this style. Just not that's a bold claim to be like, yeah, this invented cute girls.

And Andy, this is a peak form of moley. Everything else is garbage compared to no, that's objectively not true.

Incorrect.

Yeah, I enjoyed it, but Huawei just kind of I know it's a chill up, so I know it's a comb episode. We're fine here. ua kind of bug the hell out of me because I'm just like, you are just a literal baby. You cannot function. Everyone else. I'm fine within the group, like all the other characters, the sister, the group, they're fine, they're pleasant, I enjoy their interactions, but it's like you in particular, everyone's helping you because you just cannot function as a human being and it kind of bugs me.

Yeah, I assume she'll get better in the future, but won't hold my breath.

But it's a good time.

It's cool.

So yeah, what do we have going on next time?

Next time I'm keeping the chill train going. We're going to watch kakuchi go to subtitled my dad's secret ambition, which I have seen all of, so I know that it's good. It's very sweet and wholesome. It's just a dad who loves his daughter so much.

Oh my shit.

It's a really good show. So we're just going to watch the first three episodes yeah, perfect.

If there's a chill ass show would like us to watch because we're done.

With Hollywood, you don't want us to.

Suffer at this point when we're already dying. You can send those recommendations to us are we there yet@gmail.com? Is our email. Or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram are we there yet? On both. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan.

You can find me on Instagram at queen. Period weibo, and on Twitter at queen underscore weibo and Queen underscore Weebu art.

You can find me on Twitter at aBTS Brendan. But honestly, I'm not thrilled about being on Twitter right now. So you can listen to me on my other podcast, Almost Better Than Silence, which is about video games and all.

That sorts, or watch Brendan stream a bunch of stuff.

I was playing a Windweaker randomizer. It's very difficult. You can watch me struggle and just look at a guide for 40 minutes.

Perfect. Thank you to camille ruley for our artwork. And thank you to louie zong for theme song stories. You can find all of Louis music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime slab at a baste.