K-On! The Movie

This cartoon travelogue is spun off from a manga-turned-animated-TV-series (Sakura High Band) turned live-music act. The Light Music Club is an undergrad society at Japan's all-female Sakuragaoka High. Despite their cutesy uniformed exteriors (the faces here are South Park-like, with round heads, enormous eyes, and microscopic noses), the quintet of teen BFFs rock out under the stage name After School Tea Time, mostly serving up peppy tunes about food. Approaching graduation, the girls impulsively decide to take a trip together to London, and luckily bring along their instruments, as a couple gigs fall into their laps. K-On! The Movie assumes that viewers have already been following the franchise, serving up numerous references to previous incidents, with minimal time devoted to character development or what differentiates, say, Yui from Mio. Will they write a great farewell song in time for graduation commencement? Will the youngest, guitarist Azusa, take over the club in her upcoming senior year? Released theatrically in Japan in 2011, K-On! The Movie arrives on DVD and Blu-ray in dual-language editions, rated TV-14. Extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes on the director, Japanese voiceover actresses, and the film's premiere. A solid consideration for those collecting the series, this is optional elsewhere. (C. Cassady)