After the surprisingly draining emotional heights of K-ON!'s second season, it'd be difficult for a movie reprise to come off as a truly essential addition to the series. And possibly to its benefit, the K-ON! movie doesn't really try to - cataloging the girls' pre-graduation trip to London and quest to come up with a final gift for Azusa, this movie feels like a victory lap, a megasized episode of the original series that revels in the show's originals strengths and rarely moves outside its comfort zone. The K-ON! movie isn't the series at its best, but it's still a fine and true-to-form coda to Yui and her friends' adventures.

In fact, this movie can at times seem more “K-ON!” than the actual series. Without the constraints of twenty minute episodes where something (theoretically) has to “happen,” many scenes here drift even more into just hanging out at the pace of the characters. Conversations ramble, characters indulge in long sight gags, and sequences of the characters traveling on vacation extend into idyllic montage. This movie is not afraid of losing the viewer's attention; if you're already here, you're committed to the K-ON! experience, and so narrative momentum comes secondary to creating a sense of space and camaraderie.

This does result in the movie feeling a bit more drawn out than the series ever did. Part of this comes down to the fact that much of this film is covering material the show already did, in between the leadup to graduation, the preparations for the girls' vacation, and the work on Azusa's present. The film presents new scenes and makes these sequences fresh in all the ways it can, but it can still feel a bit like a retread, particularly since it's rewinding back from the emotional catharsis of the original series. The film's last act, when the characters have all returned from vacation, also feels a tad longer than it needs to be. And the sense of melancholy that made the series' second season so memorable is also mostly absent here.

In spite of those issues, the K-ON! movie still strongly demonstrates what the show is best at. The show's great sense of humor, natural conversations between friends, and strong, consistent atmosphere are all on display throughout. Some of the extended gags here count among the funniest in the entire series, and London offers plenty of new opportunities for everyone to play into their various strengths and weaknesses. Characters quip and bumble, friendships come across as earnest and warm, and scenes continuously demonstrate the mastery of slice of life construction that makes K-ON! such an eminently watchable production.

The show's direction and animation are also as strong as ever, and in fact only get more ambitious here. There's a new emphasis on distance shots that helps create a sense of scale for the London trip, along with many of the soft-focus, bokeh-heavy shots that Kyoto Animation would later use to great effect in Sound! Euphonium. These tricks combine with the show's usual strong use of intimate framing to beautifully capture the varying moods of the characters on their journey. The character acting throughout is also as strong as ever, with characters alternately coming across as smear-happy cartoons or utterly weighted individuals. Both the humor and humanity of the characters is greatly elevated by the film's consistently excellent animation.

The music also undergoes a welcome upgrade from the series proper. Instead of the show's largely generic electronic tunes, the trip to London is scored with a diverse variety of rock tracks that range from 60s and 70s-influenced britpop and arena rock to 80s-style glam songs and 90s punk. These songs combine with those new visual tricks to make lengthy sections of this film feel like gleefully indulgent music videos, the narrative intermissions of a movie clearly in love with its own characters. And Houkago Tea Time's own music is as strong as ever, with this film containing four separate performances that introduce a couple new tracks and reprise some of the old favorites.

Unlike Sentai's first and second season collections, this bluray is packed with extras. There's a TBS special where an announcer visits K-ON!'s dubbing sessions in Japan, which includes a rundown of the dubbing process and group interview with the lead actresses. They discuss how they handle group scenes, and then, er, challenge the stars to complete some tongue twisters, which Ritsu and Yui's actresses surprisingly nail, and Azusa's survives in the redemption round. They also ask the stars about their favorite scenes, which turn out about as you'd expect - Mugi's actress picks Mugi's day with Ritsu, while and Mio and Ritsu's both pick the school play. Many of the other extras are fairly simple TV or live promos for the film, but director Naoko Yamada shows up both for the film premier event and for a lengthy location-scouting trip to London. You don't get too many insights into the K-ON! creative process, but seeing the K-ON! stars perform live or Yamada struggling not to either laugh or cry while introducing her own movie are still pretty nice bonuses.

K-ON!'s dub remains as solid as ever, with the usual caveat regarding the awkward transitions from English dialogue to Japanese songs. Overall, this movie doesn't really elevate or diminish the overall K-ON! experience, but serves as a fine, upbeat coda to the series. If you've stuck with the girls this far, there's no reason not to enjoy one last cup of tea.