DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ComedyK-ON!!
MANGA ComedyK-On!
OVA ComedyK-ON!: Live House!
SPECIAL ComedyK-ON!: Ura-On!

REVIEWS

• 

  OwlsAreAirCats

  80/100
  "Cute Girls Doing Cute Music And Drinking Tea" at its best

  Every genre has its entries that define how you should do a show of this genre. K-On! is the king of CGDCT/Slice of Life-Moe anime and shows what to expect of the genre, it gives a good idea of if the genre is for you.

  Personally, I don’t need a great story of any story at all in a CGDCT anime or even basic things like character development. A good CGDCT-show can focus on its two main aspects: The cute girls and the cute things they are doing. Add some music of magic or any other fun thing, it should be fun, and you are on the best way to make an entertaining and light-hearted piece of animation.

  In K-On!, we follow four girls and their teacher living their carefree lives with drinking tea, eating cake and sometimes actually practicing for their band. There isn’t any bigger plot or conflict, they just handle different everyday situations with their different characters. Just like every Slice of Life show you’ve ever seen.

  Characters are the main aspect of any Slice of Life show, and K-On! Does a pretty good job here. Every girl has personality and are characterized enough to make them different from each other. We have the lazy, but caring girl, the adult, but shy girl, the over-energetic girl and the rich and calm girl. In my opinion, the teacher really stands out here, she tries to leave her wild youth behind and become the loved and respected teacher she wants to be, but she also wants to be friends with the girls and make daring costumes for them. The cast works well together and you end up loving them, not for a specific character, but for their interactions and friendship. Everything you could imagine them doing can be justified by one of the characters. They are having a training camp in a huge house at the beach? Mugi’s rich parents own it. Need some amazing costumes over night? Sawako can make them. Forgot to get permission for sleeping in school? Good thing we are friends with the president of the student council.

  Music is always matter of taste, but I really liked it because it's light-heated and really suits the girls' personalities.

  In conclusion, K-On! suffers from the same problems many CGDCT and SOL anime suffer from. If you the characters, the whole experience is ruined, because the whole show is focusing the characters. But if you start to like the characters and their quirks, you start enjoying every minute of the show, seeing their friendships develop and overcoming every problem they encounter. This season is in my opinion the weaker one of the two, in season 2 they do more interesting things and there is some conflict and character development.

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• 

  OVERPOWERED99

  91/100
  Where there are cakes or tea or music or cute girls, there must be happiness. Let us all transform into euphoric blobs!

  

  Manliness?! Pfft, get that out of the way! For an adorable show like K-On!, it's simply not needed. All I care about is to be turned into a euphoric blob and I have to say, it's nice to not be a human every once in a while...

  Yep. So somehow, blob me is typing this right now. Don't mind the change though. I was fully prepared after becoming too affectionate with the show. After all, sweet besties are always a treat to watch. Whether that's having silly fun, eating yummy desserts together, or playing music. They laugh, I laugh. They smile, I smile. They laze around, I laze around. They're happy? I'm happy! Life doesn't always need dramatic events. I mean, have you had those rare moments when there were no panic and only relief? Like waking up thinking you're late for school or work but it was actually the holiday. Nice feeling isn't it, being able to relax? That same floaty sensation wraps itself around this pure slice-of-life. Really, nothing much went on in the story. But that is exactly why the enjoyment worked. Nothing much happen, so the girls' different but equally childlike personalities can glow against what should've been a dull setting. They are such a likable bunch with great bonds and similar love for music. It's no wonder why I can't count how many times my jaw tires out from laughing because of their interactions. No wonder why my heart tires out after getting bombarded with tons of cuteness. Huh, no wonder why I turned into a blob. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes.

  But wait! I can't fully talk about cuteness without expressing the art. Yes, it is simple but blobby me liked it. Blobby me also thinks the simplicity helps in defining the cuteness even further as too much details can be masking. Let's see here, the ingredients. Chubby faces, big eyes, innocent expressions, adorable clothes. Ah, that's eyebleach right there! So sorry for any puppies and kittens and other cute animals out there. You guys are still great but this is a major competitor. My human self melted from all the warmth in the atmosphere. Even more with the animation. Dynamic and fluidity communicates with delightful consistency. Their reactive body mannerisms speak emotions when words are not needed. Oh, and hello deformations! Other than the fact they look like blob me, intended or not, I found that it emphasizes the comedic nature of the characters really well so smiles turned into giggles. And when they speak or chatter actually, you can describe the voice acting as endearing. Blissful pretty much every time. Not many background soundtracks but they didn't bog down the fluffiness. Being characters from their own music club, the couple of songs they play on their concerts are nice to listen to. Seeing them enjoying themselves up on the stage always brings a smile to my blobby face.

  You know, watching a few episodes of K-On! at night in a soft bed with a fluffy blanket, I always slept feeling really happy. Blob or not, goofing around with an anime like this to distract you once in a while is really not a bad thing to conclude your day on a relaxing note.

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• 

  Grassman

  80/100
  A fulfilling show about cute girls playing in a band and drinking tea.

  K-On! follows the events in Yui Hirasawa's high school life soon after joining the Light Music Club. Along with having to learn to play a guitar and making new friends, Yui and the band participate in distinct fun activities such as drinking tea and going to the beach. Even if all of this seems boring at first, Kyoto Animation does an excellent job of creating an enjoyable show carried by its adorable and evolving characters.

  

  Story and Characters

  I will include the special episode, Live House!, as part of season one.

  Most of the plot is just cute girls doing cute things and the conflicts in most of the episodes are created from Yui being an airhead. However, most of the substance of the show comes from its well-crafted characters and relationships. Even with a very bland premise, K-On! is able to establish its character's personalities and motivations to create a very memorable cast, and the proceed on developing these characters and their relationships.

  Hirasawa Yui is our main protagonist. She is clumsy and airheaded. At the beginning of the series there isn't much to say of Yui; she is dumb, likes to be lazy, and causes problems for the rest of the band members. However, as the series advances she learns many valuable lessons. K-On! is more of a coming of age story than a "moe" show in this aspect. The encouragement of doing something important in her high school years pushes Yui into a better guitarist, better than anyone would have expected. Even if her sister, Ui Hirasawa, is the more responsible sister, we learn that Yui cares for her sister just as much. At the end of the season, Yui has grown as a person. She is more responsible as an individual, as a musician, and as a friend.

  Mio Akiyama is nervous, scared easily, but also determined to be a better musician. Even if she is forced by Ritsu to join the Light Music Club she decides to dedicate herself to the club. As showed by her work in composing the band's songs and lyrics. Through music, Mio is able to become a more confident individual and strengthen her relationship with Ritsu.

  Ritsu Tainaka is the Light Music Club's president and an ambitious individual. She is the one responsible for forming the band in the first place and encouraging other to join. Even if she is characterized by her strong will and extroverted attitude (which explains her close relation with Yui), Ritsu still has weaknesses: she is lazy, irresponsible, forgets things easily, and is insecure about her friendship with Mio and a potential boyfriend. Her irresponsible nature is complemented by the leadership of Mio, just as Ritsu complements the timidness of Mio; which makes sense considering these two are childhood friends.

  Azusa Nakano is the most serious of all of the girls. She takes playing music very seriously, probably because of her insecurity towards her own ability. This part of her is what makes her relate to Mio a lot more than any of the other girls. She serves as a good counterbalance to the club's laziness. Her introduction helps the band improve as a whole by practicing more. Furthermore by being part of the Light Music Club she is able to learn to relax more and enjoy herself.

  Tsugumi Kotobuki is rich, naive, sweet, and just wants to have a happy and normal high school life. She is also a yuri fan. The fact that she is rich is seen by herself as a problem. As it limits her ability to relate to her friends, which she values a lot. However, she finds comfort in the Light Music club because she is treated as an equal and a valuable friend.

  The last two episodes and the special are very important some of the best episodes. For they demonstrate how far our characters have come as individuals and a group. Each girl is shown trying to accomplish their goals individually, and even if they sometimes fail the rest of the club girls are there to support each other. The special is also very important and should be seen more like an episode 14, for it focuses on the hard work the girls have invested into their band. And it finally pays off in their Live House performance (and the concert from episode 12).

  The show, although very proficient in creating a fantastic cast of characters, has many issues that prevents this series from reaching a 90/100. Mainly its supporting characters feel more like props than actual human beings, and the amount of filler in the middle section of the series. Nodoka, Ui, and Sawako-sensei, are the three main secondary characters, the rest are not worth mentioning. Nodoka is just there to be an intelligent counterpart to Yui, and create jealousy in Ristu. Ui is never expanded upon and her only characteristics are that she is responsible and loves her older sister. Sawako-sensei is weird, slightly perverted, and an ex-musician, even if she is a funny and likable character, she serves mostly as the comedic relief and doesn't really feel like a mentor (although maybe that is part of her personality, I will leave that to your own judgement). Secondly, there is large amounts of filler in the middle part of the story. Although the series makes a good job of establishing its characters, it really only develops them slowly towards the ending of the season. However, if you are only looking for a fun time I doubt you will see this as a problem as there is still much to enjoy here: cute girls doing cute things.

  I should mention that the dialogue might not appeal to everybody, as its very cutesy and moe-like (if that even makes sense).

  

  "To the me back then, you don’t need to worry. You’ll soon find something you can do, something you can set your heart on."

  Animation and Sound

  Character animation is fluid, expressions are varied and original, and every frame is beautiful and/or cute; there is nothing to criticize in the animation department. The scene at the end of episode 12 that parallels that of the begging of episode 1 were Yui is running to school is very creative and well executed, my favorite of season one. This sequence really shows Kyoto Animation's skill. Character actions feel different depending on which girl is doing them, you can understand their personality just from looking at them. Most of the backgrounds are memorable, especially the club classroom. However, if you do not enjoy moe animation and style this might be a hard watch for you, as the series rarely takes itself serious. This doesn't undermine the emotion expressed in those scenes, but serves more like a warning to those not comfortable with moe animation.

  The songs that the band performs are pretty nice and enjoyable. The voice acting is very good, again like in the animation, the voices add a lot to each character. Each character can be differentiated by their voice, something which I rarely can do. However, most of the background soundtrack is nothing exceptional and forgettable.

  Both of the opening scenes are enjoyable to watch and I never skipped it. I cannot say the same of the ending, mainly because I did not like the song, however the visuals are somewhat interesting.

  The comedy in the show has simple dialogue, but is successful because of its sound queues and great character movement and facial expressions.

  

  Conclusion

  K-On! is a straightforward show with very superficial comedy, plot, and themes. However, it is carried by its animation and its memorable cast of characters. Even if you are not a fan of moe shows, I suggest you to watch K-On!. There is much to appreciate here: the characters, funny interactions, cutesy activities, and a great ending that elevates K-On! from just being another moe show into a likable coming of age story.

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