Ranked #453

K-On!

A lot of criticism surrounds K-ON! It is usually based on that it supposedly doesn't deliver what it should. Well I'm going to say that's all rubbish. What makes K-ON! stand out is simple: It's refreshing. (A word I will be using a lot in this review)

The story is great for providing that breath of fresh air not found in similar programs. The moe aspects are what makes this a really nice watch, and the humour on top is even better. You shouldn't be disappointed because it's going to put a smile to your face. Unless... Unless you were hoping K-ON! was going to be more music based. Sadly it isn't and I'll be honest I was looking for more of the band playing. There are only 2 real performances in the series comprising of 13 episodes. There should have been more of a focus on the music aspect, but what you get is good enough to keep you happy. The refreshing nature of the story keeps you from wondering if it would have been better if it was more music orientated.

When I started watching K-ON! I was worried that the instruments used would be unliscensed rubbish. How wrong I was. There is so much attention to detail in the guitars, the amps etc. that they make everything look basic. That isn't the case though, character design is fantastic, they all look unique, and the setting used (the school) is refreshing. It really made me happy that Kyoto Animation took the time to make the focal point of K-ON! really eye catching. It is worth watching if you are a music fan to embrace the detail used.

The music used in K-ON! is outstanding. The opening theme is refreshing, the ending theme fun. They are described as the "Light Cusic Club" but this isn't the most accurate western reflection of the term "light." The songs featured in K-ON! is out and out rock and I could not help headbanging a little. It doesn't seem refreshing but when it's all said and done I was very happy at the end of them playing. The voices of the characters suit so well I can't think of anything that matches. The shy but strong Mio who is the most moe of the characters has a voice that really befits how she acts in situations. The bombastic Ritsu has a match made in heaven voice. If it weren't for the voice acting, the relationship between Ritsu and Mio wouldn't seem right. As for the rest of the characters, they have been acted very well on most parts. Some of the minor characters are satisfactory.

The characters are great. I love the contrast between them all. Yui, Mugi, Ritsu, Mio and Asuza all have a uniqueness which is refreshing when they sit around the table while drinking tea and stuffing cake. It enables for varying discussion, which is again, refreshing. (I told I would use it a lot) It's great they paid so much attention to detail to make sure that what each character does reflects not only their personality, but their design. I mean, it would be weird for Mugi to be the dumb one, because she doesn't look dumb, there are other characters for that job. This is something I'm glad of. It makes critics look like they were watching something completely different.

On that note, I'm going to correct the critics. K-ON! DOES deliver what it should! It delivers the refreshing day to day activities of a group of girls, which puts a smile on your face. It is thoroughly enjoyable for it offers unique story, design, and sound which you can enjoy. However I have to look at both sides and agree that a lot will be disappointed by the lack of focus on the music, as some would perceive K-ON! as something that sets out to be purely something dedicated to music. Even so, you'll still enjoy the music that is offered, even if it might not be as much as a lot would want. K-ON! is unique in the slice-of-life/moe genre, and that is what makes it: Refreshing! 9/10 read more

K-ON! is inconsequential fluff. One might compare it to popcorn or cotton candy: a tasty treat, but if you're looking for a meal, it will leave you looking for something more substantial after it's done.

K-ON! follows the tried and true formula of cute girls doing cute things. Based on a 4-koma comic, the series is about several high school girls who form (technically join, but all the previous members graduated) a light music club and follows their activities. The music itself often takes a back seat to the antics of the girls, and audiophiles may find themselves somewhat disappointed if they go in expecting detailed attention to techniques or references to real life bands (there are a couple, but few and far between). There are two concerts in the thirteen episode series, but neither is as impressive as the one from the Live A Live episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (one of Kyoto Animation's earlier shows), but still very enjoyable. The most common scene in the series features the main girls sitting in the club room snacking on tea and cakes while discussing various mundane events, particularly with the more dedicated girls trying to get the rest to practice.

The girls all have their own distinct personality. Yui, the main character, is the some clumsy and adorable airhead. She joined the club hoping to play an easy instrument like the castanets but ends up playing guitar because the club needed a guitarist. Ritsu is the energetic idiot of the show, drummer, and club president because she was the one who dragged everyone else into the club. Mio is Ritsu's long time friend, and the sensible, serious one of the group. She writes the groups songs, and plays the bass. She is also the most moe character, being the prettiest, easily embarrassed, and terrified of ghosts and yucky things. Mugi is the pianist. She comes from a wealthy family, and thus is a source of amusement by displaying the difference in wealth between rich people and normal people. She is also the provider of the tea and sweets that are regularly consumed at the club meetings.

There are a few regular minor characters, too. Ui is Yui's younger, but more mature and reliable sister. Yui has a friend named Nodoka who joins the student council, which means her role is essentially to let everyone know that Ritsu has forgotten something regarding paperwork for the club. Sawako is a music teacher who is recruited as the club adviser in one of the more memorable scenes of the series. Also, a late addition to the cast is Azusa, an underclassman who is much like a miniature version of Mio.

Character designs are generally cute, with the kind of big round faces typical of most Kyoto Animation works. Background art is consistently good, as is the animation, which should come as no surprise. When characters are shown playing their instruments, there is generally more attention to detail than seen in anime to the point where the sound properly matches the characters actions. The singing at the concert features the same style animation as Live A Live, where you can just about lip read the lyrics (if you know Japanese, of course).

The music used in the series can generally be described as light and fluffy, both the background music and the couple of songs the girls play at their concerts, with the exception of the closer, which rocks a little bit harder than rest. The voice acting fits well all around, with Yui being notable for regularly coming off as someone who isn't all there, fitting her character well.

I don't want to close saying this show is like Azumanga Daioh with a music club, but that's about the easiest comparison I can make, and not too far off a description. read more

If K-ON! is the future of slice-of-life moe anime, then the genre is dying. Now, I myself am personally a great fan of the niche genre and have delighted in viewing many anime falling under it, no matter how silly or inane. That's because I don't mind having to turn off my brain to enjoy anime, but I expect to be compensated for doing so, be it by making me laugh, warming my heart, or leaving me with something to remember. K-ON! splendidly failed in all three ways multiple times throughout, and came off as a shoddy effort all around.

Because a slice-of-life moe series is often devoid of any ongoing plot of significant importance, it must rely on the day-to-day circumstances of the characters, presenting them in new and inventive, yet somewhat familiar ways in order to keep attention. Surprisingly enough, K-ON! follows a linear, though loosely connected story, but does nothing of interest with the day-to-day circumstances. It's as if the staff decided that it was okay for the girls to be lazy and uneventful because it's slice-of-life, to which I must say "NO NO NO"... had to get that out of the way. I'll be serious now.

Likewise, the characters need to be interesting enough to actively engage in following their exploits. Harsh as it may be to say, it was a waste of time to follow around a main character like Yui. I could rant for hours on end about Yui, but to sum her up, she's a mentally challenged nutcase. Now, I can excuse character stupidity as long as the main character has qualities that redeem said stupidity, be it fierce independence, reliability, or if it's made clear she's meant to be the butt of everyone's joke. Yui has none of these qualities. She is an idiot, and no one ever discourages her from being an idiot. Minor spoiler alert, but it must be said... I am absolutely furious at the gall the staff had to have Yui comment in Ep. 12 about how much she has changed. In the entire series, she does not grow even a little. What a crock.

Enough about Yui though, there are other characters to focus on; all of who range from average to above-average. They're all likeable too, but far too simplistic. With no real inventiveness to the situations they end up in as previously stated, I had expected their personalities to be clever enough to make up for that lack. In this, the staff succeeds to a degree, but nothing comes from it. Everyone is essentially the same at the beginning as they are at the end and there is very little proof that any of them have grown as friends, regardless of what the series wants us to believe.

In the matter of technical aspects, K-ON!'s fluidity is remarkable but the style is such that it comes off incredibly choppy, and at some points downright ugly. It felt as though Kyoto Animation spent a ton on making it fluid and in doing so, took from the budget that allowed for the actual artwork itself, excusing the instruments which often look better than the girls themselves. While this tradeoff doesn't work entirely, it could be far worse. In addition, because this tradeoff comes from animation maestro Kyoto Animation, it is doubly worse.

Though this is a show about a music club, the BGM is boring. Thankfully, a killer OP/ED combo and some fantastic inserts make up for that. On the acting front,the amateur seiyuu all sound like younger versions of already successful seiyuu, like how Mio's seiyuu Yoko Hirasa sounds not-too-surprisingly like a younger Aya Hirano. This isn't to criticize their talents, though. The fact that these newcomers are so lively and fits their character perfectly from the start is a compliment, one of the few I have given the series.

From all of the above, K-ON! to me came off as a cheap way for Kyoto Animation and Pony Canyon to make money. There is little effort, the characters are rather flat and unchanging, and everything in the news about it from merchandise tie-ins to Oricon charts leads me to believe it's one giant marketing ploy rather than an honest effort of a series. For this, I cannot say I enjoyed all of it, though it was good sporadically. However, as I said in the beginning, if these shoddy attempts at slice-of-life moe are what we as anime viewers choose to support and demand more of, we are killing the genre as we speak.

Overall, I give K-ON! a 6 out of 10. read more

I can write many single words to describe my feelings towards K-on, but I'll try to convey them in a small review.

Story
Story? What story. There is none. It is a slice of life show and I really mean they just take a slice out of anything they find amusing (which I probably didn't) and put it in the show. A day in the life of a high school girl who happens to be in the light music club. Some of these "slices" though tend to lead to very boring and I mean boring episodes. I think I was asleep half of the season watching this which is good because I had more energy then when I think about it. Then they throw in some moeness. How much of it. Constantly. Yup...I mean every episode is a freaking moe blob. I don't hate or love moe, but geezuz guys can you easy up on it for a bit. I'm not Takanashi from Working! here. So for story? A pathetic 1.

Art
Hmmm. At first I thought it was decent, but when I further look at it was pretty mediocre. That fuzziness effect they try to do when moving around is, in my opinion, just lazy animation. It really takes away from what other wise could be some decent artwork. Not to mention the fact that we are constantly bombarded with chibi and moe images. After a while it just plains get you so pissed off you want to step on some ants.

Sound
There were some catchy songs in this show, which is a nice touch for a band/slice of life type of show, but it just isn't good enough to save it from utter crapness of the rest of the show. I give it a decent 7.

Character
Dreadful. None of them have character. They are so predictable and boring, no wonder no guys are in this show, none of them would like these idiots. Just think of them as Kim Kardashian clones without the hot body, that's what the characters of K-on are like. A give it a 2. At least a couple times I laughed...a couple...

Enjoyment/Overall
When I finished this show, I just kind of stood there and thought to myself. Is that it? Is this what people were raving about how "cool it was. blah blah." I think I need to bang my head against a wall a few times to see what these raving reviews see, because frankly, I don't see it. K-On to put it simply, is stupid. Hell it's even worse than the harem anime types or those old 15 fps animes that bombard you with violence...and to think I thought the 2nd season would be better. It was the same lame jokes, characters, etc. GOD almighty help us. K-On is crap. Let us pray there isn't a 3rd season. read more

This review is going to be broken down into the 5 parts that MAL focuses on with each section getting critiqued.

Story:
As you know by the description on the anime's page, K-on is suppose to be about Yui Hirasawa and joining of saving of her high school's light music club, with the problem being that Yui has never read music or knows how to play a guitar. Slowly a few of these problems get cleared up but the main bulk of the plot goes no where whatsoever. You can come in at any episode and still get what's going. The anime is heavy on the theme "light and fluffy." to which when watching it you don't have to know anything nor necessarily be there the entire episode to know what is going to happen and that's the main problem, like every other "moe" anime it's generic and predictable in the events category.

Art:
This is probably the biggest problem with the show in my opinion, the art. Seriously I can guarantee you that the studio used a step by step handbook and stencil set to create yui, mio, ristu and mugi, it's what is seriously killing the industry today in my opinion...generic characters. There is nothing that makes any one character in K-on stand out. The backgrounds themselves are nothing to praise about either as they are the standard school, bustling street/shop and from time to time inside one of the girls home scenes. To sum it up the art lacks originality and there is no direction for it.

Sound:
This is probably the only place that K-on climbs up outta the rubbish category. The times that you hear music made by the club it's actually not that bad and can be catchy at times, and with it's suppose plot revolving around music you'd think to hear it a lot but it's quite the opposite, the girls spend more time sitting around being airheads then trying to do anything music related.

Character:
What can I say,all of the characters of K-on have traits that superficial. They all are generic and no one has anything that makes them unique or stand out.

Enjoyment:
After watching 13 episodes, I can say overall the enjoyment was just another thing including original art and characters that the show was missing...I mean it was boring and painful as well as predictable to watch.

Summary:
K-on is a light and fluffy fan service anime to which it hosts no original art and set of characters. If your looking for something to which you don't need to think or understand maybe you'd enjoy k-on but even then your going to have to endure lackluster scenes of boring pointless conversations to which watching windows screen saver can provide more enjoyment.
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I picked up "K-On!" envisioning it as some kind of healing, mundane slice of life in the same vein as "Aria the Animation". I was hoping it would help alleviate my severe withdraw symptoms that came from finishing "Hikaru no Go". Even though I got most of what I was looking for (it is mundane, and it is a slice of life), I'm reminded of one of those twisted fairy tales where some greedy guy gets the chance to make a wish to the devil or a genie or something. And although he does get his wish granted, there's something subtly wrong with what he ends up with. Obviously, the similarity between the aforementioned greedy guy and someone as generous and as easy going as myself is limited, but the parallels between the flawed result and "K-On!" are striking.

It took me a few episodes to figure out what's wrong. First of all, it starts off disappointingly dull. I'm one of the most patient of viewers, but even I found my attention wandering frequently, and I ended up keep having to rewind to see what I'd missed. It's rare that I get really bored when watch anime, especially given my fondness for the more mundane slice of life shows, but "K-On!" managed to seriously bore me (and in fact it took me half a year to finish it).

And then I realised something worse - "K-On!" is MOE. Not as blatant as "Clannad", but still, it's all about cute girls doing cute things for the sake of being cute. It also serves to explain why I found it to be dull, given that I have no interest in watching artificially cute girls doing mundanely cute things, and there isn't much else to be found in the show. I find it interesting to compare "K-On!" with "Aria the Animation", which is also about cute girls doing cute things. I don't know whether it's because I watched "Aria the Animation" before and "K-On!" after "Clannad", a show that is so moe that it's caused me to develop allergic reactions to anything vaguely resembling cute, but with "Aria the Animation", the cuteness seems more innocent and less creepy; the natural calming beauty of its settings also made it less one dimensional, and it just seems to have a charm that's severely lacking in "K-On!" in general.

As mediocre as "K-On!" is, I must admit that towards the middle of the series, the slice of life settings began to work its magic, and I found the series growing on me ever so slightly, I even started finding it mildly amusing and enjoyable at times... and that's when they decided the time is ripe to give its targeted audience more of what they want - that is to say, the more obnoxious cliches of anime fandom. Unsatisfied with just having cute, clumsy girls procrastinating over homework and cutely drooling over sweets and "cakies", they started rolling out the dreaded maid outfit and the cat ears etc. The already limited quality of the series takes a dip and sinks to a new low as the girls started spending a lot of time inflicting these the disturbing costumes and distasteful accessories on one another. Obviously, the shy characters would meowing pitifully as they are victimised, but of course at the same time they also show signs that a part of them is secretly enjoying the experience. Anyway I'm sure you get the picture, so lets move swiftly on...

Musically, "K-On!" is the antithesis of "Nodame Cantabile". The latter emphasises the importance of hard work even when the musician in question is already ridiculously talented. In "K-On!", however, we have Yui, someone who's never played an instrument before, but after a very short period of casual and unmethodic practicing, starts reproducing face melting solos she hears with apparent ease, and is able to immediately master the techniques demonstrated to her. As someone who's also learning to play an instrument, this complete undermining of the effort required in this learning process really doesn't sit well with me. I know it's not supposed to be very focused on the music, but come on, they could have at least made *some* attempt to make it seem less like a piece of cake!

The final nail in the coffin actually comes when "K-On!" tries to do some character development in an episode towards the end of the series. For the first half of that episode, I was bewildered because the characters were acting quite strangely. Then I realised what the episode is trying to achieve - it's going out of its way to create a rift between a couple of characters in order to set up a kiss-and-make-up scenario. Upon realising this, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that they botched up the attempt so badly it's managed to reach a painful level of transparency. Perhaps they're better off just keeping things simple and sticking with the shallow otaku pandering material as they're clearly incapable to doing anything substantial like character development.

All in all, "K-On!" is an interesting specimen for being a slice of life without a soul. Compared to, say, "Azumanga Daioh", which is not a slice of life (yes I know it revolves around mundane things, but it's clearly very comedy inclined and not too concerned about being down to earth), but radiated that pleasant warmth associated with a good slice of life, I can barely feel anything in "K-On!", and I certainly don't have any fondness for any of the characters. Something feels fundamentally wrong with the series - you can tell that just from the school which barely has any boys in it despite not being an all girls school as far as I can tell - the moe and other creepy elements dispels any sense of innocence and charm it might otherwise have had, and once you strip away those elements, what's left is disturbingly hollow. Perhaps I'm being overly harsh on an anime that I'm rating a 5, and sure there are anime out there that are a lot worse (like "Clannad"), but I guess I'm feeling rather grumpy that "K-On" shattered my naively comforting delusion that slice of life shows can't be anything short of pleasant. I'm beginning to develop a real hatred for Kyoto Animation. Considering how they have been able to mass produce superficial shows that are wildly popular of late, they appear to have mastered the art of fanboy pandering and are shamelessly applying it to everything they do, and in the process of this helping to set a bad trend that's catching like the plague. Is there nothing they can't ruin?! -_-
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Story: 5
K-ON! is a slice of life anime with no real story. Its about the day to day lives of cliche moe characters that form a band and do everything BUT actually play music.......for the most part.
The majority of the time is wasted with the characters eating cake and talking about a bunch of random nonsense that isn't delivered as good as in anime like Lucky Star, neither is it as funny, and it gets old pretty fast. The final episode (12 or 13 doesn't really matter what you consider the final) is pretty anti-climatic (like most slice of life series) and just leaves much to be desired. What a proper ending for a moe, high school girl, slice-of-life anime be like.....I dunno. A graduation?

Since its KyoAni after the OVA you wont see any more K-ON! for a long time so you know this will never get any real closure. Not that these kinds of animes are about that .....but still...

Art:8
As usual KyoAni does a solid job. The backgrounds looks nice, the food (which gets tons of airtime =P) looks delicious, and all the little things are detailed with extra characters all looking different with actual faces. :O

One thing that is either love or hate is those damn blank eyed gooey faces. I cant really explain but when ever they do or say something stupid there's an equally stupid or ugly face to go along with it. Ive seen it before obviously but they spam them in the anime and it gets a bit disgusting instead of cute.

Sound:6
What I found the most disappointing about K-ON! was that this anime, which is about music,has such a weak soundtrack. This is short and simple. The OP was terrible and cringe worthy. The ED was surprisingly decent I'll admit. But none of the insert songs are memorable. They also come off as korny and cringe worthy. Yes I know moe moe kyun anime or whatever but Haruhi and her God Knows performance was epic and a really good song on its own. The same can't be said for any of the music in K-ON!
The Seiyu were pretty solid throughout but some annoying voices.

Character:5
The cast is all cliche female moe characters. Rather than explain em all all I'll just say none of them are interesting. You have definitely seen them in tons of different anime already. Im not against moe or anything like that I do enjoy it. But this is just overload and rather than be cute its annoying. Yui and her stupidity and clumsiness isn't cute its stupid and annoying. Mio and her scaredy cat attitude isn't cute its annoying.

Enjoyment:6
K-ON! is certainly enjoyable but in small doses. I pretty much rushed through the series to get it over with and move on to something new since I originally planned on watching it during its airing schedule. Its not a good anime but its not a terrible anime. Its just there and if you're hungry for moe this is good to satisfy you as long as you take small bites. (Watch 1, 2 eps a week) Running through it will definitely bore you.

Overall:6 (Fair!)
Pretty much explained in Enjoyment. Not good not terrible. read more

Time and time again, Kyoto Animation has gained the hearts of the people and has quickly become a company that seems to turn whatever they animate into an instant cultural frenzy. For K-ON! this is no different. Based on a 4koma manga by Kakifly, K-ON! went from practically unknown to massive super hit in only a matter of days. However, putting aside its massive popularity, how does K-ON the anime fare? Read on and find out.

Before I start the review there are some important questions you should ask yourself:
1. Do you hate animes with extreme amounts of moe?
2. Do you hate slice of life animes?
3. Are you looking for an anime with a memorable story?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you might as well turn around and ignore K-ON!, and save yourself (and the fans of the anime) some rage.

Story:
+ Even though the synopsis talks about girls trying to keep their light music club alive, allow me to say this now...K-ON'S MAIN FOCUS IS NOT ABOUT THE MUSIC. However, this anime is a laid back slice of life anime about the lives of the girls in the club.
+ Despite being ridden with cliche scenarios and episode themes, K-ON manages to achieve a certain level of entertainment which keeps the viewers coming back to it.

- Like I said before, the episode themes are full of cliched scenarios which might bother some.
- Some episodes repeat the same themes, which can make the show look repetitive at times.

Art:
+ The character designs are absolutely adorable
+ The animation style is easy to digest and simple on the eyes.

- The animation quality however, can sometimes drop significantly and some times look downright bad.
- A lot of the actual music playing scenes are not show and instead we are given shots of still images. Definitely to save some budget on difficult hand movement animation.
- For the standards set by KyoAni in the past, the animation for K-ON! could be considered rather underwhelming.

Sound:
+ Even though music is not the main focus of the anime, the song gives you quite a bit of nice insert songs which are all very catchy and enjoyable.
+ The Opening and Ending songs are both IMO extremely good.
+ For such a relatively new voice cast, K-ON!'s voice acting is superbly done and is sure to put these seiyuu's on the fast line to popularity.

- The actual BGM soundtrack is nothing out of the ordinary.

Character: (don't mind my score...I just love moe and im a fanboy ;_;)
+ Despite being cliched, the characters are just absolutely adorable and loveable.
+ moe, moe, moe, and more moe....thats what these characters are 90% of the time. (and I dont complain)
+ The interactions between the characters provides some very enjoyable comedy and very light and fluffy times. (lol bad joke)
+ Even the supporting cast is extremely likeable and yes....very moe.

- Every character follows a stereotype which has been already overplayed in countless animes.
- If you hate moe, you might DESPISE the characters (most likely lol)
- There is a small unbalance in the amount of screentime and attention given between the main characters.

Enjoyment: I cannot lie, K-ON! is an anime that one enjoys mostly as a guilty pleasure. This is defiinitely not my favourtie anime to have aired on the Spring 2009 season. But its definitely one of the most enjoyable ones i've seen.

Overall K-ON! is an anime which is not meant to break any records or set any standards. The anime is not an epic tale, nor is it a comedy gold mine, this anime is just fun...If you want an anime which is just cute to the extreme and just plain fun to watch, then by all means watch K-ON! I am sure it will not disappoint you. read more

There are far and few fabulous things in this world.

But in the midst of all the moe puke and unfabulous whatever-dere, otaku pandering nonsense comes a series that manages to both please the fanbase and stand on its own two feet. No, I'm not talking about my reality TV show--I mean K-On.

Yui, the resident retard-moe, has herself an unfabulous predicament: she needs to join a club. What a coincidence that Moe, the tsundere (i.e. mood swinging bitchy stick in the mud) bassist and her best friend Ritalin the genki drummer have a club that needs members. The light music club. By "light music", think of that elevator junk you hear in between waiting to get to your floor and wondering who cut the cheeze. So Mio, Ritsu, Yui and the big-brows rich girl Mugi all get together for moe band sessions. Sounds dumb, right? IT IS. But what makes this anime so good then!?

It does the fabpossible and makes the lives of teenage girls actually INTERESTING. Have you ever been around teenage girls? Gossipy bunch, none as innocent and fun-loving as the keion-bu. Which is why this anime is a work of genius: it's a fantasy! In this fantasy world, it's okay to take the short bus to school like Yui does. It's okay to be a totally frigid buzzkill like Mio because when you got a pair of knockers like those--who cares? This world is full of cake and sparkles...it's almost like the inside of my house.

The characters are a lot to be desired, especially Mio who is undeservedly the most popular girl. If anything, I'd rather chillax with my bro Ritsu or score some preemo you know what from Mugi. Chick's loaded. Only Cuba's finest, from her! Hell, I'd hang out with that Christmas cake teacher because death metal chicks are pretty wild anyway. Azunyan makes a good pet, because really...what else is she good for?

This anime has got it all: blobby cute girls who do all kinds of kyun~. It probably is no better than other exploitative sacks of moe crap when you look at it on a surface level. But K-On does something that makes it commendable: it knocks the competition back by being as pandering as possible in a way that WORKS. For using and abusing the system like that, well, I'm mightily impressed.

It gets a solid nine fabulouses out of ten. read more

Another blockbuster from Kyoto Animation studio. Forming a music band that is a pretext to eat cakes and drink tea in nice atmosphere. Enjoyable and positive comedy with big accumulation of moe.

Kyoto Animation has at least two recognizable anime series. After Lucky Star and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya we have K-on. This time we don’t have loli student who talks about food or girl who search for aliens. This time the pretext is… a music band. Yes, Kyoto Animation knows how to attract millions of otaku. For K-on has so much fans as adventures of Haruhi or Konata and the amount of bayed guitars during emission has increased markedly. We have another phenomenon.

Yui Hirasawa is a very lazy and irresolute person. She would like to join same club but she doesn’t have any interests or talents. She arrived to the light music club by accident. The activities of this club fits Yui , who don’t like to overwork herself. She meets tree other girls, who also arrived to the club by coincident. Four of them tries to improve their play on the instruments, but after a moment of practice they sit by the table with cakes and tea. Even when a new member appears it don’t change anything.

There are five members in the music band. First guitar is owned by Yui, a sweet and drowsy but cheerful girl. On second guitar plays Azusa, band’s mascot with large avidness and graceful appearance. The bassist is Mio, a quiet a and shy girl, who get scared vary easily. Percussionist Ritsu is a person with thousand ideas and energetic personality. The last member Mugi, who plays the keyboard is the sponsor of all cookies and tea. We also have four tangential heroines. There are non male characters.

Every character movement or sentence fits the fans exceptions. Girls have very cute lifestyle and are very adorable. Yui sleeps in weird places, eating lots of sweets and acting lazy. Azusa as the youngest member have role of bands mascot, obviously with cats ears. Mio blasts everyone with her shyness and scariness. Ritsu capers around all the time. Mugi is a motherly type from rich family.

Persons who want to watch K-on because of music will be disappointed. The club activities are constricted to eating cakes and drinking tea, rather than practicing on instruments. They won’t write many songs or perform concerts every evening. Don’t expect any masterpiece lyrics either. The band plays very light music with trivial contents, singing about rice for example. It can be classified as sweet pop-rock.

All music theme is contained in short conversations about this subject. Problem with hurting fingertips, controlling instrument or catching the right rhythm are one of those enjoyable additions. That can encourage many people to try some instrument practicing. Besides the portrayal of instruments is incredible. The guitars looks so much genuinely that we can recognize their analogue in real life. The character movement while playing and the instruments images from different angles are also fantastic. Though the concert scenes are limited because of time accomplishment.

What else can attract to K-on besides tons of moe? Namely positive energy which bright up this title. Smile don’t disappear even for a moment. Carefree life of our heroines and the atmosphere will build up everyone’s mood. Days in the club are passing slowly, which is very relaxing. K-on don’t kill with laugh. You can find more funny titles. The humor is light and accommodate in characters of club members. We don’t have stupid gags or punching in the head.

Graphics are done very well, as like as the instruments that I previously mentioned. Colors are lively and apparently sloppy drawn outlines are adding some dynamism in the animation. The facial expressions of characters are also very positive. Even though the club members are in high school they look very young, but it can’t be sead that is a typical loli look.

The background music is very positive and don’t disturb on with any frustrating themes. The opening song is characterized by excessive cuteness and portraits perfectly what K-on is. Quick guitar sounds and squeaky voices can get your mind mixed up. Songs that girls are playing in the anime can be counted on one hand. If sweet pop-rock songs happens to fit someone’s taste there are many albums that contains band’s music not featured in anime.

Someone that don’t want to watch anything with moe will doubtlessly avoid this anime. If it doesn’t bother, many spectators will fall in love with the characters and bias positively with this mellowed title. Regardless, I wouldn’t categorize K-on as a music title this much. The designation that fits it more is “About girls who spend their free time in a funny and enjoyable way”.

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Story: 1/10

What story? There is no significant plot. K-ON only follows the mundane and trivial lives of 4 cute little girls and their friends/family. I don't think anyone really watches this expecting a juicy plot full of unexpected twists or anything like that. If you are looking for a good plot, don't waste your time with this series or reading about this series.

Art: 8/10

The animations are crisp, clean and the character designs are exactly what they are supposed to be: moe, shiny, sparkly, etc. I watched the entire series on 1280x720 so the art was definitely one of the best aspects of this series.

Sound: 9/10

The BGM did its job perfectly, subtle but sets the mood and atmosphere to accommodate the show. The light and fluffy intro and insert songs fits the series perfectly. The ending is a nice music video of the girls' band, what more can you ask for?

Character: 7/10

Each of the 4 girls of the K-ON band takes on a typical role of a moe series, exactly what you would be expecting from such a series. No character development, no inter or intra-character conflicts. Again, exactly what you would expect from such a series.

Enjoyment: 7/10

I guess this is the part of the review that actually matters. Before I say anything else, if you are not into Japanese "moe" culture, don't waste your time with this series.
I am not a huge fan of "light and fluffy" but I sometimes find it irresistible in mood swings, especially if I am under great stress or depression and need something to lighten the mood. I guess that's why it took me nearly two months to finish 14 episodes that I already had on my hard drive. So if you are looking for something light and cheerful, this series will do the trick with its extremely cute and childish characters, extremely cute and childish band related episodes, and extremely cute and childish comedy. read more

There are anime that build a huge hype around them and turn out below average. Then, there are anime that do the same but they still manage to meet expectations of their fans. Which group does K-On! belong to? In a way, both. While it completely manages to please fans of slice-of-life and comedy manga, even some people that love K-On! admit that nothing actually happens in it. That’s where people that like their anime with plot facewall to oblivion.

Story: 1/10
Why such low rating? Because there is nothing to rate. The only signs of story were at the very beginning and even then it was way below average. Basically, the story is that a new girl, Yui, joins Light music club but can’t do music. Of course, that she is wholeheartly accepted into the club. Why not after all? What would be musicians doing in a music club? Another plot happens, about in the middle, when another girl, Azusa, but this time she can play guitar, joins. That’s it, say bye bye to plot. All they do is drink tea… when they actually do something.

Art: 6/10
Art, the only good thing about K-On! yet it’s probably where people divide into fans and haters. Simple reason, you either love it or hate it. Art, just like everything else, is played for laughs. Deformed characters are in every episode and design is something between a moe loli and Voldemort.

Sound: 1/10
DO NOT go into this expecting an anime based on music. Even though it wants you to believe it is, it isn’t. Practice is very rare to see here and even if it happens most of it is just pointless jamming. Concerts are even rarer (2 in the whole season) and, again, they’re played for laughs so they’re about stage fright (driven into dumb extremes), songs a 5 year old would write (no kidding), the “group” being anything but in-tune, etc.

Characters: 5/10
I hate it when people rage over a show and ignore its good points because they dislike it. Characters were the strongest point of K-On! after art. There aren’t many and while some are similar they still manage to keep their diversity both in nature and looks. However, don’t expect any character development or any characters that would serve other purpose than comic relief. The cast is full of stupid, hypocritical, useless and annoying characters that would be hated until the end of time if they were in a different kind of anime. However, they still have a charm to them and a very strong moe factor.

Enjoyment: 0/10
Even though I have sort of mainstream sense of humour (most of the mainsream anime make me laugh easily), I couldn’t even smile at any of jokes here. Humour is mostly based on a stupidity or awkwardness of a character. Like inteligent jokes? Keep away from this as far as possible. The only reaction I had to these “jokes” was staring at it with my jaw dropped wondering whether it was supposed to be funny or show the characters’ idiocy. I watched this because of boredom and I believed it would get better eventually. It didn’t.

Overall: 1/10
To me, enjoyment, plot and characters make most of the rating, in that order, so art could be perfect and it still would get low rating. (I found the art stupid so it wouldn’t help much anyway) I didn’t enjoy the series but you might. The only thing you should ask yourself if you have a lot of time on your hands and if you enjoy watching moe characters drinking tea. If so, by all means watch this. If not, maybe you should try something else. read more

Before I begin this review it must be noted that I am not a moe hater. Shows centralized on moe are fine so long as it succeeds at its task. What is not fine is a show that is completely false advertising.

Coming into K-ON! you would expect to see a show about girls getting into a band and watch them enjoy the experience of learning to play music. While we don't exactly expect for them to get all that dramatic or serious all the time, it's still nice to see the struggles of learning to play music, the effort it takes to get good, and to get the overall culture of it as well.

However what I did see was none of this at all. Much like many other poorly made animes on hobbies and sports, K-ON! did an immense disservice in portraying what it means to be in a band. The dedication, hard work, the love for music, the love for the culture of music, and even the simple know-how of instrument playing was completely nonexistent.

As a viewer, I find this very dissatisfying. Are we to sit here and really believe that characters like Yui can sit around slacking, eating cake, and hardly practicing at all with almost no knowledge can suddenly be this guitar genius on a concert stage playing these songs perfectly? Even as far as musical geniuses go, there was a lot of hard work and toil and passion put into their craft.

But fine. Clearly this anime never intended to be BECK with moe, so it's fine to adjust our perception of this anime begrudgingly so. However, even for an anime centralized around moe, or more specifically for this show "cute girls doing cute things," the show was hardly entertaining. Ignoring the fact that the characters for me were just utterly dull or annoying, the activities and antics of the girls were not really amusing.

An anime that is 1 cour does need two cliche "beach" episodes. Eating sweets the entire show was not "cute," and really the characters hardly lended themselves to being likable due to their utter lack of depth. None of them seem to be anything but 2 dimensional the entire show's run.

There is definitely a distinction between moe shows with depth and subtle complexities and shows like this, which is essentially moe blobs without soul or substance. This compounded with the fact that is false advertising created a horrible viewing experience for myself. If you were looking for a show that was in any way supposed to be about a nice group of girls truly learning the experience of a musical band, this is probably not for you. If however you are satisfied with looking at what you see is cute animated moving images of cute girls doing mundane tasks, then enjoy it as you would like.

All I can say that this show neither succeeds at being a being an anime about music nor at being a moe show, which I would call a complete derailment of what this show is both advertised and presented as.





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:::QUICKVIEW:::
Story: 5 ( It almost feels like the show has a bad case of A.D.D. when it skips the important stuff. Trust me, they do it ALOT.)

Art: 7 (I believe most of the time and effort and money went in to replicating the girls instruments with their real life counterparts.)

Sound: 9 - (If you hate j-pop/rock, feel free to deduct 3 points)

Character: 8 (one phrase: Moe moe~ Kyu!, deduct 6 points if you hate moe)

Enjoyment: 9 (Its obvious as to why such a short and simple show is so appealing to the masses)

Overall: 38/50 points = 7.6 ~ 8.0 (or 4.0 if you're expecting something unique)
...regardless its another pop culture hit in japan. Might as well ride the HYPE train and see WTF this show is all about.



::FULL REVIEW::
Story:
What do you get when you add four cute girlfriends with the desire to form a music band, situational comedy, and every style of moe an otaku can think of? You get K-On! (or kei-on-bu). Just of a group of girls trying to follow their dreams... sounds very cliche' doesn't it? Well it is and this show oozes cliche'. The setting to the sitcom all the way down to the catch phrase onomatopoeia's like kyuun and hyaan. It's very obvious from the start of episode 1, that the story isn't trying to mess with the success of current trends and tries its very best to run with whats popular with the anime crowd.

Don't get me wrong, the set of stories set through each episode are not terrible by any stretch. Its just very "same old same old." If you watch this you'll quickly recognize if you love it hate it after about two episodes. As for me, I love it but can't really feel attached to the storyline considering the amount of parts that are skipped. It almost feels like the show has a bad case of A.D.D. when it skips the important stuff. Trust me, they do it ALOT.


Art:
The art direction has its high points and its low points, but overall the art can't go a little higher than mediocre. Just observe the op/ed theme songs for the show. Typically, the theme songs have higher production values than the actual show itself. They are indeed better artistically, but it still looks very low quality. Another areas that i could not help but notice in the artwork would be the disproportionate loli scenes and the spaces between their hands. You'll see what I'm talking about.

I can't turn down the entire art direction down though, as the style does reflect the manga quite accurately most of the time. But I believe most of the time and effort (and probably money) went in to replicating the girls instruments with their real life counterparts. Mio's vintage lefty Fender-Japan JB62/3TS, Ritsu's Yamaha Hipgig JK6F46MK, Tsumugi's Korg TR76 (which is ~$1300), and Yui's VINTAGE Gibson Les Paul Standard Guitar, are all represented with great painstaking detail. The honey burst colors of the bass and standard guitars, the indentations on the Zildjan cymbals, even the correct amount of knobs and switches on the various Marshall amps (usually the JCM900 is shown the most). They even go far as to showcase even more instrument types throughout various locations like the Sonor Delite Stage 1 drum set in one of the girls summer home. Sadly, the instruments are just mere props that aren't shown in action very often as one would hope in a music-themed anime. But when they are in display, everything else, including the girls, pale in comparison to their details.


Sound:
As usuall, sound is the toughest to score, since its either really good or really bad. But typically its really good, so my standards are set much higher than what most would probably do. The voice acting is above average considering today's standards. Any female seiyuu these days can pull off moe moe voices very easily. As like all the other music anime before it, its main selling point is the music and how its integrated into the series. Now if you cant stand J-Pop/Rock then I'm sure you will probably drop this series. Unless you're a moe otaku and in that case, you'll watch this show religiously. But for a 13 episode series, they play just the right amount of songs, and they manage not to keep playing the same song over and over to the point of insanity like Kirarin Revolution did with Bararaika.


Characters:
The characters are, of course, cute and lovable. Their actions and reactions are all spot on scenes of cute humor. And all the jokes about each other are always sure to bring out a chuckle or two. The chemistry is also a very good mix which proves that the standard 4 B's of personalities (brash, bashful, boorish, and benevolent) can never falter for great story telling.

Everything they see, say, and do is just insanely cute. It might not be of that loli persuasion but its all moe that gradually increases its moe powers even more with every episode. Be that as it may, they are great characters, but they are by no means very original in the character designs. Sadly, I too (as millions of other people have fallen under Mio Akiyama's spell and forced me to give it an 8 out of 10... "Moe Moe ~Kyuun!"

Overall:
I enjoyed the time I spent watching this show. I never felt like this was a waste of time or anything of the sort. Maybe its because I love school comedies or Mio's ability to bring the whole country of Japan (and the world) to its knees. Regardless, its still fun to watch these girls try to get by and reach their goals together. Its obvious as to why such a simple show is appealing to the masses. It has all the right components and the constant bombardment of moe scenes will defintiely make any moe fan's heart flutter. It defintely has its flaws (in some important places) but since it is so short, you get just enough story progression to enjoy it. read more

Well, I did watch this show and my impression about it isn't really that good ... At first it was like an energy boost after that it was the same thing everytime, One would have thought that it was the people who were discussing their issues around a table, the life of every day, and that KAWAI thing is simply exhausting; I only wanted to see what's the story is going to evolve to (thanks to god there were only 13 episodes ) ... but nothing ; just a bunch of crap and the voices were HORRIBLY cute.

Yet pleased that I have not had to buy the DVDs, which cost i do not know how much ... frankly speaking if you do not like cute things who have no sense , pass your path, moreover there are only -stupid- female characters ... read more

Looking at the score, you might think I belong to the 'Anti K-ON' fraction. I am not necessarily a hater, since in terms of slice-of-life genre, K-ON is better than most anime out there.

If you want to look at this series on the positive light, think of it as a filler. Think of it as a plotless story with cute girls gathering and playing around. Think not of it as a story about the birth of a band.

There is almost no character development nor conclusion. K-ON simply offers light and fluffy heart-warming skits for your pleasure. Yet, the characters of K-ON sufficiently meet the expectation, especially for the male audiences. I mean, who will not be enthralled by seeing a girl as cute and seductive as Mio? Will there be any lolicon (sorry) out there be not thrilled with Asuza?

How unrealistic and forgettable K-ON is, it is still an adequate entertainment to spend your free time. It is nothing sort of Beck, which is indeed a true music anime. It wants to achieve the excellence of the likes of Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh, yet it is still missing an emotional element that all otakus out there need: the interaction with the audience. K-ON never attempts to break the fourth wall and make fun of popular culture. Its music is okay for the standard of J-pop but not that impressive.

Overall, it is 'easy come, easy go' for the five girls of the Light Music Group. Nothing more, nothing less. read more

K-ON! First caught my attention by it's adorable artwork and it's big fanbase. Though it didn't turn out as good as thought it might.

Story: I gave the story of K-ON! a 5. Mediocre. The story revolves around a girl who decides to make a band with a few new friends she has made after joining the music club-but she can't even play anything yet. The story follows her as she learns to play guitar and has fun with her friends. And there's not that much else to it. The story can get boring at times and tends to repeat itself after a while. So overall the story isn't the best factor to this anime.

Art: As I said before the artwork was what originally got my attention. The artwork is cute but they all tend to have the same face and there's nothing very unique for each character. So I gave the art an 8. It's very good and cute but if you don't like moe sort of art than I suggest you don't watch this.

Sound: I gave the sound a 9. The sound is probably the best thing about this anime. The backround music isn't too distracting and it fits the anime's mood. Since this anime is all about a girl who joins a band, there is a lot of music that they perform. It's fun and cute to listen to so if you are looking for some girly japanese pop singing, you might want to listen to these songs they perform on your own time instead of going through with watching this anime. As for the voice acting-it is very moe and they all tend to sound the same. None of the characters voices are too high-pitched which can sometimes end up happening when you watch an anime that has cute or moe characters.

Character: The character category got a 4 from me. The character design on this anime was horrible. Although the artwork is cute, they all have the exact same faces and characteristics. There isn't much individuality in this anime. As for the characters' personalities, they each have their thing but nothing spectacular. There's the rich girl, the loud girl, the shy, big-boobed girl, and the confused, innocent protagonist. Nothing new here.

Enjoyment: This anime is a boring slice-of-life. I found none of the jokes or experiences in K-ON! very funny. The most enjoyment I got out of it was listening to the music they performed and maybe the few jokes here and there. But over-all the enjoyment section gets a 5 from me.

So over-all I would give it a 5. It's really no the best anime out there. Though it has a large fanbase, I wouldn't recommend watching this anime. It bored me to death and I don't think it's worth wasting time on.

Thank you for reading my review! I hope you found it helpful! ^^ read more

I do have one question, where is the music? I started watching this show because I thought there was going to be more music in it and I get tea and snack time? I know it’s really moe to see little girls eat but I mean… when the show is about creating a band, wouldn’t you have more music in it like BECK?

The characters are really stereotyped and remind me a lot of how Lucky Star works out. Yui Hirasawa is the main character and unfortunately, not the brightest bulb in the bunch. She’s the main idea of moe, clumsy, bad at sports and school, very childish. Even her younger sister acts more like an older sister to her. Even threw all these faults, she is determined to be a good guitarist and singer. Mio is a shy girl who really doesn’t stand out to me at all, Tsumugi is pretty sweet and wealthy but somewhat dumb to the point of not even knowing that a shop was owned by her parents, and Ritsu is pretty much like Yui but forgets a lot of stuff. None of the characters stand out and made the show pretty boring.

The art style is alright, though nothing really special. It just doesn’t call out to me. The opening and ending were the best part and not by much. All in all, it just doesn’t stand out as being the best.

Alright… so there is a little bit of music but seriously not enough to call this a music anime. The music is alright if you like really high voiced j-pop but its nothing I would listen to over and over again. The voices are way too cutesy for my taste.

EDIT: So, I actually found the Official English dub of K-On and its actually a bit more interesting then the Japanese version. The English Voices are a little easier to listen to for me. Now when I say little, I mean a little. Yui has a really high voice still and it bothers me a bit, she is so spacey and cutesy that it’s hard to feel for all the characters. They didn’t change anything to the point of adding more music. read more

This is my very first review and I wanted K-ON to devirginize it, because it is a beautiful anime. A Must watch for all. K-on is hilarious and stress relieving.

The music is great too, I have them on my ipod and they are very catchy. U & I is one of my personal favourites because its one of my personal favourites.

The characters... They are all great. Each one have a unique personality that I like. Except for Nodoka, she seems a bit plain, or maybe it's just me. And, Yui, I believe is a very special character, because I don't think I have ever seen anyone that can compare to her- what's that word? I don't wanna call her stupid, cause she's not, just special.

Lastly K-on makes me sad because real world cannot be like it, with no worries and shit. That is all. read more

Story: 6/10
The whole story really with K-ON is forming the Light Music Club as well as getting Yui to start practicing with her Guitar. The problem I have is the unexpected jumps from each Episode. In the first half, It has only been 1 year since forming the club with 4 Members and after that, towards the end of the series, another member joins, which in turn adds another year. When Azusa joins the band as another guitarist, Yui herself doesn't know much about Guitars, especially when she asked Azusa about tuning and all the other stuff. By 1 year, Yui should have at least some knowledge on using the Guitar not just working on the notes. Which brings up to another problem. It seems too quick for Yui to perfect all those notes for a beginner. As much as I agree with "They are good when they play together!" I still don't understand how you can perform that great on stage as a beginner. I probably guess they wanted to fit all the plot in 12 Episodes, but at the same time, It really makes the entire story confusing. It could have been interesting to see Yui working step by step on the Guitar and then have a concert later on. I honestly think they have shown too much "Tea time" Fillers instead of rehearsing together as a band. But of course, we don't always want to watch them constantly practice and instead, just balance both of them out.

Art: 8/10
At first, the characters looked pretty weird because I was completely used to the style that other Animes follow. As I kept watching It, I've gotten used to It. It might be weird for some people, but It will eventually grow on you as you keep watching.

Sound: (8/10)
This rating may vary by other people's taste in music. If you really aren't a big fan of Japanese music, then I guess you probably won't enjoy K-ON as much. But If you a fan of Japanese Music (any genre really), K-ON might be a good choice. The OP and Outro is fantastic. As I kept watching It, I've always listened to It and not skip It unlike other animes I watch where I sometimes skip some OP and Outro. The Concert Music is pretty awesome as well. Like I said, It just comes down to your taste in Japanese music.

Character: (7/10)
Every character seems to be just fine. Nothing to really complain about. Just your typical 4 (later on, 5) girls doing their part on having fun as a band.

Enjoyment: (8/10)
Despite the confusing story, I really enjoyed this Anime. And one of the first Anime that I completed in a week since I tend to procrastinate when I watch. I guess the Music kept me entertained the whole time.


Now that I finished Season 1, I'm looking forward to see what Season 2 has to offer. At least now they have 24 Episodes rather than 12 Episodes like this. Season 1 could have at least 24 Episodes to prevent bad first impressions of the show, but hopefully Season 2 will fix that. read more