K-On!!

It is the new year, which means that the senior members of the Light Music Club are now third-years, with Azusa Nakano being the only second-year. The seniors soon realize that Azusa will be the only member left once they graduate and decide to recruit new members. Despite trying many methods of attracting underclassmen—handing out fliers, bringing people into the clubroom, and performing at the welcoming ceremony—there are no signs of anyone that plans to join.

While heading to the clubroom, Azusa overhears Yui Hirasawa say that the club is fine with only five people and that they can do many fun things together. Changing her mind, she decides that they do not need to recruit any members for the time being.

K-On!! revolves around the members of the Light Music Club as they experience their daily high school life. From rehearsing for concerts to just messing around, they are ready to make their last year together an exciting one!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hirasawa, Yui Main

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Akiyama, Mio Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Nakano, Azusa Main

Taketatsu, Ayana Japanese

Kotobuki, Tsumugi Main

Kotobuki, Minako Japanese

Tainaka, Ritsu Main

Satou, Satomi Japanese

Hirasawa, Ui Supporting

Yonezawa, Madoka Japanese

Yamanaka, Sawako Supporting

Sanada, Asami Japanese

Manabe, Nodoka Supporting

Fujitou, Chika Japanese

Suzuki, Jun Supporting

Nagata, Yoriko Japanese

Tainaka, Satoshi Supporting

Itou, Mika Japanese

Hatta, Youko Producer

Nakamura, Shinichi Producer

Nakayama, Yoshihisa Producer

Tafu, Naohiro Producer

Reviews

Sep 30, 2010

Ryhzuo

Recommended

Over the few years or so, it’s been increasingly apparent that watching anything associated with moe is to be treated with the same sort of caution as doing yoga, or making origami. Generally you’d do all three in the privacy of your own room, preferably with the lights dimed down and curtains tightly shut. (I am speaking of course, mainly for guys).

Yes there is much shame to be had in admitting you enjoy watching K-On!!, because who in their right mind would enjoy a plotless moeblob slice-of-life show over say… the testosterone filled battle epic TTGL? Certainly no one would admit to such an atrocious ... act to their friends face to face, (or anything less than a distance of 100 miles and 2 computer screens for that matter). Hence it becomes extremely hard to be objective when posed with the question, ‘Is K-On!! a good anime?’, because all of our social preservation instincts scream “run away!”, while somewhere deep in the soft side of our hearts, something keeps us rooted to our chair and our eyes on our displays.
(Unless you factor in the anonymity of the internet of course, in which case, proudly declaring that K-On!! is awesome and giving it a 9/10 is A-O-K.)

Jokes aside though, in recent times I feel that too much anime are being categorized based on if they have any moe elements in them. While there’s nothing wrong with giving labeling an anime as containing moe, it unfairly depicts certain anime as catering towards the niche otaku audience and suggests it’s lack of depth and unoriginality, which in many cases simply isn’t true. Take Lucky Star for example. Who’s to say that it was just a mindless moeblob?

Anyway I had a review here somewhere… I would go as far as to say that I love the slice-of-life genre. Honey & Clover (which I maintain is more slice-of-life than romance) and Aria remain firmly at my number 1 and 2 spot. For a great slice-of-life, there are a number of criteria that one needs to fill, but the simplest and most important is that every episode should end with you feeling relaxed and contented with a smile on your face. Does K-On!! achieve this? Yes, absolutely 100% yes.

K-On!! follows a relatively frugal format in terms of storyline. You wouldn’t go into each episode expecting anything dramatic or exhilarating, and for some this may be what they like to call boring. But then again, you wouldn’t open a bag of chips expecting M&Ms and chocolate fudge, so why you go into K-On!! expecting anything even resembling a continuous plot? K-On!!’s style single episodic scenarios work greatly in it’s favor, viewers are never startled with annoying cliffhangers or feel an obligation to keep up with it in fear of missing out on some important plot element. If watching K-On!! becomes a chore (I’m looking at you Bleach manga), then it’s missed the point completely, and in this regard, I give K-On!!’s ‘plot’ two thumbs up.

Despite this though, K-On!! deals with some surprisingly deep themes that would go right over the heads of most casual viewers. One definite improvement from it’s first season is the branching out of the limited focus of club practice (eating cake) to wider array of activities. Granted, most of them are still obvious and predictable, the sort of been-there done-that stories we’ve all seen before, but the shift allowed K-On!! to focus on many different aspects and resort less to what I like to call ‘moe-moments’ in order to fill up the 24 minutes. Lets face it, how many different ways can you eat, drink and procrastinate before it starts getting old? Instead though, from the summer trips to school plays to the air conditioning campaigns, K-On!! moves away from the same-ness of cake/tea/practice/more cake in the first season and closer to true slice-of-life.

K-On!!’s real brilliance shines in the final 6-7 episodes or so, as the girls neared the finale of their school life, the realization that their after school tea times can’t last forever hits them quietly and their are faced with the challenges of change and the future. Though not exactly compelling and dramatic, it nevertheless teaches us that our beloved peaceful times cannot always last forever, which only makes them more precious, not unlike Aria the Origination, but on a smaller scale. K-On!’s main idea was a carefree life of daily cake, tea and music with not a worry in the world, but K-On!!’s step away from that ultimately paid off and turned what would have been just a mediocre moeblob into a great slice-of-life.

I supposed I’d better tackle the moe problem, as it seems to be the main issue dragging K-On!! down. Yes, there is a lot of it. Yes, it gets annoying. Yes, it is overused and detracts from the overall effect. Would K-On!! be better without it? Probably. But then it wouldn’t be K-On!!. Yes you can all come and egg my house afterwards for using such a cliche argument, but there is some wisdom in my words, ladies and gentlemen. As much as we all hate to admit it, moe has become an integral part of the characterization of the K-On!! girls. Yui simply wouldn’t believe the same if she didn’t drool over Azu-nyan or cake, Azu-nyan wouldn’t be the same if she didn’t get embarrassed over every little thing and Mugi simply can’t exist without her air-headed-ness and cheerfulness. Sure, they could do without it, but then they’d be different characters completely. Big Macs would probably taste better with tomato sauce instead of mayo, but then they wouldn’t be Big Macs anymore, if you get what I mean. Even though I make better tasting burgers myself, I wouldn’t want to have Big Macs any other way.

And to be fair, a lot of the moe-hate stem from people who watch 3-4 episodes, drop it, and then go complain about it on forums. As I followed K-On!! throughout it’s season, I was quietly surprised as the moe-moments gradually thinned out little by little. It was as if as the girls grew older, the show slowly matured along with them. Don’t believe me? Well, don’t my word for it, see for yourself. Right now. Open up say episode 2 or 3, count how many moe-moments there are, and then compare them to a later episode, say, 21 or something. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere so take your time… Ok… done? See? Good. Anyway as I was saying, the gradual fade of moe was was subtle and barely noticeable, but for those paying attention it was a nice touch, and went along well with the tone of bittersweetness of the end of their high school lives.

I guess it’ll be wrong to not comment on the music of K-On!! seeing as how that was kinda the whole theme that they were going for. Honestly speaking, it really isn’t half bad. Toyosaki Aki (Yui)’s cute but horrendous out of tune vocals aside, the OP, ED and insert songs generally maintain the high standard of the first season. They’re catchy, and well… very K-On!!-ish. What caught me out though was the meaning they seem to embody. Rather than the lyrics simply being a spontaneous creation (I mean Curry Nochi Rice, what was that all about) they represented something, like Yui’s realization of all the things she took for granted in portrayed in U&I and the girl’s close friendship exemplified through their song for Azusa. In short, K-On!!’s music is great, and that’s all there really is to say about that. (Unless you hate poppy rock, in which case allow me to direct you to the mute button. Seriously, no one’s making you listen to this, get over yourself.)

Guess I better get on to the boring stuff now.

Animation: Nothing to write home about, but the smoothness and crispness is certainly pleasing and relaxing to look at, a very good style for a slice-of-life. Animation during the live performances have definitely improved since the first season, which is a definite plus.

Sound: Insert songs aside, more often than not there’s always some cutesy background music playing to accompany the scene. While this can easily backfire, KyoAni does a very good job of timing, and fitting the mood with the right music, so this section is also a plus.

Voice Acting: I was surprised in the first season how such a amateurish band of seiyuu could bring the characters to life. Another season’s gone by and I’m pleased that the quality of VA as remained consistent. Toyosaki Aki’s performance as Yui deserves a special mention, with interchanging voices between cutesy and hoarse, and the constant (if a bit too frequent) “ehhh?”s, it was really a joy to listen to. I still maintain that she needs singing lessons though.

So ultimately, is K-On!! a good anime? Well let me be perfectly honest. I actually wrote this review as a bet against a friend who maintained that it was impossible to write a review for, and I quote, “a cliched intangible blob of moe”. Now to be fair, he may have been right. Maybe I would have found it much easier to just simply cast K-On!! aside as a generic moe-cash in by KyoAni with half decent characterization, no good plot and overall mediocre anime. But as I instead set out to do the impossible task, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that it was not as impossible as I originally thought. K-On!! is good. Heck, it’s great. It knew exactly what it wanted to be, and set out to achieve it brilliantly (which is more than I can say for Angel Beats). I’d probably go as far as to say it is the best slice-of-life/moe anime of the year. Sure, it probably couldn’t hold a candle to say… Durarara or FMA:Brotherhood, but you wouldn’t compare K-On!! to those anime for the same reason you wouldn’t ride a goat to an equestrian event or wear a miniskirt to a basketball game. Is K-On!! a good slice-of-life/moe? Yes. Then… did I enjoy K-On!!? Yes, immensely. Then… Is K-On!! a good anime? Obvious answer is obvious. So much for generic and mediocrity huh?

I will conclude with this afterthought. I could probably very easily write a long rant about the negatives of vanilla ice cream. I could talk about how bad it is for your health, how expensive and nutrition lacking ice-cream is, or how it is an overrated flavor and too many people eat just because they don’t have the guts to try new and better flavors, or how the ice-cream companies continue to make vanilla ice-cream to cater for those idiotic people, cashing in instead of nobly taking the first step in revolutionizing ice cream flavors. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t change the fact that I like vanilla ice-cream, and that I enjoy having it every Friday night after dinner as I tune in to watch the weekly action flick on television. If I didn’t enjoy vanilla ice-cream, would that change the fact that it’s a good ice-cream? Of course not. You’d be a magnificent retard for declaring vanilla ice-cream is bad just because you don’t like it, so why do some people do it so much for anime like K-On!!? Vanilla ice-cream exists for people who like vanilla ice-cream, just like K-On!! exists for people who like a good slice-of-life with a bit of (or quite a bit of, whatever floats your boat) moe. If there are people who enjoy it, then that should be all that matters, and I think sometimes we’re too easily forgetful of that fact.

Thanks for reading this wall of text.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 1, 2021

bunnyofthesea

Mixed Feelings

Funny

You know, I was hoping that a show about 5 girls in a band would feature a little more, I don't know, MUSIC? All these little fuckers do is sit around, eat cake and faff around with the pet turtle. I get that most people's enjoyments comes from these light-hearted interactions but did we really need 39 episodes of this? In those 40 episodes these girls can manage to come up with about 4 different songs over 3 years of being a band. Though you wouldn't know this considering they play the same fucking song any time that god forbid somebody bothers the music club ... to play some actual fucking music! I liked the characters at first but when six episodes in they decided to just redo those same episodes again but with the loli cat girl, I had given up all hopes of this having any interesting development.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 16, 2025

patkarunungan

Not Recommended

I gave K-On! a chance, and after watching two seasons totaling 39 episodes, I've concluded it's not for me.

Let's start out with the good. The girls are really cute — not in a sexually attractive way, but each with her own unique quirks. Yui is a scattered brain. Ritsu has ideas but she can get clumsy. Mio used to be shy, but she is quite popular now. Azusa has a Type A personality and is often the voice of reason, but she has learned to relax around the other four girls.

Their character designs are well made so that, even if you watch other shows, ... especially other moe/CGDCT, you will still remember their faces if somebody mentioned K-On!

The animation and art direction look normal. There are no cheap shortcuts such as blanking their faces and rarely do you see the faces of people in a wide shot get no details. This used to be normal, but it's getting rarer nowadays.

KyoAni has a reputation for producing beautiful animation, but as far as I see it, it's not really that beautiful in K-On! It's just normal, and I don't remember meaningful framings that make you think that more is being communicated at the subtextual level.

Now for what I find unpleasant. It's not bad because it has no plot. It's not pleasant to watch, as far as I'm concerned, because we have brainless characters. Perhaps that's the point, and some may like it and others like me may not. It's wholesome but brain-dead.

(It is for this reason that I dislike mono as of the first four episodes because it reminds me painfully of K-On!, an anime where the girls act so random and all over the place, whilst something like Food for the Soul is better. The latter at least has some logickal coherence and the characters have some brain.)

Despite my dislike for K-On!, it may still be worth seeing if it's for you. It's quite foundational when it comes to CGDCT/moe. I like it when later CGDCT display some brain or thought in their actions, but I dislike them when they are clearly aiming to be a cheap imitation of K-On!


NOTA BENE: A grade of 3 out of 10 means that I did not enjoy watching this anime despite being either well-regarded or at least popular, or perhaps I happened to rank them below my 4's.

My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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