K-On!

I picked up "K-On!" envisioning it as some kind of healing, mundane slice of life in the same vein as "Aria the Animation", something nice and gentle that would help soothe my severe withdraw symptoms brought on by finishing "Hikaru no Go". Even though on the surface I mostly got what I was looking for (it is mundane, and it is a slice of life), the end product was a huge disappointment. It's a bit like one of those twisted fairy tales in which some greedy guy makes wishes to the devil or a genie or something. Even though his wishes are all granted, ... fulfilling all the criteria that he specified, none of the result turns out to be what he wanted - there's always something very wrong with what he ends up with.

It took me a few episodes to figure out what's wrong with "K-On!". 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 kept having to rewind to see what I'd missed - and usually the answer turned out to be "not very much". 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 test my patience (it took me half a year to finish).

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 seemed more innocent; the natural calming beauty of the settings also made "Aria the Animation" less one dimensional, and it just seems to have a charm about it that's severely lacking in "K-On!".

As much as I was unimpressed by "K-On!", I must admit that towards the mid-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 the makers of the show 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. 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 took a dip and sunk 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 meow 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. Yes, of course they like it deep down - they're moe blobs after all! Anyway I'm sure you get the picture, so lets move swiftly on...

Though "K-On!" is about a music club, they do so little music-related activity that it's easy to mistake it for something else (like, a show about a cake eating club, for example). When it comes to the subject of music, the series is the antithesis of "Nodame Cantabile". The latter emphasises the importance of hard work even when the musician is already ridiculously talented. In "K-On!", however, we have Yui, someone who'd never played an instrument before, but who very quickly started reproducing face melting solos she hears with apparent ease, and is able to immediately master the techniques demonstrated to her. And she does all of this with just a small amount of casual and unmethodic practice. As I am also learning to play an instrument, this complete undermining of the effort required 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 came when "K-On!" tried 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 was trying to achieve - it was 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 that it reached a painful level of transparency. Perhaps the makers were better off keeping things simple and sticking to pandering to the moe crowd as they're clearly incapable to doing anything more substantial

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 - the 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 consider mediocre, 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.

Some shows have stories that are complex or linear. Some have stories that are downright hilarious. And K-on.......uh......umm.......whats the story again? Does anyone even know the story of this show, anyone?! No, well thats awkward. K-on, the show that has cute ass girl who drink tea, eat and have fun.....and play music. Not really but you could put that in a sense. What is this show about and the point of it? Absolutely nothing, but not in a bad way. This is that type of moe-show thats there in case you wanna sit down and relax, it isn't a show that keeps you on your ... feet, you could close your eyes and still at least enjoy this show.

Story: 5/10
The story as I said, there's none, so these 4 girls have formed a group known as the 'Light Music Club' , their goal is to just have fun and play music I guess. And thats it, we get introduced to a childhood friend, a music teacher with marriage issues and no male character like any where. Only in like one scene, well thats sexist for men.

The whole point here is that K-on dosen't need a story, its cast should keep you going for 13 episodes, the story is just there to tell you whats going on. Its just a show where girls wanna have fun, nothing more than that. And if you don't like that, there's millions of other moe-anime waiting for you.

Art: 8/10
The animation is nice, it suits the show really well, its filled with vibrant and calm colours to let you explore, it shows k-on's world is like a world that has world-peace.....only in an anime world kids!

Sound: 8/10
The OP is pretty damn catchy same with the ED, they really make you hope you get more music like that through the show, but nope, just some tea, well hey at least we have some music here and there....oh wait we get like 2 songs. One generic japanese moe-song and a good attempt at a girly song that does well. Thats all for the music, for a show mainly on the aspect of music, its dissapointing.

Character: 6/10
The chracters are pretty cliche here, you have a light headed girl who's rich (Mugi), the shy-ass girl (Mio), the strong-independent girl (Ritsu), the 'kawaii' girl thats there just to be cute (Azusa) and a retard (Yui).

Each have their own traits but not too much special, its the characters you'd expect in a moe-anime.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Now this is the reason I actually continued this show, the show is so damn cute, and there's downright moments that kill make you either go AWW! or just nosebleed, literally. This is really the point of this show, its fluffy and cute. There's some jokes here and there but they don't make you really laugh, they miight make you chuckle but thats really it.

Overall: 6/10
K-on is a cute and relaxing show in case you need a break after watching something long as hell and terrible, if you're bored or depressed, this show should make you feel all better. Girls just wanna have fun, that is k-on in a nutshell.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If someone were to ask the typical anime fan what do they think of K-On? The typical response what would be phrases such as, “ohh that moeshit” or “that kyoani bullshit that began the cancerous product known as moe”. To a certain extent they are right. While K-On itself is not an atrocious anime to watch,(although it might be depending on how much you can tolerate cute girls) it is no lie that K-On is the title that really brought the moe trend into the forefront and is the trend that has shaped the identity of modern anime. And it’s not that this trend wasn’t ... popular before K-On’s domination of sales charts. Kyoto Animation has an infamous track record for taking advantage of this trend's popularity to fill their pockets. The success of anime such as Air, Kanon, Clannad and The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya have proved the formula’s success before K-On and it convinced Kyoto Animation that this was certainly the next big thing in the industry and they have every right to take advantage of it. Despite what many people believe about Kyoto Animation shows from a critical standpoint nobody can deny their financial success.




And K-On fits exactly into that category. It was made for more for the purpose of making money rather than receiving numerous amounts of awards and basked in critical acclaim. There is nothing wrong with that. After all, anime is a business and making money is just the normal procedure that defines every business. K-On doesn’t do much to separate itself from the typical moeblob though. Throughout the course of the show it barely takes itself seriously. The majority of the run time the characters are just participating in goofy events or drinking tea making fun of each other. The tone of the show is consistently goofy throughout and whatever potential is there for some character drama and conflict comes out as a joke more than anything else. It would be a ridiculous to even say this show has a plot, it COULD have had one if it decided to take whatever little plot elements it focused on them in a much more serious manner by placing more significance on them and using them as a wat to initiate conflict to give the characters some ACTUAL challenges



There is not much to really say about the characters in a general sense, since they are only defined by a couple of gimmicks and don’t offer any real substance. I can’t really say much when it comes to the tropes of moe since I have little to no prior experience with it before watching K-On. But the endearing and extremely likable cast helped redeem K-On from it’s lack of character depth. Their cast chemistry is cute and their personalities complement each other well and as a result create some funny and sweet moments throughout the series. It is hard to pinpoint which characters the show tries to focus on as there is not really much to say in terms of characterization or development and the whole cast is usually on screen at once and no one really has the individual spotlight for a whole episode. Since the cast is small I will personally describe each characters personality and traits:





-Yui is very carefree, easy going and is often the biggest comedic relief out of the cast. She is often being clumsy and making a fool out of herself in front of the other characters. Another thing that adds to her humorous character is her knack for often not reading instructions before trying out things and instead prefers to rely on her hunch or intuition. She is easily distracted and tends to try and find any excuse possible to not practice and only feels motivated to play her instrument if she eats a fill of cake.

-Ritsu is the character who is always looking to make fun of everyone around her through sarcastic puns and humour. She is the biggest entertainer of the group and my favourite for her very comical personality and wittiness. Similarly to Yui she is easy going and upbeat but doesn’t share Yui’s clumsiness and is more composed than she is.

Mio- Mio always tries to keep the group grounded to reality when they continue to be senselessly stupid and reminding them more often than not of their obligation to practice. She is the most serious and mature member of the group and doesn’t participate in her friends’ witty banter’ or routine of ‘milk and cookies’ as much as they do. Most of Ristu’s continual teasing of Mio is how prone she is to getting embarrassed when she is put into the spotlight as highlighted when pressure is put on her to sing the lyrics during performances.

Tsumugi- Tsumugi is a lot more passive and quiet in comparison to the other members of the group and doesn’t really talk much. Similarly to Mio she is a little more level headed and mature than Yui and Ritsu. It feels as if she does not get as much screen time or focus compared to the other characters and as a result she is a lot duller. She is the most cheerful character in the show and often thinks about other people before herself. Because of her dullness her character doesn’t have any flair compared to the other characters. Ritsu has sarcasm which makes her witty. Yui is extremely clumsy which makes her cute and Mio is a lot more responsible compared to the rest. Tsumugi feels as if she is just there to give them free holiday resorts and supply the daily dose of tea for me.

All the characters in the show are 1-D that can be described with a few words and nothing more. The show attempts to freshen things by adding a new character to the main and it certainly worked. The new addition to the squad served as a counter to the ridiculous theatrics the main cast engage in and is someone who takes their music a whole lot more seriously in the same vein as Mio. This made for some nice short lived conflict but it just wasn’t taken seriously enough for me to care and it ultimately proved to be pointless.



It isn’t an easy task to try and describe what the story of K-On is in multiple paragraphs because there really isn’t one. Apart from a squad of cute girls drinking tea and occasionally playing music no other story elements such as romance or drama are present. And despite what many people say about K-On being a musical and that it’s all about practicing to achieve your dreams, K-On lacks any sort of focus on these elements to even take them seriously as they all feel like backdrops rather than the spotlight. There was also potential for K-On to be a story about fitting in and making new friends. Both of these themes have been done countless times in anime with a high school setting but it would have been a good addition to spice things up and give the show some kind of plot. But K-On decided to just frolic around and not take any of its potential story elements seriously. If the show itself doesn’t take these elements seriously, why should I? It would have given the show an extra layer and more substance if it spent some time taking the music aspect of the show seriously or adding some high school romance. Having some form of conflict would have made the characters feel a little more authentic and not just being ‘moeblobs’ that can be described by a few overused tropes and enjoyed on a superficial level.


K-On certainly is enjoyable when looked at only on the surface. The character designs are fairly generic but are still attractive to look at thanks to the excessive cuteness that Kyoani put into them and their good artwork in general. The backgrounds are plain and do not offer anything in the grand scheme of things but still are some nice eye candy. The visuals are colorful and fit well with the goofy tone of the show.

Now the only aspect of K-On where I could REALLY give the show any credit for is its music. The fast paced j-pop songs are quite catchy and I even re-listened to them a few times. The sound directing all round is very good and I found both the opening and ending to be nice to listen to. But those catchy songs were far and few between. For a show that is meant to be a musical they certainly didn’t have enough of them to warrant it being called that. But nonetheless the songs were enjoyable even if they were far and few between. The OST for K-On was simultaneously upbeat and goofy, which fit the mood of what was happening on screen and helped put an even bigger smile on my face than I already had when watching comedic scenes. Other than that it was forgettable and didn’t have any other impact.



Despite what I may think of K-On critically, I cannot deny that I enjoyed it for what it was and it helped open my mind a little to the over saturated genre of ‘cute girls doing cute things’. When I scroll through seasonal charts and look at all the countless ‘CGDCT’ titles made, one of the first things that strikes me is how low budget and lifeless they look. It’s as if they were made for the soul purpose of barely breaking even. But I can appreciate the fact that Kyoani give their generic moe shows life and look as if they are putting effort into it. They don’t want it to just break even, they want it to demolish the sales charts and they have succeeded on more than one occasion. K-On has a good sense of fun, an endearing cast and some nice music, but that’s all I can really say about it. It is extremely shallow and offers nothing but shits and giggles. If you are looking for an anime to wind down to you after a long day of work, or something that will make you forget about your shit life than I suggest giving K-On a try. Despite all the things I heard about moe being cancerous, for what K-On as, it wasn’t all that bad. Watching ‘cute girls doing cute things won’t be everyone’s thing and it isn’t my favorite thing to watch either, but this one is worth a shot for the fun of it.

Overall:5.5/10

As you watch K-ON!, you get a real sense that many of the people behind it really don't care about music at all. The instruments are animated correctly (which is less common than one might expect) - there is a clear talent on display from the animation team. As far as the writing is concerned, however, the characters may as well not be in a band together. The band doesn't practice on-screen, the songwriting process is glossed over. The band doesn't even play a song together on-screen until five episodes in. Nothing at all happens in this anime. This isn't merely because the stakes are ... low - as a fan of the slice-of-life genre, I wouldn't mind it if it was - it's a matter of the writers seemingly not knowing how to write interactions within a band.

It feels odd to criticise the soundtrack in an anime for being lackluster, but a band anime does rely on this aspect. K-ON! disappoints in this regard. Never is a live drumkit heard, and the background music choices simply doesn't form a coherent whole - in an anime about rock music, there is something jarring about constantly hearing the same reggae BGM and the same knock-off Kraftwerk track. Not every anime focused around music can have soundtracks as good as the soundtracks in Bocchi the Rock! or Cowboy Bebop, but the music in K-ON! feels like it's merely there, rather than contributing to any particular vibe the anime is going for.

But let me be frank, the plot and the music being lacking are hardly deal-breakers for a slice-of-life anime. Other slice of life anime make up for this with unique, memorable characters and strong comedy. K-ON! doesn't. I did keep a running total of the times I found the comedy funny - the total was at 3 when I dropped the show halfway through. Rather than rely on unique gags or character interactions, the show relies on repeatedly reminding the viewer of the characters' quirks, hoping to get a quick laugh. The most egregious example is the bass player's squeamishness - multiple times per episode, we see her curl up into a ball at the mention of blood, while the drummer torments her. This gag is almost funny the first time, but wears thin very quickly. And, of course, there are the occasional panty-shots and fanservice scenes that are meant to be funny but instead just feel exhausting to watch, especially bearing in mind that the characters are meant to be ~14.

The characters, on the other hand, feel more like dolls than fleshed out people, and are treated much the same - there is tea and cake multiple times per episode, of course. The characters don't have distinct personalities beyond surface-level archetypes. The guitarist is ditzy and lazy, the drummer is energetic, the bassist is shy, and the keyboard player is...wealthy? Even those are inconsistent - you see the personality of the bassist shift into a straight man role and the drummer shift into a ditzy double for the guitarist, different from their portrayals in the first episode.

And yet, despite how much I dislike it on a theoretical level, there is something sickeningly watchable about K-ON!. There's an reality in which I finish it someday, and it's closer than you think. It's easily-digestible, perfectly paced, full of cute moments, occasionally funny, and smoothly animated to boot. But ultimately, the anime is too insubstantial, and lacking in all other aspects.

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! ^^

K-On review

And I'm back at this again drum roll please! I'm going to put my 2 sense in it so bare with me my guppies. Anyways take a seat and watch the show or in this case review, I have a nifty goal to accomplish I'll share at the end of this though. Anyways review time, yay!!!

So what do you get when you put super moe character and put them in a band? Come guys it's easy right? Obviously you get K-On of course I'm guessing the K stands for kawaii maybe, maybe not but let me dream so "Kawaii-On" got a nice ring to ... it, no? So what exactly is the band? Moe girls in a rock band? Guessing they're pulling some mean strings of twinkle twinkle little stars. And if that's what you thought, than you are totally wrong, but it's ok we all thought that at first anyways so you're not alone friend.

Story: 5
Ah yes the story, a story of a freshman highschool girl name Yui, who's so clumsy and fumbles through life, you'd be like "awwwh kawaiiiii" but be like "i worry about that girl" at the sametime. What does she want to do with her highschool life? So far no idea but her procastination paid off, and good things comes to those who wait, and after waiting for a months she finally decides to join the light music club, and save it from the bring of being disbanded, you go hero! Yui along with Mio, Tsumugi, and club president Ritsu form the new the new light music club band (who's name will be decided a little bit into the future). But yes these girls who couldn't be so odd have managed to pull one killer band, how do they do it with lack of practice, care-free members, and lack of band knowledge? We don't know but they sure got one serious hat trick, talk about pulling off awesome performances on a whim. But the story isn't anything to work up with since it's usually mashed-up with super kawaii moments, so in a way there is a lack of story but you'll be so distracted you wouldn't even notice it until you look back at it, but it is enough of a story to overlook it and feel like nothing is wrong. It's more like a give or take sort of speak.

Art: 5
Ahh yes the KyoAni animation art style always showing-off it's cute style, and it pays off. Compare to other KyoAni titles these characters are not drawn with their face completely uplifted, their face is pretty well but together, their mouth atleast isn't all the way up to where their nose is suppose to be. It's not the best animation ever however but like I said Kyoto Animation focuses more on getting the cuteness rather than getting the "realism" and that's not such a bad thing, plus that being as a music anime, of course you'll see distortion in art style for quick paced shredding of the quitar and rolling of the drums, so it makes sense to draw it that way so it won't look like it lost quality, plus chibi-ish characters is always a plus. To some up the art style it's like if Lucky Star and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (the 2009 season of course) had a baby together so it has that bit of a weird look to it.

Sound: 7
The sounds was great, being a rock 'n' roll fan, I can say without a doubt, they nail some key notes. However for such heavy metal type of symbolism, and seeing that previous band were also metal band, this generation of "light music" gives off a bit more of a pop rock type of feel. I'm not talking about that Bon Jovi feel, more like Fall out boys sort of. Still regardless rock is rock regardless of the sub-genre and they showed it with this anime. Ahh the Jimi Hendrix, what love, what love so great haha. However the songs were beautiful very catchy, and fits the characters well. They're voices in English dub wasn't all that bad, but in Jap dub they were so kawaii and so soothing to hear. Just great work on sound. Great, great, great!!

Character: 8
Such a high score, well bare with me and you'll see why. These character having their unique characteristic bouncing off of each like a pinpall machine gone crazy spewing out more pinpalls and smaking around that it gives off such a fresh feeling to it. Now of course these characters act more like elementary students instead of highschoolers, but when you look at previous KyoAni animes you will see that this pattern is alot more common, plus we become suckers and get reeled in anyways, moe characters gets our attention, of course there are people who don't feel this way, but that's ok that's their opinion and they got the right to it. Anyways let me list the charcaters for you real quick:

Yui Hirasawa: The main chika of this series, she is the lead quitarist and vocalist of the band, sounds like she's pretty top notch right? Ohh boy you are wrong, but right at the sametime. Sometimes forgetful of the things she learned while learning new things, she always finds a way to pull through, she has a die hard determination that comes second to none, despite all of her child-ish flaws, care-free and easily distracted, but yet has work ethic. How does she do it? It's on crazy on-and-off switch.

Mio Akiyama: The cutest, and voice of reason of the group, she is the bassist and secondary vocalist. When I say she is the voice reason, is because she is the only one with the most serious attitude towards the band, she does get convince to slack-off so she's not as tough as she seems out to be. She is super shy which gives off the cuteness meter everytime, also a major scary cat (so please refrain from bringing her into any scary movies) but she is very caring, and lovable and knows how to go against her weaknesses only to slap her right back in the face though.

Tsumugi Kotobuki: Super rich air-head, who is just way too nice and absent-minded. She is the keyboarder of the band. Not much about her besides being super rich, and has the power to get everyone into a calm state with her never-ending supple of cakes and tea. Some power she got there.

Ritsu Tainaka: The one who basically reformed the club, the President, and the drummer. Super wild style and extremely energetic. She is the power-house of the band, but she is also as care-free as Yui. She usually scares Mio that's like her favorite hobby, she is somewhat of a voice of reason, but those moments get killed off be Mio's reselience. That's pretty much about her.

Azusa Nakano: The newest member of the band, and second quitarist. She is basically a workaholic all she cares about is practice, practice, practice, and wonders why she joined a club with such laidback members, eventually she pulls through out of this state just enough to accept that the band is the way how it is and there is no changing that, however she still wish they practiced more.

Enjoyement: 6.5
It was a very entertaining watch, it had funny moments, cute moments, a surprising serious moment, and clutch-moments. It keeps a steady tempo (ha, see what I did there?) however the anime does feel a bit rushed especially the first half, actually the whole season, so pacing wise could've been worked so it would be more enjoyable, but it still has a good feel to it. Will you laugh your butt off? Well yeah maybe if you find the comedy humorous. Will you sing along? Only like 4 song is played and not for a long time, but hey if the music takes you away, then sing your little heart out, even if you're bad. But that aside just ask yourself this question, "can i relate myself to this anime in one way or another?" And I garuanteed you'll find enjoyement watching this; It doesn't have to be music wise, it can be struggle to accomplish something, or relate to the characters.

Overall: 6
The anime was well put together, however it needed some improvement, you can get away with kawaii moments all you want but at the end without a base you just have a story that its all over the place. They should've added more drama to it, everything was taken too lightly without the feel of consequences and that just can't happen, there's not enough struggle to make an impact. Its a fun watch but its not something that can be memorable, You can say "awwwwh this is sooo cute" till pigs can fly, but it won't change the fact that the series was missing out on alot of things, but it tried to fill the gap and that I give them credit for the effort. But try to focus on the story more give it more depth instead of filtering it with easily distracting moments.

Whew so to go back to my earlier statement of my "goal", is basically to give you guys a push to watch this anime as to me I believe it was very good, but I'm curious to see how many people look at it from my stand of view. Hope this was helpful to determine whether or not you'll watch it, thanks again for taking the time to read this, and happy watching.

You want to know what led me to watching this?
Well, I saw a friend of mine watched it a while ago. But the main reason is I got into reading the LPs for Dangan Ronpa, and when the character Ibuki Mioda came up, I wanted to know more about light music clubs. I have to say Ibuki's character of being silly, not very smart (or maybe that's an act?) and hyper does personify this anime.
However... I'm not quite sure why this anime is so popular? Sure, it's cute... but that's about it. Please read below for a more detailed explanation!

Story:
A classic high ... school setting involving after school activities of four (eventually five) girls. They learn how to play music together, sound great, and it shows them becoming closer.
And... that's about it. Pretty poor story telling. Lots a cuteness, lots of fluff, lots of... god it really made me annoyed that were so flipping lazy and they hardly played music. And drank tea all the time. Before this turns into a rant: The bottom line is to not watch this thinking it has an interesting plot.

Art:
The art is easily one of the best things about this anime. I think it is ADORABLE. I really like the odd flow of it, especially when they are singing/playing. This anime will provide you with an overload of cuteness. It's clean and shiny!

Sound:
I'm a fan of the opening, the ending... and the few songs they sing in the show. Other than that, the background music was forgettable. You would think that an anime focusing on playing music would have more... music. NOPE. Don't get your hopes up too much if you are looking for something focused on the sound.

Character:
I liked the characters and their antics, but I wanted to see more character development. Even though Yui is an adorable air head, I didn't feel she should have been the lead character. I feel like it would have been more story driven if it wasn't focused on her so much. There isn't much appealing about her, and I found I liked her sister much better.

The other club members were much more interesting. Mio and is a shy girl that often made you laugh about how ridiculously frightened she would get over mundane things. But she wanted to play bass more. She was easily my favorite.
Azusa was my second favorite, and the main reason was she almost quit because the band hardly practiced. I was hoping this would lead to more music oriented story, but it didn't go very far. She was cat girl fan service. Cute, but I feel tricked yet again.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed it to a certain extent. I liked to watch for the art, and it was something you could stew and think little about. This is good if you want something to put on to relax too.
I had a lot of ups and downs with this anime, making this an average experience.

Overall:
It was okay. Nothing impressive, but nothing incredibly bad if you get over the fact that they don't play much music as you would have hoped. I have little use for re-watching or buying this. It was "just there." I'm hoping the second season will prove better, but I have to day I am hesitant to get back into this show. But if I prepare myself with a series with mostly fillers, maybe I won't be as disappointed I was the first time through?

-K-On! is a brilliant, yet simple telling of lovable, incredibly real characters and their exploits. What K-On! excels in is not its storytelling or any deep philosophical themes, but rather in how unbelievably real and relatable the characters are written and animated. The environments are also extremely detailed and accurate; I’d suggest looking at videos comparing the anime to the city it’s based on.

The characters in K-On! all stand by themselves as concrete and likable. I wouldn’t doubt anyone would kill so see an entire series dedicated to their favorite character. Personally, this is the first series I’ve seen where I can’t pinpoint a ‘favorite’ ... character. I can think of multiple reasons as to why four of the five characters would be my favorite (I was not too fond of the Azusa). However, what makes K-On! transcend other similar anime is not how awesome the characters are, but the way they interact with one another. All of the girls in K-On! grow individually, as well-written characters should, but they very visually also grow as a group. They naturally influence each other and the people around them in a manner that is rarely accurately depicted in fiction. This type of character development is sometimes pointed out by Azusa, which is probably why I didn’t like her. And, even though there is an entire arc dedicated to this idea, I believe it’s more effectively done throughout the series as a whole. “The power of friendship,” is usually brought up upon in reviews with a negative connotation, but in this case, and perhaps solely this case, it’s an amazing thing. The way in which the girls change each other truly does show the power of friendship. All of the girls overcome some part of themselves, brilliantly, subtly so, through the influence of the other girls. I would argue that the main theme of the anime is exactly that, though the ‘coming of age’ part of it is also done well.

If I were to give a rating solely on how much I loved this anime and its characters, I would give it a 10; however, I simply can’t say it’s as “good” as the animes I would consider to be 9s or 10s. I would still give it my highest recommendation for anyone that wants to witness what character animation and subtle character development should ideally be, as well as to anyone that wants to see a fun, lighthearted anime.

Just finished K-On! less than a week ago, so I'm writing this with it still pretty fresh in my brain.

STORY: 5
K-On! follows the light-music club of Sakura High as the four (later five) members form a band with dreams of national success. That's the overarching plot, and, due to the episodic nature of the series, isn't really much else. I was pretty disappointed with the series coming into it as I expected it to be a music oriented show, but I quickly came to realise that the cast spend the vast majority of their time messing around, drinking tea and eating cake rather than doing ... anything musical. However, after I accepted the fact that this show was truly about tea-and-cake, I began to ignore the simplicity and predictability of the story and just went with it. This allowed me to get into it a lot than I otherwise would have (I'm more used to a structured plot as I don't often watch slice-of-life anime).
Each episode is really simple with its story and you'll find no real surprises, plus there are no multi-episode arcs, instead every episode has its own story that starts and finishes within the 20 minute time-frame, so you won't out on a whole lot by skipping an episode (although you may miss out on the one or two new characters introduced). Overall, the story is nothing special, and it isn't really the focus of the show, so don't expect anything particularly gripping or solid.

ART: 6
K-On!'s art and animation is generally pretty decent. The backgrounds are alright and the characters are distinguishable from one other (though their face look similarly moe). But, when the camera is sitting at a mid to wide angle, the character art seems to drop in quality, with characters' feet becoming little more than stumps at a certain distance, making the art seem kinda lazy. There are other times when character proportions, particularly hands, are poorly drawn and look very strange. Though, for mid to close range shots, characters are drawn fine. All the characters have the general moe characteristics, sporting big eyes and small...pretty much everything else, but generally the art quality is decent. Nothing to write home about, but you won't feel like ripping out your own eyes or anything.

CHARACTERS: 4
The characters are all pretty flat and (forgive the pun) one-dimensional. You've got:
Yui- The main girl and guitarist who seems to have a case of ADD. Silly, lazy and forgetful with little to no attention span.

Mio-Intelligent and reliable bassist, but far too easily scared (and reduced to a catatonic state of shock). Frequently trolled by her friends who take pleasure messing with her anxiety, though by the end of the show, she's probably got the heart of an eighty year-old smoker.

Mugi-The wealthy and kind keyboardist who seems to have a never-ending supply of tea and snacks for the club to eat instead of actually practicing music. Air-headed and enjoys the simple lives of her commoner friends.

Ritsu-The drummer and probably the most normal one of the group. Mio's best friend, energetic and lazy at the same time. Hates work and loves stuffing around.

And that's about it with the characters. They're likable enough, but you'll see pretty much no development throughout the entire series. Sure another couple of characters are brought in, but they're also pretty shallow. Simple, and once you've met them, you already know them.

SOUND: 4
Now we get to the most important part of the show: sound. For a music show there's not a whole lot of music going on. The modern pop-style opening and closing themes are pretty decent, but the high-pitched singing of Yui's voice actress can get pretty irritating. Mio's VA also does some singing and her voice is a bit nicer to listen to. As for the songs featured in the actual show...well they were pretty disappointing. Featuring great hits such as "Fluffy Time", "My love is a Stapler" and "Brush Pen, Ballpoint Pen", the lyrics put out by the band are quite stupid ('my heart is fluffy like a marshmallow', are you kidding me?). Fluffy Time, the band's go-to anthem for performances starts out like an old-punk rock song (it really reminded me of the Ramones as soon as it started), but then it quickly becomes a stream of inane lyrics spurted out in Yui's high pitched voice. Seriously, she's not a good singer.
At least the show seems pretty self-aware about the poor-quality of its songs, with a few characters thinking the lyrics stupid when first shown them (even Mio, the songwriter thought they were too embarrassingly bad to sing).

ENJOYMENT: 7?!
Despite my low rating for everything else about this show, I did have some fun watching it. Once I got past the non-existent story and simple characters, I began to enjoy some of the comedy presented. It made me laugh a few times and brought a couple of smiles to my face, and I'm pretty sure that's all K-On was really trying to do, just get a few laughs.

Overall, if you want something to watch something after a long, tedious day that will help you chill out and relax a bit, you could do far worse than K-On. Its easy to get into, and you won't be left feeling sad or with a cliffhanger. Any comments/criticism/feedback of my review would be greatly appreciated, so feel free to message me.

Now onto K-On season 2!! (Don't judge me, the cake and tea is pretty addictive).

I really liked it when I whatched it but as time passed I forgot everything Its a fine show if you like slice of life cute girls doing cute stuff you will like it if you arent the type to actually like or whatch something like this you will dislike it.Its not a figthing anime its a comfy cute type of anime.Which is why: I reccomend it to people who like cutesy anime.And I dont to people who look for something like aot and dislike the genre.

For me it was fine I cant remember it but i had a good time when I whatched it.

K On!

"Charcters are very one dimensional in personalty and behaviour and just iritate me after a while, add this to a non exisitant storyline/plot and you get the most hyped series i've ever seen.

And does it live up to the "Kyoto" name........... well no it doesn't even come close."

Synopsis:

Well a quick overview of the Story, Well there is a music club run by 3 girls (Mugi,Mio,Ritsu) the club is going to go under because a lack of pupils joining it, untill Yui joins to club and becomes there Guitarist, They then find one more member Azusa and build up to preform in a concert at ... the school.

My View:

I feel this series is caught between 2 genres (Music/Slice Of Life (School Life) and couldnt really get into either. If you dismiss all the hype over "Ohh its sooo cute and soo cool" and how Otakus have gone mad over this series i just cannot see the appeal, The characters dont deserve any praise they just are ordinary to me. Combine that what a story that doesn't progress and no Character development what so ever.

So to sum up they join a music club and recruit one member and play a song! i feel cheated of all the hours wasted on this series my advise is just skip this story or watch the first few episodes to understand the characters "Traits" Example: Mio being scared, Yui is useless and clumsy, Mugi is mature etc... and go to season 2 or just drop it all together.

To me this is the most overhyped series ever!!!!!!!

Art:

It's Kyoto, so you expect nothing else than amazing visuals and character style. and this series continues the trend.
AMAZING....................

Sound:

Not too bad but still Mugi,Ritsu,Yui voice really annoy me.

Characters:

Cute,but thats about all you will get from these characters.

Enjoyment:

I suppose it looks great but the enjoyment is ruined by the story (or lack of) and the Characters.

K-On! has the reputation for being one of the early musical genre anime series and the production of a double-cour season shortly after kind of proves that. That being said, this one starts out really slowly and the payoff just isn't there. Yet.

Story: K-On! starts us out with Yui, who needs to find a club to join during her high school years. Meanwhile, Ritsu, Mio and Tsumugi need to find members to join their Light Music Club, as clubs are required to have at least four members in order to be safe from being disbanded as an official club. Yui kind ... of falls into their lap, but has very little to speak of in terms of experience with an instrument - much less, the one they need for their club, a guitarist. They, however, see this as a golden opportunity to get an interested member and go through a lot in an effort to keep Yui in their club. Eventually, they get her to stay, but not before getting through some significant hurdles, first.

As mentioned, this series feels really slow, just because the process of getting Yui accustomed to both the club, and her new instrument, does unfortunately take a while. What doesn't really help is that Ritsu, the drummer and club president, Mio, the bassist, and Tsumugi, the keyboardist, don't do a very good job at making their club seem attractive. What's the incentive to join, why would members join, and what are their goals? These are all questions that are never really answered, and the thing that gets Yui to join isn't even really club related. It's just a needlessly long process.

This series, at least nowadays, would likely be compared to both Fuuka and Sound! Euphonium because of the genre. Form a band, play music, succeed. This season very much gets the first two steps through the door, but it really lacks the ultimate payoff that we hear and see in both Fuuka and Sound! Euphonium. The band performances are still good... but nothing compared to the other two. It almost feels like this series tried to keep things very safe. It feels way too safe though, and this in part has to do with the fact that I don't think the animation during the climax of the series did much for it. The entire process to get there does have some nice storylines though, and it plays to the tune of "let kids be kids" sort of feel. It keeps things light without much in the way of drama in between.

I can't say I'm fully disappointed in the story because the ultimate goal to form a band and keep it going was obviously met, even if with varying levels of success. The individual members' commitment to playing those instruments is very obvious, a passion I'd actually look forward to in future installments, which I do want to check out. (5/10)

Characters: One of the problems I feel like this series has is the complete lack of maturity in it's main cast, especially with Yui and Ritsu. Despite being in high school, Yui, while committed, really doesn't see the grander scale of things at both home, and school, a lot of the time, and it makes it hard to like her as a character. She comes off as very dense throughout much of the runtime and I'd like to see that toned down in future installments. Ritsu is the president of the club, though you likely wouldn't know it by watching her. She's not the most focused and mirrors Yui quite a bit, and not in a good way. She obviously has talent, but even shrugging off admin duties just makes her come off as lazy. Mio is likely the most mature of the group, and she's a much more fascinating watch. Even though she still has a tendency to fall for Yui and Ritsu's immature tricks, she comes off as someone way more committed to music, and I could honestly see her character being in the spotlight next season. I really liked how they focused on her being a lefty too, which obviously comes with it's own setbacks when playing a bass. Tsumugi is a bit of a timid girl, but comes from a very high end family. She remains humble and is still a fun character to watch, avoiding any tropes that come from being privileged.

Nodoka is Yui's best friend and is also a very responsible student. She does a lot of admin duties for the student council and seems to back the Light Music Club, despite the very immature nature of their members. She keeps Yui focused on reality at times and she's a solid inclusion. Ui, Yui's sister, is one year younger, but far, far more mature. It almost feels like she'd make a better main character than Yui because there's so much more to like. She's very aware of her sister's shortcomings and even tries to make up for it more often than she really needs to. Azusa joins the picture part way through, and like Mio, wants to get work done, despite the environment that she's in. She's another character that I enjoyed quite a bit. Only problem is that her respect for certain characters comes off as questionable at times. Ms. Tamanaka is the club's advisor and I really didn't enjoy how much she was included here. She clearly takes wind of how the girls' slack off during club time quite a bit and does very little to keep them focused. It really doesn't help the slow nature of the series.

Despite all the shortcomings that our main cast have, my favourite part of them is their ability to really buckle things down when the situation asks for it. The Light Music Club, as individuals, don't really inspire much. But as a group, I really enjoyed watching them. (7/10)

Art: K-On! is certainly not the most amazing looking series, though it is over ten years old now. It really does suffer from far-away shots. For some reason, this series, again, really played it safe by not including many shots of them playing their instruments. Whether this is to save on needing to animate it, or to keep them playing only during those high moments, I felt it really took away from the series. (6/10)

Sound: I wouldn't say I was the biggest fan of the music in general except for the ED, Don't say 'lazy', which was a lot of fun. This is a very talent VO cast by today's standards, and even featured some voices that I didn't even know voiced back then. That starts with Christine Marie Cabanos (Azusa) and Xanthe Huynh (Ui), who are as perfect with voicing young characters back then as they are now. Both of these VOs would have been near the start of their careers, and these performances are examples of why they still voice today. Cristina Vee (Mio) was an excellent choice for her character, playing the serious and non-serious moments perfectly, something Vee has quite the reputation for nailing. Stephanie Sheh (Yui) plays off Yui's silly moments well, but I'm not sure we wanted her to make her come off as sounding that helpless all the time. Sheh, in my view, has had some up and down performances over the years where I don't feel she always matches her character at all times, despite having roles that ask quite a bit of her. (8/10)

Overall Enjoyment: K-On! is clearly the start of something that could be amazing. I didn't mind this season 'that' much, but there's a lot of things I'd like to see shored up in the sequels. It's obviously very possible, something that Sound! Euphonium does well. Whether or not they pull it off, I am keen to find out. (6/10)

Oh, K-On. This anime is both famous and infamous for a lot of things. I watched it when it was first coming out, and at first I thought it was okay...but then watching it more and more began to frustrate me with every episode, though I did finish it and the second season, which will be its own separate review. K-On is said to be the anime that popularized the moe anime genre, particularly the "cute girls doing cute things" type of it, which some may say was to the anime industry's detriment. After seeing both seasons, I think I can see why. In all ... honesty, K-On as a show really frustrates me, because it does have potential to be a good show, but rather than utilize that potential, it just wastes all of its time waffling around and focusing on cutesy moe antics rather than the more important stuff. After I finished K-On, I didn't go near it again until this year when it randomly came out on Netflix, so I thought maybe I'd rewatch it again and see if maybe I have a better opinion on it.

The result? No, my initial feelings on it haven't changed. It's still as frustrating as it was back when I first watched it.

So the base premise is that four--later five--high school girls start a light music club after it gets disbanded. Yui Hirasawa, the guitarist, is a cheerful, spacey girl who has never played a guitar in her life and just wants to spend her days having fun and being a ditz. Ritsu Tainaka, the guitarist, and her friend Mio Akiyama, the bassist, are the ones who initially reform the light music club, with rich girl Tsumugi Kotobuki, who plays synth, and level-headed freshman Azusa Nakano, also a guitarist, joining soon after. Though everyone tries to learn more about music and playing their instruments, most of the members prefer wasting their time eating sweets, drinking tea, goofing off, and getting all mushy-gushy with one another, to the frequent irritation of the members who are more dedicated to music.

No, really. I'm not kidding you with that last sentence. That's really all the show is: Just a bunch of girls waffling around and doing everything except playing music and getting their act together. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with slice-of-life anime. I don't want to give the impression that I outright hate slice-of-life anime. Many of my favorites happen to be in that genre. However, if you make a slice-of-life anime where nothing happens, your audience isn't going to care. Characters in a story, even in a slice-of-life story, need to face challenges in a way that'll make the audience care about them, if done well. And that's one of my biggest beefs with K-On: Any challenges the girls face always wind up having some sort of convenient solution that neatly wraps everything up in a neat bow and doesn't present any actual conflict. Yui doesn't have enough money to buy a guitar? Let's have the rich girl's father own the music store she gets it from and have her buy it at a discount! Mio accidentally flashes her underwear at a crowd? Let's soften the blow by having some people form a fan club around it, which is totally not utterly degrading and humiliating whatsoever! One of the club members calls everyone out on their lack of drive? Let's have her warm up to them by having the girls cuddle her and have her stick cat ears on her head! No one ever faces any consequences for their actions, or lack of action, with Ritsu being the biggest offender on this one, as she continually bullies Mio and acts like a brat towards her, but any repercussions she gets are always played for laughs, and she never faces serious karma.

Speaking of the characters, everyone's a moe blob. Yui's the clumsy, clueless ditz, Mio's the exasperated level-headed one, Ritsu's the obnoxious tomboy, Mugi's the rich girl, and Azusa is basically a younger Mio. Other than Mio, Azusa, and Ui, I really didn't like any of the characters, namely because the show is trying so hard to make them seem as cutesy and super pwecious as possible rather than making them feel like people. Yui in particular annoys me with the fact that she acts less like a high schooler and more like a 5-year-old shoved in a Barney skit, and the show infantilizes her like crazy. Who the hell legitimately DOESN'T know that you have to pay to get your guitar strings replaced?! Most people would know before high school age that if something is broken, you either buy a new one or pay somebody to fix something for you, like changing a light bulb or having a vet prescribe medicine for your sick pet! The teacher is just there to complain about her lost youth and shove the girls in stupid outfits, and Nodoka, as good as she is, is woefully underutilized. I can totally understand why people wouldn't like a show like K-On based on how the characters act in this alone. I mean, you don't necessarily watch certain anime for realistic acting or three-dimensional characterization, which is fine. But when you lean too heavily on trying to make your characters as diabetes-inducingly saccharine as possible, without putting in the effort to develop them, flesh them out, or make the audience care about them, you screwed up hard. Also, Mio and Azusa deserve better. They really do.

Seeing as this is a music anime, one would think the soundtrack would be good, right? Uhh...no. I mean, the background music in and of itself is fine, if rather sappy at certain points. But the actual songs the girls write and sing are, like them, ridiculously childish. Granted, nobody expects teenagers to automatically be as good as Celine Dion in a nanosecond, which is fine. But again, the show is favoring cuteness over substance, and the girls' songs, along with their lyrics, are nauseating and painful to listen to a lot of the time. One song is about friggin ballpoint pens, for Pete's sake! Who the hell writes a song about pens?! All their songs are little more than generic bubblegum pop that's all just so grating on the ears. In all honesty, the only good thing the anime has going for it is the animation. KyoAni prides itself on fluid animation that really brings the characters to life rather than having them be just static images with moving mouths and blinking eyes, and this continued even after K-On's runaway success. But good animation isn't enough to hide K-On's blatant flaws.

That being said, do I think K-On is a bad show? Not necessarily, I've seen plenty of stuff that's even worse (*coughcoughLapisReLightscoughcough*), but it's completely held back by cliches and the desire to be as moe as possible. I do plan on seeing the second season and reviewing it, but I doubt I'll like it any more than this one, especially since the second season is longer than this one. But hey, if you like K-On, cool! More power to you! It may not be for me, but sometimes people like their cotton candy anime, and that's okay.

The Positive Side: K-on! Is often cited as the definitive “cute girls doing cute things” show, and on that end, it certainly delivers.
The show follows four high school girls who form an amateur rock band and learn to play. The four main characters all have distinct personalities and quirks, and it can be a lot of fun watching them goof around. Yui is an over-grown child, fun-loving, naïve and easily distracted, but in the rare moments she manages to focus, her energy and passion is inspiring. Mio is the brains of the group, keeping the less dedicated girls on task, but her ... authoritarian attitude is at odds with her self-doubt and constant fits of panic. Ritsu is the cavalier and irreverent tom-boy, perpetually teasing Mio. Mugi, the rich girl, is the most soft-spoken member of the group, but she has an inquisitive nature and a desire for personal accomplishment that separates her from the cliché of the rich, spoiled brat. While the characters are exaggerated, they each have a certain emotional depth, and play off each other quite well.
While there is quite a bit of slapstick, some of the comedy is surprisingly subversive and original. The series opens with our heroine running late for the first day of school. I flat-out rolled my eyes as she dashed down the street, obligatory toast in mouth, facing numerous delays before bursting into school… and immediately realizing that she misread the clock, and wasn’t late at all. Realizing how badly my own cynicism and knowledge of clichés had misled me, I had no choice but to laugh, both at the cleverness of the gag, and at myself.
The central goal of the rock band the girls form gives the show more direction than some Slice of Life series have, though this also can make it a bit frustrating that more time isn’t spent on the advancement of the band. Appropriate to a series about a band, the music is very well done. The opening theme has a peculiar blend of heavy metal and J-POP, with a driving, energetic beat that is sure to get stuck in your head.

The Negative Side: While the comedy is usually pretty solid, the show makes a running gag of Mio having constant emotional break-downs, and this is honestly more uncomfortable to watch than it is funny. There are also a few rather Haruhi Suzumiya-esque molestation jokes, but these are kept comparatively mild and infrequent. While the music is catchy, the lyrics are pretty vapid, and the soundtrack is rather limited. None of these, however, are the biggest problem I have with the series.
The biggest problem I have with this series? No lesbian make-out sessions.
…I’m being serious. Wait, don’t close the review yet, I’m going somewhere with this, I promise!
There’s something supremely unsatisfying about a show where everyone is obviously gay, and yet no-one is allowed to have an explicit gay relationship. There’s little excuse for this kind of timidity when Sailor Moon gave us an out-and-out lesbian relationship all the way back in the freakin’ 90’s.
If the series’ homoerotic overtones were played purely for comedy and fanservice, I think I’d be able to forgive the lack of relationships, but K-on! tries to have it both ways, playing lesbian attractions for drama without actually admitting that said lesbian attractions exist. Episode 11 centers around Mio spending time with Nadoka (a girl in her class) and Ritsu becoming jealous as a result. Ritsu tries to hide her feelings, playing around and teasing Mio as usual, but her jibes are noticeably more mean-spirited and unnatural. The other girls notice that something is wrong, and make anxious, desperate efforts to lighten the mood and continue their practice session. Ultimately, these efforts fail, and Ritsu leaves in frustration and disgust, claiming she can’t play today. After getting to know the characters, this is a genuinely painful scene to watch. It’s obvious that Ritsu has feelings for Mio, and equally obvious that she needs to come out and express those feelings. And at the end of the episode, she just, sort of… doesn’t. Her feelings of jealousy magically go away, and the show continues like nothing ever happened. Mio spends some time with Ritsu caring for her while she’s sick, which is sweet, but neither of them makes any kind of meaningful approach towards the other.
So… why not? Why, after the obvious emotional turmoil and build-up does the series fail to deliver any kind of meaningful emotional climax? Are the writers simply afraid of screwing up the show’s dynamic by introducing a romantic subplot? It seems a bit odd that they would display that level of attachment to the status quo when they introduced a new major character half-way through the series. It almost feels like the show is fetishizing homosexuality, portraying homosexuality as something too taboo and naughty to be portrayed openly.
While K-on! succeeds as a slice-of-life comedy, it squanders its own potential by refusing to admit the relationships it teases. While I enjoyed the characters and came to care about their struggles, I couldn’t help but feel that they emotionally fenced-in by their own writers. While it’s not a bad show, I don’t recommend anyone rush it to the top of their “To-Watch” list, either. If you want a light-hearted comedy about cute, gay schoolgirls, go watch Sakura Trick instead. The music isn’t as great, but it also doesn’t keep its lesbians suffocating in the closet for thirteen episodes.

K-On! was an anime of it's time and it certainly hasn't aged well. If I had watched when if first came out, chances are I would've been all over, but that isn't the case now.

Now it all seems it's just the same thing all over again, cute girls being cute. Oh, guess what, it's different because they play music! I don't really see it as something memorable or anything that would set standards (like other music SOL anime).

But, if you're into that, watch K-On!

Story: 4/10

I forgive it for not having too clear of a plot as it's a slice of life, but ... I will say as an anime that I went in thinking I wouldn't have to pay too close attention to it, having others telling me that them growing up is the story, which is, quite frankly, boring. I can't say that's even easy for me to say for it's a reach to make in my eyes.

Art: 6/10

I have nothing else to say other than I thought it was cute until I noticed a variety of other anime with the same exact style. Otherwise, there's some issues with the animation and how they shoot scenes. But the fact this anime came out in 2009 needs to be taken in to account.

Sounds: 5/10

The music is bland and generic. It sounds as if they're trying too hard to be cute or to fit in with the "anime music". Even the BGM is generic. But... the voice actors are pretty good, even Yui's (despite the fact I honestly despise Yui's voice because of how high pitched and grating it is, her singing voice is even worse).

Character: 5/10

They are all very, very stereotypical and fit into a sub type somehow. All of the characters can be seen as unbearable and obnoxious if someone can't stand moe girls.

The only thing I really appreciated was the subtle character development, my favorite being Mio as it appeared to be the most realistic and something I could relate to.

Enjoyment: 6/10

I enjoyed it while I watched it and nothing more. I wouldn't want to rewatch it because then I would start nitpicking it more than I already have. It's something to turn off your mind to and that wasn't the easiest for me to do. K-On! isn't my cup of tea, but I can certainly see how it can be someone's favorite.

Overall: 5/10

Mediocre. K-On! just isn't supposed to be seen as something deep or meaningful, it's something fun and cute other people can enjoy. If you're expecting something unique and different... Well...

K-On! is a show that will not surprise you or make you cry but it is most certainly worth the watch if you are just looking for something casual!
The series has no distinct story elements that make it stand out, the entire show is essentially a generic Slice of Life / Musical anime with a fantastic premise and soundtrack.

We start off with our main character, who is quite the airhead, joining the "Light Music club" with no musical ability at all, the members of said club convince her to stay despite the lack of music skill and she decides to purchase a guitar and learns ... it in a few episodes like some kind of god. From there, the anime introduces the teacher and a few other characters who add to the story overall but nothing special. The characters in this series all have there own traits that make them easy to seperate from one another and are very happy most of the time, but once again, nothing special.

The animation is crisp and playful at the same time. There is so much emphasis on bringing these characters, the music and there surroundings to life which I have to give Kyoto Animation credit where credit is due. They have shown time and time again with series such as "Hyouka" and "Clannad" that they can emerge you into an animated world with the great amount of effort that goes into producing each series.

The tracks "Cagayake! GIRLS" (OP) and "Don't say 'lazy" (ED), they are very catchy and give you a sense of what you want out of the music that the Light Music Club will play. Sadly, they only play like 2 songs throughout the entire series and they don't live up to the two tracks previously introduced.

In conclusion, I believe this show to be worth watching despite some of the disappointments it brings. K-On! is a very cute, lighthearted and adventurous series with colorful animation and a good OST. Even though the story and aspects of the characters don't deliver, everything else does.

Enjoy your tea and cake everyone!