K-On!

I'll tell you this; I didn't watch this anime for the music or because its cute I simply watched it because 2 of my friends told me too. And I thought, "ok", not really appealed to it very much because I'm not really into Slice of Life anime like Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh, I watch it. And you know what happened I fell in love with it. I thought after watching it, that it is a Charming little anime to relax to. It amused me and made me smile. Usually when I watch Slice of Life anime I get bored and space out, especially ... when I'm watching the first episode. But this anime was different it moved with a pace that kept me watching.

STORY
The first episode was fun to watch because it actually had a plot where a girl who has done nothing with her life decides she wants to do something involving a club. Mean while The light music club is going to be cut due to the fact they are one member short. And so the main girl, Yui, joins the club thinking it will be simple finds out its more work than that. She is going to actually have to do something and learn a instrument. and the Story unfolds from there with the member's many adventures.

ART
I for one like the art, its nice and cute. It's appropriate for the style of anime. I'm not quite sure why but I like how it shows the characters teeth with they smile and talk. And that the hair colors are more believable than other Slice Of Life I've seen. I don't see so much cotton candy anywhere.

SOUND
I like the sound like the background music and the voices are appropriate for the characters. Plus I like how the Opening is catching and the Ending is as well. It's pretty rare for me to like both when watching an anime.

CHARACTER
The characters are pretty simple but effective. So lets see, what do we have here?
Yui- The stupid, clueless Girl
Ritsu- The cool, mischievous, joyful girl
Mio- The shy, short-tempered girl that scared of everything
Mugi- The rich yet kind girl who makes good cake

The way I look at things, getting children into music is never a bad thing, it gives them something to focus on, enhances the brain and can be a future for some, be it as a musician or any of the jobs with a musical need. Well at least thats before starting K-On, some ways should't be used to get kids into music, especially when it dumbs it down to the lowest level.

Story - 2/10

Even though the show sells itself as a music/band show, a majority of the time it's a slice of life/school show, with just a bit of musical talk in-between.

It's not a ... complicated story. Girls enter their freshman year of high school, start a music club and become a band, yeah kinda sums up the whole first season. The reason you can sum up the whole season in few words is the lack of detail or story put into it. In twelve episodes two full years pass, most series don't get a full year done in a full twenty four episode run. Because of this they never dwell on much besides the same repeated gags, heck they apparently had so little content they pretty much repeated two episodes and had a semi-recap episode at the end. The only time I felt they cared about the story was the winter break bonus episode.

More than anything the reason I just had to give the series such a low score is the unrealistic take they have on music. Within a few weeks of getting her guitar, Yui can't really play chords, but she can shred like the best metal musicians, not to mention she has no idea of the other basic components of playing or keeping a guitar. Well maybe there can be one genius who picks up the hardest art that quickly (outside the fact it takes time just to build dexterity to allow you to move so fast) but later in the series her sister Ui mention's holding Yui's guitar a couple times and that alone was enough for her to be a great guitarist. It sets a terrible standard for people who watch the show and want to pick up an instrument. If they feel it was supposed to be so easy, but now they can't play after months, they'll just give up, not realizing it can take years to just be decent. Instead of plowing through two years, shorten the time span but add Yui taking lessons, learning different things or at least just make a her an average player until later in the series.

Animation - 4/10

The pilot episode's animation was all over the place. There was a joke, and a liberal attitude towards, the animation in FLCL and I think these guys took it as a serious way of doing things. There's points when within a scene the animation style would change rapidly, not even waiting for a change or a transition of changing rooms. It could be attributed to using many different key animators in order to get the episode finished, but it was just very jarring and throws you off right at the start.

Things settled down in future episodes and everything started to flow much better, so there is a plus in them getting their act together. Throughout you can see an inspiration from shows like FLCL and Excel Saga, but it just didn't work here. The two shows mentioned are comedies, but they are created for a wide audience with elements of actions, drama and comedy. K-On is a comedy but it seems singularly focused on one demographic, particularly ten to fourteen year old females, so the already cutesy look doesn't need to be enhanced with the chibi looks and wacky faces, or at least not to the degree they did.

As a musician I was always going to nitpick the equipment used, but after that train wreck of a first episode I would have been happy with proper shapes for the instruments, boy was i wrong. When they walked in the music store I was shocked how they got so many instruments correct and to a high detail that was amazing. Between the guitars, amps and drum sets seen in the show, you can see they spent months researching and drawing these items alone.

Sound - 5/10

The music for the show is both decent and terrible at the same time. While the music itself isn't that bad, the lyrics to the opening and closing are horrible. They'd probably make anyone who listened to it a feminist, because the lyrics just make girls out to be morons who want to shop and chase boys. I can understand the lyrics to band's songs being this way, as they are suppose to be from the perspective of the young girls, but the opening and closing songs aren't, heck unlike the songs within the series these two songs even have terrible melodies. The songs the girls are suppose to write have a pretty good sound to them, but again terrible lyrics, but I can let that pass as it seems intentional. One shining star in their song catalog is Fuwa Fuwa Time (I believe that's the one i'm thinking of) which sounds like an Andrew W.K. song but with females singing it.

The voices aren't so bad either. They're cutesy, but they match the girls pretty well and never get to the point you want to shut the show off because of them. Out of all the girls I'd have to say the best voice was that of Tsumugi, they picked a voice that sounded very authentic for the character, but somewhat out of the norm for Anime shows, where every voice is so stylized. The actors did a really good job with the range of emotions they had to put in for each character, it would have just been cool to see if they could do the song lyrics in english too, as they did with the show Beck.

There are very few minor characters or even one off characters to rate, but the fact they were able to keep each girl distinctive might have been helped by that, limiting the doubling up on voice actors and leaving out many other characters in an all girls school that would have to sound somewhat similar.

Characters - 5/10

The characters are pretty run of the mill and due to the speed in which the series passes we don't learn much, but still there's room to grow and that counts for something.

For the whole series there are only eight characters and two or three minor characters. The band consists of Yui, the previously mentioned solo prodigy who can't play simple things on the guitar, who's also a bit of an imbecile. They try to cover her playing and out of the blue perfect test by saying "once she sets her mind to it she'll do anything" but it's a cop out. Ritsu plays drums and is also a bit of moron. Her (Ritsu's) friend from grammar school, Mio, plays bass and is afraid of basically everything. Tsumugi shares the spotlight as the pretty girl (along with Mio) who also comes from an enormously rich family, she's oblivious to the real world and a complete stereotype of dumb rich people. Later in the season underclassman Azusa joins the band as a second guitarist, she's pretty normal and just wants to play her best.

Rounding out the main characters are Nodoka, Yui's childhood friend and member of the student council, she's everything Yui isn't. Yui's sister Ui, who is basically the same character as Nodoka but bubbly, she acts like the mother at home and takes care of Yui. FInally theres Ms. Yamanaka, possibly the most fully developed character in the series, we actually learn about her past, her likes and other little things about her life.

Again I would have loved for them to just develop the characters over a year's time instead of two, but instead we just got many many copies of things we've seen before.

Overall - 5/10

I came in having high hopes for the series, I love being a musician and as I said I think shows geared towards kids that push music are great for growing the art form. But instead we got a fourth rate school show with a little bit of the life here and there. I wouldn't have been as disappointed if it was just marketed as a school show, but they pushed the music angle then ran from it. After each episode I did want to get on to the next, but part of me thinks it was in hopes it would be different.

It's a cute show, just not a rewatch type of show.

With a second season and movie still here for the viewing I hope the series gets back to it's intended path, the bonus episode was a good start, but this show easily strays.

The title of this delightful little comedy comes from the Japanese for “light music” (軽音楽 keionga) and that’s exactly what it’s about – the members of an all-girls’ school’s light music club. Yes, it might sound a bit trite, but I was sold the minute Detroit Metal City’s Krauser II made an unscheduled guest appearance – that’s when I had a feeling there was something special lurking here.

I call it delightful for two reasons, firstly it is seriously funny and secondly, it’s as cute as hell (and I’m such a sucker for cute). Don’t let yourself be put off by the moe though, as a ... comedy, K-On stands head and shoulders above anything else in the genre this season. It’s not all laugh-a-minute stuff, but there’s been plenty of punchlines that have had me laughing out loud – and that doesn’t happen often. Being the product of a 4koma seinen manga means that the underlying comedy isn’t wildly silly, nor does it rely on cheap fanservice for laughs. Ok… the one exception might be Ritsu and Yui’s reaction to Mio’s *ahem* somewhat better development in the chest area, shown during the obligatory beach episode.

What K-On also does well, besides immediately introducing us to a cast of immensely likeable characters, is break with the usual plot device. It’s not about somebody lacking talent trying to break into the music club, but rather the members of the music club wanting to keep the talentless one around, in order to keep the club going. This is done with copious amounts of tea and cake… something the club spends more time eating than actual practising. Hence the band’s name – “After School Teatime.”

Obviously, the story revolves around the initial four band members. Heading up the pack is Yui Hirasawa. Our introduction to Yui involves her slipping and landing on her backside and the viewer pretty much gets the picture that she’s spent most of her young life falling, or sitting, on said backside. She’s sort of drifted through life, with no direction and only ends up joining the club, because her level-headed friend, Nodaka, half-jokingly suggests that people who don’t join clubs become NEETs later in life. Luckily, it turns out she’s a bit of an idiot savant (as a friend described her) when it comes to the guitar, which although a very convenient plot device, is played for laughs, as she tends to forget things the minute she’s learnt something new. She’s also oblivious to things like tuning the guitar or playing vibrato… these things just happen naturally to her. As Mio describes her, “She’s the kind of person who plays games without reading the manual.”

The other band members comprise Ritsu Tainaka, the drummer, club leader and impetuous hothead, and Mio Akiyama, her long time friend, who plays the bass and generally tries to be the cool, calm and collected one amongst the general mayhem. The only problem is, she’s as flaky as the rest of them – she’s terribly shy (and goes to pieces at the mere thought of having to sing lead vocals, but manages to overcome this and step up to the plate… er… mike when required), cowers in terror at the mere hint of scary stuff (especially barnacles for some reason) and worries that she isn’t “cute.” The interplay between these two, with Ritsu often sporting an impressive array of head lumps, as she tests Mio’s patience once too often, provides the comic links between scenes.

Making up the quartet is the keyboard player, Tsumugi Kotobuki (she of the incredible eyebrows). Sadly, her character doesn’t quite get the same treatment it does in the manga, and more often than not, she sort of fades into the background. You see, young Mugi-chan is a rich little princess, who seems to have lived a sheltered life (although she has had piano lessons since age 4, which makes her a natural for the club). Little things like trying to earn some spare cash to buy Yui’s guitar (the fact that her family owns the music store in question greatly simplifies matters) and eating at McDonald’s are all wonderful new adventures for her. However, whilst the anime portrays her as being uncomfortable about her wealth around her friends, the manga portrays her in a slightly different light. Here, she knows she’s the boss’ daughter and isn’t afraid to use that knowledge on cowering staff. After all, nobody said “cute” has to be “nice,” right? The manga also hints that Mugi-chan is slightly confused when it comes to relationships.

K-On also does something odd in adding a new central character two-thirds of the way through. This is the intense little junior, Azusa, who signs up in their second year. Unlike Yui, Azusa knows her way around a guitar, but joins up thinking Yui is a genius, based on her performance at the opening ceremony. Despite soon learning the truth, and being horrified at the club’s “tea-and-cake” method of practising, she becomes the fifth member, deferring the role of lead guitar to Yui, to whom she still looks up, despite being a musical klutz. Although the story probably could have carried on without her, her addition does make the double-edged point that there’s more to club life than just practising, whilst reminding the others that there is a time and place for everything.

Surrounding them is a small, but equally likeable, cast of side characters, headed up by Yui’s younger sister, Ui, who deserves a paragraph of her own. Now anime generally makes younger sisters adorable – just think of Clannad’s Mei-chan and Hidamari’s Chika-chan – but Ui-chan takes it to a whole new level. She plays the unwitting straight man to her flaky onee-chan, to great comic effect. It basically boils down to the fact that she hero-worships her older sister, can see only good in all Yui’s quirks (which hasn’t exactly motivated Yui to change) and will do anything for her (to the point of impersonating her at one stage)… something Yui takes full advantage of, probably without realising she is taking advantage. Strangely, given her lovely nature, the kanji for her name – 憂 – translates as “sorrow” or “unhappy” (then again, Yui’s – 唯 – translates as “only” or “solely”, so maybe her parents weren’t too thrilled when child number two popped out. Of course, given her lot in life and constant slaving after Yui, it’s quite possible Ui kicks little anime puppies around the garden when not on camera).

The club’s advisor, Sawako-sensei’s presence is a little jarring at times, what with her cosplay fetish and somewhat dodgy interest in the girls’ breasts. I know all anime teachers are supposed to be insane, but she’s just a little too over the top for my liking, given the general tone of the comedy. That said, her exposure, as the demon metal queen of a past keion, was fun. Nodaka-chan, Yui’s childhood friend and student council rep, pops up now and again, normally to play another straight man, or to provide some background on Yui, or to terrorise Ritsu, because of some or other form she hasn’t filled in.

If there’s one real jarring note to the whole series, it comes in the penultimate episode, when – for reasons known only to the writers – they try to inject some drama into the storyline. The problem is, as with most comedies, the characters aren’t developed enough for this to work and you’re left thinking, “Where the hell did that come from?” It’s even more out of place when you consider that K-On pokes deliberate fun at the “evil student council trying to close down the club” dramatic plot device early on.

Luckily, this aberration soon passes and we end not only on a comedic high note, but also with the knowledge that flighty, air-headed Yui is probably going to be ok. As she says to herself, “To the me back then, you don’t need to worry. You’ll soon find something you can do, something you can set your heart on…” Actually, her development is illustrated nicely towards the end, when we see her about to slip again, in almost identical circumstances to the opening scenes, but this time she stays on her feet.

The animation is well done, with surprising attention to little things. We see the scrape marks on wooden floors where doors open; the girls sweat (or should that be “glow”?) when performing; Yui struggles to climb on stage with a guitar bag swinging on her back. Probably most importantly, they aren’t static while playing – fingers move on fretboards, cymbals to the cymbal thing, Mugi plays chords on her keyboard, etc, etc.; so it’s heartening to see that the animators didn’t try and cut costs there. They didn’t skimp on product placement either. Mugi has a Korg synthesiser, Ritsu plays a Yamaha drum kit and Yui’s axe is a Gibson Les Paul… which she bought, not because it’s a Les Paul, but because it was “cute” (yes, that’s how Yui’s mind works).

Even musically, the show isn’t bad… which is a good thing, seeing as music forms the backdrop of the whole story. Made-for-anime music can sometimes be dreadful, but K-On’s actually isn’t bad and that goes for the OP and ED (both of which were Top 5 hits on the Japanese charts, according to ANN) as well as the insert songs. It also helps that, as with most seiyuu, Aki Toyosaki and Youko Hikasa (who voice Yui and Mio respectively) can sing… although Aki does sound a little like a chipmunk on helium. You might need to ignore the lyrics which are decidedly cheesy (courtesy of Mio, who comes up with song titles such as “Curry after rice,” “My love is a stapler” and “Fluffy fluffy time”) but musically they’re not bad. Be warned – the OP, like a lot of anime music, is insanely addictive.

K-On would appear to be one the surprise hits of the current season, but given its characters, humour and music (not to mention the most prodigious use of giant sweat drops and head lumps I’ve seen in ages!), it’s hardly surprising. I somehow doubt this is going to be licensed, because of the musical content and royalty fees (God forbid they dub the songs!), so try and track it own online. Oh, and track down the manga too – you won’t be sorry.

This anime is simply peak of Slice of Life anime. There are very few that even come close. Do you like slice of life? Do you like CGDCT? Do you want to just chill while watching anime? Then watch this. Are you looking for an anime with a complex plot, an anime that has some deeper meaning that can be understood only if you watch Rick and Morty, or are looking for an anime that has MAPPA-tier fight sequences? Then avoid this anime.
This review will be looking at K-On! as a slice of life anime, with expectations adjusted to that fact.

Story [9]
Simply put, there isn't ... really any. Nearly all of the story progression is placed in two episodes. But that is fine. CGDCT is not a genre to watch if one cares about plot, and this is no exception. The very little story it provides is still great, however, and gives us some introduction of the characters, as well bringing us into the light music club. The micro-stories that each episode is centered around are generally fantastic, though with two effectively repeating after a year in school.

Art [9]
As expected of Kyoani, the art is goat. Fluid movement, full of details, and well fitting the overall theme and vibe of K-On!. Characters are expressive, change outfits, and look overall fantastic. There is no part of the anime that will make you go "budget moment 🤣", however, there are only a few spots where Kyoani goes all out, creating something beyond human comprehension, and while usually that would be enough to make me place a 10/10 in the art category, it made me only thirst for more. The baseline quality was too grand for its own good.

Sound [9]
The music in this anime will often blue-ball you, playing only a couple seconds of music outside of concerts and such. However, the full songs that they do play, as well as OP and ED are amazing. Nonetheless, if you plan to watch this anime for the music, you may as well find the songs on Spotify because the characters don't play full songs that often.

Characters [10]
Each member of the main cast has a unique personality, with plenty occasions where they show their traits. They have their own struggles, and have their own joys. They fit well with each other when together. Mugi. The characters' interactions are also very enjoyable to watch. Simply put, the characters are incredibly polished, consistent, and enjoyable to watch and listen to speak.

I've found K-On to be a fantastic light-hearted story with a refreshing lack of drama. I think the reason it's stood out so much for me this season is that the carefree aesthetic of the show is really quite refreshing. With other hard-hitting drama shows like Eden of the East are building tension and suspense through the whole episode, K-On gives an opposite approach, and really doesn't push any sort of seriousness on the viewer.

Ignoring the parameter of anime, even in American television shows these days, it seems like everything is over-dramatized and so many inconsequential scenarios are built up to ... be a big deal. In K-On, nothing is a big deal - it's seriously just a half-hour spot of relaxing, fun enjoyment. This is the charm of K-On for me.

If you're looking for excitement on a Gurren-Laggan-esque plane, K-On is not going to give it to you. If you're looking for a panty-shot every other frame and an outlet to swoon over scantily clad girls, then K-On isn't going to give it to you (despite the entire cast being female, all of whom are absolutely adorable).

K-On is by no means a jaw-dropper, but there is a certain calm aesthetic about that I've never really seen in a show before. It feels good to watch a group of best friends getting along and playing music (or more often, eating pastries and drinking tea), so if you're looking for an easy-to-watch show with no hidden, analyzable motifs that simply exists to put a smile on your face, I couldn't recommend anything more highly than K-On.

Earlier in the week I dabbled in the manga; eh it's okay, kinda simplistic in the panels, and the arrangement of then confused me at first: instead of reading across the page you read in like columns. odd.

So already knowing the story for the first couple episodes, watching this episode was kinda meh because I already knew pretty much what was going to happen. But I must say, this is one series that I'll keep watching this season :)

The series follows four high school girls, juniors, who join the light music club. All the previous members were seniors and left the school, leaving the ... club to be demolished. Tainaka Ritsu (drums) and Akiyama Moi (bass) decide they want to save the club! (Then Ritsu can become club president bwahaha) Soon after Kotobuki Tsumugi (keys) joins but their music teacher tells them they need at least four members for the club to stay afloat. Hirasawa Yui (guitar) joins for the sake of it, thinking it'll be something similar to grade-school music class. She then decides to leave but the rest of them wont have it! They persuade her with sweets and tea and eventually she gives in and joins. (isn't in this episode, but Tsumugi-chan comes from a wealthy family so she's forever bringing sweets and what-not to the club room). Now all Yui-chan needs to figure out is where to get a guitar...for 5000 yen...then learn to play it. (don't wanna spoil anything else XD)

First thing that caught my eye when looking through upcoming anime was the character designs. (its usually what draws me to most anime to begin with) and the character designs in K-ON! are awesome :D very...Haruhi Suzumiya. Just overall goodness. Also while on the topic of Suzumiya, Ritsu-chan's character reminds me of her, her and a little bit of Hyakko (although Hyakko reminds me of Suzumiya as well...) very energetic with "leadership" qualities.

Story, so far is good, although I'm a little biased cus I've read the manga, so I might not be as excited for it as others. It was one of the other things that enticed me into the series in the first place. Cus I'm a huge fan of Beck (I play guitar also) :). The background music during the show was a little...odd? to say the least, I didn't mind it, but at the same time it's not what i expected. Voice actors so far all seem to being doing an awesome job, nothings like "wow wtf is up with their voice lawwl" ... yet.

OP! Is good in regards to animation, the song itself "Cagayake! GIRLS" sung by the seiyuu of the main four characters..I'm not sure who's voice is it but theres one thats kind of annoying, it's kinda high pitched and squeaky...The ED on the other hand: awesome. In both animation and audio. Again it's sung by the seiyuu but this ones just...better lol. And the animation is really good, just makes you excited for later in the series when they're an actual band :D

Overall, an awesome series. A must watch this season for sure! :D

As an ardent connoisseur of visual media, you inevitably develop a refined and intrinsic sense for genre, one which allows you to quickly identify any titular work with an abstraction of its parts. Just as an engineer might recognize a machine's function solely by the arrangement of cogs inside, a practiced aesthete will know what a picture in motion will look like long before arriving at the last frame. In my case, I could immediately tell that K-ON! ultimately exists to deceive and disenfranchise its own audience, preying on them as they try desperately to fill the hole left behind by the traumas of life ... and the onslaught of time. Within minutes I was dreadfully aware that this show is a one-way track to even deeper depths of sadness.

K-ON! entices the dregs of society with the promise of carefree musical fun, so potent and enchanting that you'll forget we're all on a burning rock hurling towards Armageddon. But when really analyzed – when looked at as an actual work instead of a liquid injection of "kawaii" BULLSHIT – K-ON's strain of happiness is quickly seen as a disingenuous sort, only believable in the mind of someone who has never had a real human interaction and never plans to. Without going into detail about the barely-existent plot, K-ON! can be summarized as a comatose fever-dream in which literally nothing bad or troubling ever happens - except this concept is played straight and as though existence in such an intangible bubble is relatable.

In fact, while K-ON! is technically about a group of musicians trying to hone their skills and make something of themselves, the plot is largely incidental to the real purpose of the show: Watching cute girls doing cute things in a perfectly controlled environment. K-ON! is painstakingly crafted to exude warmth and comfort down to the atomic level, positively reaming the viewer with a thunderous torrent of cutesy antics and adorable interactions. Our charming cast enjoys a delightful existence of care-free music-playing, snack-eating, and group hugs - all in the cozy alcove that is their club room, which is kept at a perfect temperature and insulated from the Mormons.

I can't understate just how utopian this show is. Their world is so perfect that we can only assume the fossil fuel industry is nominally taxed and Elon Musk has finished the Hyperloop, ushering in an era of unprecedented prosperity for all. If it sounds like I'm pitching a good time right now, then congratulations, you've fallen into the same trap as the sorry souls before you. No matter how high your spirits are when watching this show, you're still going to be dragged kicking and screaming back to the real world each time the credits roll, no happier or more fulfilled than you were before. Where other shows can leave lasting positive effects, K-ON! will leave you listless and empty every time you finish an episode and remember the Hyperloop isn't real. All that has changed is that you have another unfillable craving on top of the preexisting ones: The craving to watch K-ON! so that you may forget the coldness in your own bones for another twenty or so minutes.

The reason for this lack of a long-lasting payoff is that K-ON! is too perfect. So peaceful and content that its highest peaks are still too low. No matter how well one can suspend their disbelief, it's always evident when something is too cheery to be real. Nothing in K-ON! resembles a world that can exist. No person depicted exemplifies a state of mind that can be fulfilled. The show is utterly devoid of genuine humanity, which principally requires that our happiness is scraped from the underbelly of a world that is always working against us. Happiness is granted in K-ON! - inherent and inalienable for all its characters. In truth, the entire series is an artifice built for the sole purpose of hooking lonely and vulnerable people in order to sell merchandise and a wealth of music that is not fully listenable in the show (which is an admirable fiscal pursuit worthy of respect, but we're talking solely in artistic terms at the moment).

Indeed, I knew from the start that the most memorable part of this show would be seeing my own tired and miserable face staring back at me in the TV's reflection when an episode ends. Where in K-ON! the layman will find warmth and comfort, the dilettante will find a crushing, perennial emptiness not unlike the kind felt when Obama left office. Where the uninitiated will see cute girls drinking tea, eating sweets, and playing instruments, the critically inclined will see aliens masquerading as a malformed idea of human beings – ones who are entirely unburdened by the cruelty of reality and the consequences of living. The nauseating barrage of platitudes on friendship will ring hollow because they are spoken by surrogate characters who have never felt pain and will therefore never feel love.

However 'cute' Yui, Ritsu, Mugi, Mio, and Azusa may seem to you, they are ultimately an insidious trick. These nonliving things prattling about the club-room represent the zenith of lies fed to us by Kawaii culture and the Kremlin agents who invented it to keep us docile. As the complicated nature of the real world wears you down, you will be continually tempted to alienate yourself from reality and return to K-ON! so you can experience a synthetic and addictive brand of happiness that the real world lacks.

As the minutiae of each nearly-identical episode recedes and coalesces into a single awful memory, you will stare vacantly out the window and think back to a distant time when there was more to life than this; painfully conscious of every solitary second you've spent watching K-ON!

Ultimately, I'm still glad this property exists because it created a multitude of products to buy, thus stimulating the economy. But nevertheless, if you're even considering watching this show, then that probably means your spark has gone out. It would behoove you to try reigniting it elsewhere, because make no mistake:

K-ON! is a show meant for the dead.

Yes, I believe this show is not worth watching. Is everything bad about it? No. I am absolutely impressed by the art in the opener. Never did I think an animator would accurately draw what it would actually look like for someone to play those instruments at that exact point in the music (check out the covers people do for the op).

Anyway putting that aside, three main problems occurred for me when watching this show.
1. Concept. It is a show about a music group getting together to play music, but a good portion, and I mean every scene except for a few, have very ... little to do with playing music.
2.Origin of Entertainment. From what I could get, enjoyment came from either looking at cute girls doing cute things, slice of life comedy, or both.
3. Characters. Look at the characters at the beginning of the show. Now look at them in the end, have they changed? No.

My biggest concern was the concept behind the show. Answer these statements with only agree or disagree. These girls are making a band. They get together to play music. The best "concert" scene of the show is the opening. Now stop. Let's think for a moment. This show is about a group of girls forming a band and playing music, but the only time they are actually performing seems to be the opening of the show. I think my point is fairly clear, though I may be mistaking it and it is really just a slice of life anime centered around music. I guess it would make sense as it would avoid making it another Lucky Star (I also did not enjoy this either since it reminded me too heavily of the fact that I could be doing the same exact things the characters were doing rather than watching it). But even as a slice of life, the entertainment, comedy, was too heavily focused on the moe factor, which brings me to my next point.

Why do I want to watch cutesy anime girls talk about starting a band but never actually play music? The kind of entertainment you can get from this show is what I can get from looking up moe pictures online. It is probably different for everyone else, but that is what I assumed was the entertainment. There were some points where the slice of life did come into play, but I felt the slice of life was never truly entertaining nor funny. Sorry, I don't like watching the same gags slice of life tends to offer.

Finally, the characters. Most storytelling in any shape or form always has some kind of character development which changes the character's personality, ESPECIALLY in slice of life. The reason is that CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS A KEY ELEMENT OF MOST ENTERTAINMENT MEDIUMS USING STORYTELLING. Even if the characters supposedly got better at playing together as a band and learned their instruments, it was completely irrelevant to personalities of the characters as they never really changed. This alone would not be a problem of there was something to be had from the interactions between the characters, but I came to realize that the interactions were a little too realistic for me, as in, I was constantly asking myself, "Hey, you could be doing this too, right? Why are you watching this then? Why are their interactions completely on the level of being plausible in reality minus a few things?"

These interactions may have been to convey a sense of realism, but to me, they conveyed reality, which, if you use anime as a form of entertainment to take your mind off of reality for a little, makes no sense. There were some moments that are clearly near impossible to find in your daily life, but the overall feel of the show, the entertainment, and the goal chasing are so easy to replicate with friends in real life that you might as well do it yourself.

Thus, as much as I would like to rave about the animation, the meat of the show is just too little for me to actually enjoy.

To break it down:
Pros:
+amazing opener animation
+a good representation of putting plan to action(minus some spots)
+enjoyable music

Cons:
-music was very limited
-little to no character development
-no need to watch the show for the same entertainment
-depended on moe for entertainment

I know there are some people with opposing opinions, so if wish to refute me, feel free. I might give this show another chance if there is enough opposition, but for now, this is an accurate representation of my thoughts for the K-On

K-on started out as a short comic strip manga. It became absurdly popular and has since been adapted into two TV anime, two OVAs, a film and a PSP game. Is it popular for a reason or does its popularity have nothing to do with quality? Let's take a look at the first anime and find out.

The story of K-on begins with a pair of girls named Mio and Ritsu who decide to join the soon to be abolished light music club. They soon find a third member, Mugi, but they need one more to keep the club alive. Enter Yui, a girl with no ... idea what light music is or even how to read music. To save their club, the group convinces her to join and learn how to play the guitar. The series follows a linear structure, but most of it just focuses on the everyday lives of the girls as they learn together and have fun. Overall the series does a good job of setting up interesting situations for the characters and executing them in a way that's fun to watch. Humour is used as a major element and it's almost always used to great effect. One issue I do have is that the girls overcome all their problems really easily. Especially Yui who quickly learns how to play the guitar with only minor problems. But it's not a huge issue since it does fit the show's lighthearted aesthetic well.

The characters are a little under-developed. Most of them follow tropes without ever really deviating from those tropes. The characters do interact well with each other and with the situations they get into. They also get some development, but they never get fully fleshed out.

The art is good. It's pretty distinctive and the backgrounds are really vivid and well done. They occasionally do strange things with it, but they don't go overboard and it generally works for the scene. One problem I do have with it is that they can't seem to draw noses but that is a pretty small complaint. My biggest complaint is that the art can be lazy at times but overall it does suit the series well.

The voice acting is well done. It's not the best I've heard, but Toyoskai Ai, Kotobuki Minako, Satou Satomi and the rest of the main cast all do well with their roles. The music is one of the strong points of the series. They manage to make the girls sound like a skilled but still inexperienced band which strengthens the series' premise.

The yuri factor is a 6/10. All of the main five girls share some really homoerotic moments, especially Yui with anyone. I especially like the way Mugi responds to several of these moments by getting really excited and generally being a yuri fan girl. Although there are a lot of these moments, they never move into the realm of canon with them.

My final rating for K-on is an 8/10. It has some issues, but they're generally pretty insubstantial and shouldn't affect anyone's enjoyment too much. Overall it's a lot of fun to watch and uses humour well. If you're a fan of Azumanga Daioh or Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight you'll probably enjoy K-on as well.

"FUWA FUWA TIME!"

What compels us, as a human race, to create music? What gives us the motivation and encouragement to create audible works of art?

Any one of us (musically-inclined, anyway) would say the joy comes from the instrument itself - that creating unique sound different from the human voice gives us power and creativity in a form never known before. Plus playing music can be fun and enjoyable, a way to relax and keep the day young.

In K-ON!, this is just the opposite. The characters typically tried NOT to play, except for a few select times. And when they did, it was never serious nor ... enjoyable. In fact, the story seemed to revolve around that there was no story. Interesting paradox. Throughout the story (actually, it's more like pieces of a story - random side-notes and whatnot that leave you sort of hanging at the end), Mio, Yui, Ritsu, and Mugi tend not to do much besides eat and procrastinate. There, I said it. This is the perfect show if you like to procrastinate (and don't you be saying you don't. Everyone enjoys avoiding work from time to time).

It does become serious at certain points, and the characters do develop (more or less) slightly. And what's not to like about their rock-n-roll style that incorporates girly lyrics? I'm a guy, and I enjoyed the songs, finding myself at least humming or tapping my foot to their surprisingly catchy tunes. The OP and ED are quite good - the songs have made their way onto my Ipod, and I thoroughly enjoy humming the tune whenever I'm thinking hard. The light-hearted style of the songs keep me coming back for more.

This is one of those slice-of-life anime, with many references to moe and whatnot. I'm not saying that's bad, but if you're not really into no story and pointless segments of video that don't really seem to tie into the main plot all that much, this isn't the anime for you. I did enjoy it, however, despite my disappointment of the overall story. At the end of every episode, you get this kind of happy-giddy feeling, like doing something crazy for the first time. You simply become addicted, and you want some more K-ON! to fill your hungry soul.

Once again, the strong suit of this anime is the sound - I cannot stress that enough. The songs are good overall and the OP and ED are great - check them out, at least. I know how it feels to pick up an instrument for the first time, and it's a one-of-a-kind sort of feeling, one that leaves you standing there with infinite possibilites of what to do. K-ON! does seem to nail this feeling, and leave you with a happy go lucky attitude at the end. However, viewer discretion is advised: watch for the moe!

This is a great guilty pleasure. Really.

If you've seen scanlations of the manga, this is essentially an expanded version of the 8 panel strip with real music and less raunchiness. (sorry, no Mio cameltoe or sensei boob grabs iin this one).

The plot is simple. Four girls start a keion (popular music) club.

The characters equally simple: Yui: klutz, goofy, lazy. Mio: shy, tsundere, moe. Ritsu: token tomboy. Mugi: token rich girl lesbo. Throw in bipolar sensei and painfully cute nee-chan and you have most of the cast.

With that said,. the characters are lovable, the animation style is very lively with evocative gestures (i.e. the ... characters don't just stand there and talk at each other, motionless), and everyone is so cute it'll either captivate you, give you cavities, or make you into a murderous psychopath.

There is no story. Does there have to be? It's a pure slice of life anime with humorous characters and scenarios. Nothing too original here. But it's funny to see the Japanese mention Jeff Beck or Hendrix, or that the girls' sensei is some death metal punk rocker.

There are original music pieces in the anime, and they actually make an effort to make it look and sound like they did their homework with the music, which sounds like typical bubblegum J-Pop. Thankfully it's not overdone, and comes across as endearing and neither bland or Kajiura-ish. No flourishing violins set to the backdrop of explosions and flying robots, thank god.

This is a simple anime, but it does all things well and comes across as very fun, harmless, and enjoyable.

And it's really hard not to love the characters.

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.

K-On! offers you exactly what it says it will offer: moe, fluffiness, and music.

Every week, you get your serving of cuteness and some music. This is the kind of show where you don't have to watch it in high-brain-power mode. You can just chill, turn off your brain almost completely and still get the concept. There are moments in this show that will make you laugh and some that will nearly make you cry.

Iif you are looking for in-depth character development in a series, K-On! will not exactly offer that to you. Ritsu, Mio, Mugi, Yui, and Azusa did have some character development but ... not to the point where it will satisfy your need (most likely). Also, each character have their own interesting personalities that make the show even more enjoyable.

Although the show is named K-On! (keion for light music), you will not really get the hardcore music scenes and songs that you'd want. If you look at this show as a music club with 5 girls, you will be pretty much disappointed if you take it from that point of view. If you look it at the other way, 5 girls who come together because of music, you will not be disappointed.

In brief, I recommend K-On! if you're looking for a moe anime that will give you the lulz, but don't expect it to be really deep because its based after a 4-koma manga after all.

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.

K-on is like Halloween candy. It's really sweet, and at first you just can't get enough. You go and you go, and you make sure no one's watching you as you do it... and then after a while, you get a bit past the mountains of sugar and start getting sick. It has very little substance in the plot and humor department, as in there is no plot and most of the jokes serve more to make the girls more 'moe' than to make you laugh. However, it does 'moe' well. Very, very well.

Also that first ending is fantastic, and Mio makes me feel ... funny in the pit of my stomach. All in all, 7/10

And then you go to the doctor and it turns out you have type 2 diabetes.

Oh my, K-On. WARNING: If you hate K-On, I suggest you to read my review and I hope this review will be helpful to ya.

MOE.(If you don't know the meaning of MOE, Google it) It's a culture that must be conserved.
K-On is a show that managed to interpreting the word MOE very well done

K-On is an anime with Slice of Life genre and very good at that.It may very well be that while we're watching K-On, we're also witnessing a birth,the birth of the next stage of Anime MOE evolution. This show is about 4 girls (Actually there's 5 girls, the last one will be ... introduced later in the show) who done nothing but playing music and eating cake. That's the point of Slice of Life anime, to make the audience comfortable and relax.

Story: 10
Yui Hirasawa is a carefree girl consider to be an airhead who wants to join the Light Music Club. But she can't play any instrument. Ohhhhh... poor Yui ;w;

Art & Animation: 10
OMG! Their faces are so cute, so MOE, I hope I can find a girlfriend as cute as Azusa ^__^

Sound: 10
K-On is an anime about music, of course they provide us with good music.

Character: 10
Every character have their own unique personalities.

Enjoyment: 10
I can die in peace.

Overall: 10
This anime is a truly masterpiece dedicated to all of you awesome people, just enjoy it, anime meant to be entertaining, if you don't enjoy it, don't watch it and DO NOT TALK BAD ABOUT IT. You're welcome.

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.

K-ON is an anime you can never get tried of watching. The opening song and ending song is trulyl brilliant and the characters are not only moe, but funny and well voiced. The change in art from time to time is brilliantly done to great effect.

If you're looking for nothing but action and blood move along. If you want something with loveable characters, an upbeat story, great music and brilliant artwork then by all means watch K-ON.

K-ON!

Story:
It’s about a lazy girl named Yui Hirasawa, Yui does not do anything important she just rolls on the floor 24/7, but when Yui starts on high school she changes. Yui and her childhood friend Nodoka, are talking to each other Nodoka says “Yui, have you joined any clubs yet” Yui is just a lazy bum so you know. Yui is not quite sure which club to choose, but she ends up with K-ON! (Light music club) Yui has one big weeknes she only can play castanets, and they need a guitarist. Watch the anime if you will know more.

Art:
The art is nothing special, ... but the instrument has slightly better animation, I found the art very interesting.
Sound:
The voice actors are good liked the most of them. When it comes to the OP+ED song it’s nothing flashy about it it’s not bad either. The same with the insert songs.

Character:
The characters in K-ON are awesome, I almost love all of them, and all of them have a unique personality that you will appreciate.

Enjoyment:
I can with my hand on my heart tell you that I loved watching the series, it’s so funny. I have watched it twice now, imo it was better the second time.

Overall:
If you are looking for an easy anime to watch, then don’t search anymore, watch K-ON, but if you’re looking for an more music anime choose “Beck” it’s quite good..

If you have any questions ask me :]

The following review is entitled "Dr. Moeblob or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Slice of Life"

This is a plea to every anime fan out there. I do not care what genres you watch. I do not care if you are male or female. I do not care if you hate moe with a passion. GIVE THIS SHOW A CHANCE! Hopefully throughout the course of this you will feel compelled to watch at least one episode of K-ON! if you have not already. With that out of the way, onto the actual review. This will be a review for both seasons of K-ON! ... I only have the first season rated a 9 instead of a 10 because my favorite character does not show up until the latter half. Anybody who knows me will know that I love K-ON! All of my anime loving friends look at me in disgust when I say it's one of my favorite shows of all time. (2nd favorite to be exact) What could some "moeblob" show do to warrant a 10/10 rating? Well, it is tough to explain, but I would like to try. One might look at the 10 rating I have given this show and say that rating should be reserved for deep, thought-provoking shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion. While I agree this is true, (EoE is and forever will be my favorite movie of all time) I would also contend that sometimes less is more. K-ON! is virtually plotless, it is simply snippets of the main character's everyday lives, like many other Slice of Life shows. Some might say that not having a plot is a bad thing, but I would say the opposite. K-ON! is a true masterpiece because it does what few other shows can do: it thrives on strongly written characters and their interactions. While K-ON! is a show most would watch with their brain turned off, it still has spectacular writing. The characters bounce off each other, and have a great chemistry that makes the show a joy to watch. K-ON! makes boring everyday activities extremely fun to watch because of good writing alone. I believe that makes this show worthy of being called a masterpiece. On top of that, the soundtrack is outstanding. I still find myself listening to songs from the show almost daily. The animation is also top notch. Initially, I did not like the animation. However, as I kept watching, I noticed the remarkable attention to detail Kyoani weaved throughout the show. From how the hair flows to how fluid the characters movements were, I found myself more and more impressed by the animation as the show went on. Last but not least, K-ON! is a show with an extremely high enjoyment factor. I have never watched a series that was as fun as K-ON! was. The humor in the show is amazing, and there are tons of memorable moments. All in all, K-ON! is not a show you should write off for being moe. K-ON! is truly a masterpiece; it is an embodiment of the human spirit. It shows that sometimes, less can truly be more.

TL;DR: I do not care who you are. Whether you normally watch action shows or are a veteran of the SoL genre, K-ON! is a show that is worthy of your time. Even if you hate "moeblob" shows, give it a try, it just might be your new favorite guilty pleasure.