Over the few years or so, it’s been increasingly apparent that watching anything associated with moe is to be treated with the same sort of caution as doing yoga, or making origami. Generally you’d do all three in the privacy of your own room, preferably with the lights dimed down and curtains tightly shut. (I am speaking of course, mainly for guys).
Yes there is much shame to be had in admitting you enjoy watching K-On!!, because who in their right mind would enjoy a plotless moeblob slice-of-life show over say… the testosterone filled battle epic TTGL? Certainly no one would admit to such an atrocious
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act to their friends face to face, (or anything less than a distance of 100 miles and 2 computer screens for that matter). Hence it becomes extremely hard to be objective when posed with the question, ‘Is K-On!! a good anime?’, because all of our social preservation instincts scream “run away!”, while somewhere deep in the soft side of our hearts, something keeps us rooted to our chair and our eyes on our displays.
(Unless you factor in the anonymity of the internet of course, in which case, proudly declaring that K-On!! is awesome and giving it a 9/10 is A-O-K.)
Jokes aside though, in recent times I feel that too much anime are being categorized based on if they have any moe elements in them. While there’s nothing wrong with giving labeling an anime as containing moe, it unfairly depicts certain anime as catering towards the niche otaku audience and suggests it’s lack of depth and unoriginality, which in many cases simply isn’t true. Take Lucky Star for example. Who’s to say that it was just a mindless moeblob?
Anyway I had a review here somewhere… I would go as far as to say that I love the slice-of-life genre. Honey & Clover (which I maintain is more slice-of-life than romance) and Aria remain firmly at my number 1 and 2 spot. For a great slice-of-life, there are a number of criteria that one needs to fill, but the simplest and most important is that every episode should end with you feeling relaxed and contented with a smile on your face. Does K-On!! achieve this? Yes, absolutely 100% yes.
K-On!! follows a relatively frugal format in terms of storyline. You wouldn’t go into each episode expecting anything dramatic or exhilarating, and for some this may be what they like to call boring. But then again, you wouldn’t open a bag of chips expecting M&Ms and chocolate fudge, so why you go into K-On!! expecting anything even resembling a continuous plot? K-On!!’s style single episodic scenarios work greatly in it’s favor, viewers are never startled with annoying cliffhangers or feel an obligation to keep up with it in fear of missing out on some important plot element. If watching K-On!! becomes a chore (I’m looking at you Bleach manga), then it’s missed the point completely, and in this regard, I give K-On!!’s ‘plot’ two thumbs up.
Despite this though, K-On!! deals with some surprisingly deep themes that would go right over the heads of most casual viewers. One definite improvement from it’s first season is the branching out of the limited focus of club practice (eating cake) to wider array of activities. Granted, most of them are still obvious and predictable, the sort of been-there done-that stories we’ve all seen before, but the shift allowed K-On!! to focus on many different aspects and resort less to what I like to call ‘moe-moments’ in order to fill up the 24 minutes. Lets face it, how many different ways can you eat, drink and procrastinate before it starts getting old? Instead though, from the summer trips to school plays to the air conditioning campaigns, K-On!! moves away from the same-ness of cake/tea/practice/more cake in the first season and closer to true slice-of-life.
K-On!!’s real brilliance shines in the final 6-7 episodes or so, as the girls neared the finale of their school life, the realization that their after school tea times can’t last forever hits them quietly and their are faced with the challenges of change and the future. Though not exactly compelling and dramatic, it nevertheless teaches us that our beloved peaceful times cannot always last forever, which only makes them more precious, not unlike Aria the Origination, but on a smaller scale. K-On!’s main idea was a carefree life of daily cake, tea and music with not a worry in the world, but K-On!!’s step away from that ultimately paid off and turned what would have been just a mediocre moeblob into a great slice-of-life.
I supposed I’d better tackle the moe problem, as it seems to be the main issue dragging K-On!! down. Yes, there is a lot of it. Yes, it gets annoying. Yes, it is overused and detracts from the overall effect. Would K-On!! be better without it? Probably. But then it wouldn’t be K-On!!. Yes you can all come and egg my house afterwards for using such a cliche argument, but there is some wisdom in my words, ladies and gentlemen. As much as we all hate to admit it, moe has become an integral part of the characterization of the K-On!! girls. Yui simply wouldn’t believe the same if she didn’t drool over Azu-nyan or cake, Azu-nyan wouldn’t be the same if she didn’t get embarrassed over every little thing and Mugi simply can’t exist without her air-headed-ness and cheerfulness. Sure, they could do without it, but then they’d be different characters completely. Big Macs would probably taste better with tomato sauce instead of mayo, but then they wouldn’t be Big Macs anymore, if you get what I mean. Even though I make better tasting burgers myself, I wouldn’t want to have Big Macs any other way.
And to be fair, a lot of the moe-hate stem from people who watch 3-4 episodes, drop it, and then go complain about it on forums. As I followed K-On!! throughout it’s season, I was quietly surprised as the moe-moments gradually thinned out little by little. It was as if as the girls grew older, the show slowly matured along with them. Don’t believe me? Well, don’t my word for it, see for yourself. Right now. Open up say episode 2 or 3, count how many moe-moments there are, and then compare them to a later episode, say, 21 or something. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere so take your time… Ok… done? See? Good. Anyway as I was saying, the gradual fade of moe was was subtle and barely noticeable, but for those paying attention it was a nice touch, and went along well with the tone of bittersweetness of the end of their high school lives.
I guess it’ll be wrong to not comment on the music of K-On!! seeing as how that was kinda the whole theme that they were going for. Honestly speaking, it really isn’t half bad. Toyosaki Aki (Yui)’s cute but horrendous out of tune vocals aside, the OP, ED and insert songs generally maintain the high standard of the first season. They’re catchy, and well… very K-On!!-ish. What caught me out though was the meaning they seem to embody. Rather than the lyrics simply being a spontaneous creation (I mean Curry Nochi Rice, what was that all about) they represented something, like Yui’s realization of all the things she took for granted in portrayed in U&I and the girl’s close friendship exemplified through their song for Azusa. In short, K-On!!’s music is great, and that’s all there really is to say about that. (Unless you hate poppy rock, in which case allow me to direct you to the mute button. Seriously, no one’s making you listen to this, get over yourself.)
Guess I better get on to the boring stuff now.
Animation: Nothing to write home about, but the smoothness and crispness is certainly pleasing and relaxing to look at, a very good style for a slice-of-life. Animation during the live performances have definitely improved since the first season, which is a definite plus.
Sound: Insert songs aside, more often than not there’s always some cutesy background music playing to accompany the scene. While this can easily backfire, KyoAni does a very good job of timing, and fitting the mood with the right music, so this section is also a plus.
Voice Acting: I was surprised in the first season how such a amateurish band of seiyuu could bring the characters to life. Another season’s gone by and I’m pleased that the quality of VA as remained consistent. Toyosaki Aki’s performance as Yui deserves a special mention, with interchanging voices between cutesy and hoarse, and the constant (if a bit too frequent) “ehhh?”s, it was really a joy to listen to. I still maintain that she needs singing lessons though.
So ultimately, is K-On!! a good anime? Well let me be perfectly honest. I actually wrote this review as a bet against a friend who maintained that it was impossible to write a review for, and I quote, “a cliched intangible blob of moe”. Now to be fair, he may have been right. Maybe I would have found it much easier to just simply cast K-On!! aside as a generic moe-cash in by KyoAni with half decent characterization, no good plot and overall mediocre anime. But as I instead set out to do the impossible task, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that it was not as impossible as I originally thought. K-On!! is good. Heck, it’s great. It knew exactly what it wanted to be, and set out to achieve it brilliantly (which is more than I can say for Angel Beats). I’d probably go as far as to say it is the best slice-of-life/moe anime of the year. Sure, it probably couldn’t hold a candle to say… Durarara or FMA:Brotherhood, but you wouldn’t compare K-On!! to those anime for the same reason you wouldn’t ride a goat to an equestrian event or wear a miniskirt to a basketball game. Is K-On!! a good slice-of-life/moe? Yes. Then… did I enjoy K-On!!? Yes, immensely. Then… Is K-On!! a good anime? Obvious answer is obvious. So much for generic and mediocrity huh?
I will conclude with this afterthought. I could probably very easily write a long rant about the negatives of vanilla ice cream. I could talk about how bad it is for your health, how expensive and nutrition lacking ice-cream is, or how it is an overrated flavor and too many people eat just because they don’t have the guts to try new and better flavors, or how the ice-cream companies continue to make vanilla ice-cream to cater for those idiotic people, cashing in instead of nobly taking the first step in revolutionizing ice cream flavors. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t change the fact that I like vanilla ice-cream, and that I enjoy having it every Friday night after dinner as I tune in to watch the weekly action flick on television. If I didn’t enjoy vanilla ice-cream, would that change the fact that it’s a good ice-cream? Of course not. You’d be a magnificent retard for declaring vanilla ice-cream is bad just because you don’t like it, so why do some people do it so much for anime like K-On!!? Vanilla ice-cream exists for people who like vanilla ice-cream, just like K-On!! exists for people who like a good slice-of-life with a bit of (or quite a bit of, whatever floats your boat) moe. If there are people who enjoy it, then that should be all that matters, and I think sometimes we’re too easily forgetful of that fact.
Thanks for reading this wall of text.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Keion 2, K-On!! 2nd Season
Japanese: けいおん!!
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
26
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Apr 7, 2010 to Sep 29, 2010
Premiered:
Spring 2010
Broadcast:
Wednesdays at 01:25 (JST)
Licensors:
Sentai Filmworks
Studios:
Kyoto Animation
Source:
4-koma manga
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#4142
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#288
Members:
696,074
Favorites:
14,605
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 131 / 134
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Your Feelings Categories Sep 30, 2010
Over the few years or so, it’s been increasingly apparent that watching anything associated with moe is to be treated with the same sort of caution as doing yoga, or making origami. Generally you’d do all three in the privacy of your own room, preferably with the lights dimed down and curtains tightly shut. (I am speaking of course, mainly for guys).
Yes there is much shame to be had in admitting you enjoy watching K-On!!, because who in their right mind would enjoy a plotless moeblob slice-of-life show over say… the testosterone filled battle epic TTGL? Certainly no one would admit to such an atrocious ... Jun 1, 2012
Things are sometimes more than they seem.
For any individual, there always are surprises to be found in the long walk of life. Things that initially appear flavorless and dull, but reveal themselves to be something much more colorful. These are the kinds of experiences that impact a person and make them feel something of significance. They may make them laugh or cry, but in the end these are the kinds of stories that hold a special place in one's heart. The second season of K-ON is, for me (and for many), this very experience. K-ON has always been a very polarizing series, one which has ... Sep 15, 2012
Well, what else can I really say about this anime, other than calling it a seed of potential that blossomed into a beautiful anime that made me emotionally attached to the story itself as well as connect to my life? Such gems are rare, and im glad i gave this anime a chance to make me laugh, smile and cry without overdoing the "moe moe kyun" factor.
So where do i start? K-On, initially a, as many people call it, "fluffy slice of life" depiction turned from that into what I would personally call a coming of age story, one in which each character is thoroughly ... Apr 8, 2010
Story:
What do you get when you add four cute girlfriends with the desire to form a music band, situational comedy, and every style of moe an otaku can think of? You get K-On! (or kei-on-bu). Just of a group of girls trying to follow their dreams... sounds very cliche' doesn't it? Well it is and this show oozes cliche'. The setting to the sitcom all the way down to the catch phrase onomatopoeia's like kyuun and hyaan. It's very obvious from the start of episode 1, that the story isn't trying to mess with the success of current trends and tries its very best to ... Dec 12, 2015
"Fun things are fun" – Hirasawa Yui.
Disclaimer: this is a review of the entire K-On franchise, minor spoilers ahead. Almost everybody, including myself at one time, is so narrow-minded when it comes to cute girls doing cute things in cute ways anime, whether we enjoy them or not, that we don't expect anything else than moe, comedy and fan service. In a result, we don't really pay attention to the real quality of this kind of show. At first, I saw Keion as an extremely entertaining moeblob series, without being able to explain why. In retrospect, I thought that it started out being a decent one, that ... Sep 16, 2010
Ah K-on!!
I decided to watch this because I had seen the first season and thought I'd watch something I could bash on when it ended, because it's ended now, yes sure, there are two more episodes, but these are just extra helpings of moe for all you fanboys out there. At first it was everything I'd expected, it was moe, it was silly, nothing substantial about the anime whatsoever, neither storyboard nor any real screenplay, but then something happened, something that started to happen during the first season yet didn't fully evolve into this feeling I felt after having watched the second season; it grew on ... Jan 1, 2021
About:
K-on is an anime that had its debut in 2009 with the genre of Comedy, Musical and Slice of Life, it is also considered by many to be the source of the MOES anime. Even if you don't know much about animes, you may have seen some things about it, you probably have seen some K-ON photo or video, as it is a very popular anime. First impressions: The first impression of K-on is that it will be a tedious anime, after all besides being a slice of life with cute girls,the anime doesn’t have such a colorful color ... Apr 7, 2010
Story [9/10]
The second season is here! I’m surprised how successful this anime is to produce a second season. 0:00 – 2:05 of the first episode blew me away, after watching that part I was thinking: “Alright this is going to be goooooooooood”. Than the opening theme kicks in, and I’m thinking: “Oh, man too much is going on here”. Oh, and the rest of the episode is just as wonderful. Art [10/10] I can’t tell if there’s improvement on the animation from the first season, but that’s not a bad thing because the animation is just simply gorgeous. The animators really take a lot of pride ... Nov 8, 2020
A decade after its release, I finally got to experience the animated wonder that is K-On!! I'm not the first to admit this by any means, but originally I thought this show would be nothing more than a chick-flick that I'd find my 12 year old cousin watching. But if you cast those aspersions aside and give K-On a shot - you'll find a joyous tale of high schoolers than handle themselves so haphazardly you can't help but smile, laugh, and cry tears of joy along with them.
Usually I like to include a one paragraph summary of why you should or shouldn't watch the show. ... Mar 30, 2021
There's a strange aura that haunts the slice of life genre. "It's a bunch of nothing." What could you possibly get from a show like K-on? There are countless lessons to learn throughout a lifetime, and I think one that many should obtain is the know-how to appreciate greatness in anything. A show doesn't have to tell a story the way Serial Experiments Lain does to be considered a "masterpiece." I'm not too fond of the word as it has become notably diluted, but I'd like to use it here to describe K-on to help share my foundation of what makes an anime such. A
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Sep 2, 2021
Despite the first season being a lot more light-hearted, I still found comfort watching the same five members of the Light Music club. Kyoto Animation, along with the VAs, truly captured the cuteness of every character.
Plot/Story: 9/10 As for the plot, there really isn't any. Then again, being a CGDCT anime, I never expected too much of a plot anyway. One could even argue the fact we saw their graduation actually happen is more progress than most slice of life shows. Toward the end, there seemed to be the "dropped" plot point of the club trying to find members after the senior's graduation. I don't ... Dec 21, 2011
If I were to come up to you and ask if you would watch a show about 5 high school girls drinking tea and having fun, chances are you'd back away slowly and begin to either call the police or whip out the pepper spray or taser. Where's the action, the romance, the suspense? Is there even a storyline? A plot? A movie critic would probably burst into tears at the anti-Hollywood-like characteristics of this horrendous "TV show?"
Well I have braved the troubled waters of slice-of-life to come before this golden nugget among others: K-On! To dispense some of the hate and malice, let ... Apr 3, 2021
hmm, today and the 12 year old birthday of this anime called ... "k-on"
I'm not only very good at reviewing things like that, if anime amuses me over eps su already consider it good. k-on the anime that I will summarize in a few words, Eat cake, Tea, eat cake, Tea. a part of the anime and like that, and impressive that this anime can do, a simple but very fun animal, an anime that serves to prurify the soul. The music of the anime is very striking, especially the fuwa fuwa time and the music of the last ep of the second season, the anime manages to ... Nov 4, 2010
K-ON!! is the epitome of "moe blob" anime; one which got so many other similar series to start, and is also the No.1 selling anime for a long time... While I agree that the colossal amount of "moe" based series is hurting the industry, I must say that K-ON!! represent one of the best in this saturated genre.
It's a bit sad that the second season hardly touches on the music aspect of the series as compared to the first season, as I feel that it's one of the nicer part of the series, especially the live concerts and the original music the club had. This ... Dec 3, 2012
I don't usually write reviews, as this will be my first one off the bat. I hope not to expose too much about the anime, as it would be a spoiler for those who would like to read the reviews before viewing the anime. I thought I should write one, since this is one of my favourites. Here we go.. enjoy :)
Story: To shorten and sum things up, K-On is about four lovely girls who come together to form the, "Light Music Club." They would carry on throughout the episodes with Culture Festivities, as well as composing new songs and performing them on stage. What ... Jul 22, 2014
Under the glaring eyes of the public masses, the K-On series is predominantly a show about five moe girls who do nothing but drink tea and eat cakes. While this is certainly true, there's something profound that lies beyond the reach of naked eye.
Please bear with me here as I explain why people view this show so negatively — I'll make it worth your while. Most people overlook K-On due to its lack of substance and proper character development. Unfortunately, this is true — the story contains little to no significant conflicts that lead to a noticeable change in most, if not any, of the characters. ... Jul 22, 2014
When thinking of K-On! as a series, a few words may come to mind. Whether it be happy, cheery, moe, simple or maybe even mind-numbing, K-On!! will always be one of my favorites.
K-On! itself is a slice of life show, there's no getting around that. The daily lives of the girls part of a music club in their High School. When labelled as a slice of life show, the stigma of a nonexistent or shoddy plot is almost always attributed with those shows. However K-On!'s plot over the course of two seasons may seem excessively simple at first, but as one begins to head ... Feb 10, 2013
You might think I may be biased on K-ON because of the perfect 10, but I would like to explain It a bit further why I gave It a perfect 10. Following up from my Review of the First Season, I did mention that they spend more time on Tea Time rather than practicing, which is still a common thing here on K-ON. I always thought the whole series would be all about Music, but turns out to be the average life of High School girls. Not that I hate It or anything, but I would have liked to see the series adapt to more
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Apr 1, 2021
You know, I was hoping that a show about 5 girls in a band would feature a little more, I don't know, MUSIC? All these little fuckers do is sit around, eat cake and faff around with the pet turtle. I get that most people's enjoyments comes from these light-hearted interactions but did we really need 39 episodes of this? In those 40 episodes these girls can manage to come up with about 4 different songs over 3 years of being a band. Though you wouldn't know this considering they play the same fucking song any time that god forbid somebody bothers the music club
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Sep 27, 2010
I don't know why I like K-On!!, but I do. It's one of those shows that features nothing you're normally interested in, but you just can't help but enjoy the atmosphere of the group. People watch slice of life shows because they love involving themselves mentally in the story. So, the basic definition of a good slice of life show is one where you'd want to be a part of it. This is what K-On's done so well.
Story: 5 high school girls have formed a band with the resolution to play at "Budokan!" A large music fest. The story in K-On!! moreso just follows the ... |