Aug 25, 2012
If you've never heard of K-On!, the show is basically this: an anime in the slice-of-life moe genre (Lucky Star) with no main plot but a group of teenage girls that are well... Teenage girls. They go to school, study, eat and sleep. Oh yeah, and they're all part of a band. While music itself isn't the main focus of the series, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The anime makes up for its lack of a plot by showcasing the simplicity of life. The anime shows that life isn't a boring thing. The laughs and tears you shed at
...
work, school or home is what makes life interesting.
K-On!! stays true to it's predecessor. It is a plotless 26 episodes of overpowering moe-ness. That being said, it has improved on it's original run on all fronts.
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Story: 6 for plot, 7 for characters
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While there is no main plot, K-On uses the set up of 5 teenage girls and their ventures with their school's keion club (light music club). Aside from maybe a couple what you could call legitimate plot arcs, the anime is very episodic. It uses the sitcom based setup where the only thing the same about every episode is the characters.
Except for one major difference. Time goes by and the chronology is very apparent. One major focus of the anime is the fact that 4/5 of the members are seniors and will be graduating from high school life into the real world once the school year ends. This factor adds a surprising amount of character development, mainly with Azusa, and less with Sawako, Mio and the others.
About the characters, they all portray different stereotypes in school and in anime. Yui, the airheaded girl, Ritsu, the eccentric tomboy-ish leader, Mio, the pretty and shy girl, Mugi, the kind, gentle hearted rich girl, Azusa, the loli (as if Yui wasn't enough) mascot (mind you, her character is also sort of a pseudo Mio), and last but not least, bipolar Sawa-chan. The characters are done well enough and have very distinct personalities. Best of all, they were produced very well in terms of art and voice acting (sub is 3948234x better trust me, as 75% of my anime list was watched in dub).
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Production: 9 for art, 10 for sound
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As Kyoto Animation has done before with two other juggernauts of the school life genre (Clannad, and Lucky Star), K-On brings a unique art style that like the others, is still done amazingly. The character designs were extremely well done, and the attention to detail is also surprisingly good.
The sound is a masterpiece in every aspect. The voice acting is done with voices that fit their roles perfectly, and while the songs may not seem perfect, they are done to resemble a high school pop band, with catchy melodies, and an amateur sound. This aspect has been done to a high level as believe it or not, the OST was recorded by the voice actors themselves. They learned how to play their instruments as their characters did, and I must say I'm pretty impressed.
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Enjoyment: 10
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Enjoyment is the main purpose of the slice-of-life moe genre. There isn't a deep plot, it isn't overflowing in sad moments, but it's enjoyable. Very enjoyable at that. I don't have much to say other than you need to experience this yourself.
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How did K-On!! surpass it's first season? Every aspect of the anime improved just a little bit, to say the least. That was enough to bump my rating from a 6 to an 8 across seasons.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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