Menu

K-On Review

kon

K-On! (Season 1)

/ , , , , , / , / 0 Comments

Alternate Titles: None

Original Japanese Release Date: April 2nd, 2009

Episode Length/Run-time: 14 episodes

Summary:

Yui Hirasawa is a high school freshman and she needs a club to join.  She discovers a club on the brink of extinction, the light music club.  Yui joins the current members of the club Ritsu and Mio and later, Tsumugi and Azusa, as they save the club and become best friends.

Review:

K-On is a “moe” anime.  There really isn’t much to it.  Five girls get together after school and eat cake and have tea and occasionally, practice rock music.  That’s about all there is to it.  Like most “moe” shows, this one wastes many of its episodes on mindless content that is meant to serve one purpose, being cute.  These episodes include school festivals, trips to the beach, and endless sessions of cake eating.  So at this point you might wonder, “how does this show get a 4/5?” The show does have some good things going for it that make it likely, one of the best, if not the best “moe” show out there.

The show, aesthetically is very pleasing.  First off, the music in the show is fantastic.  Making it’s way to the top of Japanese pop charts, the opening and ending themes, “Cagayake! Girls” and “Don’t say “Lazy”, make the music very special.  This not only because the songs are good but because the themes are performd by the seiyuu actresses themselves; Aki Toyosaki with Yoko Hikasa, Satomi Satou, Minako Kotobuki and Ayana Taketatsu.  In addition to the music, the visuals are excellent as well.  I think it’s a shame however that good production values get wasted on watching “moe” girls tripping all over themselves.

It was also nice watching the girls working towards their live performances together, something that is sorely lacking in the second season.  As a musician, it was also quite interesting watching Yui trying to learn the guitar.   So in the end, this is a pretty nice show that really does what it’s intended to do very well.  In terms of a “moe” show it’s much more tolerable than most and because the characters are enjoyable and the music is great, it’s generally a show that can be recommended to most audiences.

[starrater]

K-On!!

K-On!!

/ , , , , , / , , , , , / 0 Comments

Alternate Titles: None

Original Japanese Release Date: April 6th, 2010

Episode Length/Run-time: 26 Episodes

Summary:

Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Azusa and Tsumugi are back but trouble is brewing! The girls are graduating and the quintet must find enough new members for the club to replace those leaving Azusa behind.

Review:

So this season of K-On!! is mostly more of the same; tons of cake eating, tea drinking, tons of clumsy moe girls and mostly good rock music. If you want to get the major jist of this show, go read the review of the first season of K-On!. Instead of repeating all the same stuff here, I’ll merely note the differences between the two seasons.

This season has two key differences that I notice. First, it’s longer. In fact it’s much longer. Double the length in fact. I thought that 14 episodes of moe filler was enough but apparently somebody didn’t think so. You’ll get a full dosage of 26 episodes of moe laughs and giggles from this show. Second, this show emphasizes music MUCH less than the prior season. Because there is so much less emphasize on practicing the music, the girls don’t perform their music nearly as much and in my opinion the show loses its identify a little.

In summary, this is a moe series that lost the battle, giving up any semblance of a story for more moe gags. If you want to know what K-On! is all about, I recommend you watch the first season as it is a much better series.

[starrater]