Review: K-ON!

Originally a 4koma manga created by Kakifly, I’d heard a bit about K-ON! and couldn’t help but notice its warm reception by general otaku and cosplayers alike. I guess that would be expected from a new series out of Kyoto Animation, the same animation studio that brought The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star to the frothing masses.

Soooo… with all the attention K-ON! has garnered, and my own fledgling but pointed interest in learning music and guitars, what the hell, why not give it a watch? Now, I’m not an “OMG it’s so cute! Kawaaaii! Moe moe!” person really, but away from that label, this looked like a short, light, amusing little slice-of life comedy to jump start my recently lackadaisical anime viewing. All in all, it turned out to be just that.

K-ON! follows four high school girls in an all girl school (a fifth member joins late in the game during episode 9) who revive the school’s “light music” (keion) club thus forming a band whose ultimate goal is to perform live at Budokan… so declares the spirited drummer and self-appointed president of the club, Ritsu. The main character is the newbie of the group, Yui, who really just wants to join an “easy” club upon entering high school and make some friends. Simple right? Well ya, except she doesn’t know how to play any instruments, apart from castanets she clacked together in elementary school, and she’s now the group’s lead guitarist. Score! Don’t fret though, she’s quite the natural talent magically, i.e. conveniently. The band is rounded out by bassist and apparent “moe”-magnet, Mio and keyboardist and token rich blonde girl, Tsumugi.

It’s a bit of an aside to mention, but to the show’s credit (and my interest), each of the members have a real-life instrument, which I assume with the show’s popularity has boosted sales for the referenced models. These include Yui’s Gibson Les Paul Classic, Ritsu’s Yamaha Hipgig drums, Mio’s lefty Fender Precision Bass, Tsumugi’s Korg Triton Extreme 76 Key keyboard, and Azusa’s Fender Mustang electric guitar. Not only are they represented fairly accurately, the performance animation is quite good, as is the general animation of the entire series.

Now, with all this talk about bands, music, and instruments, one might think the main focus of the show would clearly be muuuusic, right? But nah, don’t expect a Beck here. The music is merely a backdrop for what K-ON! is really composed of: cute girls doing cute things for no real substantive reason. The majority of the show follows the girls as they eat cake, drink tea, go shopping, eat more cake, go to the beach, get the sniffles, dress up in strange moe outfits, and giggle hopelessly at each other. Now now, I wasn’t expecting a lot, but know what you’re getting in to before you watch, which isn’t a whole lot in the story/character development department. Just as the girls don’t really ever take their music seriously, neither should we.

Back to the characters for a moment. Once again, there are 4+1 bandmates making up the aptly named “After School Tea Time.” All of them have their own mild cases of retardation and/or airheadedness, whichever you want to call it, particularly Yui. While annoying and repetitive at times, these displays of ineptness tend to be pretty endearing, as they are meant to be. In a nutshell, Yui is lazy and flighty, Ritsu is loud and proud, Mio blushes at the drop of a hat (and would probably cower in fear at the sound of it dropping), Tsumugi is polite, rich, and. . . there, and the newer-newcomer Azusa is like a half-pint Mio that becomes the new pet/whipping post for jokes and…err… outfits, mainly supplied by their insane and closeted in the past faculty advisor, Sawako.

Even though they still manage to charm, I don’t see as much character building or individuality as I would have liked spread between them, even given the simplicity of the series. As the series progresses, a lot of the same activities, jokes, and “moe moe kyun~” are rehashed, and it starts feeling a bit drawn out. I mean, TWO beach episodes in a 13 episode series, c’mon now. Of course, we already established that the anime has no real purpose or depth of storyline, so take it for what it is: charming and ridiculously cute with a sprinkling of musical flare.

Take it or leave it, K-ON! was a nice, simple diversion, and is worth watching at least once, or at the very very least a few episodes of. I have to admit I enjoyed it, even though I wasn’t sure if it would hold my interest. It’s the kind of thing you can turn your brain off to because it is THAT simple, but you can still enjoy the cute antics, quality animation, and, the off times it manifests itself, the music.

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