K-On!

Story 7.5/10 - It’s simple, which is a good thing. Basically, there isn’t much of anything to expect as K-On! gets to the point. As in every anime that involves the daily life at high school, plenty of school clubs are doing their best to recruit new members. Then Yui, the clutsy, “stupid” character can’t decide which club t go to. However, when she accidentally signs up to join the light music club, she decides to become a guitarist. There’s just one problem: she’s never played the guitar before in her life. So it’s unique that she learned to play it and everyone else (including her younger sister) to know how to play the guitar well. K-On! Lacked much on the learning aspect of playing an instrument all together. As she meets up with new friends, her and the band aim for the bokugan, a show or competition bands go to.

Animation 8.5/10 - It’s your typical 2005 and up type of animation. Such as Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, etc. but this is good. The only difference from the other shows is the way the facial expressions on the characters faces are portrayed for certain events, making the characters ‘cuter’ and laughable. My personal favorite would be the repeated drawn circle on the eyes as some sort of fluster feeling or perhaps when they feel oblivious to what is going on (which happens quite a bit). The last important bit is the way the music the band plays goes very well with the animation, drums hitting where the drum at the right time feeling like they really are playing a song.

Characters 6.5/10 - All the characters were ‘lovable’. Of course they each had their unique perk, reaction, and all that jazz. You have the sane normal girl (Mio Akiyama) who plays the bass and tries to get her friends to act accordingly. The rich, blonde girl Tsumugi Kotobuki, who instead of acts like a stubborn, spoiled brat is innocent and forgiving. The crazy and misorganized Ritsu Tainaka who happens to be the manager of the band. Last but not least, the protagonist of the show Yui Hirasawa. In some shows we determine what kind of personality the character has; how they react to situations. This show tried not to have the characters overreact too much, so it feels more realistic and not so absurd to make it more funny or dramatic. I hate shows where the character exaggerates to the problem making it bigger problem than it should be. I know it’s hard to mix a character’s personality to more than just one particular category, but it’s the same pretty much through any other anime based off a group of friends. Same personality quirk, different face. It tends to get ‘boring’ sometimes.

Overall 7.25/10 - I wasn’t hooked like I wanted to be. I’ve seen and heard remarkable reviews for this show. It’s everywhere in the anime world, like the next Haruhi. From all this hype comes disappointment. I did laugh a couple times and it was a relaxing show, but that was it. Through the last half of the show I thought to myself “there is potential”. There is a second season called K-On!! (with two ! instead of one) and hoping they fixed the problem the first season had. Now it doesn’t sound professional to not exactly know what is missing or how it could be better, but I know it can be done. If you feel the need to watch a semi-comedic, not over-the-top ridiculous, relaxing show, then K-On! is for you.