K-On! First Impressions

Now I know I'm probably going to be crucified for this, but I'm going to say it anyway; I really don't like K-On!. I don't hate it the way I hated Lucky Star, but moe shit really doesn't do much more then annoy me, and K-On! is no different.

Abandon hope, all ye who enter.

STORY

Don't expect anything deep or meaningful here, it's just about a bunch of girls in the school music club, and their day to day interactions. Given how K-On! is essentially a slice of life comedy, that's fair enough.

The girls who leapt through time.

The story revolves around Yui, a special needs child, who in a tragic case of irony, is an essential member of the school music club, as without her, the club would have an insufficient number of members and would be thus forced to close down.

Truly, Yui is the greatest mind of her generation.

What follows are the trials and tribulations of the three other members who are actually competent, and their ever vain endeavors of teaching Yui how to play the guitar. A task made ever more insurmountable given the fact that Yui's musical talents rival her prodigious intellect.

Tsumugi, upon meeting Yui.

CHARACTERS

Yui Hirasawa
The main character. Suffers from mild mental retardation; a possible first for lead characters in anime. The band's guitar player...technically. Is meant to be the moe moe character due to her airheaded personality, but in a cruel case of life imitating art, Mio appears to be perceived as moe by the general audience, thus proving Yui truly can't get anything right.

Not even Johannes Krauser wants to rape that.

Mio Akiyama
The apparent popular favourite amongst viewers, Mio is the traditional ideal Japanese woman; shy, humble and kind; traits that really do nothing but annoy the shit out of me. Anyway, she plays bass and is generally the straight man, in contrast to her friends' wacky antics. Also, expect many, many doujins to be released featuring her.

How much blander could a single person be!? God!


This picture encapsulates the entirety of Mio's relationship with Ritsu.

Ritsu Tainaka
The band's drummer, Ritsu generally provides the slapstick comedy relief. However, she seems to hide a darker personality, given her propensity to lie and manipulate in order to get what she wants, as evidenced in her recruitment of Tsumugi in episode 1. Because of her amorality, she is far and away my favourite character.

Ritsu has had enough of your shit!


We lie, we cheat, we steal!

Tsumugi Kotobuki
The pianist and token rich girl. She seems to be woefully ignorant of the outside world, leading one to ponder what kind of depraved childhood she must have endured. She generally buys the friendship of others with cake.

Tsumugi making friends the only way she knows how.

Animation

Look, it's KyoAni, the people behind Haruhi Suzumiya, what do you expect but top quality shit?

Sadly, no amount of money could afford Tsumugi new eyebrows.

So yeah, it's typical KyoAni obsessive attention to detail, fluid animation, and muted yet somehow vibrant colours.

The fuck? Since when did we move from K-On! to The Shining?

Personally though, I preferred the more serious animation of Haruhi Suzumiya. In contrast, K-On! is more cartoony, with movements sometimes resembling Western Saturday morning cartoons, as well as liberal use of chibis and funny looking faces.

Yui's mere presence is soul crushing.

To be fair however, it suits the general feel of K-On!, it's just not my cup of tea.

Even as a child, Yui had difficulty with even the most basic of concepts. Such as standing straight.

One weird thing that I haven't been able to wrap my finger around though, is that feet are drawn really small. I mean, they are really fucking small! You don't notice it too much, but when you do, it's fucking creepy!

Look at Yui's feet. Seriously, how the fuck do they support the rest of her body?

Overall

Look, I don't like K-On!. That should be pretty obvious. However, it's fucking popular as it is, so it's obviously hitting the right notes with quite a few people.

Here. Another Mio picture for the fans to wank over.

I guess if you're into moe and all that shit, K-On! might appeal to you. Personally, it's never really been my scene.

If you're too lazy to read the whole post, just look at this picture. It's K-On! in a nutshell.

Also, Yui's clumsiness and silliness is way, way overdone. I'm presuming it's meant to be cute, but it's not. It's just fucking annoying. Everytime we're forced to endure Yui's antics, I feel nothing but the unquenchable desire to reach into the screen and punch Yui in the face. And then kick her. Continuously. For about an hour.

Another reason why Ritsu is my favourite character.

Ultimately, I might just keep watching K-On!. For what it's worth, it makes for a good, lighthearted alternative to my usual shit of giant robots beating the fuck out of each other. But I'm definitely not going to be following the series with any great enthusiasm.

This picture encapsulates the entirety of Yui's relationships with...everyone.

On the plus side, Ritsu is cool. Also, the show has a bitchin' ending tune; which is my favourite part of the show for several reasons which should be fairly obvious.