K-On! (First Season) - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Miyuki-ism]

There's still more action/adventure/sci-fi/fantasy animes then these kind though so...

[Samatarou]

Finally got round to voting in this. Animation I thought was good but not exceptionally so (7), voice acting was ok (6), though I'm from the school that dislikes high-pitched voice acting so a lower-pitched Yui would have been better. Mio had the best voice, the rest were pretty forgettable.

OP and ED were worth a 10 in themselves, but the bit in between dragged the series down to just scrape in at 7 overall.

Whilst watching the series I've changed my mind a few times as to where it went wrong and turned a very promising setup into a merely good series. My final conclusion is that it's not the storylines that sucked but the characters themselves, which I would rate at around 4/10.

Ken Akamatsu once revealed that when writing Negima, he created the massive cast of 30-odd girls by simply picking their attributes at random from three lists. The result however was pure genius. K-On however really does feel like each character was assembled frankenstein-like by sticking a singularly unlucky pin in a list of random attributes. I just didn't find any of the characters believable, each seems to have a set of personality traits that were added to fit the specific storylines rather than vice versa, and the result is people who don't come across as plausible or cohesive individuals. (Moreover this means that characters like Tsumugi who don't have an important role in the plot end up with no real personality despite the early yuri indications etc.)

Personally I think that's why Yui comes across in a way that people have described as retarded — I don't think she was meant that way, it's just that a whole bunch of stupid attributes have been piled one on top of the other until she seems to be psychologically falling apart. And if the characters themselves don't have believable personalities, this also undermines the chemistry between them, indeed it was the lack of chemistry that I noticed first before I realised the underlying reason for it.

Despite all this though, I did enjoy the series, and still love watching the OP & ED sequences at every opportunity. But I suspect I like it more because of the mental image I have of how Yui might have been — a dreamy but bright girl who finds it hard to concentrate on anything — rather than the hotchpotch of random things she turned out to be.

[qwertyuiopz]

meh
i was really bored watching this

[kk2extreme]

this is a slice of life: music addiction, I rate it on the slice of life aspect and the great music. The band itself worth a 10, but I will give it a 9 for being too short and we need more songs

[Miyuki-ism]

Well I'm hoping for a season 2, they could definitely make a lot of money off of a longer season 2.

[VentAileron]

7/10

Slice of life...I bet that's mighty boring if it wasn't a 'comedy' at the same time. It's a comedy for me, with music and school life as the setting. Though the jokes aren't as good and torrential as in Lucky☆Star, they still make the show interesting for me to watch (Sawako and Ritsu are the most funny ones, with episode 5 Adviser! being my favorite episode). The drama seemed to be a bit off, since the show has never been really serious in the non-drama episodes. The episode with Azusa as the new member had a nice message which is 'It doesn't matter if you're good or not, as long as you're with friends', so the drama before that was O.K. for a buildup to that. The drama with Ritsu and Mio was just...that came out of nowhere...

Animation...dunno, I'm no expert at the technical aspect of this (heck, I'm no expert in anything). All I can say that the style suits K-ON!, although I do think the mouth movement during the singing scenes feel kind of awkward (then again, Haruhi's famous concert scene felt awkward too, just less than this one though).

I think KyoAni focused greatly on the songs. They're top notch if you ask me. Good material to get you started to play an instrument, not to mention what you usually do with songs you like; listening. I believe a lot of people think they haven't added enough songs or 'it isn't about music'

The down parts of the show...hmm...there sure are some of them, otherwise I wouldn't have given it a 7/10. It's just hard to put your finger on it. I guess despise all the good parts, it's just isn't an 'amazing' show that left me dozing off and thinking about its plot and messages to its audience for days (like Haruhi) or feel like watching it over again for the laughs (like Lucky☆Star).

[JeromeREC]

Animation Quality: 9
Voice Actors: 8
Script: 7
Soundtrack: 9
Editing: 8
Enjoyment: 8
Emotional Involvement: 7

Average = 8

[flyingpussyfoot]

Originally Posted by Akka

But it certainly is, by FAR, the worse show ever made by KyoAni.

Hmm.. I don't know about that.

I am a big fan of Kyo-Ani, and I do love all their work (even Haruhi, Endl-ss E-ght), Except for Munto.

I think Munto was by far the worst Kyo-Ani Anime ever, first and second season.
(...actually I didn't hate the anime, but If I were to rank their work, this would be in the last place)

Sorry Munto Fans.

[Ithekro]

The bar for KyoAni shows is set pretty high:
Munto generally is considered the lowest on their bar, and it was their first OVA...and it was considered good then (2003) in terms of art/animation quality...storywise...eh.

Then you have Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and The Second Raid. (outdoing the original GONZO production in quality from most accounts).
Their three Key works: AIR, Kanon (2006), and Clannad/Clannad: After Story. (outdoing the TOEI movies and series in animation quality and artwork by most accounts)
Their flagship anime: Haruhi Suzumiya (turning fandom to neo-religion since 2006)
Then their 4Koma productions: Lucky Star, K-On!, Haruhi-chan, and Nyoro~n Churuya-san.

The bar is pretty high in those groups, with Munto TV seeming to be the weakest link between the Munto OVAs and the movie.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

The bar for KyoAni shows is set pretty high:
Munto generally is considered the lowest on their bar, and it was their first OVA...and it was considered good then (2003) in terms of art/animation quality...storywise...eh.

Then you have Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and The Second Raid. (outdoing the original GONZO production in quality from most accounts).
Their three Key works: AIR, Kanon (2006), and Clannad/Clannad: After Story. (outdoing the TOEI movies and series in animation quality and artwork by most accounts)
Their flagship anime: Haruhi Suzumiya (turning fandom to neo-religion since 2006)
Then their 4Koma productions: Lucky Star, K-On!, Haruhi-chan, and Nyoro~n Churuya-san.

The bar is pretty high in those groups, with Munto TV seeming to be the weakest link between the Munto OVAs and the movie.

Yes well lately I would suggest to anybody to start lowering that bar quite a bit unless it's to a person that really really likes moe antic anime. There's just been nothing that they've done since those few outstanding episodes of Clannad After Story (a series that for the most part I still don't find nearly as good as it's been sold by the way...mostly on account of the comedy parts that did nothing for me to name just one issue) that I would call good or even above average in sense of the word. To me it looks like they're pretty much living off of the hype and "reputation" that they've garnered over the years at this point, which I guess is a living, but doesn't exactly make you a top tier producer in my eyes. I find it hard to find where to compartmentalize them in my mind anymore since I just plain don't know what to expect from them quality wise other than that they'll probably put out something moe that everybody will praise as the second coming for a while, then turn on it, and all the while I will likely just find it mediocore and derivative except for that one episode that always manages to be exceptional.

K-On was just the latest in that trend as far as I can tell and I would say that K-On, Munto and Haruhi 2009 are all good contenders for worst anime they have put out. It's not a good trend either since all of them pretty much followed back to back and have shown the same signs of them just not caring anymore.

[andyjay729]

Usually I find Kaioshin a bit of an overly cynical crank, but I kinda think he has a point here. I enjoyed K-On, but it wasn't as absolutely spectacular as, say, Macross Frontier, and did seem somewhat disjointed and aimless at times. And yes, character development is somewhat flat; they certainly could've tried to flesh out Yui and Mugi some more. I wonder if it would've gotten all the attention it did initially if it weren't produced by Haruhi's studio. And speaking of that, that Endless Eight arc sounds to me like a mind-boggling, "what-were-they-thinking?!?" waste of celluloid and ink. (TWO MONTHS of basically the same episode slightly redrawn? For any other studio, that would've been committing suicide.)

So yes, I might agree that KyoAni is overly relying on its reputation of late, and perhaps we should lower the bar for them somewhat. That said, I personally would prefer to see more K-On or Lucky Star in the future rather than Haruhi.

[yezhanquan]

I've said this before: A little too soon for the series to be animated, and they end up missing the back portions of the manga, which have some really good situations and gags. But, I admit that KyoAni's involvement helped the manga, more than the animated series helping KyoAni's reputation.

[flyingpussyfoot]

I'll be honest, maybe it wasn't an anime that will be acceptable (can't find a really good word for it) to American Audience, I guess, compared to Haruhi and FMP.

Pretty sure most of you watched it because it was Kyo-Ani right?

I'm Japanese, I really enjoyed the anime. I'm used to watching those everyday life style anime such as "GA Geijutsuka Art-Design Class", "Hidamari Sketch", and "Kanamemo" (BTW I believe this anime is all from Manga Time Kirara), and I enjoyed it all.

Eventhough Kanamemo was a story about newspaper delivering, I didn't see anything about the topic most of a time.

I didn't expect K-On! to be "Beck "God Anime" Mongolian Chop Squad" Status, I just liked the whole everyday easy go life style. So I gave it a Perfect 10...

But I do understand people have their likes, and dislikes. I'm not forcing you to love it.

[yezhanquan]

Kanamemo is in a magazine by the same company, Houbunsha. But, yeah, all 4 are yonkomas.

[coderlan]

Animation Quality: 6, I've changed my mind! the animation could be more detailed especially when player on the stage!

Voice Actors: 10, it really fits on each character

Script: 6, average script

Soundtrack: 10, my fav is My Love is a Stapler!

Editing: No clue

Enjoyment: 8, it could be better

Emotional Involvement: 6, not much lol

Average: I gave it 10 though. Because I enjoyed it very much.

[TCman]

In my opinion K-On! is one of the better shows in 2009. And yes, it is better than the Haruhi Season 2 (sorry, Haruhi fans!). I think K-On! is one of those anime that would move people, getting people in making music or at least looking up the rockstars, popstars, artists who are ever mentioned in the series.

Nobody can deny that K-On! isn't a mega success. I doubt it's only the otakus buying the blu-ray of K-On!. I think K-On! can attract all kind of audience, from boy to girls, from young to old; the plot is also not that sophisticated that nobody can understand/comprehend. It all about making music with your friends can be that fun.

Also I didn't watch K-On because it's made by Kyoani; it's more because it's quite well made, the plot of this anime is good enough, the comedy is just right, the pacing is really good, all the references to different artists are just awesome; additionally, the creators of this anime has done a really nice job by inserting several good songs performed by the main characters of the anime (the singles and album do sell very well in Japan).

I give K-On! a 9 out of 10!

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by flyingpussyfoot

I'll be honest, maybe it wasn't an anime that will be acceptable (can't find a really good word for it) to American Audience, I guess, compared to Haruhi and FMP.

Sweeping generalizations usually fail... most fans of this genre (4-koma comedy) found it pretty good if not Uber-Terrific.

Pretty sure most of you watched it because it was Kyo-Ani right?

Again, a mistake to make sweeping generalizations. Many of us watched it simply because we enjoy 4-koma comedy or were already reading the manga. Yes, there were a large percentage of "its Kyo-Ani" and another group of "Watch and Hate because it isn't Haruhi/FMP or something else they wanted Kyo-Ani to do at the time.

I'm Japanese, I really enjoyed the anime. I'm used to watching those everyday life style anime such as "GA Geijutsuka Art-Design Class", "Hidamari Sketch", and "Kanamemo" (BTW I believe this anime is all from Manga Time Kirara), and I enjoyed it all.

I enjoy all those anime, so our tastes seem to coincide in that arena.

I didn't expect K-On! to be "Beck "God Anime" Mongolian Chop Squad" Status, I just liked the whole everyday easy go life style. So I gave it a Perfect 10...

I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more music within the series. It seemed to be a perfect vehicle for a weekly "music video" segment within each series (and there was certainly enough music made and sold via CD to do that). However... it was certainly relaxing to watch ... and frankly, the bonus episode of all of them doing their separate things was just about my favorite.

But I do understand people have their likes, and dislikes. I'm not forcing you to love it.

The show tended to polarize the members here.... mostly because of expectations unrelated to the series (e.g. "where's more Haruhi?" or "what? ANOTHER 4-koma series?"). I enjoyed the series... but was surprised they picked another "girl-focused 4-koma" so soon after Lucky*Star.

[Tyss]

Boring... yet... its still so MOE!!

[Jintor]

8/10 because I enjoyed what I was watching.

Screw all your microanalysis bull I enjoyed myself.

[mammothb]

well, i actually read the comments here and actually found myself a bit reluctant to watch this series because of all the comments saying how little the emotional involvement were, and stuff like that, but then again, if you are watching a 4koma adaptation, you won't expect series drama, or tearjerker with tragic endings rit?

i mean, yes there weren't a lot of moments to be moved to tears, but you won't read a 4koma fo that stuff so similarly you won't ask for high emotional involvement for its adaption? that's wat i feel anyway, and i might actually get myself hooked onto these purely comedy slapstick series.

yea pickled daikon eyebrows ftw!