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View Poll Results: K-On!! (Second Season) - Total Series Rating
Perfect 10 54 50.00%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 31 28.70%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 10 9.26%
7 out of 10 : Good 4 3.70%
6 out of 10 : Average 4 3.70%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 0 0%
4 out of 10 : Poor 1 0.93%
3 out of 10 : Bad 2 1.85%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 0 0%
1 out of 10 : Painful 2 1.85%
Voters: 108. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2010-10-05, 00:37   Link #1
Pellissier
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K-On!! (Second Season) - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

This thread is to be used for discussing the entire episodes of K-On!! (Second Season) ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about the DVD only footage etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:
  • General impression of the series.
  • Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
  • Thoughts about the animation quality.
  • Characters/Character Design
  • Voice Acting

  • Which kind of footage (DVD only) you feel you'd really like to see.
  • What the show meant to you.
  • What could the creators/animators/writers have done better.

And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Soundtrack: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Enjoyment: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Feel free to discuss and more importantly, have fun
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Old 2010-10-05, 05:26   Link #2
piratesof
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Animation Quality: I think it's quality have improved since S1, so it's a great progress. Although compared to other animes that currently airing, it has some flaws. 8.5/10

Voice Actors: Wicked!! All of the seiyuu-s are amazing. Moreover, they can sing, which is a big plus 10/10

Script: When I first thought of slice of life, it usually as boring as hell. But, it brings new flavor to slice of life genre. Great storyline, advancement really well-placed. Love everything about it. 9/10

Soundtrack: Oh yeah, now we're talking! It really has the beat, and also very fun to hear. I could hear to it all day long. Though they are sound simple enough IMO 9/10

Editing: So far, the animation has no flaw in my eyes, I don't know if anyone find any mistake in the animations or not. The sound editing is just superb, can't find any fault within. 10/10

Enjoyment: Too much..... Slice of life + School life + Comedy + Music = The best amusement you'll ever had 10/10

Emotional Involvment: Sadly, the emotional involment only felt at the last 5 episode, excluding the extras (which means it's episode 20-24). For a really great anime, it lacks this. 7/10

Overall: 63.5/7 = 9

Really great anime, and awesome music
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Old 2010-10-05, 07:59   Link #3
Saphira Veera
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Animation Quality: The best I've seen so far... Others may agree, but after all, opinions differ with everyone! 10/10

Voice Actors: 10 STARS!!! More if I could give! Their seiyuus are uber awesome, and they can ALL sing!

Script: Humorous and very well-planned. 10/10

Soundtrack: Hajime-san is a very talented composer. I enjoyed his compositions, especially the 'Na-i-sho~!' It gives me a very cafe-'ey' surrounding. Both my parents thought I had suddenly changed into a Jazz music fan when I cranked the volume! Lol... But really, I like Jazz. XP 10/10

Editing: Perfect. 9/10

Enjoyment: Every episode I watch, I think : God, this is the best episode ever! And then the next episode comes, and I said the same thing. Well, all I can say, I have enjoyed this anime to the best of my ability, and the best amusement anime I've ever seen. 10/10

Emotional Involvement: Last episode were heart-to-heart moments. K-ON!! would be a world popular anime if only they added more conflicts and emotional involvement. But this is a slice of life anime, and I shouldn't be saying that. 8/10

Overall: 67/7 = 9.5 Excellent

A very enjoyable anime, plots easy to understand, and true to their genre, awesome music.
Hail K-ON!!
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Old 2010-10-05, 09:31   Link #4
GMT
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Season Two and Season One of K-On! are two different beasts. Season One was almost all about the moe-baiting. It was Fuwa Fuwa Time personified. In the end, I declared it to have a final rating of six (and a half) Melancholy of Hirasawa Yui's out of ten . . . or, average. Will Season Two rise to the occasion? Will having double the broadcast episodes warm the cockles of my shriveled, Scrooge-like, heart? Read on, and find out!

Animation Quality: - 9/10
The animation work of Season Two goes well above-and-beyond that of the first season's. KyoAni cut the reliance on cheap sight-gags and animation reuse way down. The scenery is more lush, the character animation smoother and more detailed. The nameless redshirts and background details are filled out, bringing the world of K-ON!! to life in a way that the first season never quite managed.

Voice Actors: - 9/10
My fears at what'd happen when they'd do the Region 1 dubs for S1 were realized. They cast Christina Vee as Mio. That alone makes me want rage impotently like Darth Vader did at the end of Revenge of the Sith. The voice acting for K-ON!! is still excellent. If anything, the voice actresses outdo themselves for S2. The drama of Ro-Mio and Ju-Ritsu, the dawning realization in Episode 20 that the school festival performance would be HTT's last. Even the nameless redshirts get distinctive voices and personalities.

Script: - 7/10
The scripting for S2 far exceeds the one for S1, insofar as there was an underlying theme to all the madness. It's still fluffy, it's still formulaic Japanese slice-of-life, but it gets the right reactions at the right times. The fluff is mostly grounded by the girls' coming-of-age . . . but never fear, the light comedy is still there in heaps.

Soundtrack: - 9/10
It's hard to argue with a fictional band that outsells quite a few real bands in its particular music segment and has inspired not-inconsiderable numbers of would-be musicians and even the odd tribute band. Hokago Tea Time has a distinctive sound. It's light rock, but it has a noteworthy '70s edge to it. I do have some minor issues with some of the songs which prevent me from giving this category a 10/10 (some of the repetitiveness in the full-length OP/ED songs, and the questionable use of smoking-crystal-meth tempo at the end of Utauyo MIRACLE, although Yui's VA gets bonus points for trying to sing in-character this season.)

I'm still not giving a score for editing. I've never read the source material, so I can't comment on the editorial choices.

Enjoyment: - 8/10
I enjoyed this series very much. Moreso this season than last (enough to not be willing to wait for the subs to turn up on YouTube, for instance.) I'll definitely add the DVDs (whenever they come out for R1) to my collection, and watch them regularly.

Emotional Involvement: - 7/10
This season of K-ON!! inspired emotional involvement in a way that the first season utterly failed to do. We watch Yui grow from Too Dumb to Live to an Evil (but oh so lazy) Genius, who is aware of her situation in life, and takes a remarkably long view of the future. We find that behind Azusa's suave, stoic, ultra-mature exterior; beats a heart as moe and girly as the rest. She also has a life and friends outside the club (whom we learn become the club by the end of Episode 26.) Ritsu and Mio's relationship is fleshed out, even as Mio's character development was almost entirely neglected this season (possibly as a "Take that!" to her legion of fanboys.) Even then, we find that Ritsu has touches of insecurity behind that genki facade, and Mio has a center of (resigned) steel under all that fluffy moe goodness. Even Subway Molester Man Sawako has a backstory to explain her present eccentricities. The girls of Season Two, unlike the cardboard cutouts of Season One, seem like people with hints of actual nuance. They lose some emotional involvement by turning the "Girls prepare for the most important exam of their young lives" and "Azusa's quest to save the LMC" storylines into "Press the WIN button, and win," but 'emotional involvement' is inherently subjective; so YMMV. High art K-ON!! still ain't, but at least you don't have to feel guilty about getting emotionally involved in this show.

Overall Score: 8.2 / 10. The Good: Just about everything was improved in the second season. The Bad: Still feels kinda like "Seinfeld . . . in JAPAN!!11" Not nearly as bad as, say, Lucky Star, though.
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Old 2010-10-05, 10:04   Link #5
serenade_beta
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From beginning to the end, the... usual K-ON, filled with it and its retarded(?), moe-only girls.
Quite a number of moments that sacrificed character moe for development, unfortunately. Like Mio actually getting on her own feet for once instead of going :Oh, my friends are going to this college, so I'll go there too, tehe" or Yui finishing the race on her own instead of just... ugh...
But the animation was nice, as expected of KyoAni, I guess.
Songs were pretty bad, in general, though the second ED was pretty cool.

The worshipers of this series are pretty bothersome though.

But I guess it worked as brainless fun once in a week.
So, 7/10.

.........To think this is going to be a movie... I can imagine the movie theaters the day it premieres...
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Old 2010-10-05, 10:15   Link #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serenade_beta View Post
Quite a number of moments that sacrificed character moe for development, unfortunately. Like Mio actually getting on her own feet for once instead of going :Oh, my friends are going to this college, so I'll go there too, tehe" or Yui finishing the race on her own instead of just... ugh...
As much as I resent KyoAni's negligence towards Mio's development (even Tsumugi gets a proper development in one full episode instead of the moe-crap they thrust up Mio's ass in Episode 7), *breathes in* do you expect any serious angsty to go around in the daily life of Seinfield or Friends? It's a Japanese sitcom, and the worst part is possibly that, like an average America sitcom, the characters have to return to their norms at the end of the day instead of having any real sharp-turns in their personality changes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by serenade_beta View Post
The worshipers of this series are pretty bothersome though.
Couldn't agree more. But it's human to get butthurt on the Internet. I do it all the time. And even though sometimes we defy logic just to bring out a good point amidst the desperation (more so for Yui's genius), at the end of the day, I guess we are all just here for a good time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by serenade_beta View Post
.........To think this is going to be a movie... I can imagine the movie theaters the day it premieres...
*cough*Twilight*cough* And a few 'intelligent' fans, I guess.
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Old 2010-10-05, 13:23   Link #7
Vexx
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Though the second season focused on 'development, progression, and transition'... it still missed many opportunities (e.g. a number of characters were left pretty much static, some topics dropped that could have been explored, etc).

I went into this series in the first season fairly skeptical. It wasn't until the latter part of the first season I started changing my mind.

There's a large percentage of "anime genre" music I simply cringe and fast forward through but K-On! gave me a major library addition of music that trends toward "stuff I like" with major nods to the real life pop-rock group ZONE and others.

I suppose it could be described as a 'high school coming of age" japanese riff of a Friends-type sitcom. And that isn't a terrible thing... most of the episodes were both funny and relaxing. Despite some of the anti-moe sentiments I see posted in various forums - I feel like the characters were quite a bit more complex than they'll give credit for. I mean, I can rip pretty much ANYthing they like apart as well by over-simplifying and over-generalizing.

I vascillated between 8/10 and 9/10 and ended up 9 when the last episode made a point of showing the continuity of the club (DeathDevils, HTT, "Azusa and the Kitties??").
Otherwise, GMT's post pretty much matches my ratings, component by component.

edit: I've never been a huge fan of the dub casting, dialog or writing... but the casting of english VAs for the first season pretty much confirms I won't bother with more than a cursory listen of it.
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Old 2010-10-06, 11:06   Link #8
wingman32x
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Well, I mildly liked season 1, but it could have been much better IMO. Most of the time it was just cute girls doing cute things, and you never got a lot of insight into their characters. The music was great, and was probably the only reason why I liked season 1 and stayed around for season 2. Overall, I give season 1 a 7/10.

Season 2 is what made a fan out of me. I absolutely loved it. Unlike the first season, they went into a lot more detail about the girls' personalities and motivations. They also touched a lot more on the bond the club members shared and how much they cared for one another. They also handled the graduation process perfectly. Like the scene after their festival performance, when it fully hit them that this was it. Azusa's POV scenes were also very well done. It showed a surprising amount of detail. The last episode was also well done. Yeah, it wasn't the most conclusive thing in the world, but I thought it fit the series well. Overall, season 2 was just excellent for me. It could have used a bit more music, but that's the only gripe I had with it. Huge improvements from season 1. I give season 2 a 9.5/10.

Overall, I give the entire series an 8.7/10. Before watching season 1, I was skeptical as hell about K-on. I was almost sure that it was overrated, and that I wouldn't really enjoy it because the premise didn't jump out at me. Do I still think it's overrated? Yes, but I can now understand why people like it so much. Looking back, I'm kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed the overall series. A lot of that has to do with season 2 though. Anyway, it's sad to see it go, but I have a feeling it'll be back on TV soon. So in summary:

Season 1: 7/10
Season 2: 9.5/10
overall: 8.7/10
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Old 2010-10-06, 18:37   Link #9
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It doesn't happen often, but this is one of those cases where I'd say the sequel/derivative work is better than the original in virtually every way. I found the jokes more consistently funny and the cast's personalities felt more well-rounded than they were in the first season.

Sawako, in particular, is the biggest improvement in characterization. I thought she was a one joke character in the 1st season since they way over-emphasized her love of dressing up the HTT girls. Having her become the homeroom teacher seems to have improved her character; she became more of a quirky yet responsible mentor to the girls than a useless freeloader.

Indeed, the 2nd season in general seemed more reflective and a lot more slice-of-life-ish than the first, especially the episodes focusing on Azunyan. The seniors' impending graduation no doubt influenced this subtle shift in tone. I think this is a change for the better since this increase in contemplation made me feel for the characters more; the happy moments the girls shared became more poignant when contrasted with the bittersweet fact that the seniors will have to separate from Azunyan. Yet despite this bittersweet truth, I felt a life-affirming element to the show's ending with the seniors dedicated Tenshi ni Fureta to Azunyan; despite their separation they treasured those moments they shared and the friendship will survive the distance and as episode 26 strongly implies, the light music club will live on as well. It kind of reminded me of Manabi Straight's ending which gave off a similar feeling.

Some jokes in the series didn't work for me, but ultimately this season was a pleasant surprise and I hope the upcoming movie will be good as well.

9/10
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Old 2010-10-06, 19:27   Link #10
bloppyblue
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Join Date: Feb 2007
My reaction to the end of first season: Aw
My reaction to the end of the second season: OH MY GOD PLEASE DONT END!!

Needless to say, the second season absolutely rocked out loud to me.

Animation Quality: 7/10
All the little details and hardly any (if any at all) continuity errors were excellent. Because of the fact that there wasn't anything special about the animation, and the still frequent use of still shots to replace instrument playing, the score isn't that high. Although when they did play their instruments, I still appreciate how you can see the chord changes and Ritsu hitting each individual piece of her drum set in accordance to the song.

Voice Actors: 10/10
I can't comment much on this... They all did excellent jobs singing and I bought every last word said by each of the k-on girls at the end of their final concert.

Script: 8/10
Not much to say about this... The script was nothing amazing to me, I'm not quite sure how to score this.

Soundtrack: 10/10
It's an anime with music as a primary theme. What'd you expect?

Editing: 9/10 I'm a video editor myself and I haven't noticed anything edited wrongly. Although it's nothing impressive either, it was done right. Maybe I was too distracted by the awesomeness to notice.

Enjoyment: 10/10
There are so many things I appreciate about this series... Every week I couldn't wait to see the next episode and I had a huge smile on my face by the time it ends. Maybe it's cause after every episode I'm reminded to just relax and have fun during my high school years.

Emotional Involvement: 7/10
Nothing really got me on my tippy-toes until the last few episodes where my heart cringed everytime I heard No,Thank You!! signaling the end of yet another episode.

9/10

One of my favourite series of all time... Yeah... I'm a sucker lol. It's partly due to Ritsu xD
The character development and pacing of season two was spectacular. I praise KyoAni's ability to mature the characters in such a seamless manner. Things were happening over time that I hadn't noticed until our K-ON girls were grown up and graduating. Although the sudden transition of focus from the girls to Azusa was very noticeable (probably because she's not my favourite character and I didn't care much for her).

Ritsu has also been promoted to favourite character ever.
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Old 2010-10-06, 20:32   Link #11
DasDingus
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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Animation Quality: 9
I found the animation quality of this show to be excellent. In particular the fact that the background characters had enough detail to them to be recognizable after the short amount of screen time they got was impressive to me. I thought the animators also did a good job of using stylistic choices to add humor to the characters' reactions to others antics. The biggest problem I had was the fact that the scenes where they were playing music it was clear that the animators tried to avoid showing mouths/hands when possible. I hope we get more quality concert animation in the movie but the lack of quality animation of the girls playing is the reason I can't give this a 10.

Voice Actors: 10
Not a lot to say here, the voice actors did a great job. Having voice actresses that can sing was a big deal to me because having the sound of the characters singing actually sound like the characters really increased my enjoyment of the show.

Script: 9
I felt the script was very well executed for this show. K-ON!! was a slice of life comedy that didn't try to be more than it was. There was no unnecessary drama added in but rather the show stuck to what it does well. The character interactions were very well written, the humorous parts made you laugh and the touching parts brought a tear to your eye. The show did everything it set out to do and I don't think you can ask for much more than that.

Characters: 8
I thought the character designs were very well done. Each of the 4 main girls had a distinct personality and role in the club. Some issues came up due to the fact that Mio and Azusa tended to fill the same role in the club (i.e. the stern member urging the others to concentrate) which resulted in one being largely ignored when the focus was on the other.

Other than that, the characters worked very well as a group with interesting dynamics between almost every character pair (and I'm sure the yuri shippers out there have shipped practically all of those pairs at some point). This show honestly did not have any characters I disliked which is a significant accomplishment in my book. I enjoyed Mio's intense shyness, Yui's endearing air-headedness, Mugi's sense of wonder at all things mundane, Ritsu's undying energy, and even Azusa's tsundere feelings towards tea time.

Soundtrack: 10
Obviously the music performed by HTT was outstanding but I felt the background music was very well done as well. When I listen to the OST I have very distinct memories and emotions that I associate with each song, which I feel is all you can ask for from background music. The OP and ED songs/animations were excellent. I didn't see any of the examples of animation being out of rhythm with the music that I see so often in other shows.

Enjoyment: 10
When I try to describe to a friend why I like K-ON!! I find it difficult to explain beyond the fact that the show is just, for lack of a better term, fun. I don't recall enjoying or being as entertained by a show before this. Something about seeing the girls of HTT interacting with each other and just enjoying life warms my heart like few other shows can. That combined with a level of humor that was consistently able to make me laugh out loud makes for an extremely enjoyable show.

Emotional Involvement: 6

A slice of life comedy is never going to be particularly high on the emotional involvement scale just based on the nature of the genre. That said, the show contained a significant amount of emotional scenes near the end given what kind of show it was. Episode 20 in particular had me teary eyed as well as the end of episode 24.

Overall 9

K-ON!! was a very entertaining show which provided me with hours of enjoyment this year. Obviously it's not for everybody (as evidenced by the strong negative reaction you see from some to the show) but for my money it's an excellent slice of life comedy that is very good at what it does. I look forward to the movie both with anticipation and trepidation as I'm both curious and concerned about how they're going to turn a show like K-ON into a full length motion picture.
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Old 2010-10-07, 08:50   Link #12
keroro gunsou
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Animation Quality: 9
Voice Actors: 10
Script: 8
Soundtrack: 10 It is just awesome!
Editing: 9
Enjoyment: 10 I really enjoyed this show!
Emotional Involvement: 7 But ep24 & 26 is 10 out of 10
Characters: 9 I love Ritsu! and ,The others are lovely,cute,funny! I wanted more spotlight to Jun.

Average = 9 But I vote 10... Because I love K-on so much.
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Old 2010-10-07, 21:59   Link #13
VEE
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There's no such thing as perfection. So i'll give it a 9

Animation-9
VA-9
Script-8 ( Some of the episodes might be less-interesting )
Soundtrack-9(LOve them. S2 has better soundtrack)
Editing-8
Enjoyment-9 ( K-ON made my day !!)
Emotional involvement-9 ( I'm FEELING the impact )
Characters-10 ( this is perhaps the STRONGEST element and reason why I'm watching K-ON!!)
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Old 2010-10-08, 08:03   Link #14
Recette
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Animation Quality: 8
In comparison to a lot of other anime, it's pretty well-made. There's a lot more movement in comparison to most other shows, and they exaggerate and stylize very tastefully. Well, S2, that is. Unfortunately, the style and animation otherwise isn't too special, and they wuss out when it comes to instrument playing, which is a bit of a pity, but it's a pretty difficult thing to animate, and even shows like BECK and Nodame skirt around a good deal in regards to showing the playing hands.

Voice Actors: 9
I don't really know the nuances of the language, so I can't really say much in this regard. Sounded okay to me, and they gave all the characters pretty distinct voices and personalities that meshed together well, especially in S2, where they got a bit more spotlight.

Script: 8
I'll be a bit blunt and say I did not like S1's script very much. Way too much exaggeration of pretty much everything, jokes that were too in-your-face, and an intense overuse of gags. I don't know what happened with S2, it's like the series had an epiphany and decided, "Hey, we should clean up our act." Things were toned down for S2, and it definitely had a better atmosphere and a stronger slice-of-life "presence" if you know what I mean. It's not anything particularly special in the grand scheme of things, but for a slice-of-life show, S2's script does its job well, especially in comparison to S1. In general, the characters in S2 seemed a bit more realistic than in S2, notable Sawako, Mio and Ritsu, who seemed to have personalities too heavily exaggerated in S1, but leveled out significantly in S2. Especially Ritsu. Especially.

Soundtrack: 7
Hope you like reading.

I might be a bit lonely in this regard. I understand that the series isn't primarily about the act of making music itself. But even then, they could have expanded a good deal more into the characters' personalities and such through music.

There's simple stuff like "Ritsu plays drums because she dislike working on intricate and fast movements." But what of Mio and Azusa liking jazz? It rarely rears itself in the series, which is a bit odd, because a lot of the songs themselves have sections that were clearly jazz-influenced but never made the cut. Mio and Ritsu presumably learned to play bass and drums together, which is pretty much a combination made in heaven, so why don't they ever end up jamming together? YuiAzu seems a bit... underwhelming compared to the possibilities that they had. Mugi won competitions and likes classical music? You sure wouldn't know that. In fact, Ritsu is the only character that plainly states her musical influences. Maybe this is more of a criticism of script or emotional involvement rather than soundtrack?

But still, most of that is just what I'd like to have seen regarding music in the series, it's understandable that stuff like that isn't the main focus, and they might not want to stray too far from the manga.

When it comes to the vocalized songs, I think they're okay. That's pretty much it, some of the instrumentation is really interesting to listen to, but for the most part, I'm not much of a fan for the horribly saccharine lyrics, and the singing itself ranges anywhere from "not my taste at all" to "mp3-player worthy". But really, personal preferences shouldn't affect the score much, if at all.

As for how the vocalized songs were used in the series, I think they worked out nice for the most part, they all fit fairly well in the atmosphere of the series, although some seemed a bit single-use, like Pure Pure Heart. Didn't really like the Fuwa Fuwa overload, which you heard the last three seconds of every once in a while, but I suppose it was pretty much supposed to be HTT's theme or something.

As for background music, I think the songs at their best are "pretty good" and at their worst "fits the situation". Most were pretty forgettable to me, and I didn't feel like there were really much BGM tracks that were incredibly closely defined to emotions and events.

Editing: N/A
I don't completely understand what this category entails.

Enjoyment: 8
S1 wasn't very enjoyable to me for previously mentioned reasons. Felt nice watching S2 though. Slice-of-life doing its miracle work. Full of "Oh, I've done that!" moments to smile to. Not really an emotion-pumping series, but it's a peaceful thing to watch.

Emotional Involvement: 7
I didn't want anything horrifically bad to happen to the characters in the series, but it's probably because something like that would be like throwing a rock in a perfectly still pond of water. There isn't really a whole lot happening when you look at it, but it's a slice-of-life show. Having no A/C in the summer is pretty much the slice-of-life equivalent to having the family of the main character die in any other show.

Otherwise, the main emotional connection with the characters was chill out and smile if the girls were chilling out, which was 80% of the time, main exceptions being the last few episodes. It could possibly also be said that nostalgia is a driving emotional force in the series.

Last edited by Recette; 2010-10-09 at 20:15.
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Old 2010-10-12, 05:12   Link #15
NakanoAzusa
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Animation Quality: 10/10
- I really like the ways they put 'emotion' into everything in it....like the hair, sunlight, eyes,instru...and most important,the screen movement!

Voice Actors: 10/10
- having the right seiyuu is what makes this anime my most favourite of all time!! Yui-Aki Toyosaki!! They really give the character well defined emotion!

Script: 10/10
-Happen to be my first ever slice of life anime....I really found it lovely!!

Soundtrack: 9/10
-Well...I like all of them sing except for Mio which give me a bad impression....so i don't really fond of her image OST

[B]Editing: 10/10[B]
The best ever with both from the original Manga and anime own story line sweely bleended

Enjoyment: 10/10
-....the only reason I can keep myself on going....

Emotional Involvement: 9/10
-More funny comedy effect rather than tears and cry...

Be not only looking forward but....even more for the Film

Overall; 9.7 EPICNESS
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Old 2010-10-13, 09:37   Link #16
Ryonea
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Animation Quality: 9
As a rating for the total series... I'd give it 8.5. The first season's character drawings are really... well... rough? kinda disappointed at first since it wasn't as good as the official poster. Thankfully things changed a lot in the 2nd season. Loved the usual KyoAni touch on using real life stuffs as the background and little details such as the cars and everything. The motions are also pretty smooth. The instruments are pretty well-drawn too.

Voice Actors: 8
The voice actors are great, but not perfect. They can deliver the expressions superbly and they also sing very well, but sometimes their voices are unstable (especially Mugi's). I personally think that Yui and Azusa's VA are the best on this show.

Script: 8
For an anime based on 4koma manga, I think the script did a very good job. I know there's not much to adapt from a 4koma manga, so they have to make their own extension and original materials. Most of them are lovable, but some of them aren't. Several characters are having a personality change, and a lot of original jokes and little details are missing in the anime. The original materials aren't bad, though. They can give an emotional attachment very well.

Soundtrack: 10
I really like the soundtracks. It is unique and it gives a peaceful feeling. The songs are great too.

Editing: 9
Most of them are great.

Enjoyment: 10
The most important aspect of entertainment. So far, this is one of the anime that I can enjoy very much. I was always waiting forward to the release of each new episodes, and I even collected extras and anything related to K-ON!. Maybe it has no decent storyline, and whatever, but i truly enjoyed it.

Emotional Involvement: 10
This anime is the first one that attached to me very much. Man, it made me really missed my high school days, and it inspires me to do my best and enjoy my own life. I almost cried at the ending, but thankfully the extra episodes erased the sad feeling.

Overall, it's not the greatest anime and has it flaws. But for me, what really matters is the enjoyment. After all, flaw is a part of perfection.

9,1/10
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Old 2010-10-13, 13:34   Link #17
FlavorOfLife
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Animation Quality: 9
The animation itself is not particularly complex. The art direction reduces any headaches you see in anime that have more detailed characters. Still you can see some poor quality drawing in scenes where the characters are in miniature, eg their class photo. What gets me though is the ability to portray natural movement (eg Yui's running style in episode 26), many details for the background (the number of objects the japanese fellas have identified by comparing the anime's look to the actual article is remarkable, eg the drill at the home store episode) and a consistent ability to portray the emotive aspects of the characters. The last can be said to be required of any anime but K-On does it consistently well.

Voice Actors: 9
Yui's voice can be really high pitched but it fits her easily excitable chipmunk personality to the tee. Sawako works well in switching to petulant, serious and to sad/funny (jingle bell jingle bell!). Ritsu's voice fits the genki girl well. Mio's 2 faces of attempted maturity and childishness are also portrayed well. Ui also has the voice down pat, in the caring, normal imoto. Azunyan is voiced ok but lacks character in season 1. Season 2 doesn't help her much until much later. Jun also lacks character and with less screen time than Azunyan, its more noticable. Finally Mugi's voice is fitting but doesn't have much room to explore as she doesn't get much characterisation other than her episode with Ritsu. Everyone other than Jun does a good job of voicing the emotions as well

Script: 10
They got it down pat. The entire show works on a one sided positive view of highschool. No real quarrels (Ritsu/Mio was solved double quick), no real need to study, etc. This allowed the story to focus on the positive aspects of the characters and using their drawbacks as comedic material, so its not really seen as a drawback. It works on nostalgia as well, mixing the entirety to be one big message of "Life isn't that bad". Great for when work gets burdening.

Soundtrack: 9
Season 1's fuwa fuwa time is still the better one among their non OP/ED songs. Rice is a side dish has energy but not emotive. U & I lacks character, being average. Of special note that makes it a high score is the guitar solo of My love is a stapler in episode 1. That part packs in a lot of "joy of playing the guitar" feeling as well as having good energy to it.

Editing: 7
The mixing of the extra episodes was not done that well. Episode 25 should be placed anytime before 24 while 26 should immediately follow 24. The allows the "New Beginning" feeling to immediately follow the "End of an Era" feeling in 1 week and allows the viewer to head nod at the group's actions in episode 24 as the viewer would then see the reason for Yui's out of character calmness.

Enjoyment: 10
K-On is not a deep anime like Cowboy Bebop or a sad one like Grave of the Fireflies but as one that encourages and relaxes, it tops its niche

Emotional Involvement: 10
It was fun.
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Old 2010-11-09, 17:50   Link #18
tyranuus
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I guess I'm going to go against the general flow and say that whilst I didn't think K-On!! was a BAD show, I actually prefered the first season.

Ultimately, in many ways K-On!! is a better series than K-On!, not only is it longer, the animation is just as good if not better (the attention to detail on stuff like actually moving fingers for chords in time to the music), and there's more of an overarching plot than the first series; although ultimately as a slice of life series, it's still limited, and the side characters are given a little more airtime/characterisation (with perhaps Sawako being an exception).


Personally though, I really missed the focus on music; it was what drew me to K-On! in the first place, and I'm sure others, given the instrument threads that crept up and the number of musicians watching it, not to mention I was never that bothered one way or another about the whole 'moe' side of the show or even slice of life.

The first series, whilst still being silly and all, and really being a bundle of music and tropes, felt like it contained a much higher concentration on music, or musical references (it felt like 1:1 between music and sillyness/other stuff in the first series, whilst season 2 felt more like 1:2 or even 1:3). Even the extra DVD bonus episode for season one was a live performance, which is a stark contrast to the bonus episodes for season 2.
Watching the two series back to back would probably make the change in focus even more jarring.

Ultimately I found that dissapointing, the second season felt quite far away from the first in that regards; ultimately becoming a light slice of life comedy with some music, and generally the musical episodes were the ones I enjoyed the most; the rock festival for example was great, and the characters getting excited about it filled me with nostalgia for how I got excited before going to my first festivals as well.

Honestly, after a little time to sit, some of the new music has grown on me a little too, U&I and Tenshi no Fureta Yo aren't bad songs [I think Utauyo!!Miracle will take me longer]; but I need to give them more time, the overall soundtrack for the first series still felt stronger (actually strangely I felt quite nostalgic when I heard the background Cayagake Girls during the movie intro), and No Thank You is definately my favourite track from the new lot, it reminds me of the slightly more rock/music focus and attitude the first series possessed.

Humour in the second series was also slightly different; personally I didn't find the second season as funny, at least from memory, as I did the first series, but then I felt a greater attachment to that, so this may be rose-tinted glasses. Sawako though, for example, was quite obviously toned down/normalised for the second season.

I think I'd give the second series an 8/10, decent but not exceptional, but I do feel that the shift in focus may alienate, or dissapoint, at least some of the fans of the original series who were watching, at least in part, for the musical aspect, as this has been heavily toned down; especially if those viewers are not that fond of slice of life shows.

I'll probably still watch the movie, but I do hope they focus more on the music for that, rather than the sillyness/slice of life. A mockumentary about the band a year or two later could actually be quite good, especially as the budget for a movie should allow more room for music and complicated concert sequences.
Don't get me wrong by this review, it's still a fun series, and I'll miss it in a way like I do after all shows that take some time to complete, but I felt much more connected with the first series.
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Last edited by tyranuus; 2010-11-10 at 12:37.
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Old 2010-11-21, 14:21   Link #19
Triple_R
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I just finished watching K-On!! (Second Season). I also just finished up a (mostly positive) two-part review of it here, and here. As a warning, it's a spoilerrific review.

Hope people enjoy it!
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Last edited by Triple_R; 2010-11-21 at 18:46.
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Old 2010-11-24, 22:46   Link #20
baxcill3
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Join Date: Nov 2010
i can't give my reason....
here is my rate :
Animation quality : 10

Voice actor : 10

Script : 9

Soundtrack : 10

Editing : 8

Enjoyment : 10

Emotional Involvement : : 10

9.6/10
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