Music, Cake, and Tea - K-On! Review

Over the past couple of months I've started to open my mind to different genres of anime. Most of my time spent watching anime has been spent watching shounen's, which while fun, is rather limiting. Last month I discovered how much you can have watching the Slice of Life genre through The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This new mindset on anime led me to K-On!, a show that I had heard a lot about through reviewers and internet memes. Based off of the limited parts that I had seen, I decided to give the show a shot and I was definitely not disappointed.

The story of K-On! unfolds mostly through the perspective of Hirosawa Yui, an airheaded and lazy high school freshman who has no idea what club to join. She picks the Light Music Club because she thinks she'll just be able to get away with playing the castanets. The Light Music Club had all its members graduate the year before and faces disbandment if it doesn't have four members. Ritsu and Mio, two other freshmen and childhood friend, join the club so that Ritsu can instantly become president and their "dream" of being in a band together. They're able to recruit Tsumugi, a soft-spoken and sweet girl who thought the club room was meant for chorus club, however they still remain a member short. This is where Yui reemerges in the picture. Yui joins the club believing that she'll be able to get away with not playing a real instrument but is disheartened when she finds out that the three other members are all excellent musicians. Not wanting to lose their fourth member, the three members play on Yui's love of cake and sweets and are able to convince her to stay. Yui even decides to pick up guitar so that she can play with the rest of the band.

After that, the overarching plot of K-On! just about falls to the wayside. The first episode drops a hint that they eventually want to get on the stage at Budokan and they do make mention that they have to be ready to play at school festivals. However, most episodes simply just follow the girls around on their rather random and, to be perfectly honest, monotonous adventures. The show is simply about four best friends just having fun and playing music together. Episodes are somewhat self-contained though there are a few important ones such as when a new member joins midseason or when they gain their faculty advisor. Normally, I would be very critical of an anime in which the plot never really goes anywhere or where none of the characters really face any obstacles but for some reason K-On! pulls it off. Each episode is incredibly enjoyable and was legitimately funny. It reminded me of Ouran Highschool Host Club with the way it deliberately plays with and sometimes subverts common anime tropes. Not a whole lot really goes on in K-On! but each episode leaves you feeling with warm and sweet feelings inside.

K-On! is less about the music and more about the bonds between friends, which I can totally get behind.

One thing that I heard about K-On! in the build up to when I eventually watched it was that for a show that has a heavy music premise, there really isn't a lot of music playing. This is...somewhat true. The focus of the show is definitely more on the girls themselves and their adventures together rather than the band itself. Most of the time the girls spend in the club room is spent hanging out, drinking tea, and eating cake. Most of the problems that the girls come up against are resolved (or unresolved depending on your viewpoint) by sitting down and drinking tea. The show doesn't let this slide though. Later in the season, new club member Asuza, a very serious musician, is nearly appalled by the lack of practicing the girls do. Of course, K-On! referencing this certainly does not excuse the lack of music but to be honest, I really didn't mind it. The premises for most of the episodes are band related such as an early episode where they have to find Yui a guitar. K-On! likes to go with a theme that the Light Music Club is not so much about the music, but instead about the great times that band members have with each other. There is a heavy friendship vibe here as you see the girls become true companions. I personally found this part of the show to be very well done and made up for the lack of music. This isn't to say either that the show is completely devoid of music, the characters perform a few times over the course of the season and are shown practicing in the room several times as well. In addition to that, I found that the show was also very smart about the musical references it made. These girls do know their stuff and had the technical knowhow to prove it.

The characters of K-On! generally fall into standard moe anime tropes. Yui is the ditz, Ritsu the headstrong and loud one, Mio the serious one but also a fraidy-cat, and Mugi is the wealthy and obscenely nice one. While originally this doesn't appear to make K-On! stand out from many other shows, it isn't a bad thing. It is one thing if a show is very cliched and/or trope-heavy but doesn't do anything with those tropes. K-On!, however, does what some people may find cliched or played out but does this very well. Turns out that the creators meant to base each character on the members of The Beatles The characters have immense chemistry with each other and I never found myself getting bored with them. Later in the season, the club takes on a fifth member in Asuza, who at first seems like she's going to disrupt the equilibrium between the members. However, despite some early tension, she ends up fitting right in and only makes the show better. While the girls of K-On! may not be the most original group of characters it didn't stop me from liking each of them. Character development is present but it isn't entirely noticeable. Yui gets notably more mature as the season goes on and Mio learns to relax a bit (same could be said for Asuza). Outside of those two characters though, we don't see too much development. Mugi is pretty much the same character throughout alongside Ritsu. Yet again, K-On! manages to make this not an issue. There isn't a whole lot of character development but doesn't really matter, the characters are entertaining and near impossible not to love, that should be enough. It should also be said that this show is ridiculously cute as well, frequently producing several "d'awwww" moments. The last episode of the season even made me tear up, so even without especially noticeable character development it is very easy to get attached to these characters.

You will love the characters of K-On!

As should be expected in a show that is about music, K-On! has a great soundtrack. Even if the girls perform a limited number of times that doesn't mean that the music isn't catchy and fun to listen to. Also, the animation is great in showing just how much fun the girls have playing music with each other which makes the songs all the more fun to listen to. The music in the background of the episodes is good as well, though not as catchy as the standalone tunes. In addition, the opening and ending songs were the best of all. This is one of the first animes where I've made a point to watch through the opening every episode. The animation is really strong as well. I've frequently lamented the lack of creativity when it comes to character design in modern anime so I was pleased to see that K-On! did not fall into that rut.

I have to say that I enjoyed the first season of K-On! way more than I ever thought that I would. It rendered my normal barometers of judging anime, character development and strong overarching plot, completely irrelevant. It is a show that makes you appreciate its simplicity, that every show doesn't need to have those elements. Sometimes you just want to watch a show that simply just plays itself out. K-On! was incredibly entertaining and I would have say is one of the best anime experiences I've ever had. I cannot recommend this show highly enough.

My Score: 5/5