WELCOME TO THE CLUB! Has some cake and tea!!!!
Yes. I am doing a post about the first season of K-On! First. Not the upcoming second season that everyone is excited about but the first. Not only am I late to the party but I got there and everyone had already left! X_X
When I was looking over the Spring 2009 Anime Line-up this series really didn’t catch my eye. I thought the entire focus of the show was going to be on the music aspect of it. I didn’t think I could handle so many episodes about a few girls putting together a band. So in short I thought it was going to be boring.
*waits for all the K-On! fans to stop throwing rocks and pitch forks at me*
I really didn’t understand the hype about the show when I saw many bloggers writing about this series either. I chalked it up to fan boys being fan boys and tucked it aside in my mind. Clearly I was wrong.
Now, a year later, I am looking over the Spring 2010 Anime Line-up and my must see/might be interesting list is kinda small. But all over forums and blog posts I see K-On! MOG SO EXCITED YAY YAY YAY!!!!!! K-On! seem to be the series everyone was most excited to see and here I was unable to put it on my list. I was missing out on something and it was high time to find out what it was.
The good thing about waiting until after a series finishes airing to watch it is it’s easy to get caught up and current. No waiting for weeks and if a series is great you can keep on chugging along with limited “you have reached your allotted time” commercial interruptions. So while I could have watched all 14 episodes in one day my eyes needed a little bit of rest (as I overdid it majorly during Sailor Moon) I was able to watch the entire season one in two days. XD
I can safely say now….that I was wrong. Everyone else was right. It wasn’t merely fan boys going on and on about stuff. If anything I think this series is geared towards girls/women. But now I see what everyone is talking about. So here I am, with my late thoughts on this series. On a positive note at least I don’t have to wait long for season two right? XD Go me!!!
Fluffy times?
K-On! for those who don’t know is basically the story of 4 (eventually 5) high school girls coming together to save the light music club. Only one member is even gunho about joining this club and another member can’t even play an instrument. But soon these very different girls come together and the antics begin. While the girls are semi-serious about their music the plot is more of a slice of life high school piece and a comedy.
I love you even if you have ugly eyebrows.
I will start off with a brief overview on what I thought about the characters. Let’s start with Mugi as she is my favorite character. I probably should say Tsumugi but I think Mugi sounds better. Now it might be odd to start off with Mugi since this post as been pretty positive so far but COME ON! Mugi totally needed to have more limelight and character development. She had more potential than just being the rich girl! We had Mio crying in the corner all the time, Ritsu being bossy/forgetful, and Yui being Yui. Mugi just quietly served the tea and once in a while had lesbian fantasies. Okay she did more than that but since she is my favorite I am allowed to think she didn’t get enough screen time.
Those commoners and their silly work phrases.
I love that Mugi was a rich girl that was clueless on “normal” things but wasn’t all Ouran Host Club/flaunting her money. She tries to cover up that she is rolling in dough. I am not sure if it’s because she doesn’t want to show off or she is really embarrassed by the other the topness but either way it is endearing. Also do you want fries with that?
Fan boys DENIED their panty shots!
I thought Mio was going to be the one who would be the voice of reason and kept people in line. I blame it on the hair really. And sometimes Mio fulfilled that goal. I would argue that Mugi was more mature but Mio was usually the one trying to keep people on track. But Mio suffered from a severe lack of moe. Which is fine, we do need to attract the fan boys. But at times….she was a bit much to handle. Barnacles? Really? Seaweed on the head? Okay blood isn’t really cool to see gushing from someone’s hands but once you realize they are okay come out of the corner! So with all that and more it was hard to take her serious. Of course it is unfair to think a leader always needs to be a leader and act like Rain Ocampo 24/7. People are people and they are allowed to have fears and doubts. But barnacles?!
But....what about the cake?!
That all being sad it was still fun to watch Mio. She tries to pretend to be mature but deep down she wants to have fun with the rest of the girls. She kicks up a storm about singing the song lyrics in front of a crowd but is the first one who steps up to the plate when things go wrong. Also I enjoy that she enjoys cute and fluffy things too!
Ritsu is a few french fries short of a happy meal here..
Ritsu was always fun to watch. To me she was the typical girl in the series. She has tons of positive qualities and a few negative ones to make her a well-rounded person. She gets pretty decent grades but seems to have a very healthy social life. She is passionate about issues but is bad at following through with those issues. She is not above blackmail but she wants to make sure everyone has a good time. Welcome to my life fellow snarker! XD
Some people might be put off by how Ritsu handled the Mio/Nodoka situation. Personally I thought it was handled very accurately. You are friends with someone your whole like and BAM you are separated during high school and your friend because friends with someone else. Ritsu had a huge jealous attack and Mio didn’t even call her on it because Ritsu realized how silly it was later. The entire situation is further silly as Ritsu becomes much closer to Yui than Mio does to Nodoka. So yeah, I like how it accurately handled that little high school scenario.
NEET discrimination!!!1
And then there is Yui. I really thought I was going to hate Yui what with her extremely flighty behavior and random antics. And before you all scream MOG KOBATO at me Kobato isn’t that self aware when jokes are going on. XD But instead of becoming irritated at her I found her a bit endearing. Yeah she was over the top at times and people in the real world wouldn’t be able to function as her. But that is the point of anime right? So Yui being over the top is just something they did to make the show fun. And perhaps make people remember their goofy friend they had in high school that did silly things. I can’t remember that friend personally which probably doesn’t mean good things for me. X_X
Look at me I am amazing!!!
I was SLIGHTLY disappointed that more of the season wasn’t devoted to Yui learning how to play the guitar. Then I remembered that is why I didn’t watch the season to begin with, because I thought it was completely devoted to music. So while yeah it was a bit improbable that Yui picked up guitar and could magically play it three episodes later it was much more fun watching…well the fun and not the practice. XD Yes Yui was practically a genius when it comes to the guitar so she could make us laugh with her oblivious and carefree nature in other places.
Oh hai new person! How about you stop being bossy and go with the fun flow?
I didn’t like Azusa. I don’t know where a first year gets off telling second years what to do but MAN! Though it was nice seeing a break from the normal path of sempais/juniors. Not sure how accurate that represents the Japanese culture but meh. Doesn’t mean I like Azusa. She came off as rude and pushy. :( I mean….did she really think the club was going to practice every single minute of the day? Isn’t bonding important to her? I guess I joined a club and they NEVER did the club activity promised I would be disappointed. But she was rude and a kill joy. So I enjoyed her suffering. XD
We're not worthy!!!!
I wish Sawako would have been more herself. Maybe she was being herself as she was a shy person before that boy turned her down. I think she was in the medium, not a punk rocker but not preschool teacher sweet as pie. I liked how they portrayed her being similar to her students. She isn’t that much older than them (I kinda just realized I am older than her X_X) so there is no reason to be angry nun has a ruler. I approve of Sawako.
Nodoka was neither here nor there for me. I think I used that quote wrong but I am a rebel like that. I guess she was there to show us that Yui has survived so far in life by her help. Oh and she also makes sure the club doesn’t fall apart when paper work doesn’t get turned in. She’s nice enough, just not interesting enough to hold all my attention.
How about you not trash talk my sister mkay?
I would go crazy if Ui was my sister. Not that she is a bad person or anything but who could compete to someone perfect like that. Although…it would be nice if I had someone make me snacks and dinner growing up. I guess I am more worried that Ui doesn’t have fun at life because she is practicing being the dotting wife on Yui. But she is super cute and super enthusiast in a not fakey way. Like a realistic enthusiast way.
Always serious.
What were are supposed to take away from this season is how the girls make strong friendships and deal with this different time in their lives. Which is all lovely and cupcakes but I was hooked on the laughs! Every episode there was something to laugh about and relate to. I would compare this series to Lucky Star only I think K-On! upped the funny factor and didn’t include the boring every day stuff.
Another school festival..?
I do think the series moved a bit fast. I am sure the writers think that now that there is a season two they wished they slowed it down a bit. There was only 13 episodes (well, 12 episodes, 1 special, and one OVA) so I don’t see why season one had to be rushed into halfway through their second year. It was a bit much to see two school fairs, two summer breaks, and two end of the year parties. Maybe that is why the series seemed more fun as they only covered the fun parts of life? I just think maybe more could have been focused on school and not so much SUPER FUN TIMES!
Always dressed so cute!!!
The art was great except in one area: their feet and legs. X_X People are not twigs. People can’t be 5 feet tall and have 2 inch feet and pencil ankles. But other than that everything was very spot on. I especially enjoyed the many costume changes. And yay for cute uniforms and reasonable size boobies to go inside of them!
Best scene in the entire season!
I love the mitten scene. It was done so seriously and Yui was just..Yui. You just think about what you did mittens!!!
Yeah, my mom never lent me a random 550 dollars when I was 16.
X_X
Cheers for passing!
So yes. I was super duper wrong. This series/season was made of cuteness and fun times. There is something for the boys but I really think this series was made for girls/women. It didn't focus too much on the music but it was never forgotten as that is the reason all the girls came together. I guess what I mean to say is it's good to have a hobby/interest but not to become to consumed by it you can't kick back and have fun with your friends.
Almost makes me wish I was in high school again. But then I remembered homework and cheerleaders.
So my fellow anime fans. If you haven't seen season one of K-On yet DO IT NOW! You are really missing out and it is such an easy watch. I promise you won't be disappointed (although you may laugh at the goofy lyrics. Funny how this is the music club and I didn't cover the actual music part...). If you have already seen season one I shall join you in waiting anxiously for season two. Hopefully the fun times and laughs keep on coming! See ya in April!!!!!
Although.....I do worry about what will happen to the club when they all graduate... X_X
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