K-On!

Title: K-On!
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: "Slice of Life," Animation, Comedy
Duration: 25mins (Season One: 14 episodes + 1 OVA; Season Two: 26 episodes)
Language: Japanese

As my poorly self lay in bed feverish and trying to find that side of the pillow not drenched in sweat, I realised I needed something light to watch and take my mind off my diminishing throat size. To describe K-On! As anything but ridiculously easy to watch would be a grave mistake. I happily managed to get myself through the first season before the morning broke, and the rest followed shortly afterwards; it's light and largely without plot, and yet somehow the episodes seem to breeze by before you've noticed it. Following the 'slice-of-life' style of comedy pioneered by “Lucky Star” and “Azumanga Daoih” before it, its influences seem quite clear cut, even if they decide to add the twist of being in a pop/rock band formed from the members of the “Light Music Club.”

Of course, the club often seems more concerned with snacking on cakes and biscuits and manages to procrastinate throughout all their rehearsals (their guitarist doesn't get a guitar until episode 3, and cant play it 'til episode 6!), and yet still pull out a perfect performance at the end. Yes, more than a touch of suspension of belief is required to believe that musicians who can slack off all the time can still come together in perfect unison, can write songs overnight and learn complex chord sequences having never picked up a guitar until a week before. To hard-working musicians its quite frankly insulting, but is nonetheless a necessary evil to keep the tone light and filled with moé cuteness, which the band notion actually works quite well in promoting. The few times where things seem to be taking a slightly more serious tone – where band members consider leaving for example – you soon snap out of it thinking they couldn't possibly be serious, and are proven right a few minutes later.

The cast is fairly limited, though certainly not as badly as it could be, but the characters aren't particularly unique in their design or characteristics and feel all too content to slot into the place of others before them. You have the vocalist and guitarist 'Yui,' who is forgetful and ditsy; Ricchan the drummer who is the tom-boy of the pack, filled with energy and procrastination techniques; Mio the bassist, the token tsukkomi who whilst shy and easily scared, is also the most sensible of the band; Mugi the keyboardist, who whilst retains a childish streak will always think of others before herself (as well as retaining the title of “the maker of the tea”); and before too long, Azunyan the second guitarist, a junior who joins the club later, becomes the 'moé' character to be cuddled and forced to wear cat ears, though also concerns for the future of the club. Then there's the minor characters such as Sawaka, their teacher, who whilst kind and concerned has a mild fetish for outfits, Yui's younger sister Ui who is the responsible one of the two, or Nodoka, the long time-friend of Yui who becomes the president of the school council.

If there was anything that genuinely stood out here it wouldn't be the writing or the jokes - it'll hardly have you in stitches but there are certainly enough chuckle-worthy moments to fulfil the comical aspect – but the level of detail that has gone into some of the animation. The instruments aren't just generic in appearance; the Gibson Les Paul Sunburst has had surprising attention to detail done on the proportions all the way down to the unusually fat neck and bulky body, the fender precision bass is recognisable a mile off and even the cymbals on the drum kit have the 'Zildjian' logo painstakingly written on. It's a level of detail beyond what I was expecting, but it stops short there; the vibrant backgrounds feel a little generic, right the way down to the character designs that are largely focussed on pandering to fan service, the movement often poorly animated and 'blocky,' and at times it simply looks downright awful (the final episode of the first season where we see them singing for example, brings down what should have been a highlight).

There are times also where things start to degrade into too much fan service; the way Mio will start to shiver when scared almost without fail in every other episode, or their teachers outfit obsession (even if this does let us see them dress up, so I can't complain too much) quickly become jokes used well past it's prime, and these certainly aren't the only culprits. This repetition does eventually peter out by the start of the second season, and things do pick up in this regard, perhaps due to my own growing affection for them, or simply because they no longer relied on the same character interactions to set the scene. The mere fact they play pop/rock may also grate on some, even if the actual number of tracks is fairly minimal and where they do emerge are worth listening to if only for the lyrics in tracks like “My Love is a Stapler,” but my major gripe here, after all that, is that it seems inherently difficult to become attached to the characters.

With other shows in this style I felt an odd joy of my 'favourite' getting the extra time in a given episode but here that never really happens. The characters grow on you incredibly slowly, which both makes the beginning more of a slog to get through initially, the finalé of the first season leaving me with nothing but apathy, and yet the sudden 'but this is the end' ending to the show comes as bizarrely saddening. There is little development in their growth, no change or evolution in their characters until the second season, no increase in knowledge of their past or background and little of the events that show them becoming more closely connected to one another (and hence allowing us to feel more closely connected as well), just the same characters with their own tendencies that we come to learn, and all this makes for a slow increase in interest. This is a show about musicians in the same sense that Guitar Hero is a tutorial for learning the guitar. It's filled with nonsensical fluff but it's light nature makes it great for mindless watching.