Director: Naoko Yamada,
Starring: Aki Toyosaki, Stephanie Sheh, Asami Sanada, Karen Strassman, Ayana Taketatsu, Christine Marie Cabanos, Chika Fujito, Laura Bailey, Madoka Yonezawa, Xanthe Huynh, Minako Kotobuki, Shelby Lindley, Satomi Satou, Cassandra Lee
Running Time: 300 minutes
Certificate: PG
With high school often portrayed as a dark and depressing place where only the strong survive, it’s easy to forget that among all the exam stress and needless social politics, it was really a lot of bloomin’ fun. Well fear not fellow optimists, for K-ON! remembers just how cute and exciting the best years of your life were. Although, perhaps a little too much so.
K-ON! follows the Light Music Club as they continuously embark on episodic adventures which involve their school life. The big plus of the show is also its biggest drawback. K-ON! is a light and fluffy show that is suitable for even the youngest of audiences. It isn’t so much about creating conflict, as it would much rather slap a smile across your face. Essentially, the pessimists out there would say the show is about nothing and to a degree they are correct. Some of the biggest crises the girls in K-ON! must face include giving a speech in front of the class, or keeping their guitar dry on their way to school on a rainy day.
These plot descriptions aren’t exactly going to drag in potential new viewers, so it’s important to communicate just how feel good this show is. The characters and their outlook on life is what drives the show and it’s wonderful to see teenage girls focused on the simple passions in their life, rather than having them obsessing over boys, popularity, or their boob size; a pitfall of many anime shows. These are the events in life that everyone forgets, but at the time they may have made humorous anecdotes.
Music fans are bound to get a kick out of many of the plotlines, such as when protagonist Yui Hirasawa (Toyosaki/Sheh) begins naming other people’s instruments. The passion the characters feel for music is quite inspiring and the writing is very human in that the girls aren’t exceptionally great musicians. This isn’t a show where the girls are on the track to superstardom, they merely enjoy doing what they do. The show’s music is certainly catchy, with the opening theme burying itself into the mind of anyone that sits through it even once.
With bold and confident animation, lovable characters, and a sense of purity and innocence, this is certainly an idealistic show that just wants to make you happy. It does so, but at the expense of engaging storytelling. This is a show to save for a rainy day when everything seems like it’s going wrong with nothing to look forward to, which itself could be reason enough to purchase it.
K-ON! Season 2 Part 1 is available to buy on DVD on 20th May via Manga Entertainment.
