Type: Television Show
Episodes: 13, 1 OVA, 6 Shorts
Rating: Any Age
Runtime Per Episode: 24 min
Director: Yamada Naoko
Produced By Pony Canon, Kyoto Animation, MOVIC
Year Produced: 2009
A must-watch for anyone who's a fan of J-Pop or weird song titles K-ON! is another one of my all time favorites, and as such, must be reviewed on this blog.
Adapted from a 4-koma manga created by Kakifly, this anime is cleared for a second season beginning sometime this year (that's to say 2010)!
Yui is just entering high school. She's uncoordinated, direction less, and a klutz, but she's excited about entering a new high school none the less.
Mad Skillz? Yes, yes they are.
Upon her arrival, Yui is bombarded with club applications and posters for dozens of various clubs and groups. Now I don't know if clubs are a required part of Japanese high school life, but there you go.
Unable to decide on her own, Yui is left in a quandary, and her childhood friend Nodoka's only advice to her is to find a club fast, or she'll become a NEET.
NEET is a United Kingdom (though it has obviously spread out to Asian countries like China and Japan) term for someone who stays at home and lives off their parents through their twenties. What it actually means is Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET).
Supported and motivated almost entirely by her younger sister; Ui, Yui is probably already half-way there.
That's Ui. She bears a striking resemblance to Yui.
Yui's not the only person who's having trouble finding a club, or should I say that Yui's not the only person who's having trouble settling for a club.
Ritsu is also a freshman new to this school, and she's got a plan. Since the graduation of the seniors last year, the Light Music Club (the "Keion" (K-ON) Club (roughly phonetically)) is going under.
Since clubs require a minimum of four members to continue being clubs (maybe it's a credit thing), the Light Music Club (with zero), is doomed unless someone can save it, and that someone is Ritsu... and her childhood friend Mio!
Too bad Mio's already found a club for herself; the Literature Club.
Rejected.
They are close friends, with a lot of history and... somewhat of a physically violent relationship.
Ritsu convinces Mio to abandon her original plans of joining another club, and gets her into the Light Music Club. Now all they have to do is wait for at least two more members, one or which shows up after only a day of waiting!
Mugi was on her way to join the Chorus Club, but was (like Mio) abducted into the Light Music Club by Ritsu... well, more like Ritsu's stupidity and Mio's reaction, which Mugi thought looked fun. One more!
In an act of Club Spirit, they decide to go home and create fliers, bringing them back the next day. Ritsu's is chosen from among the batch and hung up.
As Yui is walking through the courtyard, a poster catches her attention, the poster for the Light Music Club.
When she tells her Nodoka about her plans to join the club because the word "Light" implies easy, Nodoka isn't exactly sure what's in store for Yui. And so Yui submits her application, and the Light Music Club prepares for her arrival.
When Yui arrives at the LMC, she's made up her mind to tell them that she can't join after all... mainly because she can't play guitar... she actually can't play anything, but after a lot of sweets, they convince Yui to stay to watch them preform.
Burn.
Despite her opinion of their performance, Yui decides to stay because they looked like they were having fun.
And thus the Light Music Club is saved... for now, or at least until Ritsu forgets to turn in another vital piece of paperwork.
An upbeat anime with a funny story, it's from an area that I don't usually take interest in, namely, one that focuses around girls and girls alone. I like girls, don't get me wrong, but I'm a great fan of low humor; among those being physical humor... and sexual tension humor.
I also strangely like a little romance in animes and mangas. I may be a man, but that doesn't mean that I can't be sensitive too... I think I'll go and cry a little... too much? Okay, but I do like romance, since I'm girlie that way, and men should never underestimate the power a romantic movie has on a girl.
There are a few "Girl's Love" situations in there, but then again, I could probably be considered somewhat of a deviant, and am probably hyper sensitive.
The art style was cool. It's got the right amount of chibi to make me like all of the characters, not to mention a bunch of cool faces.
... now it may be a bit of a cliche, but I am a super Mio fan. I like long hair, and the fact that she's easily scared and embarrassed is super cute. Like in Episode 6, when she and Ritsu were kids, and Ritsu announced to the class that Mio was left handed. I nearly died of a moe attack.
Moe, moe, HYNGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!
That alone was enough to make me love this anime.
The music, was the best out of all the animes that I've reviewed, or probably ever will review. Even if you're not a huge fan of anything like J-Pop (a term that I don't quite understand, it's pretty much just rock and roll in Japanese), song titles like "My Love is a Stapler", and "Fuwa Fuwa Time" will make your day. Just think about it. Don't Say Lazy is also a pretty cool song, actually, all of them are.
K-ON! Anime Media (1-13, Shorts)
K-ON! Anime Take (14 (OVA))
I'm sorry that I broke it up, but I couldn't find it all together in one place, in the time that I was willing to spend looking, so here you go.
The Shorts (from what I can gather) are the shorts that are included after the anime show. Some shows have a preview of the next episode, and Slice of Life animes usually have these.
Elfen Lied!
Alert!
If you don't like spoilers, or still want to watch the show now, you'd better stop reading!
The rest of the series is a rather disjointed (true to Slice of Life) series of events that the LMC gets into. There are a few key points though.
Unable to afford a guitar on her own, the club bands together and gets jobs to help Yui afford a guitar, but when they go to the music store, the guitar that Yui has her heart set upon is a bit out of their price range.
Mugi, being from somewhat of an upstanding and well-off family, has always admired those who bargain, and has had the life-long dream of being asked "Do you want fries with that?".
Mugi sallies forth to bargain for the guitar, and when she arrives at the counter, her eyebrows are recognized as the same as the employees boss, for that is her father.
They "bargain" with her until Yui can afford the guitar.
The group, prompted and pushed along by Mio, decides to head out to a special training camp. Mugi offers her villa by the ocean, but is unable to get the biggest one, though it hardly matters. Mugi's actually from a very rich family, in case you couldn't tell already, and it is unknown how many more summer houses her family owns, but it's got to be in... well, the rich range, at the very least.
During the camp, they practice for... about as long as I actually spend working on homework on days between when it's assigned and when it's actually due.
Discouraged by the lack of seriousness, Mio plays a tape that she found in the Music Room to the others, showing them the skill of last year's LMC, somewhat of a... heavy metal band, thus screwing up my idea of Light Music even more.
After some more time passes, the group finds out that they need an adult supervisor, more specifically, a teacher. For various reasons, the group unanimously decides on a teacher named Sawako.
Unfortunately, Sawako has already agreed to be the advisor for the Woodwind club. As the LMC continues to try to convince her, Sawako notices Yui looking at her funny. When she asks what's going on, Yui speaks up and says that she was recently looking through the photo album of the old LMC.
Sawako goes an unhealthy shade of gray and asks where the album is. Breaking away from the group, Sawako makes an athletic dash for the Music Room, finding the album... but the picture is gone. The picture of her, decked out in goth-punk attire.
Sawako joined the LMC when she was rejected by a boy she liked, in hopes that the LMC would butch her up or something, but somewhere down the line, she passed the threshold of acceptably normal, and went into the... I don't even know what to call it, territory. She still got rejected in the end. This time for being too weird.
In the end, Sawako is desperate to keep this information out of the wrong hands, and agrees to become the club's advisor.
The group begins to prepare for the school's upcoming Cultural Festival (I told you!), and the LMC begins to prepare for it's first live show. One problem... Yui can't play and sing at the same time.
An easily understandable problem, I can't play bass or piano and sing at the same time... yet, though I can sing and play guitar or ukulele... or castanets.
Either way, Sawako, being musical at heart, decides to "teach" Yui, so she hijacks her for the night and ends up driving her so hard, Yui loses her voice and won't have it back in time for the festival. With no other choice, the LMC turns to Mio for the vocals.
Mio, as previously stated, is very shy, and I'm surprised she's willing to preform just playing, but since they are backed into a corner, Mio takes the lead.
The performance is a huge success, and gains even more infamy when Mio accidentally trips over a guitar wire and flips her skirt. Strips... *nosebleed*.
Mio soon after amasses herself and unwanted fan club.
And so the group makes it through their freshman year, and goes on to preform again at the freshman acceptance ceremony of next year. This time, their performance is so inspiring to a new student; Azusa, that she soon after asks to join the LMC, and she is immediatly accepted.
Azusa, a.k.a. Azu-nyan (like a cat)
The LMC isn't quite what Azusa was expecting. A guitar player practically from birth, Azusa is rather confused with the LMC's mad skills at live performances, despite their lack of drive during their free time.
When she voices these concerns, Mio tells her that the reason that they probably do so well when they want to is because they enjoy playing with a group, despite the fact that Ritsu and Yui are about a twelve on the Lazy 10 Scale. Azusa decides to stay despite her concerns/convictions.
The group heads out on another training camp that ends up pretty much like the last one, but still serves as a bonding experience. At a point, Azusa discovers Yui's unnatural ear for tuning.
In the face of the next school festival, the group prepares to play... and Yui catches a cold, similar to last time, but now she's debilitated. Mio can probably cover the lyrics again, but they need a lead guitarist, and Azusa, who up to this point has been rhythm, is nominated, since she's the only other option.
Azusa is disappointed with this, believing that she can't handle the job as lead. It's not a question of technical prowess, but rather of spirit, and Yui's the only person who can make those solos go well.
Yui shows up to school, all better, and during practice, has an unusual level of skill. When her identity is questioned (maybe she hit her head while she was sick), Yui fails to call Azusa by her proper name, Azu-nyan, and Sawako tells Ui to give up the disguise. Turns out Ui's good at everything.
The real Yui recovers in time, and arrives for the performance, but forgets her guitar at home, and Sawako fills in for her while Yui runs home to pick it up, making it back in time for the second (out of four) songs, and even makes an encore.
There is also an OVA which covers the LMC's experience at a Live House (a performance where bands get up and play for people at their own expense, it's not technically a gig, more of a publication in hopes that they'll get a gig).
See you soon!
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