k-on! 1
Categories: episodic review, k-on
Tagged: k-on
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So after watching the first episode of K-ON!, the following thoughts entered my mind in this precise order (to the best of my memory…):
1. Was Kanon the last Kyoto Animation series that aired HD first? Kanon was so long ago, shouldn’t they remake it by now? And isn’t this the same network that aired Kanon and Gundam 00?! All I know is that I’m going on a seventeen state killing spree if Haruhi Suzumiya airs in 4:3 first.
2. I think I rather have Kyoto work on a series “Kyon!” than “K-On!“. No, seriously. I liked Lucky Star because of the Kyou/Ryou prototypes, Aya Hirano’s Konata voice, the Shaft-like self-references, and Lucky Channel. I loved Lucky Channel. So K-On! is a slice-of-life school days 4koma adventure of four girls without the queen of Saimoe, without Aya Hirano, and without Lucky Channel… I’m hoping for some unabated sexual tension… and soon. Or at least a trap. (Desperate times calls for desperate measures.)
(K-On!‘s 4koma isn’t bad… the only issue is that the pacing is as horrendous as Toaru. Whereas that show went too fast, this one is going too slow. It took me two minutes to read the 4koma that made up episode one…)
3. If Kyoto really wanted to do an anime about four girls in a band, they really, really should have done an Haruhi Alternative Universe where Kyon and Itsuki do not exist and that just focuses on the musical talents of Haruhi, Mikuru, Yuki, and LOL FANG-TAN. They could even name their band “KYON!” because that’s what Haruhi demanded (but she doesn’t know why). The Canadian could have a rival band. Like you wouldn’t watch this.
I want to know where the bread comes from. I want to know where that jam-mu comes from.
As usual, Kyoto doesn’t disappoint in animation proficiency. Too bad everything is in standard definition so we can’t properly enjoy it.
Even less happened in this episode of K-On! than a typical Lucky Star episode. Even the Hidamari Sketch heroines get more done in 24 minutes… though, strangely, this show most reminds me of the original To Heart.
I did enjoy Yui’s “You guys suck!” line. They music they played reminds me of stuff I hear on The Coffee Hour or The Loft channels on Sirius. I’m hoping this show becomes like a typical sports anime where they start off horrible, but they get better and better. They first beat other bands at their school, and pretty soon, they’re touring, doing coke, hooking up with sketchy backup dancers, and leaking sex videos. Needless to say, this is not an easy show to write a blog post for. I’m reaching down in the well…
Gotta love how Kyoto does tears… if the emotional impact of Kyou realizing that Tomoya has picked Nagisa is an 8, then this must be a solid 1.
I was trying to figure out who the seiyuu were as I was watching the show, and I didn’t recognize any of the voices… except I thought Yui was Fuko. No, seriously. None of the cast is really well-known, so it’ll be interesting at the very least to see if any of them can make an impression as the series goes on. Basically, the exact opposite formula as Queen’s Blade.
(I can’t save this rant for later, but did they blackmail all the seiyuu for Queen’s Blade? It’s unfathomable. It’s like seeing Tom Hanks in a sequel to Bachelor Party and Tango and Cash. “Kawasumi-san… now for this next scene, your character has just peed on herself…” Is this why Horie Yui isn’t involved, since her sex scandal has already been leaked? Though I’m not sure what I like more about Queen’s Blade: the fact it’s created by Hobby Japan, that it is not a full-blown H title, or that the director has more H titles under his belt than anything else. Honestly, I think they should have just gone all the way and put in tentacles, traps, etc. But if you’re looking for the exact opposite style as K-On!, that is it. Unless, of course, Mio rapes Yui.)
By far the greatest moment of the episode. Loved Krauser showing up. Loved “Satsugai!” Like 3 or 4 more of these kinds of moments every episode, and K-On! would be pretty damn solid show. Though they had Krauser in the 4koma as well.
(I got a few people asking me what did I think of the live action DMC movie… and… well… I’m trying to repress it. Overall, it was pretty bad and didn’t do the series justice. I hated the changes the made, with how they just skipped over the battles– which were some of the best parts of the manga, how they had Aikawa discover that Negishi was Krauser (stupid, stupid, stupid), and how they got rid of the Pig of Capitalism. Sigh. The only part I enjoyed was the Forrest Gump ending… yes… it had a Forrest Gump ending where Krauser runs… runs… and runs some more. Don’t waste your two hours. Wait for the upcoming Hollywood remake… which would probably be worse. Sigh. Kill me.)
(And the armor for Krauser… it looks like they spent a whole $50 on it. Negishi just looked so tiny next to Gene Simmons, who acted with a “When do I get a check?” amount of passion. Gene did remind me of Drago in Rocky IV… I think he only says like four lines, “Fuck,” “Take it,” “DETROIT METAL CITY!,” and “Kill him.” I can’t believe some Hollywood executive saw this and started a bidding war for the remake rights.)
(After hearing about Keanu getting cast as Spike for Cowboy Bebop, I was thinking that maybe I should try to help Hollywood localize anime, since they have no clue. For DMC, you need someone who can sing and play a nerd and be ridiculous. Please resist the temptation to cast Shia Lebouf. Go with Justin Timberlake. He can sing, and he can play a parody of a musician, as witnessed by his top notch SNL hosting jobs. For Aikawa, go with Anne Hathaway. For DMC’s manager, I’d go with Cheri Oteri, who just said “Yes!” to this gig. And, of course, for the Pig of Capitalism, any Wall Street CEO would do.)
I like Tsumugi. I think she needs to borrow Mikuru’s meido outfit.
What’s with Mio’s hat? It’s like the unholy child of the Rocky hat, the hat Cheese-kun wears when C.C. is dry humping him, and Aya Hirano’s hat in the Bouken Desho Desho PV.
(In addition to the outfits, I’m liking Don’t Say ‘Lazy’ for all the Engrish. But I’m disappointed at the lack of a huge dance number.)
31 Responses to “k-on! 1”
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I’m confused on this post. I’m not sure whether Jason actually likes this show or gave it a meh. I’ll probably keep watching this show for the moe~, but I’m not too sure if that’s enough to last…
Awesome Krauser is awesome. Honestly, you could stick him in a cameo almost anywhere and he’d make the episode’s awesome ratio jump. Perhaps Yui’s thoughts really summoned him from hell?
And on a secondary note, I could watch Yui on the castanets all day. Srsly.
I agree entirely with this post. Even the part of thinking that Yui was Fuko. I was half expecting her to say Dozo!…. (extends a starfish)…. then spaces out.
Anyone remember Lucky Star’s first episode? Yeah, this was kinda slow in the set-up, but I’d like to see a couple more episodes before I demand for MOAR TRAPS! In fact, KyoAni is one of the few studios I can think of that produces successful series without continuously relying on trap potential. Next episode, they just need to play a school concert in bunny girl outfits, that’s all.
When you said “they really, really should have done an Haruhi Alternative Universe where Kyon and Itsuki” you were supposed to finish the sentences with ‘are girls’.
Damn…didn’t this show just give us what we expected. So its from Kyoani, which means its going to be well animated…and funny…and sometimes wacky, thats what we wanted, so thats what we are getting.
How the heck can they stretch a 4-koma title out so much, i think thats against the laws of physics or something, maybe they have a secret machine that allows them to do that.
But ultimately, i think this has the chance of being like one of those girl “empowerment” movies and they will start playing songs like “put a ring on it,” or “strong enough.” but hey…thats just my opinion.
MIO-IISM IS ON THE RISE!
And I can’t believe you didn’t point out the Minami-ke patented \o/ in the OP
I’m shallow enough that the moe factors from each girls is enough to satisfied me. :P
It delivers exactly what I wanted, so I’m happy. But I’m one of the people that actually liked Lucky Star right from the start, so your mileage may vary. Also, anime version of Mio is cute enough to justify watching the show just for her, at least for me.
The only part of the show that disappointed me was the music. (Well, I suppose the ending was okay, but I was too busy drooling at Mio to pay it any attention.) I expected more from KyoAni, the OP was bland, and bgm was at times annoying. But I think it may be that I just hoped for something more from a show that I expect to be at least in part about music.
K-On, you came for KyoAni, you stay for Mio.
I liked Lucky Star because of the Kyou/Ryou prototypes
Reverse that? I was sort of down about 4:3 as well, makes very little sense.
Mio is <3
The episode had too much “Yui is Moe, look at all her Moe” and it was pretty much putting me to sleep. That said, it’s still the first episode so we’ll see where it goes.
And yes, Mio is <3.
what are you doing with amarao’s eyebrows tsumugi, give them back
The sole reason I kept watching was because they actually decided to play their instruments. That was my favorite part of the OP: KyoAni animating Mio playing a bassline.
That being said, I feel like they totally went with the stereotypical personality types for the instruments, barring the guitar. Yes, all drummers are energetic people with short attention spans, and yes, all bassists are the quiet ones who actually don’t like to do much.
Actually scary how effectively they pigeonholed characters to their instruments. Even scarier when you play with actual musicians and realize IT’S TRUE.
Am I the only one who actually liked it, even though I didn’t really like a quarter of Lucky Star? Maybe it’s just the overflowing moe being expelled from the girls, or my KyoAni fanboyism…
Finally someone that doesn’t get swept away by the hype that is K-on…It is in no way bad but it’s still nowhere near as good as other Kyoto shows…It’s pretty mundane and I hope that changes soon because I couldn’t take more of this kind of boring…
As expected of KyoAni, the drawings are of high quality. Disappointingly, they spent all the in-between frames on animating Yui’s dancing hair instead of making the ED even more awesome by energizing the girls’ movements and facial expressions. Thank goodness this is only 13 episodes long.
@jason, i take you didn’t like the Acid milk attack or exploding boobies >_> but never fear Queens Blade has a meido for the meido fetish as well.
Haruhi is airing on widescreen stations, so yeah, when we do get new episodes they won’t be 4:3.
Quick note is that I’m finishing up the much anticipated Da Capo post. Hopefully today or tomorrow that I can get that up. I know you’re excited for it. After that, maybe only one post for the next week as I’m busy, and there’s really nothing I want to write about. (Actually, I decided to postpone Da Capo. It’s going to be the Matt Damon of this website…)
Not gonna argue, especially after she gets her 00 Raiser Meido upgrade. Tsukasa’s gonna feel some heat in Saimoe this year.
So what does it say about me when I want to rock out with a meido as my guitar?
It’s hard following Clannad unless you’re Mikuru-chan or Sagara, but I hope K-On! can at least reach the Hidamari Sketch tier.
Yep… these are my readers.
“So what does it say about me when I want to rock out with a meido as my guitar?”
That you are a meido obsessed person. Possibly a trap? (Sixten might put that into art)
.
“Yep… these are my readers.”
Your welcome? (Kyonko remembered)
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I’m not sure I understand why K-On! is driving people crazy. Maybe it will be good, but it seems like an explosion went off or something. This in definately not Haruhi (3), just as Lucky Star was not quite Haruhi (2). Haruhi currently airing on the other hand, may be Haruhi (2). Or is that Haruhi (4)?
“Actually scary how effectively they pigeonholed characters to their instruments. Even scarier when you play with actual musicians and realize IT’S TRUE.”
I was wondering why I found the first episode to be really entertaining. I think this sums it up.
Am I the only one who actually liked it, even though I didn’t really like a quarter of Lucky Star? Maybe it’s just the overflowing moe being expelled from the girls, or my KyoAni fanboyism…
Nah. Even a neutral observer can see KyoAni released Ushio amounts of Moe in the 1st episode. Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with liking cute things. And disliking cold and hot things….
I take it you’ve never noticed the recent upsurge of gothic lolita fashion in anime. Seriously, the costumes will not look out of place in Umineko no Naku Koro ni or Kuroshitsuji.
>>What’s with Mio’s hat? It’s like the unholy child of the Rocky hat, the hat Cheese-kun wears when C.C. is dry humping him, and Aya Hirano’s hat in the Bouken Desho Desho PV.
Don’t forget Adebisi’s hat.
The way Yui’s hair kept slowly rising whenever she did a happy face (or any face, really) – I was expecting her to go Super Saiyan any minute.
Which would have been AWESOME.
I was not expecting too much from K-on! and was pleasantly surprised. I loved the episode. Mio is hot. And Yui is so cuuute. Its like a mix between Nagisa and Fuko. Cuuuute!
The ending is absolutly awesome. I cant wait for the second episode. The only bad thing, its that is lacking yuri. Everything is better with a little bit of yuri… or better a lot of yuri!
Late to the party as usual; I don’t typically watch shows as they air (waiting instead to do marathons after they finish), but I did check this one out. And, really? It reminded me more of Manabi STRAIGHT! than either Lucky Star or Haruhi (with the exception of the Tsukasa facial distortions). Maybe the character designs? Pacing? Dunno. But love Mio, the ending song and any animation done correctly while ppl play musical instruments. I’ll keep an eye on it. Hope they tone the Moe down a bit, though.
Toning down the moe is highly doubtful at this time. Though they might have more music based humor in the future…KyoAni (or perhaps the source material) are going for the throat moe wise to generate sales. Yui strikes me as what would happen to Ushio if they let her hang out with Fuuko unsupervised to extended periods of time and didn’t get any attention from Akio or Tomoya.
Mio is going to have some serious fan groups…and not the tsundere-loving crowd either, since she doesn’t seem to fit that mold based on the second episode.
Mio is definitely not tsundere, I don’t know how people get that idea.
I just wasn’t able to visit Derailed by Darry for a while then when I came back I found THIS?!
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KAWAII!!!