K-ON! [Impressions]

2009-05-13_k-on

The next anime I will reflect on that’s on the 2009 Spring Anime Lineup is K-ON!. It’s also my pick for AnimeVice‘s #AniWednesday on Twitter. It’s the best anime in Japan at the moment (next to Brotherhood and Valkyria). At first glance, it looked like another plotless Moe anime: in certain aspects, you could say it is. Is it Kanon meets Beck? Not so fast!

Impressions

We’re introduced to Yui Hirazawa (Yui as in the Yui?). A High School Freshman… who is nearly late for the first day of class! But she makes it there in time for the Welcoming Ceremony. (Whew!) After she leaving the event, she gets bombarded with invitations to various school clubs, but which one will she choose? Yui’s childhood friend, Nodoka-chan advises her to choose one soon. Otherwise, she will become a NEET.

Meanwhile, two other students Ritsu Tainaka, asks her friend Mio Akiyama to join the Light Music Club (or in this case, “K-ON” with the “On” being short for “Ongaku”). Mio had the literature club in mind, but Ritsu forces her to change her mind by tearing up the application. When they get to the K-On club room, there’s no one there; they are the only two members of the club—and if they don’t get two other members soon, the club will be abolished.

Fortunately that day, they get a third member, Tsugumi Kotobuki (when she was actually looking for the choir club). After witnessing Mio and Ritsu’s antics, she joins anyway. With 3 members in the club, they figure out who plays what: Ritsu on Drums, Mio on Bass, and Tsugumi on Keyboard. Now all they need is a guitarist, but who? Enter Yui Hirazawa.

After looking at the bulliten board, Yui makes up her mind in joining K-ON—although the only instrument she can play are the castanets… When Yui hesitates to join, Mio, Ritsu, and Tsugumi convinces her to join by offering her sweets. It works, until she mentions that she don’t know how to play instruments. With or without an instrument, she becomes the fourth member of K-ON, saving the club from abolishment. Now for the learning part…

Thoughts

I declare K-ON perfectly safe to watch. The character design looks Moe-ish, but that can be forgotten once you get into the episodes. The first episode explains what needs to be said about this series. Later episodes is reminiscent of another Anime series, Azumanga Daioh–except with music (ala Beck, without the angst).

With that said, the soundtrack is a must have. The OP “Cagayake GIRLS!” and the ED “Please don’t say lazy” is preformed by the Seiyuu of K-ON (or K-ON themselves). It’s not just the OP and ED, but the background music sounds like it came out of a video game from the Genesis era, in my opinion. ^^;

I highly recommend K-ON for everyone, especially fans of Azumanga Daioh: you will not be disappointed!