I don't usually do this kind of posts (or anime posts in general, mostly because I kind of feel like I suck at writing them, among other things), but I've recently watched a show that I feel like I need to do some sort of a writeup on.
Basically, since this season kind of sucks, I wanted to watch something from my backlog. And since one of the few airing shows that I don't think is horrible is Carol & Tuesday, I decided I might as well go check out the definitive show in its genre. Since Carol & Tuesday's genre is "moe girls playing music and doing slice of life things", I'm obviously talking about
K-On.
K-On! 1-13
This was a very interesting show to watch for me, for several reasons. First, because I generally hate cute girls shows. As in, couldn't even stand one episode of Non Non Biyori, and bailed within the first 30 seconds of Yuru Camp. Second, because I also mostly dislike Kyoto Animation's works. Some of them are legitimately good (like Hibike Season 1), but most range from interesting but flawed (Hyouka), to some of the worst writing I've ever seen in media (Kyoukai no Kanata). And third, because this show has a reputation. According to who you ask, it's either responsible for murdering anime by turning everything into moe shows made for perverts, or the greatest and most pure anime ever made.
I went into this expecting to not really like it (at best). But after the first season, I actually kind of did. It's not the greatest thing ever made, but it's a really solid 8/10, and also pretty much the best thing Kyo-Ani ever put out that I've seen. But it's also one of those shows that I'm still kind thinking about a week after watching it, which really wasn't what I expected would happen. Because it does a lot of things that are a lot more interesting than I expected they would be, and I also feel like it's a lot more interesting of a show than it gets credit for, even from its fans.
First, if you ask anyone what K-On is actually about, they'll probably tell you it's about nothing. Certainly, when I went into it, I expected it to be about nothing. But while it's true there's no grand plot or big dramatic moments here, there clearly are still things going on, particularly on the character front. While not super dramatic, there clearly is some character progression, particularly with the protagonist, but also with other characters. Azusa, in particular, stands out, and actually gets a pretty nice mini-arc about joining the club that actually feels pretty well done from a story perspective. When she's first introduced, she's understandably pretty weirded out by the core cast. She gradually gets closer to them, but even by the end she still feels like a bit of an outsider to the group, which I kind of like, because it feels realistic in a way most CGDCT shows really aren't.
And in a way, it's actually interesting to see storytelling done this way. Most fiction, in general, follows a pretty clear structure. Some sort of problem gets introduced, after some time there's a big climactic event that solves said problem, and then everything is fine. K-On, on the other hand, doesn't really do climaxes. Things don't really happen, so it has to find ways to evolve its characters without big flashy events to push characters to change. And that's an interesting approach because in a way I feel like it's a lot closer to real life. In real life, people do change gradually, not just because of big dramatic events (although those still do happen, obviously). Weirdly enough, despite the fact that all the characters in this show are trying way too hard to be cutesy, in some ways they actually manage to feel more real than a lot of other anime characters.
Secondly, this show is just plain funny, which surprised me because I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about the humor in the show. And even here the humor is different from most shows. This is because the show isn't funny because of its script, but simply because the direction just has such a strong sense of comedic timing it manages to make even the most mundane situations funny.
Thirdly, I like the fact that time actually passes in this show. It starts with the beginning of the first year of high school and covers the first two years in season 1 (and presumably the last one in season 2). True, not a lot actually changes since the characters stay in high school throughout, but it still gives the show some feeling of continuity. Even if the plot doesn't really go anywhere, at least time does progress.
And finally, the show just looks really great. It's a Kyo-Ani show so you'd think that's a given, but it's also a Kyo-Ani show from the time before they discovered crappy camera filters and decided they'll make their visual identity all about trying to emulate physical cameras. And I much prefer this older style of Kyo-Ani.
Like I said above, the directing is super strong, and the visuals and animation are on the same level. From what I gather, this was the directorial debut of Kyo-Ani's Naoko Yamada, and I guess it's kind of apparent. The show isn't quite as auteur as her more recent works, but there's a couple of shots here or there that are heavily reminiscent of her current work. Like
this or
this (the second one is from season 2, but I watched some of that already). And I actually prefer it this way honestly. Not that her current output doesn't look great, but sometimes her stylistic obsessions are just too much.
And now for the bad parts, because while I did like the show, it does have some pretty noticeable issues. First, the music just kind of sucks. And not even in a good way. Like, you'd music played by a band that literally never practices to sound terrible, but it doesn't really on a technical level. I just hate it stylistically. But then again, there's really not that much music in this show, so it's easy to ignore.
The other, bigger problem is that this show turned out to be much more perverted than I was expecting it to be. Every time people blame the show for killing anime, there's usually a defense force ready to tell them that K-On is actually the purest show there is, and that there's absolutely no fanservice or anything perverted happening in it. And while it's true that it's nowhere near as bad as actual fanservice shows, there are still issues with it. Visually there's nothing actually too bad other than one bath scene that's still somewhat okay. But writing-wise, it's a whole different story. There's the teacher that is constantly acting predatory towards her students, jokes about panty shots, characters being blackmailed with pictures of said panty shots, jokes about characters having to wear revealing costumes, breast size jokes, and groping jokes. There's kind of a bunch of uncomfortable material here that feels really out of place.
But other than that, it's a fun enough show that I liked way more than I thought I would. Not perfect and not mindblowing or lifechanging, but still a very surprisingly enjoyable. I guess the main takeaways here is not to always trust the general opinion of a show, and that it's sometimes good to take a leap of faith and watch things you might think you'll hate.
