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Manga have done pretty well in the last few years when it comes to picking up the biggest series. Pretty much any major series that's released here can almost be guaranteed to be under their banner, and this year especially we have been spoiled by a number of fan favourites. K-On! is the latest in a line of titles fans clamour for, and as usual Manga are on hand to appease them. K-On! is a light-hearted slice-of-life story about a
group of first year high school students who join the light music club in the
hope of forming a band. Unfortunately for the energetic drummer Ritsu
Tainaka and shy bassist Mio Akiyama they're the only members and unless they can
recruit at least two more the club will be disbanded before it has a chance to
get off the ground. Ritsu quickly recruits easy-going keyboardist Tsumugi
Kotobuki when she mistakenly goes to the light music club instead of the choir
club, but finding a fourth member - a lead guitarist - is more of a challenge.
Enter Yui Hirasawa, a scatterbrained but enthusiastic girl who indecisiveness
has left her without a club. She decides to check out the light music club
on a whim, and with barely any time until their disbanding would be enforced
Ritsu, Mio and Tsumugi think their prayers have been answered. Yui however
has second thoughts as she can't play an instrument and doesn't own one, but the
others aren't about to let her go that easily and convince her to stay and
learn. Now up to the required amount of members the club is able to go on,
but their continued existence relies on Yui getting a guitar and learning to
play it. With her lack of concentration and scatty nature is Yui even
capable of picking up how to play a guitar? And with the high price of
instruments where will she get the money to buy one? All of these
obstacles will have to be overcome if the club has a future, but there are going
to be even more trials and tribulations to conquer before the quartet can hope
to perform live... |
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K-On! is one of those popular series that kind of passed me by, and beside the basic premise of a group of schoolgirls forming a band I had no idea of what to expect. As it turns out the series was a refreshingly light-hearted and cheerful coming of age tale of a group of friends learning to better themselves and work together to overcome obstacles. The story is refreshingly free of the high drama and romantic entanglements that usually typify school-based anime, focusing instead on a simple premise which is strongly character led. |
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Unusually this first volume has barely any male characters in it, instead focusing on the central quartet of girls almost entirely. Through the course of the four episodes on this disc you slowly learn more about their backgrounds and character through their interactions with each other, their personalities driving the story as they help each other towards their goal. Unlike many school stories there's no hint of jealousy
or rivalries, no real spirit-crushing setbacks and no anger or tears.
In many ways K-On! is reminiscent of Kiyohiko Azuma's excellent
Azumanga Daioh, sharing both its light-hearted feel and hugely
entertaining character-driven situation comedy. Art-wise it is
relatively distinctive, but nothing really to write home about, but
musically it is pretty good - even though the girls have yet to perform
a full song in the series. Due to its musical nature the songs
could be the make or break of the series, and the opening and ending
themes show plenty of promise to suggest that the music will live up to
the hype. The girls' friendship and dedication to helping Yui is
really nice to see and Yui's dedication to learning the guitar is
actually quite inspiring, stirring half forgotten hopes of learning
music even in a cynic like me. |
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The only real let downs with the series are partly technical and partly formula. As with Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight Guilty, Manga have been forced by the Japanese licensor to release the series in single volumes rather than their preferred 13 episode box set format. This hampers things for a number of reasons, firstly it provides less value for money, secondly it means a longer wait to see the whole series and finally Manga have admitted that they intend to release a Blu-Ray box set of the series in 2012. This will put a lot |
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of potential buyers off, particularly in the current age of increasing Blu-Ray ownership and cut-price DVD box sets. The other issue is the one that affects pretty much all school-based anime, it relies on a character archetypes and formulaic situations a little too much. As you normally expect you get the energetic character, the shy character, the wealthy character and the scatterbrained character, whilst also ending up with familiar situations like going to a beach house or having to pass an exam in order to continue with your other dreams. It's done pretty well in K-On!, but it's still things you've seen a hundred times before. Whether this is a problem depends on what you like to see in anime. K-On! maybe relatively formulaic at the moment but just four episodes in it shows plenty of promise and is both energetic and entertaining. The series is resolutely cheerful and easygoing with likeable characters and a lack of serious drama or crowbarred-in romance which is refreshing but means that the characters aren't really stretched. I don't really mind this, as it made K-On! easy to watch and, with the willingness of the characters to help each other and their dedication to their joint goal, even slightly inspiring. It is a shame that the series is being released in single volumes and that the Blu-Ray won't be out until next year at the earliest, but to be fair it's not a series that really screams out for high-definition visuals and if it's a choice between Manga being allowed to release it or not then I suppose it's better than the alternative. K-On! vol 1 is an enjoyable and cheerful start to what looks like an entertaining series, like Azumanga Daioh not a great deal happens but what does is refreshingly straightforward entertainment which is well worth checking out. Extras Only an interview with voice actress Stephanie Sheh, who played Yui in the English dub. The interview's a decent length and discusses the character, Stephanie's approach to playing her, the similarities between them and her experiences at school. Not bad, shame there's no clean credit sequences though as this series kind of lends itself to them. Ratings Feature:
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