K-ON REVIEW

K-ON is a very interesting anime, it is funny, keeps your attention, and is actually very inspiring if you are in a band. As a guitarist it was actually very inspiring. The manga started in 2007 and is currently ongoing, the anime started airing in japan between April and June in 2009. it is
not yet dubbed so it will be in subs when you watch is but it really isn't that hard, there are only 13 episodes at the time but, an additional original video animation episode will be released in January 2010, so keep your eyes open for it! You might be wondering why this anime/manga was named K-ON, well it is actually short for keiongaku which translated, means light music.

STORY LINE:
    The story starts off with Yui, an average school girl on her first day of school. She rushes to school as fast as she can worried she'll be late on her first day to find out she is early. With extra time to spare she looks around, at this time all the clubs are pressuring everyone to join theirs. Meanwhile, a club is being created, the school light music club. Ritsu- the ambitious drummer and Mio, a shy bassist, her shy best friend are working on it. After a while they are able to persuade Tsumugi to join, the picture of kindness and a keyboard player. But if they want to officially become a club they need one more member to join and guess who walks in? After pushing cake and tea on her they recruit (more like bribe) Yui to join them. Who eventually becomes the guitarist.
CONCEPT:
     Much like Lucky Star K ON is all about MOE. It's just 22 minutes of packing in as much cute hilarity as possible. And what's more it's pretty funn even if you don't know to much about Japan . Because K On doesn't have to much of the kind of humor you can only understand if you were brought up in Japan (like Azumanga Diaoh). If you want to get started with comedic anime then start at K-On.
CHARACTERS:

Yui Hirasawa: (voiced by Aki Toyosaki) Yui is the main character, she is a lazy, clumsy yet lovable and fun character she lives a care free life and is the lead guitarist of the band and on of the main vocalist. she loves to play the guitar so much that she in fact named it "giita" which is adorable and childish in a good way. she has this weird thing were she likes to touch and hug people. she is never shy, which you can tell due to all the strange outfits she likes to wear. she has a little sister named Ui Hirasawa.

Ui Hirasawa: (voiced by Madoka Yonezawa) Ui is Yui's little sister but is actually more mature and responsible than Yui. she always takes care of Yui and does the cooking and cleaning around the house. even though Yui is lazy and Ui does all of the work around the house Ui really doesn't mind, she loves her sister as much as her sister loves her, they basically look after each other, which is a great plot for them.

Ritsu Tainaka: (voiced by Satomi Satō) Ritsu is a laid back and bright character, the drum player, she loves to have fun and relates to yui very well. Even though she technically the band leader She's also airheaded and at one point forgot to fill out the application to make the light music club official. One of her favorite activities is scaring Mio, her best friend.

Mio Akiyama: (voiced by Yōko Hikasa) Mio is a very shy character, when ever she is complimented she starts to blush and hides her face. she scares easily as well, her biggest fear i would have to say is barnacles. every time barnacles are mentioned (mainly mentioned by Ritsu) she freaks out and starts to say to herself "i didn't hear that" over and over again. she is the bassist for the band and one of the main vocalist.

Tsumugi Kotobuki: (voiced by Minako Kotobuki) Mugi is a very sweet character that is living the life as a princess, she isn't spoiled at all but her family is really rich, and that makes a lot of things easier for the band. usually at band practice she brings a tea set and some cakes and all the girls just sit there and talk about random stuff. she plays the keyboards for the band.

Azusa "Azunyan" Nakano: (voiced by Ayana Taketatsu) This character is introduced later on in the show but is a very important character. she like Mio is also very shy and could pass as Mio's little sister. she plays the guitar as well and is a little better than Yui but she treats Yui as if she is a pro at guitar. Azusa's parents were in a jazz band and that inspired her to playthe guitar since she was in the 4th grade. The band quickly fell in love with her and gave her the nick name "Azunyan" because she looks good in cat ears.


ART STYLE:
     The artstyle is very cute, round, and easy on the eyes. The colorful characters don't contrast with the detailed backgrounds. The animation itself is very smooth, they put alot of work into it, each moment of K-On has the same ammount of work put into it as the last.

MUSIC:
    The music in K-On was... Okay. Actually besides the fantastic end theme and the bands songs it's not to much different from your standard fare. Don't say crazy(the ending theme) and maybe the opening theme are the only thing's you'd find on my iPod.
OVERALL:
    I thought this was a great anime, and it is pretty inspiring as a guitarist. I wanted to practice more every episode I watched. I quickly fell in love with Ritsu, the loud drummer, and I hope all the readers find themselves falling in love with a K-On character themselves soon!
The Xtra guy