 Just as the K-On! girls are gearing up for a movie that will see them come to the UK, the first of their TV shows is... coming to the UK. How appropriate. Less about the music and more about the tea and cakes they have when they should be practising, welcome to the Light Music Club...
1 - Disband the Club
Yui Hirasawa's just started life as a high school student, and she's feeling rather pleased with the idea of it. One of the first things to do at any new school, though, is to decide what clubs to be a member of, and she's having trouble deciding what to join. One of the options is the Light Music Club, and with the club on the verge of being disbanded for lack of interest, the remaining members are keen to get a new sucker member through the door. And Yui, fortunately for them, seems to be easily bribed with snacks...
2 - Instruments
Yui's friend and classmate Nodoka is a little upset that Yui's chosen a club activity that they can't do together - but happy that she's found something she enjoys, anyway. Yui's also getting to know her new friends a bit better, but there's one thing that's missing: an instrument for Yui to play. Just as soon as they've finished the current round of tea and cakes, that is. Problem is, guitars aren't cheap - Yui's going to have to spend about 10 months' allowance to just get a cheap one. And when she gets to the music store and sees what's available, it's not a cheap one that catches her eye...
3 - Cram Session
Club: check. Guitar: check. Yui's route to rock stardom is beginning to take form. But there's no point in having a guitar if you don't actually know how to play one, and Yui's not even sure she knows where to start. And with mid-term exams coming up as well, suddenly she's got a lot of learning to do. When the mid-terms go horribly wrong and Yui's faced with having to take make-up lessons, the other girls decide that maybe it's time for a bit of a cram session to make sure Yui passes the second time around. The future of the club may depend on it...
4 - Training Camp
It's summer, and the gang have arranged for a little summer training camp - which naturally ends up being at a beach resort, and playing in the water soon takes priority over band practice despite Mio's best efforts to keep the others in check. Which is a problem: the whole reason for practicing is that they want to put on a live performance for the school cultural festival. And Mio, having heard a recording of a live performance by some former club members, is beginning to realise just how bad they are in comparison...
There are two ways to look at K-On!, really, and which one you choose will determine whether you should bother with it at all or not. On the one hand, it's the poster child for "moe", a show that has no point other than to make you gush about how adorable the girls are. In that role, it personifies all that's wrong with anime today, and should be thoroughly shunned. On the other hand, it's a competent comedy, with some musical fanservice (in the form of its lovingly-detailed, true-to-life representations of the girls' instruments) and a core cast that's simply fun to watch. If you see moe as the enemy of all that is good and honest, then stop right now and don't bother; otherwise, carry on.
So. We have drummer Ritsu, who's full of life but has a short attention span; bassist Mio, who is the nearest the gang get to "shy and quiet"; keyboard player Tsumugi, the little rich girl whose knowledge of how the "real" world works is a little lacking; and lead guitarist Yui, who's as close to "normal" as anyone in this series gets. With the possible exception of Nodoka, her childhood friend and classmate. Also making regular appearances is Yui's little sister Ui, who appears too sweet, caring and considerate to be real. The four episodes here show their efforts to get the Light Music Club back up and running from the verge of disbandment and, in Yui's case, get her equipped in the first place.
In all this, actual music plays second-fiddle to the girls. There are very few scenes of them actually playing, but since at this stage in their progression they're a long way from being any good that's actually not a bad thing. Instead, we get plenty of scenes of the girls goofing off and doing what high-school girls in anime tend to do: sit around and talk, go to the beach, do their club activities, and just generally enjoy life. There's not really a plot, as such, just a series of scenes strung together showing friends being friends, and occasionally friends taunting friends (usually Ritsu to Mio).
To put it another way, it's a slice-of-life show, a style of series that has been around for as long as I've been an anime fan - the first one I saw was To Heart, but there are many, many other examples that have appeared over the years. Which is why I don't get the ire that some direct at the show over its "moeblob" credentials - as slice-of-life shows go, K-On!'s actually very well done, with characters that are easy to like and who are fun to watch, simply because they're having fun themselves. It's a simple concept, simply done well.
The music side of things isn't entirely forgotten about, either. With the girls having decided to put on a live concert for the school culture festival, they've got something to work towards (and you do get to see the full performance later in the season), so while the Light Music Club is more of a tool to bring the girls together than something we see in action all that much, it still has its role to play.
This was my second time through these episodes, the first being when it was airing in Japan around two years ago. I enjoyed it then, for the simple pleasure that it is, and I still enjoy it now, for much the same reason. There's not a hell of a lot of depth, there's no expectation that the characters will grow or develop beyond improving their playing skills, but that's not really the point. Sometimes it's just fun to kick back, switch off, and watch other people enjoy themselves - K-On! is a good show for doing that to, and it does what it does very well. If you need more depth or meaning to a show, though, then this won't be for you.
|
Reviews Archive 
