After all this time, I think it was about time I finally wrote a review for this anime… As the representative of K-ON on Anilist, it was a duty for me. So this review will encompass all of K-ON (both seasons, both OVA and the movie) as I only consider it in its all and this will be in S1 due to it being obviously where people will start the anime.

This review is quite challenging and important for me, because no matter how much I love it, I can't recommend it to anyone as it is really not an anime for everyone (and I honestly would rather people not watching it than not liking it), but I'll do my best to explain the appeal. Be warned, it’s gonna be pretty long.

So to do so, I'll try to go through different parts that make this anime what it is. First of all, I'll talk about the story itself, then the visuals followed by the characters and I’ll finish with the audio aspects (music and VA). This review will be spoiler free until one final part where I will use some moments to illustrate the points I mentioned throughout all the review (this technically won’t really spoil, but as I will speak about moments that are happening in the story, I prefer to give a warning just in case).

~STORY~

It's a very slow and calm anime with nothing big happening, so a lot of people might find it boring.There aren’t really big psychological dilemmas or huge dramas as the show focuses more on the interactions between the characters and the development of their relationship.

A common misconception about K-ON is that it lacks a narrative, which is far from the truth. If you look randomly at the show, on a moment to moment basis, it may feel like a comedy show about five girls having fun, slacking off, making jokes and drinking tea while eating some cakes. But then you would have missed the point of the entire series and tons of growth of each character, which is all stuff that you can only appreciate by watching the series all the way through (that’s the reason why I don’t want to make a review for each part). While it may seem like K-ON is an episodic series, it’s not quite right. Indeed a lot of events could seem to be discontinued one to another, it is in fact a sequence of events with a logical progression which reaches the conclusion at the end of the show, the same way a film would.

Another really big misconception about the show is that it's just a Cute Girl Doing Cute Things. It is indeed a CGDCT anime, I’m not denying that. But it's not just a CGDCT. It goes further than that and has a really good message about enjoying little things in life while they last, about friendship, relations with others and stuff like that. The thing is, as the show doesn't say it directly, that the characters won’t say “I learned something today!” and continue with a monologue explaining their growth, the viewer has to understand it by looking at the characters' reactions, feelings and dialogues, therefore some people might miss it (it’s a big part of why there is the misunderstanding I mentioned earlier).

Regarding purely the comedy aspect, I have to say that, for me, this is a peak example of what a good comedy is. The jokes themselves are amazing and the timing is executed perfectly. It’s really hard for me to choose one moment in particular as basically everything is perfectly made. But I don’t think I’ll talk too much about it, because even if the joke is well made, the appreciation is purely subjective.

~VISUALS~

First of all, the animations and art style, as made by Kyoto Animation, are amazing (even if the animation might be a little bit weird sometimes in S1, I still love it). But I have to admit, that was kind of a given from KyoAni, which is a studio that always puts a lot of effort in their animation, the art style and the backgrounds.

The anime is made in a way that everything you see seems real, may it be the backgrounds (the school is a copy of an existing school in Japan, and the same goes for a lot of places), the characters' clothes or some aspect of their design. Below is a non-exhaustive list of a few places. I selected a few random ones, but the list can go on and on as basically every shot is based on a real place.

To continue, Naoko Yamada (K-ON’s director) even went directly to London with some staff members to get inspiration for the movie.

▶

The realism in the visual doesn’t stop there. All of their instruments aren’t some random ones. All are real models that actually exist (you can find the exact model on the wiki in the trivia page of each character).

~CHARACTERS~

This show has probably, for me, the best characters there are. Even if there are like one or two characters from other anime that I slightly prefer, overall, this anime has the best, as the worst characters in it are just ok. So let’s talk about them! (I’ll use the order in which they joined the club and after that, it will be random). I won’t say that I like the characters because they are cute, due to the fact that, first of all, it’s obvious that they are, and secondly, as every single one of them is, it would be a bit redundant and not very helpful.Ritsu Tainaka Ritsu is an energetic yet lazy tomboy who loves goofing around and to tease others. She became the president of the club because she found it cool, but ended up not being suited for the job. For me, Ricchan is good due to her energy and funny moments (may it be with Mio or Yui, with whom she shares the best ones). I could say that, as a drummer, she has a bonus for me, but I decided to start playing an instrument and became a drummer after watching K-ON so back then, this wasn’t a relevant point. I personally love tomboys and her upbeat and carefree personality really makes her amazing.

Mio Akiyama
Mio is a timid and shy person. She is Ritsu's childhood friend. Mio is really reliable and the most mature of the group, but still has a few childish sides.
For me, Mio is lovable due to the way she’s serious yet learns when to play around. And her shyness adds an extra level of cuteness and funniness (also as mentioned for Ritsu, their duo is amazing)

Tsumugi Kotobuki
Mugi is a rich girl who didn’t get to experience much of an “ordinary girl” life and therefore is excited to try any things that seem common.
For me, Mugi is one of the cutest of the group due to how excited to do anything. She’s always so cheerful, not only to try “commoners” stuff, but to be able to relate to others. How she loves to take care of others and how important friends are to her makes her just so heartwarming.

Yui Hirasawa
Yui is an airhead girl that didn’t do anything but lazing around before joining the club, due to a misunderstanding. She’s extremely talented at only one thing at the time.
For me, Yui is extremely funny due to her really easy-going, laid back attitude and her quickly going to both extremes when it comes to what she’s capable of doing. She’s also extremely sweet and caring about others.

Azusa Nakano
Azusa is the youngest of the band. She joined the group one year later than the others after thinking they played amazingly well during a concert they did. She’s very hardworking and tries to motivate the others to practice, but generally ends up following them in their procrastination.
For me, Azunyan is absolutely charming as she’s always trying her best. She’s very humble and doesn’t have a very high self esteem, but she will always do what she can to help others, no matter how hard it is (like teaching Yui how to improve with the guitar). Also, bonus for being an adorable cat.

Jun Suzuki
Jun is Asuza and Ui’s classmate. She’s a bassist in the Jazz club and admires Mio as a bassist. She’s playful and easygoing.
For me, Jun is probably the less good character of the show. She’s far from bad but I find her less interesting than the others (maybe due to her having way less screen time). She’s still pretty funny and has great interactions with both of her classmates and senpais.

Ui Hirasawa
Yui’s reliable and helpful little sister, Ui is way more mature, responsible and capable than the latter but deeply loves and cares for her.
For me, Ui is an amazing character due to her devotion to her sister and how she takes care of her friends and family. She’s the perfect younger sister that everyone wants.

Nodoka Manabe
Nodoka is Yui’s childhood friend. She's a really serious, mature, reliable and structured person.
For me, Nodoka is incredible due to her sweetness and how she is willing to help the others (especially Ritsu with her club president work and Yui with basically everything).

Sawako Yamanaka
Sawako is the music teacher and advisor of the club. She will be not only a support for the five girls, but also a helpful critic. She’s very sweet and cautious of her image.
For me, Sawa-chan is charming with her relaxed and nonchalant nature, she will still do what she has to do. Just like Ui is the sister everybody would want, Sawako is the teacher everybody wants.

Classmates
This is a continuation of the “feels real” that I was talking about in the visual section (it could have been written there, but I think as I’m talking about characters, it fits here better). Actually, all of their classmates in S2 have a given name and a last name (even nicknames for some of them) and a personality trait. Unlike a lot of anime, they aren’t just some random characters that will only be shown once (some of them are even visible in season one). They are all different. If you don’t know this, you might not notice them, but if you pay attention to them, you should be able to like them. Some of them actually have some “mini fandom” (Himiko and Ichigo are probably the most popular ones)

I could have continued with other characters like Norimi or Sokabe, but they are less relevant, and my review is already too long as it is, so let’s move on.

~AUDIO~

The songs are amazing and I could basically listen to nothing but that. For the OP/ED. I prefer the ED than the OP of the anime (to be honest, in my top 5 best ED, 3 of them are from K-ON), but I also love all 4 openings.

The background OSTs are also really good. They are not too intrusive (which could make them less memorable than a lot of other anime). They still feel right, know how to hit correctly and help the viewers go with the flow.

Regarding the voice acting, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t listen much to the English dub, but from what I heard, I don’t really like it. I won’t speak about the voices themselves because I probably don’t like them due to the fact that I’m used to the original ones. But I can speak a little bit about the translations. A lot of jokes can’t be translated (especially in the movie as it’s very japanglish oriented) so the translators did their best, but sadly a lot of things are missing. Of course, if you prefer English versions over Japanese ones, go for it, the translations aren’t the thing that will make you dislike the anime.

▶ Video

Now, regarding the Japanese voice acting. Every voice actor did an amazing job (especially as they still were pretty new in the industry). They managed not only to give the correct emotions in the dialogue, but the way they speak fit perfectly (this isn’t only the job of the VA obviously, the direction has a lot of implications in it, but still).
On a side note, It’s really cute and heartwarming how the five of them really became close to each other and became just like the characters they play (which can be seen in some interviews of their live concert).

~EXAMPLE~

Regarding the character development part, I will mainly take three examples and quickly mentions two others (I could undeniably talk about a lot more, but that will be enough for now) The first one is when Yui wants to buy her guitar. The one she wishes for is way too expensive, so her and the other girls need to take part time jobs to earn money. But at the moment they all give Yui their share, she understands that she’s just being selfish and decides to give them back and take a cheaper guitar (even though she will still get the one she wants).

The next one is about Ritsu and Mio's relationship (mainly in ep 11 of the first season and ep 18 of the second one). During ep 11, Ritsu, who isn’t used to Mio being far from her, gets pretty jealous of Nodoka and angry at Mio who wants to spend time with the only person she knows in her new class (and the fact that Ritsu is sick and Mio scared about the upcoming live doesn’t help them to get some perspective on the situation). But in the end, they both realised what the other needs, that their dispute was meaningless and their bond only grew stronger.

When they are both selected to play Romeo and Juliet. As they are both playing the character that would have fit the other the best, they help each other and find ways to improve together to make the play a success.

Now a focus on Mio. During the anime she will learn to have more confidence and to be less scared. Of course she will still be shy and won’t completely change, but during some “trials” like being forced to sing on their first concert due to being the only one who can, needing to sing when Yui forgot the lyrics and could damage the live or action as Romeo in their class play, she will gain strength and confidence and grow as a person (which can be seen in her expression and overall attitude when she’s on stage).

Some others development that I won’t speak too much about (due to them being clearer than the others) are Yui who finds a goal in her life that can be easily seen at the end of season 1 where she run to school similarly to the first episode, but this time without tripping or getting distracted on the way (the monologue she has makes it pretty clear) and Azusa who learns that relaxing and not only focusing on practice is also important and helps to forge deeper relationships with a group and at the end, the things she wanted to change became what she wished to keep. But once again, it’s shown pretty obviously so I won’t elaborate much further.

In regards to the messages of the anime, I will only quickly mention the importance of the turtle in the anime, which illustrate the fact to take the time to enjoy things and that you don’t have to rush.
May it be Ton-chan, the turtle in the stairs of the school or a few others, the turtles serves as an illustration of this message

The other big point of this message is through the development of Azusa, but as I already mentioned it just a moment ago, I don’t think I need to elaborate on this side of the message.

~CONCLUSION~

I don’t know how many people will fully read my review as it’s extremely long, but thank you if you did. It could have been longer as there are many things I would have wanted to talk about (like character development of all the ones that I mention in the “characters” parts, a lot of details of the anime, some analysis of specific episodes and so on), but I really should stop there…

So in the end, if you don't mind this kind of slow paced anime, I definitely recommend it to you! I don't think you'll like it as much as I do (I know... I have a problem, you don’t have to remind me of it) but you should like it (once again, if you like this kind of show) and you'll get one of the best anime there is.. There’s no quick answer as to why this show is good and why I like it so much, because so much of the appeal has to do with the personal relationship which the viewer forms with the show along its run, so sadly, I can’t really make a little TL;DR. K-ON is a show that gets better and better the more of it you watch, not only because the second season is better than the first one, but in that season one is more enjoyable if you’ve already seen the show in its entirety.

You will definitely be able to relate to some parts. May it be some characters or some moments and experiences such as sleepovers with friends where instead of sleeping, you’re just making jokes and laughing or going to big events with your friends and so on. This anime will speak to you and probably make you feel nostalgic for some moments of your life.

This anime is really rich in detail (I end up noticing more stuff every time I rewatch it) and really strong emotionally. It’s no exaggeration when I say that this anime changed my life. A lot of anime had a strong influence on me, but K-ON is the only one that made me change stuff in my life (for the better of course).

If you already watched K-ON and my review made you understand things or maybe like the anime more, I’m really happy about it. If you haven’t watched it yet, but my review made you want to start it, I hope you’ll enjoy this anime which is really dear to me and I’ll be happy to like your activities!