



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).

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.

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).





















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.

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.
▶ VideoNow, 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).


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.

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!
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