Forum - View topicREVIEW: K-ON! Season 2 Blu-Ray Collection 1
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amagee
 Posts: 333 Location: Orlando, FL |
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K-ON!! has always been very near and dear to me for both it's cuteness and the way in which it makes me reminisce about the good times I had in high school and even college .
In the long run, that's the strength of the K-ON! franchise as a whole. It covers the lives of these high school kids but doesn't delve into the bad bits: hours of studying, exams, homework, college work, annoying teachers, etc. It encourages the viewer to throw aside these more mundane, bothersome aspects of their memories and simply cherish the ones that make you feel all warm inside. Kyoto Animation also does such a good job of keeping it purely cute as opposed to the typical propensity in anime of taking girls and actively promoting their cuteness in a sexualized manner. All the cuteness of the characters seems to be channeled towards making you want to protect them instead of doing anything that could get you thrown in prison. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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I'm starting to think the reason Aria doesn't get the same love despite having a damn-near identical premise is because Akari and the girls didn't pick up guitar.
I have to say I didn't really enjoy myself watching the first season. Yui's character was so annoying, I wished her amp would have shorted out and she'd fry during a practice. Let me be clear here: I hated the way the writer(s) portrayed her as "I'm not stupid but I'm going to act it because the audience will lap it up". It's one thing to paint every frame of K-ON with "moe" but to drown viewers in ridiculous character stupidity was more than I can handle. If that was the intent of K-ON, it succeeded. I've no question this review covered what I would expect from season 2, but I'm going to need a large doses of "moe insulin" before I watch even a single episode of this season. Anyone have any leads where I can buy some? |
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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Aria and K-On, while theoretically similar, are pretty different shows when you actually examine them. I adore both, but they scratch different itches, so to speak.
I don't think this is a very fair read on Yui's character. Honestly, Yui is probably one of the best depictions of a person with ADD that I've ever seen in a work of fiction. Last edited by Fencedude5609 on Tue Jul 24, 2012 3:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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pachy_boy
Posts: 1323 |
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Wow. Now this was one hell of a well-deserved review for K-On, covering everything there is to possibly cover that even I think makes it so good for what it is. I still disagree about the dub (which was technically a Bang Zoom! production, not Sentai), which I think is exeptionally excellent. Especially for a series that is very Japanese in its setting and characters, they made the characters sound very natural and alive in English.
Yui jamming on the guitar within the first few mintues of the first episode. Could anyone think of a more perfect way to start the new season of K-On? What I'd also like to add is that if one didn't know, one would never have assumed that this show was based on a 4-koma series. As much as I still love Azumanga Diaoh, it still feels obvious due to its pacing and repetitiveness. But with K-On, they manage to pace it out like a normal-length series, adding in story elements original to the anime, while succeeding in making everything feel natural and alive. K-On may be a fluff series, but it's a fluff series done well, and I'm very much enjoying the sweet trip in these girls' lives. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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It's been a while since I've seen it, but I don't recall her having ADD. I intend to rewatch the first season, as I've come to realize a second viewing often has me changing my own opinion. I'll keep this in mind the next time I do. Maybe this will change the annoying perspective. Regardless, it seems the second season is more appreciated, and this review is just another addition to the growing number. The more, the merrier. |
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notazaku
 Posts: 135 |
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As light as the series is overall I did detect the slight undercurrent of sadness running through this season what with the girls being seniors and eventually graduating sometime in the near future. But I’d say this feeling is at its strongest in regards to Azusa. She’ll be left behind when Yui and the others graduate and that parting of ways brings up a lot of emotions. For an anime that focuses almost exclusively on the lighthearted, it caught me a bit off guard. It felt very real and honest like something I would have felt in the same situation back in high school. I’m looking forward to finishing K-ON!! And eventually seeing the movie. Needless to say I’m glad Sentai picked this up and hope they get the movie too at some point.
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fireaxe
 Posts: 503 Location: Trois-Rivieres, Canada |
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I'll admit I haven't watched K-on yet, I only read the manga, but honestly I feel like Miyako from Hidamari Sketch had similar issues but was 10x more more endearing as a character (such a loveable ditz). I suppose it's just a matter of balance and/or personal tastes. I have absolutely no idea how Yui is portrayed on screen, but in the manga she was so annoying I simply don't feel like watching the series anymore. Very interesting review though, almost made me put the anime back in my want-to-watch list. 
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jymmy
 Posts: 1244 |
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This review very fairly addressed all the good points of K-On!, but I feel that, like many reviews do, it lumped the series' detractors in together somewhat unfairly.
Indeed I can say I didn't enjoy myself watching [seven episodes of] it, which is why I haven't watched any more. And while the series' sickening saturation of moe and almost total absence of substance is certainly a genuine criticism, its being a matter of taste implies a lack of sophistication and validity to those who would criticise the series. My biggest beef with the series is the characters. They appear weak, sentimental, obviously constructed to target otaku fetishes, nauseatingly stupid and at times indistinguishable. Yui falls into this last trap the least by being the least intelligent, most easily-distracted, incomprehensible of them all. She reminds me of nothing more than a squishy, gender-flipped, Japanese schoolgirl version of Mr. Bean, with the teddy bear fixation shifted to Gitah. Anyway, that's just my example. A note to this effect would remove the impression that all the non-professionals who disagree with this review are focused on trivial stylistic details, rather than possibly holding genuine, well-formed opinions about the work. In the worst-case scenarios you end up with the reviewer implying that all fans of a series are only there for the lolicon fanservice, and that this apparently includes torture. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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But Yui's not stupid! This is even a semi-major plotpoint (as such things exist in this show). She's got ADD, but if she finds something she enjoys (guitar) or if someone forces her (studying) she's perfectly competent. |
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Goggen
Posts: 88 |
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Um, no? He's saying there are negative opinions you can hold against K-On!, and then provides an example. "You can say a lot of unflattering things about K-ON!!, that it's a puff of sugared air with an impossibly sunny take on school life being probably the main one" "that it's a puff of sugared air with an impossibly sunny take on school life being probably the main one" "being probably the main one" How is that wrong? He's not saying this is the only complaint people have against it, nor is he saying anyone is wrong to hold that opinion. Of course there will be individuals who have their own reasons for disliking a show, but that there - or a variation of it - is certainly one of the most common ones in K-On!'s case.
I don't understand how you get that impression from this particular review at all. |
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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This is, in the end, also what makes it one of THE most boring things EVER. It is so patently unrealistic that it simple becomes a chore. |
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drale
 Posts: 41 |
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So, I've never watched the english dub of this show (I have the Japanese dvds), but I am a little curious if the english voice acting cast sang entirely new songs? Or did they just use the Japanese ones, in which case did the voices sound 'off' for that? I mean that was one of the best things this series did was having the cast actually doing the vocals for all of their songs.
My other question is more just musing on the K-On movie (which was just released on DVD here in Japan). How do they plan on dubbing something that is already 25%-ish english speaking dialogue with about 80% of the jokes (in the middle section anyways) involving their inability to speak english? I guess I just wonder at how this was localized. Maybe I will import it when it comes out over there. All that being said, good review. Carl, you are gradually becoming the only reviewer worth reading on this site. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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Saying something is bad because its "unrealistic" isn't a good line of argument. I can totally see some people finding K-On dull, but thats a personal issue, unrelated to its realism or lack therof. |
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Goggen
Posts: 88 |
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The songs in K-On! aren't dubbed at all in the show. The first season had some of the songs translated into English and performed by the dub cast as bonus features, but in the show itself all of the singing is in Japanese, with subtitles.
This, also, it's anime FFS. I don't think you'd need to look very hard to find craploads of anime far less realistic than K-On!. |
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Chagen46
Posts: 4377 |
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That's not my point. My point is the complete and utter lack of conflict. Stories need conflict. SOL shows tend to be mind-crushingly boring because they don't even have conflict. There's no conflict between the main cast, they never have any problems, it's just a solid horrendously boring stream of sickening and cloying optimism. Why do Slice-of-Life shows never show any kind of REAL life? You know, the one where you actually have problems and things aren't just sunshine and roses? |
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