K-On

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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Anyone else watching this?

K-On looks much more entertaining than either Clannad or Kannagi. Perhaps this is because K-On stars the first female character in forever who can compete alongside Kanon's Ayu and Sayuri for super adorableness in my book. I didn't care for any of the girls in Clannad except for Kyou (who got minimal airtime) and Fuuko (who was cute but not nearly as cute as Ayu or Sayuri were). In Kannagi, I was torn between Tsugumi and Zange, not really liking any of the girls' personalities and always feeling dirty for watching a show about sophomores in high school and thinking about which girl was my favorite. >_> But K-On gives us Yui, the adorable dojikko whose voice actress reminds me so very, very much of a hybrid between Kanon's Sayuri and Azumanga Daioh's Osaka. (I looked her up: seems like she's fairly new to the business, but she provided the voice of Yoshino in Minami-ke. I loved Yoshino's voice!) So for the first time since Fall 2007 with the first season of Minami-ke, I've finally got a new cute girl to root for.

It's hard to believe that Kyoto Animation is behind this project. The animation looks fairly crude in many places. It reminds me a good deal of Kannagi's animation, ESPECIALLY how the girls' teeth are drawn. Every time Yui smiles, it immediately makes me think of Tsugumi and Zange from Kannagi! In K-On, the girls' hands and feet are drawn super-tiny, no doubt meant to appeal to the lolikons in the audience, and the way in which these are drawn reminds me of Lucky Star or other tiny-handed-girls shows. As for the voices, it's a bizarre hybrid between Azumanga Daioh and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu for me. On the one hand, Yui reminds me of Osaka half of the time, and Mio reminds me of Azumanga's Yumi, with Ritsu providing the Kana to go along with. However, Ritsu is much less AzuDai's Kana than she is Suzumiya Haruhi's Haruhi: rambunctious, bossy, good-natured, and born-to-lead. (Kana's not exactly what you'd call leader material, lol.) In fact, it is Ritsu's voice and Ritsu's eyes which together made me think of Haruhi in several places of K-On's first episode. Finally, there's the quiet blonde girl -- whose name I forget! ^^; -- who visually reminds me of robotx's avatar but whose personality is pretty much a boring blank slate to me. Well, not completely blank: she's the token rich-girl-who-is-ignorant-of-the-commoners'-world character. *YAAAAAWN* Then again, I guess people are yawning at the adorable dojikko too, so meh. ^^;
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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And hijin's triggered my original post for this thread! I deleted it because I didn't want to start things off on the wrong foot, but it looks like there's just no avoiding it! Copying and pasting from my text file ... here we go!

Right off the bat, a rant. Sorry, folks! ^^;

K-On is a cute show. Its target audience is the bachelor otaku who whimpers "萌え!" to himself whenever he sees a dojikko in panties and a school uniform skirt slipping on hardwood floors. Such men are almost universally lolikons. However! Lest you get the wrong idea about this program, let me say this: you don't have to be in the target audience to enjoy it. I am living proof of this: I dislike loli, I'm not crazy about moe, but K-On's first episode had me thinking "Awwwwww!" time after time after time.

Let me put it to you this way: you don't have to be a furry to like Chi's Sweet Home. You can find the show to be endearing and adorable wholly independent of any sexual feelings. This is precisely how I would describe K-On: the target audience includes, but is not entirely made up of, lolikons. The target audience overall is anyone who enjoys watching a cute clumsy girl be cute and clumsy. If to you this is adorable, then you will like the show; and if it is not, then you probably won't.

Are there loli elements in the show? Absolutely. In the opening scene, the main character lands on her butt and the camera is right behind it as we see her scrabbling to stand back up, her black skin-tight pantyhose stockings making her slip and slide on the hardwood floor of her home. Duh-huh-huh-HUH that this scene was drawn by lolikons for lolikons. And it's by no means the only one: there are lots of scenes all throughout the episode where the camera awkwardly focuses on the girls' pantyhose stockings, on their tiny feet, on their tiny hands, etc. The first episode even involves asking the main character all about her hobbies and interests, which transforms it into a veritable personals advertisement about her! lol

But I'm not saying that the show doesn't have loli in it: I'm saying that the show isn't loli. This is not Ichigo Marshmallow with little tots in the playpen. It's not even Gunslinger Girl. It's more like Minami-ke minus the two older sisters and their acquaintances. Imagine a Minami-ke where the only characters were Chiaki and her classmates. A show with nothing but 5th graders. Would such a show necessarily be loli? Of course not: Chiaki's scenes in Minami-ke were never loli.

The point is, if you tune in to watch K-On for the little girls, that's your prerogative, and if you tune out again because of the little girls, then that's your prerogative too; but, I'm of the opinion that tuning in for the adorableness of the main character is what's going to prove to be the main drive for most fans of K-On.
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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really meant for kids... and pedophiles
I don't see why you think this show is meant for kids. The original manga and now the tv show that's followed have both been targeted towards moetakus, i.e. picture the one creepy dude in Densha Otoko who always said "MOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" and there's K-On's target audience.

Do I agree with you that pedos are going to be attracted to this series? Absolutely. Do I believe that the show was meant to appeal exclusively to pedophiles? Absolutely not. I think that lolikons will probably gather around K-On as their show of the season because (from what I know) there don't seem to be any other programs this season featuring a cast of little girls.

The lolikons also tried to lay claim to Minami-ke. I regret that their laying claim to Minami-ke actually scared me off from watching the show initially, but thankfully I gave it a try eventually and discovered one of my favorite animes of all time. And the lolikons also laid claim to Kyou no Go no Ni (今日の5の2, sorry, it looks so weird writing numbers in romaji), but this program, just like Minami-ke, was one which was clearly meant to be enjoyed by anyone who is over the age of 20 and who looks back on his childhood with some fondness and some regret. In fact, the loli scenes in the original series always felt strangely out of place to me! They clashed with the atmosphere established by the rest of the episode.

I guess that's what I would want you to see: is that not every single show which the lolikons lay dibs on is pedobait. Not every single series is Nanoha or Ichigo Marshmallow. Occasionally you get really great stories which incidentally star children and which incidentally have one to two token loli moments in a desperate studio effort to pander to the lolikons in the audience, and you're going to miss out on those if you avoid watching anything starring little girls and being drooled over by the lolikons on the forums you visit.

No offense to any lolikons -- I'm just speaking as one non-lolikon to another, trying to get this guy to see reason if he's willing to in the first place and isn't just a troll bored out of his mind this weekend.
 

SdeO

Tomoe Fascination
Nov 14, 2006
926
6
K-On's first episode had me thinking "Awwwwww!" time after time after time.

to me was more like an "Aaaaggh!" all the time. :death:

at the five minutes of the first episode I lost count of how many cliches they were slapping in my face. :crash:
neither of the girls really appealing me, the lead character is... well...plain retarded, I think she's what they call "moeblob", not sure though, I'm not good with these terms.
I was looking forward to see K-on, since at least Kyoani it's making an anime not related with the Key games, but this was totally disappointing.
:sigh:

also... Osaka it's the most brilliant anime character ever... I don't see any resemblance with Yui, IMHO.
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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In all honesty, I "aaaagh" 'ed at the ending moment of the episode myself. It was uncomfortably, clearly pedobait the way that Yui gurgled like a newborn while playing around with her feet. But aside from that, there were no major Agh moments. Two or three minor ones (like the hands -- what is with the tiny hands!?), but nothing where I was like "SEEN ENOUGH! x_x" and prepared to never watch the show again.

I stand by what I've said above: in my opinion, the series' main protagonist is adorable. If she is not adorable to you (as I said originally), then I 100% agree that there's nothing to stick around for unless you're a lolikon -- and even then that may not be enough to get you to stick around. For now, for me, Yui remains as adorable as the red pandas in this video: click here!

If it helps, I disliked AzuDai. I bought the boxset pre-emptively (because of how good people told me it was) but I later sold it to a fellow college student. It definitely has its moments which I enjoyed (YAMAPIKARYA!) and Osaka certainly was funnier than most of the characters, but (sorry!!) each of the girls got on my nerves in one way or another, including Osaka. I dunno, the show felt ... really trippy? Maybe not trippy, just ... really confusing. I'm a guy who likes plot even in his slapstick, so maybe that explains why me and Azumanga Daioh clash.

Thanks for the courteous dissenting opinion, though! Much appreciated.
 

hijin

New Member
Dec 29, 2008
16
1
wow, you just went and blew off your steam there huh.

alright, ill retract my statement.
ill just say that its meant for kids... and people that want to see cute little girls

there.. better? i never said it was bad either. damn, i didnt know you were gonna throw paragraphs on me
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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No, seriously, it wasn't you, you just happened to be the one to break the ice. Like I said, that first post was already written, but I saved it to a text file and deleted it because I thought it was too negative a way to start the thread off. ^^; Why did I save it? 'Cause I knew it was just a matter of time before someone raised the issue. I just didn't realize it'd be that soon. lol

The second post was me replying to you in real time.

And I'm always long and wordy. Take a look for yourself if you don't believe me.
 

SdeO

Tomoe Fascination
Nov 14, 2006
926
6
the red pandas are cute indeed! :moe:

one thing for sure, there's a flood of K-on's images in places like Pixiv, so it looks like the anime

it's already very popular.
Maybe I'll join with a naughty fanart. :secret:
 

nipponboy911

New Member
Sep 11, 2008
10
0
hmm...it was okay. i watched the first 2 episodes and so far, all the jokes and such have been too predictable for me so i've found it quite boring. hopefully, it will get better and more exciting as they get better at music but i'm not expecting too much.

what really annoyed me though, is not about this series but the "professionals" that made reviews for it like on ANN. all the reviewers, like 5-7 all said that the art is below average and that they were disappointed in the makers. i was like "wow, these guys are supposed to be pro? they don't know anything" You can tell how good the artists are just looking at the background, all the buildings and such are very clean and detailed but all they see are how the characters drawn and even then, they failed to notice how they were going for that cutesy, moe feel. ahh just thinking about it makes me angry lol
 

SdeO

Tomoe Fascination
Nov 14, 2006
926
6
I agree, in animation terms or artwork in general, Kyoani always make good stuff.
 

RiderFan

Your fetish friend.
Sep 27, 2008
129
1
I could care less for the plot and music. I watch for Yui. And for the record Yui doesn't wear stockings, she wears tights/pantyhose. Stockings are very different (which a lot of websites fail to realize that and you get advertised pantyhose content and all they have are stockings).

I LOVE the fanart being made (it fits into my interests).
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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Umm, pantyhose are a subset of stockings. The term "stockings" simply refers to the legging garment which goes from toe to thigh. Pantyhose are a specific type of stockings which introduce a pelvic girdle to unite the two separate pieces of fabric into one.

But I'm guessing from your reply that you know all about this already and that you get annoyed by this sort of interchanging of the terms by non-fans like us. So, my genuine apologies. Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. But I think you'd be a lot happier if you accepted the old saying that "all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares" when people discuss pantyhose, i.e. all pantyhose can be considered as stockings, even if in the back of your mind you're like, "Man, they're so wrong. Nobody in the world of fashion would say 'stockings' if he meant 'pantyhose'! Grr!" You gotta talk with the laypeople at the laypeople's level, man. ^_^;
 

Milaga

New Member
Apr 8, 2009
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I've been enjoying K-On too. It's interesting you mention Clannad because that was one of the series that I immediately thought of when I watched the premier. It's definitely got the feel of Kyo-Ani at their best. There was another similarity I couldn't put my finger on until you mentioned it. I went looking through my old anime ... but I don't think it's Kannagi .. this anime reminds me of Itazura na Kiss!

This season is odd. There's really nothing I found interesting except K-On and Shangri-La. And I love them both. Shangri-La blows me away though. It's very reminiscent of the work of Yasutaka Tsutsui from Paprika and The Girl Who Lept Through Time. Actually, the art is even similar to "The Girl...etc."

Don't normally post but Tokyotosho's been down for a while ... I'm starting to get a little flustered. Sorry for getting off-topic.

:attention:
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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TT's domain server dude botched up (or so I've heard it said), and you're supposed to access their site now by going to info or something. Umm ... advice: click on "Search" at the top of this forum and type in "Tokyo" and "[the other word, not gonna type it, it starts with a T, duh]" and say "return all hits as POSTS" (not as threads) and say "only return hits from the last week." You should get the correct posts where members have discussed this and pointed out the correct url. I just couldn't be bothered to bookmark it, was all, because I've put anime on hold for now until more comes out. (I'm not really big into the whole "watch one episode a week" routine and only do that when I fear being spoilered by people on imageboards. But since I don't go to any imageboards anymore ... yeah, sorry, tangent. -.-)
 

Sakunyuusha

New Member
Jan 27, 2008
1,855
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Yay: I was able to offer some suggestions for TL corrections to Kaze for Episode 9. ("iliFan", that's me.) If they make a v2 (I doubt it, they're very very minor corrections), then you know who to thank! ;)
 

HENTAIBEN

The Nesta
May 13, 2007
472
0
I somehow missed this topic, sad day. Like many people I was disappointed with the sudden conclusion of the series. It didn't last long, but I sure enjoyed it while it did. Looking forward to that additional episode. <3 Mio.
 

Howdy

New Member
Jun 3, 2009
4
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Good news! There'll be an extra OVA eppy to come with the DVD/Blu-ray release: ANN

If it sells, hopefully there'll another season of K-On! :please: