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1:00 AM on 04.02.2010   |   Jon Snyder

Monthly Musing: The Case for K-ON! photo

Within the otaku community, there is no subject more polarizing than K-ON!, the music-themed slice-of-life anime that took Japan by storm last year. The ongoing debate about this show, much like recent American political rhetoric, has been dominated by extremists. One side argues that K-ON! is a near-masterpiece with adorably lovable characters, and one of the best anime of 2009. Their opponents claim the show is devoid of any artistic merit whatsoever, and is symptomatic of the declining state of anime in general. These two opposing camps have clashed in the past, and the time has come for them to clash again... here on Japanator!

You see, the second season of K-ON! (confusingly titled K-ON!!) is just around the corner, and the internet will no doubt soon be ablaze with endless discussion about the adventures of Yui and company. In other words, this is the perfect chance for you, dear readers, to voice your opinion on the K-ON! phenomenon. Is it truly a great show, or is it abysmally bad? Perhaps it is simply overrated? How does it match up with other slice-of-life and moe classics like Lucky Star and Haruhi? Is the show merely shallow wish fulfillment, or does it have deeper meaning? Does a useless character like Yui inspire feelings of happiness or rage? And, most importantly, which one of the girls is your waifu?

For the next month, we want to hear what you think! Head on over to our Community Blogs and write up your opinion, and make sure to start your post title with "The Case for K-ON!" I'll be reading each and every one of your blogs, and the very best ones will get promoted to the front page for the world to see! I've included a few tips below the break to help you get started. Good luck!

1. Proofread! Have a friend look over your writing before you publish it, to avoid embarrassing mistakes.

2. Use images! Pretty pictures will help catch your readers' attention. Our software automatically scales all uploaded images to 620 pixels wide, so keep that in mind when choosing which pic to use.

3. Don't stretch the page! If you embed a video or image from another site, it has to be 620 pixels wide or less. Anything larger makes the site explode... or something.



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Legacy Comments

we now return to our reguraly scheduled broadcast~~~
Yup, April Fools is over. Back to Japanese stuff!
I have a burning hatred for K-ON. I think I'll participate in this.
@japanator, your statement of rule number one means I will hold each and every one of you to it. Plus, everyone focuses on Yui, seemingly without realizing that Mio is a deep and complicated character!
Oh, dear. Now I'll have to watch K-ON if I want to participate.

YOU DRIVE A HARD BARGAIN, MISTER SNYDER.
You couldn't wait until tomorrow. You just HAD to post something that wasn't American.

Nerd.
I hope this season has better drawn hands.... Mio is deep, Tsumugi is deeper.
@Tim: It IS tomorrow.
Semantics, and you know it.
Looks like I'll be writing my first c-blog here
Oh lord, I shall do my first blog here.
i think ill start this off. ahhem. k-on! ruled. thats right, sure u cant watch it more then one time but that one time u did watch it,you stoped what ever else you were doing and you watched, you watched till your eyes were bleeding then you kept on watching. its after you finished getting the blood out of your eyes that u asked your self "did i enjoy watching that" and ill tell you,YOU DID.
I'm very confused as to why this show is so debated.
So does this have to be case in favor or can it be case against?
I read a little of the K-on! manga and I thought that most of the characters were really similar to the ones in Azumanga Daioh.
Are you REALLY going to let me voice my opinion on this? Let me start getting to work here...
@Rilkar
I would actually recommend it for anyone that enjoyed Azumanga Daioh/Yotsuba. They aren't exactly the same, but they all tend to hit some of the same style humor.
@ Excel
I doubt you'll see a lot of arguments in favor.

@ Rilkar
BLASPHEMY!
My thoughts on K-ON!....
I liked the show a lot, mainly the story, the moeness didn't phase me much really, I found it less then Lucky Star really.

Huh?.....

I'm a musician and a lot of the story brought me back to when I started playing and started playing music with a friend who was ditsy, wouldn't practice, would rathe eat and yack then play ect.......

A lot of the stereotypes of the characters are sadly like many people I have known, know and play with....

So maybe it is just nostalgia, who knows but I am looking forward to this new season.

Oh yeah, I'm a bassist by the way.
K-ON! is like Spongebob. You're either going to love it or love to hate it. Few people can tolerate something like that in the middle ground.
oh and I hate Spongebob, and love K-ON! I'll watch the anime cause it's so awesome :D
I don't have enough to say about it to fill a blog post but....
I watched it, and I didn't think it was terrible or anything. But I did find it ridiculously overrated. It's far from being the greatest show ever, or even the greatest show of 2009. It was cute, and that's about it. It has no merit beyond being a moderately entertaining, cute show. There are other shows who take similar themes and do it a LOT better, and without all the moe-ness. And even some with the moe-ness. There's nothing that really set it apart other than the studio that made it, and as much as I love KyoAni, K-On is going to be one of the more forgettable titles I've seen.
I guess I could really go into it for a whole blog post...but I'd have to watch it again, and I don't really want to.
I will participate in this event maybe.......
I don't think this is nearly as polarizing as Haruhi. The only reason people are giving it so much attention is because Kyoto Animation has realized they can do whatever they want now.
I'd rather watch Beck.
@Parasepsis-Ezza
And there's that. I'd also much rather watch Beck. Way better music, too.
Hehe, the only reason I started watching K-On! was because I was looking for some music. The anime series is the pretty fun, heart warming type and the music would be considered 'gay' outside of the Otakudom (or probably inside too), but you know, its cheerful and full of energy.


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