On Calligraphy Pens and Afterschool Tea
Omo’s post on K-ON pretty much hit all the same points I thought of after seeing the polarization of K-ON’s audience over the past few episodes (although it probably started since Episode 1). I think being the latest KyoAni show proper after Clannad, with rumors of Haruhi 2nd season going around definitely created a lot of hype around K-ON before it aired. There were a lot of expectations (unfair or otherwise) placed on the show based on the previous blockbusters of Haruhi, Lucky Star, etc. And, given just how big the K-ON tag was on AnimeNano since pretty much the minute after the first ep ended, it was easily one of the most watched series of the season. And with that level of noise, the signal is bound to go down.
For myself, the show started very much engrossed in its 4-koma roots. And to use Omo’s terms, it had the Girls, and the High School club, but I felt it was lacking a bit in the Music. After 12 episodes, I no longer feel that way, as KyoAni has beautifully captured the saccharine love-pop of an all-girl high-school band. I’ve been listening to EP 12’s insert Fude Pen, Buro Pen nonstop for the past 72 hours. Similar thing happened with God Knows. KyoAni sure knows how to do music animu, and give it some dimension along the way.
The thing is, what KyoAni does best is give each show it’s own identity, it’s own style. The animation techniques might be the same, but their purpose is to bring out the heart and soul of the source material in the best light (both figuratively and literally) possible.. And they are religiously devoted to the subtle. Even the obviously fanservice stuff, e.g. Ui’s undying worship of her older sister, is often a mask for the deeper heartwarming message. And it also makes for a pretty hilarious scene of mistaken identity. And look at the (translated) lyrics of Fude Pen, Buro Pen: instead of using the traditional ball point pen, Mio wants to use the calligraphy pen because this time she’s serious. KyoAni does not mess around, it knows what it’s doing and doesn’t just fall back on the “old ways” just because it worked before. Those who complained about how K-ON isn’t like show X, Y, or Z, missed out on the fact that that was probably the intent.
Hey, a succinct statement on K-ON’s identity. Good job.
omo
23 Jun 09 at 10:24 am
No idea if my first post was eaten or in some limbo box, but I’ll just say that I literally found the exact opposite of everything you just said. The show lacked an identity of it’s own, Kyoani failed completely at this in my eyes. There are so many shows now where you can see girls doing cute things and K-On did nothing to set itself up as something unique within that category. The show is also the antithesis of subtlety with the characters all but explaining the joke to you at the end of your average gag scene, and getting really loud or emotional out of the blue when they want you to pay attention to something. Azusa and Ritsu are the most guilty of this by far. In fact Kyoto Animation shows have never been subtle in my eye, from the intensity of Haruhi’s characters (bar Yuki Nagato) to the pathos of Clannad and Kanon’s “crying” scenes. Lastly Kyoani messes around all the time (2 beach episodes, eating cake, Mio cowering in the corner just for this episode in things that waste time IMO) and frequently falls back on moe and sudden flashy eyecatching animation sequences (usually with sparkly backgrounds) whenever they hit a gap in the source material that they need to fill. K-On is no exception.
I continue to see this omni-present accusation that the shows critics aren’t watching the show properly or are seeing things about what it’s trying to be that aren’t the case, but now I’m starting to think the same is true for the people that praise it as some significant work. “identity”, “subtlety”, “ingenuity”, these are just about the last thing that comes to mind when I think of the kind of show K-On is.
Kaioshin Sama
24 Jun 09 at 1:12 am
@Kaioshin Sama: My apologies, your first comment got marked incorrectly as spam. I think by “subtle” what I was trying to say was that even though the scene as a whole is a cliche one, KyoAni has a way of executing it *just* a little bit differently (e.g. the sceenshot for this post). Is K-On a revolutionary new show? No, it’s a 4-koma moeblob adaptation with barely a hint of a plot. I think evolutionary is the right term here. Same stuff, just a slightly different, and I claim progressive, approach.
And my salvo back at the shows critics is how they are able to sit through an entire season of a KyoAni show that seems to only frustrate them with every episode. And for what purpose? Not trying to be antagonizing, but just genuinely curious as to why so much time and effort goes into a show that in the end, you really don’t care for.
mercurius
25 Jun 09 at 1:16 am