Asahi: “K-ON! Has No Story, So There’s No Growth”
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Oct 22, 2010 07:52 JST
- Tags: Asahi, K-ON!, Kyoto Animation, Mass Media, Moe, Music, Otaku, Production Controversy
A less than favourable review of K-ON!! published in an Asahi newspaper column, panning the anime and its fans for having no interest in story development, is proving somewhat incendiary online.
An abridged translation of their review:
Unlike a music manga like BECK, which offers plenty of uplifting action, what K-ON! deals with is tea parties, cake appreciation and tests, in a laid back slice-of-life way.
There’s no story development or outcome with a classic moe manga like this – so there’s no story.
For otaku it seems character is more important than story, so fragmentary episodes like these are preferred.
As there’s no story, there’s no growth.
There are no male characters either – so there’s no change there either.
A utopia without any outcome or growth might well be just what blog and Twitter stir-loving modern fan tastes are after.
The reviewer would appear to fall firmly into the “Type A” otaku mould.
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At least someone can see the truth. Such a shitty anime.
It's slice of life. Those tend to not have much of a story or development. It's still nice to watch, though.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō and Aria are slice of life, they has story and character development.
So your point is naive and stupidly superficial.
I did actually upvote him, because I love both titles he mentioned.
What? The fellow anon in 09:25 says a mouthful of truth and you downvote him?
Gawd, how awful are the moeblobtards
I wrote "tend to", not always. I prefer anime with story myself, you know.
Motherfucking small print gets you everytime
Bullshit, I call it.
Antique Bakery is a slice-of-life and yet it has story and development. So your point is totally invalid.
dunno why,basically...
from starting of K-ON
i can only see the main character(forgot already) get into the band,learning musical instruments and having a performance...
even now they will go the U
my mind still saying... : (main character(forgot already) get into the band,learning musical instruments and having a performance...) 99x
goddamnit >,<
Never thought someone would mention that series here.
I actually miss it and its wholehearted goodness
So does the aforementioned BECK. But all the same, people need to get over K-On! Who cares if there's no story? If you need it, go watch something else. Like the review said; blog and Twitter stir-loving modern fan tastes. If that doesn't apply to you, oh well. K-On! isn't good but it's not terrible. It's just different... in a slow, storyless kind of way. And that wasn't even the case in the first few episodes.
(Personally I can't stand to watch it anymore, but it's pretty hard for me to stop watching something after starting.)
Your point is the one that's totally invalid since you obviously can't even read.
I enjoyed it, but i also can't argue against anything the article said either. Hidimari sketch is the same but i loved that show.
You know he actually said "tend to", right?
/\ This. Lucky Star & Azumanga had FAR, FAR more development than this, and those two were almost purely comedy slice of life.
people call it slice of life, but it wouldn't be so popular if weren't the moe.
Okay, let's call it "slice of moe" instead *facepalm*
Aria and Yokohama KK have story though....
Schrobby
really? Genshiken is a slice-of-life and it have a great development...
I like slice of life shows. Azumanga was about nothing but cute girls in school life, but had funny jokes woven through... well, they made it, really. Lucky Star was sort of the offspring of Azumanga and Genshiken. Awesome, but not about anything still. I'm planning to start reading Nichijou - it looks along those lines - well, the art looks like Yotsuba&.
I tried to watch K-on, but all I saw was moe niche pandering with no skeleton to hold it up. I'll give it big points for not having a character who's a full-time maid, but that's about all the kindness I have for it. My brain complained violently in ways unheard since Bleach ep 1... (so cliche I couldn't help but predict it down to the last line of dialog.)
Manga about nothing is about characters, but I guess the K-on girls just felt totally soulless to me.
I like K-on because of its slice of life style. At the same time, I would have LOVED it if it was more serious like BECK, with actual playing of instruments.
I like this review simply because it's blunt but accurate. While I'll watch shitty anime such as K-ON if I'm bored, I always prefer watching an anime with depth which moe-blob garbage can't provide.
I like slice of life anime like aria and lucky star.
aria did have a plot and the characters did progress (albeit very slowly). K-On! started with (loose cannon) girl joining club, girl turns out to be prodigy, girl make declaration about playing Buddakan (sp?) by graduation. Gradually that falls apart, though the club/band is awesome for having practiced so little. And by season two there is no pretense of that initial plot line ever taking place. So even though I did/do like K-On! and !!; I'm dissapointed that nothing happened beyond the original 4 girls graduating.
Ah, and btw, good job to the staff posting such news, it's a good way to keep the users active ;)
If characters are adorable and make you care about them, you'd enjoy whatever they're doing, so I guess it works.^_^
And no male character present also lets fans dream about their favorite girls without ANY worry for competition, too!:)
"A utopia without any outcome or growth might well be just what blog and Twitter stir-loving modern fan tastes are after."
Thank you Thank you, finally someone who understands that the world today has become a place for instant oat meal gratification.
No backbone and no depth, just straight up fan service.
There's room in the world for both.
still looking for the fan service here tho..
I really don't see how this could be inducing rage except in the sense of denial. K-On _doesn't_ have a story. It's a 4koma and basically just shows random semi-amusing/cute things that happen. It doesn't try and move beyond the limits of its medium and it barely even tries to meet any kind of bar on character stereotypes (Energetic One, Lazy One, Competent Younger Sister, Quiet Shy One, the Princess. Yup, all there.)
If you like it? That's fine. I like things that aren't masterpiece works of classical artistry, too. But don't pretend it's anything other than what it is: pandering to otaku culture.
the article is right ( in my opinion )
Why would it need a story in the first place? MOE is enough!
I smell jealousy and absence of understanding there...
You are the kind of lust driven scum in this earth who is killing the anime industry by buying their lazy ass work.
Moe is not the end all be all of anime, you are the reason why shit manga like Lotte no Omocha gets an anime.
Moe may be sufficient, but having a story just makes it better.
Mmmmmm... Ui becomes yandere and kills Azu-nyan, then alien spaceships come to the earth and the professor recruits Yui and Ritsu to pilot the uper duper Mecha Gundam with sword to defeat them but Mio has become Emo and wants to suicide and have a trip to the spiritual world where she become the magician warrior of the legend but wait, plot twist, its a trap and they want to sacrifice her to the Old Gods. And then Jun and Nodoka joins forces with a Waki Miko to defeat them and save Mio who, PLOT TWIST, has become evil. And they all destroy the world in the fight. And in the real world Ui has killed them all. They are all dead JIM!!!!
Awesome!!
Aww anon....dude... spoilers, man!
Music doesn't turn out to be the ultimate weapon like in Macross, Black Heaven, RahXephon, etc!? What a twist!
If you think about it, K-ON! is one of the most well-done anime of it's kind: [pretty much] every frame is drawn, giving it beautiful movement; it has comedy, touching moments, some instances of slight yuri; AND it's got music, something that the majority of the world listens to. I do agree that the same things happen over and over, but they happen with slight changes made. I even got one of my friends, who hates non-violent anime, to watch the first season, proving that it's at least PRETTY good.
All that, but I also Admit that I haven't seen Beck, so I can't really compare it fairly. But still, damn it, give K-ON! a better review, Asahi!!!
I'm so happy they mentioned Beck 1000 times better then this moe garbage, any of you so called "Anime fans" on this site should go watch that.
it reminds me Lucky Star... but LS ws much better..
That, I agree wholeheartedly.
I don't know if Lucky star is that much better... I mean, it did have references to other anime, which was funny. But in terms of references, I would think Pani Poni Dash had more (and to be put blunt, I like Pani Poni more than Lucky Star, as a whole)
It's jerk-off material for budding pedophiles. The wanker makes his own story.
Why's everyone gotta pick on K-ON? It's enjoyable, so just watch it.
Why's everyone gotta pick on K-ON?
-------
Because people with empty life's need something bitch about!!
Because criticism is a way of showing that people care about what is showing and what the masses are watching on T.V idiot. We do not get Pan's Labyrinth or Scott Pilgrim if people do not bitch about how boring movies are in the 60's.
Next time we will have an anime about janitor girls doing cute janitorial things. As long as it is moe it will sell.
FUCK THAT and FUCK YOU!!
Wow, Asahi newspaper made a really important discovery.
I have to say, I'm not a K-ON Hater... but i'm not a K-On lover either, I like the characters (Mio and Azunyan are my favs) but I just couldn't get into the series as a whole... it was... just TOO Moe for my taste...
Azunyan pic so moe
I know people say the slice-of-life genre isn't one that needs story, it atleast needs fucking good characters. I can only call maybe Tsumugi and Azusa good characters, but the rest are annoying as hell to watch. You might call this a character-based show, but when the characters are all one-note, it sucks.
Yui = The magical retard who can do anything
Mio = The school idol moeblob who gets picked on
Ritsu = The jealous genki bitch
Tsumugi = The rich girl with yuri tendencies
Azusa = The cute girl and voice of reason (varied)
Ui = The devoted younger sister
Nodoka = Smart Friend
Sawako = Perverted Christmas Cake with Wild Past.
See? I just explained every character. Do you really wanna watch that show?
Long live Guitar Shop Guy~!
I don't see how people can have problem with this review. It's 100% true. K-ON fans just like this type of shows, but Asashi's description is spot-on