Forum - View topicREVIEW: K-ON! Season 2 Blu-Ray Set 2
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Wakazhi
 Posts: 203 |
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K-ON is not a show for people who want a plot, I can understand that. What I don't understand is what's so bad about the show not having a plot? Not everyone watches shows the same way. Some people look for messages, morals and meanings. Some watch a show for its atmosphere, aesthetic, style, etc. There are many ways to watch a show, and if a show does have what you're looking for, than oh well.
For example, I love Spice and Wolf because of the main characters' witty conversions between each other. I love Nadesico for its hilarious and satire moments with the amazing assemble characters. For K-ON, it's just the way the characters talk about random crap with the most mindful and subtle details to ridiculous human behavior that I've seen. It also reminds me a lot of how some girls in my class acted, and since I was in high school while watching this show, it felt like it was an homage to how goofy some girls (like many in my class) could be, and I found that very amusing. I also liked getting back from school and watching something I didn't have to think hard about. That's the way I viewed K-ON. If you don't see it that way, that's okay. Saying that "it's about nothing" doesn't affect my opinion of the show because what I think it's about is not what everyone is looking for or focusing on in the show. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I think it was a good review. The simple fact is that for most people who like K-On, our (because I am one of them) opinion can basically be summed up as:
"I like it because it is fun and/or cute" Carl did an admirable job of explaining that in more "qualitative" terms. |
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Rainrix
Posts: 26 |
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Escapism is not a concept which should even comes up in reviews, because nothing with such an appalling lack of form should even be considered a work of art or even entertainment.
All the things that Carl praised, such as the feelings the show elicits of being swept away to another world of joy and innocence, the details given to each character's design and movement/personality, and the musical performance given at the end...that's all well and good, but all those things can be found in other anime where there actually IS a plot, like any Miyazki movie or the ones Carl himself mentioned like BECK. He gave K-On!! an A-, which is probably around where most Miyazaki movies would be placed on any movie critic's rating scale. Think about that. Someone tells you "Yea, I think K-On!! is about as good as Princess Mononoke." How does that make you feel? Slice of Life anime needs to die already. |
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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I would say I enjoyed K-On significantly more than I enjoyed Princess Mononoke. Was Mononoke-hime a good movie? Sure, of course it was. Have I had any desire to revisit it in the last 8 or so years since I watched it? Not really. Have I revisited K-On since I first watched it? Yep. So yea, in a way K-On may be better than Mononoke-hime, at least to me, and perhaps others. Also, K-On does have a plot, its not particularly deep or original, but it is there, and especially the episodes covered by this review, it winds its way through the episodes, becoming more and more of a presence, until it culminates at the emotional climax of the entire franchise, when Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Tsumugi spoiler[sing Tenshi ni Fureta Yo! for Azusa.] |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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It would make me unhappy that he does not have a better opinion of K-On!!
A lot of people who watch and buy anime seem to have a different opinion. I am one of them. If there is something that you do not like you can simply not watch it. If it did die then those of us who do like it would not be able to watch it. Why is that a good thing? |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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...That would make me feel...nothing really since the two titles are so incredibly different that it'll make me wonder why make such a comparison in the first place You make it sound like it's unthinkable to like two things "equally", but for entirely different reasons. |
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Rainrix
Posts: 26 |
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Reviewers need to be as objective as possible when giving their judgement of something. Saying you enjoyed something more than something else is not really saying anything about either because it is too subjective.
If you don't consider yourself a reviewer or at least able to view things SOMEWHAT objectively, you should not voice your opinions. Oh well, my words are probably falling on deaf ears anyway. It's just unfortunate to see how empty anime has become (for the most part). |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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In this case "objective" means "agreeing with Rainrix's opinion"
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Actar
 Posts: 1074 Location: Singapore |
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First of all, I do agree with you that a reviewer does have to be as objective as possible. However, what do you exactly mean by objectivity? In my honest opinion, media products can never be inherently 'good' or 'bad'. It all depends on individual interpretation and what context and criteria you are using to judge them. It's really all very subjective, but no one's opinion is 'law'. Someone who watches Anime to relax and have fun after a hard day's work will obviously adore shows like K-On! and Love Hina and be overwhelmed by shows like Ghost in the Shell. However, someone else who wants to have his mind stimulated will definitely prefer GiTS and find shows like K-On! boring and mind-numbing. What one deems to be 'good' will also rest on the differences in individual tastes with regard to genera, style, content, so on and so forth. And we're not even taking into consideration other factors like cultural differences and nostalgia glasses. Of course, one could also compare two Anime based on budgeting, staff, cast, etc... to determine if it is 'good' or not. But again, the criteria for deciding and the decision making itself is subjective. The list of possible judging criteria and the permutations of tastes and preferences are endless. Sure, everyone is entitled to their own opinions on what they find 'good' and 'bad', but that way is not the ONLY way. People tend to forget that. Some say that works that have 'moral messages' in them can be considered to be 'good'. Yet, someone else can say that a good show is one with a solid plot. Another can say that all a good show has to do is to be enjoyable and nothing more. They might also argue that even if a show does have a message to teach, it wouldn't go anywhere if it's too in-your-face and preachy. Looking out of Anime for a second, would one consider the Mr. Bean comedy series to be good? It sure doesn't have a ton to teach us, but it is funny as hell. Is that good, quality entertainment? I'd say yes. And so would millions of people worldwide. The acting and comedic timing is great and so is the writing. Yes, some might find it completely and utterly boring and insipid, but that's again just another opinion and not the fault of the work itself. ...and you can't really deny the fact that entertainment (or anything for that matter) is subjective and can be interpreted in a variety of ways, even in ways the creators never originally intended. Be it literary works like Shakespearean classics, art like the The Mona Lisa or Anime like Evangelion, they have been analyzed to death and the meanings that people have extracted from these works can vary tremendously. Cultural Theorist Stuart Hall has explained through his idea of 'encoding-decoding' that, even if the creator of a work has an intended meaning, it cannot make or force the audience to think in one particular way. So, to reiterate, I believe that any one media product cannot be objectively defined as 'good' or 'bad', 'better than' or 'worse than'. Someone claiming to judge a work objectively is already judging the work through a selected judgement criteria. Last edited by Actar on Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:20 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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I think most people would consider something like Princess Mononoke (borrowing the earlier example) better as art, but not necessarily better as entertainment (which is what a review actually evaluates). What people find entertaining is incredibly subjective; what's important to a review is being able to explain why you feel a certain way about a show. I think K-On is incredibly boring, but I still think this is a solid review even if I don't agree with the final judgment.
Also, an objective review would actually be really boring. There aren't a lot of interesting things to say about entertainment from a truly objective point of view.
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Moonsaber
 Posts: 343 Location: USA |
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First, I enjoyed the review. It expressed a lot of what I think of about the show. I often refer to it as a mental warm bath before bed. Relaxation, pure and simple.
Now, about this:
See this is interesting to me. Reviews are opinions, informed ones, but still opinions. Reviewers are paid to have an opinion, and you follow various reviewers because you value their opinion. I like Roger Ebert's reviews, for instance, because I value his opinion, even when I disagree. So, I guess I am totally disagreeing. Reviews are certainly opinions and are not meant to be objective, in my opinion. (sic) |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5429 Location: Iscandar |
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Very good review, as usual by the ANN staff.
The first time I watched K-On, I immediately fell in love with these charming girls. I could also see that the production had an ample budget. But I also realized that it had almost no plot. Despite this, K-On is one of my favorite animes mostly because the creators seemed to have put a lot of care into it, and knew what they were doing. As far as the particular product being reviewed here, this last episodes of the series were the best part out of both seasons. It was very touching to watch the girls struggle with an end of an era with their graduation. K-On has been characterized for being a cute series with cute characters with almost no plot. However, these last episodes have more of a plot progression, which I appreciate a lot. I have enjoyed season one and two of K-On, and I hope a R1 company picks up the movie (if it has not been picked up already). |
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amagee
 Posts: 333 Location: Orlando, FL |
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Objectivity versus subjectivity is one of those topics that comes up a lot on the forums and it's honestly quite difficult to really make any solid argument that isn't largely subjective about art so the whole argument is rather a mute point.
Comparing a TV series to a movie is a pretty far stretch though even when considering things from as objective a stance as possible. Think about Princess Mononoke compared to K-ON!! in objective ways. The first is a two hour-ish movie with a budget around 2 billion yen at least. That, however, was back in 1997 when the exchange rate was at about 120 yen to 1 U.S. dollar. During the entire time of producing K-ON!, K-ON!!, and K-ON! The Movie, the exchange rate has been 100 yen to 1 U.S. dollar at the very best and has generally been sitting around 80-85 yen to 1 U.S. dollar. Consequently, the results of a budget per minute look at the two series is going to be skewed out the bum and would require taking tons of varying factors into account with worth of currency. Now add in that K-ON! episodes were given probably given a higher budget than TV anime around the time of Princess Mononoke since they are in high definition as opposed to styles during that period. This means you can't just separate the TV budget from that of a movie because you're dealing with a different time period for productions. Try to also factor in the evolution of the anime market itself, the entirely digital K-ON! as opposed to the cel-based Princess Mononoke, and the list could go on and on. That obtuse mass of objective considerations I just put forward makes it clear that any attempt to review anime objectively pretty much sucks the soul right out of it as an entertainment medium. If you wanted to thoroughly dissect the differences between K-ON! and Princess Mononoke objectively, I guess you sort of could but it would be a huge undertaking and be rather silly for anyone who isn't maybe a student of animation or just unerringly curious. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Those K-ONs sure are cute. I hope one of them doesn't fall in love with an American marine, that would just be hilariously tragic.
It's a shame that the film can't be reviewed fast enough to jump onto the OI OI ENGLAND thing going on because of the wedding, the jubilee and the Olympics. Watching it right now is opportune, having to wait a year and a half and all that England love will have completely dissipated into the ether, and the new hat will be all on Mother Russia. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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The movie has actually already been reviewed. It was reviewed way back in the beginning of the year by either a guest reviewer or someone ANN had recently added to tackle prominent movie releases in Japan (I've been waiting for the review of The World Children by the way).
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