K-On 02 – Eyebrow Recognition
Posted by DKellis in k-on, tags: the eyebrows of ryouko asakura
Don't expect this to be a regular feature. If nothing else, I'll lose interest quite quickly.
K-On has garnered the usual amount of attention from anime bloggers, with Mio appearing to be the fan favourite. Whether this is intentional on the part of the creators is beyond me; I'm just here for the cute girls, man. Specifically Tsumugi, or Mugi-chan as her recently-attained nickname goes. People who were in my gaming group will be aware of the reason for my low amusement.
The comparisons to other series have tapered off, although I admit to some surprise that I haven't seen anything about resemblances to Manabi Straight. Or not, as the case may be, since an argument could be made either way; the opening animation at least seemed Manabi-ish, if also rather Beatles-ish, but I'm always prepared for the usual "how could you think such a thing? There is no such comparison to be made!" arguments. It is a diverse Internet out there.
In this episode, Yui gets a guitar, which people have been calling a "Les Paul Fender" or some arcane title along those lines. Having never delved, even shallowly, into the world of Real Guitars, I am lost, adrift; I mean, I can play a G chord, a C chord, and I think an F-sharp chord, but that's about the limit of my knowledge on the matter. Presumably I can try to learn, but I share Mio's apprehension at the starring role a guitarist would be placed in. I would be interested in learning the bass, though, especially since I like how it sounds, so maybe that might swing me over to Mio's side more than Tsumugi, although I doubt it.
(The only musical instrument I can claim to some competence with is the saxophone. Not exactly rock band material, and I lack the improvisational imagination necessary for jazz.)
It is hard to fully pin down Tsumugi's entire personality, since so little has been noted about who she is, rather than what she is. She's a rich girl who's not entirely experienced in the ways of the common people, of the nice, cheerful, polite, pleasant personality type, with occasional flights of fancy into the realms of the bizarre. Like a more naive Tomoyo Daidouji from Card Captor Sakura, which is probably why I'm drawn to her.
One thing I've never been able to understand about how some other bloggers think is that sometimes they go from "OMG WORST ANIME EVER" to "OMG BEST ANIME EVER" within the space of one episode. Now, in a medium with more than one work in it that can be objectively judged for quality, the two are mutually exclusive.
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I enjoyed Mugi-chan getting to bargain for the first time.
Oh, Manabi comparisons have already been made, though I don't remember which blogs off the top of my head. But well, there isn't anything truely original out there anyway, what matters is whether this gig can stand on its own two feet. So far, to me at least, and ignoring all the hype and hate, it seems to be holding up decently.
Like KunojiLym: Manabi Straight comparisons have been made, but usually just brief, off-the-cuff remarks and never really expanded on like the comparisons to things like Lucky Star, which I think is silly. Another blog I read mentioned a point about Tsumugi this episode that I liked: Although she could have just easily bought the guitar for Yui since she has the means to do so (and you can see that she considers doing so), she instead tries to bargain for it going on what Ritsu said (I also notice that she tends to take a lot of cues from her, now that I think about it). Granted, her status helped in getting the price as low as she did, but it showed of a little more of Tsumugi's character in that context.
And she knows exactly what she's doing. If you didn't see it there, then you at least saw it in how she calmed and focused Yui down with offers of food. :P
I did find Yui to be a bit annoying. She seem so clueless in the anime. But other than that I find them all to be very loveable. The super cute moe style of the anime makes Yui's airheaded-ness nothing more then a small thought.
I expected the comparisons, but I didn't expect them to be over so quickly. I mean, Sensei no Ojikan suffered through Azumanga Daioh comparisons for a long time (I think I was seeing them six episodes in), and Pani Poni Dash in turn was compared to Sensei no Ojikan.
People will try to find links to things they find familiar, no matter how illogical or stretched this link may be.
I was thinking of trying to learn the alto sax this summer. But I guess that's irrelevant.
More importantly, I'll be keeping my eye on Tsugumi in the following episodes. I think the fans have discussed Mio more than enough, and Yui isn't a terribly complex character, so I'm curious to see what the other two have to offer. Plus, I like rich girls :3
I am NOT as annoyed by Yui as the others are.
As one who have bothered to check the original source before watching the anime, I think that KyoAni have gone like that for Yui's clutz perk, as in: (Manga Yui's klutziness + Cirno's + Uchida's)² = Anime Yui
However, it is far from being hopeless. She have shown a bit of sense, she refused the earned money offered by her friend. Until Mugi decided to barter it the next day, perhaps as a gesture for her friend.
Then Yui laughed off her failure at her exams and admitted she have not worked for it before that day. Laughing off a bad event is NOT "retarded" as many detractors would like to think, it is a pretty normal behavior among students.
Yui is not completely stupid. She have shown willingness to do efforts. However, she have a tendency to be distracted. But when she have someone to coach her, like Mio, she can pull it off.
Take out the moé from K-On, especially Yui, and I would not be surprised if people suddenly find her behavior a little more human.