I chose KyoAni once again. I had already heard of this novel before it was to be adapted, so even though this was me going on some kind of hype train, I’m actually looking forward to this. I know the last KyoAni show I did, Amagi Brilliant Park, was a huge success, and I loved it……so here’s me hoping this concert version of K-on! will work…
- Just in case anyone wasn’t quite sure, I’ll remind you: K-on! has been and gone, now that the spinoff college manga and the movie were released. So if you were wondering why I brought up a franchise I actually really enjoyed, while the subject is only slightly different, the content on screen very much oozes and very really replicates K-on! Sounds harsh. Perhaps it is me being harsh. But I won’t nit-pick so much, since KyoAni are very capable and very reliable in delivering school shows with unique subject matters but with no-frills, I’ll say that I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far.
Guess who’s who…
- Legs. Below the knee, mind, but they’re there. And where have we seen them before? Take a wild guess. As I say, no being mean, but what did we really expect from Naoko Yamada, director of both K-on! seasons and the movie? Here she’s the production director, so it’s like every single piece is reflected. Right from the character designs to the layout of the school itself, along with the occasional shot of a tap, or a stray flyer displaying the jazz club, or a piece of sheet music with additional notes for the player. I think it’s safe to say Yamada’s now become an auteur of anime. Sounds extremely presumptuous but I can’t deny what I see.
- Well I admit that I was expecting KyoAni to adapt something like this. I mean, the characters all firmly fitted into place, so did the setting, but despite KyoAni’s long-standing history with comedy, I didn’t actually expect them to do another drama show. I know the show will have the occasional joke here and there, but after we see the prologue in Kyoto when Kumiko’s band were aiming for the Nationals, we all knew straightaway. Reina (the girl Kumiko fell out with) took it too seriously and I’m actually picturing competition and in-band friction. I mean, working with over a dozen students to play a piece pitch-perfect is something they all want, but as their little adolescent minds being as they are, they all want to be the best. Personally, I think Kumiko will see through that already; I mean, she’s the main lead of the show, so according to pretty much all KyoAni shows, she’s practically perfect in every way.
- I don’t think Hibike! Euphonium has room for comedy; as much as Asuka’s silly hand joke scared the first years, there’s no reason why a show about a fledgling school concert band that’s aiming for the Nationals should be filled to the brim with jokes. Sure K-on! relied on comedy, but they didn’t take Houkago Tea Time! as seriously at all. Unlike Yui Hirasawa, the main girl knows her stuff. The cool and collected girl isn’t a scaredy-cat like Mio Akiyama. And there’s no real comedy character there, like Ritsu Tainaka. Plus there’s no yuri…so far…I don’t even think Reddit or 4chan or wherever have started dedicated love threads for the show yet.
- But this band actually care, unlike Houkago Tea Time! There absolutely no doubt that, after 12 episodes, the concert band will have won the school over, they’ll sweep through the Prefectorial competition, and be on their way to the Nationals…like some happy high school girl daydream, really. But to be honest, what’s wrong with that? Every KyoAni show has a good/happy/nice ending; there’d be uproar if there wasn’t. I would like to see how this band (and yes, guys do actually exist in this anime, for a change) go through their various trials and tribulations. It seems that, after the first episode, only Kumiko, Hazuki and Sapphire have made their mark so far. Not even the moody girl has had anything to say. I’m hoping for a better future in these coming weeks; I don’t want to see these four girls as two-dimensional and boring to watch, purely because of the interesting plot and story (even if too much of the adaptation reminds all of us of K-on!).
One is jaded, another is too cute, and the other is clueless. Sure, why not?