It appears that K-ON! stands high and mighty in the limelight this Spring, with girls rocking out as a band. I’ve read countless posts and comments about how awesome it is, so I watched it.
While I found it much more interesting than Lucky Star, which I thought was really horrible, I still find myself thinking that BECK’s much better in comparison. I know that BECK’s anime ended long ago, but I don’t remember seeing much praise for it, except from tj_han. In fact, the amount of praise I’ve seen for K-On within a time frame of merely 2 episodes far outnumbers all the praise I’ve witnessed for BECK. I doubt it’s due the freshness of the series, considering other old anime still receive much praise despite concluding earlier than BECK.
I’m thinking that many who are currently watching K-ON! have never watched or even heard of BECK before. The way I see it, when it comes to anime falling under the musical genre, the general anime watching crowd has a preference for moe blobs and light-hearted comedy rather than drama that comes together with non-sugar coated art.
MOE v.s Realistic-looking
Here’s what BECK has that K-ON! doesn’t appear to possess; Drama, realism and the scenes of the character’s, Koyuki in particular, working hard to hone their skills as a musician. Alright, maybe BECK isn’t all that realistic with the gangster stuff going on, but still, it’s miles more realistic than the following image.
Wow, the girls sure have a nice budget for their high school light music club
I’m one who doesn’t really pay too much attention to the art of an anime. It’ll be great if the art is pleasing to the eyes, but more importantly, I look out for the plot. It’s a pity that much of whatever released in the anime industry has decided to go for more character designs that would sell to the majority of the crowd. More than often, I’m getting sick of all the excessive moe stuff flying all over the place.
That being said, K-ON! is still a show which I find worth watching on. For 2 episodes so far, I must say that it has done a rather well. However, I hope there’ll be more of the band’s music playing, and even better, the hardship Yui has to go through in order to hone her skills. I doubt we’ll be seeing as much of the latter as compared to what Koyuki went through.
Anyway, for those who are really interested in the anime that contains music in the plot, watch BECK. Disregard the realistic art and you would find youself mesmerised by an amazing series that contains great music and a story that could inspire you to pick up an instrument, if you’ve yet to do so. It was one of the factors that got me started on the guitar, so why not?
I loved BECK, but I like K-On a lot, too. They are just different animals, each with its honorable place in the bestiary. If I had to rank them, I’d put BECK higher so far, but K-On is hilarious, touching, humane, and wonderfully moe.
If you didn’t like Lucky Star, then you probably just don’t get the appeal of this kind of show: the moe, the humour, the thrilling bits of animation. “Serious” shows are not automatically superior, in my opinion. Or even more serious, really. But you do a great service in reminding people how good BECK was. Too bad it doesn’t seem to get the praise it deserves.
Beck was a very boring show about a bunch of dumbass rockers, i couldnt watch more than one episode, or i would explode. Also it had that disgusting dog-thingie.
K-On’s a lot easier to understand for the average viewer who’s been weaned on moe stuff like Lucky Star I suppose? That said, they’re promoting different kinds of music, in my opinion. K-ON’s literally about ‘light music’ (haha, someone I don’t think their ED can be classified as that!!!); while BECK is a lot more hardcore, in every respect. It’s like high-school life with a bit of music vs, music anime.
Obviously, everybody’s watching it for the moe shit rather than the music aspect of the show.
My one and only complaint about Beck was the Engrish. Everything else was most win.
Most people couldn’t care less about the music aspect of K-On. They’d watch it if the moeblobs were in the literature club, the chess club or the dog walking club. Guys just want to see lolis.
L4D seems more fun than K-ON.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atuZvbEPsAg
It’s a lot harder to masturbate to Beck.
And to be honest, many anime watcher quite frankly don’t care much for the whole rock scene in real life therefore don’t care for the same for the characters in BECK. In fact, I would probably outright hate anybody in RL that’s in the “rock scene”, with all the attitude and drugs etc.
hashi > I’ll still be able to enjoy K-ON!, but I don’t see myself being able to do so for Lucky Star anytime soon.
karry > The great music only comes in the later part of the show.
Soshi > I think I have something against excessive moe.
Taiyaki > Yea no one give a damn about the music.
Crazydave > Yea the Engrish was the only part that pulled it down.
kopl > KyoAni just needs to rinse and repeat from now on.
Sojourner > Zombies and cute girls in a music club have no link, but that’s a really sweet map.
jpmeyer > Well said.
Falen > Not everyone in the scene has the attitude or does drugs. That’s just generalisation.
Perhaps, but I certainly don’t care to find out if someone in the “scene” has an attitude but use no drug, or no attitude but use drugs, or hey…, possibly don’t have attitude and don’t use drugs…. let’s not even get into the bad music…
The point is, the impression of the “scene” for many regular people, besides the anime watching niche, is a negative one that’s why BECK didn’t get much enthusiasm.
Couldn’t agree with you more on that. But I’m a Beck fan and I loved it because it’s so real and I could feel it. The music rocks too, despite the Engrish I still love the music and I can even play some of their songs. (though I always longed for a real English band to cover and record the songs) Well I play in a band too in real life, plus it was a sort of a childhood dream for me to do so, maybe that’s why I could relate so strongly to Beck. But K-ON…I’ll just leave it for the fanboys to rave over while I loop Full Moon Sways and Face over and over again.
Honestly, I can’t find any good reason to watch K-On. Guess I’ve aged a little…
Im one of those who hasnt heard of BECK but bear with me. I find K-ON to be very cool (maybe a little Lucky Star, but anyway…) . I have only watched the first episode so there still more to go before I can tell more about this show.
While I found it much more interesting than Lucky Star, which I thought was really horrible, I still find myself thinking that BECK’s much better in comparison.
That’s because K-ON isn’t about music.
Anyway, for those who are really interested in the anime that contains music in the plot, watch BECK.
I’ve heard of BECK before. Now that you’ve put a picture of the characters…..I know I’ll never watch it. I don’t see how you people can stand watching anime with ugly character designs.
comparing k-on to beck is like comparing naruto to basililk.
just because there’s music, just because there’s ninja.
how bout’ classical music like Nodame?
No honey and clover love here? =P
The best rock anime would probably be FLCL.. oh wait.. They don’t actually jam and the songs(The pillows) are background..
What jpmeyer said.
Yui on castanets >>>>>> any music anime
As a “Lucky Star” appreciator, I feel like mentioning something even though you bring the show up very briefly.
“Lucky Star” is a total “your mileage may vary”, “you love it or hate it” sort of show/comic. The pacing and style of humor is laid back in a way that is deeply situational. Another title of similar style is “Cul de Sac”. http://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/
cute girls with a moe twist will always win against teenage boys when it comes to having a bigger fanbase
Beck is probably one of my favorite animes. Good music + good story = win. I picked up guitar after watching too. It really helped me to appreciate music more, in that I could hear the importance of the other instruments.
and I hate how people bag on the character designs. How about every anime character having eyes that cover half their face?
I guess these type of people would hate shows like Cowboy Bebop too, since it’s not MOE.
>>Taiyaki: My one and only complaint about Beck was the Engrish. Everything else was most win.
The Engrish was half of what made beck great; it utilizes a language barrier to a degree that few series attempt, much less succeed at. It might not be perfect, but it’s very important to show as a whole.
Beck = Guys
K-on! = Girls
end of story.
What a wonderful argument for watching K-on. You almost sold me on it. But… no sale. It still looks like boring, poorly animated crap.
But Beck still sucks donkey dong. Horrible people posturing & pretending their horribleness needs to be experienced by the world… yeah, I needed to see that.
I’m glad to see that there is an anime blogger out there who is not overtaken by the otaku market.
You made some good points and provided fair arguments, both of which otakus are unable to do.
kudos, and keep up the good work
Thanks for the heads up - I hadn’t really thought about watching Beck before you brought it up. Sounds worth watching - i can watch eisodes while waiting for the next K-ON! to come out =D
LoL, yea I recently just finished watching “BECK”. I thought it was a really great anime. I like some “moe” stuff too like “Lucky Star” just because it’s funny and entertaining in it’s own ways. I appreciate a good storyline as well. I still have yet to watch “K-ON!”. But I highly recomend “BECK” as a must watch or to have in your anime collection, and I like that urban art style of drawing that they use in that series. Everyone has great opinions in this blog so please don’t fight over these things cuz hey, everyone has their own opinions.
Hmm… I guess what Aki is trying to say is kinda what I feel. Every anime has it’s ups and downs, so you should watch what you like depending on the genre (action/drama/comedy/etc.). You wouldn’t go to watch a drama movie at the theaters if you wanna watch a action/comedy. As for me, I like watching a lot of anime no matter what genre. Appreciate it for what it is that’s what I say.
Beck is a few years old, K-ON is on right now and by a very popular studio. The popularity can’t be compared. Only in the rare cases where an anime gains a very large fan-base that doesn’t waver over time will an old series still stand out today. As good as Beck is, it never got that fan-base - though it got enough of one that I’d heard it praised a number of times and ended up watching it; you needn’t be so disappointed. These shows are in very different genres. Honestly, unless K-ON turns out to be something amazing (at the moment it’s simply enjoyable moe slice-of-life with great animation), it’s doubtless going to be less popular than Beck in 5 years.
You got a good point there Mark xD. Thanks for the reassurance. I’m pretty sure K-ON! is gonna be a good anime. It does have good animation and all, but you do have a good point there about it not being as popular as BECK in 5 years or so. Anyway, let’s Anime-It-Out!!!! xD!!!!
“What a wonderful argument for watching K-on. You almost sold me on it. But… no sale. It still looks like boring, poorly animated crap.
But Beck still sucks donkey dong. Horrible people posturing & pretending their horribleness needs to be experienced by the world… yeah, I needed to see that.”
Dude, did you really feel the need to write such a troll post?
i love BECK that i even downloaded the songs i like from gendou. But i haven’t heard of K-ON! maybe because i’m lacking of anime interest this past few weeks because of my exams but i think i might watch this.
Beck started very slowly, people didnt really give it a chance, so alot of people missed out on a great anime.