K-On!

[blkmage]

I have no desire, nor was it my intent, to convince you to watch K-ON so I won't get into that. My issue is with your initial perception of the show that you posted, which happens to include a number of huge pet peeves of mine when it comes to criticisms of anime.

The reason why I think your assessment is unfair is because instead of evaluating the show on its own merits (whether it's concept or style or whatever), you're judging it against something external to the show. Instead of saying "I don't like this show because it a show about high school girls forming a band doesn't interest me", you're saying "I don't like this show because a show about high school girls forming a band seems like a cheap marketing ploy and, thus, offends my notions of art."

But if, as you say, it's all cool as long as the result is good, then whether or not the marketing/business/whatever affects the show is something that you shouldn't be able to judge until you've seen at least some of it. Otherwise, you're just saying "it looks like x and is about y, therefore, it is a cheap ploy".

Also, when I noted that most anime panders to some segment of otaku, I meant exactly that. Late-night anime is almost exclusively created to pander specifically to slobbering otaku and not normal people. The only question is which slice of the slobbering otaku market they're going for. Is it the moe crowd? The mecha crowd? Those sakuga guys? Seiyuu/idol obsessers? Visual novel readers?

There is this misconception that normal people watch good anime; this is untrue—normal people do not watch anime. When I think about it like that, it's another reason why this concept of anime pandering disappears as a relevant or useful metric.

[Falx]

So it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet, but for those of you were left wanting more after the credits rolled and then heard that the manga had ended...

Well it has now been officially un-ended. Two new chapters have been released with the fearsome foursome tackling university while Ui, Jun and Azusa are now in the same pickle that the series started with. They need a fourth member and fast. And who is that strange blonde freshman and why was she trying to steal their tea set, cabinet and all?

[Maokun]

[quote="blkmage (post: 1478429)"]Also, when I noted that most anime panders to some segment of otaku, I meant exactly that. Late-night anime is almost exclusively created to pander specifically to slobbering otaku and not normal people. The only question is which slice of the slobbering otaku market they're going for. Is it the moe crowd? The mecha crowd? Those sakuga guys? Seiyuu/idol obsessers? Visual novel readers?

There is this misconception that normal people watch good anime]

Hahaha, yeah when you put it like that I can agree with you. As I said, it's not a definitive and elitist "I shall never lie my pure eyes on this trash" but rather a first-level filter to decide whether I'd be watching a series on first impression and without knowing much.

[mechana2015]

Why I Liked K-On
by Mech

I was expecting to hate this show. Instead, after some persuading I found a show with a great many things gong for it, and very few negatives. First off, there's the art. I'm still not on board with ALL the design decisions for the characters in this show, but I love the work they did portraying the locations and the instruments. The characters are passable as well, and I'm now able to look past most of the 'blob' characteristics and see that the simple designs didn't hamper the storytelling. And storytelling is the strong point here. The characters are developed through each vignette, and there's a notable difference between the beginning and the end of the show in how much we know each of them, and how their band has evolved.

What actually impressed me the most is how they got the personalities of the musicians and the general feel of 'being in a band'. I've been IN that band more or less (obviously not all girls), with the recruiting and learning songs and hating practice and all of it, and that was probably the most engaging thing to realize that someone had written a show that portrayed the experience of being a musician in a school setting so accurately.
(we even had both the case of the person falling during a performance, and someone doing something embarrassing during a performance)

The music is a blast on top of all of it, and it's become one of the anime where I was really thrilled to see the OP and ED's, and truly wished for MORE music from the groups in the show, both HTT and the periphery bands.

I'm looking forward to seeing where the movie goes, especially with the jump up from season 1 to 2 in the storytelling, and I'll be interested to see if we get to hear what Azusa's band sounds like.

[Maokun]

Thanks for your thoughts. What I've seen so far of the character design is not too appealing to me, not because the moeblobness of it all, but because there's a weird, slight chubbiness to their faces that makes me think of babies. It's bad enough to be encouraged (as most moe -no, scratch that- anime shows do) to like 14 year old girls to have them look like 7 year olds haha. I'm glad, though, to hear that you found a good measure of depth in the storytelling. Perhaps I'll give it a try some time.

[Yamamaya]

Also, when I noted that most anime panders to some segment of otaku, I meant exactly that. Late-night anime is almost exclusively created to pander specifically to slobbering otaku and not normal people. The only question is which slice of the slobbering otaku market they're going for. Is it the moe crowd? The mecha crowd? Those sakuga guys? Seiyuu/idol obsessers? Visual novel readers?

Indeed. There is always a particular group that an anime "panders" to if you want to use that word. It's the same thing with video games. RPGs, FPS, fighters are all looking for that one slice of the market that they can nab. There are certainly a lot of games with multiple genres and games that try to appeal to a wider audience, but many of them do "pander" to a particular audience.

[quote="blkmage (post: 1478429)"]There is this misconception that normal people watch good anime]

In Japan if you watch anime, you are either a small child or a nerd. There are very few anime that manage to gain widespread praise or acceptance among the general populace. Anime is a niche market in Japan just like it is in America, albeit bigger. Obviously an anime is going to try to appeal to a particular audience, as the companies aren't trying to capture the attention of the normal person.

My video game analogy earlier does not completely apply, but it does have some value. Most "normal" people do not play video games a lot. They may play a few of the old Mario games, but they likely don't keep up with the latest fighter or RPG or adventure game. They probably have never played such games as the Fallout or Elder Scrolls series. Although it is considered a more acceptable hobby than watching anime, the average individual probably won't invest the time or patience into games that appeal to the more "hardcore" audience.

This is where the analogy falls rather short, as there is no hardcore and casual viewer of anime in Japan. Normal people don't watch anime, nerds do. Which is fine with me. I would hate to be viewed as just being normal. Normal implies a sense of conformity, which I dislike. Then again, in Japan conformity is a cultural value.