All four episodes of ‘K-ON!!’ that have aired so far were truly impressive in terms of production quality and very enjoyable as well. Somehow I feel that Kyoto Animation has changed a bit since their last series (Haruhi 2009), maybe it’s the experience of working on a theatrical movie. There has always been this absence of technical limitations in their approach – like how they don’t shy away from animating really complex shots that (nearly) nobody else would dare to attempt in TV anime – which is somewhat more noticeable in ‘K-ON!!’. I guess it’s indeed the spirit of their first movie project that carries over. Judging by the staff’s comments, KyoAni put even more effort than usual into ‘The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya’, so considering that they worked on it directly before ‘K-ON!!’ I’m not really surprised that their directors and animators still seem to stick to a more detail-oriented and movie-like approach.
As great as the first three episodes were, I still found episode 4 to be the most satisfying up to now. Katsuhiko Muramoto‘s script moved along in a nice pace and added some nice touches to the characters (particularly to Mio). The staging was really great as well since no one less than Ichirou Miyoshi aka Yoshiji Kigami was in charge of episode direction and storyboarding. As expected of such a great veteran animator with 30 years of experience, Kigami visualized the script with his usual care for details and fine sense for framing. There’s always something going on on the screen plus dense and nuanced movement everywhere, so quite in the tradition of Shin-Ei Douga (Shin-chan, Doraemon, etc.) where Kigami began his career. It’s not just one character that moves at one time (like in most other anime series), but several characters move at the same time which makes for this warm and lively mood. What I’ve always appreciated about KyoAni‘s work is that they keep the typical anime/manga exaggerations at a bearable minimum and concentrate instead on more or less realistic low-key acting. Investing so much effort into the acting makes even ‘K-ON!’s unrealistic characters seem more believable and adds a lot to their personality as well.
Anyway, Kigami and animation director Futoshi Nishiya filled this episode with wonderful animation that is quite effective in expressing the characters’ comical interplay. Really loved how Mio laughed and such, I felt that they paid extra attention to her drawings in this episode. The countless nuances both in the acting and staging probably originate in Kigami‘s detailed storyboarding. Just have a look at the maniacal preciseness of his storyboard of ‘Kanon 2006’ #17, these drawings have almost the quality and exactness of key frames.
The key animator list was quite short this time with only seven people credited. Chise Kamoi was there, I’m pretty sure that she animated the scene in the girls’ room near the end when they go to bed and Ritsu scares Mio with the flashlight. Those wobbly lines and red cheeks leave little doubt (the picture at the top of this post was drawn by her, btw). Kigami drew some key animation himself, though I’m not sure which parts he did since the whole episode feels pretty much like him. If I had to bet, I would say that he animated the pillow fight. For some more information on Kigami, check out this post.
Besides its impressive animation quality, it’s also the background art of episode 4 that caught my attention. They sure drew some beautiful artwork based on Kyoto locations. The backgrounds were created both in-house (Naoki Hosokawa) and external (Anime Workshop Basara). I assume that Hosokawa was in charge of the more recognizable Kyoto locations (like the temples) as they really stood out. And it shouldn’t be too difficult for Kyoto Animation‘s in-house staff to go location hunting in Kyoto…
Script: Katsuhiko Muramoto
Episode Director / Storyboard: Ichirou Miyoshi aka Yoshiji Kigami
Animation Director: Futoshi Nishiya
Key Animation: Yoshiaki Urata, Teruyoshi Shidou, Fumie Okano, Kunihiro Hane, Chise Kamoi, Ichirou Miyoshi, Futoshi Nishiya
Ani no Miyako 
K-on is such a mix for me. I find the production quality to be inspiring and pleasurable to watch. I find the story and character adorable. Yet I don’t have a strong feeling for the show overall. A while back I was watching some episodes of Kare Kano. They really did a lot with the material on that show, usually with not a lot of animation.
Anyway I think it is great such a high quality show is on tv, and your post here reminds me of how much there is to appreciate about it.
Interesting that you bring up Karekano. Anno’s approach was quite the opposite from KyoAni’s – i.e. extremely limited animation, overly stylized acting and manga-like imagery – but the result is no less charming. While the comedy was overdone for the most part, I still thought it was a quite heartfelt and warm anime that did really well in portraying the various relationships between the characters in a believable way. That said, Karekano had more substance to it compared to K-ON! and its characters weren’t as one-dimensional either. In this sense Karekano is probably a bit more accessible for certain people as it’s not just about cute girls doing fun things.
Very good informative post! It feels good to immerse in the craft that goes into the show — something I’m mostly ignorant about. It feels rather good that so much work went into emotional manipulation, even for just a small giggle.
I’m not exactly sure why season 2 is so much better than season 1; it may have to do with the fact that the characters are already well-developed and the series can focus more on situational development. The show seems much more polished than its predecessor as well, most likely due to your observation about working on the series so soon after the Haruhi movie.
Having just rewatched Kanon (probably for the tenth time LOL), I appreciated your storyboard pic of Shiori eating the curry 😀 I recall the director saying (in the DVD extra) that he had instructed the animators to take special care with the movement of her hair; IIRC she was his favorite girl, and it kinda shows. They also treated the “eating scenes” in Kanon with more care; I think it was NEWTYPE USA that commented that the girls eating their special foods were especially beautiful.
People can say what they want about KyoAni (most of it rote parrotting of others’ limited comprehension), but their attention to detail really helps make their works shine and remain in our memories for quite a while after the last episode 🙂
And the subsequent episodes of K-ON!! have been improving over the one before it, so I believe that we have an enjoyable remainder to enjoy!
K-ON!! is indeed as enjoyable and fun to watch as ever, if it continues to improve – or at least sustains the quality of the last few episodes – we’re certainly in for a treat!
Yesterday’s announcement of ‘Nichijou’ promises some more KyoAni goodness for the future, looks like they try something crazier this time. I hope Yasuhiro Takemoto returns in the director’s chair for this project, he’s the man for crazy comedy! (check out Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu if you need evidence ;-)).
That storyboard scan is from the Kanon Visual Memory book, isn’t it? Looking over my copy again, another episode that really stands out is #10 (pg 83 if you have yours), also storyboarded by Kigami. Maniacal is not strong enough a word to describe the preciseness of those storyboards, particularly (storyboard) page number 28.
I agree pretty much completely with your impression of this episode. I really enjoy Nishiya’s work, although I like him better on Haruhi. It just seems that his personal style works a little better with Ikeda’s designs than they do with Horiguchi’s, although it could just be me.
Yeah, it’s from the Kanon Visual Memory book. I don’t own the book per se, though, I just have a bunch of scans. Page 83 is the one with Makoto’s detailed facial expressions, indeed just as impressive as the one with Shiori above.
Well, I can’t say that Nishiya’s stylistic characteristics work better with a particular design, I think he adapts pretty well to the respective style. But judging by his work on the new Haruhi episodes he seems to be closer to Horiguchi now, stylistically.
Is KyoAni still using hand-painted background arts(poster color+paper) in their anime?
Or they use create all of their background art in computer using a software like Photoshop?
They use computer software such as Photoshop like (almost) everyone else, KyoAni was even one of the first studios to switch to digital.