Every spring and summer in Japan sees a new lineup of anime series that fans await for eagerly. It is no different this year as fans have been waiting for one specific anime. This series tells the story of four high school girls who come together through music and the activities they indulge in during their after school activity club.

K-ON! is the anime series in which it is called. It means light music in Japanese, which is what the club is all about. The four girls were first serialized in a weekly manga magazine in the same country, but did not receive the same response as their animated form.

The main protagonist of K-ON! is Yui Hirasawa. Yui is an extremely adorable high school girl who is excited about entering the new educational level. While she is often made fun of due to her silliness and carefree demeanour, Yui does hold some special qualities and is actually rather intelligent.

Unlike other more popular and classic animes, K-ON! does not tell complicated tales. Fans are just given an insight into the high school lives and shenanigans of Yui and her three other club friends in Mugi, Mio and Ritsu. The developing friendships and encouragement provided to each other as they grow as a band provide the special qualities that attract people to the series.

Fans have quickly caught on to the quirky and light hearted feel of the story. Interestingly, despite her charms, Yui is not the most popular character of the four. Instead, it is the long haired Mio who is often the more mature in the group, although deep inside she is a shy and timid person.

K-ON! has also done quite well with international audiences even as it has just reached the halfway point. There is a growing demand for cute Japanese culture from overseas fans and that is best represented by the anime industry. The series itself provides numerous moments of classic cuteness that are bound to please fans.

The series has also been lauded by many critics for the performances of its voice actresses. Taking on the roles of the four girls, the voice actresses have to go beyond just simple dubbing and conversation. Due to the nature of the plot, they are also required to sing, which they do so very well.

With all anime that gains in popularity, there is more to expect in the near future from K-ON! and a developing franchise. There is already news of toys to be designed and produced before the end of the year. Whether it can continue to grow like other classic series like Haruhi remains to be seen, but what is certain is the overwhelming response since its debut.

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Demand for anime has been rising for some time as the genre finds itself in increasing favor by people around the world. This has resulted in more anime being produced to appease and attract more fans. With wild success comes some nice problems, although these must still be handled well.

The main issue now for anime series which originate from Japan is the pace at which the production companies are able to meet demand from international fans. Most of these fans do not understand the Japanese language. As a result, to cater to viewers, the anime series have to be translated or dubbed in English or a language that has an audience.

Translating to English is not the Japanese’s best attribute. They face problems in doing so at a rate fast enough for international customers. Their priority is also on the local market. An alternative is to give licensing rights to the translation to other production companies in the United States who then do their job in subtitling or dubbing.

Doing so results in three different ways the anime series are packaged for international audiences. The first is to provide subtitles with the video. The second is to dub the series in English or some other language in demand. And the third is a combined package of the two.

There are fans who prefer one of the two or have no preferences over the issue. Yet, there are many reasons as to why having anime series subtitled for international audiences could be a better way to market and sell them to a wider consumer base.

Japanese is not an easy language to learn nor understand, thus international anime fans are not well acquainted with it. But the genre comes from Japan, so the more natural presentation would be for them to be in the local language itself. This also helps fuels fans’ interest in the language and subtitles would not hinder that.

Anime fans might also be students of the language. Thus, they would prefer having subtitles that can either help or avoid being impaired by the lack of Japanese audio. They can improve their listening skills while using the subtitles as a learning guide in understanding.

Thus, with subtitles, anime can become a powerful medium for the purpose of spreading Japan’s culture and language. English-dubbed anime will always have its place, but they face limitations in conveying the truest emotions in anime. The former can only be more fun for both fans, hobbyists and language enthusiasts.

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