K-On! (けいおん!, Keion!?) is a Japanese four-panel comic strip manga written and illustrated by Kakifly. The manga started serialization in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara since the May 2007 issue, and also started a bimonthly serialization in Houbunsha's magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat since the October 2008 issue. A thirteen-episode anime adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation aired in Japan between April and June 2009. An additional original video animation episode was released in January 2010. A second season, titled K-On!! (with two exclamation marks), began airing in Japan from April 7, 2010 . The title of the series comes from the Japanese word for light music, keiongaku (軽音楽?), but in the Japanese context is similar to pop music.
Characters
The characters of K-On! have surnames derived from members of the Japanese bands P-Model and The Pillows.
Characters
Hōkago Tea Time
Yui Hirasawa (平沢 唯, Hirasawa Yui?)
Voiced by: Aki Toyosaki
Yui is the main character of K-On!. She is one of the members of the light music club and plays a Heritage Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard electric guitar that she nicknames "Giita" (ギー太?). She does not get good grades in school (though when properly coached, she can achieve astounding results) and is easily distracted by trivialities. Yui is clumsy and easily spaces out most of the time. She takes a huge liking for any kind of food (she practically never gains weight, which is greatly envied by Mugi, Mio, and Sawako). She has her younger sister Ui, who is the very mature and down-to-earth opposite of Yui, to take care of her and keep herself in line. Yui works extremely hard to get better at playing guitar, which is shown in later chapters. During performances, Yui plays with amazing energy and joy, which usually results in great response from the audience.
Yui is the band's main vocalist and has perfect pitch—she can tune her guitar perfectly without a tuner, which greatly impresses Azusa, who has played the guitar much longer than Yui. She has a very easy-going nature, but has incredible concentration when hyped, though this is only limited to one subject at a time. She will totally neglect any other things in the process to the point of forgetting anything she has learned beforehand. Despite all of this, Yui is still devoted to her band and will always practice hard enough for the club. At school, she has become quite admired for her great voice. However, she is known to forget her lyrics in mid-performance as well as overdoing things, making her unable to perform sometimes. Mio was the lead vocalist at first, since Yui could not play the guitar and sing at the same time. Yui is also known to write childish lyrics as Ui has assisted her in creating them.
Ritsu Tainaka (田井中 律, Tainaka Ritsu?)
Voiced by: Satomi Satō
Ritsu (or Ricchan, as nicknamed by Yui) is the self-proclaimed president of the light music club and plays a yellow Rick Marotta Signature Yamaha Hipgig drum kit with an add-on floor tom (in the opening credits only) combined with a cymbal set from Avedis Zildjian, though is shown playing a white Yamaha Absolute Series drumkit in the anime's closing credits. She has an ambiguous yet upbeat personality, but often has trouble remembering important club activities and announcements and gets constantly yelled at by Mio and Nodoka for forgetting to send in important forms concerning the club. Ritsu is cheerful, often likes making jokes and is sarcastic most of the time. She usually brainstorms for ideas to earn more money and for the club's success. She says she chose to play the drums because they are "cool", but in reality, she admits that she has trouble playing instruments which involve intricate finger movements, such as the bass, guitar and keyboard. She is a childhood friend of Mio and will often have the opportunity to tease her whenever she is cowering from something. Ritsu is always on the go and will stop at nothing for the success of the light music club. She has a younger brother named Satoshi. Despite her rough mannerisms and speech, she gets casted as Juliet by the majority of her classmates in their class play rendition of Romeo and Juliet and, in the end, managed to act like a proper girl. In the anime, she states her favorite drummer is Keith Moon of The Who.
Mio Akiyama (秋山 澪, Akiyama Mio?)
Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa
Mio is a shy girl who is in the light music club and plays a left-handed, 3-Color Sunburst Fender Jazz Bass with a tortoiseshell pickguard, though is shown playing a Fender Precision Bass in the first manga volume. She originally intended to join the literary club, but is forced into the light music club by her childhood friend and the club's president/drummer, Ritsu. She gets excellent grades in school, but is bad with listening to stories involving macabre experiences, and cowers whenever something gross is brought up. While she can be mature and strict sometimes, she gets embarrassed easily, and is often subject to teasing from Ritsu and Sawako, their club adviser. She cites that she chose bass since it is not the center of attention in the band, unlike the guitarist. Mio is more technical when it comes to music, and Yui often comes to her when she is in need of more guitar tutorials.
She is the band's backing vocalist and usually takes over lead vocals whenever Yui is incapable of singing or forgets the lyrics. She writes most of the songs, although they usually feature some odd and overly girlish lyrics like "Light and Fluffy Time". As she is left-handed, she becomes entranced whenever she sees left-handed instruments. Due to an unexpected accident in one of their live performances (and partly due to her attractive appearances), she acquired a huge amount of popularity, and even a fan club for her is formed (much to her dismay considering the circumstances surrounding it), whose founding member is the former student council president who also stalks Mio. Due to this, most of her classmates voted her to play as Romeo in their class play. Mio is seemingly a fan of Lomography, as she is often seen with a camera strongly resembling the Lomo LC-A during her summer training.
Tsumugi Kotobuki (琴吹 紬, Kotobuki Tsumugi?)
Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki
Tsumugi, often referred to as 'Mugi' by her friends, is a wealthy girl with a gentle and sweet personality who plays a Korg Triton Extreme 76-key keyboard, though she is also seen playing a Korg RK-1000 keytar in the closing credits of the first season. She originally intended to join the choir club, but joins the light music club instead after receiving an invitation and encouragement from both Mio and Ritsu. Tsumugi is considered a piano prodigy since she has been playing the piano since she was four and has experience in winning various piano contests. She is the daughter of a company president, and her family has several villas in various places around Japan (and even one in Finland). Since her father also owns a maid café, she often brings confectionery and an assortment of sweets and pastries to the club room, and she diligently makes tea with a tea set which is kept in their club room. Despite her wealth, she finds joy in partaking in more cheap activities, such as taking a part-time job at a fast food restaurant.
Although she is a sweet and gentle girl, she is often weirdly entranced by the sight of two girls interacting closely together, sometimes imagining something more risqué in her head (both Mio and Ritsu find this awkward at times). The series sometimes indicates that Mugi has a crush on their teacher, Sawako Yamanaka. While a lot of things do not bother her, she is fairly conscious about her weight (just like Mio), and she gets a bit anxious when her family's staff start spoiling her friends during villa visits. She later begins learning how to play the guitar from Azusa.
Azusa Nakano (中野 梓, Nakano Azusa?)
Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu
Azusa is a student in the same year and class as Yui's sister Ui, who joins the light music club and plays a Fender Mustang electric guitar. She is a self-proclaimed novice guitarist who has been playing the guitar since she was in the fourth grade, and her parents are working in a jazz band. She often finds herself bewildered by the tea parties and cosplaying aspects of the club, when she would rather just practice and is curious on how the club is able to play so well despite their problems and lack of practice. However, she has a certain weakness for cakes and can be calmed down rather easily, sometimes by just being petted. She is constantly a victim to Yui's skinship and is nicknamed Azu-nyan after trying on a pair of cat ears and meowing ("nyan" being the equivalent of "meow" in the Japanese vocabulary). Despite this, Azusa is not too good with cats.
In the band, she looks up to Mio the most due to her maturity and the fact that she is an experienced bassist, even trying to give Mio chocolate on Valentine's Day. However, she sometimes unintentionally makes remarks concerning Mio's weaknesses, such as her weight. She also finds Mugi very beautiful, and envies her hair and large eyes, and later starts teaching her how to play guitar when the two are alone in the club room. Since joining, Yui comes to her for advice on playing guitar, as well as maintenance. She gets a tan extremely easily, once during their time at the beach and another during a music festival (even after applying sunscreen). As a result, she frequently gets sunburned as well. She gets lonely very easily, and often worries that everyone in the club will leave her, as they are one year older and eventually will graduate.
Characters
The characters of K-On! have surnames derived from members of the Japanese bands P-Model and The Pillows.
Characters
Hōkago Tea Time
Yui Hirasawa (平沢 唯, Hirasawa Yui?)
Voiced by: Aki Toyosaki
Yui is the main character of K-On!. She is one of the members of the light music club and plays a Heritage Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard electric guitar that she nicknames "Giita" (ギー太?). She does not get good grades in school (though when properly coached, she can achieve astounding results) and is easily distracted by trivialities. Yui is clumsy and easily spaces out most of the time. She takes a huge liking for any kind of food (she practically never gains weight, which is greatly envied by Mugi, Mio, and Sawako). She has her younger sister Ui, who is the very mature and down-to-earth opposite of Yui, to take care of her and keep herself in line. Yui works extremely hard to get better at playing guitar, which is shown in later chapters. During performances, Yui plays with amazing energy and joy, which usually results in great response from the audience.
Yui is the band's main vocalist and has perfect pitch—she can tune her guitar perfectly without a tuner, which greatly impresses Azusa, who has played the guitar much longer than Yui. She has a very easy-going nature, but has incredible concentration when hyped, though this is only limited to one subject at a time. She will totally neglect any other things in the process to the point of forgetting anything she has learned beforehand. Despite all of this, Yui is still devoted to her band and will always practice hard enough for the club. At school, she has become quite admired for her great voice. However, she is known to forget her lyrics in mid-performance as well as overdoing things, making her unable to perform sometimes. Mio was the lead vocalist at first, since Yui could not play the guitar and sing at the same time. Yui is also known to write childish lyrics as Ui has assisted her in creating them.
Ritsu Tainaka (田井中 律, Tainaka Ritsu?)
Voiced by: Satomi Satō
Ritsu (or Ricchan, as nicknamed by Yui) is the self-proclaimed president of the light music club and plays a yellow Rick Marotta Signature Yamaha Hipgig drum kit with an add-on floor tom (in the opening credits only) combined with a cymbal set from Avedis Zildjian, though is shown playing a white Yamaha Absolute Series drumkit in the anime's closing credits. She has an ambiguous yet upbeat personality, but often has trouble remembering important club activities and announcements and gets constantly yelled at by Mio and Nodoka for forgetting to send in important forms concerning the club. Ritsu is cheerful, often likes making jokes and is sarcastic most of the time. She usually brainstorms for ideas to earn more money and for the club's success. She says she chose to play the drums because they are "cool", but in reality, she admits that she has trouble playing instruments which involve intricate finger movements, such as the bass, guitar and keyboard. She is a childhood friend of Mio and will often have the opportunity to tease her whenever she is cowering from something. Ritsu is always on the go and will stop at nothing for the success of the light music club. She has a younger brother named Satoshi. Despite her rough mannerisms and speech, she gets casted as Juliet by the majority of her classmates in their class play rendition of Romeo and Juliet and, in the end, managed to act like a proper girl. In the anime, she states her favorite drummer is Keith Moon of The Who.
Mio Akiyama (秋山 澪, Akiyama Mio?)
Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa
Mio is a shy girl who is in the light music club and plays a left-handed, 3-Color Sunburst Fender Jazz Bass with a tortoiseshell pickguard, though is shown playing a Fender Precision Bass in the first manga volume. She originally intended to join the literary club, but is forced into the light music club by her childhood friend and the club's president/drummer, Ritsu. She gets excellent grades in school, but is bad with listening to stories involving macabre experiences, and cowers whenever something gross is brought up. While she can be mature and strict sometimes, she gets embarrassed easily, and is often subject to teasing from Ritsu and Sawako, their club adviser. She cites that she chose bass since it is not the center of attention in the band, unlike the guitarist. Mio is more technical when it comes to music, and Yui often comes to her when she is in need of more guitar tutorials.
She is the band's backing vocalist and usually takes over lead vocals whenever Yui is incapable of singing or forgets the lyrics. She writes most of the songs, although they usually feature some odd and overly girlish lyrics like "Light and Fluffy Time". As she is left-handed, she becomes entranced whenever she sees left-handed instruments. Due to an unexpected accident in one of their live performances (and partly due to her attractive appearances), she acquired a huge amount of popularity, and even a fan club for her is formed (much to her dismay considering the circumstances surrounding it), whose founding member is the former student council president who also stalks Mio. Due to this, most of her classmates voted her to play as Romeo in their class play. Mio is seemingly a fan of Lomography, as she is often seen with a camera strongly resembling the Lomo LC-A during her summer training.
Tsumugi Kotobuki (琴吹 紬, Kotobuki Tsumugi?)
Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki
Tsumugi, often referred to as 'Mugi' by her friends, is a wealthy girl with a gentle and sweet personality who plays a Korg Triton Extreme 76-key keyboard, though she is also seen playing a Korg RK-1000 keytar in the closing credits of the first season. She originally intended to join the choir club, but joins the light music club instead after receiving an invitation and encouragement from both Mio and Ritsu. Tsumugi is considered a piano prodigy since she has been playing the piano since she was four and has experience in winning various piano contests. She is the daughter of a company president, and her family has several villas in various places around Japan (and even one in Finland). Since her father also owns a maid café, she often brings confectionery and an assortment of sweets and pastries to the club room, and she diligently makes tea with a tea set which is kept in their club room. Despite her wealth, she finds joy in partaking in more cheap activities, such as taking a part-time job at a fast food restaurant.
Although she is a sweet and gentle girl, she is often weirdly entranced by the sight of two girls interacting closely together, sometimes imagining something more risqué in her head (both Mio and Ritsu find this awkward at times). The series sometimes indicates that Mugi has a crush on their teacher, Sawako Yamanaka. While a lot of things do not bother her, she is fairly conscious about her weight (just like Mio), and she gets a bit anxious when her family's staff start spoiling her friends during villa visits. She later begins learning how to play the guitar from Azusa.
Azusa Nakano (中野 梓, Nakano Azusa?)
Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu
Azusa is a student in the same year and class as Yui's sister Ui, who joins the light music club and plays a Fender Mustang electric guitar. She is a self-proclaimed novice guitarist who has been playing the guitar since she was in the fourth grade, and her parents are working in a jazz band. She often finds herself bewildered by the tea parties and cosplaying aspects of the club, when she would rather just practice and is curious on how the club is able to play so well despite their problems and lack of practice. However, she has a certain weakness for cakes and can be calmed down rather easily, sometimes by just being petted. She is constantly a victim to Yui's skinship and is nicknamed Azu-nyan after trying on a pair of cat ears and meowing ("nyan" being the equivalent of "meow" in the Japanese vocabulary). Despite this, Azusa is not too good with cats.
In the band, she looks up to Mio the most due to her maturity and the fact that she is an experienced bassist, even trying to give Mio chocolate on Valentine's Day. However, she sometimes unintentionally makes remarks concerning Mio's weaknesses, such as her weight. She also finds Mugi very beautiful, and envies her hair and large eyes, and later starts teaching her how to play guitar when the two are alone in the club room. Since joining, Yui comes to her for advice on playing guitar, as well as maintenance. She gets a tan extremely easily, once during their time at the beach and another during a music festival (even after applying sunscreen). As a result, she frequently gets sunburned as well. She gets lonely very easily, and often worries that everyone in the club will leave her, as they are one year older and eventually will graduate.
