K-On!'s story revolves around four Japanese high school girls
who join Sakuragaoka Girl's High School's light music club to try to
save it from being disbanded, however, they are the only members of the
club. At first Yui Hirasawa, the main character, has no experience
playing musical instruments or reading sheet music, but she eventually becomes an excellent guitar
player. From then on, Yui, along with bassist Mio Akiyama, drummer
Ritsu Tainaka, and keyboardist Tsumugi Kotobuki spend their school days
practicing, performing, and hanging out together. The club is overseen
by music teacher Sawako Yamanaka, who eventually becomes their homeroom
teacher as well during their final year of high school. In their second
year the club welcomes another guitarist, underclassman Azusa Nakano.
After Azusa joins they gain more structure and begin to practice more.
After their third year, Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Tsumugi graduate and
enroll into a university. It is there they join its light music club
alongside three other students: Akira Wada, Ayame Yoshida, and Sachi
Hayashi. Meanwhile, Azusa continues to run the high school light music
club alongside Yui's sister, Ui, their classmate, Jun Suzuki, and new
members Sumire Saitō and Nao Okuda.
CHARACTERS
Yui Hirasawa (平沢 唯 Hirasawa Yui)
Voiced by: Aki Toyosaki (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)
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 "Gīta" (ギー太).[5]
She does not get good grades in school (though when properly coached,
she can achieve astounding results) and is easily distracted by
trivialities (mainly those deemed cute and adorable). Yui is clumsy and
easily spaces out most of the time. Yui has shoulder-length, brown hair
(a little longer than Ritsu's) which she accessorizes with two yellow
hair clips, and brown eyes. She takes a huge liking for any kind of food
(though she never gains weight, which is greatly envied by Mugi, Mio,[6] and Sawako[7]).
She has a younger sister named Ui, who is very mature and acts as the
"older sister" of Yui, taking care of her and keeping her in line.[3] Yui works extremely hard to get better at playing guitar, which is shown in later chapters.[volume & issue needed] 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 lead guitarist and has absolute 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 focus and
retention when she has a clear goal in sight; unfortunately this is
limited to only one subject at a time, and her other skills deteriorate
quickly (for example, Yui is at one point pressed to make up failing
test scores, and she quickly brings her math skills up to par while
allowing her guitar skills to deteriorate.)[12]
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.[8] 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.
Mio Akiyama (秋山 澪 Akiyama Mio)
Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Cristina Valenzuela (English)
Mio is a shy girl who is in the light music club. She 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.[17] She uses D'Addario EXL160M medium bass strings.[18]
Her bass is given the name Elizabeth later in the anime. While she
originally intended to join the literary club, she was forced into the
light music club by her childhood friend and the club's
president/drummer, Ritsu.[2]
She gets excellent grades in school and is often mature and strict
especially where Ritsu is involved; her weakness is the macabre and
horrific, and she is often incapacitated with fear when stories
involving ghosts, blood, injuries,[19] haunted houses,[20] barnacles[21]
or other disturbing topics come up. She also has a fear of being in the
spotlight and gets embarrassed easily, and is often subject to teasing
from Ritsu[19]
and Sawako, their club adviser and eventual third-year homeroom
teacher. Mio has long, straight black hair and gray eyes (that are
angled slightly more than the other characters). She cites that she
chose bass since it is not the center of attention in the band, unlike
the guitarist.[17] Mio is more technical when it comes to music, and Yui often comes to her when she is in need of more guitar tutorials.
Mio is the second vocalist of the band, though given her dislike of
being center stage, she tries to avoid taking the lead vocal if
possible, generally singing if Yui is unable to. She writes most of the songs, although they usually feature some odd and overly girlish lyrics like "Light and Fluffy Time".[13] As she is left-handed, she becomes entranced whenever she sees left-handed instruments, because of their rarity.[5]
After their first live performance, the attractive Mio gained a huge
fan following (in no small part due to an unfortunate accident that
occurred at the end of the show), led by an infatuated former student council president.[23] Also resulting from her sudden popularity, most of her classmates voted that she portray Romeo in their class play.[24] Mio comes to greatly enjoy her time at university as she encounters many new experiences.[25] She is also able to overcome some of her shyness and make new friends such as Sachi and Ayame.
Ritsu Tainaka (田井中 律 Tainaka Ritsu)
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, much like Yui, but often
has trouble remembering important club activities and announcements and
gets constantly rebuked 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 is skilled at brainstorming ideas that earn money for the
club. Ritsu has shoulder-length, brown hair, with her bangs pulled back
with a yellow hairband, and gold-colored eyes. She wears her school
jacket open. She says she chose to play the drums because they are
"cool", but she then 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 take the opportunity to tease her whenever Mio is cowering from something.[19]
She is also known to become easily jealous of Mio's other high school
friends, even going as far as spying on Mio when on outings with them.
Ritsu is always on the go and will stop at nothing for the success of
the light music club. Despite her rough mannerisms and speech, she gets
cast as Juliet by the majority of her classmates in their class play
rendition of Romeo and Juliet and, in the end, manages to act like a proper girl.[24] In the anime, she states her favorite drummer is Keith Moon of The Who.[33] She is skilled at cooking.[31] She has a younger brother named Satoshi (聡, Voiced by: Mika Itō (Japanese), Amanda C. Miller (English)).
Tsumugi Kotobuki (琴吹 紬 Kotobuki Tsumugi)
Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki (Japanese), Shelby Lindley (English)[27]
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-100 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.[2]
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.[17]
Tsumugi has written several songs for the light music club, as well as
singing the back vocals in several other songs. She is a good student
and has long, pale blonde hair, blue eyes, unusually large eyebrows,
which apparently run in her family and a fair complexion that the other
characters do not have, but she does not get sunburned. She is the
daughter of a company president, and her family has several villas in various places around Japan (and even one in Finland).[29] Since her father also owns a maid café,[24] 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 is fascinated by and finds joy in "normal"
activities, such as ordering fast food, sharing french fries with her
club mates,[2] holding down part-time jobs[30] and haggling over prices. Tsumugi displays a rebellious streak occasionally, diverting from her
normally well-behaved and mature demeanor to the surprise of the others.
She also displays a childlike eagerness from time to time, and
possesses unusually high strength, being able to effortlessly carry
around her own keyboard, Ritsu's drums, amplifiers, and at one point beating an arm-wrestling game in an arcade.
Tsumugi is often entranced by the sight of two girls interacting closely together, sometimes imagining something more risqué in her head.[13]
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),[6] and she gets a bit anxious when her family's staff start spoiling her friends during villa visits.[7] She later begins learning how to play the guitar from Azusa.[31]
Tsumugi has a childhood friend several years younger than her named
Sumire Saitō who is a daughter of the family that serves the Kotobuki
household. Tsumugi grew up home schooled, and therefor spent very little
time in the outside world. Because of their close friendship Sumire
would purchase everyday items like manga for Tsumugi that she was not
normally allowed to see. Tsumugi was rather taken by some of the yuri
manga she received which may have influenced her later perceptions
about relationships. When Sumire started high school, Tsumugi wanted her
to experience the light music club on her own, but due to Sumire's
shyness Tsumugi came up with the excuse to send her to the club room to
pick up the tea sets that had been left there and told Sawako when
Sumire did join that it was okay to leave the tea sets there.
- Azusa Nakano (中野 梓 Nakano Azusa)
- Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese), Christine Marie Cabanos (English)
- Azusa is a student in the same year and class as Yui's sister Ui, who joins the light music club and becomes the rhythm guitarist, playing a Fender Mustang electric guitar. She eventually names her guitar Muttan, as it is a Mustang. 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.[34] She often finds herself bewildered by the tea parties and cosplaying aspects of the club, when she would rather just practice, and is curious about how the club is able to play so well despite their problems and lack of practice.[35] However, she has a certain weakness for cakes and can be calmed down rather easily, sometimes by just being petted.[35] She is constantly a victim of Yui's skinship[7] 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).[34] Despite this, Azusa is not too good with cats.[30] Azusa has long black hair, which she wears in pigtails, and brown eyes. While Azusa is talented in guitar, she has trouble singing while playing unlike Yui and Mio.[36]
- 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.[37] 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.[31] Since joining, Yui comes to her for advice on playing guitar,[38] 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).[39] 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. Due to this, the rest of the girls buy her a turtle to look after, naming it Ton.[40] Outside of the band, she often hangs out with Ui and Jun whenever the other girls are busy.[41] When the others graduate, she becomes the new light music club president alongside Ui and Jun who decide to join her.[42] Together with new members, Sumire and Nao, they form a new band called "Wakaba Girls" (若葉ガールズ Wakaba Gāruzu, lit. Fresh Leaf Girls). During the Wakaba Girls' first summer training camp Azusa reveals to Sawako her belief that she is unable to act like a proper president for the light music club, however, Sawako suggests that there is no proper way to define what it means to be a president and that Azusa will do just fine. While on that same training camp Azusa is convinced by the others to become the band's vocalist despite her prior reservations on the issue.
- Sawako Yamanaka (山中 さわ子 Yamanaka Sawako)
- Voiced by: Asami Sanada (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)
- Sawako is the adviser for the wind instrument club at the girls' school. An alumna of the school and a member of the light music club in her student days, she does not want people to find out that she was formerly a member of a death metal band called Death Devil (of which she was both lead guitar and vocalist and went by the stage name of "Catherine"[10]), thus she covers up by being mild and gentle to her coworkers and especially to students. She is forced to be the adviser of the light music club, as Ritsu blackmails her after the girls learn of her past. However, she is able to juggle being the adviser for the wind instrument club as well, even as the story progresses. Though she has a mature and gentle demeanor in the school, Sawako (affectionately addressed as "Sawa-chan" by both Ritsu and Yui) displays a totally different, completely authentic character when she is alone with the light music club. In reality, she is rather wild, lazy, and is quite an irresponsible teacher who enjoys dressing up the light music club in (sometimes embarrassing) cosplay costumes (like French maid uniforms), much to the dismay of Mio.[48] She gets a thrill out of the rare moments where she is praised for her work.[54]
- She names the club band "Ho-kago Tea Time" after the members take too long deciding on a name themselves.[54] In the anime, she once pitches in for Yui with her white Epiphone "1958" Korina Flying V electric guitar.[9] She becomes the girls' homeroom teacher in their third year, and puts Nodoka and all the band members (except Azusa, since she is a grade lower) in the same class, so she does not have to remember as many names.[4] An episode in the second anime season reveals that she owned one of the first Gibson SG models (from around 1960 with a custom stoptail bridge) which is later sold.[40] Due to her relation to the club members, the other students in her class start to call her Sawa-chan as well, ruining her image as a mild-mannered teacher. Her image is further ruined after Death Devil is temporarily reunited at a wedding reception for a high school alumnus. Regardless, her popularity with the students remains unchanged.[55] In spite of her laziness, she still proves herself to be an able mentor, as shown by her willingness to coach Yui as the lead singer[13] and attending their performances.[8] Her music abilities apparently have not dulled over the years, as she is able to substitute for Yui at the school festival at almost no notice without the assistance of a music score, even without any prior practicing of the band's song.[9] Sawako is also very perceptive: she immediately sees through Ui's disguise when she impersonates her sister and on several occasions boasts to the club that there is nothing she cannot see
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