K-On! is a slice-of-life series based on a manga with the same name by Japanese artist Kakifly. Kyoto Animation produced the series. It began as a thirteen-episode first season in 2009, followed by a twenty-six episode second season in 2010, various animated shorts, a few OVAs, and a 110-minute film in December 2011. K-On! follows four girls who form a light music band at their high school.
The series begins with Yui Hirasawa (voiced by Aki Toyosaki), a klutz, who is scatter-brained and can seem useless, running from her home to school on her first day of being a high school student. Once there, she is pressured by her friend Nodoka Manabe (voiced by Chika Fujitō) to join a club. After music teacher Sawako Yamanaka (voiced by Asami Sanada) tells her about the light music club, she becomes interested. She ends up joining bassist Mio Akiyama (voiced by Yoko Hikasa) and her friend (and drummer) Ritsu Tainaka (voiced by Satomi Satō), and a keyboardist named Tsumugi “Mugi” Kotobuki (voiced by Minako Kotobuki). All of them end up hanging out together, sometimes performing and practicing.
This slice-of-life musical comedy series is often easy-going and laid-back, differing from the fast pace of D4DJ or the classic surreal comedy embodied in Azumanga Daioh, to give two examples. This is embodied in the funny antics of Yui, who is pulled into the light music club in the first place because one of the members serves her tea. They play a song together to convince her to stay, even though they admit they aren’t very good. Each one of them has their own unique personalities. Mio acts like a grown woman who is somewhat delicate and does not like playing guitar (she plays bass) while Mugi is said to be an accomplished keyboardist. This is contrasted by a cheerful Ritsu, who is full of energy, and loves beating on drums. Yui puts it well: the instruments are a part of your personality, just as they are with her guitar. The club members teach her. how to play.
The early episodes of K-On! have Ritsu, Mugi, Mio, and Yui getting more acquainted with each other, even coming with a plan so that Yui can purchase her own guitar, rather than borrowing one. They end up doing a community project together (to do a traffic survey) so they can raise enough money. All the while, Mio tries to overcome her social awkwardness, at times, to help out. The guitar costs about 50,000 yen (after Mugi helps lower the price), the equivalent of about $342.00 in U.S. Dollars or 250.00 in British Pounds. Yui becomes one of the stars of the series, acting like a lovable klutz, and even has to be tutored by the other club members so she can pass her classes. In a funny twist, she passes but she forgets how to play the guitar because her brain if filled with math equations!
The first season goes onto have an “obligatory” beach episode while they stay at Mugi’s summer house to practice, with Yui learning more about the guitar in the process, and they enjoy their time as they become closer as friends. Although there are some teasing at yuri subtext, which is why I once said the series had “yuri themes,” like Mugi saying she wants to see some girl on girl action (some have called this sort of focus “Mugi-vision” like yuri commentator Erica Friedman), but it is very subdued, as female friendship is centered more than anything else. There are some unfortunate moments, like Rio teasing Ritsu about her weight which leans into fatphobia (and was not necessary for the story). Luckily this is balanced out.
Beyond the three protagonists, there are other characters like Nodoka, and their teacher Sawako Yamanaka (voiced by Asami Sanada), that add dynamics which disrupt their usual antics. In the fifth episode, as the band tries to write lyrics, Sawako shows up, wanting to get rid of her so-called “dark history” contained in a book/binder in the light music club’s room. She tries to do so, fails, and ends up playing her guitar wildly after it is discovered, causing Ritsu to threaten Sawako into becoming the group’s school advisor. She later tells her story of how she was in love eight years before, worked to become wilder to attract a boy and it failed. This episode sets dynamics for the rest of the show, with Yui agreeing to be a singer, even as she can’t play guitar at the same time.
One of my favorite parts of K-On! is not just how each episode is divided (into side a and side b), as indicated by cassette tapes or records, but its focus on songwriting, playing music (with all having great rhythm), musical references (like to Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Beatles, and many other rockers) and the band enjoying themselves. In fact, some songs are about self-love and self-acceptance, offsetting the occasional unfortunate fatphobic comments by characters which lament putting on weight. The series also lets the instruments become characters in their own right. One of the ongoing jokes of the series is that the band members rarely ever practice, often sitting in the club room drinking tea and eating sweets but still do great in live shows. This undoubtedly annoys Azusa Nakano, who detests their lack of motivation. Even so, she is pulled in because she loves to eat cake.
The first season shines not just in the musical performances, hilarious moments (like Mio getting embarrassed when she trips in front of the whole crowd and accidentally shows her panties to everyone), or homages like those to Thelma and Louise and other chase films, or Mio getting her own fan club, but giving two other characters a spotlight. One of those is Yui’s younger sister Ui (voiced by Madoka Yonezawa) enrolling in school and Azusa (voiced by Ayana Taketatsu). The latter declares she will join the light music club, and the show’s opening sequence even later changes to include her along with Yui, Mio, Ritsu, and Mugi playing. All the while, Sawako, keeps trying to dress them up in cosplay costumes and almost always fails.
I liked how Azu, despite her declarations, becomes more comfortable with the club members. They nickname her Azu-nyan because she wore cat ears one time. She strengthens her friendship with Ui. Surely, it says a lot about the characters that Yui can tune her guitar (nicknamed “Geeta”) by ear without a tuner because she has perfect pitch or that Mio enjoys looking at left-handed instruments like her bass (nicknamed “Elizabass”). The key part is in episode 11, when they settle on the band name: After School Tea Time. It all fits with the slice-of-life “delectable millefeuille that is gentle to the palette and relaxing to the mind” of K-On! as Erica Friedman put it.
The season one finale brings everyone together. Mugi, Azusa, Ritsu, and Mio all play together in the auditorium, wearing cold weather clothes, and Yui joins them. They even do an encore, rocking together, playing an extended version of Fuwa Fuwa Time. It was a nice way to “end” the K-On!, and undoubtedly was planned as such, originally, with Yui saying she loves light music. However, it was not the end of the series. In a bonus thirteenth episode, entitled “Winter Days,” they all deal with the cold weather. Some try to stay in the club room, but it is too cold, but no one can hang out with Yui as they all have places to be and leave her alone, while Azu bonds with the cat, Mugi works as a trainee, and Mio tries to think of “killer lyrics.” By the end, Mugi, Azu, Mio, Ritsu, Yui, and Ui eat together, and Mugi joins them, showing them all coming together, once again.
What really stands out, however, is the fourteenth episode, an OVA entitled “Live House.” They decide to play on New Year’s Eve in a club that echoes the one shown in Bocchi the Rock!. In the process, they meet some punky rockers there, and everyone is nice and helpful. The other musicians there say they are all in bands because they want to play music. They relax and play their song. It is even revealed that Ritsu knows Maki and Aya of the band Love Crisis, with the latter a fan of Yui. Funny enough, Yui even comes with a logo for their light music band on the fly. In another connection, Sawawa goes in her old outfit and she meets Janice, the manager of this live venue. The episode ends with the girls seeing their first sunrise of the new year together.
The second season of K-On!, was twice as long, with twenty-six episodes in all, and was named K-On!!. Some individuals, like Jukki Hanada, who has been screenwriting since 1992 and written for series like Kannazuki no Miko, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Tamako Market, Love Live! Sunshine!!, Sound! Euphonum!, Bloom Into You, Girls Band Cry, See You Tomorrow at the Food Court, Love Live! School Idol Project, and I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day (not yet released), mostly since this season aired through 2010 (with an OVA in 2011), would return. He wrote seven of the twenty-six episodes.
In the previous season, he had written four episodes. The writing team for the first season was headed by Reiko Yoshida, who served as script supervisor for the third and fourth seasons of Maria Watches Over Us, Non Non Biyori, Liz and the Blue Bird (film), Arte, and The Colors Within (film). She wrote about half of that season’s episodes, plus both the extra thirteenth episode and the OVA. Additionally, Katsuhiko Muramoto, wrote three episodes of that season. Yoshida would come back to helm the writing team for the second season, with Muramoto joining as episode writer again, along with the aforementioned Hanada, like Masahiro Yokotani. The latter would later be known as a head writer for series such as Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure and I Have a Crush at Work.
The second season of K-On! begins with the four protagonists (Ritsu, Mugi, Mio, and Yui) beginning their senior year at high school, and they find themselves in the same homeroom as Nodoka, headed by none other than Sawako. Azusa is only a junior and is determined to get new members in the light music club, but fails. However, she decides its fine to only have the five of them for now. In later episodes, they sell Sawako’s old guitar, for a price of 500,000 Yen (equivalent of $3,416.00 in U.S. Dollars or 2,501.00 in British Pounds), get a turtle they name Ton which Azusa can look after, and Ritsu attempts to stand out more by playing the guitar, keyboard, and other instruments rather than the drums. In the latter case, while she goes back to the drums, she realizes that even if she isn’t in the spotlight, that doesn’t matter. And what comes out of it is a new song which Mugi entitles “Honey Sweet Tea Time.”
Episodes following this have the light music club seniors (Mugi, Yui, Ritsu, and Mio) strengthening their friendship with one another. The same is the case for Azusa, Ui, and Jun (voiced by Yoriko Nagata). In the third episode, all three spend time with the seniors of the light music club, have a sleepover together, and have a club room jam session. This hints at what is shown in the manga, but not in the series proper: all three form the light music club after the seniors graduate. Other episodes emphasize the importance of guitar maintenance with Yui predictably getting soaked trying to protect her guitar from the elements, as well as reveal that former student council president Megumi Sokabe (voiced by Asumi Kodama) as Mio’s stalker and former president of her fan club (now headed by Nodoka). Ultimately, Mio gets over the embarrassment of the event and performs for all the club members.
One of the better episodes of K-On! is about the girls wondering about their future. While Yui and Ritsu get in trouble for not being decisive enough about their future, Nodoka tells the others about how Yui became friends with her after they met in kindergarten. Later, Mio and Ritsu explain how they helped each other. Strangely, when Yui attempts to put “musician” as her career choice it is rejected (it is a legitimate career choice!). Although Yui asks her classmates for advice, she says she will do her best for now, which is still rejected. Those sort of career forms are relatively worthless and really say nothing about what you will do in the future.
While you could say that not a lot that happens episode to episode of K-On!, saying that takes away from the series itself. It downplays the series. It is a nice, calming series, but it also shows the struggles of the characters. For instance, in the tenth episode, Sawako does not want to rejoin members of her former high school band, Death Devil, despite the insistence of her friend Christina, but she ultimately does so, at the wedding reception for one of the former band members. In the end, she remains popular no matter what, with the students not caring about her “dark” rock past. In other episodes, there’s some jealousy, like Mio annoyed that Ritsu and Mugi hung out together, going to a restaurant and candy store, without her.
Through it all, however, the female friendship between Mugi, Ritsu, Mio, and Yui remains, building upon the existing friendship between Ritsu and Mio (they are childhood friends). In fact, they all make clear they have no dedication to enter romantic relationships. For instance, in the tenth episode Mio declares she is not interested in boyfriends and declares that the light music club is her boyfriend. In another episode, they all promise to keep playing in a band together forever. They all undoubtedly enjoy each other’s company. This is exemplified by none other than Azusa who begins to adapt a slacker attitude like the light music club seniors. At first, she wants to practice and make a comeback, but she soon realizes that she enjoys her time there, as she goofs off with them, having a nice time with them. And in the end, that’s what matters. It even survives through their musical/after-school home (the club room) being inaccessible in the seventeenth episode due to a plumbing issue, as they struggle to find a place to practice.
Azusa often worries that the club isn’t practicing enough, but they always pull through. In fact, even after Mio and Ritsu begin acting in a school play of Romeo & Juliet, with the other senior club members either playing minor roles or otherwise helping with the play, they practice during a sleepover, showing how much they care about the performance. Sawako shows the same dedication, even making shirts for them, which they wear during the school festival. They play for all the students, in the 20th episode, and sing a silly song: “Rice is a Side Dish,” with Yui doing the vocals. They play several others like “Fuwa Fuwa Time” and “You and I” (about Yui and her sister), which have Mio on vocals. In typical fashion, Yui acts as a MC, introducing everyone, while they introduce her.
That episode ends with them glad they did the performance and Azusa giving her guitar a name: Mu-tan. They think about their future, laugh, cry, and say they are amazing. They end up sleeping together in the club room, with some of them holding hands. Again, however, they are only friends. K-On! emphasizes that over and over. For instance, in the 21st episode, when Yui aims to make her school picture perfect, she tries out different hairstyles, but none work, and she ends up cutting too much of her hair off. Ultimately, she, Ritsu, Mugi, and Yui all agree to go to the same all-girls college, with Sawako accepting this, happily.
This also shines through in the last three episodes of K-On! In the 22nd episode, Azusa even makes a homemade chocolate cake for the light music club seniors, but does not want to give it to them, as she keeps thinking about them leaving, but she ultimately puts that aside. They eat the cake together and they all hug her, while Azusa hopes that the seniors can go to college together, as she puts money in a shrine. In the one that follows, they prepare for graduation and the club members record their time together and all their songs on a cassette, so there is a permanent record of what they did, so they are leaving something behind.
In the series finale, Yui, Ritsu, Mugi, and Mio graduate, Sawako gets a card from the class congratulating her on being a homeroom teacher, and Azusa cries at the fact they are leaving. As a send-off, they sing to her about memories, fragments, friendship, and their hearts, saying they will be friends forever. She vows to continue the light music club and the episode ends with her playing with them. It is a fitting end to the series. Of course, the series does not end there, with three extra episodes and a film in December 2011.
One of those extra episodes, set after the 21st episode, involves them watching a lost and absurd recruitment video which had been created before Azusa joined the light music club. They decide to promote the club with interviews, bringing in different perspectives. But since Sawako edited it, there’s a scene of Azusa acting like a cat. Another episode, set after the 23rd episode, the light music club seniors try to get Sawako to approve the yearbook and travel to her apartment. In the process, they see the funny photos taken when Sawako was a senior, and they all watch the sunset. In the final one of these episodes, an OVA, set after episode 14, they put in place all the plans to travel overseas, even getting passports, setting the stage for the movie.
This review of K-On! will continue in part 2, which talks about the film, the English dub, the somewhat limited special features, and provides ratings on the entire box set, which could not be included in this post.
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