is a Japanese four-panel

Yonkoma

thumb|right|150px|Traditional Yonkoma layout, a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom...

 comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 written and illustrated by Kakifly

Kakifly

is a male Japanese manga artist. He is known for creating the series K-On! which was also adapted as an anime by Kyoto Animation.-External links:*...

. The manga was serialized in Houbunsha

Houbunsha

is a Japanese publishing company founded on July 10, 1950.-Manga Time magazines:*Manga Time*Manga Time Jumbo*Manga Time Lovely*Manga Time Family*Manga Time Special*Manga Time Original*Manga Home-Manga Time Kirara magazines:...

's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara

Manga Time Kirara

is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha which mainly serializes four-panel comic strips. The magazine is sold monthly on the ninth...

between the May 2007 and October 2010 issues. It was also serialized in Houbunsha's magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat

Manga Time Kirara Carat

is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha mainly consisting of four-panel comic strips. The first issue was released on January 18, 2003.-List of serialized titles:*A Channel*Chibi Debii!*Dōjin Work*H・R*Harumaki!...

. The manga relaunched in April 2011 with two separate storylines published in Manga Time Kirara and Manga Time Kirara Carat. A 13-episode anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation

Kyoto Animation

, abbreviated , is a Japanese animation studio located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1981, became a limited company in 1985 and then became a corporation in 1999. Presided by Hideaki Hatta, the company is affiliated with noted studio Sunrise and is also parent to the studio...

 aired in Japan between April and June 2009. An additional original video animation

Original video animation

, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...

 (OVA) episode was released in January 2010. A 26-episode second season, titled K-On!! (with two exclamation mark

Exclamation mark

The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...

s), aired in Japan between April and September 2010, with an OVA episode released in March 2011. An anime film adaptation has been announced and will be released in Japan on December 3, 2011. The title of the series comes from the Japanese word for light music

Light music

Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....

, , which in the Japanese context is similar to pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

.

Plot

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, and at first Yui Hirasawa, the main character, has no experience playing musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

s or reading sheet music

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...

. Eventually, she learns how to be an excellent guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 player. Since then, Yui, bassist Mio Akiyama, drummer Ritsu Tainaka, and keyboardist Tsumugi Kotobuki spend their school days practicing, performing, or just 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 of high school, the club welcomes another guitarist, an underclassman named 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

The five main characters are members of a band, , which performs the theme songs in the anime. Toshimi Yotsumoto of ASCII Media Works

ASCII Media Works

is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company...

 pointed out that the characters of K-On! have surnames derived from members of the Japanese bands P-Model

P-Model

P-Model was a Japanese New Wave synth-rock & techno-pop band started in 1979 by frontman Susumu Hirasawa. The band has included many lineup revisions over the years but Hirasawa was always at the helm of operations...

 and The Pillows

The Pillows

The Pillows are a Japanese rock band. The group has released more than a dozen original studio albums, along with several EPs, singles and compilations...

.

Ho-kago Tea Time

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

Gibson Les Paul

The Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...

 Standard electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 that she nicknames . 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, and Sawako). 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. 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 lead guitarist and has absolute pitch

Absolute pitch

Absolute pitch , widely referred to as perfect pitch, is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of an external reference.-Definition:...

—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.) 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 (or Ricchan, as nicknamed by Yui) is the self-proclaimed president of the light music club and plays a yellow Rick Marotta

Rick Marotta

Rick Marotta is a US-based drummer and percussionist who appears on many recordings by leading artists such as Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Hall & Oates, Stevie Nicks, Wynonna, Roy Orbison, Todd Rundgren, Roberta Flack, Peter Frampton, Quincy...

 Signature Yamaha Hipgig

Yamaha Drums

Yamaha Drums is a subsidiary of the Yamaha Corporation founded in 1967. The company manufactures acoustic and electronic drum kits as well as percussion instruments, marching band equipment, and drum hardware.-Production:...

 drum kit

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 with an add-on floor tom (in the opening credits only) combined with a cymbal set from Avedis Zildjian

Avedis Zildjian Company

The Avedis Zildjian Company is a cymbal manufacturer founded in Istanbul by Armenian Avedis Zildjian in the 17th century during the Ottoman Empire. At nearly 400 years old, Zildjian is one of the oldest companies in the world...

, 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. 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

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

 and, in the end, manages to act like a proper girl. In the anime, she states her favorite drummer is Keith Moon

Keith Moon

Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...

 of The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

. She is skilled at cooking. She has a younger brother named .

Mio is a shy girl who is in the light music club. She plays a left-handed, 3-Color Sunburst Fender Jazz Bass

Fender Jazz Bass

The Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...

 with a tortoiseshell

Tortoiseshell material

Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is a material produced mainly from the shell of the hawksbill turtle, an endangered species. It was widely used in the 1960s and 1970s in the manufacture of items such as combs, sunglasses, guitar picks and knitting needles...

 pickguard

Pickguard

A pickguard is a piece of plastic or other laminated material that is placed under the strings on the body of a guitar, mandolin or similar plucked string instrument...

, though is shown playing a Fender Precision Bass

Fender Precision Bass

The Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...

 in the first manga volume. She uses D'Addario EXL160M medium bass strings. 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. 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, haunted houses, barnacles 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 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. Mio is more technical when it comes to music, and Yui often comes to her when she is in need of more guitar tutorials.

Along with Yui, Mio is one of the band's main vocalists, 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". As she is left-handed, she becomes entranced whenever she sees left-handed instruments, because of their rarity. 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. Also resulting from her sudden popularity, most of her classmates voted that she portray Romeo

Romeo Montague

Romeo is one of the fictional protagonists in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is the son of old Montague and his wife, who secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet...

 in their class play. Mio comes to greatly enjoy her time at university as she encounters many new experiences. She is also able to overcome some of her shyness and make new friends such as Sachi and Ayame.

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

Electronic keyboard

An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...

, though she is also seen playing a Korg RK-100 keytar

Keytar

A keytar is a relatively lightweight keyboard that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stands...

 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. Mugi 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 villa

Villa

A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...

s in various places around Japan (and even one in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

). Since her father also owns a maid café, she often brings confectionery

Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...

 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, holding down part-time jobs 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.

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 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

Fender Mustang

The Fender Mustang is an electric guitar by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models then consisting of the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990.In the 1960s, it was used in Surf...

 electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

. 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. 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. 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 of 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. 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.

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

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

. 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. Due to this, the rest of the girls buy her a turtle to look after, naming it Ton. Outside of the band, she often hangs out with Ui and Jun whenever the other girls are busy. When the others graduate, she becomes the new light music club president alongside Ui and Jun who decide to join her. Together with new members, Sumire and Nao, they form a new band called .

Sakuragaoka Girl's High School

Sawako is the adviser for the wind instrument

Wind instrument

A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...

 club at the girls' school. An alumna

Alumnus

An alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...

 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

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band called Death Devil (of which she was both lead guitar and vocalist and went by the stage name of "Catherine"), 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

Cosplay

, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...

 costumes (like French maid uniforms), much to the dismay of Mio. She gets a thrill out of the rare moments where she is praised for her work.

She names the club band "Ho-kago Tea Time" after the members take too long deciding on a name themselves. In the anime, she once pitches in for Yui with her white Epiphone

Epiphone

The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...

 "1958" Korina Flying V electric guitar. 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. An episode in the second anime season reveals that she owned one of the first Gibson SG

Gibson SG

At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...

 models (from around 1960 with a custom stoptail bridge

Stoptail bridge

A stoptail bridge used on a solid body electric guitar or archtop guitar is a specialized kind of fixed hard-tail bridge...

) which is later sold. 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. 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 and attending their performances. 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. 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.

Ui is Yui's younger sister, who begins the story as a third-year junior high school student, but later enters Yui's high school the following year in the same class as Azusa. Unlike her older sister, Ui is mature, responsible, and handles household chores well, though she still shares a strong relationship with Yui and has a great deal of love and respect for her older sister. Despite being a year younger than Yui, she is nearly identical to her with her hair down and is even once able to fool the club. She plays the organ, and is also a fast learner, able to learn playing the guitar after a few days' practice. She takes particularly good care of Yui and strives to look after her even at the risk of her own health. Ui is actually considered as the ultimate groupie for her sister's band and supports them with all her heart and occasionally provides a narrative to the story. She eventually joins the light music club along with Jun at the end of the series, becoming a guitarist like her sister.

Nodoka is Yui's childhood friend and confidant who is a member of the school's student council. As a normal, well-mannered and intelligent girl, she is generally taken aback by the light music club's odd behavior, and easily gets annoyed with Ritsu whenever she forgets to fill in the club's application forms. She shares the same class as Mio in their second year, who appreciates her companionship tremendously, she being the only person Mio knows in her class. In her third year, she becomes the student council president and is also in the same class as the other third year club members. She gradually becomes the president of Mio's fan club through unknown circumstances (possibly out of her control), even when she originally turned down the position. Nodoka chooses to go to a national university as opposed to the same college as Yui and the others.

Jun is Azusa's and Ui's classmate who often hangs out with the latter. Ui tries to get her to join the light music club but ultimately fails due to a strange visit to the club room. She instead plays a Yamaha Sbv500 bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 in the jazz club and is one of Mio's admirers. However, she starts to regret not joining the light music club when she hears about all the activities they do and eventually joins the light music club at the end of the series. It is revealed that she can also play guitar as well as bass. She has an older brother named Atsushi. Jun owns a pet cat in the anime series.

Sumire is a shy blonde girl who meets Azusa, Ui and Jun after Yui and the others graduate. She is a freshmen, two years below the other light music club members. She is currently working in the Kotobuki household as a maid and originally came to the light music room to try to retrieve Tsumugi's teaset that was left behind after she graduated. After being scared off a few times by Sawako, she eventually agrees to join the light music club and eventually becomes its drummer. Similar to Tsumugi, she is quite talented at preparing tea, but feels inclined to keep her role as a maid a secret from the others due to the fear of being punished by Tsumugi.

Another freshman in the same class as Sumire. Generally poor at physical activities, she goes through several trial runs through various clubs before deciding to join the light music club as she feels it is where she can try her best. Like the kanji in her name, she is overly honest about her shortcomings. After reading up on music theory, she ends up having an advanced knowledge of music but lacks the ability to physically play it. However when she is introduced to music creation software, she decides to become the band's producer. She is the oldest among the five siblings in her family.

J. Women's University

A new character introduced in the restarted manga who is in a band called with her friends Ayame and Sachi. Akira joins the university's light music club alongside Yui and her friends. She has short black hair and often looks intimidating whenever her hair is messy. She studies in the Education department along with Yui. She is easily irritated to a degree but finds herself in a similar position to Azusa from high school as Yui seems to enjoy hugging her. She originally had longer hair in high school, but when a boy she admired accused her band of only being popular because of their cuteness, she decided to cut off her hair and vowed to become popular through talent. She plays an ebony Gibson Les Paul Custom electric guitar which she nicknames "Rosalie".

One of Akira's friends, who has long hair. She is OnNaGumi's bassist and is in the same department as Mio. She is taller than Mio, and easily becomes embarrassed about her height if anyone mentions it.

Another one of Akira's friends, who has short blonde hair. She is OnNaGumi's drummer and is in the same department as Ritsu. Due to their similarities, Ayame and Ritsu become friends very quickly. Ayame tends to follow the latest fashion trends, and has done so since high school.

Kana Yoshii

The president of J. Women's University's light music club who has a sweet appearance, but is generally obsessed over things such as money and looking youthful and can put out a threatening aura when she gets passionate about either one. She was once in a popular band with Hirose though retired upon entering university since wearing school uniforms would be considered silly at their age. However, Kana is still obsessed with school uniforms.

Chiyo Hirose

An upperclassman in the light music club who was once in a band with Kana.

Megumi is the former student council president and founder of the Mio Fan Club. Nodoka later succeeds Megumi in both positions. She stalks Mio during her last few days in high school because she wanted to see Mio one more time. The band offers her a song as a graduation gift. Megumi becomes a good friend of Ritsu through unspecified circumstances much to Mio’s surprise. She also helps Ritsu and Yui with the university entrance exams by giving them her old exam workbooks. She goes to the same woman's university in which Yui and her friends later enroll and lives in the same dorm as them.

Manga

K-On! began as a four-panel

Yonkoma

thumb|right|150px|Traditional Yonkoma layout, a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom...

 comic-strip manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 written and illustrated by Kakifly. The manga was originally serialized in Houbunsha

Houbunsha

is a Japanese publishing company founded on July 10, 1950.-Manga Time magazines:*Manga Time*Manga Time Jumbo*Manga Time Lovely*Manga Time Family*Manga Time Special*Manga Time Original*Manga Home-Manga Time Kirara magazines:...

's Manga Time Kirara

Manga Time Kirara

is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha which mainly serializes four-panel comic strips. The magazine is sold monthly on the ninth...

manga magazine between the May 2007 and October 2010 issues, ending on September 9, 2010. The manga also appeared as a guest bimonthly serialization in Manga Time Kiraras sister magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat

Manga Time Kirara Carat

is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha mainly consisting of four-panel comic strips. The first issue was released on January 18, 2003.-List of serialized titles:*A Channel*Chibi Debii!*Dōjin Work*H・R*Harumaki!...

starting with the October 2008 issue. The manga relaunched in April 2011 in two separate magazines. Chapters published in Manga Times Kirara, starting with the May 2011 issue released on April 8, 2011, focus on the main cast as they attend college, while chapters published in Manga Time Kirara Carat, starting with the June 2011 issue released on April 28, 2011, focus on Azusa, Ui, and Jun as they continue the light music club.

Four tankōbon

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

volumes were released between April 26, 2008 and September 27, 2010. The manga was licensed by Yen Press

Yen Press

Yen Press is the manga and graphic novel imprint of Hachette Book Group. In addition to their regular book releases, Yen Press produces a monthly anthology called Yen Plus. The company's varied list demonstrates an interest in publishing a wide variety of Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, and other...

 for English release, with the first volume released in North America on November 30, 2010. In Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, the series is licensed by Elex Media Komputindo

Elex Media Komputindo

Elex Media Komputindo is a major Indonesian publisher of literature on computers as well as comic books. In addition to local comic books, it also publishes Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, and Chinese manhua. Founded on 15 January 1985, Elex Media Komputindo is within the publishing arm of the...

. There is an anthology entitled Minna de Untan!, which features several guest strips from various artists. An official anthology series, , began sale from November 27, 2009, with four volumes released as of May 27, 2011. An illustration book with official art and fan art

Fan art

Fan art or fanart is artwork that is based on a character, costume, collage, item, or story that was created by someone other than the artist, such as a fan, from which the word is derived from. The term, while it can apply to art done by fans of characters from books, is usually used to refer to...

 from well known dōjin

Dojin

, often romanized as doujin, is a general Japanese term for a group of people or friends who share an interest, activity, hobbies, or achievement...

 artists was released on January 27, 2010.

Anime

A 13-episode anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 adaptation directed by Naoko Yamada, written by Reiko Yoshida

Reiko Yoshida

is a Japanese screenwriter and manga author.-TV anime:*Angelic Layer - Script *ARIA The ANIMATION- Script*ARIA The NATURAL - Script*Ballad of a Shinigami - Series Composition, Script...

, and produced by Kyoto Animation

Kyoto Animation

, abbreviated , is a Japanese animation studio located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1981, became a limited company in 1985 and then became a corporation in 1999. Presided by Hideaki Hatta, the company is affiliated with noted studio Sunrise and is also parent to the studio...

 aired between April 3 and June 26, 2009 on TBS

Tokyo Broadcasting System

, TBS Holdings, Inc. or TBSHD, is a stockholding company in Tokyo, Japan. It is a parent company of a television network named and radio network named ....

 in Japan. The episodes began airing on subsequent networks at later dates which include BS-TBS, MBS

Mainichi Broadcasting System

is a broadcasting station in Osaka, Japan, affiliated with Japan Radio Network , National Radio Network , Japan News Network and TBS Network, serving in the Kansai region. MBS is also one of the major stockholders of Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc...

, and CBC

Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting

is a regional radio and television service serving Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Its radio service is affiliated with the Japan Radio Network and its television service affiliated with the Japan News Network and the TBS Network.-Radio:Frequency...

. The TBS airings are in 4:3 ratio, and the series began airing in widescreen

Widescreen

Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....

 on BS-TBS on April 25, 2009. Seven BD

Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

/DVD compilation volumes were released by Pony Canyon

Pony Canyon

is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...

 between July 29, 2009 and January 20, 2010. An additional original video animation

Original video animation

, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...

 (OVA) episode was released with the final BD/DVD volumes on January 20, 2010. The series later began airing on Japan's Disney Channel from April 2011. Animax

Animax

is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...

 has aired the anime in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Both an English-subtitled and English-dubbed version by Red Angel Media began airing on March 16, 2010 on Animax Asia

Animax Asia

Animax Asia is the Japanese anime TV network Animaxs English language feeds in Southeast Asia and South Asia, as well as its feeds across other regions of mainland Asia, including Hong Kong and Taiwan...

. At their industry panel at Anime Expo

Anime Expo

Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation . With rare exceptions, the convention is traditionally held on the July 4th weekend and lasts for four days...

 2010, anime distributor Bandai Entertainment announced that they have acquired K-On! for a DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

 release, with Bang Zoom! Entertainment

Bang Zoom! Entertainment

Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio, located in Burbank, California, that has worked on several anime, video games, feature films, and directly-to-DVD projects...

 producing an English dub for the show. The series will be released over four volumes in standard and limited editions for each format, starting on April 26, 2011. Manga Entertainment

Manga Entertainment

Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...

 will release the series in the UK, starting with individual DVD volumes during 2011 followed by a Blu-ray series box set in 2012.

It was displayed on screen at the Let's Go live concert in Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

, Japan on December 30, 2009 that a second season would be produced. The second season, titled K-On!! (with two exclamation mark

Exclamation mark

The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...

s), aired with 26 episodes on TBS in Japan between April 7, 2010 and September 28, 2010. An additional OVA episode was released with the final BD/DVD volumes on March 16, 2011. This season has also aired on Animax Asia starting October 20, 2010.

Film

At the end of the second anime series on September 28, 2010, a film adaptation of K-On! was announced. It follows the girls as they travel to England to celebrate their graduation. It was announced during the K-On!! Come With Me!! live concert and on the official anime website on February 20, 2011 that the film will be released in Japan on December 3, 2011. It is said to be an original story according to Akemi Kanaya's Twitter account and is being produced by Kyoto Animation with Naoko Yamada as the director. The film features the two songs "Ichiban Ippai" and "Unmei wa Endless" by Aki Toyosaki.

Music

The first season anime's opening theme is "Cagayake! Girls" by Aki Toyosaki

Aki Toyosaki

is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. She had her first major voice acting roles in 2007, voicing Amuro Ninagawa in Kenkō Zenrakei Suieibu Umishō and Su in Shugo Chara!...

 with Yōko Hikasa

Yōko Hikasa

is a Japanese voice actress from Kanagawa who is affiliated with I'm Enterprise. Hikasa aspired to become a voice actress after watching Sailor Moon, and later attended Nihon Narration Engi Kenkyūjo, a voice actor training school. She is a member of the five-girl pop music group Ro-Kyu-Bu!, along...

, Satomi Satō

Satomi Sato

is a voice actress from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan affiliated with Aoni Production's Junior Talent. She is a graduate of Tokyo Announce Gakuin Performing Arts College. She is also known as , as means "sugar" in Japanese...

 and Minako Kotobuki

Minako Kotobuki

is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. She is best known for her role in K-On!. Her career as a musician began with her performance of the opening and ending themes of the anime series K-On! in April 2009...

. The ending theme is "Don't Say 'Lazy'" by Hikasa with Toyosaki, Satō and Kotobuki. The opening and ending theme singles were released on April 22, 2009. A single containing the insert song used in episode six was released on May 20, 2009. A series of character song

Image song

An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album for an anime, game or dorama that is usually sung by the seiyū or actor of a character, in character...

 singles have been released containing songs sung by the voice actresses

Seiyu

Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...

 of the five main characters. The singles for Yui (by Toyosaki) and Mio (by Hikasa) were released on June 17, 2009. The singles for Ritsu (by Satō) and Tsumugi (by Kotobuki) were delayed, but later released together with the single for Azusa (by Ayana Taketatsu

Ayana Taketatsu

is a Japanese voice actress from Saitama Prefecture. She is affiliated with I'm Enterprise. Like Yōko Hikasa, she had also attended Nihon Narration Engi Kenkyūjo, a voice actor training school before becoming affiliated with the current management company...

) on August 26, 2009. The singles for Ui Hirasawa (by Madoka Yonezawa) and Nodoka Manabe (by Chika Fujitō) were released on October 21, 2009. The anime's original soundtrack, largely composed by Hajime Hyakkoku, was released on June 3, 2009. The four songs highlighted in episode eight of the anime were released on the mini album on July 22, 2009. The single "Maddy Candy" by Sawako's band Death Devil was released on August 12, 2009.

The second season anime's first opening theme is "Go! Go! Maniac" and the first ending theme is "Listen!!"; both songs are sung by Toyosaki, Hikasa, Satō, Kotobuki, and Taketatsu. The singles containing the songs were released on April 28, 2010. From episode 14 onwards, the respective opening and ending themes are "Utauyo!! Miracle" and "No, Thank You!", both by Toyosaki, Hikasa, Satō, Kotobuki, and Taketatsu. The singles containing these songs were released on August 4, 2010. The single "Pure Pure Heart" also sung by Toyosaki, Hikasa, Satō, Kotobuki, and Taketatsu was released on June 2, 2010. Another single, "Love", by Sawako's band Death Devil was released by on June 23, 2010. A single sung by Toyosaki, "Gohan wa Okazu/U&I", was released on September 8, 2010. The composer Bice who wrote the song "Gohan wa Okazu" died on July 26, 2010 of a heart attack. A second set of character song singles were released, starting with the singles for Yui and Mio on September 21, 2010. The show's second album, Ho-kago Tea Time II, was released on both normal double CD

Double album

A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....

 and limited edition

Special edition

The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...

 that came with a cassette tape

Compact Cassette

The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

 on October 27, 2010. The second set of singles for Ritsu, Tsumugi, and Azusa were released on November 17, 2010. The set of singles for Jun (by Yoriko Nagata), Ui (by Yonezawa), and Nodoka (by Fujitō) were released on January 19, 2011. The singles and albums were released by Pony Canyon

Pony Canyon

is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...

.

Video game

A rhythm

Rhythm game

Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen...

 video game titled , developed by Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

 for the PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

, was released on September 30, 2010. The gameplay

Gameplay

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...

 involves the player matching button presses in time with music featured in the anime. The game supports local multiplayer for up to five PSPs. The game features 19 songs from the first anime season and first set of character song CDs. The player can customize the clothing, hair style and accessories of the characters, plus customization of the light music room and Yui's bedroom. There is also a custom track maker.

Reception

The first manga volume of K-On! was the 30th highest-selling manga volume in Japan for the week of April 27 and May 3, 2009, having sold over 26,500 volumes that week. The following week, the first and second manga volumes were the 19th and 20th highest-selling manga volumes in Japan, having sold 23,200 and 22,500 volumes each the week of May 4 and May 10, 2009. As of May 2009, the first two manga volumes each sold about 136,000 copies each. The third volume sold over 120,000 copies the week of December 14–20, 2009, and became the 46th top-selling manga for the first half of 2010 in Japan (ending May 23), selling over 328,000 copies.

The single for the first anime's opening theme, "Cagayake! Girls", debuted at fourth in the ranking on the Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 weekly singles chart, selling approximately 62,000 copies. The ending theme "Don't Say 'Lazy'" debuted at second in the ranking, selling 67,000 copies. It was also awarded Best Theme Song at the 2009 (14th) Animation Kobe

Animation Kobe

The is an event created by Kobe city in 1996, to promote anime and other visual media. In the event, the are awarded annually by Kobe and the Organizing Committee of the event, to creators and creations.-Event:...

 Awards. Additionally, "Cagayake! Girls" and "Don't Say 'Lazy'" were certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan

Recording Industry Association of Japan

The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry...

 (RIAJ) for 250,000 full-track ringtone digital music download

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

s (Chaku Uta Full), respectively. The mini album Ho-kago Tea Time debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly CD albums charts selling 67,000 copies, making it the first image song

Image song

An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album for an anime, game or dorama that is usually sung by the seiyū or actor of a character, in character...

 album credited to fictional anime characters that reached the highest position. The second anime's opening theme "Go! Go! Maniac" and ending theme "Listen!!" debuted at No. 1 and No. 2 in their first week of release on the Oricon singles chart, selling over 83,000 and 76,000 copies, respectively. "Go! Go! Maniac" became the first anime image song to ever top the singles chart and the band also became the first female vocalists to occupy the top two spots on the singles chart in 26 years since Seiko Matsuda

Seiko Matsuda

is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. Due to her popularity in the 1980s and her long career, she has been dubbed the "Eternal idol" by the Japanese media.- Biography :...

 in 1983. The season's second ending and opening themes, "No, Thank You!" and "Utauyo! Miracle" respectively, sold 87,000 and 85,000 in their first week and ranked at No. 2 and No. 3 in the Oricon charts respectively, only being beaten by SMAP

SMAP

SMAP is a Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. While originally consisting of six members, the current group members are Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori...

's single, "This is Love". "No, Thank You!" and "Utauyo! Miracle" were certified Gold by the RIAJ in August 2010 for 100,000 copies shipped. The single "Gohan wa Okazu"/"U&I" debuted at No. 3 on the Oricon singles chart, selling 53,000 in its first week. The album Ho-kago Tea Time II debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly CD albums charts selling 127,000 copies.

The first Japanese DVD volume of the anime series sold around 8,000 copies to debut seventh in the ranking on the Oricon charts for the week of July 29, 2009. The Blu-ray Disc release of the first volume sold about 33,000 copies in the same week, to top the Oricon BD charts. In August 2009, the first volume of K-On! was the top-selling television anime Blu-ray Disc in Japan, having surpassed the previous record holder Macross Frontier

Macross Frontier

is a Japanese animated science fiction space drama that aired in Japan on MBS from April 3, 2008 to September 25, 2008. It is the most recent Japanese anime television series set in the Macross universe. Animated by Satelight, premiered Japan on MBS on April 3, 2008...

, which sold approximately 22,000 copies of its first volume. It was the second best-selling Blu-ray Disc in Japan, trailing only Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

is a 2007 Japanese animated film written and chief directed by Hideaki Anno. It is the first of four films released in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy based on the original anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was produced and co-distributed by Anno's Studio Khara in partnership with Gainax...

, with around 49,000 copies. However, in October 2009, the first volume of Bakemonogatari

Bakemonogatari

is a Japanese popular light novel series written by Japanese novelist Nisio Isin and illustrated by Taiwanese illustrator Vofan; the series is published by Kodansha under the Kodansha Box imprint...

surpassed K-On!s previous record, having sold 37,000 copies at that time. Later, with the release of K-On!! volume 3, total BD sales for the series have outsold Bakemonogatari. K-On! received a Best TV Animation Award at the 2010 Tokyo International Anime Fair

Tokyo International Anime Fair

The Tokyo International Anime Fair also known as Tokyo International Animation Fair is one of the largest anime trade fairs in the world, held annually in Japan. The first event was held in 2002 as "Tokyo International Anime Fair 21". The event is held at Tokyo Big Sight, a convention and...

. K-On!! won the Best Television award at the 2010 (15th) Animation Kobe

Animation Kobe

The is an event created by Kobe city in 1996, to promote anime and other visual media. In the event, the are awarded annually by Kobe and the Organizing Committee of the event, to creators and creations.-Event:...

 Awards. Both series have sold a combined total of over 520,000 BD copies as of February 20, 2011.

At the beginning of September 2010, the Kyoto prefectural government

Kyoto Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Kyoto.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Kyoto prefecture was known as Yamashiro....

 began using K-On!! to promote the census

Demographics of Japan

The demographic features of the population of Japan include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

 and encourage people to be counted. Sharp and Bandai will jointly launch a calculator with designs of the characters from K-On!.

External links

• Official anime website
• Official anime website at Bandai
  Bandai
  is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
  
  
• K-On! Hōkago Live!! at Sega
  Sega
  , usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
  
   
• K-On! at Animax
  Animax
  is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...
  
  

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