List of K-On! Characters

This is a list of the characters from the K-On! . Both the anime and the music releases that went under the names of the characters have set various records for sales within Japan . As a result, the figures also achieved widespread fame, which also extended beyond the national border. It is noticeable that none of the named figures is male and that the parents of the students were also completely left out or are never seen.

main characters

The work focuses on the school band Hōkago Tea Time ( 放 課後 テ ィ ー タ イ ム , dt. "Tea time after school"), which consists of the five high school students Yui Hirasawa, Mio Akiyama, Ritsu Tainaka, Tsumugi Kotobuki and Azusa Nakano, who joins them a little later. The surnames of the characters were slightly changed by the members of the Japanese band P-Model . What all five main characters have in common is that they have certain character deficits that they can gradually, but not completely, reduce over the course of the game. Nevertheless, the girls find each other and harmonize with each other, which is also reflected in their music, which is neither played well nor professional, but can still inspire its audience. As schoolgirls they also have to struggle with the typical problems of everyday school life, which makes them very close friends.

Yui Hirasawa

平 沢 唯 , Hirasawa Yui , spoken by: Aki Toyosaki (Japanese), Julia Meynen (German)

Yui Hirasawa

Yui is a rather clumsy, almost unworldly sleepyhead, with exaggerated ideas and a great preference for food. At school, she performs rather average, is not very decisive, and would love to spend most of her time hanging around somewhere. Accordingly, she has no experience of handling musical instruments and must first learn to play the guitar. In addition, she does not have her own guitar at first, but in the course of the plot in the anime she gets a Gibson Les Paul Standard Heritage Cherry Sunburst, which she calls Gīta ( ギ ー 太 ). In the mango template, this was an unknown model with a honey-burst finish.

In addition, she is the years older sister of Ui Hirasawa , from whom she is entertained and pampered again and again when Tsumugi Kotobuki is not spoiling her with one exquisite meal after the other at school. Despite her very useless appearance, she really likes to play the guitar (she even sleeps with her). However, she has little understanding of notes, which she can compensate for with her perfect pitch. She also knows how to transfer a lot of fun and energy to the audience and her friends during the performances, which gives her great reactions in the audience, even if she is actually not aware of it. This series of opposites is continued with her good-sounding singing voice. But she is also known for forgetting her text in the middle of the event.

Ritsu Tainaka

田 井中 律 , Tainaka Ritsu , spoken by: Satomi Satō (Japanese), Jennifer Weiß (German)

Ritsu Tainaka is the bold leader of the band. She has a versatile personality and often finds herself in a mountain of problems, as she repeatedly withholds important events or announcements. In the band she plays the drums, a Yamaha Hipgig, which she said she had chosen because it was "cool". In the course of the plot, however, it also turns out that she has considerable problems handling other instruments that require dexterity. She has been particularly close friends with Mio Akiyama since she was a child . Whereby Ritsu always tends to want to provoke Mio, which is why she repeatedly gets a few head nuts from Mio in return. She is often on the same wavelength as Yui, which leads to trains of thought that the other characters can only give up. Nevertheless, she pursues her goals with determination, even if she prefers to throw the test results rather than study for them.

Mio Akiyama

秋山 澪 , Akiyama Mio , spoken by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Anita Hopt (German)

In contrast to Ritsu and Yui, Mio is of a reserved nature and treats things with decency, which makes her appear much more adult compared to the other members. However, she can be frightened very quickly and is afraid of being the center of attention. Because of this, she chose a left-handed bass guitar. In the anime and manga, this is a 3-color sunburst Fender Jazz Bass . In the band she first gives guitar lessons to Yui and tries to prevent the degenerating coffee breaks from gaining the upper hand. Her behavior is also reflected in her school performance, so that she is one of the best students in her year, which is why she is an important support for Yui. Her fear leads to numerous confrontations between her and the club supervisor Sawako Yamanaka , whom she would like to put in one of her fancy costume creations for performances, which however causes Mio to panic. Likewise, Mio is not at all comfortable with the idea of ​​having his own fan club at school, which was mainly due to a gross mistake at the end of the first joint appearance.

Tsumugi Kotobuki

琴 吹 紬 , Kotobuki Tsumugi , spoken by: Minako Kotobuki (Japanese), Marianne Graffam (German)

Tsumugi, or Mugi for short , is a girl with an amiable and distinguished personality who plays the keyboard at the club. She uses a Korg Triton Extreme 76 and is extremely experienced in handling it, as she has already won several piano competitions. She comes from a very wealthy family who owns various villas and rows of shops across Japan. As a result, she is very experienced in dealing with financial resources and succeeds in making a lot of profit or reducing costs, which is mostly due to the fact that she is recognized by the employees as the daughter of her employer. This is mainly due to their extremely thick eyebrows, which visually set them apart from the other characters, whose eyebrows are depicted much thinner.

She, too, tends to behave quite childishly again and again, because she wants to try out or have experienced all kinds of things that even the not rich students have experienced. This behavior is particularly themed in the 14th episode of the second season, in which she tries to get a head-butt from Mio, which Ritsu regularly gets. Despite great effort, however, she does not succeed in provoking Mio sufficiently.

Azusa Nakano

中 野 梓 , Nakano Azusa , spoken by: Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese), Kristina Tietz (German)

Azusa did not join the light music club until a year later and played a model Fender Mustang Dakota Red electric guitar . She attended the first year with Ui and pretended to be a beginner, although she and her parents had been playing the guitar since fourth grade play in a jazz band. Accordingly, she is far superior to the other members in terms of playful ability and initially has problems to make friends with the playful, almost only tea drinking and cake eating manner of the other club members. So she makes several attempts to change this behavior, but fails almost completely. In addition, she becomes a new victim for " Cosplay attacks" by Sawako, after Mio previously held this role. Shortly after being greeted, she is "tormented" with cat ears . In response to this, she is also given the nickname Azu-nyan (play on words with Azusa and nyan ( Eng . "Meow")). But she too reveals a weakness for cakes and finds her way back to the band after initial difficulties.

Towards the end of the second season it becomes apparent that she has acquired many of the behavior patterns of the other members and is no longer the absolutely determined and serious student.

Minor characters

Sawako Yamanaka

山 中 さ わ 子 , Yamanaka Sawako , spoken by: Asami Sanada (Japanese), Antje von der Ahe (German)

Sawako is a teacher at the school and is seen by many as a role model. In particular, she gives music lessons and directs the school wind orchestra . As it soon turns out, however, she was once a member of the earlier existing light music club , which she tries to hide under all circumstances, since she had played heavy metal with the former members . At the moment, that would not fit the image that it is trying to convey. But this is also the hook that the students can use to blackmail them more or less with their past, so that they also commit themselves as the head of the new light music club.

In reality, the shy and eager-looking glasses wearer is rather untidy, of a wild nature and enjoys putting club members in cosplay costumes, which particularly scares Mio and later Azusa. So far, she has had no luck in love, which can be traced back to her wild image when she was at school, that she had actually set out to please a boy who she thought was too inconspicuous until then. However, it was finally too wild for him again, so that nothing came of it.

Her name is based on the singer and guitarist Sawao Yamanaka.

Nodoka Manabe

真 鍋 和 , Manabe Nodoka , spoken by: Chika Fujitō (Japanese), Shalin Rogall (German)

Nodoka is a childhood friend of Yui and a member of the student council . As an average, hardworking, intelligent and well-behaved student, she is constantly amazed by the strange behavior of the club and its members. In particular, this concerns Ritsu, who, as the leader of the band, always forgets to submit the necessary applications in time, which keeps Nodoka in trouble. Still, she supports the band and takes part in some of their crazy actions.

Her last name is derived from the guitarist Yoshiaki Manabe.

Ui Hirasawa

平 沢 憂 , Hirasawa Ui , spoken by: Madoka Yonezawa (Japanese), Tabea Börner (German)

Ui is Yui's younger sister who is still in middle school at the beginning of the plot and later moves to the same high school as Yui. Despite external similarities, she can be described as the complete opposite of Yui. She leaves an adult, intelligent and responsible impression and can easily manage the household on her own. Although her Yui is not really a help, but rather a burden, both have an unshakable and good relationship with each other. Whereby Ui exaggerates the concern for her sister, which in these moments speaks against the characteristics she described at the beginning. After her sister and the others graduate, she joins the light music club under Azusa.

Jun Suzuki

鈴木 純 , Suzuki Jun , spoken by: Yoriko Nagata (Japanese), Anja Rybicza (German)

Jun is Ui and Azusa's friend and classmate. When the three of them started high school, Ui Jun recommended that she join her sister's band. However, since the members happened to try on maid uniforms at Sawako's insistence when Jun visited, she was discouraged from joining. Jun therefore joined the jazz club. Since she plays the bass with a Yamaha SBV-500 PearlWhite like Mio, she is a fan of hers. Since she keeps hearing about the experiences and activities of the light music club, she regrets not having joined it. After Yui and the others graduate, she joins this under Azusa.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See main article K-On!
2. ↑ な ぜ 我 々 は 「け い お ん！」 に 萌 え て し ま う の か？ . In: ascii.jp. Ascii Media Works, June 7, 2009, accessed April 25, 2010 (Japanese). 
3. ↑ 4th episode of the first season of the anime