Monday, January 24, 2011

Characters: K-On!

Characters: K-On!

Characters from K-On!
When in doubt, every character on this page possess the following tropes:
  • Bishoujo
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer — The only ones who likely get any consistent practice are Mio, Mugi and Azusa, which is rarely together, so they tend to be uncoordinated, and much of the time they spend together is on tea and cake, and neither Azusa nor Mio are above it all. But despite these, they're actually really good when they perform
  • Chaste Teens — Aside from some mild teasing among each other, the girls don't seem to be that interested in romance.
  • Moe Moe
  • A Spot Of Tea — The solution to all of life's problems... thanks Mugi-chan!!
  • Sweet Tooth — The other solution to all of life's problems... except getting fat in the case of Mio and Mugi.

Band Members

Yui Hirasawa


First character introduced and stays the primary viewpoint character during the show. Plays the lead guitar and is the main vocalist. Voiced by Aki Toyosaki and Stephanie Sheh.
Tropes associated with Yui:
  • Adorkable
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! — taken literally in Episode 8 when she proves immune to nerves after finding a 100 yen coin on the stage.
  • Big Eater — And never gets fat for it, much to the anger and jealousy of Mio, Mugi, and Sawako. In the song Ichigo Parfait ga Tomaranai, she likens herself to a black hole when it comes to sweets.
  • Book Dumb — Yui focuses so much on learning how to play her new guitar that she ends up badly flunking her midterm. Later averted when she wises up, studies and passes with full marks. (Sadly, it seems that her brain can't handle multitasking, and she forgets how to play the guitar.)
  • Cargo Ship — Her obsession with her guitar gets almost creepy at times.
    • Not to mention impractical: letting Geetah wear clothes and be rolled around in bed at night is going to do a number on its strings' lifespan.
    • It's even lampshaded in the series, with one of the side characters noting that she treats it like a boyfriend
  • Cloudcuckoolander — She's very very easily distracted. Also, each time she focuses on something new, she can literally forget almost everything else: when she was forced to study for a makeup test she temporarily forgot how to play the guitar afterwards.
    • Unexpectedly, she tends to be the one who thinks about practical matters: e.g., how much their training trip will cost (ep 4), or whether they're actually allowed to use the club room as they please (ep 5). She's also the first one to recognize Sawako (ep 5).
  • Cuddle Bug — Generally towards Azusa, but also to everyone she's close to.
  • Dojikko — That's exactly the first opinion Ritsu gave to Yui.
  • Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs
  • Genius Ditz — Azusa's years of experience with the guitar sets up Yui as the Genius Ditz by contrast. For example, when Yui sees Azusa's electronic guitar tuner, we learn that Yui doesn't know what a tuner is, but she has perfect pitch, and can tune her guitar perfectly by ear. But of course, Yui doesn't seem to know what perfect pitch is.
    • In her class, she may not do so well, but she can play a guitar just like she's ringing a bell playing the castanets.
  • Genki Girl
  • Hey, It's That Voice! — As noted above, Aki Toyosaki in Japanese, Stephanie Sheh in English.
  • Idiot Hero
  • Inelegant Blubbering — Complete with dripping snot, unlike the way the other girls Cry Cute.
  • Launcher Of A Thousand Ships — Tied with Mio, at the very least. She can be paired with every character, including especially her own sister.
  • Nice Girl
  • The Nicknamer — Her guitar becomes "Gitah", Tsumugi becomes "Mugi-chan", Ritsu becomes "Ricchan", Azusa becomes "Azu-nyan", Sawako becomes "Sawa-chan-sensei", and Mio's bass becomes "Elizabeth". Also, in the "extra" episode of the first season, she calls her pair of gloves "Tebukuro-chan".
  • Plucky Comic Relief — How her friends apparently see her. Based on the way the band introduces her in the last cultural festival concert, and what Azusa says in the manga when she cries at their graduation, the quality about Yui they like best is her ability to boost their morale.
  • Sibling Yin Yang
  • Star Making Role - Though Aki Toyosaki seems to have avoided the typecasting that typically comes with successful roles; presently she has a tendency of taking perverted and sultry seductresses who are nowhere as sweet and innocent as Yui is.
  • Sweet Tooth — Which gets abused relentlessly to seduce her into joining the club. And even after that Mugi seems to be keeping a lot of sweets handy for whenever the band needs Yui to do something. (Mugi seems to believe that sweets are the solution to all problems.)
  • Too Kinky To Torture — Sawako notes that it's no fun forcing Yui to wear a Sexy Santa Dress because "she has no sense of embarrassment."

Ritsu Tainaka


Club president of the troupe, but has problems following her responsibilities. Plays the drums. Voiced by Satomi Sato and Casandra Lee.
Tropes associated with Ritsu:

Mio Akiyama


Plays bass and does the vocals when Yui can't sing. Voiced by Yoko Hikasa and Cristina Valenzuela.
Tropes associated with Mio:
  • Buxom Is Better — In the first beach episode, Ritsu and Yui are so resentful of Mio's bust size (complete with gratuitous closeups) that they smack her in the face with a volleyball and run off.
  • Cry Cute — Tries so hard to be mature and serious... fails so adorably.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse — In the first season, she leaves the other three girls totally in the dust popularity-wise, both in-universe (she is all the rage among the school after her first live) and out. Not that the girls care anyways, and Mio certainly does NOT want that popularity. It doesn't help that she winds up as the lead singer! By the second season however, her moe traits aren't as emphasized.
  • Does Not Like Men — In the manga, she famously shouted "Men are animals!" when she thought Ritsu had a boyfriend.
  • Even The Girls Want Her
  • Face Of The Band — Much to her dismay.
  • Fainting — With the subtypes Emotional (when she has anxiety attacks) and Monster (when she gets too scared).
  • Girls Are Really Scared Of Horror Movies — Freaks out when Ritsu just shows her the cover of a DVD. A popular plot hook in fanfic.
  • Hey Its That Voice
  • Hime Cut
  • Hysterical Woman — Mio starts looking like this after the first season overused her Cry Cute, Fainting, Shrinking Violet and Why Did It Have To Be Snakes attributes. This is toned down considerably in the second season.
  • Kuudere — She tries to be mature and above the childishness of her friends, with the emphasis on the word "try."
  • Launcher Of A Thousand Ships
  • Not So Above It All — After having been all business while scolding Yui and Ritsu again and again on the Kyoto trip, she finally cracks when they get lost and run into Nodoka's group... and she starts laughing hysterically!
    • Some have speculated that this scene is the turning point in her development. Since then the focus is not so much on Mio, and she's not so much the voice of reason anymore.
  • Only Sane Man — Before Azunyan came and took over that role.
  • Pantyshot — How she gained her Instant Fan Club.
  • Shrinking Violet — Approaching Fragile Flower levels. Shy around strangers and suffers crippling anxiety over performing in front of crowds. Decided to play bass so that she won't attract much attention, which backfires spectacularly when she becomes the Face Of The Band.
  • The Southpaw — Mio writes and plays bass with her left hand, and is keenly interested in other left-handed musicians and instruments.
  • Star Making Role
  • Tall Dark And Bishoujo — Like Azumanga Daioh's Sakaki, she subverts the usual stereotype.
  • Tsurime — The way her eyes are drawn in the manga makes her look very much like an Expy of Lucky Star's Kagami with her hair down. Her eyes in her anime character design are still tsurime, but different in style.
  • Why Did It Have To Be Snakes — She has quite a lot of phobias, but is especially terrified of barnacles, blood and blisters. Ritsu repeatedly teases her about this.
    • Some exaggerated in the anime. The phobia of barnacles is not in the manga.
    • She also seems terrified of the mere thought of crayfish in the bathtub. Makes this troper wonder if she should be getting help.
  • The Woobie — Whether or not she "should be getting help", her fears and anxieties do get milked for all they're worth, especially by Ritsu and Sawako. Sometimes she could really use a hug.

Tsumugi Kotobuki

The quiet one, called Mugi by her peers. Plays the keyboard and provides tea and sweets for band practice. Voiced by Minako Kotobuki and Shelby Lindley.
Tropes associated with Tsumugi:
  • Ambiguously Lesbian
  • Beware The Nice Ones — Manga◊ Mugi◊ is this a little.
  • Big Ol Eyebrows — Not that they make her any less charming. They apparently run in her family, as a store attendant was able to tell who her father was just by looking at her eyebrows.
  • CloudCuckoolander — While not at Yui's level by far, she has her fair share of moments. As some girls can attest, spending time with her one-on-one can be quite a heady experience.
  • Covert Pervert — Mugi is rather less innocent and sweet than she outwardly projects. Basically, if she's not gay herself, she sure does seem to enjoy the semi-naughty cosplay◊ and picturing her friends in sparkly, blushy embraces a lot.
    • Her longing for more skinship, resulting in requests for hugs and being hit over the head, also make one wonder.
  • The Danza — Her voice actress is named Kotobuki, too, although her name is written with different kanji.
  • Girl On Girl Is Hot — At least Mugi seems to think so.
  • I Just Want To Be Normal — Despite - or possibly, because of - being incredibly rich, she gets much enjoyment out of doing mundane◊ things, such as eating fast food◊ or having pillow fights.
  • Nice Girl
  • Ojou — Mugi's initially the only one with any decent musical talent, and her incredibly spacious beach house is mentioned to be her smallest one. Also, visitors to herfamily home need official appointments. Not too common even by anime standards.
  • The Quiet One
  • Shipping Goggles / Yuri Fangirl — Mugi art shifts into seeing a little more between Yui and Mio than is probably there. Later this extends to any close interaction (regardless of context) between any two female characters. (Mugi may be not all that wrong about Mio and Yui, though.)
    • Interesting that she doesn't react when Yui hugs Azusa, considering that she does it so often and so closely. Probably because it would kill the mood on the warmer ones.
  • Signature Style — Her preference for using the Hammond organ voice on her keyboard (a specialty of the Korg Triton Extreme) is responsible for the retro-'60s sound on many of HTT's songs.
  • Spoiled Sweet
  • Star Making Role — For Minako Kotobuki, who recently has become the go-to-girl for Ojou characters; though these characters tend to be more domineering, bitchy, and substantially less nice/innocent than Mugi.
  • Super Strength — She is quite strong, as noted here◊.
  • Tareme — Even more so than the rest of the cast.
  • Team Mom — While every inch as zany as her fellow club-mates, her comparative emotional maturity (rivalling that of Sawa-chan sensei) allows her to don the mantle of the nurturing mother-figure in the ensemble.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: At least in the manga, Mugi tends to be uncannily perceptive about certain things.

Azusa Nakano

The music club's newest addition in their second year. Plays second guitar. Voiced by Ayana Taketatsu.
Tropes associated with Azusa:
  • A-Cup Angst
  • All Just A Dream/Daydream Surprise — All of them in episode 13.
  • Cat Girl — Becomes a running reference when the rest of the club members first put some cat-ears on her- it's where she gets her adorable nickname "Azu-nyan" from.
  • Child Prodigy — She comes from a musical family and played guitar at a young age. She completely floored the music club by demonstrating her professional-level skills. Yui probably wet herself.
  • Cry Cute
  • Expy — Azusa is a dead-ringer for Kooh from Pangya.
  • Girlish Pigtails
  • Kuudere — Her attempts to be detached and mature about the zany childishenss of the club can occasionally have her come across as cold, crabby and grouchy.
  • Moe — The winner of the 2010 Saimoe Tournament, and considering how much moe she has to share the stage with in this show, that is really saying something.
  • Not So Above It All — In spite of her attempts to be the lone voice of maturity in the club, Azusa is still easily placated into joining the fun with the offering of sweets and the occasional Cool Down Hug, and has taken being called the ridiculously cute nickname "Azunyan" in stride.
  • Only Sane Man — She feels this way when she sees what makes the light music club tick. It's especially apparent during the bus trip to Summer Fest.
  • Sprouting Ears — Manga only.
  • Star Making Role
  • The Woobie — Poor Azusa knows that they need to use their club time to practice music with the limited time they have left as students before the other four leave. And they keep getting distracted. All of them.
    • Not mention that, throughout the second season, she is rather obviously torn up over the realization that all four of her band-mates will graduate and go on without her. She tries to remain strong and act as if nothing is bothering her, but it becomes increasingly obvious starting with episode 20, until, during the final episode, she finally breaks down.
  • Token Loli — At first she doesn't look too different than the other characters, but she is a year behind the rest of the club, is shorter than even Ui and Jun who are in the same year as her, and her cuteness is frequently mentioned.
  • Verbal Tic — She says "desu" quite often, but doesn't put quite as much emphasis on it as Suiseiseki. She actually tends to use politer Japanese in general than the other girls.

Supporting Characters

Ui Hirasawa

Yui's more responsible younger sister. Voiced by Madoka Yonezawa.
Tropes associated with Ui:
  • The Caretaker — To Yui. It's mostly Played For Laughs, and the Osaka field trip episodes show that Ui doesn't know what to do with herself when Yui isn't around to look after.
  • Cuddle Bug — As Nodoka said, she and her sister loves cuddling up to people.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse — Not as much as Mio, but she's become rather popular for a bit character. Possibly due to certain rumors.
  • Gamer Chick — She pwned Ritsu at least twice while the rest were helping Yui study during Season 1.
  • Instant Expert — Ui is a minor example of this; it is revealed in season 1 episode 12 that she is the one who taught Yui how to read guitar sheet music, which is also how she's able to play Gitah when posing as Yui. And again in season 2 episode 5, where she overhears some tips for hitting a baseball... and hits a home run immediately after. Lampshaded by Jun and Azusa.
  • Meaningful Name — The Kanji/Chinese-character for Ui-chan's name literally (and rather appropriately, too) means "kind-hearted", "talented", "gentle" and/or "considerate."
  • Nice Girl — The one thing she has in common with her big sister.
  • Promotion To Parent — With Yui and Ui's parents away so often, this ends up falling to Ui. This despite the fact that Ui is the younger sister.
  • Sibling Yin Yang — Yui's younger sister Ui is mature, sensible, wakes up on time for school (and takes responsibility for waking up Yui); aside from also being a nice person, she is pretty much the complete opposite of airheaded Yui.
    • Somewhat subverted by the fact that when Ui disguises herself as her sister, the band couldn't see through the disguise. It was Ui's slip of the tongue which first raises suspicions. Sawako saw through the disguise based on the fact that she had a bigger bust-size than her OLDER sister.
    • In the anime they're first tipped off by the fact that she keeps time better than her sister. The slips of the tongue are the clinchers.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko
  • Yandere: Tends to be so in Fanon, sometimes.

Sawako Yamanaka


The teacher who advises the girls music club and developes a very affectionate relationship with them. Voiced by Asami Sanada.
Tropes associated with Sawako:
  • Adult Child
  • Berserk Button: NEVER EVER SAY THAT DEATH DEVIL IS CUTE!
  • Christmas Cake — She is a former member of the school's light music club back in the day. In the Kyoto trip episode, she shows that she DOES desperately hope to get married, and suffers from keeping her professional side in control over her fun-loving side.
  • Cosplay Otaku Girl / Covert Pervert — She loves to dress up the girls of the light music club. Whether they want to or not.
    • After being subjected to her whims for 8 episodes, Mio is all too happy to join in. Some kind of comedy version of Stockholm Syndrome?
    • This aspect of her is almost completely eliminated in the second season, like Mio's Hysterical Woman tendencies. (She did design the costumes for the Romeo And Juliet class play, but they were surprisingly tasteful.)
    • It's brought back in the first OVA, where her new costume for the girls gets her thrown out of the room and a Cranial Eruption.
  • Cry Cute — And you know you have to break out the tissues when even tough ol' Sawa-chan-sensei is tearing up.
  • The Glasses Come Off — ...and she becomes a totally different person.
  • Old Shame (in-universe) — She is deeply ashamed of her own days in the club when the students tended to play Heavy Metal.
  • Retired Badass — Season 2 episode 10. Just episode 10. When she rocks out again, she pretty much floored everyone! She also sets the bar up high for the Light Music Club.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses
  • Sensei-chan
  • Skinship Grope
  • Stepford Smiler — A humorous example - her sweet personality is a cover for her rocker past.
    • But her sweet personality is actually her original personality. Yeah, she's a complicated gal.
      • Essentially, she treats the club as a place where she can either veg out, dress up cute girls in ridiculous clothing, or eat cake.
  • Tareme — Her default look.
  • Tsurime — When she goes into her "wild" personality.

Nodoka Manabe


Yui's friend and classmate before she joined the band.
Tropes associated with Nodoka:
  • Meganekko
  • Only Sane Man — The only member of the cast who is consistently level-headed and mature, and does not lose her temper like Azunyan and Mio when trying to keep order.
  • Power Hair — With her sexiness cranked all the way Up To Eleven and beyond when wearing a policewoman's hat in Season 1 Episode 6.
  • Student Council President
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend — In a way. She was Yui's best friend since kindergarten, and yet by the time they graduate from high school Yui has become much closer to the other members of her band than she'll ever be with Nodoka. Subverted in that she is still herself a friend to the other club members, and that Yui still remembers how important a person she is in her life enough to ask her to walk home together on their last day of school, knowing that by going to different universities, they probably won't be able to do so again.

Jun Suzuki


Azusa and Ui's friend and classmate. Ui tries to get her to join the band in their first year, but she joins the jazz club instead; after hearing about all the activities Azusa and the other girls do, she winds up regretting her decision. She intends to join the light music club during her third year.
Tropes associated with Jun:
  • Ascended Extra — She was a fringe character in the first season, but is an official part of Ui's Power Trio in the second. She even shows up in the openings now!
  • Girlish Pigtails
  • Grass Is Greener — Her envy at all the fun things the Light Music Club gets to do becomes a Running Gag.
  • Imagine Spot — She does this a lot, mostly involving the four seniors of the Light Music Club.
  • Jerkass — Seems like a mild example in season 2 episode 5, the first opportunity she had for major Character Development. She buys a dozen donuts in assorted flavors and takes one bite out of each, and rolls across the floor and headbutts Azusa for no reason unless it was a clumsy attempt at flirting.
  • The Knights Who Say Squee — She's a skilled bass player and popular in the jazz club. She is also a huge Mio fangirl.
  • Messy Hair — Whenever she lets it down, especially on humid days. Bemoans this to Ui and Azusa during their sleepover.
  • Purple Eyes
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