K-ON! (けいおん!) is the anime adaption of the same-called manga by Kakifly, which was produced by Kyoto Animation and aired in Japan between 2009 and 2010 in two seasons. The anime became a world-wide success and allowed the franchise to gain much more depth by highlighting facts that the manga did or could not do. The anime also introduced real music, partly based on lyrics from the manga but mostly entirely new composition. The music from the anime contains several "Original Soundtracks", "Character Image Songs" for most individual characters and several musical productions by the main band, Ho-Kago Tea Time.
K-ON!’s ,
Story revolves around five Japanese high school girls who join their school’s Light Music Club. The show follows the daily lives of each member and shows their interactions with each other, their teachers, friends and families.
At first, despite being successful in saving the club from being disbanded, each member brings in her own sorts of problems to prevent a strict and structured training. The guitarist Yui Hirasawa has no experience in playing musical instruments or reading sheet music and usually forgets already managed progresses, be it in her musical or academic career. Drummer Ritsu Tainaka often forgets to fulfill her responsibilities as the club's president and usually rushes at the drums. The bassist Mio Akiyama is, in contrast to her Ritsu's hyperactive nature, a shy scaredy-cat with immense stage fright. The keyboardist Tsumugi Kotobuki has, as the overprotected daughter of an unimaginably rich and influential family, no real idea of "normal" social situations. At the beginning of their second year of high school, a fifth member joins the club, an underclassman named Azusa Nakano who also plays guitar and usually struggles with the irresponsibility and carelessness of the other members.
During their shared school career, all of them eventually manage to handle their problems together, making the light music club a more serious club bit by bit. Every day, the club gathers together to drink tea and eat snacks in the clubroom, which quickly becomes the club's trademark and finally leads to the band's name, "Ho-Kago Tea Time" (Afterschool Tea Time).