K-ON! Live!

Anime related live events/concerts are not uncommon in Japan, especially for popular anime. And in case you didn't already know, K-ON! is really popular.


There was a big K-ON! event in Japan last Sunday. The venue was Saitama Super Arena and the name of the event was "K-ON!! Come with Me!!". It was the second live event for K-ON! actually; the first one, "K-ON! Let's Go" was held in Yokohama Arena back in December 2009. I wish I could say that I was there last weekend and that this post is going to be about my thoughts of the event but unfortunately, that's not it. However, I can tell you why I can't wait for the Blu-ray/DVD of the event to be released.

The members of Houkago Tea Time (l-r): Kotobuki Tsumugi, Hirasawa Yui
Tainaka Ritsu, Nakano Azusa and Akiyama Mio.

To be honest, I wasn't a big K-ON! fan when I watched the anime's first season. Well, I liked all the characters in the show and there was one particular episode that I really enjoyed watching because it was super funny, but that was it. It was an okay slice of life anime, nothing great. But then when I saw K-ON!! (the two exclamation marks indicate second season) a year later, my opinion of it changed. I instantly became a huge fan. For some reason that I cannot explain, I loved everything about K-ON!!. It's like the people behind the anime over at Kyoto Animation understood exactly what us fans wanted to see and gave us just that. As a result, the characters have become even more lovable. The BD/DVD for "K-ON! Let's Go!" live event was released a few months later and after watching it, I fell in love with the seiyuu behind the characters as well.

Yes, that's really Toyosaki Aki (Yui's seiyuu) and Taketatsu Ayana (Azusa) playing the guitars, Hikasa Youko (Mio) playing the bass, Satou Satomi (Ritsu) playing the drums and Kotobuki Minako (Tsumugi) playing the keyboard. As far as I know, the girls didn't have much or any experience playing the musical instruments in the beginning. They only started learning how to play them after they were chosen to voice the characters in the anime. Isn't that impressive?

The voices behind the characters (l-r): Kotobuki Minako, Hikasa Youko, 
Toyosaki Aki, Satou Satomi and Taketatsu Ayana.

Currently, K-ON!! sits on top of my favourite slice of life/moe anime list. It may not have much of a story but the characters made the anime so much fun to watch. Needless to say, I'm excited about the upcoming K-ON! movie too, which will be released in Japanese theaters on 3rd December 2011 (they announced the date at the event). Sure, it's going to be a longer wait for the BD/DVD to come out but at least I know I have more K-ON! goodies to look forward to.