MANILA, Philippines - Few shows have earned the accolade “sensation,“ but in 2009 one TV animé sensation did come along and took Japan by storm. Not only did the show boost sales of a $2,000-electric bass guitar by a whopping eight times the rate it normally sells, it also caused a $760-headphone to sell out. Winner of Tokyo Animé Awards’ Best TV Animation prize, the blockbuster animé TV series is none other than the irresistibly cute and totally hilarious K-ON!, proudly brought to Asia on Animax.
K-ON!, which airs Tuesday night at 8, is the most popular animé TV series out of Japan in the past year. The amusing slice-of-life show follows four cute high school girls Yui, Ritsu, Mio and Tsumugi who join their high school pop music club to save the club from being closed down due to a lack of members. As club mates, the girls embark on a hilarious and heart-warming learning journey to become a band in time to play for the school’s festival.
At Sakura High School, drummer Ritsu and bassist Mio are the only members of the school’s pop music club which is to be abolished due to a shortage of members. Recruiting Tsumugi to play the keyboard, they need just one more member to keep the club going. Unable to even read sheet music, new high school student Yui joins the club thinking she will play castanets — the only instrument she can play — while the trio mistakes her to be a guitar prodigy. Comedy ensues as they discover the truth, and the fun begins when they help Yui learn to play the guitar for real.
Originating as a manga comic strip written and illustrated by Japanese manga artist Kakifly, K-ON! is a 13-episode anime series hailing from famed animé studio Kyoto Animation, which also produced hit animé franchises The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star. K-ON! received recognition of the highest order when it won the Best TV Animation prize at the 9th annual Tokyo Animé Awards to be presented on March 27 during the 2010 Tokyo International Animé Festival.
Further, a Japanese audio equipment store saw a high-end professional headphone from Austrian manufacturer AKG model K701, priced at $760 each, sell out right after it was featured in K-ON! also used by character Mio. It was the first time the store experienced any product being sold out and the store’s employees nicknamed the headphone “Mio-phone” in recognition of the phenomenon.
While the most popular animé titles are aired on seven to eight TV stations at most in Japan, the second season of K-ON! that is currently in production has already been picked up by a whopping 28 TV stations across the nation for premiere. Beyond television, the Hokago Tea Time music album comprising the show’s theme songs and tracks inspired by the show “performed” by each character in K-ON!, sold over 67,000 copies to become the first ever music album credited to animé characters to top the Japanese national weekly music chart.
There is simply no other way to appreciate the amazing sensation of K-ON! than to see for yourself how Yui, Mio, Tsumugi and Ritsu are winning hearts to become the cutest and hottest all-girl band around in K-ON!.