Line #29 Trivia/KOn


1	!!Japanese Trivia and Cultural Notes
2	* In the first episode of the anime, Mugi is making a big deal out of mixing her fries with those of the other two girls. In Japanese culture, sharing your food with the group is a sign that you accept the group as your own, so Mugi was both being formal and very sweet in one go.
3	* The train station seen most in the series, which is the one Mugi uses for commuting, is the Shugakuin Station on the Eizan Electric Railway in Kyoto.
4	* The high school is based on an elementary school in Toyosato in the Shiga prefecture. The building was supposed to be torn down, but after protests from the local community it got renovated and opened for the public, and it now serves as a museum. It's needless to say that the building is now a very popular destination for fans of the series.
5	* The Max Burger fast food restaurant frequented by the girls is based on a real-life [=McDonald=]'s.
6	* In episode 5 of the first season, Sawako plays her super flashy solo. However, the way she moves her arm while "speed picking" is something more akin to new guitar players; faster playing is done using mostly the fingers or the wrist, Sawako's using her arm almost exclusively. While some fast guitar players (shredders) ''do'' play fast using the elbow, the motions are much smaller than Sawako's.
7	* The place where the girls go to feed the Japanese monkeys, as seen in in episode 4 of the second season, is the Iwatayama Monkey Park in Kyoto, situated on top of Mt. Arashiyama. It is pretty much as depicted, including the splendid view of the city.
8	* The statue seen at the very end of episode 7 of the second season is based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ClarkBoysBeAmbitious.jpg a statue of]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Clark William S. Clark]], the founder of Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University), which implies that Sokabe-sempai is studying in Sapporo. Also, the full version of "Cagayake! Girls" contains the words "Girls, be ambitious", which is a reference to Clark's famous parting words to his students ("Boys, be ambitious!").
9	* The festival the girls and Sawako attend in episode 12 of the second season is based on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuji_Rock_Festival Fuji Rock Festival]], which is held annually in the Naeba Ski Resort, in the Niigata Prefecture of Japan.
10	* The girls are named after former band members of the Japanese [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] band P-Model. Yui is named after Music/SusumuHirasawa, Ritsu after Sadatoshi Tainaka, Mio after Katsuhiko Akiyama, Mugi after Hikaru Kotobuki, and Azusa after Teruo Nakano.
11	** Their teacher, Sawako is named after Sawao Yamanaka of Music/ThePillows.
12
13	!!Trope Trivia
14	* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: A fanmade parody of WebVideo/HonestTrailers made for the movie (which sadly has been [[ScrewedByTheLawyers taken down]]) pokes fun at the series for being like a Creator/DisneyChannel Original Series. This surprisingly is not far off considering how the show has aired on the Japanese version of the network...albeit edited down for [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForLittleGirls obvious reasons]].
15	* AmateurCast: In the original Japanese version of the movie, [=KyoAni=] hired real English people (such as Alfred Amedume) to voice the people in London. None of them were professional actors, [[OneBookAuthor and the movie is the only acting gig any of them have ever done]]. Their lines were redubbed in the English dub.
16	* AscendedFanon: [[http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/04/22/k-on-mob-character-popularity-surge/ Fan speculation]] (NSFW site, SFW article) led to the girl sitting next to Yui in class being referred to as Himeko Tachibana. The name itself came from an official list of classmembers, but no specific character was attached to the name, and while the girl in question did have a line, she was only credited as "Classmate". The character profiles in the Season 2 [=DVDs=] confirm that she's Himeko.
17	* BonusEpisode: The OVA was included in the first season's final Blu-ray volume. It followed the girls New Year's Eve, but with a new twist not in the manga; they performed at a local live show. After all that was done, the episode shifted back to following the manga at the end.
18	* BreakthroughHit: The anime was the directorial debut of Naoko Yamada and its success led her to become one of Creator/KyotoAnimation's top directors.
19	* CashCowFranchise: April, 2010. The pre-orders for the yet-to-be-released UsefulNotes/{{DVD}}s of ''K-On'' second season occupied ''ten'' of the Top 13 most bought movies in amazon.com Japan. And this is only after the ''first'' episode of season 2 has aired, folks. The momentum of success and die-hard fandom set by Season 1 in 2009 does not look like it will slow down ''any'' time soon, with '''twenty six''' episodes in this season altogether. [[TheMovie A movie]] came out in late 2011. They made loads of merchandise such as a ''K-On'' model plane, a ''K-On'' video game, and ''K-On'' character cookies, as well as [[ICallHerVera Giitah]] cookies, and other assorted snack foods [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/k_on_merc_3843.jpg Now with pictures.]]
20	* ChannelHop: The English dub was originally recorded at Bang Zoom, but later moved to Sentai Filmworks after Bandai went under. It still retains the same cast.
21	* CrossDressingVoices : Satoshi, Ritsu's younger brother and the male character who appears the most, is voiced by Mika Itou who is actually female.
22	* TheDanza: Mugi's voice actress is named Kotobuki, too, although her name is [[AlternateCharacterReading written with different kanji]].
23	* {{Defictionalization}}:
24	** The band put together a cassette in season 2 episode 23. The "Ho-kago Tea Time II" album [[LimitedSpecialUltimateCollectorsEdition limited edition]] had Disc 2 in cassette form, and was released three weeks after the series ended its broadcast run.
25	** Various [[FunTShirt Fun T-Shirts]] worn by Yui and co. have been made available through [[https://animaru.jp/anmr/shop/prg/kon official stores]].
26	* DuelingDubs: There exist two English dubs for the series:
27	** The first dub was made by Creator/{{Animax}}, which is often considered SoBadItsGood due to the main cast sounding way too old. This dub is very hard to come by, with only a few clips available online, and to date, only two cast members have been identified: Lily Truncale (Yui) and Muriel Hoffman (Ritsu and Nodoka).
28	** The second dub was made by Creator/BangZoomEntertainment, and is considered the better of the two since it gives the characters voices that much better suit their personalities (IE Stephanie Sheh giving Yui a sweet, innocent voice, and Shelby Lindley giving Mugi a soft, motherly tone).
29	* FakeBrit: Averted in the English dub of The Movie, at least in regards to the sushi shop owner, who is voiced by Martin Billany (aka Creator/LittleKuriboh).
30	* FollowUpFailure: The anime's roaring popularity couldn't help the ''College'' and ''High School'' spinoffs from being canceled after one volume each.
31	* TheMerch: From shirts to ties to guitar covers to [[ImageSong Image CDs]] to [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kon-music-shop_2648.jpg replica guitars]] and hilariously overpriced rice. It's safe to assume it won't be going away for a while.
32	* NetworkToTheRescue: After Creator/BandaiEntertainment was shut down in 2012, Creator/SentaiFilmworks licensed the second season, releasing it in two 13-episode sets instead of separate volumes, and including the same English dub cast, to boot.
33	* OutOfHolidayEpisode: The Christmas episode of season 1 first aired in Japan in May 2009.
34	* PlayingAgainstType, though both retroactively according to the characters they would voice after K-On:
35	** Although Mio is the role that earned Creator/YokoHikasa her fame and popularity, most of the characters she play are usually actual {{Aloof Dark Haired Girl}}s or have [[TheStoic the personality]] of one.
36	** Ritsu's [[Creator/SatomiSato seiyuu]] tends to mostly plays sweet and demure females compared to the boisterous tomboy that is Ritsu.
37	* PopCultureUrbanLegends:
38	** In 2011, rumors circulated that Disney Channel was going to air the English dub of ''K-On!'', but with several edits such as removing all swears, eliminating Mugi's ShippingGoggles, toning down Megumi's stalker behavior towards Mio, and replacing the cake and tea with [=McDonald=]'s and Coca-Cola. Of course, this never happened, though ''K-On!'' has actually aired on Disney Channel's Japanese feed in edited form (exactly what was edited is unknown).
39	** There's an urban legend that the series is based on the diaries of five girls (Yuuko, Misaki, Setsu, Azuka, and Tsunade) who died in a plane crash. Not only is this story false, but there are no records of girls with those names dying in a plane crash.
40	* PostscriptSeason: The relaunched University and High School manga, which were both cancelled after one volume each.
41	* ReclusiveArtist: Very little is known about the series author Kakifly, aside from his being born in Kyoto and his love of bass guitars (he collects left-handed ones, which is likely why Mio uses a left-handed bass). Very few pictures of him can be found on the internet.
42	* TheRedStapler:
43	** Thanks in part to the anime’s popularity, sales of the instruments that the main characters use shot up in Japan in the time following the first season. This surge was somewhat helped by shops [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kon-music-shop_2648.jpg using the show's imagery]]. Some anime merchandisers even released models adopting the show’s imprint themselves, notably during the anime’s fifth anniversary in 2014.
44	** Sales of Yui's Heritage Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard experienced a rise in sales in Japan in the following months. But since its authentic models are a ''lot'' more expensive, [[PoorMansSubstitute Les Paul ''clones'']] were also sold everywhere.
45	** Sales of Fender Mustang guitars had also risen through the same effect, particularly the Candy Apple Red models that Azusa uses in the show. Even Mio’s Fender JB-62 left-hand model bass guitar had experienced a similar boom. In spite of these models being rare, as its right-hand models are far more common, [[http://en.gigazine.net/news/20090514_k_on_boosts_music_industries/ the anime was credited for boosting the former model’s sales]] by up to ''800%''.
46	* SameLanguageDub: The movie had English actors [[GratuitousEnglish using English]]. In the English dub, their lines are redubbed by American actors.
47	* SleeperHit : The original {{Yonkoma}} was virtually unknown before being turned into an anime.
48	* StarMakingRole: The main characters of ''K-On!'' were this to all of their Japanese [=VAs=], and some of their English [=VAs=] as well. Furthermore, all the five Japanese [=VAs=] would launch their solo music careers shortly after ''K-On!'' with varying success. Creator/AyanaTaketatsu would arguably garner the most success here, while Creator/AkiToyosaki and Creator/MinakoKotobuki took off from their time with their idol group Sphere.
49	** Yui to Creator/AkiToyosaki. Though 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. Not the case with Yui's English VA, Creator/StephanieSheh, who had already made her mark as [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Orihime]], [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Hinata]], amongst others.
50	** Ritsu to Creator/SatomiSato and Creator/CassandraLeeMorris. Interestingly, although Ritsu is one of Satou's most famous roles, a lot of the characters she voiced before and since are quiet and demure, directly against Ritsu's type. Most notable of these roles is Eru Chitanda from ''Literature/{{Hyouka}}''.
51	** Mio to Creator/YokoHikasa. The creepiest part is the resulting roles seem to [[Literature/InfiniteStratos all]] [[Literature/IsThisAZombie have]] [[Manga/SeitokaiYakuindomo that]] [[Anime/OccultAcademy hair]]. On the other hand, much of the characters she voiced since [[PlayingAgainstType aren't exactly]] [[ShrinkingViolet the shy type]] like Mio. Her English actress Creator/CristinaValenzuela was also established by this point, however this was the role that made her more well known in anime dubbing leading her into becoming one of the most noteworthy English dub voice actors of her generation.
52	** Mugi to Creator/MinakoKotobuki and Creator/ShelbyLindley. Kotobuki, in particular, has recently become the go-to-girl for Ojou characters, though these characters tend to be more domineering, bitchy, and substantially less nice and innocent than Mugi.
53	** Azusa to Creator/AyanaTaketatsu and Creator/ChristineMarieCabanos. It is worth noting that Azusa was Taketatsu's first major role, debuting in the year of ''K-On![='=]s'' premiere, and with one OVA episode under her belt.
54	* TechnologyMarchesOn :
55	** A cassette recorder is used to record the band's complete song list, of all things.
56	** Apparently, Ritsu carries around Polaroids of pan pastries at all times just to make a bad pun. The show narrowly missed the smartphone revolution, which would've allowed her to access thousands of weird, random pictures with the tap of a screen. Google Maps would've stopped them from getting lost in Kyoto, too (then again, even with a map, Ritsu got them all lost).
57	* TouristBump: Houkago Tea Time's trip to England in the movie has promoted London to a beloved pilgrimage site for anime fans, following the footsteps of the heroines to beloved landmarks such as Big Ben, the London Eye, the Troubabour Cafe in Brompton where they enjoyed a lovely breakfast of eggs benedict (and where Music/TheBeatles and Music/BobDylan both once performed), 221B Baker Street of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' fame, and of course, Music/AbbeyRoad where Music/TheBeatles crossed for the eponymous album.

Context Trivia / KOn