Forming the Light Music Club

Yui Hirasawa joins the struggling Light Music Club at Sakuragaoka High School, and the four founding members come together to keep it from being disbanded.

The opening stretch of K-On! establishes the premise that anchors the whole series. At Sakuragaoka High School, the Light Music Club is on the verge of closure because it lacks the minimum number of members required to remain an official club. Ritsu Tainaka, who wants to play drums, drags her cautious friend Mio Akiyama along, and the wealthy, cheerful Tsumugi Kotobuki soon joins as keyboardist. They are still one member short until Yui Hirasawa wanders in, mistakenly believing the club involves something easy and relaxing. Yui has never touched an instrument in her life, and much of the early comedy comes from her struggle to even hold a guitar, let alone play one. The girls quickly discover that the club, supervised by teacher Sawako Yamanaka, is as much about drinking tea and eating cakes as it is about music. Yet beneath the lighthearted slice-of-life rhythm, this section gently sets up the bonds and routines that the rest of the manga will deepen, as four very different girls decide they genuinely want to make music together.