It has been revealed that on Saturday, January 23rd on TBS there will be a 24 hour marathon of of the anime adaptation of Kakifly’s K-ON!.
The 24 hours of non-stop K-ON! goodness will showcase all 12 episodes of the anime’s first season, all 24 episodes of the second season, and the K-ON! Movie– twice!. Here is the full schedule on TBS:
- January 23rd: 11:00am JST – K-ON! Movie
- January 23rd: 1:00pm JST – K-ON! (12 episodes of season 1 + 2 extra episodes)
- January 23rd: 7:5pm JST – K-ON!! (24 episodes of season 2 + 3 extra episodes)
- January 24th: 9:00am JST – K-ON! Movie
The voice actresses of the anime: Aki Toyosaki (Yui Hirasawa), Yoko Hikasa (Mio Akiyama), Satomi Satou (Ritsu Tainaka), Minako Kotobuki (Tsumugi Kotobuki) and Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa Nakano), have made comments about the marathon announced, you can read them here.
The anime celebrated its 5th anniversary in 2014 with the release of Blu-ray boxsets for both seasons. The Blu-ray box set of the first season of K-ON! contains all the episodes in full HD quality, with Japanese and English subtitles. Also included are interviews, all episodes of the ONA K-On!: Ura-On!, 9 post cards – 2 of key visuals and the 7 volume covers and a booklet containing character designs, episode synopsis, background art and special messages from the characters. The box set also contains audio commentary, non-credited opening and endings, and a special calendar.
The entire box set costs ¥28,080 (~ $280.80 USD) on Amazon Japan.
The K-ON!! Blu-ray boxset contains the entire second season that aired in 2010. All the episode will be on 6 Blu-ray discs for a total of 648 minutes of tea drinking fun. There will also be audio commentary on the discs, which all audio on the discs are available in Dolby Digital. Other goodies includes 9 post cards – two key visuals and the Blu-ray covers of volumes 1-9, a special booklet that contains information about each episode, character introductions and messages from the cast, an audio CD with older audio commentary from the staff of the anime, and the non-credit versions of the Openings and Endings of the anime.
The boxset also includes the web series K-On!!: Ura-On!!. All episodes of the anime and web series will contain both Japanese and English subtitles. Altogether, the entire K-ON!! box set will cost ¥37,000 (~ $370 USD) without tax on Amazon Japan.
K-ON! is a 4koma manga written and illustrated by Kakifly. The manga began in serialization in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara magazine in 2007, and ended in 2012. A total of 6 volumes have released for the series and over 2.5 million copies have been sold. The series received an anime adaptation in 2009 by Kyoto Animation (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Free!) as well as a sequel series in 2010, and a film in 2012. The series also received many OVAs and specials since the anime’s release and two video games have released based on the series, including an Arcade Card Game. The series was also well known for its music, where over 3 million CDs have been sold. In addition a series of Live Concerts featuring the main voice actresses were also held. The entire franchise has grossed over 15 billion yen (~ $150 Million USD) as of 2011.
Here is a synopsis of the series from MAL:
Hirasawa Yui, a young, carefree girl entering high school, has her imagination instantly captured when she sees a poster advertising the “Light Music Club.” Being the carefree girl that she is, she quickly signs up. However, Yui has a problem, she is unable to play an instrument.
When Yui goes to the clubroom to explain, she’s greeted by the other members: Ritsu, Mio, and Tsumugi. Although disheartened at Yui’s lack of musical know-how, they still try to convince her to stay to prevent the club’s disbandment. After playing Yui a short piece which re-ignites her imagination, they succeed in keeping their new member and guitarist.
Along with the tasks of school and homework, Yui begins to learn the guitar with the help of the other band members, experiencing many mishaps along the way. However, with the school festival drawing near and Yui getting stuck with her practice, will the Light Music Club be ready in time for their debut?
A 24 hour marathon of K-ON! will run on TBS on January 23rd. It will first show the movie, followed by the first and second season, and ending once again with the film.
You can still purchase various items for the 5th anniversary campaign: http://animaru.jp/shop/e/e30001/
Also, visit the anime’s official website: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/k-on/
