Reviews for K-On! High School

Before you read the K-On! Highschool it is highly recommended that you either read the original K-ON manga or the first two seasons of the anime. The general tone of K-ON Highschool is very similar to its prequel: a light-hearted slice of life comedy written in a 4koma/Yonkoma style. It also does not have much a plot, the main premise of the story is basically a group of girls hanging out and having fun with their club. If you prefer your manga to have a solid concrete plot this isn't the manga for you. K-ON Highschool takes place after the original series. It stars Azusa Nakano whois now the president of the Light Music Club (Pop Music Club in the official manga translation) and how she has to get new members and continue the legacy of the Light Music Club.

Ui Hirasawa and Jun Suzuki, her friends from the previous series, have already joined the club and the 3 of them need at least 1 more member to make sure their club doesn't get shut down. (In Japanese schools you need at least 4 active members in order to be considered a club.)

Thankfully, they are able to find and recruit two new members: Sumire Satou and Nao Okuda. However, the two characters don't have any musical experience before joining so the new Light Music Club will have some unique obstacles in this manga.

While the general tone and humor are very similar to the original series, with a brand new set of main characters (Azusa and Sawako aside) this series is able to create its own new and unique funny quirks and jokes without copying a lot from the original series.

Azusa is the serious one who wants the club to always be practicing, Ui is the very caring and responsible one, Jun is the somewhat lazy one, Sumire is shy and nice but has a goal of wanting to get back Mugi's old tea set and Nao is the stoic one who is really good at studying. Sawako is still the same lovable adviser with a love of cosplaying.

The group's dynamic and interaction is different enough from the original series to not feel like a total clone of it. Regardless, the interaction between the main characters is amusing and very enjoyable, just like the original series.

The one main flaw I have with the series is how short it is. The series covers 6 months of in-universe time in 14 chapters, which isn't bad at all. However, unlike the original series where you have 50+ chapters to get to know the 5 main characters, I feel like the series could have at least 10 chapters longer.

This is especially bad for the new characters Sumire and Nao. While they are very likable characters and you get a basic feel of their personalities, I feel like I could have gotten to know them even more.

Despite that, this short sequel was quite enjoyable for what it is.

If any of the following apply:

A.You liked the original series

B.You wanted to see what happened with the Light Music Club after the main series

C.You just want a manga with fun happy times

then I highly recommend this manga.

It’s Azusa’s third year in high school and she has to get new members for her club before it is about to be disbanded. With the help of her two friends, Jun and Ui, the club face a lot of small challenges but at the same time enjoy their after-school time. Nothing much can be said about this 4-coma manga since it’s basically like how it is like in the anime. Well, I haven’t read this 4-volume series yet, but based of watching the two seasons and the movie, I think it probably follows the source and adding more interesting moments. But overall, I love theslice of life goodness in the story. There are some hilarious moments, and also there are good feel moments. Sadly, the story is very fast-paced and under one volume, hence I definitely wish for more content.

There are two new characters, as you’ve already seen on the back cover of the manga: Nao and Sumire. Both of them have a nice personality and an interesting background, although not very special. All of the characters are rounded as they express their emotions well, whether they’ll be laughing over a joke or feel ashamed over their actions. Not much feels, although I would love some. There are some character development of most of the characters as the story progresses and I like it.

Not having read the 4-volume series, I wouldn’t know much about the art style in the manga. But it’s pretty much well-done. I like the tones of the backgrounds for added effects. The coloured pages look nice, although a bit bland as well. The character designs look good and cute, as what I would see in the anime. The facial expressions often exaggerates for comedic relief and they are well-done.

I really wanted more of this. The pacing of the story is honestly too rushed for me, although I know that in both seasons, it happens to be that way. Of course, there’s College to look forward to. I actually wonder if both groups can meet together.

If you want more K-On! and slice of life sweetness, this manga is definitely worth reading, along with the College.

This spin-off takes place after the main manga ending. We'll see how Azusa faces the problems of being the president of the light music club and, along with Jun and Ui, tries to recruit new members to save the club from disappearing. Story: 5 Slice of Life/Comedy/School 4-koma manga, it is what it is. It's the same as the main manga, but when I say "the same", I mean it literally. The chemistry and interactions between characters are literally the same as the original club's members used to have. Also the goals of the club are the same, drink tea and practice with the band. The author is lookingfor nostalgic feelings instead of fresh ideas, but still funny tho.

Art: 5

K-ON's mangas have never been outstanding because of the art, that's for sure. The design of the characters is generic, it's the same "shape" with different accessories or hair for almost all the characters. Scenarios are average too.

Characters: 5

If you watched the first Love Live and Sunshine, you'll know how "new characters" thing works here.

1) Azusa (Mio junior):

We all know her, so there's no problem because she was part of the original club and her character was a positive addition to the main manga. Here we will see how she faces the problems of the club as the new and inexperienced president.

2) Ui (Yui + a little bit of Tsumugi):

She's here to take Yui's cute airhead rol, but at least she's smarter than her older sister.

3) Jun (Ritsu):

She's Ritsu with different face and name, also she only has 75% of Ritsu's troll power.

4) Sumire (Tsumugi + Mio):

Mugi's ojou-sama/maid personality + Mio's extremely shy personality. She even has direct relation with Mugi's family, so she usually helps "Tsumugi ojou-sama" with her requests

5) Nao (Nodoka + Yui’s uselessness)

At first sight she looks like another Nodoka, she seems reliable and mature, but in fact she is literally useless when she tries to do something new.

Enjoyment: 7

I had fun reading this, nothing compared to the main story with the original characters tho.

Overall: 6

Every K-ON fan would like to read this, specially since it's a direct sequel.

Before you read this manga, I recommend you read the K-ON! manga or watch the anime series beforehand. It follows from where the manga [and anime] left off from the former junior Azusa Nakano's point of view as the new Light/Pop Music Club president along side her friends Ui and Jun. It is very similar to Vol 1 except there is a comparison between the new club and the former club members (read Vol 1-4 or watch Season 1 and 2 and movie for reference). Gaining new members or the club isn't official, learning new instruments and even more tea to be had in between. Nomatter what form you're reading in, (PC/ebook or manga) this is a really good read following from the rollercoaster of the source material by the author Kakifly and the Studio Kyoto Animation respectively.

K-On Highschool continues in the same style as its predecessor. Starting with the art, we have cute and very expressive characters, as well as simple backgrounds. A simple style, but effective for this type of manga. The designs of the new characters also meet this and are easy to differentiate, creating a visually varied cast. Now, as for the story, K-On was a moe festival, and "Highschool" continues with the same type of comedy as K-On. The focus of this manga is, once again, the daily lives of the Light Music Club members, and there is no goal or plot. You should not expect anything complexor incredible from this work, but the least you can ask for is that it be entertaining… which it does not quite achieve. Of course, there are gags at every moment, but it is not as funny as its predecessor for one simple reason: the characters.

To start with the main cast, we have Ui, a responsible and caring girl. She was funny in the original K-On manga, mainly because of the irresponsible-older-sister/responsible-younger-sister dynamic she had with Yui. In Highschool this dynamic is lost, and frankly there are almost no memorable moments with her. On the other hand, Ui's personality is not made to be one of the main characters.

Jun is more of the same. She complains a lot and can be lazy, but these traits are not properly exploited. Let's compare her to Yui: she was not only dumb, she was VERY dumb, and most of the time she did or said things that showed it, and funny situations were created around this. Sure, she could be considered a character with little complexity, but this is K-On, the idea is just to have a good time.

Regarding the new characters, we have Nao, a student who is clumsy but studious. The other new character is Sumire, who is shy and insecure. They were not memorable characters either, although at least they have some development and depth.

Lastly, there is Azusa. It cannot be denied that she had development and new aspects of her were shown, having to assume a leadership role and carry on the club. On the other hand, one might think that she would be just as funny as in the old K-On... but she is not. The funny thing about Azusa was how the rest of Hokago Tea Time interacted with her, because they treated her like a little girl while she tried to be responsible and reasonable. That is to say, Azusa was not funny on her own, but because of those around her.

And this last thing is also relevant: the interactions between the characters are not that funny. Occasionally Azusa scolds Nao, or Sumire acts scared in front of the group because she thinks she screwed up, but it all just ends up feeling more bland due to their weak personalities. Also, there are no extroverted characters like Ritsu or Yui to balance out the new group made up of mostly introverts (having only introverted characters isn't bad, but for a comedy of this type, it's not the best cast).

As a result, the manga has much weaker jokes and situations than any original K-On volume. Since there is no plot, K-On must rely on its characters, and sadly this manga doesn't do the best job in this aspect. Even the ending could have been somewhat more special. Sure, K-On never had a plot beyond playing music and drinking tea, but it missed the opportunity to show some more powerful or memorable event.

K-On Highschool isn't a bad manga, but it's pretty forgettable compared to its predecessor. I recommend this work to those who really liked K-On, especially if their favorite character was Azusa.

Pretty good. It has character development for Azunyan, and surprisingly for Tsumugi too. Mostly this sequel serves Azunyan, though. It felt like her character needed this, and now she's complete. This manga also sheds light on what After-school Tea Time's legacy is like, and how people in-universe think about the old cast. Sawa-chan's return was another highlight, since I always liked her. She plays a major role. Overall, I recommend this. It puts a bow on everything despite the new light music members being nothing special. I really don't have much more to say about this manga, but the site won't let me post unless Iwrite some more. So yeah, one of the new light music club members is a computer nerd. She actually acts as the group's producer; the original crew didn't have one of those. That was kind of cool and different. I hope this is enough text.