Ritsu Tainaka Trivia


 * Her drum kit is a Yamaha Rick Marotta Signature Hipgig in Mellow Yellow, which is now discontinued, the yellow model being even rarer than the other colors. The Hipgig is an interesting compact drum kit: All of the smaller drums fit inside the kick drum, while the rest of the gear fits inside the container used as a throne, though Ritsu uses a standard throne. This was shown in Ritsu's flashback to the day she got the kit; Mio and she are actually carrying the entire thing in those two cases! Yamaha's page for the Hipgig.


 * Her surname is taken from former P-Model drummer, Sadatoshi Tainaka.


 * The kanji of Ritsu's given name (律), when read as "ritsu" as in her name, can refer to musical pitch or to the Japanese seven-tone gagaku musical scale.
 * Ritsu was the only one out of the original four members that actually intended to join the Light Music Club, and was also primarily responsible for each of the other three original members joining; she insisted that Mio join, created the skit that amused Tsumugi (who originally intended to join the choir club) and caused her to want to join, as well as suggested to Yui that the others play a song for her, which was what finally caused Yui to actually join the club. If Ritsu had never existed, the Light Music Club would have received no applications and would have been disbanded.
 * Ritsu eats a lot of rice. When the girls visited a shop that sold travel equipment in preparation for their trip overseas, Mio pointed out the rice section to Ritsu and said that Ritsu would need it more than anyone else.
 * Ritsu is ticklish under her arms.
 * Although Ritsu had once mentioned that, being a drummer, it was impossible for her to sing, Ritsu still sang Tenshi ni Fureta yo! for Azusa while playing the drums.
 * She is a fan of The Who and her favorite drummer is Keith Moon, though she is not fond of his tendency to destroy his drum set and similar violent behavior.
 * Although Mio had described Ritsu's room as "so messy it is impossible to walk", scenes of Ritsu's room seem generally neat. Interestingly, Ritsu's own accounts of Mio's room (e.g. covered in panties) are similarly inaccurate.
 * Ritsu has the widest social life among her friends because she has the friendliest nature among all the members, as well as the natural talent of being able to entertain everyone and make friends. For instance, she was able to click well with Ui in their first meeting, become close friends with Sokabe-senpai and Ayame Yoshida, and still kept in contact with Maki despite already having graduating from elementary 2 years prior.
 * She plays the drums because she hates having to perform complicated movements with her fingers.
 * She lets out an ear-piercing screech just thinking about it.
 * Ritsu can be regarded as the female counterpart to Ringo Starr of The Beatles. Both are anti-authoritarian yet fun and spontaneous drummers defined by their unrestrained enthusiasm and devil may care attitude towards forethought and life in general. Also like Starr, Ritsu shares a close friendship with McCartney's counterpart, Mio, both of whom are the level-headed voice of maturity of their respective bands, who also lifted the spirits of their respective immature friends through the famous use of a post-card (in Mio's case, this occurred in the college story arcs).
 * Out of all the Ho-Kago Tea Time members, Ritsu uses the most profanity.
 * In K-On! Shuffle, it was retconned that Ritsu (& presumably everyone else) has always had a smartphone.
 * In the Animax dub, Ritsu's name is consistently mispronounced; the "t" is silent, but the dub pronounces her name with the "t", so she is referred to as "Rit-soo" instead of the proper pronunciation "Rih-soo".