Ritsu Tainaka

Ritsu Tainaka, called Ricchan (りっちゃん) by Tsumugi Kotobuki and Yui Hirasawa, is one of the 5 main characters in K-ON!. She is the self-appointed president of the Light Music Club and the drummer of the band Ho-kago Tea Time. She was the one who rebooted the Light Music Club when it was on the verge of being disbanded and has become the natural leader of the club since then.

Her voice actresses are Satomi Satō (Japanese) and Cassandra Lee Morris (English).

Character
Ritsu is the source of fun and encouragement in her band, often making jokes, puns, or pranks and being sarcastic much of the time. She has an upbeat yet carefree personality and often has trouble remembering important club activities and announcements. Because of that, she constantly gets whacked by her childhood friend Mio Akiyama. Despite her forgetfulness, she usually brainstorms for ideas to earn more money or for the club's success in general (like blackmailing Sawako Yamanaka to become the club's supervisor). Her attitude of collecting as much money as possible lets her sometimes appear greedy, something she greatly dislikes. Ritsu is always on the go and will stop at nothing for the success of the Light Music Club, even when everyone else gives up.

Ritsu is very barefaced, sometimes audacious, or even impudent, yet she rarely has ill intentions and usually apologizes the moment after she goes too far. On the other hand, her personality has led to her building up a large endurance to Mio smacking her, the bassist being the least tolerant of Ritsu's antics.

From time to time, Ritsu has been shown to be rather lazy as well. When it comes to practicing, she only thinks of having fun with her bandmates (such as having so many tea breaks that they almost drove Azusa Nakano away). During training camps, Ritsu usually votes to play around first the moment they arrive and is often supported by Yui Hirasawa. She is usually too lazy to study and often needs Mio's help (though because of that, she actually scores good marks). On very few occasions, when the pressure is too high, she tends to give up on studying and needs the help of her friends to continue. When she becomes determined, however, she can get her work done in no time. Such determination can be seen in her diligent studying to pass her entrance exam to enter her university of choice so she can study together with her friends. She also loves playing her drums despite being hardly ever willing to practice seriously.

Ritsu has a liking for the band The Who and admires their drummer, Keith Moon, although she dislikes his various past rampages. When it comes to music, Ritsu prefers rock. She also likes metal or punk; as long as it has a good beat, it's alright.

Ritsu is very athletic and is in by far the best physical condition of all members of the Light Music Club. Physical Education is the only subject she is naturally good at.

Ritsu has a strong sense of confidence from an unknown source, although her confidence has led to plenty of the club's problems, such as losing their way in the middle of Kyōto. One of her habits is putting both arms at the back of her head, usually to an annoying effect. She is also very curious and therefore knowledgeable of many places to have fun at, a fact her friend Tsumugi Kotobuki admires. Tsumugi has also described her as the type of person who walks the extra mile for her friends and who would be really popular among girls if she would be a boy (which led Ritsu to hit her out of embarrassment).

Ritsu prefers to put up a tough front and doesn't cry easily. Her weak spot is seeing her friends cry, though even then she'll deny that she's crying with them and try to cheer them up, despite her true feelings being obvious.

Ritsu is a surprisingly good cook and is also very easygoing, using a hexagonal pen in exams to determine the answer she should choose. In stressful situations, however, she quickly loses her head and tries desperate attempts to save the situation that tend to make things worse.

Although she usually acts boyish and childish, she sometimes shows a girly and shy side. For example, when she mistook lyrics Mio had put in her mailbox to be a love letter for her or when she had to play the role of Juliet in her class' school play.

When Ritsu gets in a bad mood, she tends to drag the atmosphere of the club down with her. An example would be her jealous side, which she shows when she thinks Mio is ignoring her and spending more time with Nodoka Manabe. Despite her mostly immature behavior, she has enough common sense to keep her bandmates focused when they need to be, especially when her unreliable teacher Sawako is around.

Appearance
Ritsu's hair color is between dirty blonde-light brown that slightly touches the edge of her shirt's collar, her bangs pulled back with a yellow hairband. Two longer locks of hair fall at the ends of her hairband and touch her shoulders. She has hazel eyes, similar to her hair.

Without her hairband, Ritsu's bangs could reach her nose and can be indistinguishable from Yui. Other than yellow, Ritsu wears other colored hairbands once in a while, such as white, black or red (especially when she was a child). At certain points in the anime, Ritsu uses other objects to hold her hair up, like goggles when the girls visited the beach or when she put it up in a ponytail that stuck up when she was about to sleep during a field trip.

Manga
In the manga, Ritsu does button her blazer, yet, like in the anime, she does not tuck in her uniform when seen without it. Besides her school uniform, she is often seen in polo shirts.

Anime
Her school uniform is often untucked (only tucked in by force, such as when Sawako forced her to or for official purposes like the graduation ceremony or the graduation photo) and her blazer is unbuttoned. She is the only one from the Light Music Club that does not wear the beige waistcoat that is part of the summer school uniform and is instead only wearing her white blouse. Ritsu is seen wearing the school's blue tracksuits most often among her friends, mostly when she plays the drums. She had once exclaimed that she prefers wearing comfortable clothing than any other outfits as she had difficulty drumming in those clothes. Like in the manga, she is often seen in polo shirts outside of school.

Attires
Pants over skirts. She likes to wear polo shirts. {| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="article-table" style="width: 660px; "
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|

Sakuragaoka High School uniform

 * style="text-align: center; "| Ritsu_tainaka.png
 * style="text-align: left; " |Like all Sakuragaoka High School students, Ritsu wears a school uniform. The Sakuragaoka uniform consists of a navy blue blazer (she is always seen wearing it unbuttoned), a solid white buttoned shirt (under the blazer), a colored ribbon (different colors for different student years, Ritsu's year is light blue), a light steel blue skirt, stockings or socks (Ritsu's are white), and maroon shoes. The summer uniform replaces the blazer with a beige waistcoat. Additionally, the subject physical education requires a tracksuit (sport jacket with long pants, colored again depending on the year group) with white striped brims, a white shirt with colored endings (again colored regarding the year group) for the summer semester and white sports shoes.
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|

"Don't say 'lazy'" Attire

 * style="text-align: center; "| Ritsu_Dont_Say_Lazy.png
 * style="text-align: left; "|Ritsu's "Don't say 'lazy'" attire is a black dress with wide pants and long leather shoes. On her upper arms are black laces. Her left hand is covered by a black glove and she wears a ring with a giant red ruby on her right. Her hair is hold back by a dark headband, which has a great black-and-white striped flower attached to it. In the middle of it is another yellow flower.
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|

"Listen!!" Attire

 * style="text-align: center; "| Ritsu listen.png
 * style="text-align: left; " |In "Listen!!", Ritsu's attire is a long, dark green shirt that also covers her hips. Under this shirt, she is wearing another black shirt. She also wears black leggings, yellow shoes, and a black belt. Ritsu's accessories consist of a black glove on her right hand, a black headband and a pair of black hoop earrings
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|

"NO, Thank You!" Attire

 * style="text-align: center; "| Ritsu NO, Thank You! 1.png
 * style="text-align: left; "|In "NO, Thank You!, Ritsu's attire is similar to any school uniform dress code. Her attire is very similar to the Sakuragaoka High School uniform - navy blue blazer and a white buttoned shirt (under the blazer). The only parts different are a "HTT-logo" pinned to her blazer, a plaid grey skirt, a red tie, dark blue socks and her white shoes. She wears a white headband instead of her yellow one. Her attire appears a bit disheveled, with the tie being disorderly tied and the shirt being messily buttoned. Her jacket isn't buttoned either.
 * style="text-align: center; "|Ritsu NO, Thank You! 2.png
 * style="text-align: left; "|Ritsu's second attire in "NO, Thank You!". She wears a plain white shirt under a black hoodie with an orange pin near her right shoulder. She also wears yellow shorts over blue tights. She does not wear a headband, so her hair falls down.
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * style="text-align: left; "|Ritsu's second attire in "NO, Thank You!". She wears a plain white shirt under a black hoodie with an orange pin near her right shoulder. She also wears yellow shorts over blue tights. She does not wear a headband, so her hair falls down.
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|
 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "|

"Singing" Attire

 * style="text-align: center; "| Ritsu Singing attire 1.png
 * style="text-align: left; "|Ritsu's "Singing" attire. Like the rest of the band, she wears a light blue one-piece dress over a white shirt. The skirt goes down to her knees. The dress has four white dots over the chest, a white bow and a white collar. Additionally, Ritsu wears black shoes with white shoelaces over long white socks, which have red and blue stripes on them. She does not wear a headband but a white beret instead. Her hair is not tied and falls down naturally.
 * style="text-align: center; "|Ritsu singing attire 2.png
 * style="text-align: left; "|Ritsu's second attire in "Singing". She wears a grey pull-over with a blue hood, black sleeves and the number "999" on it. Under that, she wears a black-white striped shirt. She also wears a short green skirt over yellow tights and light grey shoes. Her hair is pinned up with a hairclip that features a light blue star.
 * }
 * style="text-align: left; "|Ritsu's second attire in "Singing". She wears a grey pull-over with a blue hood, black sleeves and the number "999" on it. Under that, she wears a black-white striped shirt. She also wears a short green skirt over yellow tights and light grey shoes. Her hair is pinned up with a hairclip that features a light blue star.
 * }

Etymology

 * The name Ritsu means "law, commandment" (律).
 * Ritsu's surname Tainaka means "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta), "well, mine shaft, pit" (井) (i) and "middle" (中) (naka).