K-ON! Shuffle

K-ON! Shuffle
	Volume 1 ; Volume 2 ; Volume 3 ;
Genre	Comedy, Music, Slice of life
Manga: K-ON! Shuffle
Author	Kakifly
Publisher	Japan: Houbunsha
Demographic	Seinen
Serialized in	Manga Time Kirara
Original run	July 9th, 2018 – Ongoing
Volumes	3

K-ON! Shuffle is the most recent instalment of the K-ON! Manga series. It began serialization in the August 2018 issue of Manga Time Kirara on July 9, 2018.^[1] The first volume released in February 27th 2020. The second volume released in July 27th 2022. The third volume released in March 27th 2024. Yen Press published an English localization of the first volume on 18th April 2023.

The story features a new cast of characters and takes place in Hikarigaoka High School, a different high school than the original, but is also about the activities of a band club. In addition, there are various nods to the original K-ON! series, given that Shuffle takes place within the same timeline. The protagonist is inspired to take up the drums after seeing "a certain band" from Sakuragaoka High School play at a school festival.

Plot[]

Best friends and first-year high schoolers, Yukari Sakuma and Kaede Shimizu, are visitors at a festival held by the students of Sakuragaoka High. However, while on the verge of getting caught attending without an invitation, both girls make a hasty escape to the nearest venue - a stage concert performed by the school's very own Light Music Club. Enchanted by the spell of this all-girl ensemble, Yukari and Kaede vowed soon after the performance to form their own group, with Yukari dead set on playing the drums.

But when the two return to their own school, they are distraught to learn that a Light Music club is not on the list of activities there. Fellow classmate Maho Sawabe, who the girls mistake as being sympathetic to their cause, eventually informs Yukari that their school actually has a Light Music "Appreciation Society" instead. The three decide to pay the club a visit, only to be met by a distressed second-year student named Riko Satou, whose lone presence continues to sustain the memories of a once-thriving club. Having learned from Riko that the Light Music Appreciation Society was already on the brink of dissolution, Yukari suddenly declares that she will join her as a member, followed immediately by Kaede.

With her dream of becoming a drummer unfolding before her very eyes, Yukari pledges from there on to help grow the club and, despite her total inexperience in music, her own band.

Characters[]

Most characters of K-On! Shuffle have surnames derived from members of the Japanese bands Skirt and Mitsume.

Main Characters (Risa And Her Happy Friends)[]

Yukari Sakuma (佐久間紫, Yukari Sakuma) 2nd Year, drummer.: An intelligent girl who excels academically, but has a tendency to rush headlong into things.
Kaede Shimizu (清水楓, Kaede Shimizu) 2nd Year, bassist.: While a "cool beauty" on the surface, she actually prefers to take it easy in life and march to her own beat.
Maho Sawabe (澤部真帆, Maho Sawabe) 2nd Year, guitarist.: A serious, down-to-earth girl who made a commitment to both the Basketball Club and the Light Music Club.
Risa Kawabe (川辺リサ, Risa Kawabe) 1st Year, vocalist: Fashion-conscious, far from timid, has great communication skills. Wants to be a vocalist.
Ranka Ohtake (大竹蘭花, Ranka Ohtake) 1st Year, guitarist: Taciturn and mysterious, but sincere underneath it all. Learning to play guitar

Secondary Characters[]

Riko Satou (佐藤莉子, Riko Satou) 3rd Year.: She once fought to keep the Light Music Club alive as its lone member.
Shinano Iwasaki (岩崎しなの, Shinano Iwasaki) 3rd Year, guitarist/bassist.: She made her return as a Light Music Club member after studying abroad for a short time.
Kano Yamamoto (山本夏音, Kano Yamamoto) 3rd Year, bassist: Having mastered a few difficult passages of music, she once again finds herself standing in the club room of the Light Music Club.
Karin Shimada (島田花凛, Karin Shimada) 2nd Year.: Basketball Club member and Maho's friend. Drops by the Light Music Club to see how Maho is doing.
Kurumi Sakuma (佐久間胡桃, Kurumi Sakuma) 3rd Year.: Unlike her younger sister, Yukari, she attends Sakuragaoka High School.
Yuna (ユナ, Yuna) 1st Year.: Basketball Club member and Natsu's friend. Fan of Risa.
Natsu (ナッ, Natsu) 1st Year.: Basketball Club member and Yuna's friend. Enthusiastic fan of Risa.

Publication[]

After six years since the end of the serialization of both K-ON! High School and K-ON! College - which ended in the August 2012 issue of Manga Time Kirara Carat and the July 2012 issue of Manga Time Kirara, respectively - K-ON! Shuffle was first announced in the July 2018 issue of Manga Time Kirara. The magazine would publish the series' first chapter a month later in the August 2018 issue and be serialized from there on.^[2]

Chapters[]

Volume 1[]

July 9th 2018 - February 27th 2020

Volume 2[]

February 7th 2020 - July 27th 2022

Volume 3[]

April 7th 2022 - March 27th 2024

Volume 4[]

Chapter 1

Retcons[]

Currently there have been a couple of retcons since K-ON! Shuffle started publishing

Canon years (Yui joined High School in 2007 and graduated in 2010) have been changed to just modern day with no exact years mentioned. This could have been started as early as K-ON! College, as it makes no reference to any year and even chooses to censor a sign that has a date. The retcon is more supportive/obvious in Shuffle due to the larger difference in technology.
Smartphones are owned by most characters. This includes Ritsu who says she has always had one, even if during K-ON's original run, even anime and movie, she had a "feature phone" which seems to be a Sony Ericsson slide phone (unknown reference model).
- The original definition of a smartphone was a phone, in which the apps shared the data. With the iPhone and Android making their debut, the definition changed slowly and split into "featured phone" and "smartphones" as they are known today.
- As the original series started in 2007, same year as Apple's iPhone, the definition of a smartphone has not changed to that day.

Trivia[]

All 3 current Volume covers misspell guitar as "guiter"
Compared to the original series volumes some aspects no longer reoccur/were changed within the spin off volumes
- Just like Volume 5/College's cover, there is no short message from Kakifly as well as no image of Kakifly's guitar collection within the flap
- There is no afterword message Kakifly
- There is no omake 4koma regarding the characters and a unique quirk of theirs
- Just like Volume 5/College & Volume 6/High School there are multiple characters on the front cover
- The volume colour no longer matches with a certain character's key colour
- The character lists no longer feature every character with only a few shown in each volume (Volume One-Kaede, Yukari, Maho| Volume Two- Kano, Shinano, Riko| Three- Ranka, Risa)
The Hikarigaoka School emblem sometimes isn't shown on the uniform throughout chapters with colour or on the covers, similar to the Sakuragaoka School skirts in the original series sometimes being a solid grey with no tartan design
Risa's outfit in the 'Bonus illustration for purchasing Volume Two' is very similar to Mio's outfit from the Kirara Fantasia "Chocolate Panic" Valentine's Day 2019 event
During the release of Volume 3's Tankoubon, 7 different concepts where released as purchase benefits for different artworks. Several of these were the artworks featured on the front cover of Manga Time Kirara's issues

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ www.dokidokivisual.com - Manga Time Kirara Back Issue Description.
↑ Wikipedia:jp:けいおん

[1] www.dokidokivisual.com - Manga Time Kirara Back Issue Description.

[2] Wikipedia:jp:けいおん

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