K-ON! Merchandising Madness
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Jun 21, 2009 00:28 JST
- Tags: Anime Goods, K-ON!, Kyoto Animation, Marketing, Otaku, Product Placement
Recently concluded K-ON! offered during its run a plethora of easter eggs for otaku sleuths to identify, photograph, and in many cases, purchase for their ever-growing collections.
Cameos of real world locations featured in the show (such as Azusa’s musical hall) are plentiful, but pales in comparison to the truly staggering number of actual consumer products seen and identified in the show:
Tsumugi’s Phone
Mio’s Travel Bag
Sawa-chan’s Suitcase
Tsumugi’s Rice Cooker
Or, this is at least a rice cooker found kept at one of her vacation homes.
Ritsu’s Bag
You may need to squint to see it below.
Ritsu’s Phone
Ritsu’s Phone Strap
Azusa’s Tuner
There’s likely a better name for this than “tuner”…
Speakers
Mugi’s Yacht
(!)
Fans with keen memories will notice that Episode 10 was overflowing with such sightings – all the above screenshots (excluding the cover image) are from that episode of the show.
Presumably, having the girls not visiting school once and instead being focused on their practice trip / mini-vacation allowed for these many of the girl’s personal belongings to be on display.
There were many similar sightings in other episodes, however:
Tsumugi’s Bag
Part-Time Job Counters
These are the hand-held clickers the girls used on their part-time jobs when trying to raise funds for Yui’s guitar.
Nodoka’s Phone
Ritsu’s Pen
One Ritsu fan apparently already owned two of the pens before the anime aired in a strange twist of fate – he then bought a third to add to his Ritsu collection:
Mio’s Melon
One poster on 2-ch even managed to identify the mysterious item Mio was holding on the beach in Episode 4:
The Episode 12 finale continued the tradition, including several more sightings as well…
Yui’s Thermometer & Thermos
This shot of Yui’s table offers two identifiable products:
An Alfi Thermos (available for purchase here).
Yui’s thermometer, identifiable by the green dot and bulge on the outer case.
Sawa-chan’s Guitar
Sawa-chan uses the Gibson Custom Shop Limited Runs Flying V Mahogany / TV White, which is also available online for only ¥298,000.
Mio’s Laptop
The computer Mio was using in the bonus episode preview is easily identified:
One devoted fan who purchased Mio’s guitar, a Fender-Japan JB62 (albeit a right-handed version), is lucky enough to also have the same brand of laptop, making these lovely tribute photos possible:
Otaku devotees have hunted down many of these products to add them to their shrines, and many of the items can be seen advertised on Japanese anime sites by way of Amazon, leaving us to wonder whether these placements were all accidental…















































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Mio’s Melon ftw?
Yeah, that one was kinda silly, haha!
Being a guitar player, I got super-annoyed when you called the Marshall amps "speakers." That's a highly inaccurate statement. On a side note, how the HELL can they afford Marshalls?! Oh wait, I forgot about Mugi...
Another thing to point out is that the bass in the second to last pic is not a Fender Jazz Bass. It is a Legend Flame-Top Bass: http://www.legendguitars.com/navi.php?action=showg&iid=40&catid=4. [http://www.legendguitars.com/navi.php?action=showg&iid=40&catid=4.]
Sorry to get so anal on you guys, but I just wanted to make sure you had all your facts straight.
But Mio uses the Fender.
Lol....did the otaku buy the wrong bass?
Talk about fail.
omg you mean a guitar in anime isnt supposed to look like a real guitar??? oh shit!!!
So from now on in all future anime, they cant have anything that looks like anything that already exists~~ So start drawing laptop blobs and cell phones that are shaped like palm trees....
We miss one important thing, their swim suit. Anyone can tell the brand? XD
i wonder if they can find Mio's 'Melons'?
lol'd
a lot of those items are just general items that many asians (and some non asians) simply have, aha.
I have used like 3 electric therms. since as far as i can remember
99% Coppied
1% Rip off the yacht lol
I LOL'ed at the melon.
Truly devoted fans would get together and start a Keion club of their own and basically stick to the story all throughout high school.....I would do that too if I weren't a guy.
D:
But then again maybe an extreme otaku would go as far as getting a sex-change...
uh ! nothing about the Mio's Camera ? http://microsites.lomography.com/lca+/ [http://microsites.lomography.com/lca /]
No 37:
Fake Mio bass guitar, he settled for Legend brand
Now I gotta wonder if Sawako-sensei could actually afford that on her salary...
Anime pub~
That's alot of items
I guess the animators has those things and added them and some like yamaha are sponsors
Argh. I'm actually looking for a new rice cooker right now, but Mugi's Zojirushi is way out of my budget ...
http://www.amazon.co.jp/象印-NP-LT10-WP-ZOJIRUSHI-真空圧力IH炊飯ジャー極め炊き-プライムホワイト/dp/B001D0HL4O
Mio's mellon and the mechanical pencil wtf
mio's melon LOL AHAHAHAHH XD
whoa...you must really be diligent to be able to identify all of those items hahaha...
Okay, I want that CCCP bag badly.
But, but...what about Yui's keitai? ;_;
I know mio's headphones are pretty damn good ones in real life, forgot the name >.>
AKG K701
NOOOOOOOOOOO! SHE'S USING A MAC! PC FOREVER!!
The melon looks so reluctantly...
I wouldn't be so sure the laptop is a Macbook.
Look at the port locations and sizes of a 13 inch Macbook. They MATCH up, As my 13 inch Macbook is sitting next to me... I can see it plain as day.
Episode 13 confirms it. Although a true otaku would want the qwerty/kana keyboard.
I want that melon(s)~
Seems to me that its a new way making commercials while airing animes. Or is this the economy pack for Japan to overcome the world crisis?
Not really since the most artists draw things in anime without knowing that they are to buy irl too. Otakus just search if every tiny thing is for sell irl somewhere.
so who's gonna buy the yach? >.>
Logo on the V clearly says Epiphone...
Ritsu is a communist???
We need links to each product and where to buy please!
lol on that watermerlon...
it can be found everywhere ... lololololol
Some of these are unmistakable when compared with the real-life equivalent, but some are a stretch. Has KyoAni said anything about this, or are they just keeping quiet?
I guess this ends the mac vs pc debate.
I'm going to be getting a new laptop in a week and I think I know what kind I want now. I might also get a melon if I have any money left over.
It's like an anime version of those "I Spy" books.
I guess Mio is rich (not much as Tsugumi) after all.
Mio Watermelon????
WTF?!?!?!?
It's Great
Fuck all these cheap trinkets, where can I buy Mugi's resort houses? Anyone got sauce on those yet?
Yeah, i finally can say it - I've got the same Mac!!1^^
sighs,... I've got the same hair band as Ritsu.
btw - I have the same forelocks as Mio - IRL.
o.o
Amazing. Now I want to get one of those bags. Or maybe a Ritsu keychain. <3
http://www.guitar.com.au/guitars/electric/gibson/lpcustom50th.htm
azusa's rich ass guitar
watch ep 13.
http://www.inretro.net/cccp-retro-print-holdall-white-i1663.html
Ritsu bag.
Wow... product placement galour lol.
Sometime its fun to stop how much advertising there is in movies n tv shows lol. Was thinking that earlier tonight when flicking past Minority Report. Lexus is slapped in your face so very much... Heineken beer too, but Lexus was the most blantent branding evaaaa! Much like the Audi's in iRobot lol.
Mio's melons are hot.
cccp?
combined community codec pack
with old soviet logo =.=;;
Or Complete Collection of Child Pr0n...?
Nice yacht.
The yacht looks odd in comparison.
I'd like to buy MIO's virginity.
Ritsu has a soviet union bag? nice XD
It's always fun to see how people actually found these things in real life ^_^
guitar says epiphone yo
with so much hype, I am surprised that there won't be a second season/
I think they don't have any raw material (= mangas) enough for a 2nd season.
But, knowing KyoAni, maybe in 2012, when they did a rerun of K-On... ;3
Wow. It's both interesting how they used so many real objects and impressive (and a little disturbing) that otaku were able to identify them! I can only wonder how they manage to research these things... their google-fu must be honed to a razor's edge.
Also: "Tuner" is accurate, unless you wanted to get into major specifics about what *TYPE* it is. No one would fault you for just calling it a tuner, though.
ya, unless theyre hardcore or professional, most instrument players simply refer to it as a tuner.
and if they're hardcore or professional, the term is still "TUNER", duh
Thanks, I was at a loss to what to call it.
mugi and ritsu's cell phones intrigue me.
actually, Sawa-chan guitar looks like an epiphone :/
What makes it epiphoney in your eyes?
the logo on the head
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2457/3643570611_c560db5763_o.jpg
looks like epiphone to me
yes, certainly - I thought it would be me, but yeah - the more I look at it, the more it really looks like an Epiphone logo.
But still - the KORG AW-1 tuner is a Yamaha Tuner in K-on :D They probably mixed up the brands again - and Epiphone.. I mean... everyone has expensive gear in this anime and Epiphone would be against the whole concept :D
nooo dont make me buy a mac, lol the melon made me laugh
Mio using a mac? I knew she was a slut.
Being an otaku can be a reall pain in the ass. As it is obvious many cannot resist not to buy this TOTALLY unneeded merchandise. :(
The girls of K-On seem to be rich little girls as the instruments alone that they use cost small fortunes.
http://chan.sankakucomplex.com/post/show/349708/band-bass-bass_guitar-cap-chart-drum-drums-drum_se
You must be new to Sankaku Complex.
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/04/18/k-on-spoilt-princess-anime/
I'm...new? I don't want an anon telling me that.
Oh, you should visit the channel sometime.
How about their bikini?Have the IDENTIFIED it yet?kerokerokero
Somebody need to add Sawa-chan and Azu-nyan guitar to that picture.
Yacht?
No thanks. I'll go make one made from Paper.
Nice bag:D
Also, I'm a bit curious to that soft mashimaro thing... candy?
Are you trolling? You have no idea what marshmallows are?
No Mio's pantsu?
No, but you might be able to find a blue-and-white, striped rice bowl.
I wonder if a real devoted fan will get 3 macbook pro for collection
a real devoted fan would buy the yacht
yeah, and if someone did found out the location of tsumugi's resorts, i wonder what they'll do....
a real devoted fan would marry the cast of K-ON! and dress the voice actors as such.
I have the same rice cooker xD~
imma buy that yacht
I'm going to buy 13 copies of that yacht.
i will buy that melonnnnn~~~~
Haha...
Watermelon XD
Well I Guess its a good thing?
Wait! THE DRUM!!! U DIDNT SHOW US THE DRUM SET!?!?!
zomg its a watermelon! where do u get one like that! =D
true devotion.
i sometimes envy otakus and their wallets
Why are all the other otaku's so rich and me so, so poor. Goddamn college.
no they "recycle"
I guess otaku can save money by not having a girlfriend.
Well, I don't have one, but I'm still flat-fucking-broke.
they just dont eat.
Or they do; just cupped noodles.
boats n hos?
gotta get me some boats n hoes
IM on a boat motha fucka!
Take a good hard look at the motherfucking boat!
Shut up, it's not funny.
nice boat?
Don't! Yacht is fucking imposter! The windows totally different.