K-On!: The Movie

K-On!: The Movie is an American animated movie derived from the animated television series K-On!. It has an original story based on the series and is not a direct adaptation of Nico Vega's series. It follows the five members of the school band Afterschool Tea Time on their graduation trip to London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The film was released by Artisan Entertainment on December 3, 2001.

Plot
The movie begins with Yui struggling to wake up to her alarm, a scene reminiscent of the first episode of the series. At school, Azusa Nakano makes her way to the club room, where Yui and the others are pretending to play an old Death Devil song. Azusa walks in on a heated debate: Ritsu and Yui are arguing over the style of music they are playing, and Mio explains how the disagreement over which direction the club will go might lead to it being disbanded. In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Azusa offers to play old maid, but is swiftly refused by Ritsu, who continues to argue with Yui.

Tsumugi suddenly condemns everyone, which is surprising given her normally gentle disposition. Yui and Ritsu promptly label her the cause of the club's demise for bringing snacks and tea. Azusa turns on the cassette deck only to realize they were only imitating Death Devil. The seniors quickly drop the act, and the club resumes their normal activities.

The five of them sit down for tea with baumkuchen that Tsumugi brought and reflect on the upcoming graduation. They toast the seniors' recent success of having all been accepted into the same university. Sawako unexpectedly joins the toast, commending the girls' accomplishment while being in disbelief that the girls would be graduating so soon. This worries Azusa, who laments the fact that her senpais would soon be gone. Sawako then warns the girls of an upcoming meeting to discuss graduation requirements, like attendance. Clearly spooked, Ritsu and Yui grovel to Sawako, adulating her and Death Devil.

The seniors leave the club room and stroll through the halls with some of their belongings to take home. Yui expresses to her friends that even if they are taller and older, she does not feel that they are truly seniors. She wishes to do something typical of graduating seniors. Excitedly, they sit down to start discussing ideas, with the first idea being a present for Azusa. Speaking of, Azusa has just caught up with the seniors, after following a trail of candy wrappers Yui left 'in case she got lost'.

Back at home, Yui is struggling to think of what kind of gift to leave Azusa. She asks Ui if Azusa has mentioned anything in particular that might be a fitting present. Ui says that all Azusa really wants from her seniors is for them to be more serious when it comes to practice, and to clean up the room every once in a while. That, and she'd appreciate it if Yui didn't hug her as much. Ui jokes that Yui could just stay back a year so they could graduate together, but Yui seems to consider the idea. Yui heads over to her room to strum her guitar rather halfheartedly still undecided on what to do for Azusa.

The next day, the four meet up on their way to school. No one has a concrete idea about their plans. In class, Yui overhears the volleyball team discussing their own plans for a graduation trip to Hawaii. Though Tsumugi and Yui seem to be interested, Ritsu opposes a trip on the basis that they ought to do their own thing rather than copy someone else's plan. Furthermore, their plan should be focused on Azusa more than anything. Meanwhile, the whole of Class 3-2 is also starting to think of a graduation gift for Sawako.

Ironically, Ritsu recants her previous opinion, slyly suggesting the club take a graduation trip. She reasons that the club had already discussed planning a trip, and also had passports. Still, Mio thinks that Azusa's present should be their top priority. As Yui retells Ui's idea of staying back a year, Azusa walks in on their conversation, startling the other girls. Azusa, who only heard the last part about 'staying back a year' is definitely suspicious. While Yui tries to sweep everything under the rug, Tsumugi makes a smooth recovery by changing the topic to their planned graduation trip to the German city of Lünen (the gag being that 'staying back' is pronounced the same as Lünen). And with that, Azusa no longer suspects a thing.

Over afternoon tea, they start to discuss possible destinations, seemingly having all somehow mutually agreed on the plan in order to keep Azusa in the dark about her present. Ritsu suggests Dubai, Yui would like to go to Europe, and Tsumugi just wants to go to the hot springs. Mio's suggestion is far more fleshed out. She'd like to visit London, a city with a rich musical history. Since everyone wants something different, Yui draws out an obviously rigged ghost leg lottery, and is promptly punished. Since no other method will be fair, they let Ton-chan decide by picking one of four teacups paired with their choice of destination. After anxiously waiting for a winner, Ton-chan finally picks London. Yui is completely devastated, before being reminded that London is in Europe. Mio, on the other hand, let out a hysterical celebration. London: the city of music and tea. A perfect choice.

They start planning other parts of the trip like how to arrange rooms. At this point, they invite Azusa along as well, but she's only free on a five day break after her final exams. They decide to work around that, since the Light Music Club just wouldn't be complete without her. She eventually agrees, and gets her mom's permission to go. The other girls realize that they also ought to have asked their parents as well and all quickly whip out their phones to get permission. Upon seeing this, Azusa resolves to remain the sole level-headed counterbalance to her irresponsible, impulsive friends. That night, Yui tells Nodoka all about the plans for the trip.

The following day, Azusa and Ui visit a bookstore. Azusa pulls book after book off of the shelf, all of which are about London. She assumes that it's her responsibility to read up as much information as possible since she doesn't think her seniors will. Azusa confides in Ui her lingering impression Yui is hiding something from her. Ui brushes it off, confident that Yui couldn't possibly hide a secret. All five of the girls then visit a travel agent to book the trip. The agent offers a tour for their five days, but since there are so many places they'd like to see, they decide on a personal trip that grants them the freedom to go wherever they'd like.

At school, Yui bumps into the two girls from the occult club, who are about to attempt to transmit a message to space from the school's roof. Yui eagerly tells them about the Light Music Club's trip to England and asks if they would like any souvenirs. They giggle to themselves, asking for a picture of Nessie. The joke flies right over Yui's head as she promises to take one for them. Even so, Loch Ness is too far for them to visit. With no other requests, Azusa's left to organize the itinerary to make sure they go everywhere they want to in a timely and efficient manner.

As soon as Azusa leaves, and after kicking Sawako out of the club room, the rest of the girls get busy planning their present, but they're still stuck in a rut. Yui notices that Azusa left her guitar, Muttan, in the club room. She asks for Muttan's help in picking a present for Azusa. But of course, guitars don't speak, so she playfully prods the guitar bar - but just a little too forcefully, and Muttan crashes to the ground. With an incredible dive, Yui catches Muttan, and the strings rattle from inside the bag. That's the answer they've all been looking for: a song for Azusa. Just as they start thinking of ideas for the song, Azusa returns to pick up Muttan. The seniors deny all suspicious activities and send Azusa on her way. Later that night, they decide to use some of their downtime in London to write the song.

As the days go by, everyone is busy packing and preparing. Along with all the basics and necessities, Yui is packing a massive stockpile of food, her school uniform, a phrasebook, power adapters, and even Giita. She would, however, feel a lot safer if she was able to pack Ui along in the suitcase.

They rise early at dawn to leave for the train station. Ritsu spots that Mio, Azusa, and Yui are bringing their instruments along too. They meet Tsumugi at her station, who instantly regrets not bringing along her keyboard, even if it is a 16-kilogram juggernaut. When they get to the airport, they first check-in their luggage before goofing around with the travellators and chilling out at the departure lounge.

They soon board the plane and get comfortable for the long flight ahead of them. Yui poses a challenge that neither she nor 'Azu-cat' will speak Japanese for the rest of the flight. Though they practice selecting in-flight meals, they drop their challenge as soon as they're handed Japanese menus. Night sets in, and they all fall asleep.

Yui is the first to wake. She opens her shutter to witness a majestic sunrise. She tries to wake up Azusa to watch the sunrise as well, but she's still fast asleep. Yui takes the opportunity to try to write lyrics for Azusa's song, but all she manages are a few buzzwords about how she wants the song to feel such as 'rock', 'worldwide' and 'want dessert'. Unable to write any more, she passes out on top of Azusa, waking her up. Azusa notices Yui's notebook and takes a quick glance at it.

Suddenly, Yui wakes up, and inconspicuously denies all knowledge of the notepad. Azusa innocently asks if there was anything written in it, to which Yui claims that she's writing about the kind of lifestyle she wishes to lead. Yet again, Azusa is getting the feeling that everyone is up to something without her. Could they be changing the musical direction of the band? Or is Yui thinking of changing her life because she's actually repeating? Eventually, Azusa gets back to sleep.

When they next wake, the plane is starting to land at Heathrow Airport, and the girls can barely contain their excitement. Their first taste of England is at customs, where Yui accidentally mispronounces 'sightseeing' as 'side business' when asked about the purpose of the trip. After passing customs, they pick up their luggage and are reunited with their instruments. All except for Mio, who's standing nervously at the empty carousel, thinking her luggage has gone missing. But it turns out that someone had just taken it off the carousel and put it aside. Leaving the airport, they are met with London's characteristic freezing weather.

The most appropriate way to leave the airport is in one of London's world-famous taxis. Yui experiences her first cultural blunder, trying to find the door handle on the wrong side of the door. The taxi driver is nice enough to open the door for them, before asking where the girls are going. Azusa says that their first destination is to their hotel. Since that hotel chain has many locations in the city, the driver asks for them to specify which one they mean. Ritsu boldly assumes that it's the one in London, not actually knowing that there are many districts within London with hotels of that same name. The driver gives one last confirmation that they're going to London City, that is, to the heart of the city. On the way, they soak in the sights of the city, pumping themselves up for the next few days.

Sitting backwards for the whole taxi ride, Yui's feeling a little motion sick, so when the group gets to the hotel, they let her sit down for a while in the lobby. Meanwhile, Tsumugi and Azusa have run into a problem at the reception - they don't have a reservation at this particular hotel, rather at one of the other hotel's chains at Earls Court. It's too far to walk, but they can't take the taxi again, or Yui will feel even worse. Yui wants to take one of London's famous double-decker buses, but without a direct route, they'd need to change lines a couple of times. They figure the best way to get to their hotel is by the London Underground.

Down in the tube, Yui sensed that Azusa was a bit uncomfortable. Her feet had gotten sore, walking around all day in new shoes. So before they get to the hotel, they buy Azusa a new pair of shoes from a rock apparel store. Upon leaving the store, they spot a Kaiten Sushi restaurant.

Ritsu is keen to see how London's sushi compares to back home, so they walk into the restaurant with her. It's a very classy, modern establishment with rich, red, wood-paneled walls, and enough space for a small stage. Remembering her blunder at the baggage carousel, Mio freezes up at the sight of the sushi train. As they try to explore a bit more, Yui bumps into the restaurant's manager. He asks if they 'are the ones from Japan', but Yui can only make out the words 'from' and 'Japan'. Not completely sure of what's happening, Yui mutters out a 'yes'. The manager then confirms that Yui and her friends are the ones to perform at the bar tonight, to which Yui, who is still utterly confused, says yes to.

As they are led to the stage, the staff take them their instruments, give them happi to wear and help them set up. It's only when they're presented with the stage, now ready, do they realize what's happening - they have to perform. Tsumugi goes up to confront the staff, presumably to clear up all confusion, but when Ritsu and Yui see the staff bring on a keyboard, they figure that Tsumugi is actually keen to perform. Ritsu is next to confront the manager, except he can't understand her broken English, interspersed with Japanese. Exasperated, the girls resign themselves to perform, thinking that it must be some twisted requirement of the restaurant to perform before being allowed to be served food.

Except, they don't know what to perform. Scanning the audience for inspiration, Yui spots an Indian man, and decides to open the performance with Curry Nochi Rice. With the towering glare of the manager, they try their hardest to get started. After tuning up, Yui takes the mic and they launch straight into the song, with Yui only introducing the band just before her vocals start. They're a great success, but for whatever reason, the staff at the restaurant give them a hearty farewell, even though they still hadn't yet eaten.

It's only when they leave, that they realize what had happened. The manager confused them for Love Crysis, the band that was actually scheduled to perform that evening. But now, they're sitting out on the steps, hungry as can be, too scared to go back inside the sushi restaurant. They figure that they're blocking the way, so they get up and try to find somewhere else to eat. Suddenly, they bump into Maki, from the real Love Crysis. Maki explains that Kawakami from the Live House was a friend of the manager of this sushi bar, so they were to play a gig to celebrate the opening of the restaurant. As Love Crysis enters the restaurant to clear up the misconception, Ho-kago Tea Time makes their way to their hotel.

After a long day, they finally reach their hotel, and the right one at that.Tsumugi, Mio, and Ritsu are sharing one room, and have spent their night taking photos of each other in their school uniform. Azusa and Yui are sharing the adjoining room. When she makes it to the room, Yui collapses to the floor, both tired and hungry, not having eaten all day. Luckily, however, Ui's incredible foresight predicted this, and Yui shares all of the food she packed with her friends.

Azusa has a surreal dream about Yui being oddly enthusiastic about staying back a year at school. She wakes up to find Yui asleep on top of her notebook, with her lamp still on. The only things scrawled on the page are the words "Azu-nyan Love" and a creepy doodle of Azusa as a cat. Deeply disturbed, Azusa launches herself right back into her bed.

The next day, the girls explore London. They get groceries, have breakfast at a quaint café, and visit a park, where Yui unknowingly sticks her hand in a dog litter box. The more famous landmarks they visit include Abbey Road and the British Museum, where they check out a replica of the Rosetta stone, like the one used as a quick replacement for the tombstone in Class 3-2's production of Romeo and Juliet.

As the day winds down, they set off to have afternoon tea, but the café they visit needs reservations. Instead, they visit the London Eye. Though Mio hasn't quite gotten over her fear of rotating things after her carousel fiasco, they all hop on the wheel. The moment she gets up there, she doesn't mind one bit - the view is absolutely stunning. Come evening, the girls visit the Borough Market to buy cupcakes before returning to the hotel.

Throughout the day, Azusa has been avoiding Yui, still creeped out by how strange she's been acting lately. She's also noticed that her other friends have all been asking to "azu-sist" one another; a strange pun, if anything.

Back at the hotel, Azusa insists to join Tsumugi, Mio, and Ritsu in their room rather than be stuck alone with Yui, but Yui scoots her over into their room anyway. When they're both in the room, Yui charges right at Azusa with open arms, ready to pounce. Azusa taps into her self defense lessons and instinctively coils up to elbow Yui right in the gut, flooring her completely. However, Yui only intended to hug Giita, not Azusa. Realizing her mistake, Azusa swiftly apologizes and hides under her sheets. Assuming that Azusa's going to sleep, Yui cozies up next to her on the bed to sing her a lullaby. Embarrassed and anxious, Azusa curls up under her sheets.

Later that night, Yui brings sweets to the other room to discuss Azusa's song. Being in London hasn't quite given anyone the burst of inspiration they were hoping for. Yui is still determined to go for an excessively grand-scale song to keep Azusa pumped up even after they've left school.

Azusa wakes up, and notices that Yui's missing and there's a trail of candy leading out of the room and down the hall to the other room. Just as Azusa gets to the other room, Yui slips back into their own room by the adjoining door. Azusa strolls back to her room, taking the adjoining door that Yui had just taken. Suddenly, Yui pops back into Mio, Tsumugi, and Ritsu's room, and she's really worried because Azusa's missing. The three girls know that Azusa has just left through the adjoining door and point Yui that way. Rinse and repeat, except this time, Azusa tells the girls that Yui's gone missing. Just before she leaves the room, Yui bursts in one last time, and with everyone in the same room, the mystery is solved.

Suddenly, the phone rings. It's late at night, and they certainly weren't expecting a call. Ritsu takes the call and cracks a joke that there's a killer on the loose. Really though, whoever called hung up the moment Ritsu picked up. Whoever it was, if the message is important enough, they're sure to call again soon. That night, Yui can't sleep since she's still thinking about what song to write, and Azusa seems to be having the same dream where Yui repeats a year.

Over breakfast, Azusa still can't shake off the feeling that Yui is acting strangely, especially when Yui is staring right at her. However, Yui was only in deep thought about the song, and Azusa just happened to be in the way of her gaze. Yui decides to take a stroll outside by herself. Right now, the only line she can think is to repeat "Azunyan-nyan-nyan" over and over, and the only concept she's set on is 'something grand'.

For the whole day, Yui remains deeply pensive, even when in the oddest of situations. Firstly, the group visits a music store, where Yui is completely unfazed even when they find a guitar the same model as hers. Even when running through the London streets for no apparent reason, she keeps a blank face. Resting near the Tower of London, all Yui can think is that the song must be something as cool as London is.

The group agrees to join the Japanese Pop Culture exhibit.

All of a sudden, Ritsu gets a call from Kawakami, who had gotten word from Love Crysis that the girls were in London. There's an upcoming festival to celebrate Japanese pop culture to be held the following afternoon, with Love Crysis and Black Frill scheduled to perform. Unsure of whether or not to accept right away, the girls decide to wait for Kawakami to send them all the details. At the festival, they would be representing high school girl bands. They're quite pressed for time, but they do want to perform. With that, it's decided - they'll perform.

At the hotel, they start building their set list for the festival. Yui has translated Gohan wa Okazu, but it's not exactly flawless, so the girls spend the night going through the song line by line to brush up the translation. After everyone else is asleep, Yui wakes up in the middle of the night with a flash of inspiration. But she can't quite remember what it was, and quickly falls back to sleep, while Azusa goes through yet another round of her recurring dream where Yui repeats a year.

As the girls head out for their big day, Tsumugi rushes off to the reception to pick up her keyboard which had been flown over. They collect their luggage, check out, and head to the Jubilee Gardens, where the Pop Culture Fair is being held. It's a bustling event packed with food stalls, cosplayers, and entertainment. Tsumugi enthusiastically points out a stand selling yakisoba bread, but given their tight schedule today, it's likely she'll miss out, like last time.

They meet Love Crysis behind the stage to sort out the time and venue of their gig. While Love Crysis performs in the indoor venue, Ho-kago Tea Time change into their uniforms and set up their instruments on the outdoor stage overlooking the gardens and the River Thames. Remembering the sparking incident back at the hotel, Yui is afraid of plugging her guitar into the amp.

Out of nowhere, Sawako valiantly charges in and plugs in the guitar. Sawako had saved up frequent flyer miles on her credit card that were due to expire soon, so she figured she may as well pop down to London. Turns out she was the mysterious caller from the other night. As expected, Sawako brought along kunoichi costumes for the girls to wear for the show, much to their dismay, but to the crowd's delight. Sawako even had photos on her phone of Nodoka, Ui, and Jun modeling in the outfits. However, Ritsu decides that their uniforms are enough, and they all take their places.

The first song they perform is Fuwa Fuwa Time. After the song, Yui takes the mic to MC, but Ritsu asks her to hurry things along since they have to pack up and catch their flight pretty soon. She then introduces their final song Gohan wa Okazu, which she sings in Japanese even though they had prepared English lyrics. Near the end of the song, Yui screams out a hearty "once more" for a reprise, where she sings off a list of London's landmarks, finishing the song with a "Sky High!" for no other reason than being really in the zone.

In a mad sprint, they pack up their instruments and run to flag down a taxi. On the way to the airport, Azusa is exhausted from all the work she had put in to make the trip smooth and sleeps the entire way. While Azusa's asleep, Yui decides to share her biggest revelation yet for the song they're working on - to write a song just like they've always done. Her bandmates share the same sentiment. Before they know it, the plane takes off, and they're back in Japan.

Sometime after returning home, Yui invites Nodoka over to check out all of the tea she bought while in London. Ui notes that over the entire trip, Ho-kago Tea Time never actually had their characteristic tea time. Though they did perform twice, and that more than makes up for it.

When school resumes, the girls of Class 3-2 are really keen to hear about Afterschool Tea Time's adventures in London. Himeko mentions that she'd really like to hear HTT perform just once more before graduation seeing as the Jazz Club is also doing a graduation show. The girls get an idea to pull off one last gig, on the last day of school, in their own classroom.

They go to tell Sawako about their idea. Firstly, she's really supportive of the idea, since it evoked her own memories of doing the same. But the moment Horigome enters the staff room, her entire demeanor shifts and she scolds the girls, saying that she can't make an exception for them. While she's putting on this charade, she scribbles on a scrap of paper "how about in the morning?". With that, it's decided. When the girls leave, Sawako has a flashback to her own graduation concert. Back then, she was as tough and as grizzled as her music, so she wouldn't take anything from the teachers telling them off. She has her doubts about this Light Music Club though. She thinks that they would buckle and be crushed if the other teachers told them to stop. Sawako steels herself to protect the club for tomorrow's concert.

Meanwhile, Class 2-1 is busy preparing the graduation corsages for the coming ceremony. While Azusa is crafting hers, Yui knocks on the window to tell her about their plan for the graduation performance. However, her senpais say that since it's in their classroom, they would rather perform just by themselves, without her. Azusa won't let that slide. After all, this would be the last time they would ever be able to perform in the school as Ho-kago Tea time.

Everyone's scrambling to set up Afterschool Tea Time's last gig in the school. While the girls carry their gear to the room, their classmates have made a makeshift stage out of the tables, and have also decorated the chalkboard. For now, Sawako can only pace around the staff room, waiting to intercept any other teachers looking to stop the show.

They start with Samidare 20 Love. Back in the staff room, Horigome notices that Sawako is strangely early. Not only that, but there seems to be an odd rumble coming from upstairs that can't possibly be construction work. Knowing exactly what Sawako had been hiding, he sprints off. Meanwhile, word has spread that HTT is doing one last gig in their room, and more students rush off to watch.

They make it to their last song, U&I. Up until now, the show has been safe, since Sawako managed to keep Horigome slowed down for just long enough. But by the time he does make it to the room, he decides to let it slide since HTT is at least a lot more cutesy than anything Death Devil ever did. The performance itself was amazing. Everyone cheered and took photos, Yui jumped into the crowd, and some students even hauled Sawako and Horigome into the room as well.

With Azusa and the junior students back to class, all that's left for Yui, Mio, Ritsu, and Tsumugi now is to finish Azusa's song. Since she had finished the melody, Tsumugi shared her instrumental demo for the song, and the others were really impressed by it. They buckle down to try to write the lyrics for it.

Over the next couple of days, they each work on a set of lyrics themselves before meeting up at the regular burger joint to share their work. A short while later, they meet up at Mio's place to rehearse. They realize that they're finally done, and just in time too.

Meanwhile, Azusa's class is playing table tennis in their PE class. Ever since returning to Japan, Azusa has noticed her club mates acting strangely again. They stop whatever they're doing whenever she shows up to the club and will always deny that anything's going on. Jun guesses they're either transmitting messages to aliens or stealing snacks. At the very least, Ui confirms that Yui is definitely not staying back a year.

It's the evening before graduation, and Yui is practicing the new song in her room, though she feels that the lyrics are somewhat lacking. Ui comes up to check on Yui to make sure she's well-rested for the big day. In a rush, Yui slips the lyrics under her table before letting Ui in. Ui instantly notices the notepad but feigns ignorance. In a heartfelt exchange, Yui thanks her sister for helping her get as far as she has. They bid one another good night. Ui, who now knows what Yui and her friends are up to, sends a text message to Azusa telling her not to worry about a thing.

As soon as Yui is dressed and ready for her Graduation day, she takes Giita on a spin and practices the song, before realizing she was meant to meet up with her friends early so they could run to school together. The ceremony comes and goes, and afterwards, Yui heads up to the club room. Ritsu calls her out to the roof, where they, with Mio and Tsumugi, simply run and yell with joy, out in the open. They huddle together, all completely nervous about the one song they're about to play.

Meanwhile, Azusa is sitting in her class, writing thank you letters to each of her seniors. Walking out into the hallway, staring out of the window, she spots a bird fly off. Her seniors, on the roof, watch that same bird. The four on the roof start reminiscing the lifespan of their club, from Yui watching Ritsu, Tsumugi, and Mio play Tsubasa wo Kudasai, to Azusa joining the club. Yui gets a stroke of inspiration: Azusa gave the club wings to let them soar to new, dizzying heights. Azusa was their angel. And that is the line the song was missing.

They come down from the roof to have tea. Not quite sure how to introduce the song to Azusa when she comes in, they decide to rehearse the lines between them. Azusa arrives early since she was hoping to prepare tea for that afternoon, but she was too late for that. They pick up their instruments and ask Azusa to sit down. Mio's ready, Tsumugi's ready, Yui's ready, Ritsu counts them in, and they start their song, Tenshi ni Fureta yo! under the amber, afternoon glow. This was their secret; their gift. A song sung by all four, as they all look back on their time in the school, and rehearsing the song in secret. As the song winds down, Azusa perks up, tears in her eyes, and gives a round of applause.

As Yui, Mio, Ritsu, and Tsumugi walk on the way home, they talk about Azusa's reaction, Mio crying, going to college and trying new sweets, keeping the tradition of gifting a song to the club's juniors, and where to go for Azusa's own graduation trip next year. They spot Azusa and Nodoka walking together down the bridge, and Yui speeds up to them. She gives the both of them a big hug, and the credits roll.

Characters

 * Yeardley Smith as Yui Hirasawa, the main character. A clumsy girl. She plays guitar and is the main vocalist.
 * Lara Jill Miller as Ritsu Tainaka, an active girl who is the president of the light music club. She plays the drums.
 * Cathy Cavadini as Mio Akiyama, a mature but shy girl. Forced by her childhood friend Ritsu into the club. She plays the bass and is the second vocalist.
 * Alanna Ubach as Tsumugi Kotobuki, a wealthy girl with no experience of normal living standards. She plays the keyboard.
 * Nika Futterman as Azusa Nakano, a freshman. She plays the guitar.
 * Candi Milo as Nodoka Manabe, a childhood friend of Yui, she becomes a member of the school’s student council.
 * Aria Curzon as Ui Hirasawa, Yui's younger sister.
 * Pamela Adlon as Jun Suzuki, a classmate of Azusa and Ui.
 * Jennifer Hale as Sawako Yamanaka, the club's (forced) advisor and an alumna of the light music club. She supports the club with (sometimes weird) clothes.

Release
The movie was announced on February 20, 2001, during the Come With Me!! live concert. On December 3, 2001, the film was released in theaters.

Home media release
On July 18, 2002, the movie was released on VHS and DVD by Artisan.