High school girls Yukari and Kaede happen to see Afterschool Tea Time perform while visiting Yukari’s sister’s school festival, and they are inspired to join their own school’s Pop Music Club.
…Except, it doesn’t exist. Well, that’s okay — there’s a Pop Music Society at least, and with their desk neighbor Maho and the knowledgeable senpai Riko, they’re going to form a band!
But first, the girls have to learn how to actually play an instrument…
K-On! Shuffle should not be confused with the previous K-On! sequels High School and College. The former was a single volume about Azusa continuing the Pop Music Club after the other members graduated, and the latter was Yui and company in college. Shuffle is a spin-off, set during the original K-On!, and its stars attend a completely different school.
K-On! Shuffle has a lot in common with its main predecessor, with the main character not knowing how to play and a friend rather reluctantly dragged into the music club/band. But there are significant differences: the energetic Yukari is surprisingly smart and is more with-it than she first appears. Her black-haired BFF Kaede falls asleep easily and needs to be tutored by Yukari. Plus, there’s an upperclassman in the club, and the fifth member who joins later in the volume is also a second-year student. A teacher is only seen briefly, and the sister character in Shuffle is unlike the always kind and supportive Ui of K-On!
So this isn’t a K-On! clone. In fact, despite seeing the old gang a few times, more than K-On!, I kept getting flashbacks to Kiniro Mosaic. That may seem strange since there is no culture barrier here or things like that (although Shinano, who returns to the club, did go study abroad but bombs language tests), and it’s not like K-On! shied away from some yuri baiting. But the way the serious Maho tries to hide her crush on Kaede reminds me greatly of Aya and Honoka from Kinmoza. Moreso Aya because they are both serious girls who quickly change their tune when a certain someone is involved. Yukari and Kaede are also very close, and Riko and Shinano have a different dynamic, but they also share a strong bond that will cause readers to ship them.
Overall, though, I’m kind of mixed on K-On! Shuffle. I am a little surprised this series is going beyond a volume considering sequels starring the original heroines were one-and-done. The girls here do seem to be more devoted to music than Yui and company, but the snacking was also part of the running joke for the series. Shuffle doesn’t really have a gag like that. Again, I think that’s why I’m getting stronger Kiniro Mosaic vibes: Shuffle features less comedy and leans even more into the cute girls doing cute things genre than its predecessor. For me, I wanted to laugh more, and so Shuffle started off on the wrong foot with me.