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K-On's "Gohan wa Okazu"/"U&I" Single is #3 on Weekly Chart

The market survey firm Oricon reported on Tuesday that the "Gohan wa Okazu"/"U&I" CD from the K-ON!! television anime series ranked #3 on the singles sales chart for the week of September 6-12. The fictional five-girl band Ho-kago no Tea Time's new single sold 53,000 copies.

The two songs appeared in the 20th episode of the television series. Singer-composer Bice (Mahoraba ~Heartful days~, Kirarin Revolution, Kimi wa Pet) wrote "Gohan wa Okazu" before she passed away on July 26.

The single set a franchise record in first-week sales for K-On! "insert" songs that are not the opening or ending themes; the previous record holder was "Pure Pure Heart," which sold 44,000 copies in June. The anime's first set of opening and ending theme songs, "Go! Go! Maniac" and "Listen!!" ranked #1 and #2 in their first week of sales this past spring. That feat made Ho-kago no Tea Time only the third female act to ever rank one-two simultaneously on the chart and the first to do so in 26 years. The second set of theme songs, "No, Thank You!" and Utauyo!! Miracle," ranked #2 and #3, respectively last month.

K-ON!! is the second television anime series based on kakifly's K-On! four-panel comedy manga about a group of high school girls who form a band. Voices actresses Aki Toyosaki (Yui Hirasawa), Yōko Hikasa (Mio Akiyama), Satomi Satou (Ritsu Tainaka), Minako Kotobuki (Tsumugi Kotobuki), and Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa Nakano) perform as their respective characters in the anime's soundtrack and the related CD releases. Both the original manga and the ongoing anime are ending this month.

Bandai Entertainment announced at Anime Expo in July that it licensed the first K-On! television series, and Yen Press licensed the original manga. The parent company of the Japanese television station TBS reported that it earned 1.8 billion yen (about US$20 million) in sales of K-ON!! anime t-shirts and other tie-in characters goods from April 1 to June 30.

Source: Listen Japan