Ladies and gentlemen, we've found ourselves the real-life Ritsuko Tainaka

Yeah, I know, you might be thinking “wtf?  two Cool Finds of the Day”  But this is just too cool to pass up…

I love K-ON!.  I admit this proudly and with no hesitation.  And if you want to diss me for it, or think less of me as a person because of it, then you can just suck it.  Yes, dammit, it’s moeblob at it’s finest.  No, there isn’t any Grand Overarching Plot(TM) to the thing.  (Hello?  McFly?  It’s a slice of life…)  And no, I’m not saying it’s the greatest thing in the known universe.  But, gosh darnit, it’s FUN. And it actually contains some decent music pieces. And, if anecdotal evidence (and a search of the YouTubes) is to be believed, it’s spurring people on to discover the joys of music (or pick up an instrument that they had let languish for a while).  Which makes K-ON! “OK-ON!” in my book.  (Yes, I know, lame pun.)

One YouTuber in particular is having a grand old time with K-ON!’s music.  Meet Senri Kawaguchi, professional drummer, who started playing at the tender age of five.  And, by the way folks, she’s only 13 years old now!!!  (What were YOU doing when you were 13?)  I wrote about her previously, back when I happened across her stunning rendition of “Don’t say ‘lazy’.” Well, she’s been busy since then, cranking out renditions of many other K-ON! themes and insert songs.

Like I said before, I really doubt Ritsu herself could do any better.  As one YouTube commenter put it, it would be a travesty if they ever decided to make a live action K-ON! and didn’t cast Ms. Kawaguchi in the role of Ritsu.

Below you can enjoy a clip of her drumming along to “Watashi no Koi wa Hotchkiss,” one of my favorite songs from the series.  You can watch her other videos (K-ON! inspired or otherwise) at her YouTube channel, or find out more about her (if you read Japanese… if not, perhaps The Fish might help) at her official website.  She’s also got a Facebook fan page, which, thankfully, is (at least mostly) in English.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you