Shinichi Chiaki is a first class musician whose dream is to play among the elites in Europe. Coming from a distinguished family, he is an infamous perfectionist; not only is he highly critical of himself, but of others as well. The only thing stopping Chiaki from leaving for Europe is his fear of flying. As a result, he's grounded in Japan.

During his 4th year at Japan's top music university, Chiaki happens to meet Noda Megumi—or as she refers to herself, Nodame. On the surface, she seems to be an unkempt girl with no direction in life. However, when Chiaki hears Nodame play the piano for the first time, he is in awe at the kind of music she plays. To Chiaki's dismay, Nodame moves into the apartment next to his and finds out that she is head-over-heels in love with him.

Rakuro Hizutome only cares about one thing: beating crappy VR games. He devotes his entire life to these buggy games and could clear them all in his sleep. One day, he decides to challenge himself and play a popular god-tier game called Shangri-La Frontier. But he quickly learns just how difficult it is. Will his expert skills be enough to uncover its hidden secrets?

Kaede Honjou is invited by her friend Risa Shiramine to play a virtual reality MMO game with her. While Kaede doesn't dislike games, what she really, truly dislikes is being in pain. She creates a character named Maple, and decides to put all her points in VIT to minimize pain. As a result, she moves slowly, can't use magic, and even a rabbit can get the best of her. But as it turns out, she acquires a skill known as "Absolute Defense" as a result of her pumping points into VIT, as well as a "Counter Skill" that works against special moves. Now, with her ability to nullify all damage, she goes on adventures.

Oreki Houtarou is a minimalistic high school boy. One day, he joins the Classic Literature Club at his elder sister's request. There he meets Chitanda Eru, Fukube Satoshi, and Ibara Mayaka. Chitanda is a calm beautiful girl but she turns into an embodiment of curiosity once she says, "I'm curious." Fukube is a smiling boy with a fantastic memory who calls himself a database. Ibara is a short girl and is strict with others and herself. They begin to investigate a case that occurred 45 years ago. Hints of the mystery are buried in an old collection of works of the former members of Classics Club. The collection is titled "Hyouka."

The Sakuragoaka Girls' Academy curriculum traditionally focuses on the three "R"s of reading, writing and arithmetic, but Ritsu Tainaka wants to add two more "R"s: Rock and Roll! To do that, however, Ritsu has to save the Light Music Club from being shut down due to little problems like not having any other members or a faculty advisor. After strong-arming her best friend Mio into joining and convincing Tsumugi Kotobuki to make it a trio, Ritsu's would-be rockers are soon only one talented guitarist short of the quartet they need for school approval. What they get, unfortunately, is Yui Hirasawa, who's never held a guitar in her life, but she's determined to learn! Will the school halls come alive with the sound of music?