The Cape of Thirty Years (三十路岬)

Lucky Star, the slice-of-life anime following the wacky hijinks of a group of high school girls, was popular with otaku for various reasons.

The main character, Konata, was just as much of a fan of games and anime as the show’s target audience, the character designs are all suitably moe, and instead of being ashamed of her hobby, Konata shares it unabashedly.

There’s no overarching story; the series is based on the 4-panel strips by Kagami Yoshimizu (serialized in the gaming magazine Comptiq). Unlike Kiyohiko Azuma’s Azumanga Daioh, the focus is on the humor you get when an unrepentant video game and anime nerd hangs out with (relatively) normal friends, instead of just the plain old nonsense high school girls get up to.

Each episode had a different ending theme; the first half of the series had each of the four main characters singing a theme song from a movie, TV drama, or anime in a karaoke box; for one episode, the show’s very own idol, Akira Kogami (not one of the group of friends, but instead host of the meta-show, Lucky Channel, Lucky Star’s internet radio program) sings “The Cape of Thirty Years,” an enka ballad about a 30 year-old woman contemplating throwing herself off a cape into the sea after being abandoned by her lover (lyrics translation here).

Enka truly is the country music of Japan.

Tags: Azumanga Daioh, Comptiq, Enka, Hiromi Konno, Kagami Yoshimizu, Kyoto Animation, Lucky Star, manga, otaku