GO! GO! MANIAC

About

“GO! GO! MANIAC” is the 1st opening theme song for the 2nd season of a Japanese TV anime K-ON! which was produced by Kyoto Animation. This monumental work in the anime song history has earned many tributes and parodies on YouTube and the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND).

Origin

The 2nd season for K-ON! was aired from April to September 2010, and this opening song “GO! GO! MANIAC” was played in the first half of the season. It was written by a Japanse composer Tom-H@ck^[1]and sung by female voice actors for the main characters.

Commercial Success

On April 24th, 2010, a CD single for the song was released under the name of Houkago Tea Time, a fictional band of the anime characters. This single which was issued by a typical anime song format became to the first anime image song to get the 1st place at weekly Japanese major pop music chart.^[2] On the Japanese web, it had been thought as a pipe dream that anime image songs occupy the top of popular music chart because there is a fact that large online campaigns of pushing “Happy Material”, "Hare Hare Yukai" and "Motteke Sailr Fuku" into the top of the music chart had been organized by 2channel or NND users in mid-2000s but all of those operations ended in fail. Therefore this historical success of “GO! GO! MANIAC” was received by Japanese internet users and Otakus in huge amazement.

Spread

Against the backdrop of a huge popularity of this song and the anime, a plenty amount of fan works and parodies for the opening movie with this song has been posted to online video sharing services.^[3]^[4] In particular, it’s a popular subject for op parody videos and also a well-used musical resource for MAD videos on NND.

Besides, because the copyright holder for this song, Pony Canyon, is much more permissive against fan activities than the copyright holder for the anime,TBS/MBS, fan creations for “GO! GO! MANIAC” are rarely removed in contrast to MADs or parodies which take visuals from the main part of the anime.