Sōjirō Izumi

Sōjirō Izumi is a minor character in the Lucky Star series. He is the father of Konata Izumi and the husband of late Kanata Izumi. Sojiro and Konata live in their house in the Satte prefecture near Tokyo.

Appearance
Sōjirō is very thin, has unshaven stubble, has a mole under his left eye (which his daughter inherited) and has thick eyebrows. Konata also appears to have inherited her skin tone from him. He always wears loose, traditional Japanese clothing as his work clothes.

Personality
He loves watching anime and playing video games, which influenced his daughter's interests.

Sojiro is "also a lolicon". This appreciation for neoteny may be one factor that caused him to fall in love with Kanata, whom he eventually married. He describes that he likes girls as men normally do, but that he also appreciates younger ones. This means that this attraction is equal or possibly secondary, meaning he does not have a preference for them.

Sōjirō is allergic to pollen and when he decided to wear goggles and masks as protection from it, Konata sighed that, "Now you look weirder as well". She also frequently reminds him, "Please don't do anything as to be taken away by the cops". Also, he often forgets to lock the door when he is using the toilet, which has left Yutaka with a nasty surprise. Possibly out of respect for Kanata, he tries to exclude his own daughter from the greater brunt of his lolicon tendencies, which means he tends to direct most of that energy towards the Hiiragi twins, and Konata's other friends.

Throughout the show news reports and conversations indicate that young girls in the area are being approached by a strange man, and a running joke in the show involves hints that Sōjirō is in fact the one doing it. The best example of this is the opening, part of which involves Sōjirō spying on two schoolgirls from behind a lamppost. Sōjirō holds a deep love for his wife, Kanata Izumi, who passed away many years before. When Konata asks why Kanata chose to be with Sōjirō (largely as a joke at his erotic personality's expense), Sōjirō points out that he and his wife simply looked past outwards appearances: Kanata loved Sōjirō despite his otaku tendencies, and Sōjirō obviously did not mind that Kanata had an unusual physique and did not share his hobbies.

Biography
When Sojiro was in his twenties, he fell in love with Kanata and eventually got married to her. The two eventually had Konata, sometime later Kanata passed away and Sojiro had to raise Konata on his own. Unlike the other parents of the cast of series, Sojiro is seen many times in the series. Mostly, he is seen in the Izumi house either talking to his daughter or playing games. In Energetic Despite Not Being Myself, he is seen at the school's athletic festival attempting to take pictures, but he is taken off the premises for suspicious activity several times. Sojiro is seen in Various Ways to Spend Christmas Eve, during the episode is seen spending time with Konata and Yui. In Let's Go to the Festival, Konata attempts to find a way to be nice to Sojiro after she receives a cursed omikuji. A little later in the series Yutaka Kobayakawa, Sojiro's niece, joins the Izumis in their household. Sojiro plays a prominent role in the episode The Yonder Here, where Sojiro discusses to Konata about her mother Kanata and what her life was like. He explains to Konata that he was confident that he loved Kanata and that she loved him back. As he and Konata prepare to take a picture, Kanata joins in with them, but appears as a shadow in the actual picture. Konata and Sojiro review the picture and are highly shocked and disturbed at the shadow, and fear that they are cursed.

Trivia

 * Sojiro is the 2nd tallest Lucky Star character at 181 cm after Tadao Hiiragi.
 * Fans have nicknamed him "Awesome-kun" due to him having an otaku's dream life and still managing to be a pretty cool father.
 * Sōjiro appears older than Kanata, because of her height, but it was revealed that she is actually a little older than him.