What’s the best way to eat dessert? Do twins really have a psychic connection? What kind of guys are
into moe girls? These are the kinds of questions that float through the inquisitive mind of anime
super-fan Konata Izumi. When she’s not lost in her favorite manga or logging hours in one of her
online games, she’s debating the mysteries of the universe with the best friends a girl could ask
for.
(Source: Funimation)
Once upon a time, there were two young women who couldn’t be more different. Despite the fact that they were both teenagers going to the same high school in Saitama prefecture, Japan, almost nothing about them was similar. Konata Izumi, a petit bluenette with the attitude of a slacker, and Kagami Hiiragi, a responsible honor student with little tolerance for nonsense. One of them comes from a single parent home, the other from a large and closely knit family. One of them devotes her entire life to distractions with little time set aside for academics, the other devotes her entire life to academics with little time set aside for distractions. One of them is rooted in the present, the other one keeping a healthy eye on the future. Ordinarily, two people as drastically different as these two would go their whole lives without crossing paths, but against all odds, Konata became close friends with Kagami’s little sister, having daringly saved her life from a foreigner who was trying to ask her for directions to a thrashable car. And thus, these two individuals who should have never met, met. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s a reference for a different show, but I’m never going to review that show, so I figured I’d use it here. Anyway, the fact that Tsukasa and Konata are in a different class than Kagami leads to the latter being drawn into the former’s world, avoiding what could have otherwise been a major power struggle. She already knew her younger sister Tsukasa, the soft spoken, clumsy and air-headed girl who often depends on her slightly older twin to get by, and while these three make up a troublesome trio all their own, a fourth girl joins their group… The smart, well-mannered and mature(in more ways than one) Miyuki Takara, who Konata and Tsukasa like to bring their cultural questions to. Together, these four unique high schoolers form a friendship that will last them a lifetime, as they share their joys, their frustrations, their lives and their dreams with one another… Or just constantly mess with each other and ask inane questions about candy. Honestly, it could go either way. But maybe, just maybe, they can band together to answer one important question; How DO you eat a chocolate coronet? I’ve talked about Kyoto Animation quite a few times before, but if you’re worried about me saying the same things I said before, don’t be. I know they have a consistent style, and while it’s evolved over the years, most titles they release do look more or less like they could exist in the same universe. There are a few exceptions to this rule, and while one of them is the far more popular Nichijou, the first departure they made from featuring relatively normal human anatomy was Lucky Star, which is quite possibly one of the most extreme examples of anime where absurdly large “Moe blob” heads are stacked on top of smaller bodies. Well, you know, if you don’t count chibi shows. In any case, the fact that it’s so different from their usual output is probably due to the fact that they chose to produce it as a supplement to their previous smash hit, Haruhi Suzumiya. The two titles are mainly related through fanhood, as Haruhi Suzumiya is a popular series in the Lucky Star universe, and one of the main characters(Konata) is obsessed with it. Sgt. Frog is also big in it, but hey, they took what they could get. In any case, when I talk about low budget anime using it’s money wisely to look just as good as a more expensive show, you’d have a hard time finding a better example than Lucky Star. It may be one of the black sheep of the Kyo-Ani family due to it’s somewhat cartoony style, but that translates incredibly well to budget-cutting techniques. Background characters are usually frozen and covered in blue paint-bucket filling as they loiter in the background, a move that would feel cheap and lame in any show with characters who are too weak to distract you from them, so it’s worth noting that for at least three-fourths of the time, you’ll barely notice them. The dialogue heavy nature of the series also gives the animators a perfect excuse to hold on a key frame while the characters talk to each other. There are a lot of high school anime that do this, and I can see where it might wear on the patience of most viewers, most examples of this are anime that are inconsistent, suffer from occasional quality drops, and feature movement scenes that look out of place among the rest of the material. What separates Lucky Star from this lot? Well, the money that the animators saved with their budget saving techniques is put to exquisite use. Every single movement in this series, at least from featured characters, employs just enough movement to capture and portray the mood, intent and gravity of the shot that it’s in, no more, no less. Because of this, every single movement, from huge reaction shots to the smallest wave, features the exact same level of fluidity, unless of course the style has to change for the sake of a parody sequence, such as the “Legendary Girl A” material. Rather than waste their time and resources on weird angles and filters to keep you amused during long bouts of talking, Kyo-Ani decided to cut the bullshit and make the dialogue quirky and entertaining enough so that the slow, heavily conservative animation wouldn’t bother you… To mixed results, I’m afraid to say, but we’ll get to that later. I’d also like to say that whenever they do execute a parody from another series, the animation style they switch to is normally fairly accurate. The moefication of the characters may be a sticking point for some, but I think it was handled rather well. As it happens, this is one of the rare anime that I’ve seen in their entirety in both languages, and for the most part, I can say that Bang Zoom managed to represent the original Japanese acting faithfully. Wendee Lee is a bit of a departure from Aya Hirano’s Konata, mainly because… As I mentioned in my Haruhi review… She doesn’t have quite the range of Aya-chan. Thankfully, she does much better with this character than she did with Haruhi, employing a sort of relaxed rasp to imitate Konata’s gruff, good-humored delivery. This unfortunately doesn’t always work, such as when she sounds excited or needs to raise her voice, at which points she sounds so much like Haruhi that it’s honestly distracting. Still, the rasp is different from Aya’s performance, but it suits the character just as well. Karen Strassman, on the other hand, is spot on with her version of Aya Endo’s character, Miyuki Takara. It’s not identical, but it’s a very close ringer for the polite, aristocratic-sounding character. Michelle Ruff is something of a chameleon(in a good way), and can play a wide range of characters, so it might be a shock to your system if you hear her in Bleach or Haruhi, and then see her listed in the credits under Tsukasa, the younger Hiiragi twin, a space cadet with an overly soft, shy sounding voice. She doesn’t sound as child-like as Kaori Fukuhara did, which is probably for the better, because her dialogue mainly alternates between innocent musings and woe-is-me whining, and it would have sounded annoying in English had Ruff not aged it up a bit. Out of all the main cast, however, Kari Wahlgren probably had the hardest job with Kagami, a tsundere-type of character whose vocal patterns and inflections don’t really exist stateside. Not only that, but Kagami is probably the most nuanced and complicated character in the cast, and while Emiri Kato was amazing in her native language, Kari knocks it out of the park by playing it down to earth, but with a more snarky, confident edge. Rebecca Forstadt gets a heart-warming cameo that I won’t dare spoil, Bridget Hoffman is hilarious as Miyuki’s dependent mother, and Kate Higgins plays a quirky teacher that Luci Christian would be proud of. Hynden Walch is unrecognizeable as Konata’s cousin, and among her friends, Michelle ruff puts her talents to work playing double duty, the prolific Philese Sampler plays a small role, and Patericia Ja Lee… Well, she’s probably the only sour note in the group, keeping her performance as close to the Japanese as possible, when she really… Really… Shouldn’t have. But my favorite has to be Stephanie Sheh in the role of Akira Kogami, one of the two hosts of the episode ending segment Lucky Channel, and while I’ve preached the gospel about her character range before, she puts it on full display here, playing a character who’s sugar and spice personified. She flip-flops between a sweet, happy-go-lucky idol and a crude, bitter behind the scenes personality who, despite being 14, has seen it all and won’t take any shit from anybody. I personally recommend the dub, but you can’t go wrong with either choice. There’s a certain brand of comedy anime… Which I believe was popularized by Azumanga Daioh… That takes the slice of life concept and moves it into the confines of a Japanese high school, so the viewer can observe the daily lives of a group of friends as they interact and develop both as individuals and as a group. Not only does this brand bank on the childhood nostalgia of older viewers, but it also leans heavily on the strong personalities of it’s characters to deliver jokes, humorous situations, and the occasional heartfelt moment. This brand gets criticized for being plotless, but is that really fair? Is a plot really necessary for a comedy, or can it stand on it’s own just by being funny? It’s true that most American TV, both animated and live action, is devoid of overarching plots, as they’re most often carried by strong writing and strong characters, but they still have individual episode plots. For more than a quarter of it’s run, Lucky Star doesn’t even have that. So, are the characters and comedy strong enough to overcome this disadvantage, like they were in Azumanga Daioh? I’ll admit, the show doesn’t get off to a great start. It’s never been made clear why Yutaka Yamamoto was fired as series director after the first four episodes… Especially since he was the person who created the viral dance sequences that made the ending theme of Haruhi and the opening theme of Lucky Star so explosive… But rumors and speculation have been made that it was his approach to the series was far too close to the manga, adapting the small, four panel comics one after another, leaving little room for interesting stories and forward momentum. Personally, I didn’t entirely mind these episodes, as long as Kagami and/or Konata were on screen. The four main characters have a very strong dynamic made up of several smaller connections and interactions, such as Konata perving over Miyuki’s moe potential, Kagami and Tsukasa being polar opposites, Tsukasa and Miyuki… You know what? No. Those two alone just don’t amount to anything noteworthy. They need the other two characters to function. Right in the early stages of the series, Lucky Star goes out of it’s way to show what happens when Tsukasa and Miyuki are left to their own devices, having a conversation so banal and fraught with unutilized set-ups that Kagami, sick in bed for a surprisingly unrelated reason, is begging one of them to just reach the punchline already. They need Konata to exploit their quirks, or Kagami to call them out, or it’s ultimately like leaving jokes on the table. That’s not to say Konata and Kagami don’t need the other two… They’re fairly versatile characters, and different interactions can bring that out in them… And Tsukasa can be fairly funny on her own, what with her constant airheaded mistakes… But the series is at it’s absolute best when Konata and Kagami are working off of each other. There’s a reason I based my plot synopsis off of their differences, and it’s not JUST the fact that I had to think of a gimmick just to give this show a plot synopsis in the first place. Out of the four supposed main characters, those two carry the series. In most of their interactions, those two are the dominant forces… Konata making references and shocking people with her weird reactions, Kagami making sarcastic remarks and brutally biting observations… And it’s rare for anyone else to dominate them in an interaction, but they meet their matches in each other. The bickering that takes place between them is easily one of the highlights of the series, as you can’t always tell who’s going to come out on top of each encounter, most of which just end in stalemates. While Miyuki is probably the weakest of the four, they still come together to form the foundation of the series. Actually, they’re more of a trunk, as the comedic strength of Lucky Star feels like something of a tree. Together, they’re strong, sturdy, and have a great dynamic based on the chemistry that they have with one another. The reason I’m comparing them to a tree is that, when you talk about the rest of the cast, it does start to create a weakening effect, just like how a tree becomes more difficult to climb the higher up it spreads. When the cast starts branching out, we get a group of supporting characters for the main cast to work off of outside of each other. Miyuki gets some support from her mother, an entitled slob who appears to take advantage of her brainy and responsible daughter in some cases, which is really when she’s at her best. Kagami and Tsukasa have their family for support, including their mother AND father(Both of whom are alive… weird, right?) as well as their four older sisters, their conflict with whom helps to develop their characters as well as highlight the special bond that they, the twins, have with one another. Konata, and I don’t think her bevy of fans realize this, has THREE characters supporting mainly her, including her pervy father to explain her upbringing, her cousin in law enforcement to highlight the illegal sorts of activities that her upbringing has led her to, and the homeroom teacher, who attempts to drag her kicking and screaming back to reality when she tries to escape to a game. She gets her shots in on all three of them, but it still goes to show just how dependent she is on the rest of the cast. The branches of the support characters are strong enough to do just that, but they become significantly weaker when you move to the next group, the underclassmen, a group of younger characters who start to appear in the second half of the series, when even the comedy between the main four is starting to get tired and predictable. Unfortunately, these characters aren’t strong enough to hold a story for very long, with only one of them… Konata’s cousin, Yutaka… Being even slightly above one-dimensional. This group of friends is more stereotype than people, which is sad, because the characters on the lower branches do, to their credit, feel like fleshed out and complex characters, at least to a point. Yutaka’s friends, however, are direct archetypes, and Yu herself doesn’t even DO anything with her quirk, being the sickly girl. Her friends include the pervy mangaka, the ignorant foreigner, the boyish breast-envy girl… And that’s it, and the story seems to give them far more credit than screentime, as they play a major role in the ending. Also appearing at the ending climax are friends from Kagami’s class, poised not as branches but as sub-branches that aren’t strong enough to hold a freaking apple. So in terms of characters, the comedy does get weaker as the show goes on, but that won’t matter if they grow and move through important events and situations, right? Well, yes, there are a few. There are a few moments that take the cast out of their comfort zone to explore them in new ways. In a later episode, with the main four taking a field trip together, contains a bunch of great moments in it, like Tsukasa being attacked by deer, Kagami getting a love letter, and Konata cheering her up afterwards. The episode soon after, where Konata’s family gets a secret visit, is surprisingly poignant. Some of the best episodes include the beach episode, the Comiket episode, the Christmas episode, Konata’s birthday… Episodes where something noteworthy actually happens, instead of just a chain of jokes and gags, and that’s setting a pretty low bar. There’s no point in getting invested in any of the characters, because unlike Azumanga Daioh, they have no arcs, and their futures beyond high school are left completely unresolved. Yeah, there are some enjoyable moments, and good jokes here and there, But I was never bored watching it… Even if I am in the minority. I am part of a very specific demographic that this show caters to… I was an otaku in the mid-2000s. That’s it. That’s why I can enjoy it, while most new visitors can’t. find it anything but boring. People who enjoy it the most are the ones who watched it when it came out, or in the few years immediately following, but if you came into it after 2010, it probably comes off as one of the most dated anime you’ve ever seen. That’s not to say you won’t find the characters interesting, the casual tone relaxing, or element of friendship welcoming, but you’re watching anime that was created to be a reflection of it’s time, in it’s time, and a lot of what it chose to represent isn’t relevant today, unfortunately meaning that it hasn’t aged well. It relied on gimmicks and otaku pandering rather than story-telling and real emotion, and that fact along with it’s moe design kept it from having any chance of being as timeless as that other slice of life show I keep bringing up. It gets a lot better after episode 4, but it just doesn’t stand the test of time. Lucky Star was originally available from Bandai Entertainment, and the DVD sets from then are still available online in both individual, limited edition and complete collection formats, although the DVDs that were produced by Funimation after they rescued the series are far more affordable. The OVA is available on DVD, but it’s also included in the Funimation release, and I think you already know how much I love it. It’s the same series, but with much more fluid and well written stories. The original manga is available stateside from Viz Media. Beyond that, there are a ton of light novels, mangas and games that are NOT available stateside. Calling Lucky Star an acquired taste is probably being a bit too generous… It’s one of the most esoteric series I’ve ever seen, as it seems deliberately designed to appeal to a small demographic, which I happen to be a part of, and even I think the series is overrated. It’s appeal is small, but it’s still precious to the people in it’s demographic, and I still enjoy it as well, even at it’s worst moments. I love the main cast, and there’s a lot about them that I find relatable. Does that mean I’d recommend it to a high number of people? No, but if you know someone who was an anime fan during the previous decade, or if you know someone who plays a lot of online games, or if you just know someone who has a mischievous sense of humor, this might be a good title to suggest to them. To anyone else, tread with caution, because the phrase ‘culturally impenetrable’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. It’s worth checking out, but if you’re not into it by the fifth episode, try out Azumanga Daioh or Nichijou instead. Otherwise, this adorkable title has just enough going for it to make up for it’s weaknesses. I give Lucky Star a 6/10.
__Lucky Star: Oh Yeah Baby, It's Good__ _Overview:_ It is very good. I like Lucky star, because it is very good. Socrates once asked a famous question on the topic of God, Love and the Good, which obviously was supposed to refer to Lucky Star. This was called the "Euthyphro Dilemma", known better as the "Konathro Dilemma". It asked, do the Gods love Lucky star because it is good, or is Lucky Star good because the God's define it so. The answer after much deliberation and debate is the latter of the two. That is because Lucky Star's Goodness has authority over all moral and Godly beings. Some people may disagree but, ~~you must like it or you go to hell.~~ _Characters:_ What can I say, What can I say. They're the best. Yes yes yes. Konata is a real gamer, and a super champ. Kagami is that one girl who always liked e in middle school but decided to put me down instead of confessing. Tsukasa never existed, it is all a comma, please wake up, and Miyuki is the Big boobed rich girl that you find in every anime 100% of the time, except this one is better. ~~Mugi eat your heart out.~~ There are also a whole host of wonderful side characters like Nina and Shou Tucker, Konata's (epic gamer) Lolicon Dad, the teacher, and Konata's cousin. Honestly I love them all so much except Shou Tucker because he is bad. Their designs are wonderful and life bringing and they all seem like wonderful people who would make your life better if you knew them. Unfortunately, you will never meet them, because life is filled with horrible people like yourself and these girls are idealized in terms of personality. Maybe more, idk, it's up to taste I guess. _Plot:_ As you probably read from the synopsis, Azumanga Diaoh is about a bunch of highschool girls and based on a 4 coma manga. It's extremely comedic and not heavily plotbased. I like it. The last arc where Nier and Light face off is extremely under rated and I wish people would give it a better chance. _Music:_ Fun Fun Dayo. Haha epic. Definitely a huge gamer of a song. I really like the Plantation's theme music from after you get past the outer wall area. It's the last portion of the game you have a chance to properly visit previous areas so it's pretty big and super cool. _My personal Opinion:_ I have no opinion I just ingest objectivity into my being and create omnipotence form it. _Results of the Exam:_ If I had to rate it, definitely a 93, but don't ask me why, it should be pretty clear at this point. Certified frosty x1000, Glass Reflection please follow me on twitter, love you all. Please watch lucky star.
Otakus are the pride of Japanese culture!" After watching Lucky Star in its entirety, you want to take this sentence seriously. Lucky Star is a real otaku anime, but unlike Genshiken, it doesn't focus on any otaku relationships, but pure slice-of-life and tons of comedy and parody. In principle, the complete frame story of Lucky Star can be summed up in one word: Everyday life. No superheroes with superhuman powers that no one is supposed to know about? No ten-meter fighting robots? No Transformer-like space battles? No horror, ecchi or hentai? Just four girls in high school like you and me? Is that even possible? Since Azumanga Daioh or Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! we know: Very well! The most important characters are Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki. Konata is intelligent and very athletic. Unfortunately she is incredibly lazy, an otaku and she spends most of the day playing MMORPGs and adult games. Kagami is the older twin sister of Tsukasa and a "tsundere" as they come. She goes to the same class as the others and she and Konata always clash, but are good friends. Tsukasa is the younger twin sister. She is good-natured and can cook well, but doesn't have much in her head and often only understands train stations. Miyuki wears glasses, is very rich and polite. However, she is a klutz and is afraid of the dentist, yet she has to go there for treatment surprisingly often. She is joined by Konata's father, Konata's cousin Yui and her little sister Yutaka, as well as Yutaka's new classmates and two of Kagami's class. Animation: Yes, the most important thing to me for my first impression is always the animation and design of the characters. From Kyoto Animation we already know eye candy like Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, Air or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and although it doesn't look like it at first glance, KyoAni seems to have put a lot of effort into it again this time. Watch the cheerleader dance in the opening - there are professionals at work here! The characters are "moe" style, meaning extremely cutely drawn and look far younger than they actually are. The overall look, however, doesn't convey a 2007 anime: a fellow anime fan from my acquaintance wouldn't believe me at first that Lucky Star was a 2007 production. However, the gaudy color scheme and the low-detail but very picturesque backgrounds and the colorless extras round out the atmosphere of Lucky Star perfectly. I think all the features that were criticized, like the uninteresting backgrounds or the colorless (and sometimes only implied) extras, which even only 2 voice actors have to share, are absolutely intentional. You are supposed to concentrate completely on the characters, which actually works. But sometimes you concentrate so hard that you miss all the eye-catchers. And that's what impressed me about Lucky Star: Every episode has certain eye-catchers, like an Ed Cosplayer from Fullmetal Alchemist or the posters in Konata's room. Lucky Star has a high rewatch factor, only on the second viewing (sometimes even on the third) I noticed things that almost made me laugh to death, but which I overlooked the first time. (watch episode 1 at ~0:15:45, when Kagami comes into the classroom, the two guys on the left in the picture). But you should have seen a few anime before to understand the hints and eye-catchers. These include: Fate/stay night, Full Metal Panic, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Shuffle! and you better also know how the races in Initial D go :) By the way, Lucky Star is the ONLY anime I know that takes place in our world. Every place our 4 heroines visit, be it the Animate store in Saitama, the FamilyMart where Kagami buys a drink ,the famous fast food restaurant with the golden M, the Comiket or even the building of KyotoAnimation itself, everything was researched in detail and transferred almost perfectly 1:1. The temple (seen in the opening) where the Hiiragi sisters work in Lucky Star experienced a veritable otaki onslaught after Newtype printed directions to the plot locations Story: There is no story. No super-villain who wants to take over the world? No. The only thing that drives the story is time. Thus, Lucky Star begins with Konata & Co shortly after entering the 2nd grade of high school and ends, like Azumanga Daioh, shortly before the end of the 3rd grade. There's not much to say about the content because of that. Lucky Star is also a yonkoma manga, so instead of one long storyline, there are several short ones, and there is no common thread running through the series, which is what makes Lucky Star unique. If I didn't have the time bar at the bottom of the screen, I wouldn't be able to tell when the episode is over. When it's over, there's the Lucky Channel, which was originally supposed to be an information show about the series, hosted by young idol Akira Kogami and Minoru Shiraishi. Minoru Shiraishi is Konata's normal classmate in Lucky Star, but in reality is a voice actor (e.g. Taniguchi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) who virtually plays himself this time. Akira's peculiar personality (must see!) and Minoru's talent for making Akira freak out over and over again make the show fail miserably almost every time. Sound, Music, OP and ED. With a few exceptions, the entire repertoire of background music is taken from other anime (the Eurobeat during the relay race is from Initial D, for example). Only the opening is really from Lucky Star and as already said here it's colorful, squeaky and totally crazy, just like Lucky Star is. Endings are for every episode. While we only see the door of the karaoke room until episode 12 and listen to the karaoke of our 4 friends to different anime songs (including Cha-La-Head-Cha-La from Dragonball Z or the opening of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu), Minoru Shiraishi himself (in live-action) delights us with his performance of various anime songs from episode 13 upwards. Conclusion and all: Lucky Star is not a masterpiece but still cult. The first episode in which only about grilled steaks, puddings and chocolate croissants is babbled is the perfect introduction. You think to yourself: either you're such a hardcore anime freak and go through with it now - or you turn off yawning and never watch it again. The ones who made it are happy now, because Lucky Star gets funnier with every episode when the other classmates join in and it gets even better! Maybe the first episode is supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff, maybe that was unintentional, but a whole episode about topics that I don't even need 5 minutes for... not bad. Comedy and slice-of-life fans, hardcore freaks, and people who need a break between the more challenging anime should, or even must(!), tune in. If you haven't seen Lucky Star yet, you definitely missed something. Deductions were made for the high level of "anime knowledge" you need, but if you don't have that, you should leave this one alone and watch the anime suggested above first. Lucky Star gets 93% from me.
The strange thing about reviews is that they ca never assume their eventual audience. Is it someone who has heard of the anime and wants to figure out if it’s worth their time? Is it someone who has watched the show either partially or fully and now now looks for validation of their opinions from online strangers? Is it someone who picked up the show, found it unbearable and cast it to the side, just to revisit the reviews and see if there’s something worth watching further on in the series? Although there are certainly each of those types – and surely many more – reading these reviews right now, I’m going to focus entirely on the last group, because this is the group that describes me best. Lucky Star, along with Nichijou, was the very first KyoAni work that I really couldn’t get into within the first few episodes. All of the critical analysis that I applied to all of the other studio’s works failed to grasp strongly on Konata and her friends, and I found myself struggling to find meaning in the show’s plot. I put Lucky Star to the side for a while, and only later decided to revisit it – and I’m so glad I did. As usual in my reviews, I will talk about several of the general categories that form my rating of the show, and only then revisit what made me return to the show, and why my opinion of it has changed so drastically from the beginning. First of all, let’s talk about the music. Some people might hate it, but it’s hard to deny that the opening is one of the most iconic that KyoAni has produced. It screams cliché and moe (both topics I’ll discuss in depth later on) and has an uncanny ability to stick rather strongly in one’s head. The endings (yes, plural) are perhaps some of the funnies parts of the show, which as primarily a comedic slice of life, leans upon for part of its charm. The EDs, even moreso than the opening, embrace a lot of references to other soundtracks, and references to the studio’s other works. The music is entertaining and rightfully so, and the rest of the soundtrack, while pretty much what you would expect from a lighthearted slice of life, does its job well. Really the only uncanny thing about the BGM is its similarity in my mind to music from Animal Crossing (???) which surely isn’t a bad thing. Next, let’s look at the art. Like I normally say, with a KyoAni work there’s not a lot to be concerned about. The scenes rarely suffer from the inconsistencies that sometimes plague other studios, generally adopting the same style that characterizes the OP, except when the time calls for it. The exception to this can be found in the OVA, which deserves its own review. Lucky Star also features many insert scenes that adopt art styles shamelessly copied from other works and genres, which generally do more to emphasize the point than distract, which I definetely appreciate. Significantly, however, the show never pretends to be a serious, plot-driven story for which art style and consistency can either assist the storytelling or ruin the illusion, and insert scenes are thus far more appropriate for an anime that doesn’t take itself seriously. Moving swiftly forward, let’s discuss the characters. The anime centers around four highschool girls and their day-to-day actions, conversations and thoughts. Nothing describes a moe slice of life better than listening in on the lunchtime debates of the correct way to each a chocolate cornet, and similar conversations are not alien to this anime. It is the characters themselves, and the particular way in which they are portrayed, that make this anime so unique and enjoyable. If you’ve heard of one character in the show, it’s almost certainly Konata. The blue-haired Japanese anime freak who prefers manga and video games to studying or anything else. Absolutely everything about her character reflects the “nerdy gamer” trope seen in SoL or isekai anime: copying her smart friends’ homework, falling asleep in class, pulling all-nighters to play MMOs, the works. Other aspects of her life reflect common tropes as well – small stature, mother’s passage as a child, general misunderstanding of general life skills and common sense – the list goes on. Her interests, while causing her to be lauded by some parts of internet culture as an otaku status symbol, draw the frustration of some of her friends when then interfere with the more responsible parts of life. One of the major things that turned me away from this anime the first time concerned the absolute triteness of her character – I could see no depth, no subtlety, and very few other redeeming traits that made her an interesting figure or even capable of becoming one. If it’s not Konata, it’s probably Kagami, and she’s where we’ll turn next. If Konata represents the lazy otaku, Kagami represents the hardworking tsundere. She’s studious and serious, endlessly frustrated by Konata and her own sisters due to their lack of ambition and general easygoing disposition towards life. The vast majority of conflict within the anime (if you could call it conflict) regard Kagami’s clash with the general laziness that constantly seems to surround her – or so it seems. Yes, Kagami is probably the most stereotypical tsundere that has graced KyoAni studios, and for good reason. Many of the interactions in the show almost seem designed to emphasize this character trait, showing both her cold and warmer sides even from the earliest episodes. The phrase “It’s not like I like you or anything, baka!” is hopelessly obvious in her interactions with others, particularly Konata, and when I first picked up the show I struggled and failed to find anything else. It’s worth saying here that Lucky Star’s author is, too, named Kagami. The internet apply describes Kagami as the spice and her younger twin Tsukasa as the sugar. Tsukasa is Kagami’s opposite and takes on the third trope of the SoL world – airheaded, unconcerned student who possesses neither the academic focus of her older sister nor the absolute nerdy infatuation of their friend. If Konata and Kagami are 2D characters, showing only one flat character trait, Tsukasa is one-dimensional, showing very little at all. Perhaps aptly so, her only real strength is cooking and sleeping, feeding her love of cute and tasty things that seem to characterize so many other SoL figures. I’ve used the word “trite” several times so far in this review, and I don’t think a better word can be found to describe Tsukasa. She also happens to be my favorite character, but now’s not the time for that. The fourth and final member of the main cast is Miyuki, who also sums up the final vertex of the SoL stereotype quadrilateral. She’s smart, competent in both academics and athletics, well-mannered and very proper. She is the book-reader, the rich girl, and the tall one, all rolled up into a single figure. Unlike Kagami, she is the accepting and meaningful one, never frustrated by the laziness, ambivalence, or dreaminess of her three friends. If it sounds like I somehow managed to complete the cast description with yet another flat character, you’d be absolutely right. Miyuki may possess some more of the typical SoL characteristics than the rest of the main cast, but very little about her is unique or impends future growth. So if you’ve read this far, you’re probably noticing a trend in what I’ve said. The music is cliché, the art style arguably so as well, and all of the characters are flat and lack uniqueness. Why, then, would you ever want to watch an anime that falls into all the traps that make so many others in the genre so mediocre? What’s the point of seeing something that just spews tropes, sound, and fury? The answer is more subtle than I originally thought, and that’s what we will talk about now. If you’ve heard of Lucky Star in pop internet culture, you probably know that it is absolutely filled with references. Being a Haruhi fan, the endless SOS Brigade mentions almost themselves made this anime worth seeing. And it’s not just Haruhi – other KyoAni works ranging from Kanon to FMP are all referenced, many more than once. Japanese pop culture is also a major focus of this show’s musings, and the EDs I mentioned earlier are never hard to identify for even casual fans of the genre. But that’s not why I feel that this show is so brilliant – any studio can make a show that references things in the real world. But not even studio can make a show that is so incredibly, blatantly self-aware. The show’s self-awareness first becomes pretty obvious when you take a look at the four main characters. They possess no other traits than those that are stereotypically true of SoL characters, but rather than augmenting those traits to make something unique or attempting to hide them, KyoAni emphasizes them and makes them the single most consuming features of the four leads. There really is nothing other to Kagami than her tsundere nature, but that’s the entire point. What better way to point out industry tropes than make a character so incredibly flat that it’s painfully obvious? If you’re reading this review and have at least some exposure to anime in general, it isn’t hard to think of one or two characters where the studio tries so hard to make them unique while failing due to their fundamentally stereotypical character. KyoAni, rather than making their characters unique, is fully aware of how easy it is to fail at doing so, and instead pivots in the opposite direction, instead making characters so fundamentally one-sided that they reveal the triteness of other, more subtle characters. Similar themes are seen in the progression of the plot. Slice-of-life is frequently criticized for having no plot, being boring, or being unrealistic. In the first – Lucky Star has absolutely no plot, switching from conversation to unrelated conversation so quickly and confusingly not on accident, but on purpose! On the second – does a conversation about how many postcards that you’ll need to submit to win a magazine contest drive forward the story or build the characters? No, it doesn’t, and that’s exactly the point. On the third – the story follows four neon-haired female main characters, with the only recurring male being the cartoon characterization of one of the voice actors. Unrealistic? It’s supposed to be unrealistic!! The MAL Rewrite of this anime describes the character’s conversations as being such that “no subject is safe from their musings.” What it fails to capture is that the same is true for meta critism of the anime genre as a whole. Overworked and unappreciated anime producers? We got that. The weirdness when you realize that the same voice actor covers characters from different anime? Oh yeah, Lucky Star has that too. The struggle of male MCs ending up much less popular than the females? Referenced by unhappy caricatures of their own voice actors. The issue of creating side characters? Probably decrying the fact that they seem to be the background in another character’s story. She looks 14 but is actually 40? Oh yeah, that’s there too. And with that, we wrap back around to why I dropped it and when I picked it back up. Lucky Star’s charm and enjoyment comes in the fact that it mocks over-analyzers like yours truly. There’s nothing to analyze about the plot or the characters, because the studio actively stripped everything extraneous to making their genre criticism as poignant as it could be. The anime became that much more enjoyable for me when I realized that I was supposed to watch it mocking not only the tropes that it references, but also mocking myself for watching something so stereotypically SoL. As an American I identify with the indoctrinated transfer student from the states who knows nothing more about Japan than its pop culture tropes, and I can laugh at myself knowing that even the anime I watch realizes it’s true. I know that this isn’t like any of my other reviews, and I think it’s fitting for an anime this unique. Lucky Star is self-critical, and you should be too.
Lucky Star is a very interesting show I thought I would never watch in my lifetime. I had no intention of ever watching this show. I saw the opening so long ago and thought it looked really dumb (which was a mistake because the opening is spectacular). But, one day I saw this was added on a crunchy roll and thought why not watch this for a joke. Not knowing this would become the greatest anime I have ever consumed. I am very shocked at how enjoyable it was even though I probably shouldn’t have judged it without watching it first. But what are the qualities that make Lucky Star a 5 Stars out of 5 Stars show? I personally believe it comes down to specifically the characters/dialogue of the show. Which is especially needed since the show doesn't really have a plot outside of them just attending high school from junior to senior year. But it's also a comedy slice of life so I don’t think that's a huge deal as long as it can use other aspects to its advantage. That being said, the characters are fantastic despite being pretty much cliches of something. They all have their little quirks that you notice and pick up on that fleshes them out compared to most other slice of life shows. I won't go too much into detail on their likes/dislikes but, some do become recurring gags throughout the series. Like Miyuki trying to do anything to avoid going to the dentist or Kagami wanting to find love. It is simple yet the execution of it is remarkable, and I do believe that comes down to the chemistry between all of them. Watching the I felt very strongly that the characters care for each other despite the teasing they each give which is refreshing. They actually feel like friends, which I feel anime can have a hard time doing. There are also references to other media I remember like dragon quest, Code geass, and full metal. So that aspect of the show you may like or may not like but, outside of the Haruhi ones I didn’t mind. But the dialogue is what makes every part so enjoyable, the writer can make a conversation about literally anything enjoyable with these characters. It can be about chores, school, food, gaming, clothes, growing up etc etc. The timing, animation, and writing are also reasons I think it excels at it. I especially love how Kagami and Konata talk mad trash about each other. Or how Kagami scolds Konata and her sister Tsukasa for getting bad grades. It never gets old surprisingly they just get better and better. I've never seen an anime be able to replicate it as well and I still wonder why there hasn't been a single show since to do it as well. I would also like to add they do touch on some aspects such as grief in the family or sibling expectations which is appreciated even in a comedy anime. Although it is not the focus. Also, may I add the OST and animation are from Kyoto Animation so it's going to be the best of the best when it comes to those respected production areas. The Chibi art style works very well for the series and is pretty memorable in my opinion as well compared to what we get from most comedy slice of life anime. But I feel this is just a show you have to watch to see if you like the dialogue or characters enough to continue watching at the end of the day. That’s the main advice I would give after watching it. You will either vibe or not vibe with it. For me it was wonderful, and I know it will be the most rewatchable anime for me. Both the sub and dub are good in my opinion, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t like dub. May the stars shine bright on you if you decide to watch. P.S KAGAMI IS THE BEST CHARACTER img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0d/e0/05/0de005306a0b6f1870e08d04c7036abc.gif)
If you, or someone you know, have never seen _Lucky☆Star_ before, are planning on watching it, and would like a __general idea as to how its plot and overall flow will evolve__ throughout the show, I would highly encourage you/them to do a quick __Google Search of the opening theme__ and watch it for yourselves. It will, in all likelihood, __put to rest any expectations__ that you/they once had about _Lucky☆Star_ providing a gripping, action-packed, and cliff-hanging plot __(Or any plot, for that matter).__ If you, like me, were able to get past the opening with your concentration intact and watch the entire show and OVA (see review later) __congratulations - you can keep reading!__ If you were, in fact, __unable or unwilling to continue watching__, congratulations! This review will __likely not dash any hopes you may have had__ about the show possessing any semblance of plot, story development, or flow. Because while it fails to possess any of these aspects, _Lucky☆Star_ does manage to string something together - __and what a something it is.__ __I wish I could give a decent depiction__ of what _Lucky☆Star_ is truly all about, but doing so would require so much work that I, quite frankly, am not willing to put towards for the sake of this anime - __I doubt I could even find the focal point of the show, even if I were to analyze this iceberg of a show with a microscope.__ It gives us the main cast of characters from the get-go - a veritable record-label girl group of __four high school students named Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Miyuki__ - but also fails to mention that establishing this star-studded shojo student cast in Episode 1 (even sooner, if you count the opening) __is one of the only details that remain set-in-stone for the entire show.__ These four characters are the __Sun around which every other nonsensical antic shown in each episode revolves.__ If this cast of main characters are the Sun, then the __other side characters are each of the eight planets and each of their moons are their own wacky antics__ - everything revolves around the Sun in their own unique way. Needless to say, __even taking a guess as to what will happen next__ in each succeeding episode is as easy as predicting where an asteroid may or may not land - __I just couldn't do it.__ Now, for those who have read this far, it would be easy for you to __assume that I hate this aspect__ of _Lucky☆Star_. __But you'd be wrong - quite the contrary, in fact.__ _Lucky☆Star_ establishes from the very first beginning - __as early as the first opening from Episode 1__ - that it has no discernible plot. As a matter of fact, __it seems to relish in this fact - the opening theme and the countless scenes within paint that picture quite clearly.__ Sure, the story is nonexistent, but the __humor of it all__ fills the void quite nicely, in my opinion. Yes, I would generally prefer to have something plot-wise to make me excited for the next episode of a show, __but _Lucky☆Star_ abandons that for pure chaos - something that was a very pleasant palate cleanser.__ The only reason I went into such detail about this earlier in the review was __precisely because of how potentially off-putting this plot style may be to some viewers.__ __You either embrace the madness and enjoy it, or you get tired of it a couple episodes into the show.__ I enjoy how it takes such a simple approach to story-telling, but I feel that many others may not. ~~~__Personal Ratings__~~~ __1. Music: 84/100 -__ If music was created to inspire others, bring smiles to people's faces, and transcend generations through its infectious ability to get stuck in our heads, __then _Lucky☆Star_ did a pretty damn good job at making a one-hit-wonder.__ __"Motteke! Sailor Fuku," the opening theme,__ has been the subject and template for many classic YouTube memes and amatuer dance clips for over a decade now, __and I still cannot forget the lyrics even if I tried.__ It carries this anime's OST and remains a classic 15 years after it blessed our ears. __2. Plot: 59/100 -__ I can't really say that _Lucky☆Star_ has a "bad" plot, __because it really doesn't even one to begin with, as I so very colorfully described earlier.__ With that being said, however, the void left behind by the lack of any coherent plot was, in my opinion, __filled very well by the humor and chaos__ that littered each episode. __The Lucky Channel! endings__ in each episode provided another great form of comedy that would often leave me __anticipating the _end_ of each episode,__ ironically enough. It did get a bit stale for me as I approached the end of the show, but it was still a nice addition to the show. __3. Characters: 86/100 -__ Arguably the __strongest aspect of the show__, I will, once again, cite __my Sun analogy pertaining to the characters of _Lucky☆Star_ :__ Because this anime has no plot to grab the attention of the viewers, __it falls to the characters__ to pick up the slack - something that _Lucky☆Star_ does very well. __You got the four main girls, Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Miyuki, who act as the Sun__ - nearly everything that happens in the show revolves around them. And then the __side characters and THEIR own antics are the planets__ - they all revolve the central focal point of the show. I personally found all of the main characters to be enjoyable and amusing, but __not so much from the side cast.__ __4. Art & Animations: 55/100 -__ __I should mention this now: I love Kyoto Animation.__ They were the studio behind my favorite anime of all time and have done incredible work in recent years, whether it was for shows or movies. __But I think I speak for everyone when I say that _Lucky☆Star_ 's art style did not age well.__ I'm sure the art style reflects that of what __Kagami Yoshimizu and Yukiko Horiguchi intended for the manga and original designs__, but that doesn't mean it aged very well compared to other anime of the time. __There's something very nostalgic about it and I will always associate that feeling with anime like _Lucky☆Star_ and its characters' design choices__, but that's truly the extent of my feelings towards it. ~~~__Conclusions__~~~ I started watching _Lucky☆Star_ unsure of what my expectations for the show actually were, and after finishing the show, I am still unsure as to what I even expected from the beginning. It is an incredibly famous anime from the mid 2000's for many reasons, and I have friends from America, Europe, and Japan who all have fond memories of watching it as kids. The music, characters, and chaotic humor will bring a smile to your face even after you finish watching it - I still sing "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" in my head whenever I'm reminded of this show. My one recommendation is that you watch it with as little expectations as possible - know that the incoherent plot is overshadowed by the wacky humor and character interactions. I am glad to have watched it, and, at the end of the day, I'm sure you will too.