8. Lucky Star
The fact that I understood even half the jokes in Lucky Star is proof positive that I’m a lost cause.
I recall when Lucky Star first began, there was a lot of discussion about the very first scene in the very first episode, in which Konata and friends sat around discussing the proper way to eat various foods for five minutes. Or was it ten minutes? I can’t remember, really. It was a long time, either way, and with that one scene which one half of viewers hated, the other half loved, and pretty much no one (myself included) fully understood, Lucky Star became the topic du jour of the Spring anime season.
Talk about a plan coming together.
And, in many ways, that scene set the stage for what Lucky Star would become: a continuing series of all the absurd and pointless conversations we have with our friends when there’s nothing better to do. Lucky Star isn’t just slice-of-life; it’s distilled slice-of-life. Slice-of-life in the raw. Slice-of-life au naturel.
Here’s the rub, though. All those absurd and pointless conversations we have with our friends when there’s nothing better to do? Sometimes, they’re not all that funny. In fact, sometimes, they don’t even make sense. And Lucky Star was no different in that regard. Sometimes, it wasn’t funny. Sometimes, it didn’t make sense. On more than one occasion, a whole episode would pass without my laughing all that much. For a show that relied so much on jokes and gags to get its point across, you’d think this would be an indication of complete and utter failure on the part of the writers and director.
Perhaps it was. Yet, I kept watching. In fact, when I found myself facing a pile of new anime episodes in need of watching, Lucky Star always seemed to come first. And when an episode left me disappointed, I’d just shrug my shoulders and say, “c’est la vie,” because I knew the next one likely would not. And, typically, that’s exactly how things played out.
So, despite being an uneven show, Lucky Star somehow managed to keep me hooked. Was it some sort of Kyoto Animation voodoo magic? Was I just really, really bored? Did I have a crush on Kagami?
Anyone know how to say, “I haven’t the foggiest idea,” in French?
“J’en ai vraiment aucune idée.” is the closest thing I can come up with for “I haven’t the foggiest idea.” Despite living in Québec all my life, my french still really sucks.
Lucky Star is one my fav animes and I, quite frankly, have no idea why I like it so much either. It might be because Kona-Chan and her friends remind me of me and my friends a lot … but I have no idea what’s so appealing about that in an anime.
I think I’m gonna go with the “KyoAni voodoo Magic.” ==;
Sometimes there is method in the madness, or in this case, allure in the absurdity. From the “War BGM” during the doujin event, to the burning passion of anime sellers, to the numerous references to other anime, etc… There was quite literally something for everyone.
Not to mention Kanata. ^^;
Hmm…
J’en ai franchement pas la moindre idée / Je n’en ai pas la moindre idée. (= I haven’t the slightest idea) I think this is the closer expression in French of your sentence. But I can make mistakes. Funny how French is used in foreign countries. But you use it quite well.
Oh, I have just got a 24″ monitor but I haven’t found a single decent wallpaper in 1920*1200. Do you have something Key, something classy and cute at the same time ?
being french, i believe that “je n’en ai pas la moindre idée” would be better suited :)
i’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the top !
For me, pretty much everything you mentioned are the reasons why I liked Lucky star so much. And you’re not the only one who had a crush on Kagami.
I want to know what you thought of Lucky Channel =D.
I actually liked the Lucky Channel segments, even if it they did give birth to the incessant Shiraishi Minoru gags in the latter half of the show. They should have stuck with the karaoke box EDs.
And, Smankh, you might find something here.
Ah Lucky Star. How can one talk about 2007 without even mentioning it.
I’ll be honest and say, the first episode really didn’t impress me at all. But apart from that, the show really shined afterwards, and became a really good comedy show.
Probably the only flaws I can really say about it is you need to have a good knowledge of otaku culture to get the jokes and the Shiraishi ending songs got really lame after the initial ones.
Also, Kagamin deserved higher in this year’s Saimoe :P.
It was good. You are right to say that some episodes didn’t provoke many laughs, and perhaps I’m less tolerant of this - or less fatalistic about it. So I didn’t enjoy it that much. But it was good.
Thank you but I already searched at Konachan earlier in the morning : the official key (no K, I apologize) walls were … ugly and some others were “too much”, in fact I search something unobstrusive and classy.
Why am I so hard to please with wallpapers ?
Oh, damn, with 4chan hacked, where is my anime walls source ?!
If someone has an idea, even if it’s not key, I would appreciate any suggestion !
Again, thank you and keep blogging, I really like your anime analysis.
Speaking of Lucky Star, I felt a little disappointed but I quite enjoyed it. Week after week, obscure otaku references (but there was some “24″in it, isnt’it ?) that I searched for through the web, Kanata (Perfect otaku wife evolution) and moe all over the show. Strangely I didn’t like Konata, but Tsukasa’s “balsamic vinegar” was so awesome. Kagamin was the standard tsundere type I always love, etc… But I was surprised to see how is described friendship between these girls. They don’t share so much, they just hang out together, strange or japanish ?
But the most important thing I have gained with LS was “You can find my people everywhere”. It’s so true even in France. I don’t speak of the crowd of low “anime fans” but real hardcore otaku like all these bloggers, etc … They are rare but you can find them everywhere. Still, LS was a slice-of-life show with hardcore references and a reaaaaaally sloowwwww paaaaaace. I rated it 8. 8 like good.
No, the show did not “rely on jokes and gags to get its point across.” It was not a joke show, it was a humor of living show. Few laugh-out-loud moments, but continuous inner amusement. This little misunderstanding may be why you do not rate it as highly as I do. For me, it was one of the top three shows of the year (with ef and Blue Drop — Gurren-Lagann just wasn’t my style).
I also don’t think that you need all that much knowledge of otaku culture to get what was important about the show. I got less than half the otaku references, but the other humor (see above) was more than sufficient.
I credit two people with making this show as good as it was. The first is Yamakan — original director Yamamoto Yutaka, who was fired after ep4, when KyoAni may have thought from the public criticism that the show was failing. No such thing. He is the man who directed both the ED of SHnY and the OP of LS, and who directed both the concert episode and the Yuki reading episode in SHnY. In other words, I think he may have given both shows their special flavor. Second is Hirano Aya, whose unique comic voice for Konata was the underpinning of the whole sound and rhythm of the show.
I totally agree - sometimes, it’s like a “distilled” reflection of what our absurd-and-pointless-conversations are like (especially with our friends)…
This show is so pointless (and yet so true) that it almost becomes addictive
I disagree, Hashihime.
Of all the 4-koma adaptations I’ve watched, none stuck to their original format more than Lucky Star. I could easily tell where each individual strip began and ended over the course of each episode. It was constant setup -> punchline progression. Even the delivery was the same much of the time: mundane conversation amongst the girls, leading to Konota saying something strange or inappropriate, and ending with Kagami providing a “tsukkomi” type response. There was some increased variation in the routine as the show progressed and more characters were introduced, but it still continued to rely on the setup -> punchline format to the very end.
I’m not saying the show wasn’t funny even when the gags fell flat; “continuous inner amusement” is a good description, indeed. But I do think the jokes and the gags were the show’s defining feature, and without them, I fear it would have gotten very boring, very quickly.
I do agree, however, that Yamamoto-san set the show on its proper course. I will admit that my overall enjoyment of the show increased after he got canned, though. Could have just been the timing.
This post sums up one of the main reasons why, despite not being a fan of cutesy stuff, I enjoyed this a lot more than I ever expected to. The humour is a very gentle, realistic style that made me laugh in the same way that family and friends make me laugh. It also makes some profound observations about everyday details that make you say “that’s happened to me too!”…then there’s that really touching scene regarding Konata and her family, around ep #22 if memory serves.
Even disregarding the zillions of Haruhi references and the KyoAni connection, this was still possibly the most enjoyable comedy drama of the year. Maybe I was just so surprised that I enjoyed it so much…
Re: Kurogane @ “Ah Lucky Star. How can one talk about 2007 without even mentioning it.”
I plan to do this. And looking at my drafts of my next 7 posts I’ve done just that.
Lucky Star is shit. I don’t watch anime to be reminded of real life. Sure it had it’s moments where I’d go, “Yeah, I’ve experianced that.” or “Yeah, I know what you mean.” But other than that this show is so unmemorable and boring. I can’t remember anything about it other than Tsukasa is cute.
I only really watched it to say I watched it. Same will probably go for Gurren Laggan.
I know that I liked Lucky Star a lot because of the “I know what you mean” moments in the anime, as there were many scenes where I could in some way to what the cast was doing. For me, it didn’t need to be funny as long as it kept me engaged, and it worked for me because I think I was looking for more of those events where I could understand the character’s motivation, from the five-second rule to being left out.
I was suprised at the whole brouhaha that erupted from the first episode, so that might have also helped me watch the series. Doing it in order to prove my invisible naysayers wrong. :P
It’s funny how the choco cornet discussion in Lucky Star is the most often quoted scene in the series yet many people hate it. I did find it boring the first time I watched it, but somehow the second time around it turned out to be rather funny and entertaining. It’s almost like Haruhi’s first episode with the Adventures of Mikuru. It made absolutely no sense the first time, but absolutely perfect sense the next time you watch it.
I think I’m a lost cause too, being able to understand at least half of the jokes in Lucky Star… I just wished there were more episodes XD
I didn’t find it particularly brilliant, but it wasn’t a series of convention; I have no clue what the purpose was either. Though, KyoAni did do a great job, and a few of the characters had memorable aspects. Also, the approach didn’t feel usual when watching, perhaps that was the source material.
Previously, I’ve said Lucky Star was “subtle stuff”, and I stand by it, because that is the only real way I can describe it. Slice of life may often be subtle, but LS was extreme, the many conversations where a viewer may go, “huh”, and it just happened that there may have been little meaning in a scene. Everything was about the characters, and at the same time, most jokes were borderline “had to be there.” Confusing, addicting, yet still very enjoyable.
Glad to see it included on your 2007 review, because I do believe it is an essential reflection on the year.
I must ask… WTF was up with the ‘balsamic vinegar’ all about anyway? It must be a reference to something, but what?
Well, JL, perhaps you’re right that the show was full of gags. In that case, maybe I just didn’t find the gags very funny, and yet found the constant inner amusement more satisfying than more laugh-out-loud moments would have been.
As for the directoral change, the show might well have got more entertaining after he left, I’m not sure. I enjoyed it from the first minute. But I think it was probably a bad idea of Yamakan’s to stick so closely to the comic as to have the choco-coronet sequence first. It was clearly a big turn-off to many people. Of course, so was episode00 of SHnY. Maybe he likes to test us, lol.
I’m not sure if he’s back working with KyoAni or not. I saw his name as co-writer of a later episode of LS, but I haven’t noticed it in the credits for any ep of Clannad.
“big turn-off to many people”
“so was episode00 of SHnY.”
LOL WUT?
Episode 0 of Haruhi was perhaps the best episode of the series and every other episode after that failed to live up to 0 except maybe the GOD KNOWS scene, and the fight with Ryoko because she’s hot and shouldn’t have died. Fuck Yuki. I hate all the main characters in Haruhi, but that’s a personal problem.
@ Wonderduck
The balsamic vinegar thing is one of the many running gags Lucky Star likes to throw into the mix, much like the ubiquitous “stinky” conversation the girls are always having when the scene transitions into the middle of a random discussion. In this case, though, the balsamic vinegar reference was generally used in cell phone related contexts.
I really liked Lucky Star. Maybe it is at some point, pointless, and probably someone should know a lot of otaku stuff but the absurd-and-pointless-conversations are a very good source for the comedy of the show.
And the animation and design characters are very good, simplistic and superb. No doubt it is a good anime serie to mention for this Year in Review.
Timotei~….Timotei~…
^_^
I liked Lucky Star and many of the jokes there. The problem is, some of the criticism about this series being moe-selling anime is justified in my opinion. This series does need to be recognized for introducing many new things about Japan to Western anime fans. I wonder if more people would see at least one episode of Lucky Star compared to number of people who will see the documentary ‘Nanking’.
“I must ask… WTF was up with the ‘balsamic vinegar’ all about anyway? It must be a reference to something, but what?”
I believe the way it’s said is just funny to Tsukasa. Some words are like that. :P
I loved lucky star! True, many scenes and episodes were pretty pointless, but I think that may even be one of the reasons why I like it. It was a show where you didn’t have to think about what you are watching and you were able to just enjoy it. I would also have to completely agree that you really couldn’t just stop watching it, once I finished one episode I just had to watch the next! ^_^
“I haven’t the foggiest idea” : “Je n’en ai pas la moindre idée” :)
Good review man, I agree on almost everything !
The First 3 episode are pretty Boring but it gets better.But the lucky channel segments were always funny.