Friday, August 18, 2017

Anime Watch: Lucky☆Star



Hello Hello, Lil Buns!

Today's post will be:


ANIME WATCH
Lucky☆Star




Getting another one done on My Anime List

Synopsis:
Lucky☆Star (らき☆すた) is about four kawaii high school girls — the otaku Konata, the twins Tsukasa and Kagami and the very smart Miyuki. All kinds of topics are discussed like Japanese tradition, being an otaku and even quips about society. They ask the real questions in life like "What is considered the head of a Choco Cornet?" XD



Yes, their topics are that varied and don't always have to do with the current situation....

Rating Summary

This cat!!!! T_T

Plot/Story 9/10
Like other slice of life series, there isn't much in terms of plot. You just follow the characters along as they live their lives. But this one actually brought up really interesting discussions. Some that many of us have thought of and others that are like wtf.



During the time of the anime broadcast, otaku culture was on the rise and there were a lot of misconceptions. Konata, being one herself, made it a point to tell others what being one was actually about. In one episode, she notes that female characters in series and games never look like actual otaku and are always super attractive. The male fans just dream about these girls and won't date other otaku. It's actually very interesting when you think about it.



Other topics were about things like Santa Claus and New Years traditions. Of course all of their discussions on traditions were hilarious because even though they're all born in Japan, they were all raised differently.



Some of my favorite scenes were when the girls would go to the bookstore and the employees see Konata. Apparently it's very hard to please her so it turns into an old-school shounen yelling match to try to get her to buy something XD

Speaking of shounen, there are a few references to other series.



Initial D



Phoenix Wright



The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Each episode ended with a segment called "Lucky Channel" hosted by Akira and Minoru. OMG the things Minoru was put through. XD Akira claimed to be an idol so she wanted special treatment.



But it was actually Minoru that ended up getting what she wanted. This only fueled her anger even more to the limit so she did whatever she could to get rid of him.



This is also one of the few series that you should continue watching through the credits. Each ending was different and just as funny. Eventually it became live action with the voice of Minoru singing and doing something silly (mostly terrorizing cast and staff XD ). Put together with all of the topics in the anime made me wonder if this was in actuality one of those variety shows.



Animation/Design 8/10
The designs were not heavily detailed but because it's also a comedy, it's very colorful and light-hearted. It reminded me of how anime used to look where everyone had unnatural colored hair. But I think more time was spent on the actual dialogue which didn't bother me. This series also made its debut after Haruhi Suzumiya ended and a lot of different anime were doing the whole group dancing trend. Lucky Star was no different but it was really cute to watch in the opening.



Characters 9/10
The characters are pretty diverse and practically come from different worlds. There's even a moment where they realize that the more wealthy people take the train going uptown while everyone else goes in the other direction (specifically Miyuki). But regardless, they accept each other and learn to deal with their quirks. This is actually more accurate about high school at least for me. You'll have the cliques and then you'll have the group of people that didn't want to or couldn't fit in said cliques which made for some interesting groups of friends. It was amazing considering you have a few girls that are delinquents being best friends with studious ones. But I guess that balances the group out.



They do tease each other about some of their eccentric behavior sometimes. Like it was concluded between Kagami and Konata that Miyuki is really moé even though she's very intelligent. But out of the main group, we mostly see the other three and Miyuki is usually M.I.A. and I don't know why. My only guess is to keep the mystery about her and what she's really like. Or if she truly is moé.

Another confusing but funny thing I noticed is that anytime a side character had dialogue, it was always the same voice! It didn't even matter that it was male or female! XD



In the latter half of the series, we follow a similar group with more extreme oddities almost as if saying that the next generation can be worse. XD

Audio/Soundtrack 9/10

Almost all of the background music is instrumental but very fitting for the scenes.

Especially this one:

The opening "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" by Aya Hirano, Emiri Katou, Kaori Fukuhara & Aya Endou is sung by the main cast and very upbeat. I'm not a huge fan of it but it does fit the series well and it actually ties in with a scene in the last couple of episodes.

For the first 10 episodes, the girls do karaoke for the ending songs. They're actually pretty good and they sing songs that they love. Some are very known like the DBZ theme. Makes me wish I could go to karaoke xD

Here are the songs:
#01: "Uchuu Tetsujin Kyoodain (宇宙鉄人キョーダイン)" by Aya Hirano (ep 1)
#02: "Shouri da! Akumaizer 3 (勝利だ!アクマイザー3)" by Aya Hirano (ep 2)
#03: "Sore ga, Ai Deshou (それが, 愛でしょう)" by Aya Hirano (ep 3)
#04: "Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu (セーラー服と機関銃)" by Emiri Kato (ep 4)
#05: "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" by Aya Hirano (ep 5)
#06: "Valentine Kiss (バレンタイン・キッス)" by Kaori Fukuhara (ep 6)
#07: "Chijou no Hoshi (地上の星)" by Aya Endo (ep 7)
#08: "Monkey Magic" by Aya Hirano (ep 8)
#09: "Kogarashi ni Dakarete (木枯しに抱かれて)" by Aya Hirano (ep 9)
#10: "I'm Proud" by Emiri Kato (ep 10)


After that, it turns into Minoru's voice actor singing his heart out and sometimes with a few "guests". XD I must admit, it was these endings that made me laugh the most. He was trying to have such a moving performance but they were just too funny.



Overall Rating 8.75/10
I haven't laughed this much with a series in a long time. There were some days that I found myself almost binging on it. Maybe I'm easily amused but it was really funny. I can see why so many people loved it back in the day. This is a great series to watch when you need a pick-me-up.



Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know your opinions in the comments if you watched it!



That's all for now! See you next time!

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4 comments:

  1. I love Lucky Star! It's a great series and I really want to rewatch it. I liked the friendships between the girls and the conversations they had. :D

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    Replies
    1. Ha ha me too! I'm really surprised it didn't get a second series though.

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  2. I received the first part as a gift! It came with an oversized T-shirt that had their summer outfit printed on it and it was so lovely.
    Lucky Star is super cute and funny, and the chocolate cornet problem is actually one that my sisters and I encountered as elementary students. Though nobody thought it looked like a bug/worm, thank goodness!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw that's so cool!
      lolol I kinda just eat it from the open end xD

      Delete

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