First Impressions / Lucky Star

Lucky Star Episode 4: A Problem of Willingness

Some people are just experts at “trying.” You know, those people that are in 20 clubs and president of half of them, saves baby seals on the weekends, reads novels in their spare time, writes letters to overseas friends, and plays three instruments and speaks four languages. All while maintaining straight A’s, with that tragedy of an A- in AP Rocket Science (immediately grounded for two weeks with no allowance).

For the rest of us, it’s more of an “I could do it if I tried…” but our time is obviously better spent on things like Lucky Star. Which makes sense that Konata is the main character, and not ubermensch Miyuki. So what does Konata teach us about life in this episode?

– Don’t blow all your sick days on party raids. Something similar to the kid who thought it was funny to shout “wolf” in a herd of sheep, here we have Konata reeling from the consequences of ditching real life for the virtual.
– That whole “Golden Rule” thing is crap. The one about treating others as you would want to be treated – in Konata’s case, that meant some precisely selected cosplay articles for Kagami and Tsukasa – good laughs for us, bad vibes for the receiving end.
– When one speaks of summer, I think of all the classes and homework I won’t be doing – not true of Konata, where she looks forward to all the great things she’ll be getting into, namely Comiket…
– Girls without huge racks worry not – flatness is back in style!
– Cats without a body can be considered cute too…??? Looks more like an onigiri with a tail to me. What’s with these 4-koma mascots anyways? The Azumanga “otou-san” was the only one that kinda made sense…well, no, not really.
– Ever get the urge to clean the night before a test, when you’re supposed to be cramming? My room sparkles during exam weeks – seems like Konata’s and Tsukasa’s do as well! I mean, I could start studying whenever I want, I just have to start – easy, right? Oh, hey, it’s 9 pm, time to watch Desperate Housewives.
– Three hour naps at 2 am don’t exist.
– Speaking of which, LOL FANG-SENSEI has had plenty of screen time, how about the quivering police woman and the my-pace Miyuki mom? How about all those other girls in the OP?
– Galaxy Angel-rune is awesome. Someone should finish subbing it.

Lucky Channel: Segment 4 – Akira dons the summer seifuku, but while the temperature might be rising, her heart is at an all-time cold. Poor Taniguchi. One of the postcards asks Akira to try out Kagami’s twin-tail hairstyle – will we see it next week? As long as the rest of the episode is more exciting than the wait itself, I’ll be alright with anything!

Preview

The major news this week in KyoAni is the replacement of the director of episodes 1-4 (Haruhi director) with the guy who directed FMP. Whether this bodes well for Lucky Star, it’s hard to say – the pace established in the first four episodes was quite consistent, and while it’s been quite entertaining, the general response, at least here in the English anime blogging community, has been less than overwhelming. Perhaps this shakeup will inject some more life into a show that should be brimming with vitality, but has so far been merely affable. True, the FMP team has plenty of experience animating twins, though I doubt the prospect of Xia Tsu Lan in a china dress spin-kicking Major Konatao through a door, or Koname Chizumi slapping uh… Sagaraguchi on the head with her harisen. Sleepy Captain Miyuki Miyuyossa walking around in her underwear and grinding all over some unsuspecting guy has some serious potential, though.

-jaalin

47 Comments

  17. Episode 4’s ED… time for a change of the singer and the type of song.
    Kagami’s singing this one, and from what I can tell from the song, is the OP to a drama that aired in Japan last year: “Sailor Suit and Machine Gun”.

    piffleprincess
    Reply

  18. im still not sure about people calling this moe…its no way near as cute-sy moe to me as mikuru in haruhi, but whatever.

    cultural/anime references this episode:
    *mmo’s – one of konata’s excuse for being late was because “she had to help her party member”
    *bonta kun – in kagami’s room
    *haruhi – konata giving kagami the “brigade leader” arm band, konata physically watching haruhi at midnight
    *2 channel – konata discussing the haruhi episode in 2 ch., complains about nagato
    *crayon shinchan – konata smiles like shin-chan, then talks like him…much to the horror and disgust of kagami
    *comiket – konata’s “summer tradition”
    *moe drill – a trivia-based game feat. lucky star characters for the DS; ironically mentioned by kagami as a possible “alternative” for konata to use as a study tool
    *student violence – konata points about how people interviewed during student-based violence/murder always mentions that “they will never have expected him/her to do it.” kagami jokingly says that if konata will ever injure/murder someone, she will say in her interview that “she definitely thought it will happen.”

    lucky channel segment – featuring more complaints from akira to minoru “this isnt GAKI NO TSUKAI (comedy variety show), you know.” akira also complains about how maintaining long hair will take a toll on her time and money. LOL.

    mewmew
    Reply

  27. All the FMP references make me miss Fumoffu. Bonta-kun! I realize that it was a different sort of comedy, but that was a much funnier effort from KyoAni.

    Lucky Star is ok, but far from outstanding. It really feels like poor man’s Azumanga to me.

    claudius
    Reply

  29. “the pace established in the first four episodes was quite consistent, and while it’s been quite entertaining, the general response, at least here in the English anime blogging community, has been less than overwhelming.”

    Well, I personaly like the series, however the problem for me is, that only hardcore otakus are able to understand all jokes(at least that’s the impression I have). It’s like you have an 4 year old child watch Simpsons and tell him to get all the satire. Lucky Star isn’t just as “main stream” as Suzumiya Haruhi is and therefore it’ll never have the same success in the english community.

    Mutio
    Reply

  32. Personally, I’m enjoying the hell out of the show….

    Assuming there’s any truth to the director swap…. it’ll be interesting to see if he amps up the energy level of the main content segment. I was fine with the pleasant pacing but since the Lucky*Channel takes up the time it does – that leaves less time for manga material adaptation. I’d really like to see the segments with Kona’s dad animated, for example.

    vexx
    Reply

  34. @ jaalin & mutio

    i wholeheartedly agree with the comment that lucky star is ultimately fun for serious otakus or people who lived in japan and can actually get the references and subtle humor that its brimming with. because if you dont meet at least one of those criteria, its going to be a “poor man’s azumanga daioh” (according to claudius).

    i mean, i cant spot all of the pop culture references in this ep alone (i missed the fate stay night text on the ani-magazine konata was reading the first time i watched), and some of the references is VERY VERY VERY trivial for the non-japanese viewer (a good example is last week’s episode when konata mentions mana/kana, famous twin girls who were previously believed to be fraternal twins when they were in fact identical during their chat about kagami/tsukasa and their “twin bond”).

    mewmew
    Reply

  36. we should pick up mewmew as our lucky star references consultant… not even the subs would help with stuff like koi/ai no apron (courtesy omni) and mana/kana

    looking forward to your input next week mew :O

    btw, speaking of crayon shin-chan, wtf is that show doing on cartoon network? i was flipping channels the other day and i caught the ED sequence playing and was like “uhhhhhhh..” i mean, ok? nice that CN is picking up something thats non-american mainstream, but couldn’t they have chosen something, i dunno… less ugly? chibi maruko-chan comes to mind, but something like azumanga, or ranma, or freakin doraemon would have been ok…

    jcslim: judging from the hair color and the fact that its in a shrine, that picture has to be of konata’s deceased mother. iirc there’s been no mention of her, only the dad, who seems to be the provider and nurturer of konata’s obsession with galges and such (rather appropriate, or at least consistent with the fact that he’s a single guy). i’m guessing you made the rena connection because of the hat? i think someone made a rena/k-1 connection in the comments of the previous episode, too.

    jaalin
    Reply

  37. “Galaxy Angel-rune is awesome. Someone should finish subbing it.”

    C’mon, I’m a huge GA fan and even I can’t say this without feeling bad. Was there anyone subbing it in the first place? I never even bothered to check if anyone picked it up while or after I was watching it.

    And I haven’t decided which seifuku I like Akira better in right now. The long sleeves make her Akira but I really enjoyed her new look. Maybe after next episode I can decide which I like on her more.

    Likkun
    Reply

  41. we all know kagami is the real lead……
    and konata is her sidekick

    kagami is the coolest…. and konata is the lame joker

    You are so delusional! They make you THINK Kagami is the real lead, but even THAT is all a part of Konata’s plan to bring forth an otaku revolution to this world with her unmatched cunningness using all other casts of Lucky Star! She’s like Yagami Light of Lucky Star, whom you’d expect the least to be the one behind the curtains! :p

    Rasmiel
    Reply

  43. The pic is indeed of Konata’s mother in the remembrance altar. Konata takes after her mother in looks (short, waifish, cute, huge amounts of moppy hair).

    The manga covers this aspect of Kona and her dad in some detail and I’m really hoping they animate many of the sequences with him and her (quite funny).

    Vexx
    Reply

  47. I thought the Lucky Channel sidekick is Shiraishi Minoru, not Taniguchi, unless there’s something I’m missing.

    “- Three hour naps at 2 am don’t exist.”
    Oh my god, that’s not even funny, I overslept a 10 AM final like that once.

    Tetsuei
    Reply

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