First Impressions / Lucky Star

Lucky Star 19 the abridged version

“Loner”
Konata> Ah, I got a dog in my net game – I talk to him and he’s so cute!
Kagami> I know! I talk to my goldfish all the time!
Konata> Erm…it’s ok to talk to cats and dogs and stuff, but only loners talk to fish…

“Freud”
Tsukasa> Whenever people are training their dogs, I hear them say “chin-chin” all the time – what’s that mean?
“Chin-chin” is basically a dog command for “beg,” it also means “penis.”
Konata> Whoever just had a dirty thought, raise your hand!

“Fan”
Soujiro> Gun**m is still so popular, it’s spawned so many different mechs and series.
Konata> What if it was no longer about the mechs, but rather a “Gun**m Serial Murder” series or a “Detective Gun**m,” would you still watch it?
Soujiro> Yea, I’ll watch anything Gun**m…
I completely agree, I sat through 50 eps of GSD!!

“Souvenir”
Soujiro> Hey, the neighbors brought back some gifts from their trip.
Konata> A pot?
Soujiro> Oooh I love you so much, you’re so cute! ::hug hug::
Konata> Egh, you’re too close… and what you just said is pretty scandalous…

“Booze”
Kuroi> Gah, had too much to drink last night
News> Today is July 2nd, Monday…here’s the news…
Kuroi> OH SHI- where’d Sunday go? My day off??!!

“Role Model”
Yutaka> It’s so nice that I have so many people around me to help me out!
Konata> Keh, someone actually believes in me?
Yui> Poor girl, it’s gonna cost her some day…

“Jealous”
Konata> Hey Miyuki-san, can you help me with this?
Tsukasa> Yuki-chan, help me with this question?
Kuroi> Dammit, these kids should be asking their teacher instead…

Konata> Kuroi-sensei~ I got a question~
Kuroi> Ah ha! Anything, ask me anything!
Konata> Well I got this rare item in the game…
Kuroi> OTL

“afk”
Soujiro> Hmm humm… taking my crap… ::doorbell::
Soujiro> Lala… taking my bath… ::doorbell::
Soujiro> Hmph hmph… boshing mm teesh… ::doorbell::

“Liez”
Kagami> So Yutaka, gotten used to school yet?
Yutaka> Yea, but all this homework is still kinda tough. Must be easier for you third years, you get less homework while applying for colleges and stuff…
Kagami> Konata… wtf have you been telling her…

“Facepalm”
Konata> I was playing my game last night and it occurred to me… who’s our school idol?

“Empathy”
Hiyori> Hmm. Grrr. Ahh. Aww.
Yutaka> What’s wrong Tamura-san?
Hiyori> Oh nothing… was drawing my characters and I kinda got the same expression on my face…

Yutaka> I never knew Tamura-san drew manga! What kind of manga do you draw?
Hiyori> OH SHI-

“Reflex”
Hiyori> ::trips, falls, about to land on left hand, so doubles back and flips around, lands dramatically on her back::
Hiyori> Yah, well, for manga artists, this hand is my livelihood, so…

“Respect”
Hiyori> (WTF…someone dressed up as Ed… how embarrassing is that…)
Yutaka> Wah, even though it’s summer, to be dressed like that… won’t it get really hot?
Hiyori> Ah crap, must send photo to friends!!!

“Alias”
PA> Suzaku-sama, your turn is up… Suzaku-sama
Hiyori> Whoop, that’s us, let’s go
Yutaka> Wait, that’s not us!
Hiyori> Heh, I use names of characters I like during times like these… makes me feel like the character just a bit

“Comrades”
Bowling score sheet of neighboring lane at the end of 7 frames:
Haruhi: 155
Kyon: 88
Yuki: 129 + strike (with all strikes and spares -_-)
Mikuru: 19
Itsuki: 92

Hiyori> Ah… I’ve got comrades wherever I go…

“Vivid”
Yutaka> Thanks for helping me with that, it was too high to reach!
Minami> Maybe one day you’ll grow taller than me?
Yutaka> Tehehe, taller than you?
Hiyori’s Imagination> Giant 10-story Yutaka: MINAMI-CHANNNN <3

“Inevitable”
Yutaka> Tamura-san~ What does “yaoi” mean~?

Lucky Channel 19
Shiraishi> Iyaa…I’ve been going all around Japan and seeing the sights for those ED segments… it’s been so great
Akira> Hoh, you like it so much? Why don’t you go to the Mt. Fuji forest then? The director and producer will go with you too… bye now…
Let’s just dispense with subtleties and say that the Mt. Fuji forest is the most famous suicide location in Japan…

Some final points of clarification:

  • Miyuki’s mom is holding a DVD of “Ju-On” (The Grudge), as a part of a conversation about Tsukasa’s inability to stay up at night while studying – just watch a scary movie to keep you up!
  • The ridiculous abuse of bleeping during the Gund**m talk seemed to be a nod to Hayate no Gotoku. Not to mention, their eyes had the censor covering them – can’t sue them for copyright infringement cuz you can’t prove it was actually them saying it!
  • The random stuff written on the blackboard behind Kuroi-sensei could be a nod to the quirky style of Zetsubou Sensei (and Negima, Pani Poni)
  • Today’s Akira cameo came in the form of a split-second flash while Kuroi-sensei was hitting Konata for falling asleep in class. Also seen was a shot of Kanata posing as Sakura from CCS.
  • Kagami in the waitress getup was a part of a talk about how “clumsy” is a typical moe mode, but if applied in real life actually gets quite annoying.
  • More complaints about Japanese television from the Hiiragis: Kagami sums up Japanese variety and game shows by saying how they try to boost ratings by getting celebrities to appear on them and having them compete for prizes… but doesn’t it make more sense to have regular people compete for those prizes?
  • Hiyori’s drawing slump has her drawing male characters in a playful shounen style, but when she’s in her element her characters look bishounen… the subtleties of doujin…

    • Shiraishi Minoru ED

    ED: 「男の生き様」 (Otoko no Ikizama) by 白石稔 (Shiraishi Minoru)

    Shiraishi sings “A Man’s Way of Life,” which ends up being nothing but a string of “suppon suppon suppon!!” (naked naked naked!) for about three minutes. An appropriate ending to a rather risque episode! Text scrolling across the bottom reads: “Please enjoy the wonderful nature scenery and two women blowing bubbles. Feel free to mute out the singing if you please.” I should mention that one of the bubble-makers the girls have is one of those annoying bubble-guns with the generic wooweewoowee sound when it’s shooting, lol

    Preview

    Thoughts

    Whew, that was a lot to squeeze in one episode. I should mention that my summaries for this show would probably make more sense if you read it alongside watching the raw, and just use the summary as a supplement to help fill in any holes. As always, I have to thank mewmew for all the help he’s given me filling in my own holes.

    Quite a lot to say about this episode – first off, the animation quality was noticeably improved from previous episodes, especially with the background characters now actually being drawn, rather than just being silhouettes. Beyond that, there seemed to be just a tad bit more detail in the character drawings and their various movements. There were also several new camera angles introduced, namely the diagonal one that School Days frequently uses (albeit for “different” reasons).

    Random tangent: Those diagonal camera angles in School Days are odd for me, and they are clearly there for purposes of showing “more” of the character (in most cases this involves things below the skirt), but is there more to it than that? I realized that whenever those camera angles are used, I’m less inclined to listen to what the characters are saying, and rather focus almost exclusively on how they look. Maybe the diagonal nature of it takes my attention away from their talking face and shifts it to the shape of their body, having more of it being on the screen than usual. It’s like when you’re staring at a hot girl from a not-so-far distance – don’t you tend to tilt your head to the side a bit? Haha.

    The majority of the second half of the ep focused on the ramblings of Hiyori and her relationship with Yutaka and Minami. She’s a hilarious character because of how seemingly ashamed she is of her hobby, which is a complete flip from the nonchalant Konata. However, like Konata, Hiyori’s daily actions and thoughts are completely dictated by her otaku-ness, albeit in a more “artistic” form than Konata. Unfortunately, there was no Patty sighting this ep – so maybe we’ll get a lot of her next time around!

    You know, I wouldn’t mind it one bit if Lucky Star season 2 focused on the kouhai foursome. Although they’ll have to make up for some serious weight without a tsundere queen in Kagami.

    Is Shiraishi really going on his trek to the Mt. Fuji woods? Maybe he’ll bump into Razor Ramone there… Sumitani Luckystar-ified? HOOOOOOOOO

    35 Comments

    8. In all honesty, this was by far my favorite episode of LS.
      It started off with a light jab from Konata and Kagamin to establish how lonely Kagamin is considering that she has a goldfish as a pet. But Tsukasa would not go down that easily and she dropped a bombshell, asking :”Soe wa mae kara kimon atandan kedo, inu no tchisukete kedo kee no “Chin-Chin” te donna imi nan daro?”. Miyuki could barely put in a clumsiness moe sigh, meek defense to say the least, and thus Tsukasa had won this episode. The little white kitty had to interfere due to safety reasons.

      Some really fun small background images this time, and although we didint see Patty with the first -year students, we did see a tall Yutaka and a clingy Yuki-chan( i call her Yuki, because we will never EVER see Yuki do those things.)

      Also, the Haruhi reference was well done.

      Great Epi!
      ( :

      Dularc
      Reply

    15. Wow first time LS use the same kind of element of SnH extreme face expression lol..
      this time it’s Full Metal Konata with Al Key Chain
      A Fate Stay Night Novel reading by Konata’s policewoman cousin.
      The Grudge Book why Miyuki’s mom carries it lol.
      Another Haruhi Reference this time hidden…. in the score sheet hehe… too bad
      Clannad would go first this october though the movie would start showing next month
      then Haruhi Suzumiya season 2 maybe spring next year.

      arigatou
      Reply

    19. A second season focusing on the younger set with occasional cameos from the original “4 musketeers” would be much appreciated 🙂

      Trivia note: Though an object of veneration, worship, and a popular suicide spot… its also a popularly illegal dump site. There’s a club of people that do nothing but spend their time salvaging everything from basic garbage to washing machines and the occasional car from the depths of the forest blanketing the mountainside.

      vexx
      Reply

    21. Yeah A reference to Demolition Girl (the 50ft Giant Woman) played it and its all about an idol growing 50ft wrecking things in a bikini. Now all we need is a reference to the other popular simple series game by D3, Onichibaba, have Kagami in a bikini slaying zombies XD

      N2
      Reply

    22. If you can read Katakana then that SHnY reference isn’t that well hidden. I’m also starting to wonder if the Giant Yutaka might have something to do with the Simple 2000 series of games in Japan, specifically The Dai Bijin. It’s a long shot though. It sure is one of five ways I imagine the would will end however.

      Kaioshin_Sama
      Reply

    24. haruhi’s score is pretty decent (or at least, whoever playing as her). *and* the game isn’t exactly over yet either.

      as for yuki, her powers *do* go overboard so i think its perfectly fine she has a few spares here and there (e.g., baseball ep, where the pitch she manipulated bounced off her glove). and not to mention her spares were made off of splits…which even professional bowlers sometimes cant pull off…

      mewmew
      Reply

    25. “there seemed to be just a tad bit more detail in the character drawings and their various movements.”

      Oh, really ? Didnt you notice the badly drawn hands, all over the episode ?

      Karry
      Reply

    28. *ANYTIME* someone types the phrase “Am I the only one who….”

      … they can pretty much guarantee at least 100 people not only thought the same thing but considered it too obvious to post about 🙂 🙂

      vexx
      Reply

    29. However…. that is almost a pixel by pixel repeat of Nanako in the original lucky*Star manga, so no probably not. Quite a lot of this series *is* just coincidence, at least when they’re actually DOING the manga material (which has almost zero of the product placement and parody injected for the anime).

      vexx
      Reply

    30. You know, if there IS a second season focusing on the Kouhai, then Nanako better be their teacher. She’s just like… so awesome. Plus I identify with her way too much, being a fellow gamer in my late twenties with little social life. I buy those day old cakes too. FIGHTO, KUROI-SENSEI! ;_;

      Jobrill
      Reply

    33. About the poll, are we going to see poll questions about all major studios or just the one that everybody always talks about. I ponder at the same time how the result would be or if it would be a waste of time since nobody seems to know about any studio other than Kyoto Animation due to their overexposure versus every other studio combined. Hmmmm….. and who thought Lucky Star would be winning this one, the top response was obvious, though I never saw Second Raid being ranked higher than Kanon.

      Kaioshin_Sama
      Reply

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