Finally! Another Anime Review!

I feel like I haven’t had a proper anime review in a long, long time, partly because I haven’t watched much anime lately, and partly because what I do watch is too old for there to be any point in reviewing it. Anyway, today’s anime is…

Lucky Star!

Last Summer, I started watching Lucky Star on Youtube, but I stopped after the first two episodes because it was really, really boring. For whatever reason, I now have enough patience to appreciate it. Or maybe my geekiness has just increased tenfold, and I now get more of the jokes. Anyway, I know that some of my readers aren’t really otaku like me, so those of you who aren’t otaku will probably not enjoy this show at all.

Story: What story? Frankly, this show doesn’t have even a semblance of story, per se. It’s just a collection of silly, mundane conversations, witty remarks, and genre savvy-ness. Basically, it’s slice-of-life. Anyway, it follows the daily life of a group of high school girls, the main ones being Konata, an otaku, Kagami and Tsukasa, twin sisters who are different as night and day, and Miyuki, a soft spoken meganekko. All of them a geeks, to varying degrees, but Konata, the main character, is the geekiest of all, as she spends nearly all of her time watching anime or playing video games.

The first episode, which could easily be the second or third, as it’s not really an introduction, spends the first few minutes discussing how to eat various foods. Then, it goes on to talk about how moe Miyuki is. After that, Konata and Miyuki visit Kagami, who has a cold, to give you an idea of the show’s pace.

The best episode of the set is, in my opinion, episode three, which features brief homages to Cromartie High School and Pani Poni Dash, while Konata demonstrates how genre savvy she is. Plus, Konata demonstrates that not everyone looks good in a pony tail, which may be true in real life, but is quite clearly not true of anime.

Also, the Lucky Channel segments are really good, especially when Akira speaks in her “black” voice. Minoru Shiraishi is also good as himself.

Animation: Though crude looking by KyoAni’s standards, the animation has been very solid so far, with virtually no weird panels. The character designs are also quite good, though, as Kagami comments, it’s kind of weird when the teacher looks the same age as the students (or younger). Also, is it just me, or are there a lot of purple haired twins in bishoujo anime and games?

Music: Overall, the music is passable. The opener is a really fun, fast-paced ditty, and the lyrics are kinda surreal. The ending songs are all songs from other shows, sung karaoke style by Konata and her friends. Some of them are good, and some are kind of terrible.

Dub vs. Sub: For the most part, I like the subbed version better, though that’s probably because I saw that version first. The characters seem to come alive a little more in the Japanese version, for some reason. The exception is Akira, who I like better in the dub. In the dub, her “black” voice is such a contrast to her usual voice, which I like.

Overall, I enjoy Lucky Star, but I don’t think I’ve seen the best of it yet. It’s definitely not for everyone, so I don’t recommend it unless you’re a hardcore otaku with a bit of patience. When the next volume comes out, I’ll write about that too.

Next week: Melon’s reflections on Fanimecon!!!