lucky ☆ star 2
Categories: anime, episodic review, lucky star
Tagged: lucky star
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Well, it’s getting richer.
Most shows only get an episode or two to hook the viewer. With like 50 new series, it’s kinda unreasonable to assume that a normal (i.e. someone who does something beyond watch anime 24/7) person has the time or willpower to watch even a fraction of that regularly so first impressions are very important. It’s like cruising around a pickup bar… you’re not exactly using SAT scores to determine who to lay the “Your daddy must be an astronomer because I see stars in your eyes” line on. Honestly, I’m struggling right now trying to watch as much as possible for my upcoming thin slicing post, and it’s still a major drag to watch certain shows. Why do I bring this up? Because Lucky Star is dragging. The collective right-off-the-gate wisdom of the crowds is in; after their second episode airing, I jotted down the ANS scores for the following shows:
- Romeo and Juliet – 8.5
- Hayate – 8.3
- Gurren Lagann – 8.2
- Claymore – 8.0
- Lucky Star – 7.3
It’s not an exact science, but generally after two episodes, it’s not a good sign for a series to get ranked below an 8. Usually the trend has a show scoring high before being modded down as more and more people turn on it or the initial fascination/gimmick wears and the reviewers get more serious. Basically, what I see is, “We all expect Lucky Star to explode out of the gate like Fumoffu or Haruhi. Didn’t happen. So even though it’s not bad, it’s not fulfilling our expectations.” That’s my attitude as well.
For instance, let’s say Greg Oden goes first in the NBA draft. He has monster expectations of being a potential franchise center and as the most dominant big man since Yao and Shaq. If he doesn’t submit a monster average like 25/11 and carry his team, should we be disappointed? Hell, yeah. When you’re Greg Oden, you have a different set of expectations than if you’re Nick Fazekas. Yes, a 15/8 average would be awesome for Fazekas but would be horrible for Oden. Right now, Lucky Star is putting up 15/8 type of numbers.
Anyway, the second episode shows major improvements in the comedy. We get actual jokes instead of a diatribe on food! (Then again, you can say the same thing about AoMM… “I came here looking for a Death Note post, and I end up reading about honeycrisp apples.” so maybe I shouldn’t talk.) We get a mishmash of conversations rather than an actual plot, but at least now, we’re better fleshing out the characters.
Miyuki: Moe Blob. Basically, I expect her to walking around in Mikuru’s meido outfit or combat waitress outfit by episode six. Anything else is unacceptable.
Tsukasa: Ignorance Is Bliss. Love her typical vapid expressions.
Kagami: The Straight Man. She takes on Koyomi’s role.
Konata: The Wildcard. Obviously, any good comedy needs one. Though I’m not sure if anything can top Ichigo Feast, but if anyone can do it, it’s Konata.
Arika: The Funny One. Funniest cast member. Of course, it doesn’t bode well if I’m anticipating the end of an episode just to be graced by Arika’s bipolar disorder. (Also probably not a good sign that Hiromi Konno is doing a much better job than Aya Hirano, then again, Aya has to pretty much mangle her lines for Konata…)
Taniguchi: Taniguchi. I find it oddly disconcerting when a seiyuu appears as himself in an anime so I’m just go to refer to him as his most famous role. Yes, if Taniguchi is the best role you have on your resume, you may want to look into vocational college or something.
Shooting Stars
Loved the split screen gimmick. Anything that reminds me of 24 is a plus in my book.
LOL FANG-TAN after 15 years and a can of hair bleach. I’d dub her LOL FANG-SENSEI and hope for hope for her cameo in an upcoming Churuya 4koma.
Looks like she’s reading a Full Metal Panic light novel… in fact, the newest one. Concerning their rant about light novels being readable books, I remember reading somewhere that manga circulation has been dropping in Japan while light novel popularity has been increasing. Is it because manga has become dull and repetitive or light novels being able to offer more than just fanservice or maybe it’s just more socially acceptable to read a light novel in public rather than Shonen Jump? I don’t know.
“The skills that you learn while gaming end up being pretty useless in real life.”
What? What if we’re suddenly invaded by witches? I’m sure my mad l33t DS touching skillz will come in handy then…
(Yes, I’m disappointed that there wasn’t a Hare Hare Yukai track for Guitar Hero waiting on XBL.)
(Yes, I’m also disappointed that arcades have gone the way of the dinosaur in the US. Honestly, even though it’s much cheaper to play TMNT Arcade on my 360, it’s just not the same as when I was playing it at the local arcade when I was a little kid. *sniff* I understand why things have to change when we age, but why does it always seem to get worse?)
Maybe a new poll question… what do you think Konata was playing during her Golden Week holiday? The quickie answer would be FFXI, but you don’t exactly quest for XP in FFXI. So that leaves something more like Elder Scrolls IV, World of Warcraft, or Neverwinter Nights. I’m going to go with Elder Scrolls. Seems to fit her oddball personality. Oh look, a little Japanese girl is playing a Western-styled RPG!
Finally, a good chuckle scene. Though I think she should work at Angel Mort. Though what does she do at a Cosplay Cafe? As a cosplay waitress? I mean, wow, I guess whatever floats your boat. Then again, I remember all the YTAMR comments, and maybe it’s not so big of a stretch after all.
Loved Tamama’s expression. “SONNA ONNA!!!” Yeah, cheap Keroro cameos win this blogger over. I’m easy like that.
(We’re still not at a 26/11 yet, but at least Lucky Star isn’t Kwame Brown. Whew, must be a relief for the guy in my Anime Fantasy League who picked this show over Hayate with the first pick.)
25 Responses to “lucky ☆ star 2”
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Strangely enough, I found myself chuckling as soon as episode 1 started, and still was doing so once I watched episode 2. Chalk it to having a strange sense of humor, or maybe subconsciously picking up some of the more (read: Japanese culture-centric) subtle jokes I guess.
The jokes aren’t for everyone, mind you, but it’s enough to keep me suitably amused this season.
No mention of Japanese dentists using giant robot drills and pretty girls?
>>>Though I’m not sure if anything can top Ichigo Feast, but if anyone can do it, it’s Konata.
You mean Ichijou Feast?
I’d say right now it’s now the greatest anime ever… but I still rather enjoy it, the slice-of-life being my favorite genre and the random anime parodies thrown in.
Gurren Laggan is also a pretty good show, there’s sort of an abrupt drop in animation quality in ep 4, but I hope that’s just tempoary.
You live in California, don’t you? Be happy we have as many arcades as we do. At least MGL is driving distance, heh.
The link to the full image of the girls dressed up as characters from other anime gives you the small picture.
Because I’m that crazy person who enjoyed the food scene I didn’t like this episode quite as much as the last one, but I still though it was pretty nice.
This series just gets better and better every episode, I am a big slice of life fanatic and this just gets better and better with the subtle comedy it uses. My only wish is that they would take out the lucky channel portion of the show and use that time to put in more lucky star material. The lucky channel thing is just feels very cliche and dull, not thought out well enough. Was it just something kyoto threw in or was it part of the comics as well? Oh and the chick who does the lucky channel is just plain annoying as well.
You don’t exactly quest for XP in TES4 Oblivion either. In fact, I’d say that quests are just an excuse to level up one’s skills… and levelling up in general makes the game harder anyway.
im starting like lucky star myself, it not really laugh out loud comedy but if i wanted that id watch family guy. i loved the bit were konata was playing the rpg [i think it was just taking the crap out of rpg’s in general]. the bit with the dentist drills and nurses was great
btw why do you always make references to sports persons, im sure that the majority of anime watches dont watch any sport, and a lot of the time when ya put a sporting name down i have to wiki it to know what the your on about [i still only get vague idea].
To be honest, I was thinking that Konata was playing MapleStory. Her friend in Episode 1 going into the sewers and training without logging off is a perfect caricature of a Maple hacker. (Though I don’t think they have that kind of problem in Japanese MapleStory.)
>> (Yes, I’m disappointed that there wasn’t a Hare Hare Yukai track for Guitar Hero waiting on XBL.)
Expect “God Knows” for Guitar Hero instead.
About the RPG, there are one koma panel that suggests she is playing something like Ragnarok Online (how the chat window, shortcuts bar and hp/sp displays are basically drawn).
It is not unlikely seeing how bigger it is in japan than it is in Europe or USA.
(Shall we mention the humongous ammount of hentai works that RO generates too?)
If anything, Nanako Kuroi would be more like Haruho Kamio’s and Tsuruya’s lovechild from the future.
Woops, I meant Haruko.
Last I heard, though it was a year or two ago, was that it was manga *magazines* that were declining in sales, but manga volumes were doing better.
hmm this series seemed like azumangah. how nostalgic. anyway, the OP is kind of nice n as usual u c alot of kyoani related stuff inside.
ps
btw they got permission from sunrise to show keroro in a arcade?
Personally I’m finding Lucky start to be more fun the Hayate has been. I mean the only times I start lauphing for Hayate is when they start bleeping out key words in conversations.
Where as Lucky Star keeps me going the entire time…..well ok by minute 4 of the 6 minute food talk in ep 1 I had started going oh wow this is going to long, but other then that one scene pure win.
Ditto what Myssa Rei said…I’ve found both to be rather hilarious (again, same as Myssa, probly due to a weird sense of humor, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen an anime that’s redonkulous like this throughout the whole ep.) but that’s just me.
I’m with Jason on this one: Bipolar Akina FTW!! Other than that, it’s no more than chuckle-worthy, but honestly, while we may expect more from KyoAni, that’s no reason to hate the show.
Two other shows mentioned by fans — Nagasarete and Hayate — on the other hand, are not winning me over at all. Hayate managed only one good laugh so far, and that was when I realized the end of Ep.3 had looped around to the beginning of Ep.1 — which I’d taken to be a throwaway scene. The bored robot was hilarious. I wonder if that fight is going to be the ongoing “frame” with the rest of the series told in flashback?
Nagasarete….add a lot more fanservice and maybe we’ll have something. If there’s a contest for “Anime That Should Never Have Been Made Under the New Broadcast Codes,” Naga’s walking off with the prize. Show me some titties!
(well, that ought to get a YTAMR….)
stayed up last night for ep 3,
they did throw in a PPD kuso there
and there were a few more references on FMP, must be suggesting something lol
one of them being Hirano sama karaoke singing Sore ga Ai desou i’m so hoping it will be on a album, nothing against Shimokawa Mikuni
If the 6.7% change that the Sacramento Kings nad one of the top 3 picks in the draft actually happens, and they out of pity of Kings’ fans, we land Oden… it would be our luck that he averages 10 and 5 in only 30 games due to injury. Yep, I’m bitter about picking 10th…. if they had only lost a couple more games.
Jason, I was in agreements with you through the second episode about Lucky Star under-performing (almost to a Phillies level), but I thought some part of ep 2 were pretty good. The third episode though is really where I’m giving it the thumbs up. It may be all the random videogame references, moe jokes, and collecting stuff banter, but I thought ep 3 was awesome. Having Hirano Aya sing Sore ga ai deshou was just icing on the cake!
>Oh look, a little Japanese girl is playing a Western-styled RPG!
Diablo? Nah, couldn’t be…
My guess is it’s Ragnarok Online. The “sewers” that Konata mentioned one of her online friends is in is most definitely the Culvert area in the outskirts of Prontera (the main city in RO), a good leveling area for novices and low-level characters. The clincher was way back in episode 1, when Konata mentioned about another one of her friends writing “I wish to be a wizard when I grow up” on their yearbook. The Wizard class is an advanced job class in RO.
And you didn’t even mention the incredibly coincidential Gurren Lagann reference. I say it’s GL and not another super robot show with drills (like, say any of Getter Robo’s incarnations) because the line about drills being a boy/man’s weapon of choice was actually said in GL. Incredible coincidence?
Oh, and finally, to make Lucky Star, think of it as sexual innuendos. Suddenly, the metaphors were clear.
As I said in the first post thread, the OP theme has devoured my brain, and I really rather like how…*laid back* the series is. Pani Poni Dash and Azumanga are great if you want laugh-out-loud hilarity…but you can’t survive on a diet of that. Or at the very least, you *shouldn’t.*
Akira isn’t bipolar, she has split personality…
Also, Lucky Star is great.
This anime series was really pritty disappointing i watch episode 1 and stopped there as did not like it very much at all.
Didn’t make me larf at all and it all resolved around hare they eat there food in ep 1 wow hare great man what a let down this is i suggest you give this a miss.
Music.
the music at beginning is ok but got to admit the vid that went with it had me gob smacked it was crazy. 6/10
Pic/animation.
The picture is just average really the girls didn’t look like high schooner’s at all looked younger but it did give of a cute vibe to it thoe. 5/10
Plot.
There is no plot as far as I could tell at all its go school talk to friends and thats it. 1/10
all in all ill give this anime a = 3/10.
and thats me being nice at least for hare is at this time with episode 3 out.
Can’t be WoW since you can’t lose xp there.