Ranked #125

Lucky ☆ Star

Lucky star is one of those unique Comedy anime that comes very rarely. It manages to put a comedic twist to normal everyday occurances, and many pop culutre references. The entire show is not your typical slice of life high school comedy anime, rather its show structure follows more of a western style of comedy, a sitcom to be exact. Instead of having a direct storyline, like most anime viewers are used to, it focuses more of everyday observations and Jpop culture as their source of comedy.

---Theres always a storyline no matter how broad it is. Many ppl say theres no story line but, there has to be a "story" of sorts or else this stuff cant be funny. If you had to put a plot to this show it would "A group of high school children trying to make it all the way through high school." With such a broad plot, the creators can do as they please. By the way, that is how most western sitcoms can list 5-10 seasons without it getting old (i.e. Simpsons, Family Guy, Cheers, etc.) Mind you thats the only connection this show has with a western sitcom.
---I have noticed many people bash the begging episodes of the show but i found them equally entertaining as the rest of them. It really depends on what the viewer does in their own daily lives is what truly makes this show funny. Somone who doesnt eat curry/rice or grilled meat sticks for dinner with their family wont understand a joke about it. But with all the jokes and references in this show you're bound to laugh out loud at all they throw at you! They've thoguht of everything for this show.

---Art and animation of the show is your typical comedy anime fair. Simple characters simple backgrounds simple static objects. But they manage to take "simple" to a whole different level. For example, the characters are only shown from the waist up for about 80% of the entire show. But the characters are drawn very simplistic and the coloring for each looks like it doesnt exeed 12 different colors for each person for the most part. But they are definitely drawn in a cute manner, if thats your thing. The simple-ness is what gives the show its charm too. The art style is so popular and easy to draw im sure you'll find spoofs for dozens of other non related characters around the internet.

---The Sound is your standard comedy sound efects from light hearted piano songs, to bing bangs and bongs, they're all there and accounted for. Music is mostly absent from the show aside from helping out certain jokes.
---You will definitely notice the lack of background music in the show but with such a powerful seiyu cast, one could understand that they didnt want to distract from the well executed voice acting. Of course most people will notice Aya Hirano and maybe even Minori Chihara. Its hard to believe that most of the main characters are voiced by relatively newcomers. Which also helps seperate Lucky Star from sounding the same as all the other school anime out there. You'll enjoy Kagami's singing voice by the way.

With the uniqe sound comes the "unique" (or not so unique) character types associated with each seiyu. Theres also ALOT more characters but you'll have to watch it to see them all ^_^ Speaking of characters you'll actually end up seeing all of them fairly regurlarly. Either supporting cast or main cast. By the end of the show, you'll get the feeling that not one person recieved more time than another. Even the extra characters get more than enough airtime to fully acknowledge them as essential parts of the anime.

---The enjoyment factor is through the roof in my opinion. The comedy aspect of this show covers so many angles and hits so many things perfectly its hard not to give a perfect score. I find it very hard for somone to hate this anime. That is, if you dont like japanese pop cultre, anime references and funny common occurences. If youre that type then why are you watching anime? ^_^
---Also, if you dont like western style sitcoms where the end of every episode will always leave the same way they started, this is definitely not for you. If youre looking for a romantic comedy or bloody action school go somewhere else. If you're willing to give up about 20 minutes of your time for pure entertainment, WATCH THIS SHOW!

If you find anything funnier pm me i'll give it a shot but for now this the funniest anime i've watched to date ^_^ read more

Few comedy anime manage to truly be funny. To be smart and be funny? Well, that certainly is an anime worth watching. And Lucky Star is the sort of anime that should be seen.

Lucky Star has been heralded by the masses as being the best comedy anime ever created. It is undeniably one of the most influential anime out there presently, and I think this is due the high number of extremely famous anime it parodies as well as it satirising the very fuel of fandom: otakus.

The storyline is rather simple. Following a truly slice of life feel, Lucky Star engages the audience in an episodic detailing of the lives of several high school girls. And when I say 'detail', I do not jest. The infamous second scene of the first episode chronicles the girls talking about how to eat certain foods for a solid chunk of the episode. I suspect it is at that moment where you decide whether you're going to love or hate this series. Yes, this is an anime about a group of girls who have the most inane conversations, who bum around on the Internet, who play multi-player games when they're bored (or in some cases, even when they're rather busy), and who goof around or work really hard in school, and who watch and discuss anime, manga, light novels or pop culture. Is this a great story? Well, it's certainly not epic. But it truly highlights what slice of life is about. These are the lives of certain high school girls. Just ordinary (or extremely odd) girls who are a tad on the geeky side.

So this series follows the lives of uber-otaku Konata, hard-working, sensible and easily irritable Kagami, ditsy Tsukasa and super-smart Miyuki. Their lives for the most part can mirror the lives of most people. Who can't relate to bumming around in class chatting about what you saw on TV? If you know you want an anime with lots of action, drama, romance, mecha etc. etc. then I am telling you now--spare yourself and don't watch this anime. You won't find any of that except in the parodies that Lucky Star presents. If you watch anime to escape from the inanity of everyday conversation, then this isn't for you. If you can laugh at the fact that the dialogues in Lucky Star sound strangely and extremely similar to the ones you have in real life, then I think you would certainly crack a grin during this anime.

The art style is ridiculously simplistic. I remember looking at pictures of this before seeing it and thinking, 'You gotta be kidding me.' I thought it was rather bland and simple and clichéd. Getting into the series, however, I realised that the very style itself is another parody--the character designs certainly were. Ranging from the hair colours (let's see, we got blue, pink, purple--hardly anyone in the main cast has regular-coloured hair) and even the body types (short and flat-chested, extremely busty with glasses, twins), Lucky Star's art is definitely a sign that everything in this anime is in on the joke. There are times when the animation as well is pretty excellent. Take Konata running, for instance. That scene was animated very well, along with the dancing/cheerleading segment in the OP. Most of the backgrounds are extremely colourful.

As far as the sound goes, the OP theme of Lucky Star has become just as famous as the ED theme of the anime it parodied. Mostly the sound is centred around the seiyuu work. It is extremely dialogue-heavy. There's rarely a moment in this anime where someone or people aren't speaking. The seiyuu work is rather tight, and Hirano Aya's work as Konata is definitely one of the highlights of this anime. Have you ever heard seiyuu sound like they're having fun with their role? That they're enjoying their work? Well, it seemed that they sure enjoyed working on Lucky Star with some of the seamless voice-acting that you can hear. Also, I suspect for trained professionals, it must have been rather challenging to work with a role where you don't have to cry/scream/grunt/yell and where you have to sound like you're just having fun (or getting irked) in a karaoke bar with your friends. The background music is comical for the most part. There is one track especially that you hear during the moments when the girls sit around doing nothing, and OST certainly is memorable.

The interesting part of this anime is that it pokes fun by becoming part of that fun, as seen also with the characters. Lucky Star manages to take archetypes and turn them into real characters. Kagami, for example, is of course the resident tsundere, while someone like Miyuki is the typical meganekko with clumsy attributes. With clever characterisation, they manage to be satires while actually maintaining excellent personalities. Konata even notes aloud to the girls that they are indeed walking stereotypes from galge and eroge and they each have special 'moe' points.

Konata is probably the character that best epitomises what this entire series is about. She is indeed a rather good character and probably one of the more unusual ones who doesn't fall into a typical "type". Or perhaps she is riddled with so many character type parodies that she eventually becomes an original one (her height, flat-chest, long blue hair, the beauty mark, being athletic but then being a total geek--sounds like she was blasted with an anime character archetype cannon). She is a rather charismatic protagonist and it doesn't shock anyone that she has rather hedonistic ways. I mean, look at who she idolises and worships. So as a lead character, we have a gamer who is a devout Haruhiist, who has no interest in school, human beings (unless it's to cosplay with them or have them join her party in an MMO, or who to relate anime and manga jokes to) and life outside her computer, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation.

And why do we even want a slice of her life? Because she's rather interesting, funny and has a terrifically warped outlook on life, that's why. Konata makes for mindless entertainment. The supporting cast of Lucky Star consists of other hilarious people. They aren't as developed as the main characters, but they manage to entertain in their own way.

Lucky Star is a tremendously funny, extremely entertaining anime about...nothing. If you can love the first episode, then there's no doubt that you'll enjoy the rest of the series. Although, again with words of warning: this anime is not for everyone. It caters specifically to an audience who has seen a lot of anime and who know a bit about Japanese culture and pop culture. There are a lot of parodies laden throughout the series. Some of the jokes depend heavily on whether or not you know about these things, but keep in mind, it's only some. I think if you can appreciate satire, then you can definitely like the humour in this anime.

I knew that Lucky Star was a benchmark in anime history after I had first seen it. My opinions were solidified several months later, after I got a bottle of Timotei shampoo as a present and when I saw random girls in my school doing the dance routine in the courtyard. If an anime can have that much influence on the wider world, then I would think it was worth taking a look at, right? It may disappoint or anger a lot of viewers, but for those who do indeed have lifestyles similar to Konata's, then Lucky Star may just be your 'How To' guide for an otaku life. read more