Ranked #346

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

"This is so BORING!" is what most of you will say if you watch it.
I'll admit, that is what I thought at first, and I stopped watching on the first episode when they were talking about which side is the head of a "chocolate cornet bread"... But after a while, I gave it another try, and this time, I watched patiently and watched through the entire first episode. I was still not impressed, and still bored. I moved on to the next episode, and as you can tell by my over-all rating of a 10, I loved the rest. Now here is why:
The story, is non-existent. But that was one of t he main reasons I loved it. There was no tension, no fighting, no drama, no heart-breaks. Just pure comedy.
Comedy? Well, there's nothing that will make you rofl, or rolling on floor laughing. But, there's countless moments where it makes you smile, many times even chuckles if you get the jokes.
The comedy works in this anime by having the characters go through moments where you go like, "OH I feel you!", "I totally know what you mean!, or "Ah so glad I am not the only one who does that!". That's why it's really funny in a way, and this is the most accurate "slice of life" I have ever viewed.
The English dub for this anime is AMAZING, the voice actor for Konata, the main character, does a wonderful job of bring Konata to life. The characters are all very good, but Konata is one of the most amazing characters I have seen. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will leave it up to you to find out more about why I find Konata so great.
Also, it's a huge plus if you have lived in Japan or Taiwan (Why Taiwan? Well, it has many Japanese culture because it was once part of Japan for a couple decades) , because many of the jokes is about the daily life there and you will only get the jokes if you have experienced it.
To sum it up, Lucky Star is about the daily life of the girls, there won't be any conflicts like there are in many slice of life anime, this anime is very peaceful, and you can relate to many of the characters and their actions.
Give it a try! Watch a few clips of it! Type in "Funny Lucky Star Moments" on Youtube and see for yourself! If you like it, WATCH IT. Thank you!! read more

Lucky Star

Story (6/10)
The story here was by far the hardest thing for me to rate. Being a comedy/slice-of-life type of thing, Lucky Star has no real "plot-line" or story. You could skip 5 episodes and still understand what was going on. However, the day-to-day goings and doings of the 4 main characters was done decently, and the variety of what they did was okay, so therefore I gave it a 6, which is fair/decent.

One thing I have to say though: After episode 10-ish or so, things were really getting boring. Sure, what they did was different, but the jokes had the same principle, and it was just all so boring and repetitive. Especially the stupid Lucky Channel. God, I skipped over that so many times. Because it was boring and... oh god. I can't even bring myself to go on. But since there isn't all that much plot, I can't sit here and elaborate on it forever, so moving on...

Art (8/10)
Though I don't like Kyoto Animation all that much, the good thing about them is the animation that they do is very good (though I personally don't like the style all that much). Everything flowed nicely and there was never a time where I thought "Wow, they're running low on their budget" or "Wow, they got really lazy with that scene." But I'll be honest and say I really did not like the art style. The characters are supposed to be 17/18 and they looked like they were 10. Some people may call it cute and chibi but I call it ugly and stupid.

Sound (7/10)
Another good thing about Lucky Star is the sound quality. Most notably the great job done by the seiyuu. Kudos to them for doing an excellent job. Other than that, the sound was nothing more and nothing less than decent. The BGM was fitting and non-annoying, the opening was cutesy and funny, but nothing special. The various endings were occasionally humorous but not a lot.

Character (6/10)
Since Lucky Star is a comedy, serious character development isn't exactly on its agenda. The characters were varied to some extent -- we have the various archetypes to fill, the tsundere, the moe blob, the smart/clumsy one, and the... otaku? However, this is as deep as the character gets. Saying you can relate to Konata because you also like anime/manga is like saying you can also relate to Miyuki because she is a high school student. There is no depth or development and the "variety" of characters only go as far as stereotypical archtypes that you can find in almost any other anime.


Final Thoughts
Since the "enjoyment" part of the review is just a personal opinion, I don't let it affect my score. But needless to say, I did not enjoy Lucky Star. I can safely say I did not laugh once while watching this. The only reason I didn't give it a 1 is because despite Konata being a shallow character, I liked her for many reasons and it was almost some fun to watch her go about her daily otaku lifestyle among normal-ish friends. But a comedy without humor is like a cow with no spots. If you want to go laugh, watch Azumanga Daioh instead, a comedy with much more humor that you can't help but smile at. Lucky Star tried to bring us a cute and relaxing slice-of-life comedy and an otaku we can all relate to, but in my opinion it utterly failed. read more

When I first looked into Lucky Star, I thought I was going to be impressed. People in the anime club I help run wanted to watch this series so bad and it ended up in 4th place, so we weren't able to show it this semester. Still, I wanted to know what the appeal of Lucky Star was. The chibi art made the anime look unique and interesting, and I thought that I couldn't go wrong with an anime series that was so popular. This is where "looks can be deceiving" really comes into play.

Despite the cute art, which got annoying very quickly, Lucky Star really fell on its face form the get-go. The story had nothing to offer. Basically, you spend twenty-four episodes watching a group of high school girls run around, talk to each other, make jokes, and dance. I have completely summarized the entire series for you in that last sentence, and I'm not kidding. Each episode was a repeat as the last, except for character problems and issues, and after every episode I said, "Alright, it still has to get better from here," and it never did. The only thing that ever improved was the Lucky Channel, but that was because I didn't have to hear Akira's annoying squeaking in the last three or so episodes.

I know that the story is suppose to be based around a comedic high school cast, but to be honest, the comedy was terrible. In order to get most of the jokes, one would have to know a lot in video games, anime, and Japanese puns. Now, I don't know a lot of video games or Japanese puns, so those jokes failed, and the anime jokes that I did get surfaced once in a while, and that type of comedy was absolutely terrible. I think I snickered maybe once or twice during the entire series. Yes, the entire series.

Along with Lucky Star's terrible story and comedy choice, I found myself hating most of the characters. The only half-way decent characters were shown in the last half of the anime, and those characters really weren't anything special. Most of the weren't dynamic, lacking originality, and went along with the same thing over and over again. When those sparks of originality were shown, they were quickly covered by the same old, bland things that happened through out the entire series. A great example comes from Konata, the main girl with blue hair and green eyes. She runs around every episode, talks about food, anime, video games, and how she was late or tired because she stayed up all night playing video games. Kagami, one of the lavender haired twins, is exactly the same way - smart, angered easily, and is very poor at house chores. Miyuki, the pink haired girl with glasses, is klutsy, "moe", intelligent, and formal with her speech. I could go on and on, but I don't think it's needed.

With the characters, art, and story quickly falling apart, I turned to something I thought would work - the music. I learned quickly, however, that the music was only a little better than everything else. Some of the songs sounded like they were recorded on a cellphone and then placed into the show. It wasn't that the quality was bad, but rather than the music used was very bland, unoriginal, and lacked dynamic, not that the story had any of those or anything. The music fit the series alright, but by itself, the music would just be a waste of space on whatever drive you would be listening to it on. Even the opening theme was annoying.

So, with all of these things said, I'm surprised that I made it to the last episode. Now, it's safe to say that just because I didn't enjoy it doesn't mean that others won't. Obviously, the MAL rating for Lucky Star fights any point that I've made against the series. However, I will not be recommending Lucky Star to any of my friends. Ever. In fact, I will tell them to avoid it, and to be fair in my fight, I don't think it deserves the popularity it has. Sure it's cute, but that's about it. read more

This is my first review in MAL and I'm gonna use it on Lucky Star and to be honest, I'm going to be pretty harsh on this one.

I watched Lucky Star because I heard people speaking wonderful things of this anime and then I said I should watch it and see how it is. The pain, I couldn't stand it. Nevertheless, I tried to watch it and see if I could find something interesting but sadly I couldn't

Story: Pretty poor indeed, because there isn't a plot. The anime only talks about the life of 4 high school girls... 5 later. There isn't anything else, other than talking about their usual lifes, food, animes, videogames, etc.

Art: The art was fine, I really liked the colors and how beautiful it looked but sometimes the art was bad in other parts. All I can say is that sometimes it looked great and sometimes it looked bad.

Sound: The seiyuus were great, especially Konata and Kagami but sometimes some voices ruined the mood like almost all the sales clerk that appeared because almost all of them had the same seiyuu and that ruined it. The opening to be honest was pretty bad; the music was kind of bad and the endings... the only one I liked was when Konata sang Chala Head Chala but the other ones were bad, especially when they started to put real actors in the ending.

Character: Hardly, there isn't a development there. The only thing that can be rescued is the fact of the interaction between Konata and Kagami but after all everything is dull. Let's put it this way; Konata is your typical otaku, Kagami the tsundere, Tsukasa the shy girl and Miyuki the one that is the intelligent.

Enjoyment: Bad, pretty bad. The anime is supposed to make you laugh or relate yourself to one of the character; I couldn't do that. The jokes and things that happen didn't amuse me at all and the characters the only one I could relate a little was Konata because she like me loves videogames and animes but that is all.

Overall: This anime isn't for anyone. If you like anime with plot and character development then get away from here, you will never like Lucky Star. The anime itself isn't bad but as I said, it isn't for everyone. Some people might like it and enjoy the characters and the jokes that I couldn't get but for me, this anime is quite overrated; not even all the references of Haruhi could save it. read more

My review.. I'm not really trying to say you shouldnt watch this anime, some people like it, some people don't. But on my opinion i think this anime is as boring asd you can get. The sound is ok really cute and funny, that i can't complain, but the art.. some people say its cute and simple, i say its way too simple and not that cute to be honest, i've seen much cutter characters such as chibis and so. The storyline.. I really think thats the worst part in it, i firsts started seeing this anime because it was kinda cute, i was told that Konata was exactly like me, so i went to see it, very amusing at first, but as it goes on.. it turns to be a REAL drag.. Its basicly always the same, school, home, shoping, konata bein all about videogames, anime and manga, kagami arguing with konata, tsukasa stating the obvious with konata and miyuki being the smart girl there.
Its basicly nothing new, always the same in each episode, and to be honest, the anim aint really that funny.. It rarely makes me laugh, and its not that i have no sense of humor or that i never did those experiences! I do have sence of humor and i had most of those experiences. But seriously i don't see whats funny about it, but that my opinion anyways, of course we all dont share the same opinion and i respect otherts opinions. But this is how i see things, and i reall. i dont think this anime is worth the ranking it has..

Even a friend of mine that loves cute animes and such, like Shugo chara and Suzumiya Haruhi, she started seeing lucky star and enjoyed it, but has she went on she just said: Man you were right.. ._. that anime is cute and all but its making me so bored, ill see it later when i have the guts ^^'

One more person saying the same as i.

I think the only good aspects about the anime are the sound and the characters, like you all say, gotta love Konata X)

Anyways this is just my opinion! Don't blame me im not a lucky star hater >. read more

Lucky Star. With an odd title like that, one is left to wonder what this show is all about. A more appropriate and less obscure name would be "Killing yourself with boredom".

Just want a moment to say this. OVERRATED. You could watch the first few minutes of Lucky Star or you could repeatedly hit yourself on the head with a brick. The effect is surprisingly similar.

I wasnt sure on what to do with this anime. Was it supposed to be funny? How? I cant find one thing about it funny! Am I supposed to enjoy how Im able to relate to them? "Hey dude, that fictional, animated girl on the T.V just farted, so did I!" Well I'll be damn.

This anime is just screaming out the word boredom. Who on earth would want to watch schoolgirls talk about the different ways to cut food for five friggin minutes? Surprisingly, millions of em. Even after contemplating for a long period of time, I can not fathom why anyone would want to watch this. To be honest, I dont go for slice of life anime's but I am assured that this is an insult to slice of life anime's everywhere. We deserve better than this piece of ****.

The animation and the voice acting is the only saving grace here. The rest are piss. The characters are shallow, comedy is not comedic, and lets not forget about how blunt the story is.

School Rumble has nothing to fear from this destitute, brain-numbing show.
If I were you I would rather take a brick, apply it to my forehead with force: Trust me, it’ll hurt less than trying to make sense of this anime. read more

I found this anime very difficult to get through. The comedy wasnt exactly funny, and the jokes and puns were more like
"oh, i relate/understand that, is my life also considered sad?"

using the rating breakdown, let me explain to you why I didnt find this anime particularly wonderful.

STORY: there was almost no storyline. Sure 4 girls are trying to get through high school. but that sums up every other anime out there, about kids at school. What this anime lacked was drive. Plot is one of the elements which create the drive, but there was none. Im giving the story a 5 just for the sake of the somewhat cleverly placed jokes. As well, many of the elements got tiring and old, such as Lucky Channel, which is a talkshow hosted at the end of each episode. The live action scenes at the end of the latter episodes also got extremely annoying and exploited.

ART: nothing spectacular. I understand that for this kind of show, beautiful art isnt exactly the most neccessary thing. However, a lot of the time, there was no background.

SOUND: sadly, there was hardly any background music. But the sole reason that I rated the sound so much higher than the other qualities is because the OP was just so amazing and addictive. Sadly, the energy and excitement of the OP could not be reflected into the show.

CHARACTER: The characters presented are all very different, and their interactions with each other are very amusing to watch. I would have liked if there was at least some character development, or at least some insight into the characters. Often, characters also give an anime series the drive it needs to go on, but there was nothing about the characters that made you want to know more about them.

ENJOYMENT: I must say that the enjoyment factor, for me, especially, was quite low compared to many other people. This show was extremely hyped, and many many people were saying how amazing it was, and how funny it was. When I watched, I was extremely dissapointed. I even sat the series through to the end to see if I was missing something, or if the "amazingness" came later on. it didnt.

Most of the anime I enjoy watching has some substance, and there are factors like plot and characters that make me want to keep watching it. Lucky Star didnt cut it.

If you also prefer animes with more substance, themes, plot, and character, I do not recommend Lucky Star. read more

Lucky * Star is about highschool girls and.. ummm, well, that's about it. It basically revolves around the lives of four girls (later on, more people are given some time) and the random conversations they have.

Story
This series is not incredibly plot filled. Actually, there really is none. It's not even really character driven. This anime, however, doesn't need much of a story. It still works out in a cute way. However, the rating IS for story, and in all fairness, there really was none. I think this is a fair, if not quite high rating for what was presented.

Animation
The best animation is definitly in the opening sequence. Everything flows nicely in it, and it throws money around to give a flawless performance. Once you get to the actual show, however, there is basically no movement what so ever, save the talking.

The art style isn't top notch. It is kept with the original 4-koma's style, but I still think they could have coloured it a bit better. Maybe make the girls atleast look more their age.

Sound
I did really like that opening song. Quite catchy. The in-show music was also fairly well done, aside from the fact that I didn't really notice it. The music just kind of melted into the background. That's the only reason why it's not higher on my rating. It was good, but nothing to write home about.

Character
This was my biggest issue. The series had INCREDIBLY 2-dimensional characters. They did not develope, they did not change. We did no see any different sides to them. The closest to this was with Konata, and... whatever her name is. The older of the twins.

This may have been alright, because this would seriously screw up the nature of the anime, but because of the 2-D element to them, I couldn't really connect to any of them. Except maybe Konata. I'm a big nerd too.

Enjoyment
While I did have a few giggles, I did not either really like this series, or really dislike it. I can see why people like it, but I don't understand the overwhelming popularity. I was told it was funny, but it wasn't a comedy. It was slice-of-life. I was told it was meaningful. That was a load of bull. I watched the series with no expectations, and I ended it with none. I don't see myself rewatching this anytime soon.

Overall / My Comments / My Feelings
I know people will be angry, but it wasn't an overall amazing show. It has no story, the art was pretty boring, the sound disappeared, and the characters were 2-D. The only thing this series had that I liked was the otaku jokes. Other than that, I couldn't relate. Highschool isn't like this for me. Not at all. And I don't know people who are so stereotypical. I was a little disappointed, I think.

I can't say anything but, sorry fans. I just couldn't get myself hooked. I atleast pulled through all the episodes, but it was becoming a little draining towards the end. I had no real drive to finish it... read more

Let me start of by answering the question. Is this overrated? Yes, a little bit. Is it as bad as the haters say? absolutely not. This is an incredibly empty show. No one cares about the future, no one questions how such nerdy characters are never bullied, but everyone will question what the right way to eat an ice cream is.

Being a slice of life, story is non existent. It's just a bunch of 'funny' events placed back to back. There is a segment at the end of each episode called 'Lucky Channel which has an ongoing plot toward the end but it's nothing major and purely for comedy purposes. So I'll just move on to art. Being made by KyoAni, the animation in the show is very polished. Unfortunately the styilised visuals, while fitting to the show's tone, don't show of the full potential of Kyoto Animation. Don't get me wrong though, they do look good but it's very unlike them to make something so simple and stylised when they've made such good looking shows. It feels kind of like they wasted their potential. You get this studio who makes colourful and detailed characters with fluid animation and you assign them to create a show with a colour coded chbi artstyle. Overall it's almost as good as you'd expect from them but a little too simplistic for my tastes.

The show has an incredibly catchy (Annoying) opener called 'Motteke Sailor Fuku!'. It's fast paced, incomprehensible and fits the shows tone perfectly. If you dispise the opening song then I don't think I'd recommend watching the show. The closer changes every episode. In the first half it's the girls singing anime songs in Karaoke. You won't recognise most of them but when you do you'll be all like "OMG! THEY DID DBZ!' or something like that. The second half is live action footage of Minoru Shiraishi and others doing covers of other anime songs. These are hilarious and are probably one of the funniest and weirdest parts of the show.The background music is nice and simple and fits every scene but at the same time it's incredibly forgettable. Basically the opposite to the opener. Voice acting in both English and Japanese is superb but since the focus of the show is comedy, it's a little hard to follow with subs. You'll probably laugh a lot more watching the dub since it's easier to follow the style of humour. It's a great dub and it's incredibly faithful (Sometimes a bit too faithful) so you probably won't miss out on many jokes. Of course if you knew Japanese none of this would be a problem but if you can't be bothered like me than the dub is the way to go.

Like most Kyoani works, the character are mostly well made clichés. But unlike Haruhi and Clannad, they aren't good enough to really break the mould. They still remain as Clichés. That being said, it's not quite as bad as it sounds. Since Konata is an otaku she points out the fact that they're all character types. She even refers to Kagami as a Tsundere. Plus, even when they aren't self aware they still make for some of the best character type based jokes around. But as I said before, their personality doesn't go anywhere beyond the clichés. Kagami's still a Tsundere, Miyuki's a walking Moe incarnate and Tsukasa's still an airhead. Nothing more and nothing less.

Now on to the meat and 'French fried potaters' of the review. Did I enjoy Lucky Star? Yes and no. The first two episodes are unbearable to watch but it definitely picks up and establishes its style of comedy very soon afterwards. Unfortunately, this kind of comedy isn't quite up my alley. The best jokes in the show revolve around references to anime, manga and video games. These references are very well done and properly referenced. If you get the joke you'll laugh your ass off. If you don't you'll be confused as hell. This is not the show to watch if your new to anime. It was only when I rewatched the show that I realised just how smart the writers are because I'd seen may of the shows they were referencing. Also be aware that much of the reference jokes are incredibly self indulgent. The funniest part in the entire anime though is 'Lucky Channel'. These segments at the end are consistently hilarious and undeniably the best part of the show.

Overall, I have a sort of love hate relationship with this show. It's one of the funniest and well done shows I've ever watched but at the same time it's also one of the most boring and empty shows I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong I know exactly what I was getting into. I really like Slice of Life shows. It's just that this style of comedy isn't for me. I feel it lacks that Kyoto Animation magic. In my opinion it's to Kyoto Animation what Cars is to Disney Pixar (Well, not that bad but you get my point). To give the show credit, it's the most well made guilty pleasure ever. I know it can be genuinely enjoyed by some people but for me it's a guilty pleasure. It's easily my favourite guilty pleasure and even though I talk about how much I hate it, I watch this show all the time. It's sort of a comforting boredom. If you want an anime that will get you hooked, skip this and go straight for Haruhi or Full Metal Panic. But if you want something a little weird or just need to cool off after watching Death Note or Code Geass, this may be for you. read more

I may be considered as a Lucky Star hater. The previous sentence is for people who click the "Not Helpful" button just because they disagree with the review instead of how well constructed the review is; I do not wish to waste their precious time as inhumane and insensitive beings to destroy other people's lives as reviewers. Even if I do talk about the good aspects of the work that I enjoyed, I expect about 10 of 1,500 people to find this review helpful so Lucky Star fans, make me proud. To everyone else considering this show and reading reviews because of how well-constructed they are, I implore you to continue reading.

I am a big fan of slice-of-life shows. It is a genre that plays with the mundaneness of life and family; there is very little concrete story and shows tend to be driven either by comedy, moe, or relationship dynamics. Lucky Star is not a slice-of-life show, but a show that panders to otakus with a considerable amount of fanservice and random anime references that makes Family Guy cry in his bed and call for mommy. I do not wish to call such works terrible just because they do that; Pani Poni Dash does this as well and it's way funner to watch even if you don't get all the references because it feels like a sitcom. Lucky Star is not a sitcom.

The show itself is inconsistent. Episode 1 is infamous because it is plain boring. In the Studio Shaft anime, Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei, the characters criticized episode 1's coronet scene for just being plain boring. Episode 1 is almost unwatchable. It makes FLCL's quotable line, "Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary.", feel so true with the anime medium. People who plan to watch this show should note the actual work only starts at about episode 2.

Other episodes involve the "cute girls doing cute things" mantra. I'm pretty cool with this -- as I said, I'm a big fan of slice-of-life works --; however, the main character cast is almost a letdown from the beginning.

Konata, played by Aya Hirano, references to Haruhi and other famous shows from the past. If you know Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star and Initial D, then you are in luck. Most people don't; however, this show can still be watched without knowing the references. It's just that you'll be missing 80% of the show's "appeal", unlike Pani Poni Dash's which only amounts about 40%.

Kagami is a tsundere who plays the straight man role. Tsukasa is moe and clumsy. Miyuki is moe and smart because she has glasses. If we judge them by character models, I think they're all pretty cute. As characters, they are terrible, bland, and boring. They don't offer a lot of interesting dynamics and they just feel flat as characters. Miyuki is one of the worst flat characters, changing very little throughout the show.

Other episodes fared better with the addition of supporting characters. I enjoyed the supporting characters more than the main cast. Konata's dad, Izumi, is a perverted man who enjoys taking pictures of little girls and often asks his daughter to find the flag to get into the h-scene in eroges. Anime Tenchou is one of the most memorable characters and his over-the-top antics leave something to desire in the show itself. Akira Kogami's and Minoru Shiraishi's dynamics are just fun to look at; I look forward to their Lucky Channel segment a lot.

There is an episode that I remember being actually good. It's about Konata's mother. To me, that's actually pretty good slice-of-life drama. Why the show doesn't follow this formula of success and go into moe pandering confuses me.

While I am negative about the characters, the modeling as I said are great. The puni plush style is gorgeous and the backgrounds, as expected from KyoAni, are beautiful and photorealistic. If I view this as an art piece, it might get a B+ from me.

The OP is one of those catchy atrocious tunes; the lyrics make little sense at all. Animation in the OP is pretty dynamic and wacky, unlike the show itself. I'm more of a "meh" when it comes to the OP.

To call the show polarizing is an understatement; it's either a show that you love or hate. I am clearly at the "hate" part, but I see some good aspects of the work. However, there are too many problems that causes me to dislike and hate the work. I admit that this work is influential, but for the wrong reasons. People should not just watch for the work's influence, but whether they enjoyed it or not. That's how you rate and review a work. read more

Lucky Star is a 4-panel manga series by Kagami Yoshimizu that began publishing in 2004, and is still being published today. In 2007, Kyoto Animation, hot off the success of Haruhi, made an anime adaptation. I watched it. I also sampled the manga version. It was . . . okay, I guess. But let's elaborate on the anime some more, shall we?

Story: In present-day Japan, a number of girls in high school live out their lives studying, making jokes about Gundam, being eccentric, making fun of cliches in fiction, and . . . that's about it, really. The four main girls are Konata Izumi, a self-proclaimed otaku (though fortunately one more functional than every real-life otaku I've met), Kagami Hiiragi, a no-nonsense "Tsundere", Tsukasa Hiiragi, Kagami's moeblob twin-sister, and Miyuki Takara, a really smart moeblob. There are many more characters than this, but they're the main focus.

Because this is based off a 4-panel series, many plot threads, if you can call them that, often end abruptly, with little-to-no resolution. Some of the jokes from the manga don't translate as well into anime format. The show never veers into anything truly dark in terms of plot. It's mostly jokes and weird observations. Essentially, it's like Azumanga Daioh, but with characters with wild hair colors. And after the series and OVA sequel ends, there's no resolution of any sort.

However, every episode also ends with a segment called "Lucky Channel", which features different characters and actually has an ongoing (and pretty funny) story. Sadly, these segments aren't that long. Yeah, Lucky Star is not something you watch for enlightenment. 3/10.

Art: I'm gonna be honest; I don't like the artwork of Lucky Star. The character designs are meant to be cute, but most of them don't look cute, just childish. The coloring is often garish, and Miyuki's hair is so bright, it nearly blinded me on a few occasions.

With that said, the animation is somewhat fluid for a tv series. So it's not a complete disaster on the visual front, but this show obviously does not focus on visuals. 5/10.

Sound: The theme song is infamous. Some hate it, some love it. I find it . . . okay. The ending themes are renditions of earlier anime ending themes, most of which I didn't recognize. They're alright. The background music is just there, doesn't really add anything.

I saw this in English, as well as bits in Japanese on random Youtube channels. Weirdly enough, Lucky Star has one of the best English dubs I have ever heard. Its voice-acting is even better than most American cartoon shows I've seen! I'm not kidding! Look at this old quote of mine from tvtropes.org:

"Lucky Star has one of the best English dubs I've ever heard. Every character sounds exactly how I would picture their voices to be. None of the voices are annoying nor awkward sounding. They also match the lip flaps pretty closely, too. Wendee Lee especially displays great range in Konata's voice. It's impossible for me to watch the show in Japanese now; the dub is that good."

I still stand by that today. Also, Kari Wahlgren's version of Kagami blows her Japanese counterpart completely out of the water. Anyone who does English dubs of Japanese productions, be they industry professionals or fandubbers, watch Lucky Star and take notes; THIS is how you do an English dub. And you wonder why I worship every Bandai dub out there that's not Code Geass. 7/10.

Characterization: For all of its faults, some of the characters are quite likable and amusing. Konata is silly, yet charming. Kagami's bewilderment is amusing. Many side characters, such as Konata's dad and Anime Tenchou are funny. The best characters, however, are the Lucky Channels stars Akira Kogami and Minoru Shiraishi.

However, there's not a lot of depth to Lucky Star's cast. Also, several of its female characters are moe archetypes (or moeblobs) that don't really do much. Well, Konata's cousin Yutaka is adorable, but none of the others strike me as cute, just shallow. (Well, Tsukasa has a couple of funny moments.) And even the characters I do like don't have much to their characterizations. Look, Konata's comparing something to a game/anime again! Kagami is frustrated with someone's antics again! Tsukasa is clueless about something again! The characters aren't annoying, but I can only rate them slightly above-average. 6/10.

Enjoyment: I will say this, there's usually only one funny moment per episode of Lucky Star outside of Lucky Channel, but that one moment is usually laugh-out-loud hilarious. Also, most of Lucky Channel is flat out hilarious. The English dub really helps with my enjoyment.

But for a show focused only on comedy, it's not one of the better examples of anime comedy I've seen. Haruhi Suzumiya was funnier, and also served an interesting sci-fi plot. Soul Eater is way funnier, and also has cool action scenes and characters. Welcome to the NHK was funnier, and deeper and more dramatic. Sgt Frog and Gintama are both more centered on comedy, and also funnier.

With that said, I do like the anime version of Lucky Star more than the anime version of Azumanga Daioh. And believe me when I say I've seen a lot worse than Lucky Star out there, too. However, LS is, at best, only slightly rising above mediocrity. 6/10.

I do like the manga version of Lucky Star more, but only slightly. (I would probably give that a 7 out of 10, despite the lack of Lucky Channel in that.) I don't want to say LS is overrated. Yeah, it's not as good as I hoped it would be, but I've been let down by other animes a lot more. At least I was able to finish LS. It's not a classic, but if you're bored enough, you might want to check it out. Just mind the bright colors. read more

Coming off the heels of the heartstring tugging K-On!! and the absurdly funny Azumanga Daioh, I found Lucky Star a bit flat. Of the three shows, Lucky Star is by far the most self-aware. It knows exactly what it is and who it is trying to appeal to, and upon achieving that, seeks to do no more. While all of these moe-centric shows are murderously slow and ultimately go practically nowhere as far as plot is concerned, they are redeemed by their breezily entertaining demeanor once you settle into them. Moments of true comedic brilliance shine through every once in a while and even moments of genuine depth are displayed. Lucky Star just doesn't have as many of these moments as its competition. Konata, the main character, is the one unique aspect of the show, essentially a female personification of the otaku lifestyle that many viewers will identify with. Her insights and quips about the obsessive and bizarre nature of Otaku culture are by far, the show's best moments- and the most absurd. A certain re-occurring plot theme involving Konata and a group of impassioned manga shop clerks, who idealize her as the otaku's dream girl, are particularly funny because they seem to be in on the show's joke. The gleefully bizarre, Vocaloid referencing OVA conclusion is also a highlight.
The big problem is that the rest of the time, when the show is in typical schoolgirl moe-show mode, it's just kinda boring. The banter between the four main girls is less nuanced than K-On!!'s and far less abstract than Azumanga Daioh's weirder moments. It's just cookie cutter characters exchanging mundane dialogue about nothing in particular. Look no further than the first episode's 15 minute pastry conversation for an example of the general pacing of the show.
Lucky Star takes it's look from the 4-panel manga by the same name. The characters are ultra-chibi to the point of being a bit on the overly-simplified side. Their faces don't really emote much. Where as K-On!!'s characters displayed a surprising amount of depth in their subtle facial animations, the same care wasn't taken by KyoAni on this series. I suppose it falls in line with the fact that these characters just don't have the same degree of believability or human attraction.
Lucky Star may have waned in popularity since K-On!! seemingly took it's place as the epitome of moe anime. Despite a decreased distance between the viewer, the main character essentially serving as a bridge, Lucky Star ultimately shys away from ever taking itself seriously enough to be little more the most derivative thing that moe can be- a sly parody of the schoolgirl tropes aware of it's exploitative nature. read more

I'm just going to come out and say this. Lucky Star was boring. It was a show about a group of girls that sit around and talk about stuff. It's supposed to be funny and cute. They wrote it so you could relate with the characters. It addresses everyday issues. That is the entire idea of it.

I couldn't get behind it. I have a different sense of humor and because of that not much of what they said was funny. And without laughs, what do you have? An incredibly boring show! Plus it didn't help that they tried to make Konata into a nerd's fantasy girl. It really just pissed me off.

But, with all that being said, it wasn't a horrible show. I disliked it, but I'm sure the general population would like it. And they do. It's exactly like Azumanga Daioh. Watch it if you want to laugh. read more

There is nothing in entertainment worse than bad comedy.

Bad drama, horror, romance, or action at least has the possibility of being amusing, if only for purely ironical purposes, and watching something which is intended to be serious completely fail can be surprisingly fun (see MST3K). However, watching something try to be funny and fail is hardly ever amusing in the slightest, and amounts, for me at least, to the epitome of nauseating boredom. In the anime world, Lucky Star is perhaps the best (and at the very least the most popular) example of bad comedy ever made.

Now, it is more or less universally agreed upon amongst Lucky Star's detractors that the show is, quite simply, "unfunny." At the same time however, it is not always explained in detail why or how it is unfunny. But before delving into the specifics, I will freely admit from the outset that comedy is probably the most subjective and difficult of all genres (I myself have some bizarre comedic tastes) to review. Nevertheless, I believe Lucky Star merits special attention, along with a special place in Hell, for how unprecedentedly unfunny it is. This is also why I chose it for my inaugural anime review.

Basically, the "humor" of Lucky Star is derived from two sources: 1) Discussions about everyday life experience (e.g. food, homework, clothes), and 2) References (either verbal or visual) to other anime franchises and various anime-related tropes. As for the first, Lucky Star makes the awful mistake of assuming that simply because something is true or commonly experienced, it is funny. Thus the episodes are crammed with inane, excruciatingly detailed conversational gems like

Person 1: "You know how when it's cold outside, you want to stay inside for longer?"
Person 2: "Haha yeah, I've totally been there!"

or

Person 1: "You know how when you have a lot of stuff to do, you clean your room instead?"
Person 2: "Haha yeah, I've done that before!"

You get the idea. The whole "funny because it's true" thing in my experience only works if it is comingled with an adequate amount of absurdity or exaggeration (for an example, see Mike Judge's films). Lucky Star, on the other hand, aims for pure realism in all its dullness. With this "comedic" logic, they may as well assume that simply because I have eaten food before, I will think that watching people eat food is funny; furthermore, I will think that people talking about eating food is also funny. What makes this method even more ridiculous for Lucky Star is the fact that one must be rather extensively versed in Japanese culture to even "get" a lot of these "jokes," let alone find them funny.

As for the anime references, this is where the annoyance factor truly rears its ugly head. Typically, an outside reference to another anime is funny because it is unexpected and well-timed. Lucky Star on the other hand, crams in as many references as it possibly can, many of which are to other works from Kyoto Animation. As one might imagine, this not only gets incredibly dull, but also unbearably irritating as the show progresses. By far the most frequent and most facepalm-inducing are the references to the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Granted, this trick was somewhat amusing the first time, but by the end of the series, the Haruhi references become so frequent, so bland, and so obvious that I literally began slamming my head into my desk. Thus like the reference to "everyday life," the references to anime make the assumption that just because we have seen the shows referenced, that we will find the references funny. Are we really supposed to pat ourselves on the back and quietly snicker to ourselves for being "in the know"? It seems like the real reason for all these anime references is a) a clever form of product-placement and b) riding on the success of vastly superior franchises (Full Metal Panic, Haruhi Suzumiya, the Key-game shows). The only reference that actually made me chuckle a bit (and not immediately roll my eyes or want to punch my computer screen) was the part in episode 13 where one of the shop employees uses his "Geass" on Konata to get her to buy a DVD, only to find that she is three yen short.

Now typically, in order to use reference-parodies like this successfully, one ought to find a way to integrate them in a creative and subtle way, and there are many examples of this in anime alone. Lucky Star, on the other hand, particularly when parodying well-known anime tropes, squanders its comedic potential by feeling the need to tell you exactly what they are parodying. Therefore, whenever Miyuki trips or turns off the light by accident, or Yutaka mentions that she is frail and "sick all the time," we are sure to have Konata not far off to immediately comment how incredibly "moe" she is. Ha. Ha. Ha. There is a similar delivery style with "tsundere," "fanservice," and other related terms and cliches. Watching this is like listening to someone tell a joke only to quickly explain the punchline before the audience even has a chance to laugh.

Aesthetically, there is not terribly much to say other than I find it amazing that even here Lucky Star manages to add yet another layer of annoyance. The characters were clearly designed to resemble the (equally unfunny) manga as closely as possible, and the result is not pleasing. The foreground and background art is lackluster and totally generic, not to mention the core girls all look waaaay too young (and not just in a typical "moe" way) for being in high school. Such failure in this department is all the more surprising knowing that this show was produced by Kyoto Animation, a studio which, among other things, is particularly well known for its beautiful and groundbreaking visual styling. In Lucky Star, there is no such evidence whatsoever that this is the same company who did Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, Air, or Kanon. I suspect the real reason Kyoto took this project on was because of potential legal issues surrounding the ludicrous amounts of references to their other works. Other than that, the music consists of bland, forgettable five-note pieces typical for this kind of show. Except worse.

Setting aside for a moment what Lucky Star has brings up the important issue of what it does not have. In fact, one of Lucky Star's most subtle and yet most serious detriments is the almost complete absence of visual humor of any kind (the stock anime-facial-expressions aside). The show is quite simply a bunch of talking heads, and as something in the medium of animation, Lucky Star feels incredibly out of place; 99% of the show consist of dialogue and dialogue only. Suffice it to say, this show was a complete and unfortunate waste of Kyoto's talent.

All in all, my biggest problem with Lucky Star, and the reason why I have been compelled to write this review, is that it basically gives slice of life comedy a bad name--something which is all the more compounded by its rabid popularity. It is not at all unlikely that someone who has never seen a slice of life show will first see Lucky Star and then assume that the entire genre is of similar quality. After all, comments like "nothing happens" and "there's no plot" are fairly common amongst complaints from Lucky Star haters. Unfortunately, I believe people may be missing out on a lot of great, funny, clever slice of life shows "where there's no plot" (Fumoffu, Azumanga Daioh, Minami-ke) if Lucky Star does indeed manage to taint them so severely. It is interesting to note that Lucky Star is perhaps most often mentioned along with the classic Azumanga Daioh, and the comparison is not at all unmerited: both shows are based off of a four-panel manga about a group of quirky high school girls and their antics. However, once the stylistic similarities are brushed aside, you are left with two anime which could not be more diametrically opposed. That is, whereas Azumanga Daioh represents the pinnacle of comedy done right, Lucky Star represent the pinnacle of comedy done wrong; whereas Azumanga Daioh uses "random conversations about food" in a broader, situational context to give them humorous contrast, Lucky Star takes this device to a ridiculous extreme--it makes an entire show out of it to the expense of nearly everything else. The difference between Azumanga's Osaka and Lucky Star's Konata is that the former is one character amongst many, whereas the latter is only an otaku-pandering, watered-down Osaka amongst many other watered-down Osaka's, without any significant personality contrast. In Lucky Star, there is no one to sarcastically say "wow, you have a really vivid imagination..." but rather the one-note "joke" of "randomness" continues on into senseless oblivion. If Azumanga Daioh is a bright beacon of joyful, energetic laughter, Lucky Star is a dark pit of disparaging, cynical boredom (if you'll excuse the melodramatic language). It basically takes the slice of life genre but does not fill it with any real content, leaving naught but an empty husk.

In conclusion, if you want a creative, genuine, funny slice-of-life comedy and not simply a long otaku in-joke set on repeat, avoid Lucky Star like the plague. read more

This is, as another reviewer eloquently put it, the "poor man's Azumanga Daioh." However, whereas Azumanga has charming characters and entertaining episodes, Lucky Star is a black hole devoid of any amusement. Lucky Star is a cheap attempt to cash-in on the moe-blob craze that seems to be infecting the anime industry.

Avoid this series.

I gave this anime a 4/10 not because it was bad, but simply not my kind.

This anime was recommended by my fren, TBH when I told him I want to have a comedy series after failing to find one which suits me.


The first episode did'nt get my attention but I continued on as I see high ratings from site and also since it was recommended by fren.

I only start to enjoy a little more on episode 6 but it is only episode 6. Other episodes remains the same style. Frankly Im really bored throughout the series but pushed myself to end this just so I can give least bias review. My first review in MAL.

The opening of Lucky star was good but the closing was the worse kind I ever saw. The ending song featured only to listen the song the anime's girl characters were singing. This remains the same till epi 14. Now the director or producer appears to entertain for their crap ending song. It is still lame however.

There is no story and was light and simple (different topic on every epi). In addition, its very short as there is a narrator speaking session at about the 18th minute. This session is also quite boring.

If you are one of the people easily find humor in 'slice of life' comedy and can enjoy text/talk type anime. This is for you.

All in all, this is my honest opinion and review. I did not mean to anger anyone and I request respect for it.

Thx read more

Lucky Star has always been a popular anime. However, I truly cannot understand its popularity. It's written as a comedy, but the jokes narrow down to a single punchline that's delivered in a "here-it-is" manner. There are some very funny episodes, but many of them are labored and boring.

Story:
Each story is contained within the episode. There isn't much of a plot, just the everyday lives of the girl students. The lack of plot could easily be made up with fast-paced humor, but most of the jokes revolve around 4-5 minute segments that are unnecessary and obnoxious.

Art:
The art is a bit better than most, but the style itself is sub par. It attempts to be almost chibi-styled, but comes across with a complete lack of anatomy instead. Still, the coloring and background details are astounding.

Sound:
The theme song is a generic high-pitch J-pop song. It is attempting to be ironic, especially in the lyrics, but the voice actresses singing of it grates on your eardrums. The music within the episodes is reasonable background music, but nothing is excellent, instead mostly average.

Character:
The characters are stereo-typical Japanese characters. A tsundere, a meganekko, a pervert...the secondary characters are so generic they can easily be swapped around.

Enjoyment:
I was mostly bored with this series, and so put it on hold. Each story is repetitive, and the characters are hard to empathize with.

Overall:
Lucky Star recieves a 6 because of its detailed artwork, lack of story, obnoxious sound, and flat characters. read more

When this anime was about to release they make public the opening...
I saw that and though.. well its probably another comedy about school like azumanga.. it looks kinda loli... the music is catching.

----------------------------
Story

Then after a while the first episode was out... Openin was ok and then it started...
a otaku, a tsundere, an air head, and a "try" to be moe, character.
Oh well there should be more characters i mean the opening shows like 12...
No the anime is going to have more than 4 but you have to wait half anime
Now lets see what they do in the show?
first chapter is about food? OOooookkkkk boooring

still i dont give up i watch the second chapter... a street fighter reference... ok its a gamer its normal that...

after that there is going to be more stupid talk about nothing specialy...
yes its like real life... but watching real life is boring... i mean you have a lot of chit chat with your friends that are stupid and boring...

A few anime references a few "jokes" i think i laughted once or maybe twice in the first 10 chapters and not a lot just a little "ha"
after that
is there any parody? yes, yes it is
is it funny? no.
why? cause its allways haruhi

its like screaming GOGO WATCH/BUY haruhi

And in the end lucky channel? no funny and the main character was annoying

-------------------------------
Sound

Voices?music? nothing special just another one of the lot
ending? well it was good sometimes
---------------------------------
Art?

Well you can try calling it art... but still all the characters are like 15 to 18? and they dont look like that... they are plain "trying" to look cute
but even the teacher looks like a 12 years old body

--------------------------------
Characters

Nothing original all clitche characters.... and even the "otaku" character its full out there just go and look there are anime with this kind of character but better...


.............................

Enjoyment

1!
NO funny
NO entertaining (the chit chat was annoying)
NO deep or reflective things
Just nothing!

---------------------

Overall?

a 2
you can watch it if you want but i wouldnt
you can watch until the end and i think that if i try hard i would be able to endure it
its not "unwatcheable" but its painful to watch

In the end mostly the people who watch it are no real brillant people... the jokes are stupid and its no fun at all...



After droping it in chapter 17 i know that at least i will not break this rule
Try your very best to not write any spoilers.
cause there is not story at all... read more

Story: 4

First off, even for slice of life, it was too random for me. I got fed up after they talked about how to eat certain foods. The problem wasn't the subject, but the fact that the topic ran on for a long time and I don't have time to sit and listen to how is the best way to eat a certain food.

Second, it reminded me too much of some of the conversations that I had with my friends in highschool. Except the one I saw was even more random and was pointless. I will admit though, it was very funny. But the thing is, there is only so much jokes that can be packed into one setting, where these food comments could have been spread out more.

Art: 7

The art was what drew me into it in the first place. The designs art wise for the characters were very cute. But unfortunatly, they ran in chibi form way too much for my liking and the outside characters were like sticks in the walls. The art focused way too much on the girls.

Sound: 10

I loved the music for the series. It had a very good feeling, but it was downplayied unfortunatly by everything else.

Character: 3

The characters were way too two dementional. One really couldn't get who they were, except that the one girl was good at everything, but wanted to watch Anime and play games. She was way too stereotyped. It also made me wonder where her parents were.

Enjoyment: 4

Simply put, I couldn't get past the food talk. I found the whole being an Anime fanatic funny, but the whole food thing was dull and took way to long.

Overall: 6

The whole show wasn't something I would want to pick up again. It was... how to put it, boring me to sleep. I was drawn in by the art and the music, but talking about random things and doing nothing is to me not that great. read more