Ranked #118

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

What happens when you combine my favorite genre (Slice of Life) with my favorite studio (Kyoto Animation)? You get Lucky Star.

Story: Normally when I score story in a Slice of Life show, I do it based on all the episodic stories combined. But what happens when a show does not have that and is just pure life and is random with no coherent order/story. That is why I left the score a blank.

But I would still like to talk about the content. Lucky Star plays off its humor through normal everyday conversations. Talking about the most random things and finding humor out of it is tricky. Personally, I found most conversations hilarious because I enjoy the idea of everyday situations being made fun at. This type of humor is not for everybody and thus why this show can be a hit or miss.

Another aspect of this show is its use of references. A good amount of conversations play off such references. And they can go anywhere from other anime to current events. It went as far as to use an old commercial. One of the keys to be able to enjoy this anime is to be able to know the references. Watching as much anime as I do, I got most of them easily.

Art/Animation: Technically speaking, this is not KyoAni's best work. But the style and design works really well for this type of story. There are times where I felt that they were being very lazy and yet there were times I was marveled at the level of detail. Of course it is nowhere near the level of their other works such as Haruhi.

Sound: Voice - Everyone plays there roles really well. I was particularly impressed with Hirano Aya (voice of Konata). KyoAni really utilized her vocal range and made great situations out of it.

Music - To me, this is probably the weakest aspect of the show. The OP is indeed catchy but it can only be appealing for so long. And the "different" ED each week was a hit or miss. The only great part about it was the appearance of Minoru Shiraishi. Having him sing for the last part of the series was brilliant. Listening to him was a blast.

Character: Perhaps the strongest aspect of the show. The cast of Lucky Star are great. The variety it has and the way they fit so well together really bring out the show. Whether you come to like this show or not, I believe there will be at least one character that you can't help but like. Rather than me telling you, I hope you go check out this show after reading this review and see for yourself.

Enjoyment = My score on MAL (it is subjectively rated)

Overall, this is a very enjoyable show. But it is for those who are into those kinds of humor. It is not something I would recommend to everybody. I believe this show is one of those shows where it is a hit or miss. read more

Erm...So i have now re-watched it for second time...This is my first time doing something like that. Raki ☆ Suta!

Story: Most common mistake people make is that they say Lucky Star doesn't have a story. It has! "The daily lives of 4 high school girls." Understood? Good. Can't say much here, because of the randomness of "slice of life" genre. Still, I like how the story progress, except for the first few episodes which people usually don't understand what the series is about - which is director's fault. *shrugs* He got fired after the first four episodes anyway. If you think this story is bad, wait 'till you see Mars of Destruction.
8/10

Art: Yeah, I know that the art is nothing compared to KyoAni's usual productions, but is far better than them in one aspect, cuteness. Anyone who have watched the series can tell that how cute Konata is. Most of the scenes aren't really detailed, you usually see the upper parts of the characters, but that doesn't change how well cuteness goes with Miyuki's 'ultimade moe-ness', Konata's children-like personality and Tsukasa's 'little sister-ish' figure. BTW, background is detailed, proof (was) here, now destroyed with the absence of BBCodes.
8/10

Sound: This one varies a lot, depending on how many animes you've seen. The OP is catchy, and goes with the cuteness of the anime. The different endings were a good addition to anime, but if you haven't heard the songs before, you may think that a single ending theme would be better. And for the second part of the EDs, Shiraishi Minoru does awesome job. You still may not know some of the songs sung by him, but just watching him is entertaining too. I love how KyoAni toys with their own songs. The sound effects and OST isn't really obvious, but I can say that how it goes with the flow and is "cute" really enhances the dialogues. Especially when Kona-chan is about to start saying a funny comment about Kagami, the way music stops right before it and you can guess it coming.
8/10

Characters: Probably you can't learn their personalities in just one episode, but as the time goes on, you learn more and more about their personality. Even in the second half of the anime where they introduce new characters, no character gets more screentime than another. If they do, well, KyoAni is sure to make a joke about them! They are so unique and easy to remember. OK, not really unique (Kagami as you typical tsundere and Miyuki as you typical moe) but they are unique in their own ways. No wait! According to Shiraishi, Kagami isn't tsundere! Oh well, I don't care about what he thinks. Kagami is tsundere.
9/10

Enjoyment: What can someone give this part anything besides 10 out of 10? Great jokes, mainly based Suzumiya Haruhi and everyday problems of the world and Japan. Again, if you haven't watched Haruhi yet, you won't be able to get even the half of the jokes. That said, if you have watched it, you'll probably love the jokes. Azumanga Daioh is pretty much the same as Lucky Star, both having jokes based on pure randomness. School Rumble is more romance oriented, but still on par with them. If I had to pick one of them, it'd definitely be Lucky Star.
10/10

Overall: This series is a definitely a must-see for someone who has some anime knowledge and interested in slice of life/comedy genre. Lucky Star is a win or lose situation. Either you hate it, or you love it. If you like it, it will probably certainly be one of your favourite animes. If you don't like the slice of life/comedy genre and don't have fun finding all those references, I suggest that you don't watch it. Be sure to watch Haruhi beforehand, if you are going to watch Lucky Star.
10/10 read more

I've gotta hand it to you Lucky Star haters, you cease to amaze me. No, I'm not some illogical retard who loves Twilight or crap like that, I'm pretty much one who has logic, in all seriousness I love logic. When you see me posting illogical stuff and me not admitting it, then I was either a) trolling or b) being drunk (I tend to lose myself when it's really late or really early in the morning but not drink beer drunk).

I wanted to write this review because I was just overwhelmed seeing people who hate Lucky Star just because of their whorish fans. I know some of your friends keep bitching to you how epic win Lucky Star is and that you MUST, NO MATTER WHAT MUST like Lucky Star but hey I won't force you, I'm just here to tell you,"NOT ALL LUCKY STAR FANS ARE RETARDS, HENCE STOP STEREOTYPING US." That's all.

Now I won't go in the real scoring method (other than for the review itself) of discussing stuff one-by-one but rather, I'll try to argue with the haters' views, call this review some kind of liaison for those of you haven't watched and those who have, loving it or hating it, I assure you I won't get biased.

Now let's get to the most criticized part that I think is getting RIDICULOUS amounts of criticism: THE PLOT. Alright, how many slice-of-life anime shows have no plot? Seriously, a criticism you come up with IT HAS NO STORY LAWL! I'm not trying to offend you, not at all (and I swear I'm not being sarcastic) but that's ridiculous. I've seen lots of anime shows with no plot and I still liked it. Plot or no plot, it's EXECUTION that matters. A game with excellent plot but poor gameplay would probably result in the gamer only finishing it once and not ever again just because of the plot (considering that the gamer likes storylines that is) but a game with poor plot but excellent gameplay would be re-played numerous times like what I do with Devil May Cry 3.

Honestly, if this were not a haters-vs-lovers review I'm making, I would rate the plot as -/10 because it's almost non-existent (aside from daily lives) and usually I won't even judge the plot of animes which don't have any solid plot in the first place. What the hell is useful in judging something that's not there? Shows can concentrate on many points: some concentrate on action (hence, art and maybe storyline), some can go on plot stuff (hence, THE PLOT) and some can go for humour (hence, execution) or even slice of life (which is usually based on how well you can relate to it). If you fail to get the premise of my words in this paragraph, you fail it and I'll say to you,"Go away, you're not worth reading this thing."

It's simple logic really. But to be fair, since these types of Anime (about daily lives of people) are usually just that (aside from some Animes like Honey & Clover which explores far deeper into their lives, making even more sub-plots) I'll give it a 6.5/10 in the review, rounded off to 7. They should have some kind of decimal rating stuff here =_=

Also, since it's similar to a sitcom where you start off here and end at the same place you started, some may dislike it but I don't really mind. I just feel that instant liking to the characters.

Then the art, yeah people have different opinions. I can't say much. It's really love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing so I won't criticize either side for their respective views on this, although I realize that it's purposely acting cute and aiming to be highly-loli-like for teh lulz, some people just won't take this crap >_>

I like the moe and cute art so I give it an 8 here. Yeah call me biased and loli, I won't care when illogical people call on me for no reason at all.

The sounds, ALSO love-it-or-hate-it. I actually liked the OP song and ED stuff that were sing by Minoru Shiraishi (especially ep 13, 17 and 22) and the soundtrack sounds quite nice. It fits in with the flow and the atmosphere, which is hands-down relaxing. It's a no-brainer that there won't be any epic soundtracks coming from here. I also like the soft OP that was transitioned into an instrumental at Ep 24. If you'd like to compare this anime's OST to, say.. being fair in the slice-of-life genre, Honey & Clover, after some consideration, is comparing a more variety-rich soundtrack in melancholy and whacky pieces (H&C) with a more cheerful and light-toned soundtrack suited for a happy life (LS). I give it an 8. It's excellent at its very best which I more or less expected with its soothing soft music and some great ones. I'd actually recommend you getting this if it weren't for those 10+ BGM CD's that you'd have to get to get them all. Troublesome really, most soundtracks are in 1 CD but this is different =_= feels like they're cashing in or something. With Minoru Shiraishi and the different Character songs, I give this probably 8.4 after more exploration. I couldn't give this an 8.5 or else I'll be rounding off to a 9.

I recommend the whole BGM soundtrack to be honest and maybe 100% nai nai nai on Kagami's Character song. Maybe it's just my taste but I honestly think it's one of the better than most other songs there. Again, people's tastes differ in art so nothing to talk abou here.

The seiyuu wasn't all that bad but with so many people having lots of different preferences I can't criticize this point much. Like people say, different people have different opinions, or as one of the anime title say,"10 people, 10 colours" which means different people, different minds. I'd like to give the seiyuu a 8 though, seems like the main cast's voice fits too perfects and I feel I sense laziness from some departments but then it's not really annoying or really for the comedy (e.g, most of the extras sound exactly the same).

Onto the characters, I can see how people can dislike Tsukasa, Miyuki and the other side characters but it kinda strikes me how people seem to think that we love Konata simply because she's loli + otaku thus loli otaku thus INSTA-WIN! Or some sort. I, for one, simply love Konata because I actually am like her. I love to procrastinate (but it's slowly going away :D), I love games to death (up to the point that I don't sleep for 31 hours), I love anime too. The similarities make me relate to her in so many ways and being a younger brother, it was interesting to see how she felt being like an older sister, maybe I've never really seen that in my brother before.

Not sure how people hate Konata. Probably they hate her just because other Lucky Star fans who are whores (there are people like these the same way there are Twitards [Twilight Retards]) keep persisting and bitching that she's the best character in the world. Whatever, if you're a hater, here's an advice: they're idiots, don't listen to them. AT ALL.

Kagami is your typical tsundere but less of the slapstick tsuntsun or stuff like Louise or Taiga who are world-famous tsundere champs. Honestly I find her character great. She's the responsible type, hell if I will, she's Tohsaka Rin a la Lucky Star. She just socializes more with these friends than Tohsaka Rin from FSN does and honestly Kagami teases people less than what Tohsaka does and is more open than she is (sadly, if you don't know her, then you could ask around, she's like a common house-hold name in Anime these days >_>). One of her main attractive features is probably her looks, her hairstyle and her behaviour + chemistry with Konata.

Tsukasa, Kagami's younger sister is your typical moe, shy, cutesy-cute character who's the pinnacle of air-heads in Lucky Star. Yeah I can still see how people hate her. Air-heads like these are sometimes boring characters and honestly, I never truly loved her the way I loved Kagami and Konata so yeah.

Miyuki though, I can get why people dislike her, again. She's the glasses girl - silent, not too out-going, caring, helpful, wears glasses, is clumsy - and the usual smart type. Over-used stereotype, I know so I won't be bashing either side for loving or hating it although so far I think I've only criticized a hater. Tell me where I'm wrong and I'd love to ask you some stuff and for you to ask me some stuff so I can see why people hate this so much.

I believe people hated ep 1 - 4 because their director was changed after ep 4 and it got a whole lot better in my opinion so I invite everyone who's just started on the series or have not started the series to watch till like episode 6 to 8 and after that episode I won't force you to watch anymore if you still dislike it since it's either a) it's not your thing or b) it's not your thing. I'm not some whore who won't take the fact that people can dislike what I love.

Then the conversations, although shallow, I can relate too. I've wondered about many things that even this anime has covered and I love this feeling. I've also talked with some people about stuff Konata and co. have too. Also different situations like opening a bag of chips for someone, blocking the straw opening so that the water sticks there and acting all immature and pointing to how cool it is (actually I went as far as going to my science teacher to ask about this, but that was lots of years ago), how I pull an all-nighter right before a test, etc and etc.

The humour is also dependent on how your humour goes. If you're into the references and the soft humour stuff then Lucky Star is great but honestly, I find this series as a whole not that incredibly funny or Hayate no Gotoku!-like in anyway. It's pretty unfair comparing them in my opinion but hey it's MY opinion so who gives a shit right? It isn't YOURS so I'm not bashing YOUR opinion unless you have a crooked and baseless opinion which I've seen from the Anti-Lucky Star club who I'd love to discuss with why they hate the series WITHOUT flaming or anything of the sort. I've seen in their thread, some people posting that the show has no plot (explained), sucky art, sound and characters (explained) and their friends keep whoring on them and say it's the best show and if you don't like it = u fail. Well I'm here to tell you, just like a motivator like Adam Khoo or Tucker Max or some sort of motivator guy, say "NO U!" to THEM!

I've got a friend who doesn't like the types of genre I like but I don't go around her and keep choking her to death yelling,"WATCH THIS OR I'LL KILL YOUR KITTENS AND HAUNT UR CHILDREN!!!!!" or shit like that, honestly, if you have friends like that, then you should consider first, if your friends are SMART people or IDIOTS, which I think majority are. If they can't even get people have different opinions (autism aside), then they are complete fuck-ups, idiots, failure to logic, immature, etc etc etc etc etc.

Never listen to what other people like those say. Honestly, I actually follow some hypes (e.g Shakugan no Shana, Lucky Star, Zero no Tsukaima) my friends give me but after that I rely on MY OWN opinion, not theirs and my opinions are made from a base and that base is solid. Rarely is the base of my opinions a crooked one and if it is I'll freely admit it or if I'm feeling like an asshole, I'll change ID and register a new user (heheh :P that was like years ago though).

Overall, I really enjoyed the series and I don't care what YOU think. If you find this review helpful, then thank you very much, if you don't, then I don't blame you and I won't be cursing your name a million times, it's up to you. God I don't get why people care so much what other people think sometimes. You've got opinions, I've got mine and sometimes people just have crooked opinions and that's why I wrote this.

I really don't find the point in criticizing an Anime that has no plot as a shallow anime that has no plot as if pointing out that those white lab rats don't have tails compared to normal rats which have tails thus the lab rat is a bad rat and thus we must burn in into the haet-oven.

So, whatever the hype, don't trust it for this anime or you may get utterly disappointed. I followed the hype and I got what I wanted (well after ep 1 I was disappointed but things got better afterwards). If you hate it and you don't want to be convinced, then I don't care. If you hate it and want some discussions on why it's so damn popular, please do talk with me on the forums or any other place. If you love it, then so do I! Yeah all in all I give this anime a 9/10 for me but in general, for all of you, it's probably a 7.8 on average

Although in my opinion Honey & Clover runs deeper, into the more confused melancholy adolescent and that people may call 'pathetic' and 'emo' and 'self-loathing' (irks me that they never ever felt down THAT much before in their lives, guess people have it luckier) and maybe even philosophical stuff, Lucky Star does not go that far and does not fail to deliver simple everyday things or zanier things but still make it interesting.

To haters: simply put, any slice-of-life anime does not depend on plot. They depend on their characters and how much you can relate to them. OP does not matter, ED does not matter, what matters is how much you can relate to them and don't let any fangirls get the better of you and make you hate it. I've always been trolled with Naruto by my friends but I shrug it off, who cares really? Honestly, my point is if you can't relate to it, then you won't like it. That's my view of what slice-of-life animes really should be like. Why do I love t? I truly love the Konata and Kagami's personalitie and chemistry. I can relate to Konata and Kagami the most too. I don't express myself that well and yet I'm very much a Konata without the-- oh wait maybe I do act lazy. Really, to be honest, if you watch it from episode 6 and skip 1 - 5 you probably won't be lost anyway. P.S I AM NO LOLICON - I don't love them for their loliness thank you very much. Who ever said we love loli anyway >_>

Side note: I love Shiraishi Medley and Orewa suremono :D 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

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

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

I'm sure many LS fans will hate me for this review

Story: 4/10 There really is no story. They just talk about stuff. And it's not even interesting stuff which is sad D:

Art: 3/10 I REALLY hate the art style. all the characters look like little blobs. The characters are supposed to be 17 but the art style makes them look like they are 6.

Sound: 5/10 I did like one of the ending songs and the background music was okay. I hated the opening but it was really catchy. The characters voices are really annoying except for Minami's.

Character: 6/10 The one good thing about LS is a few of the characters. I liked Kagami (sort of) and Minami (I love the silent moe type) Kuroi-sensei and Kanata. However, I really disliked Konata. I don't see why everyone's so crazy about her. Just because she's an otaku doesn't mean she's the awesomest anime character ever. I didn't like Tsukasa either. She's the stupid airhead type. Everyone else was just boring.

Enjoyment: 5/10 For the most part, it really bored me. But there was one episode I liked. (the one with Konata's mother) That episode was really sweet(though it seemed very out of place) but all the rest were very uninteresting. It's supposed to be a funny anime but there wasn't one single scene that made me laugh.

Overall: 4/10 I didn't exactly hate this anime but I don't see why everyone's so crazy about it. There's nothing amazing about it and yet people call it a masterpiece. I just don't understand it read more

Lucky Star is a comedy without humor, a character study without interesting characters, and an animated series with very little animation.

And before you tell me that your precious, poor man's Azumanga Daioh gets better after the first few episodes, I'll just let you know that I watched the whole show. The reason it starts with the "LET'S TALK ABOUT FOOD UNTIL OUR AUDIENCE FALLS ASLEEP" episode is probably so that the following installments will actually seem entertaining by comparison. I am not one to fall for such trickery. Anyone who can sit through all 24 episodes of this garbage, let alone enjoy it, deserves an award.

Story (1/10): Four girls talk about things. Occasionally they walk around or move a little. Seinfeld is deeper than this series.

Art/Animation (5/10): The art itself is quite good, but there's very little animation as nothing ever really happens.

Sound (7/10): The voice acting in the Japanese version is decent, and the OP could almost be considered enjoyable the first few times listening to it. I can't comment on the dub, as I haven't watched it, and I don't plan to. Hopefully I'll never have to endure another episode of this atrocity.

Character (2/10): "Konata likes video games and anime, I can totally relate to her!" That's like saying you can relate to Death Note's Light (or Raito, if you must) because he's a high school student. However, unlike Light, none of the characters in Lucky Star are all that interesting or even get a single lick of development.

Enjoyment (1/10): Do you find people discussing how to eat food funny? How about someone shouting the brand name of a shampoo over and over? What about an endless string of parodies that makes Epic Movie look good by comparison? Don't get me wrong, there are a few clever gags. Unfortunately, they are all EXPLAINED after the delivery, thus killing any chance of them actually being considered humorous.

Overall (1/10): Don't waste your time with this crap. If you simply MUST listen to girls inanely discuss boring subjects, then just go eavesdrop at your local public high school. I guarantee you'll find that a lot more entertaining.

The Good:
+ Art and animation are top notch
+ Good voice acting
+ Occasionally clever dialogue and writing

The Bad:
- Very little actually happens, limiting usage of excellent animation
- Shallow, undeveloped characters
- The comedy is generally tedious and unfunny
- No story whatsoever 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