Uchuu Patrol Luluco

A short anime made with little effort deserves a short review written with little effort.

There exists a principle in economics called diminishing returns. It also applies to comedy and art. Remember Inferno Cop? Remember how funny and different it was? You first saw it and your jaw dropped. You just HAD to share it with friends. Then we got Ninja Slayer and it was the same fucking thing, but it was still funny. Much like Hangover 2 was still funny. Luluco is Inferno Cop 3 and while not as bad as Hangover 3, it's still pretty bad. I honestly found myself laughing very sparsely by ... this point. They changed NOTHING and expect us to still keep laughing at the same joke. I'm sorry Mr. Imaishi, but this horse is dead. You killed it. It's time to stop beating it and move on to something else.

Welp, didn't think I'd write a review for this "show", of all the things i could write about.
woaaah, even hitting the lower limit for characters is a drag... Sigh... well, might as well get this out of the way, and i'll fill the limit later on:
THIS IS TRIGGER COMMERCIAL. 13 segments of shameless auto-promotion using sparkly, simple animations. huh? "unconventional and original plot progression"? try "no plot, and a lot of crossovers with other triggers works". Original content is wrapped up in the first 2 episodes, than it's all "he-heeeey! that from kill-la-kill" and "oooh, that's inferno cop!" and so on.
I mean, fuck, they ... even call MC Trigger-chan at the end, it's a fucking studio mascot.
There's nothing wrong with auto-promotion, it's just sad seeing you all going crazy over what a masterpiece this is when it's nothing more than a commercial in a shiny wrapping.
I just wonder what you guys see with those eyes of yours that you elevate this show so much.

And yeah, as I said. It's a commercial. No watching value, no rewatching value, no nothing. Cool as a collectible for trigger fans, i guess, but that's about as useful as it gets.

Space Patrol Luluco, it's a disorganized and chaotic mess. It's not to be taken seriously by no regards. Being a short anime of seven minutes run time, but lasting the equivalent of four to five minutes since the ending ost takes a majority of run time. It's a fun short nothing more than that.

The show premise is a unique one taking place in a future were humans live side by side with aliens. Luluco wants to be ordinary, in this by disorderly world were anything can and will happen and it does. It start us off with Luluco eating breakfast with her dad Keiji a ... member of Space Patrol, which is a future law enforcement. Anyhow, mistakenly he chows down a substance that freezes his body solid. Unmistakably, Luluco drop him causing him to break into multiples pieces. The only solution in getting him back into one piece is going to the Space Patrol but in mix ends up join the Space Patrol, thus beginning the crazy and wacky adventure.

Space Patrol get many members including Alpha Omega Nova, long name, I know. Instantly Luluco falls head over heels for him, due to his mysterious backstory and strong sense of justice. Not to long after his introduction they meet Midori an small criminal that when captured join Space Control just because of Alpha charming charisma. Afterwards, comes Lalaco Godspeed who other then Luluco mother that's been missing for sometime reveals herself as a antagonist.

The characters are nothing to depth at all. What you get from the is all there is to them, sure they'll have a crazy characteristic to advance the plot forward. It's a fun premise with nice cartoon animation which has the closest resemblance to Panty and Stocking. It really shows that at times, the clunky non-moving characters designs which get dragged along the screen. At times it can even look so amazing with mind-blowing gorgeous scenes and action packed scenes. The music wasn't something that stuck out to per-say in my opinion beside ending ost which had an great ending sequence.

Even so it's a wacky anime with balls to the wall adventure, randomness and explosives always happening. Always pulling something from out nowhere, causing the stakes to be an all-time high. Furthermore it has tributes to other of Studio Trigger other works if your able to identify. Lots of parallel and universe jumping seeing many characters from our many loved anime, Kill La Kill and Little Witch Academia . If that sounds like something like, you'll be in for a ride.

"'So I should stay normal?' 'No, you should stay wonderful.'"

This quote is between 13 year-old main character Luluco and "1st middle school crush" Nova. Luluco, in the beginning of the show, is preoccupied with being normal. As the show progresses, she grows with experience as a (initially unwilling) member of Space Patrol, and eventually, awakens her power, and claims her identity as "Ms. Trigger".

Luluco is a show that pays homage to past Trigger works and other projects director Hiroyuki Imaishi has worked on. Trigger is a company formed by former Gainax employees who when founding ... the company were looking to take on the burden of their "creative risks" instead of passing them on to other staff. Imaishi made Luluco, not just for love of animation, but to show what his ideas of animation are by showing his influences and former work.

And how do those things show up in Luluco? They are all over the place (warning: if you would rather these by a surprise then skip this paragraph). To name some of the most visible, the Space Patrol chief is a skull head with TTGL (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) style glasses, Luluco's father for most of the show is a disconnected head talking via machine, Luluco's mom is a FLCL-like space pirate looking not unlike Haruko, Inferno Cop's Inferno Cop makes an appearance, episode 9 has the world of Imaishi's Animator Expo entry "Sex and Violence with Machspeed", episode 7 has the life fibers from Kill la Kill, episode 8 has a cameo from Little Witch Academia's Sucy, and Nova has Kiznaiver's scars in episode 12.

But enough talk about the ideas behind the show, how is the show itself? The show has a style that is similar to 2010's Cartoon Network influenced Panty and Stocking both in the animation's look and its bombastic, slap stick comedy. The music is generally frenetic to match the pacing of the show. Teddyloid from the Panty and Stocking OST is a returning composer along with Mayumi Shichani. The show has great visuals, and more appealing then usual character designs.

If there is anything to complain about Space Patrol Luluco, it is its lack of feature depth. it is shorter then half a normal 13 episode cour and the plot is sporadic, not following any given idea for long. These facts taken together equate to a show that can feel light weight at times. The only real thread that ties the show together in the end is the relationship between Luluco and Nova.

If you have never seen any of the aforementioned shows before Space Patrol Luluco, it is still entirely likely you may enjoy Luluco as a standalone. However, if you disliked Panty and Stocking, which this show is probably closest to in style and form, you still might enjoy Luluco because the ecchi and potty mouthing is absent, but proceed with caution. Luluco is short, and not as substantiated as some past Imaishi projects, but it is still a whole lot of fun, and definitely a highlight of this anime season.

A IMP Review of: Space Patrol Luluco (Dubbed edition)
(IMP stands for “In My Prospective”, meaning if someone attempts to correct the way i see the show i have no intention of reading any “corrections”)

Story: Have you ever wanted something very similar to panty and stocking? When the animation, story type, and characters are highly similar to panty and stocking but just don't cut in to be as good as Panty and stocking, so where most understand Panty and Stockings wacky type storyline this show didn't get close enough to ... it, 6/10. Ultimately story was not this shows strong suit. Yes it has one, but you dart in so many directions with what makes sense, where you are and what’s happening that you kind just give up on trying to grasp it all, when it comes to panty and stocking, it’s clear what they are basically doing throughout the show even if it gets wacky, here the base story one can get from the show is Luluco is trying to help her had after he got accidentally frozen, or she's looking for love, or... Yeah it kinda skimps on which event is the most important to follow.

Characters: Considering how the story goes throughout the show the characters aren’t terrible or anything but most are tropey so I’d say 7/10. Luluco is rather good, she acts like a typical anime school girl or a real anime school girl in some cases and her comedy works well throughout the show. The chief of space patrol is a complete dunce, the main male character does what he is meant to do and does it better than the usual anime protagonist (he places his part in the show well; it makes sense if you watch it). Lulucos parents are sort of unimportant really, her dad is gone for most of the show, her mom can’t decide if she’s good or the bad guy (sort of), and the space patrol secretary just keeps the space patrol chief in order. The other female character we see often is decent but she turns into an unimportant side character fast.

Art: The art was extremely similar to Panty and Stocking, some bits seems not as good but others were more polished, I’d say a 9/10 is in order. The artist really had fun with the style from Panty and Stocking and it shows, too bad the show was composed of short episodes, it’s always a pleasure to see that art style used in an anime.

Sound: The overall soundtrack wasn’t terrible or anything but also didn’t standout much, it had some Panty and Stocking-esk type background music and such, but the opening wasn’t great. The ending sound was alright so I suppose it gets a 6/10.

Enjoyment: As I keep saying, this show is highly like Panty and stocking, not completely but to an extent. It suffers from how short each episode is, and how ultimately long the series is as well. But I enjoyed watching it and it was a good time wasters so 8/10.

Overall: It was pleasant to watch but the idea it gets a sequel is limited and it felt like eating a small ball of cotton candy, I wanted more, but I know I won’t get more. Don’t get me wrong, it had issues and it’s a show I might watch again in the future but ultimately it was enjoyable to watch once, unlike Pany and Stocking which I can watch again and again, 6/10.

Let me tell others 2 things, 1: I will not tell you or encourage you to give the same rating, this is just my personal opinion on this show and 2: honestly I’m doing this review and other reviews as a hobby and for my own “anime records” so to speak, so if you see this and don’t like it just ignore it honestly because its more for me then to help others in the long run.

If there’s a common thread that connects all of Trigger’s vastly different shows, it’s the theme of triumphant individualism. The spirit driving this studio is a spirit that values what the individual can accomplish with their own unique talents, both in terms of the characters within the story and the people making the shows themselves. Trigger heroes will rise above adversity and stake their claim upon the world, refusing to be tied down by any system and charting their own blazing path through the universe. Meanwhile, the animators and directors bringing their story to life are allowed to go as hog-wild with creative ideas and ... unhinged animation cuts as they wish, willing to take big changes and goofy steps in whatever direction suits them. Yu could never accuse them of cowardice or cheapening out, and at its best, the Trigger/Imaishi aesthetic is able to accomplish such uniquely powerful achievements in storytelling that you can’t help but respect the balls on every single person working there. Space Patrol Luluco isn’t Trigger at its best, but it doesn’t really need to be. It’s an anniversary project of 7-minute episodes celebrating the spirit that’s driven this studio to such acclaim since its recent founding, a rapid-fire barrage of iconic shots and homages and direct references that triumph the individualist bravado behind the likes of Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, Gurren Lagann, and so on. And on that level, it achieves exactly what it sets out to do.

The story all this homage is built around centers on the titular Luluco, a normal girl in an abnormal city where aliens and humans live side-by-side. She’s repulsed by the weirdness and abnormality in her life, obsessed with living the platonic ideal of an ordinary middle-schooler experience. Of course, this being Trigger, she’s in for a hands-on lesson on the importance of deciding your normal on no one’s terms but your own, and a chance accident gets her swept up as a member of the Space Patrol, the intergalactic police that keep the peace in this interstellar society. Throw in a bunch of Imaishi-branded weirdness complete with his typical sandpaper-jagged animation, a metric buttload of references both direct and subtle to works of Trigger past, and a plot that zips ahead at the speed of light to cover a entire two cours worth of content over less than two hours, and you have yourselves a hard-hitting, fast-moving joy ride of enjoyable little action and character bits that breeze by pleasantly enough and rarely cease to entertain. Weirdly enough, the overriding sensation I get from this show is Inferno Cop if it were played straight. Well, straight-er; the overall tone is still very irreverent. But it’s got that same sense of nonsensical, blisteringly fast fun, speeding through the cliffnotes version of a much longer anime plot and hitting all the big fun beats along the way for no other reason than this is the kind of shit they like over at Trigger Aech Cue.

As you might imagine, this swiftness inevitably leads to a certain shallowness in the actual story that’s just here to serve as a fanservice vehicle. You won’t find much in the way of emotional depth of nuance in the broad characters, nor much in the way of surprises in the way their arcs play out. But that’s not why you’re here in the first place; you’re here for colorful fun times with colorful fun characters that reference all your favorite colorful fun shows from this colorful fun studio. And Space Patrol Luluco delivers on exactly that about as well as it needs to in order to stay light and entertaining throughout its run. It’s lively and bouncy and off-the-walls in the way Imaishi’s work always is, light on its feet and packing every scene with enough exaggerated, contorted animation and dynamic framing to put lesser studios to shame. There’s no shortage of goofy, fun ideas to be found in its world, like the idea of a city being sold in an Amazon package or the way the Space Patrol members all turn into guns like they’re Transformers. I especially enjoyed the antics of Chief Over Justice, Inferno Cop’s emo brother, who arrests and releases people at the drop of a hat with the exact same zeal. And if you’re a Trigger affictionado, this show will give you plenty of Easter eggs and references to drool over. There’s an extended jaunt in what I can only describe as a literal Trigger Cinematic Universe that’ll especially be catnip for anyone who’s enjoyed their previous work (and if the hints I got there are any indication, I suspect I’m really gonna love LWA). In the end, Space Patrol Luluco is a light, airy breeze of a thing, not long or deep enough to reach the heights of Trigger’s previous triumphs. But it does its job as a love letter to what this studio’s best can be, and I can’t ask for much more than that.