I don’t think I watched anything like Lucky Star before. I know people say it’s a bit over hyped, or that it’s nothing compared to Azumanga Daioh or Pani Poni Dash! but there is something to Lucky Star. That’s why a lot of people, including me, like it. Let me enumerate on why I like it.
I like the story. Sure there isn’t much of a definite storyline, but that’s what makes it easy to understand. Besides, it’s a slice of life anime of four regular high school girls (well, maybe Konata’s a little different) so you shouldn’t expect anything out of the ordinary. Even if it is like that, it still manages to entertain me and crack me up, and doing that with such little material is a hard task.
I would say Lucky Star is very otaku oriented, as it makes fun of anime and otaku clichés. Other than that, it makes use of a lot of spoofs and parodies to create comedy, which is a strength depending on how you look at it. It’s a strength because it’s great for full fledged otaku viewers, but it’s a weakness if casual anime fans fans (those who don’t watch anime on a regular basis, I suppose) try to watch it. They probably won’t get the spoofs. Sure they can do some research on it, but I guess it wouldn’t be as funny that way.
The characters are a huge part of the comedy, because they themselves are clichés. Tsukasa is a moe character, while Miyuki is a meganekko. Kagami is a little tsundere, and of course, legendary girl A herself, Konata Izumi, is the rabid otaku. Out of all the girls, Konata has to be my favorite. I guess it’s because I see myself in her. I guess there’s a little Konata in every otaku out there. The extended cast is also hilarious, like Minoru Shiraishi and Akira of the Lucky Channel segment, as well as the characters’ relatives and their classmates.
Speaking of Minoru Shiraishi, I have to say that Lucky Star did wonders for his career. I think he’s more famous than before, and he’s not even a main character. As for the other VAs, it’s definitely a great cast. Two of my favorite VAs, Aya Hirano (Konata, of course) and Tomokazu Seki (Meito Anisawa) are in it, so that’s one reason for me to be happy. Even the one episode extras are awesome Tomokazu Sugita and Daisuke Ono made cameo appearances for Lucky Star. You also gotta love Fumihiko Tachiki, who played all the random old woman characters throughout the series.
Now to discuss another popular rant. People are let down by the art style of Lucky Star, because it’s so different from other KyoAni series (Kanon 2006, Air, etc). I see this as a positive. The characters are cuter that way, and being different is a good thing. Visually, Kanon 2006 and Air look great, but the character designs are a bit commonplace and standard. Lucky Star gives a breath of fresh air, that’s what I like to think. The characters, colors, backgrounds – everything. Everything (visually) about Lucky Star is cute, another strength of Lucky Star.
The music is also otaku oriented. For the first half, most of the songs are themes from actual anime. Aya Hirano’s rendition of “Cha-la Head Cha-la” has to be one of my favorites from Lucky Star. I also like Minoru Shiraishi’s rendition of “Hare Hare Yukai” and “Motteke! Serafuku”
To end this review, I think Lucky Star is a great anime. It certainly has its merits, and I understand why a lot of people like it. However, I understand that it’s not perfect, and that it cannot please everybody.
