--STORY--
A big, fairly important part in any form of Media. The story in Lucky-Star, sort-of follows a fairly non-linear progression, and although most episodes themselves do not progress the story any further, there are key moments when you know you are stepping steppings forwards through school. Most School-based Animes will contain really obscure, and skimpily-dressed classmates, however this was not the case. Unless a background character has a specific role or reason to be seen, it will remain a generic bluish-blob, that just mindlessly does stuff. The story-arc is non-existent, with no specific actions from one episode affecting another directly, which shows that this Anime is about...school. It should be said that all events that fill the episode are filled with comedic gold and humour that you can only wish existed in today's TV Shows. It is witty, funny and sometimes, just outrageous. At the end of every episode, there is a 4-minute spot called Lucky Channel which stars 2 other characters ( Akira and Shiraishi) who simply either talk about the occurences within that day's episode, or more often then not, end up fighting as Akira's true self is a worn-out, angry Idol and Shiraishi, is the 'new flavour', whom Akira feels threatened by. There is also an immensly strong connection between this Anime's older sister, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu and this becomes immediatly apparent via all of the advertising, and references to the series, including a Cosplay Cafe where Konata works. Following the story was a real treat, and come the final episode, you really do feel relieved, and in a sort-of up-tempo mood, seeing how they ended their final year of school.
The 4 main characters vary greatly between each-other. The twin-sisters Kagami and Tsukasa Higari are both normal girls, but a major difference is, Kagami is a brilliant student although perhaps a little boring, and Tsukasa, not-so, tending to take on the roles of baking, and dreaming big. The Haruhi-rule applies in this anime too, so there is obviously a Moe girl with large-breasts. This gives us Takara Miyuki, a pink-haired beauty, descended from a rich family. The main character is especially interesting, because she embodies all the things an Otaku loves (Like playing Ero-Games to watching Anime and reading Manga) into the body of a short, blue-haired girl named Konata Izumi. This combination of unlikely friends makes a very interesting turn of events, with Konata making obscure references to Animes at all the right times. There are also some other, soon-to-be main characters, but they do not start making appearences until the 2nd half of the series. One character I did like alot was Kusakabe Misou, a hot-headed friend and classmate of Kagami who is just cute, and has an odd sense of humour, bluntly pointing out that Kagami is scary.
--ARTWOOK/ANIMATION--
As a general rule-of-thumb, the artwook is really nice, but then again, feels very plain. There are no overly-drawn, or overly detailed characters or surroundings unlike most Action animes. Being a comedy, it can sort-of get away with this fact, and seeing as how it knows it is not detailed and doens't try too hard, it sort of is acceptable. As stated above, any characters not deemed important to the scene, are just made into Generic blobs which allows you focus much easier on the characters portrayed in the scene and not the background. Throughout a few episodes in the Anime, there stars a very overly-animated Anime-Store Manager and his band of shop-assistants who provide some Action at short intervals (Far and wide between the story) in trying to get Konata to buy stuff from his store. The animation itself, isn't actually that grand (Except for the Anime Store's needlesly volitile staff scenes) and just trys to get by, by only moving mouths, eyes and perhaps hands if need-be. Granted, there are some walking scenes etc. but most of the time, the girls mainly sit around somewhere, talk, or do stuff, and then talk.
--SOUND/MUSIC--
The first thing you should ever note about this series, is the Opening song. Motteke! Sailor Fuku is one of the most popular songs ever to be included on an Anime, reaching almost the same levels of super stardom as the ED theme of this Anime's predessecor. It is a lovely opening staring the main characters singing a Cheerleader's chant about how they want their Summer-Uniform back :) Throughout the Anime, the music-style generally do not change, keeping their slow-styled, almost elevator-like music. Now even this music can vary and they have produced several variences to all of Lucky-Star's songs and they are used fully and well, to create a great atmosphere each and every time. Like the rare action-sequences, there is also a small selection of action-music within the anime, used within these rare scenes. They generally parody some other Anime at this time, so I can't say much for the music-direction here, except that they do fit-in rather well. There is no, one ED song and instead, it is usually just the Main-Characters at a Kareoke Bar, singing a song of some kind. In the 2nd half of the series, the man who plays Shiriashi within Lucky Channel is seen in real-life, usually singing a theme from another Anime.
--ENJOYMENT/OVERALL--
This is, and still remains to be one of my most favorite Animes, and this is proven by the fact that every day, I usually re-watch at least one of the episodes, just because the story is non-linear and allows for you to pick up at any point, and not have to worry about what happened last episode. I also just love Konata's obssessive need to relate everything to an Anime or a Manga title, even when talking about Light-Novels. Basically, to sum up, you just have to watch it, otherwise, your life may go unfulfilled :3
-Aex
