Lucky Star

Title: Lucky Star (Raki Suta)
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Series
Duration: (25mins - 24 Episodes plus 2 OVA)
Starring: Aya Hirano, Emiri Katou, Kaori Fukuhara, Aya Endo (Wendee Lee, Kari Wahlgren, Michelle Ruff, Karen Strassman)
Director: Yutaka Yamamoto (fired after four episodes), Yasuhiro Takemoto
Language: Japanese (dubbed)

"Raise your hand if you thought of something naughty!"

I hate it when this sort of thing happens; I see something, look for the appeal and prematurely jump to conclusions. If you have ever seen a better example of the cliché style of animé drawings that pander to the notion of the childish cute or ‘moé’ to many fans, then I’ve yet to see it. Yet that’s the point, it’s done excessively and purposefully to the point that it makes you cringe, and then when you realise how self-aware it is the entire piece becomes interesting. This isn’t just pandering to the otaku crowd who determine the quality of a programme by how paedophilically cute they look, this is satirising them, and now that I’ve found this out I feel ashamed to have mocked it so thoroughly in passing.

Sitting in the ‘slice of life’ style of story; the only real plot is that of the interactions between the characters with little in the way of an overarching story or indeed any real point. The characters are of vital importance here, consisting of very stereotypical personalities; Miyuki the megannekko[1], Konata the otaku[2]; Kagami the tsukkomi[3] and her twin sister; Tsukasa the moé[4]. The conjunction of highly stereotyped characters actually works to its advantage, allowing for an exaggeration of the style for comical effect. Despite its appearance its target audience is not the younger viewers, a fact evident in both the frequent references to fan service[5] and the level of innuendo in the humour. It’s perhaps a rare feat to successfully create amusing situations on the subject of paedophilia from the mouth of a character designed to prey on exactly that male fantasy, and yet this has succeeded in doing just that.

Sadly, however, because of their highly stereotypical personalities many of the characters are incredibly shallow, and as a result the scenes quickly degrade into monotony; the joke of the smart character analysing with detailed precision mundane questions such as ‘how do you eat a cream puff’ (which from what I gather is basically a profiterole with the crème wedged between the puff pastry) rapidly wearing thin well before the series’ end. They are never given the time to develop, and as a result produce only a limited interest; after the first quarter of the show you know most of what there is to know about the main characters, leaving only a fixed time span until it becomes too predictable.

Firing the director after only four episodes probably did little to alleviate this issue – whether he had some sort of character development planned will remain a mystery – but it would seem that this situation hadn’t failed to come to the new director’s attention, but rather than address it, tries to compensate by adding a number of other characters to the fold; Konata’s younger cousin Yutaka and her friend Minami; Patricia the (highly annoying) exchange student from Konata’s cosplay café and by far the most inexplicable; the inclusion of Inori and Matsuri, Kagami and Tsukasa’s elder sisters that they forgot to mention for 3/4 the show. Whilst helping with some scenes to alleviate the stagnation, they failed to have the time remaining to build up any form of character beyond the most basic and obvious, and whilst became welcome additions by the shows fitting conclusion could have been better introduced.

Apart from the obvious issue with regards to the characters introductions, the show remains horrifically inconsistent; the first few episodes hits the ground running and lets you figure things out as you go along rendering the show with an initial slog to get through, and then there’s the downhill slope as things start to prey more upon its appearance and style over the repetitive content, which in itself also requires a certain amount of knowledge of animé as much of the humour is derived from the stereotypical otaku culture – and I certainly wouldn’t claim to understand much of it – which unfortunately gives it a niche market that will only dwindle with time. Of the other conversations, most rely on discussing a particular situation which only really works well if you’re able to relate, naturally leaving certain episodes feeling as though they’re dragging on too long. In fact perhaps the only episode free from this is the finalé which proved well beyond expectations, not only tying together all the loose ends but doing it in a fitting manner (in fact, this episode alone sparked the decision to raise the rating).

Despite this, there is still something of an odd win-win situation at work here; they manage to create adorably and sickeningly cute characters, liberally apply the fan-service and then mock themselves for doing just that, and whilst this makes this somewhat hypocritical succeeds in creating a potential unlike many others; the potential to both attract moé[2] fans as well as those who detest the notion and wish nothing more than to mock it. It’s a shame that this potential was never fully realised and due to a lack of a development of the script, a lack of significant events that had any impact on the ways things occurred, and the repetition of the same jokes, stagnated before its end. All I can say is thank heavens for the adorability of Tsukasa who was probably the main reason for me making it all the way through. Before Lucky Star I was firmly standing with those mocking it, but now I’m not so sure…

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1) A ‘meganekko’ is a character who wears large glasses, though usually for fetishism reasons rather than the character actually needing to wear them. The character is usually overtly kind and helpful to the point of perfection, relatively charismatic and a bit of a teachers pet; the kind of person who if you kicked they would apologise to you for their shin getting in the way of your swinging foot.

2) Otaku is probably the best known of all the weirdass Japanese terms, it simply means someone obsessed with Animé (cartoons), Manga (comics), Doujin (fanfic) and Gaming. Generally the closest equivalent word would be something along the lines of ‘nerd.’

3) Tsukkomi is a lesser used character description but tends to refer to a hard-working type of character who remains rooted to the ground and realistic. As a result she is often seen as being pessimistic, shooting down the idea’s of others and heavily criticising their actions.

4) Moé is a term that often seems to be used interchangeable with “Kawaii,” and whilst they both essentially translate to “cute,” they have entirely different meanings. Moé is far more of a platonic adorability whereas describing something as Kawaii is far more sexual; a successful moé character would evoke a response more akin to a desire to care for them like an innocent little child or a kitten. For example, I find kittens cute but I have no desire to get involved with bestiality, hence kittens can be called moé but not kawaii. Most ‘meganekko’ tend to fall under moé as well.

5) Fan service is simply choosing angles, scenes and styles so as to prey on the desires of the male fan base. For example, shower scenes, scenes by the beach or at another place deemed rational to wear only a bikini, or even choosing a low angle when a character falls so we get a view up their skirt. It’s publicly frowned upon by most, but is most likely secretly enjoyed by some or the style would have not seen such continual usage. Personally I’m indifferent to the notion; if the plot is good then I’m not terribly fussed about the fan service.