Series: Lucky Star: Complete Collection
UK Release date: 2nd May 2011
Distributor: Beez
Certificate: 15
Running time: 645 mins
Director: Yutaka Yamamoto & Yasuhiro Takemoto
Genre: Anime
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Japan
Language: Japanese
Review by: Lewis Field
Based upon Kagami Yoshimizu’s satirical 4-koma (four panel) manga, Yukata Yamamoto’s animated adaptation of Lucky Star is part sketch show, part comic strip with a whole lot to say about Japanese pop culture. An anime primarily about anime, we join four schoolgirls during their 11th grade term at Ryõõ High School.
Lucky Star is a slice of life comedy following four friends, Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami and Miyuki through the trials and tribulations of high school…well sort of, if you consider how to eat a chocolate cornet strenuous?
Konata Izumi is a self-professed otaku, and she and her three friends, Tsukasa, Kagami and Miyuki enjoy nothing more than eating, cooking, hanging out and, of course, chatting about all the important things in life – i.e. everything! And so the sporadic conversing begins…
The series itself is really about…well, not much at all, but that is definitely one of its main appeals. Lucky Star is a curious little gem of a series, focusing quite literally on the normalcy of daily situations, random girly conversations and seemingly mundane observations. A typical episode consists of a simple event/occurrence/discussion and bounces backwards and forwards, like a sketch show with a common theme. In episode one, Konata and Tsukasa are eating lunch and ask how one is supposed to eat various sweet snacks. The episode later returns to the same conversation, but now introduces Miyuki into the equation. Rather than a hindrance, the quick cuts in time and setting reflect the overall spontaneity of the series, and the animation makes each scene feel like a picture window of a comic book.
It is the simplistic notion of question and answer that fuels most of the conversation in the series; the randomness of the topics, although edging on futility, adds a true sense of realism. We are watching the daily banter of high school girls and, like most of us, they talk about rubbish. It’s what friends do - it is just something we rarely see. So often do anime series have an artificiality regarding character relationships, with dialogue coming across as over articulated nonsense, but Lucky Star breaks this habit and forefronts their innocuous conversing as far more genuine expression of questioning the ordinary – the difference between a cold and the flu, the myths surrounding twins, returns to the dentist and getting sleepy on the bus.
Being a series that is episodic in nature, there is no real sense of continuity binding one episode to the next, meaning that each episode stands alone, rather than relying upon a central theme running through the series. When the series takes time out away from the sporadic chit-chat of the girls and focuses on the dynamics of their friendship group, and their network of other friends and family, the show impresses in its telling of single story threads. Far from the humour and satire, these stories (including beach trips and an invitation to witness Kagami’s family at home) do well in fleshing out the characters and providing the well needed subtext missing from earlier episodes.
The show's humour is created through the spoofing of J-pop culture; Konata’s love of otaku is constantly reiterated, as she subconsciously relates her life experiences to anime and gaming to the annoyance of Kagami - she became friends with Tsukasa as a result of a Street Fighter-esque battle. This is perhaps the show's biggest mistake. The humour is relatable to an extent, as we have all seen or at least heard of the films, games and TV shows Konata speaks of, yet the premise of the comedy is that it relies heavily upon the viewer being as fanatical about anime as she is – half the time, the references and quirky one-liners fall flat as you have not seen the latest episode of Full Metal Panic! At the same time, the humour is delivered in such a way that it avoids the characters deliberately offending the genre’s fan base; instead the series becomes part of that same joke. The supplementary ‘Lucky Channel’ segment at the end of each episode features a darker more sadistic approach to satirising J-pop icons through its bipolar host Akira Kogami, and comedy hotbox Minoru Shiraishi.
The series does not try to be anything more than what it is: a light-hearted tale of girls growing up. The humour is well placed and innocently sweet (Tsukasa believes that a sore throat is due to the fact that you breathe in from your mouth). In one episode, the girls exit from a physical exam and each (in voiceover) recounts their experience: for Konata, it’s that she’s still short; for Tsukasa, it’s that she was wearing her animal print underwear; Kagami convinces herself that her weight gain is due to the under-wiring of her bra; Miyuki simply exits smiling. The difference in their characters is poignantly addressed throughout in a very comedic side-by-side fashion that further depicts the obvious archetypes each embodies.
Lucky Star does manage to satisfy the cute, girly humour one would expect a series revolving around schoolgirls to contain. The characters are fantastically moe`, and it is obvious they have been tailored to such extensive lengths to represent fan-appealing traits - their individual personas, bubblegum-coloured hair, large eyes and quirky features all become part of the series’ running joke about anime and J-pop fandom.
Part parody, part caricature, their characterisation covers all aspects of the anime spectrum. Konata is the boyish otaku - Kagami her direct opposite; the hot-headed and emotional tsundere. The two of them are often seen arguing with one another at the fact Konata doesn’t study and loves video games. Then there is Kagami’s twin sister, the cute airhead Tsukasa, a dojikko; and the polite, walking encyclopaedia Miyuki, a typical meganekko, ironically with a fear of contact lenses. At times, the dynamics of their friendship comes across as odd. They seem a lot more infantile and prudish than their age group would suggest; they argue about studying and hobbies rather than the hormone fuelled disputes one would expect from 16-18 year olds - perhaps a deliberate intention to please and adhere to a specific audience, it is somewhat faulted and just doesn’t seem authentic, compared to their random, naturalistic banter.
At times, the random talk does irritate, and this is certainly not a series for anyone after a serious anime feature. With its simple art direction and quirky trumpet sound effects, the series is quite clearly there to be laughed at. Away from trying too hard to be funny, the show instead immerses itself in the humour it creates - each episode begins with the title ‘Kagami Yoshimizu Theater’, as each of the girls talk about getting on with the show, a subtle suggestion that the four of them are recounting their school years through film alongside the audience.
A show of incredible simplicity and charm, Lucky Star manages with a plot-less narrative to captivate from the first episode and continues with an OVA supplement to the series. With organic characters and a ton of random conversations, it really is a slice of good-natured humour. A collection of observation and pop culture later, the series never deviates from its initial purpose: to poke fun at and satirise the very constructs of anime, whilst never being afraid to be part of the joke. LF
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