Lucky Star: First Impressions
I was warned by a friend of mine that I should not have watched Lucky Star immediately after Azumanga Daioh. His concern is valid. Just about any other anime is going to look worse in the shadow of my favourite television program. But I’m kind of glad that I saw it second. Maybe in some alternate universe, I saw this show first and even liked it more than AD, which is a thought that twists my stomach.
After seeing this addictive youtube video on the subject, I felt compelled to check it out.
Ha! Ha! Theyre using the internet!
The first episode was a real hurdle towards a positive outlook for this series. The pacing is disjointed and stretched, and there are few establishing shots or any sense of cohesion connecting one scene to the next. There is rarely breathing room.
And the blather. These girls talk and talk and talk and talk. About food and video games and homework and nothing. They go on for damn near 10 minutes comparing, in great detail, how they eat a certain piece of food. And believe me, I’ve made that sound far more engaging than it really is. I’d say this is a realistic portrayal of a conversation, but it’s not exactly riveting. Lucky Star tends to rely on long, go-nowhere dialogue and references to other shows(one might call it a Japanese Family Guy, so to speak). I appreciate the idea(especially after so many hours with the over-exaggerating Tomo), but the approach itself leaves me wanting something with more structure… Or maybe there’s too much structure? Maybe Lucky Star is too close to the realistic jibber-jabber of real life? If Azumanga Daioh is down-to-earth, then Lucky Star is subterranean.
The fact that it has a truly awful theme song/opening isn’t making it easy for me. It’s almost unbelievably bad, and I’d call it the biggest deterrent for inviting new fans to this series if it weren’t so inexplicably popular.
I’m also not too keen on the crazy hair colours these girls have. I spoke too hastily when I complained that Azumanga Daioh’s characters looked too similar. The reason their hair styles and colours are not ridiculous is because they don’t need to be. Their experiences and charm shine through. The characters here aren’t quite so vibrant, which makes me think they have more interesting hair colours in some attempt to compensate. They’re all roughly the same size too, which made me appreciate the designs for Yomi, Sakaki and Chiyo a little more. Although I think that’s the point. The girls here are understated, but in different ways.
Even the animation leaves something to be desired. So much is re-used even in the first eight episodes. The characters appear to have two facial expressions: eyes halfway open and eyes transformed into square caterpillars(which I assume is supposed to represent them being closed). And those eyes seem vacant and lifeless. I’m having a difficult time coping with the fact that everyone in this show looks like a 5 year old as well, considering the subject matter of their conversations. It’s almost like watching Disney’s Fillmore.
(This makes the bath-house scene in episode 6 an especially unpleasant experience for me, as there is almost no attempt to censor the things that warrant censoring more than anything else. It’s never quite pornographic, but it gets WAY too close to it for me. I’m no prude, but this feels really wrong. I would be amazed, astonished, and even a little disgusted if this show has already made its way to America, and more so unchanged.)
Most of the daily rituals of interest sort of blur together. When they go to the beach in Azumanga Daioh, it’s an event. Here it seems less important, something meager and passing. While Chiyo and Osaka feverishly await the next culture festival, Konata and her friends describe the disappointments inherent with the festival being run by whoever suggested the theme. It also means effort for Konata, and having to stay at school to help organize which cuts into her Anime-watching time. They find a way to suck all of the fun out of it.
I was ready to call this one a lost cause…
But I won’t. This is a decent show once it gets rolling, even when it hefts its flaws along for the ride. I think a lot of this has to do with the character “Konata”.
There was another girl in this picture, but she doesn't matter.
Here is a girl who is truly sure of herself, and sure of the people and things she has encountered in her short life. Her eternal calm, penetrating intelligence, playful remarks and otherworldly voice have lingered in my head and have found permanent residence there. She has a way of saying something that sounds both lighthearted and cynical at the same time. She does not doubt herself, but she understands her limits, and acknowledges that their world is not the parade of happy cliches that we are used to in standard Anime. This depressed me a little, but also greatly appealed to my pessimism. This was not the reaction I was expecting when I saw cheery-coloured pictures of this show beforehand.
She seems like the most content character I’ve seen in a cartoon. She never appears to lose her temper, or become excited or panicked. She is at peace, but does not come off like a new-age hippy. Maybe the reason she pokes and prods at the other characters isn’t for the purposes of teasing, but to get them to fully unleash their potential to be just as satisfied with life and themselves as she is.
Her most common target is Kagami(one of the purple-haired twins), who is the comic foil. She’s morally responsible and more independent than her associates, be it through obligation or instinct as the “older” of fraternal twins. They rely on her to get them through homework and tests they would never wrap their heads around on their own, and she observes this as an inescapable, though no less disappointing burden she must bear. Konata, meanwhile, tries to un-starch this shirt. She sees her as someone who needs to let go of her secrets and her reputation and just accept that she’s not as uptight as she tries to be. Konata has no misconceptions about her Otaku nerdiness or her lousy work ethic, she’s certainly okay with that. I think she’d like her pals to be as free as her.
Kagami sees it a little differently: She thinks Konata could achieve much more in her life if she buckled down and put in the effort. Here are two girls who think the other would be a lot happier if they defied their nature. They reminded me of the central characters in ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’, although I’m sure a more pleasant ending will be supplied here. This is their show. The rest are just along for the ride.
Konata is also about tapping into her friend’s behaviour, seeing what makes them tick, and mischievously triggering a response that tickles her. This is something she’s picked up from years of playing dating sims. She thinks if she chooses just the right branches of dialogue, those around her will be unveiled. She’s on a skewed wave-length, and this in turn warps an otherwise unremarkable show into something deceptively entertaining. Because of Konata, I’m able to view these character’s flaws and exceptional traits more clearly, and the same can be said for the triumphs and shortcomings of both this and AD. In such a short time since I’ve started watching, she’s opened the way for this show to sneak under my skin.
I don’t expect to do nearly as many articles for Lucky Star as I have(and will continue to write) for Azumanga Daioh, but I will see it through. I don’t think it will be a better show either, even though Konata’s observations ring truer to me than the mood of AD. I might prefer apples over oranges, but both appeal to my tastes.
END OF LINE
~A.H.
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