Lucky Star - Episode 05 Discussion / Poll [Archive]

monir

2007-05-05, 23:08

Welcome to the discussion thread for Lucky Star, Episode 5.

Thread Guidelines
No telling or asking for raws.
Absolutely no spoilers for future events from the manga in the anime thread.
If you need to reply to someone with a reference to the game or manga, then PM them. Any spoilers, even under the spoiler tags, that reveals future events will be deleted.
Discuss your expectations of the episode if not aired.
Be polite to your fellow forum members.
Try to keep the discussion on topic and future episode spoilers out of the thread.

Spoiler tags still can be used where one deems appropriate. There are two ways to create clearly marked spoiler tags as they are shown in the following:

The easy way: By simply clicking on this http://forums.animesuki.com/images/as.global/spoiler.gif icon which can be found in the Quick Reply or Reply to Thread template. This is how how Pelli does it.

or

The macho way: By writing those l33t vB codes (http://forums.animesuki.com/misc.php?do=bbcode#spoiler) as shown in the following...

Spoiler Tag ExampleDon't forget to use a title for the spoiler!...becomes...http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/snapshot20070207152438157.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/snapshot20070207152438157.jpg)
Don't forget to use a title for the spoiler! Kon dared to forget, and look what happened!

Sheba

2007-05-06, 10:23

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/9885/11784639480030972jl4.th.jpg (http://img251.imageshack.us/my.php?image=11784639480030972jl4.jpg)

Yoinked from a 2chan thread. Yes, the cop finally appears.

Konata-chan

2007-05-06, 10:36

I'm just wondering where all the new image posts are in 2chan. I know that it's in 2chan (and not 2ch, since I don't think they support images), but the "anime" section they have only has text, and from little Japanese I know, only says stuff like animals, plants, news, etc.

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-06, 10:51

I haven't seen the ep, but people have posted screencaps of the beginning and end credits on 2channel. The beginning credits have Yamamoto as "super director" or "over-director" and the new director in smaller characters as "new director." In the end credits it says this episode was directed, written and storyboarded by Yamamoto. This pleases me, since he is clearly the creative force behind this show.

This makes it seem that kj1980 was probably close to the truth. I think the move was more removing organizational responsibilities from him that criticizing the product. I predict further controversy to come, over whether this was all a publicity stunt.

2channel does allow links to images, and a few of them get posted, such as the ones of the credits (with posts 525 and 774). The current LS thread (#61) is here (http://anime2.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/anime/1178456129/). Hurry, it will fill soon. Then there will be a link near the end to the new one. Or go to the top and click the left-hand end of the third line to go back to the main list of boards to find #62.

EDIT: But this page (http://anime.goo.ne.jp/contents/tvanime/ATVNTPDkadtvluc1/6/index.html) shows that the new director will direct and storyboard ep6, so we'll see what difference that makes. Early consensus on 2channel seems to be that ep5 was hilarious and similar to previous eps. The broadcast just ended 40 minutes ago.

Skane

2007-05-06, 10:58

Konata-chan

2007-05-06, 11:15

Kaoru Chujo: Thanks for the tip! Gotta love the people at 2ch, I didn't know that you could post images there.

Not a plot spoiler per se, but episode 5's ending is the 1st opening to Dragon Ball Z. Assuming that Kagami still is singing, that is an odd choice for her to sing. It wouldn't be so surprising if Konata sang it, but then again Dragon Ball Z was (and still is) a very popular anime, so I wouldn't be surprised if Kagami showed interest in it.

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-06, 11:15

Okay, now I am just confused. :eyebrow: What gives? Check out kj1980's post in the ep4 thread saying that it might have been a case of the "demotion" being a cover for Yamamoto finding himself over his head in the organizational aspects of the job, feeling the pressure, and asking for help. Yamamoto has been a director of episodes, and this was his first time as director of a whole series, which is a quite different job, with more administrative aspects, like hiring and scheduling staff, etc.

But note also my EDIT in the previous post, saying that the new director (who did FMP:TSR and :Fumoffu) will storyboard and direct ep6. This might have been planned from the start, however, since he did the same for a couple of eps of SHnY, I believe. EDIT: I checked (http://www.haruhi.tv/fanclub/cast.html), and he did direction/storyboard for one episode, ep11, the space battle against the computer society.

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-06, 12:26

Stop the presses! I've just seen part of the ep in a very bad quality video, and it looks to me as if the previous end credits from 2channel were for the ED, and the episode itself was storyboarded and directed by someone else (not quite clear enough for me to read, but probably Ishihara Tatsuya, the director of SHnY, etc.). The opening credits stand, though.

Vallen Chaos Valiant

2007-05-06, 12:52

Hummm..... About the ED karaoke... Dragonball OP!?:twitch: :eyespin: :D

GHDpro

2007-05-06, 13:08

Hmm, this episode seemed extremely dialog heavy to me. Those who are watching the raws without knowing any Japanese would probably have a hard time trying to find anything funny, as lots of jokes rely on the dialog. This one will again definitely be one I'll have to rewatch as fansub to catch everything.

Now for the spoiler-ish comments (with screenshots):

http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195140.jpg
The part where Yui (the cop) thinks Tsukasa, Kagami and Miyuki are Konata's college friends is pretty funny (Konata is smaller, so she thinks that's how large highschool girls should be, while it's actually Konata who's the exception). For her to think Konata's teacher was one of her "all grown up" classmates was fun too :)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195545.jpg

Probably one of the funnier parts was Konata meeting her teacher online. It shows it's really a bad idea to do so when your trying to get away from reality ("Konata, did you do your homework?") :)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195608.jpg

Other fun moments:
- Tsukasa, and not Miyuki knowing the proper answer to one of life's mysteries ("What taste is Blue Hawaii lemonade?")
http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195317.jpg

- Kagami picking a piece of cotton candy from Tsukasa's nose and Konata commenting there's no fun (romance) in that happening between girls, then contemplating further on how things would work out in a galge.
http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195344.jpg

- Even the fish agree: Kagami is scary.
http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195521.jpg

- Kagami first criticizes both Konata and Tsukasa for making funny voices in front of the fan, but her father reveals she did so too just this morning...
http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195701.jpg

- Konata finds out that planning to play a MMO for just 30 minutes never works out (especially when you find a rare item).
http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195909.jpgBtw, it's Konata (Aya Hirano) again who sings the ending, after Kagami criticizes Tsukasa and Miyuki for not entering a song fast enough.

.
.
.

EDIT:
Forgot about this one... anyone knows which anime the the poses Yui did with the rifle and snack (I think they're called American Dogs in Japan, not sure):

http://s01.imagehost.org/0770/snapshot20070506195215.jpg
Hellsing?!? Trigun?!? Noir?!? Black Lagoon?!? Or am I just trying to see things that aren't there?!?Also... Jaalin's post on Random Curiosity (Omni's blog) is ready (with much more screenshots):
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/2007/05/06/lucky-star-05/

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-06, 13:13

Ok, I've been scammed Those were fake caps from the episode. The director's name is definitely changed in the intro. Sorry for my gullibility. Cheers to 2channel, lol.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-06, 13:14

Got the answer, I think. Aya Hirano idolizes Kageyama Hironobu from what I can tell (She asked him to join her for a duet of Bouken Desho Desho, and he accepted. You can see a video online of her shooting him sultry looks and him smiling back. She also mentioned his Jam Project on her blog several times.) and he's the one that sings Chala Head Chala. I think she may have requested the chance to cover his song. Good song to cover, very pleased with this choice. I had this bizarre feeling that at some point she was going to sing Heats from Shin Getter Robo Armageddon, but its Chala Head Chala. For the first time I'm really looking forward to the ending.

Manatsu

2007-05-06, 13:30

Oh dear just knowing what's this week's ending song has got me super excited already... I love Cha-la Head Cha-la, one of my favourite anime songs ever, can't wait to hear Konata sing it. :cool:

Woland

2007-05-06, 13:32

I only watched (for now) the ending song (It's my ritual, every time I finish download the raw, and yes, it's "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" the op of dragonball Z :heh: ) and the preview...

this pic...

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9393/snapshot20070506202536tb5.jpg

Give me some (wonderful!) Azumanga vibes
Now I can't really wait for the next ep

Ok now let's see the rest...

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-06, 13:46

Even not understanding parts of the dialogue, I found this ep pretty funny. They were great in their yukata at the festival, and the way Konata's obi was tied (by her father) was a scream. I thought Tsukasa's seiyuu (Fukuhara Kaori) did a particularly good job with the phone call. She really makes Tsukasa an individual. I loved Hirano Aya's gobbling sound in the wind from the fan, and her singing of the ED was a great combination of karaoke-amateurish and strong.

Once again, I liked how the hands were animated, even though sometimes they seemed a bit blockier than before. Maybe it was my imagination or the particular raw I saw, but the colors seemed a little bit more saturated, and the timing a little more ordinary (or smooth, take your pick).

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-06, 13:55

Here's the best version of Chala Head Chala I could find (It's the one that has Vegeta and Nappa walking in a wall of fire):

1ZCz-w4y5kg

In case there are those that have never seen or heard the original before and are curious, its in the spoiler tag.

Shiroth

2007-05-06, 14:21

Loving the fact that the end song is Cha-La-Head-Cha-La, but seriously --- Aya didn't have to scream like that.

lyric

2007-05-06, 14:22

I watched dragon ball before, but I never heard Cha-la Head Cha-la.
Indeed, only konata did pick this one...I couldnt imagine kagami sang this opening, but I still expected she could try.
http://s-clb2.smilevideo.jp/smile?v=255247.48569

Meophist

2007-05-06, 14:25

I don't know why, but I didn't really like this episode. It just seemed wierd. The jokes were still there but the execution…

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-06, 14:31

I've updated my page with pics of the seiyuus (http://hashihime.atspace.com/etc/luckystar/charseiyuus.html) to include Konata's cousin the policewoman Yui's seiyuu.

And I liked the episode, but as I said, I thought the timing might have been a little too smoothed out for my taste -- that is it may have seemed weird because it was less weird. Or perhaps it's my imagination.

lyric

2007-05-06, 14:37

I don't know why, but I didn't really like this episode. It just seemed wierd. The jokes were still there but the execution…
I think most of lucky star's jokes are related to Japanese culture including "OTAKU" culture. Sometimes, we cannot make fun because we have no experience of their lives. In short, we dont have sympathetic response.
I also read the manga of lucky star before, each time when konata was talking baseball program with kagami, it's really boring for me. Anyway, as long as the characters are cute, it's enough.

Meophist

2007-05-06, 14:47

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-06, 15:42

That's not it, I understood the jokes. I believe they were simply executed badly. I didn't like how the characters moved around so much. I didn't think the focus on Tsukasa during the little section worked too well. I didn't think the fish moving away from Kagami was done well. There was just a bunch of little things that simply annoyed me in this episode. As I said, the jokes were there, but I really did not enjoy its execution.Oh, well, we may agree a bit, but I thought the fish moving away was done particularly nicely. Did you think the comic execution was better in previous episodes? And which "little section" with Tsukasa wasn't good?

EDIT: Between midnight Sunday night, when the broadcast started, and 6 am Monday morning, there have been approximately 2000 posts in the main Lucky Star thread on 2channel. Phenomenal. The three most posted-about shows are Gurren-Laggen with 52 threads, Lucky Star with 62...and Nanoha Strikers with 92.

Nemo_N

2007-05-06, 16:17

There is something unsettling about a law enforcement agent with the Izumi genes :heh: . Yui's gun handling certainly got some Trigun vibes :p.

The DBZ theme brought back memories...

(I'm getting old.)

Meophist

2007-05-06, 16:18

Oh, well, we may agree a bit, but I thought the fish moving away was done particularly nicely.Ok, I admit, I just didn't like that joke.Did you think the comic execution was better in previous episodes?Yes.And which "little section" with Tsukasa wasn't good?Tsukasa's raburabu section with the phone + the little bit after.

Konata-chan

2007-05-06, 16:28

The chat between Konata and Nanako-sensei was pretty funny.

友人nanakonがログインしました。
Konata: 先生が入って来た。(opens up a new window)

konakona: こんにちわ
nanakon: よっ　（＾３＾）/
konakona: 休み中だからか（ご）接続率いいですね。
nanakon: まあな-w
konakona: 時間もあるし狩りしませんか？　
チョプロン村近くの洞窟にいるんですけど
nanakon: おっしゃ、行く行く！>w<b
wizの出番やな！
konakona: じゃあゲート近くでまってますから
nanakon: って、それもいいけど宿題はやったか？（－＿－）
konakona: は？
nanakon: 引きこもってないか？（－＿－）
konakona: ;;
nanakon: 登校日も忘れるなよ（－３－）ｙ－～～～
konakona: ;; ;; ;; ;;
nanakon: あとなー、休みだからって夜便かしと寝坊も大概にしとき

My attempt at translation:
Kona: Hello
Nanako: Yo
Kona: You're logging in more during summer vacation, huh?
Nanako: Yeah...
Kona: Do you want to go on a hunt with me? There's a cave near Chopuro Village.
Nanako: Sure, let's go! [It's the wizard's turn?]
Kona: Then I'll wait near the gate.
Nanako: Hey, you're all right with the homework?
Kona: Huh?
Nanako: You're playing, yet you haven't done it?
Kona: ;;
Nanako: When school starts you'll forget it
Kona: ;; ;; ;; ;;
Nanako: Since it's vacation, you're most likely gonna sleep in late [gaming and not do the homework]

Is this translation correct? I want to try my hands at becoming a Japanese-English translator, but I'm not sure how much skill I need since half of the words I had to resort to a kanji dictionary.

Another great episode, and much love towards the Kagami-Konata interaction. Along with Konata's otaku behavior totally makes the show my most favorite anime airing right now.

My LOL moments:

Konata's dad's weird way of tying the obi. Poor Konata, her only feminine influence is her older cousin Yui, and even then, doesn't live with her.
Yui claiming to shoot well, only to fail otherwise. Her co-worker had to drag her by the ears...
Kagami: "Getto daze!" when trying to catch the fish.
After Nanak0-sensei tells Kona that she doesn't have a boyfriend, I guess there's going to be no summer romance happening anytime soon.
FMP Bonta-kun mask on Yui!
The entire online conversation between Konata and Nanako was brilliant! I tried translating a bit of it, hopefully I'm accurate.With the addition of Yui Narumi and Nanako-sensei talking more, I really hope to see the show improve a lot more with the interaction of the supporting cast. As much as I love the interaction between Konata and Kagami and the funny things that Konata says/does, I won't like the series much if the show only relies on these two things to deliver its humor.

Another thought regarding the ED karaokes. Why is it that Aya Hirano sang in her "natural" voice for "Sore ga Ai Deshou", yet sang "in character" for "Cha-La Head-Cha La"?

QBnoYouko

2007-05-06, 16:42

Nice episode. Was the scene with Kagami catching a fish supposed to be Pokémon?

Anywho, nice to see the introduction of Yui. For a police lady she sure seems like a fun person. My favorite part is when Konata and Tsukasa are playing with the fan since I've always loved doing that myself. And of course, Aaya's hysterical singing to CHA-LA-HEAD-CHA-LA.

Hopefully Minami and the rest show up soon as well.

krln99

2007-05-06, 16:54

The best part for me was the "electric fan voice" gag. I always do that. I noticed in this ep and next one Konata isn't as un-stylish as I thought. She has a fairly cute blouse when she visits the Hiiragis' house in this one. And in the next ep, she wears something pretty cool-looking.

I was surprised we saw Yui in this one. I hope they show Yutaka (Yui's younger sister, the red haired small girl in the intro) soon.

Did anyone notice Kona humming "Bouken Deshou" when she was playing the net game in the last scene? More of KyoAni poking fun at itself.

As for the ED, Kona is simply imitating the original style of the songs. The first 2 songs and "HEAD CHA LA" are sung by men and meant to be loud. "Sore ga Ai Dehsou" isn't.

dahl_moon

2007-05-06, 20:32

Not as burstingly funny as episode 4 (SOS-dan and 2 Heart was over the roof LOL), it was still a good episode. Rather dialog heavy, so I'll need to wait for the subs to properly enjoy it.

@Konata-chan: Thanks for the translation! Have a cookie. Does anyone find it interesting that Konata speaks in regular Japanese, while Nanako-sensei goes full chat-mode? Not just with Nanako-sensei, but with other games as well.

@krln99: Yeah, the electric fan was really funny here. Kagami's dad saying "Kagami also did it this morning" was a LOL moment.

WanderingKnight

2007-05-06, 21:19

Gotta wait for translation for full thoughts on this one, but it had its funny moments nonetheless. One of the best parts were Kona-chan singing Bouken Desho!? Desho!? while playing and her meeting with Nanako on-line.

And I can finally identify an ending song! (I guess anyone over here can anyways...). What's best is that, just yesterday, I was at a friend's house and we were remembering old times by watching our childhood series' openings and endings, and of course, Chala-Head-Chala was in them.

Time to look for a youtube version of the ED to send it to my friends...

Konata-chan

2007-05-06, 21:36

@Konata-chan: Thanks for the translation! Have a cookie. Does anyone find it interesting that Konata speaks in regular Japanese, while Nanako-sensei goes full chat-mode? Not just with Nanako-sensei, but with other games as well.

No problem, I wish my Japanese was better. Since I'm no longer taking Japanese past the 2nd year, I want as much exposure to the language as possible. I guess it's good enough to understand like 10% of what's being said, but since much of the humor largely relies on the speaking bits... I'm fresh out of luck... :heh:

Even though Nanako is in the same party as Konata, Nanako is still Konata's teacher. When talking to her either offline or online, she uses the polite form (called desu/masu form, since the polite forms of verbs end in -masu and desu is the polite form of "to be"). Oddly enough, she doesn't use keigo (the form one is supposed to use when talking to someone socially superior to you), but Nanako is either a young enough person in that Konata doesn't necessarily need to use that form, or keigo is only used at business-like settings, and not at school. I guess Konata does type in regular Japanese in games, but when she isn't talking to her teacher she doesn't type in the polite form.

Looking back at some parts of the episode again, I forgot to mention more LOL moments. I forgot to mention how Konata, Tsukasa and earlier that morning Kagami were playing with the fan, and Tsukasa repeating the words "balsamic vinegar". Such nuances made me realize that not all the humor has to come from Konata or Konata and Kagami messing with each other.

Another translation:

Nanako: So you also live alone?
Yui: Yeah, I do.
Nanako: Ah, I see. (Kanji: 独身、unmarried)
Yui: Ah? (Kanji:だんな単身赴任、husband away from home, so technically, she lives alone.)
Gotta love more word play!

To WanderingKnight: Cha-La Head-Cha-La Konata ED karaoke (http://youtube.com/watch?v=BLFBVdgRCgE). I'm surprised that they uploaded the karaoke that fast.

The Sphinx

2007-05-06, 23:01

kron

2007-05-07, 01:18

o god. hirano aya singing dbz, totally unexpected.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-07, 01:36

o god. hirano aya singing dbz, totally unexpected.

Not really if you see my explanation. She's a fan of his music.

kron

2007-05-07, 01:41

Not really if you see my explanation. She's a fan of his music.

well i wouldn't of thought that the ed choice to be up to her to start with but yea. i think he sang along side with hirano aya some time ago. think it was bouken desho desho and it's somewhere on youtube.

Mirrinus

2007-05-07, 01:46

Nope, that's kingyo-sukui, the goldfish catching game. Basically try to catch a goldfish with a thin paper net. It's common at summer festivals.

I think QBnoYouko was referring to what Konata was saying. I think it was something along the lines of "Getto daze!", which is the Japanese equivalent of "Gotta catch 'em all!"

whitepearl

2007-05-07, 01:54

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-07, 01:57

well i wouldn't of thought that the ed choice to be up to her to start with but yea. i think he sang along side with hirano aya some time ago. think it was bouken desho desho and it's somewhere on youtube.

Sometimes stuff seems to just fall into place. Maybe it was a coincidence that the episode Konata seems to end back in the Karaoke seat happens to be Chala-Head-Chala. Then again it might also be a vanity thing. It's possibly that the Seiyuu get to choose some of their own songs as well.

What just occured to me and is kind of interesting to ponder is if Konata being back as the singer is some sort of internal veto of the studios. Maybe they figure that since Aya Hirano is the bee's knees it would be best to get her in as many Karaoke roles as possible. When you think about it, and I know I should probably be mentioning this is the merchandise topic, but this is pure speculation and not confirmed merchandise anyway, what's going to sell more, Aya Hirano ED Singles or the Seiyuu who did Kagami? (Who's name I honestly can't even remember and that might be proof enough of her lack of name recognition). I also know there are a lot of Kagami fan's so I wonder how the sudden "YOU'RE TOO SLOW!" Bright Noah quote thing that Konata seems to have pulled on Kagami will play out across the net? So two things I'm interested to see in the next episode. I also wonder if they deliberately leave us with things to ponder for next time that are unrelated to the episodes content as a way of stirring up interest. We've had "Will the next episode be different" for 1-2, the shift from Konata to Kagami singing from 3-4 the Director Shift from 4-5 and now a sudden shift back to Konata singing for 5-6. The only time there hasn't been a huge bit of speculation after an episode has aired is in the 2-3 transition. Three things to think about now.

Aaluaine

2007-05-07, 06:43

ok ok ok ..... just one straight foward questions

-> did they officially change the director or not ?

krln99

2007-05-07, 07:18

ok ok ok ..... just one straight foward questions

-> did they officially change the director or not ?

Yes, it's in the OP scene. After the cheerleader dance, and the pom-poms fall, you get to the falling stars at 1:16-1:19, in big bold kanji it now says:

Director - Takemoto Yasuhiro

Kinny Riddle

2007-05-07, 08:27

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-07, 09:24

Not yet seen the episode, but I've already heard that the Karaoke ED this time is "CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA".

It's gonna be some time before I get my hands on the ep, but oh wow, just seeing the song title brings back all the memories. I remember singing like crazy when I was a kid (sometime in the early to mid 1990s) everytime the song was played on TV.

I was always amused by how it was almost the only song they ever used for like the first couple saga's. I mean at least once an episode you'd here some instrumental remix of it for BGM. Ah Toei, you and your one awesome theme is all we need philosophy of the late 80's.

Lucky Star also has only a couple of background pieces that seem to cycle as well I've noticed after viewing 4 episodes, but then again they hardly need BGM anyway. It's so subtle too, which I like. It's almost incredible they haven't done a Seiyuu Vocal Song Montage yet other than the ending. That is in my opinion the best place to have them as they kind of intrude on the episode if you've ever tried to watch an episode of Gundam Seed where they are talking and T.M Revolution is singing at the same time. Get's incredibly confusing.

Thinking of Chala-Head-Chala, we never really got it in Canada. We didn't even get Cartoon Network's Rock The Dragon. We got some horrible mutated version of Rock The Dragon that was even more repetitive and just had the singer saying "Dragon Dragon Ball! Dragon Ball Z! Dragon Dragon Ball! Z!" over and over for like 45 seconds. You were pretty lucky I guess.

Meophist

2007-05-07, 10:21

Thinking of Chala-Head-Chala, we never really got it in Canada. We didn't even get Cartoon Network's Rock The Dragon. We got some horrible mutated version of Rock The Dragon that was even more repetitive and just had the singer saying "Dragon Dragon Ball! Dragon Ball Z! Dragon Dragon Ball! Z!" over and over for like 45 seconds. You were pretty lucky I guess.That was pretty horrible. Cartoon Network had another song? Lucky them. I heard, though, the original opening was actually playing behind the song, but I never payed enough attention to it to hear it.

I recognised the song, but didn't remember where it came from until I read about it here when Konata sung it in the ed though.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-07, 10:53

That was pretty horrible. Cartoon Network had another song? Lucky them. I heard, though, the original opening was actually playing behind the song, but I never payed enough attention to it to hear it.

I recognised the song, but didn't remember where it came from until I read about it here when Konata sung it in the ed though.

Yes Cartoon Network's song had a total of three extra words "Rock" "Dragon" and "The". It made its way through to YTV's version one time mysteriously and wasn't much better.

Another thing that just hit me is how it would be quite funny if Konata somehow made fun of the butchering period of anime in America, which peaked in the 90's and settled down afterward. I don't think any comedy anime has ever commented on that before. Maybe that foreigner girl will bring some hacked up U.S broadcast anime with her and confuse the cat (Konata that is).

Level E

2007-05-07, 19:01

Ahaha, Balsamic-酢~　っス～　www

hehe, Love this episode. Tsukasa is soooooooo cute!
The humor is REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY deep.

Like the wordplay with episode title, equilibrium, and then pulling that comptiq issue at the end.
And the various FMP ones. LOL.
うんうん、ころころしてかわいいね。　カエルみたいで
つかさ、「劣化ウラン」知ってんるのか？　すごいね～

All around, great EP, if you can catch those references and get net-speak. ^^

Risaa

2007-05-07, 19:44

Just finished watching the raw, and though I didn't understand all that much, I already really love this episode. (I couldn't stop smiling!) I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it even more when the subs come out.

I absolutely LOVE Yui, and j'adore the scene in which Yui and Kuroi were talking. Ah, I love Yui's voice, too... I really anticipate seeing more of her.

Oh... that hot dog Yui was carrying... if that's anything like the ones they sell at random vendors in Korea, I love those. They taste so good. ;_; Whenever I go, I try to buy one at least once a week... that and tokbouki... *shivers excitedly at the thought* ;__;

Aaah the goldfish-catching game. I tried it for the first time this past cherry blossom festival and came out totally gleeful. As thin as the paper is, you'd be lucky to catch more than a few before it breaks... I caught 15 fish. =D And it seems some people didn't really like that the fish all swam away from Kagamiya, but I thought it was hilarious. :heh:

+100 l33t points for having the girls all *neat and pretty* in their yukata... except for Kona. But it'd be weird if she were really as nice and neat as the other girls. :)

Lucky Channel was a bit boring... :( There are so many other things they could do with it, but it's starting to feel really old and repetitive... :(

For once Miyuki didn't know the answer to a question! *shokku* Is she neglecting her L*S wiki duties?

This episode was a good one for Tsukasa. Lots of cute moments.

Last... I thought it was really neat-o how they portrayed Kona and Kuroi's online conversation. It's so funny seeing the sensei use emotes.. XD I'd really like it if we could see their characters in the games. :)

Will wait to rate (*poet and didn't know it* ;) ) until I watch some subs, w00t!

Vexx

2007-05-07, 20:33

It'd be "anime original" but a South Park / WoW virtual world escapade segment with Kona and Kuroi (one of the Korean MMOs or FFsomething) would be amusing.

Mirrinus

2007-05-07, 20:58

Vexx

2007-05-07, 21:18

Actually, I'd prefer they use an imaginary MMO ... just pick and choose standard elements for the humor factor (or play fast and loose with them like lfgcomic does to stay clear of "issues"). But.. we've never seen that in the manga (unless it appears in volume 4 which I ordered but is still in transit).

Risaa

2007-05-07, 21:20

It'd be "anime original" but a South Park / WoW virtual world escapade segment with Kona and Kuroi (one of the Korean MMOs or FFsomething) would be amusing.

That inspires me to try something...

Final Fantasy XI was already used in Welcome to the NHK!, so I don't know if it'd be totally original to portray it. It is more popular in Japan than it is in America, where WoW dominates.

I do believe they mentioned that Konata's RPG has 6-player parties. Plus, one of the shots of Konata playing on her computer in the 4-koma manga showed a display screen similar to FFXI's. But I think a more obsure MMORPG would be funnier.

Typing that reminds me of my days of working with friends to restore the light of the crystals by battling the evil fiend...

I'm rather disappointed with the lack of good, cute MMOs here. I have a friend who's been trying to get me into WoW for forever (e_e), but I haven't heard or seen anything of it that I actually like. I think the main thing is that I hate having to be in huge parties to get anything rare - there's bound to be one or two idiots in the group. I dislike playing completely alone (which is why I've quit a few MMOs) but I do like being in small groups of friends.

As for Kona... I was under the assumption that she plays a bunch of different games. *shrugs*

Mirrinus

2007-05-07, 21:25

Well, if cute is all you're looking for in an MMORPG, there's the disgustingly cute and sugary Maple Story. Too bad the average age of its players is probably not even in the double digits, though. I also dislike WoW too, so you're not alone on that.

But yeah, I'd be fine with an unnamed smorgasborg of RPG cliches for Konata's game as well. I'd love to see a scene where she complains about RMT problems in MMORPGs. But that should come after watching her play Trauma Center: Second Opinion on the Wii.

Vexx

2007-05-07, 21:27

aye... I rarely play anymore unless I'm soloing or my family/friends are the ones I'm slogging with. The Kona/Kuroi encounters bring a smile because I'm sometimes asking the troll next to me if she's done her essay or how the tauren did on his AP Chem exam and if he needs tutoring for the next one. My older ("grownup") son is supposed to studying for a certification and I'll catch him online sometimes (ah ha!) when he's supposedly taking an online practice exam. :)

I'd love to find a nice well-animated anime-ish MMO but until WoW dies off with my "pod" I can only handle one MMO at a time.

Can't wait to see the festival segment (I'm a sucker for all those yukata anyway in real life ... and I think the guys should dress up more traditionally too... sissies :) ).

Risaa

2007-05-07, 21:43

Well, if cute is all you're looking for in an MMORPG, there's the disgustingly cute and sugary Maple Story. Too bad the average age of its players is probably not even in the double digits, though. I also dislike WoW too, so you're not alone on that.

Ick, ick, ick! I didn't last 10 seconds on Maple Story. No offense, but I hated it.

I'd love to find a nice well-animated anime-ish MMO but until WoW dies off with my "pod" I can only handle one MMO at a time.

Can't wait to see the festival segment (I'm a sucker for all those yukata anyway in real life ... and I think the guys should dress up more traditionally too... sissies :) ).

Aah... "nice well-animated anime-ish MMO" is exactly what I'm looking for... I've basically come to accept that I'll only be able to play those types when I learn Japanese or Korean... you might be surprised what some of my reasons are for wanting to learn Japanese in the first place... they really go to show what a "studious" student I am. :P

I'm totally looking forward to wearing my yukata sometimes in Japan. Here, people give me weird looks. :) ...Dang, I need to post pics of my yukata sometime...

I was about to start pixelating Kona and sticking her in some random game (I'm most familiar with RO) but I realized that she probably would have a macho beefy guy as her sprite instead of one that actually resembles her. For some reason when I think of what sprite Kuroi would have, a bunny ear-wearing, skimpily-dressed dancer comes to mind.

Meophist

2007-05-07, 21:51

Considering pretty much every game they've used so far is based on (or is) an actual game, I'm pretty sure she's playing an actual MMO, not a imaginary one.

Although I've played and enjoyed WoW for as long as my first time card lasted, I do admit I would like to see some sort of more Japanese-ish MMO, hopefully with more action elements rather than straight RPG ones.

Mirrinus

2007-05-07, 21:55

Agreed, I'd love to join you guys in an anime-ish MMORPG, lol. Until then I'll have to make do with my random Fire Emblem signatures...I need to make one for Lucky☆Star sometime...

And I'm pretty sure Konata's in-game character is male. She definitely strikes me as a heavily melee-oriented type of player. Which is a shame, since I personally prefer long-ranged combat, such as mages or archers.

Skane

2007-05-07, 22:16

Risaa

2007-05-07, 22:22

On a not-so-random note... I have agree that Kona seems like the tank type, just packing punches (or a sword, whatever) while having others heal her. For Kuroi, I'm not so sure. Maybe something in which she can cast a few spells but be able to get in there and fight, too. Kagamiya strikes me as being a long-range shooter, maybe an archer or ninja of some sort. Tsukasa would be a mage/healer, and Miyuki... an NPC. (*dodges thrown bricks*) Well, it makes sense. XD

...Not like Kagamiya, Tsukasa, or Miyuki would be caught playing MMOs anyways.

Vexx

2007-05-07, 22:43

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-07, 22:47

Well... considering what KyoAni did with the "Day of the Sagittarius" in SHnY... Having an episode in which they animate the gameworld of Konata's MMORPG is not off the books. :)

It will be very entertaining to see Nanako-sensei dressed as a Mage, :naughty: while Konata is dressed as a tank (frontline melee damage absorber, for those not in the know). :heh:

Cheers.

That would be crazy awesome actually. I'd support this idea, but only if they have damage counters going off above there heads when they take a hit.

I also found the Chala Head Chala ED and its back to the spastic version, except this time some of the lyrics are completely butchered. Specifically my favourite part of the song, which goes "Toketa koori no naka ni
Kyouryuu ga itara tamanori shikomitai ne", which becomes "Doketa Kowowi To Dakari Kyoruluri Ga Ikara Tamanori Hikari Retari Ne" followed by some screeching. Even in the spirit of bad Karaoke its a bit much I've gotta say, not pleasant in the slightest and definitely not worthy of a single release, which I think even the others from episode 1-4 might see. I guess I'm too assume only the series they worked on are deserving of a well sung version of the song. We may find out in the future.

Telliamed

2007-05-08, 00:34

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 00:59

So Hirano singing well (Sore ga Ai Deshou) is bad.
And Hirano singing poorly (Chala Head Chala) is bad?

Whatever. I liked this weeks ED. I'd especially be interested in seeing a live performance of it.

Well yeah basically it isn't really a good thing and I use that to differentiate from saying its a bad thing, I think "Not A Good Thing" suffices. I see it this way with regard too these two endings:

Basically why not both well done or neither well done? It kind of seems like they wanted to play favourites with their own series here, or maybe not that they are playing favourites, but are afraid of backlash so they treaded carefully with S.A.D. But from who are they afraid of backlash? Their own fanbase? There are a lot of Full Metal Panic Fumoffu fans, but there are still even more Dragon Ball Z fans out there who might not take this rendition so well. Are they not entitled to a faithful rendition like the Fumoffu fans?

That's all I can garner from it that it's studio politics that govern the endings. Either that or they think the only way to do a female cover of a male sung song is to belt it out at max volume with zero regard for how the song is supposed to go.

On the technical and logical side of it as far as the series continuity is concerned, I personally happen to think they went a little overkill on the bad karaoke side of it, especially since the last time we heard Konata sing, which wasn't even 2 episodes ago, it was a faithful rendition. Why go back? Why go in either direction? why not just start good from the beginning if you have the talent to do so? It just doesn't make any sense. Even if it is a comedy series, Konata's never been afraid to showcase her talents, it's one of the major parts of her character. That's kind of how I see it. Even though some might say Chala Head Chala isn't a serious song and it doesn't really matter if its sung that way, maybe others such as myself think it deserves a little bit of justice, the same kind of justice that Sorega Ai Deshou got. I'm not really complaining as I can listen to the original song any time I want, but I think it's just kind of bizarre that Konata morph's into the Uber Singer for one episode and then a female Will Hung in the next.

You can see a live performance here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU2T1oimmeA&mode=related&search=) with incredibly goofy costumes.

Mirrinus

2007-05-08, 01:29

It kinda makes me wonder just how many hardcore Dragonball Z fans would watch Lucky☆Star in the first place...

nadare

2007-05-08, 01:29

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 01:36

What favoritism? I thought Kagami sang the opening of sailor fuku to kikanjuu well... or w/e Hirano Aya will sing you'll just hate it ?

Edit: I was one of the hardcore DBZ fans before (1990s) and I am watching Lucky Star and I liked how Konata sang it.

Well there it is. Maybe it's difficult for them to cover a song sung by the opposite sex. By the way, what does w/e mean, I've never seen that used before.

I'll say I liked the song up until the rendition up until the chorus. I have sensitive hearing to certain types of noises at higher frequencies. Like for example if I were to hear a low volume whistle and then a person started talking in a regular voice, all I would here was the whistle and the person's voice would be rendered to little more than a faroff whisper even though the whistle was a lower volume and should be overpowered by the voice. Complicated I know. So basically certain pitches and sounds that aren't distinguishable as language can be overpowering to me, which is what happened when the chorus started, it crossed the threshold. So I guess my Primary Audio Cortex be partially to blame in my dislike of this ending.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 01:42

w/o .... w/i ... don't recognize w/e (whenever?)

I think it was a faux pas to have Kona sing *anything* well -- it was much more eccentric quirky to have her banshee wail her tunes. Have Kagami warble FMP (since she likes it :) ) .... I thought the VA for Kagami handled her quite well: sings fairly well (some off-notes) but sounds a bit tentative (fear of failure is so her personality). Perfect for Kagami.

Skane

2007-05-08, 01:47

w/o .... w/i ... don't recognize w/e (whenever?)
~
"Whatever"

Cheers.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 01:53

Whatever she sings. Ok now I can answer.

I don't really think I've ever heard Aya Hirano sing anything I've found outstanding or would want to hear multiple times in a row. That's not to say I hate her singing, she's good at the type of music she does, but its not my personal taste. I can't think of any of her songs I would really want to put on a playlist.

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-08, 02:30

So Hirano singing well (Sore ga Ai Deshou) is bad.
And Hirano singing poorly (Chala Head Chala) is bad?...Quoted because that's how I react to some opinions on the matter, too. (Although I understand Kaioshin's explanation about his reaction just being a personal thing, so that's cool.)

I am also puzzled by people's refusal to let the staff play around with the ED and do some "well" as well as some "in character." I like both. It's just personal taste, I guess, but I don't see the need for rigid consistency here.

Much as I like Aaya as a seiyuu and as a personality, I'm not going to claim she's the greatest singer in the world. She's an all-round entertainer, though, who can sing well enough to be enjoyable. I like it her softer, more melodic things, but she's learning to rock a bit. And learning comic singing, too, it appears. I think her singing, like her voice-acting, is continuing to improve.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 02:37

arias

2007-05-08, 02:54

I did like the way she uttered "fumoffu" ... :)

I'm not the only one! :D

I even looped it a couple of times..

krln99

2007-05-08, 06:51

I think they're all doing it in character as far as HS kids at karaoke goes. I dunno how to put this but some songs you can totally f**k around on and sound all off tune, and no one will really give a damn. In fact, it's probably better you don't take them seriously. The first 2 and HEAD CHA LA are such songs.

OTOH, I think Kona's character, and most girls, would use something like "Sore ga Ai Deshou" as a "show off" song to prove she can actually sing.

Me and my friends always do this - pick some JROCK (X-Japan, GLAY, Luna Sea) to go nuts on, and then do some other songs in a "more serious" manner.

Willen

2007-05-08, 07:21

I think Aya's singing is great.... I just didn't think her "great voice" really fit the Kona character. "raucous and energetic" just seems to fit Kona better. Obviously, its not going to make or break the show for me and its really been my *only* complaint about the first 4 episodes.

The basic problem is I don't view the end segment as a traditional ED at all. If it was, I'd be fine with them singing Gaelic much less in 'best voice'. The segment, however, is constructed as an "in character" moment and I just didn't think the voice change fit the character very well. Aya portrays Kona so that Kona's growly voice comes out when she's passionate about something. I did like the way she uttered "fumoffu" ... :)

I thought the portrayal of Kagami singing was precious: it sounded like earnest brassiness being suddenly a bit unsure and wavering.
Perfect for the character, whether or not that's the VA's 'best voice' (加藤英美里, Katō Emiri).
My opinion is that Aya's (and Emiri's) rendition of the songs in the ED were appropriate for the songs being sung.
"Singing anime songs is all about staying true to the original song." --Konata's reply to Miyuki in ep. 4 (translation by a.f.k.)
The 3 songs that Aya sings "genki" are songs not to be taken seriously. Come on, "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA"? The song begs to be sung at full tilt, in-character or not (lyrics (http://www.daizex.com/multimedia/lyrics/jap-cha_la_head_cha_la.html)). Sorega Ai Deshou on the other hand, is a wholly different kind of song (lyrics (http://www.animelyrics.tv/anime/fullmetalpanic/soregaaideshou.htm)). And IMO, Aya doesn't sing it in her "great voice" entirely. I get the vibe that she's using a "karaoke voice", imitating Mikuni Shimokawa's performance (as implied by Kagami). Although I would love to hear Sorega Ai Deshou sung with Aya's Kona-chan voice. ;)

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 10:07

Well I guess perhaps some don't happen to think that Sorega Ai Deshou is any more special a song than Chala Head Chala (or I guess I'm the only one). I happen to think Sorega Ai Deshou is kind of a cheesy love song and that she could have just as easily gone all out. It's like Vexx said, they really should never have done the well sung version of any song and saved any faithful renditions strictly for the character CD's. I also subscribe to the idea that the ED is part of the show like he does and that they should stay in character. In this sense while Konata sang ED's 1, 2 and 4 Konata didn't sing Sorega Ai Deshou, that was pure Aya Hirano for that one, it didn't even sound like Konata, more like somebody else in the room that was singing. If we hadn't just had Aya Hirano sing the ending 2 episodes ago it wouldn't have seemed as out of place. I can't complain about Kagami and Sailor Suit and Fuku, because we have yet to know if she's even a bad singer and if in her case, singing it well IS in character.

Does nobody other than Vexx get why it is that I think they've made an error in judgement here?

Sheba

2007-05-08, 10:10

Such a big fuss over a karaoke. Wow.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 11:02

Quoted because that's how I react to some opinions on the matter, too. (Although I understand Kaioshin's explanation about his reaction just being a personal thing, so that's cool.)

I am also puzzled by people's refusal to let the staff play around with the ED and do some "well" as well as some "in character." I like both. It's just personal taste, I guess, but I don't see the need for rigid consistency here.

Much as I like Aaya as a seiyuu and as a personality, I'm not going to claim she's the greatest singer in the world. She's an all-round entertainer, though, who can sing well enough to be enjoyable. I like it her softer, more melodic things, but she's learning to rock a bit. And learning comic singing, too, it appears. I think her singing, like her voice-acting, is continuing to improve.

I think there is a rigid consistency to how they are doing this though, but it won't become apparent whether I'm right or not until at least halfway through the series. If we get a hot-blooded mecha or action series song sung by a female, then I will know absolutely for certain if my theory on Male songs get mangled, female ones don't is true. Of course theories need to be tested and we can't do that yet, so it remains one.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 11:11

eh... everyone has their own priorities on what is more important in the way of criteria for whether something worked or not. I don't think it was true to the character for the reasons I've stated. Other people don't see any conflict within the presentation for a variety of reasons - these are the ones I've gleaned:
1) its an ED; anything goes...
2) Its an FMP song and it would be sacrilege to sing it any other way :)
3) Kona is talented at singing and imitates style as Kagami suggested.
(edit: couple that with Kona singing "male songs" as a growly banshee and "femme songs" in sweet voice as Kaioshin suggests)
4) Aya is not to be questioned :)

Apologies if anyone thought those descriptions were hyperbolic or insulting.
I consider item 3 a legitimate counterargument but I would be less skeptical of that if she'd sung each song in very different ways. I tend to think Kagami's dialog line was specifically put there as a rationalization because the director knew some viewers would say "eh?" otherwise. If Kona gets to sing more songs later we'll find out. For now, it looks like we got Kagami for 3 episodes and I doubt she sings those sorts of anime songs :)

<shrug> its really not that big a deal when compared to the overall series and the skill with which they've adapted the source material. I'm actually more concerned that Lucky*Channel is going to be a serious drag if they don't make some serious changes to it by next episode. The same joke 3 or 4 times with variation is funny.... 24 times? Not.

Oh, and a big welcome to new user Willen -- I guess our chat on this got him fired up enough to join :) :)

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-08, 11:24

"Singing anime songs is all about staying true to the original song." --Konata's reply to Miyuki in ep. 4 (translation by a.f.k.)This makes me think of something Endou Aya said in an interview on the official site. She said that the main cast -- except for her -- were making a lot of ad libs. Maybe this was one of them? I've extracted some more things from her little interview and have posted them in the Voice Actor thread, as well as in my blog (http://hashihime.blogspot.com/2007/05/lucky-star-interview-with-endou-aya.html).

And Kaioshin, I "get it" why you and Vexx object to the varying styles. I just don't feel the same way. But your suggestion about male-female is interesting. And the Kona-chan quote above is interesting, too. Maybe Aya herself said: "I'd like to do that one straight," and the director said: "okay," just ignoring any inconsistency it might give rise to.

I do think it's cool that we can have such a long discussion about this point. Quite an anime. I credit the original director with these innovations -- such as the ED that isn't an ED. He hits with some, he misses with others, but it's all interesting.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 11:38

Well the problem is I don't think that this one was true to the original song as in this case I think she went overboard with the yelping near the end.

Okay well Kageyama Hironobu is legendary for getting really really into his songs and going "COME ON!" in a bit of a hair metal style voice, but it doesn't sound that shriekish and he only does it inbetween lyrics. I think she tried for his style of getting progressively more pumped and excited as the song goes on, but misinterpreted the way he does it and missed the mark, thus failing the imitation. Maybe we can pass this off to Konata being a meer mortal and leave it at that. As hot blooded as Konata appears to be, maybe she just isn't hot blooded enough for the song.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 11:44

Karaoke is much funnier when there are bizarre moments of interpretation :)

I guess we've come to the idea that the original director is still going to be around for the creative function ... he's just getting an administrative senpai to help him stay on track with the managerial items??? Is that the probable situation?

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 11:46

Such a big fuss over a karaoke. Wow.

Thank you Sheba! My sentiments exactly. This anime series has NEVER taken itself seriously, and yet everyone here is trying to find something to find every petty fault this series has. I understand that everyone has an opinion, but jeez, it's only karaoke. Who cares if they're "out of character"? =/

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 12:06

Thank you Sheba! My sentiments exactly. This anime series has NEVER taken itself seriously, and yet everyone here is trying to find something to find every petty fault this series has. I understand that everyone has an opinion, but jeez, it's only karaoke. Who cares if they're "out of character"? =/

It's just discussion, and I happen to care if somebody is out of character because it shouldn't happen even in a comedy series. I think it's kind of silly to suggest that one shouldn't care if one of the major characters suddenly becomes somebody else entirely and that it bears discussion if it happens as to why it happened. Also faults make for interesting discussion, they shouldn't just be overlooked if they are there. For example people discussed the hell out of the Gurren Lagann Debacle and the Director Swap for Lucky Star, and what he might have done wrong to cause it too happen. We're just doing the same for this situation.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 12:11

I find that characterization of the discussion misleading, particularly the "everyone" and the "every petty fault" part. This is a series that all the posters pretty clearly enjoy. I consider these threads as a kind of "literary analysis book club" equivalent for discussing anime and manga. There are going to be differences of opinion and trading thoughts should help to modulate one's own ideas.

I spend most of the time defending or being excited about the series Lucky*Star and this is the one of the few pieces I'm less comfortable about. Most of the counterpoints to my feeling on the subject have been articulate and well-thought out (nods to Kaoru, Willen, etc). I think we're having a pleasant time discussing it.

I've actually read the manga and this adaptation has really done a pretty excellent job of transferring the feel of the series and the character personalities... so I'd say KyoAni seems to care if they're "out of character" since they worked so hard on it. :)

I'll bite though... what are we *supposed* to talk about in these threads? :)

Risaa

2007-05-08, 12:20

Thank you Sheba! My sentiments exactly. This anime series has NEVER taken itself seriously, and yet everyone here is trying to find something to find every petty fault this series has. I understand that everyone has an opinion, but jeez, it's only karaoke. Who cares if they're "out of character"? =/

I think it's a pretty legit thing to talk about - it matters to a lot of fans if they're "out of character" (and a few other things we're talking about right now, too). It matters to me... it's just that in cases like these, I like to play more of a lurker role and see what everyone else thinks in order to help me with my own thoughts and opinions. Sometimes, I end up doing a full 180 and completely changing my mind about things. *shrugs* I think it's good to have discussions like these... Now I'll back out and let the convo continue. :)

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 12:20

The director swap is a more interesting discussion. Discussing whether or not Konata should sing her best or out of tune in karaoke is, quite frankly, a waste of time.

Has anyone ever been in a karaoke box? I mean, there are times when I want to goof around and sing really stupid songs off key, but there are also times when there's a song I like, I want to sing it to the best of my abilities. Kona-chan IS a weird otaku girl, but she's not one-dimensional, (or the very least, there's still 19 episodes left to show her other dimensions). I have friends who are complete goofballs, and yet surprises me when they can do something very well.

Is it really not within the realm of possibility that maybe, just maybe, Kona-chan can sing (*gasp*) if she really wants to?

Anyway, that's my ~2 yen in this karaoke "controversy."

Risaa

2007-05-08, 12:22

The director swap is a more interesting discussion. Discussing whether or not Hirano should sing her best or out of tune in karaoke is, quite frankly, a waste of time.

Ah.. that's totally a matter of opinion. I find this karaoke discussion more interesting. I personally couldn't care less about the director change...

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 12:28

Ah.. that's totally a matter of opinion. I find this karaoke discussion more interesting. I personally couldn't care less about the director change...

The problem is that the karaoke discussion is more of a complaint-fest than an actual discussion. It's only 5 episodes so far and yet people seem to know every facet of the characters faults, motivations and behavior.

So just because in only 3 episodes, when Kona starts to sing better than the first two songs, all of a sudden she's out of character? Does anyone even think, this is also part of her character as well?

(sigh...)

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 12:33

The director swap is a more interesting discussion. Discussing whether or not Hirano should sing her best or out of tune in karaoke is, quite frankly, a waste of time.

Has anyone ever been in a karaoke box? I mean, there are times when I want to goof around and sing really stupid songs off key, but there are also times when there's a song I like, I want to sing it to the best of my abilities. Kona-chan IS a weird otaku girl, but she's not one-dimensional, (or the very least, there's still 19 episodes left to show her other dimensions). I have friends who are complete goofballs, and yet surprises me when they can do something very well.

Is it really not within the realm of possibility that maybe, just maybe, Kona-chan can sing (*gasp*) if she really wants to?

Anyway, that's my ~2 yen in this karaoke "controversy."

You seem to flip flop between saying Konata is singing and Aya Hirano is singing and that's exactly where the confusion lies. This is what episode 3 versus episode 5 has brought to the forefront, who really is doing the singing, was it supposed to be Aya Hirano (Who it sounds more like in episode 3) doing the singing in episode 3 or was it Konata. Likewise was it Konata doing the singing in episode 5 (It sounds like Konata) or was it Aya Hirano. You've basically created your own interesting question to talk about. See how easy it is.

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 12:35

You seem to flip flop between saying Konata is singing and Aya Hirano is singing and that's exactly where the confusion lies. This is what episode 3 versus episode 5 has brought to the forefront, who really is doing the singing, was it supposed to be Aya Hirano (Who it sounds more like in episode 3) doing the singing in episode 3 or was it Konata. Likewise was it Konata doing the singing in episode 5 (It sounds like Konata) or was it Aya Hirano. You've basically created your own interesting question to talk about. See how easy it is.

I was typing in a stream of consciousness... replace Hirano with Konata.

Kouvley

2007-05-08, 12:56

I think they're all doing it in character as far as HS kids at karaoke goes. I dunno how to put this but some songs you can totally f**k around on and sound all off tune, and no one will really give a damn. In fact, it's probably better you don't take them seriously. The first 2 and HEAD CHA LA are such songs.

Agreed. (from personal experience:heh: )

I think what Kyoani is trying to do here is to portray a realistic karaoke session where people will mess about on certain songs then sing others properly.

In fact I think it's entirely in Konata's character to suddenly sing "properly" to make her friends go O_o?!?

Risaa

2007-05-08, 13:02

First of all... it's not nice to make it sound as if you're talking down to us (whether you really intended to or not, it did come across that way), and it's certainly not nice to make this karaoke controversy sound like it has an obvious, black-and-white answer when clearly there are so many people who disagree and have pretty good reasons for disagreeing (I think both sides have good reasons, really). Your opinion could've been said in a nicer tone, don't you think?

For the record... I still dislike the karaoke bit in episode three because it was inconsistent with the first two... It sounded (to me, anyways) that Kona was really into the songs, trying her best and putting a lot of emotion into the first two. Then in the third karaoke bit, it really sounded as if Hirano was singing, total switch from Kona's all powerful, enthusiastic singing in the first two... I mean, it's certainly possible that Kona was really just messing around, and then got serious in the third song, but *shrugs* whatever. It's all just a matter of opinion in the end ne?

It's not enough to make me dislike the episode by any means - it's just a small gripe I share with a few others here.

Manatsu

2007-05-08, 13:09

Is it really not within the realm of possibility that maybe, just maybe, Kona-chan can sing (*gasp*) if she really wants to? I agree.

Btw, I believe there's a reason why she was shouting at the end of Cha-la Head-Cha-la. I don't think I can explain it well since I'm not a vocal teacher or anything, so people with the correct field of expertise correct me if I'm anywhere wrong.

The chorus part is actually out of her comfortable vocal range because it has too many high notes which she can't reach, this has to do with the key which the song was written in. To fit into her vocal range, the music has to be transposed to a different key, but that is impossible because this is karaoke and not a live band. She can choose to sing the chorus off-key but that will sound really weird. Instead, she chose to force the higher pitch by shouting the lyrics out.

Honestly, I never thought the song will sound like that untill I heard it. I think it wasn't that bad as she displayed the spirit of the song through all that shouting. Yeah it seems she managed to sing it thanks to the "ai" she puts into that song, but her vocals must have hurt after that. I can't imagine her singing the full song in the OST though.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 13:24

The problem is that the karaoke discussion is more of a complaint-fest than an actual discussion. It's only 5 episodes so far and yet people seem to know every facet of the characters faults, motivations and behavior.

So just because in only 3 episodes, when Kona starts to sing better than the first two songs, all of a sudden she's out of character? Does anyone even think, this is also part of her character as well?

(sigh...)

Perhaps its because some of us have read the manga? No one is arguing that it is impossible for her to sing well... just that it doesn't match up with previous observations of her character's behavior. So its surprising or unexpected... Manatsu and Kouvley's post is an example of why it might be in-character rather than out-of-character, so I'll take those idea bits (as well as the others) and incorporate it into my assessment. Without that discussion, I'd be totally maintaining my initial opinion so I have concur with Risaa about the merits of any discussion (especially since watching any entertainment is a "waste of time" technically). I guess I just think labeling what was a polite discussion about the way a character is being portrayed a "complaint-fest" to be kind of rude, eh?

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 13:27

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 13:37

In the context of it possibly being part of the character, the voice was just so different in episode 3 that the only way we are able to know it is in supposed to Konata is because we can here the other characters referring to her as the singer. Though to me sounds exactly as if it were Aya Hirano singing in her own voice, not the Konata voice we've had. Konata just does not sound like what we heard in episode 3. Maybe its just to difficult to do the proper singing in Konata's voice as when we heard Haruhi sang in the one episode her voice completely morphed into another persons too. If it felt like it were Konata in any way it would have been far more convincing as a possible hidden character trait.

At this point though, I'm guessing it was just a treat for Aya Hirano fans yet again, because when I see that door in episode 3 I don't picture Konata and Co. back there, I picture Aya Hirano and the other voice actors, but in all other episodes I see the door and Konata and co. are behind it in my minds eye.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 13:42

I apologize for getting so annoyed, but think my post history shows I don't always have a negative view about this (or other) series... in fact, I'm a pretty strong defender of this show :) I went into Gurren-Lagann expecting to hate it and its turned into an overall enjoyable experience. No anime series (or any other thing) is perfect: budget, talent, and marketing all apply pressures that improve or dilute the product. There's nothing wrong in recognizing what one considers faults as well as positives. I can adore something while recognizing the flaws.

I'm rather interested in hearing how and what sort of songs Tsukasa and Miyuki sing (e.g., will they be anime tunes or some traditional children's song? Or will Tsukasa innocently pick some really slutty song and have no clue about the meaning?)

Sheba

2007-05-08, 13:44

still only karaoke.

that have been made into a Serious Business. >=P

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 13:46

that have been made into a Serious Business. >=P

Hahaha, some memes never die. :D

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-08, 13:47

...I guess we've come to the idea that the original director is still going to be around for the creative function ... he's just getting an administrative senpai to help him stay on track with the managerial items??? Is that the probable situation?That's what I hope, but I'm really not sure now that I've seen he was not involved at all in ep5 or 6 (credits posted on the net). I'll be watching for his name to reappear as an episode director. There are still many possibilities, it seems to me: administrative help; banishment for offending bigwigs or other companies; punishment for being disorganized and going over budget, etc.

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 13:52

There are still many possibilities, it seems to me: administrative help; banishment for offending bigwigs or other companies; punishment for being disorganized and going over budget, etc.

Or could be a big joke on the fandom, a la the scene with Konata posting a complaint about Ya****** in 2ch. I wouldn't be surprised either way; Kyoto Animation has always used more than 5 directors throughout the life of an anime series (e.g. Haruhi used 9 episode directors!), and it seems that Lucky Star won't break that convention.

Risaa

2007-05-08, 13:56

To put everything what I've said in the most neutral tone possible: Don't always try to have a negative point-of-view in a topic or situation, which in this case is the karaoke ending sequences. Have some perspective in the matter. Aha no worries. I'm sorry I got a bit snappy. Though, I do agree with what you said right here, so I try to have a neutral POV (though admittedly I tend to have a positive, totally optimistic view on my shows :heh: ). Don't take what I said to mean that I dislike Lucky*Star; it's already on my favorites list. (It's battling ARIA for X place at the moment...)

There's nothing wrong in recognizing what one considers faults as well as positives. I can adore something while recognizing the flaws.
Hmm, I think that can be said for many things in life, especially other people. :)

I'm rather interested in hearing how and what sort of songs Tsukasa and Miyuki sing (e.g., will they be anime tunes or some traditional children's song? Or will Tsukasa innocently pick some really slutty song and have no clue about the meaning?)

Aah, definitely! I'm actually hoping Miyuki will sing a bit terribly.. funny as it is, I think it'd up her moe factor. Maybe Tsukasa will have a surprisingly low voice... :P

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 14:08

I'm rather interested in hearing how and what sort of songs Tsukasa and Miyuki sing (e.g., will they be anime tunes or some traditional children's song? Or will Tsukasa innocently pick some really slutty song and have no clue about the meaning?)

As I listen to a Karaoke version of Colors from Code Geass I certainly hope none of them try to do that. :uhoh:

I don't know what they would do. To this date I honestly have no idea what they would sing as I don't know enough about them. Most of the focus has been on Konata, I'd say at least 50% and then Kagami about 30% and then about 15% Miyuki and Tsukasa, "Who are you?" The cute little sister? I really don't know anything about you. Tsukasa as of episode 5 really has no distinguishable character other than the fact that she exists. I guess we could say Miyuki is an oneesan type so I could see her doing more mainstream Japanese music.

What was that song from Tales of Phantasia, Yume Wa Orinai, I could see her doing the piano version of that. This one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr0c4p9APos) That's what I'd see Miyuki singing. Oh teary eyed, such a good song. WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-08, 14:14

Aha no worries. I'm sorry I got a bit snappy. Though, I do agree with what you said right here, so I try to have a neutral POV (though admittedly I tend to have a positive, totally optimistic view on my shows :heh: ). Don't take what I said to mean that I dislike Lucky*Star; it's already on my favorites list. (It's battling ARIA for X place at the moment...)

Don't be sorry, my uncouth/snarky behavior is uncalled for, however my POV stands. Anyway, I should also apologize for seeing the comments as 100% negative. At least everyone has some reasoning, even though I strongly disagree and advice (though rather poorly executed) to please re-think their reasoning.

Although I did intentionally try to rock the boat with my comments earlier, my other intention was to at least get my point across somehow and not get lost in the hundreds of posts that are already in this thread that went unnoticed. Yeah, it is a bit of a forum-whoring tactic, but at least it worked.

But in hindsight, there is always someone in the opposition and I should just shut the hell up and not get into Serious Business(TM). This is the Interwebs/tubes/nets after all.

Risaa

2007-05-08, 14:37

What was that song from Tales of Phantasia, Yume Wa Orinai, I could see her doing the piano version of that. This one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr0c4p9APos) That's what I'd see Miyuki singing. Oh teary eyed, such a good song. WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Personally I'd love it if Miyuki could sing some head-banging hard metal song, but whatever. :p Actually... come to think of it, it'd be awesome if she could sing a song in a foreign language.

*shokku* "Miyuki, you're fluent in another language?"
*blushes slightly* "Well... I'm fluent in English, Latin Maori, and Klingon."
"Impressive! You study so much.. especially compared to Kona here."
"Actually, I'm fluent in l337."

@Ffenix Rising-san, no worries. :p

Fixen

2007-05-08, 14:43

Personally I'd love it if Miyuki could sing some head-banging hard metal song, but whatever.

Death Note or Black Lagoon, take your pick. XD

I agree...it'd be supremely hilarious for the two innocent characters to unknowingly pick something totally off character.

I still don't like Miyuki though.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 14:45

Personally I'd love it if Miyuki could sing some head-banging hard metal song, but whatever. :p Actually... come to think of it, it'd be awesome if she could sing a song in a foreign language.

*shokku* "Miyuki, you're fluent in another language?"
*blushes slightly* "Well... I'm fluent in English, Latin, and Klingon."
"Impressive! You study so much.. especially compared to Kona here."
"Actually, I'm fluent in l337."

@Ffenix Rising-san, no worries. :p

Well if she ends up being fluent in english there is honestly only one choice then and a must do. There Must Be Something (That Comes Flooding Into My Heart) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYKW6fVqbmA)

I kind of feel this type of singing just seems right for someon so prim and proper. I don't get the sense she has a hidden side that makes her want to bust out with Abingdon School Boys Howling or something similar.

Vexx

2007-05-08, 15:05

Personally I'd love it if Miyuki could sing some head-banging hard metal song, but whatever. :p Actually... come to think of it, it'd be awesome if she could sing a song in a foreign language.
:p

<snork>:) Perhaps Miyuki could do a cover of "Maze in the Dark" (from the Negima Scary-Girls CD with Evangeline, Chach, and Sayoko).

I tripped across a "j-ska" group called Yum! Yum! Orange! .... my gut tells me Miyuki might like that sort of music secretly :)

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-08, 15:07

...Tsukasa as of episode 5 really has no distinguishable character other than the fact that she exists....This is not how I see it. She's not that smart, but knows how that drink got the name "Blue Hawaii". She watches cooking shows on TV and loves the sound of foreign words like "barusamiko su." She puts things off to the last minute and doesn't do that well in school. She has weird ideas about things like how people get coughs or sneezes, and is not shy about naively telling people her ideas. She can sleep till afternoon if allowed to. She respects her elder twin, and listens to what she says, but then doesn't actually follow her advice. She is very, very cute, and seems younger than any of the others. Et cetera. I'm not sure what all this means about choice of music: innocent choosing of raunchy song makes sense, or foreign song badly mispronounced, or kids' song, perhaps, or song about food?]I guess we could say Miyuki is an oneesan type so I could see her doing more mainstream Japanese music.I agree about the choice of music, but I think she's more an ojou-san type, the daughter of a "good family." Her dojikko nature partly disqualifies her as an onee-san type, perhaps. But she is certainly everyone else's elder in knowledge.

In researching them for my seiyuus page (http://hashihime.atspace.com/etc/luckystar/charseiyuus.html), it seems that both VAs have sung with groups. Endou Aya (Miyuki) sings with Plume Story (http://blog.excite.co.jp/Plume-story/), which performs in maids' outfits (may give one a hint of their musicianship), and Fukuhara Kaori (Tsukasa) was one of the seiyuu (Chihara Minori and Ueda Kana being two of the others) who sang tracks on Bohemian Quarter (http://www.u-canent.jp/area-g/bohemian.html)'s album Blister Pack Voices. She sang a track called "Phantom Pain."

thehunterattack

2007-05-08, 18:36

a.f.k. episode 5 is out

Fixen

2007-05-08, 19:41

a.f.k. episode 5 is out

Thank you for the news...I wouldn't have checked on Tuesday given their usual schedule. How pleasantly surprising. :)

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 20:38

I'm waiting for Lucky Channel's since there's less of a cult around their fansubs. Plus I've been following there's this whole time anyway so might as well stick with them.

Shiosai

2007-05-08, 20:39

CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA was gold. Oh god her voice cracked.

Crazy_O

2007-05-08, 20:43

its 4a.m. here,
the only thing that kept me awake and away from homework were 2 new items i got in a popular mmorpg, i was testing how they improved me in some smaller dungeons.

i get off the game dl lukystar 05 and then.... i still cant stop laughing when i think abot that scene

omg that was so nice... XD

DragoonKain3

2007-05-08, 21:11

I'm really surprised at AFK's speed this time around. Maybe to make up for last week? XD Though a more plausible explanation is that since this ep is more MMO related, it was easier to translate. Whatever the case, I'm pleasantly surprised.

With this being MMO focused, I am so glad I played WoW, even if it was only for a month. Otherwise I wouldn't get most of the jokes in this ep, particularly when Kona starting to spew MMO jargon and the chat scene (I mean, I'm sure everyone has met someone in an MMO who all they did was type something like rotflcopter). AFK really handled that well IMO if someone like me could get it, though it would've been better to have their subtitles on top since sometimes the subs obstructed what was being typed.

Other funny bits...
- Yui thinking Kona's friends are older than her. While not exactly lol funny (except for assuming they hit puberty early XD), but when she assumed their teacher was also of the same age... ROTFL!

-Miyuki not knowing Blue Hawaii, but Tsukasa does? To put it bluntly... 'When you learn something from Tsukasa, it feels like you really failed.'

-Not really funny, but I do find it amusing that the girls are melancholy about their lack of romance.

-Galge, flag, event scene, Yukata, outdoors. I'm sure most people who have played a number of those kind of games would have found that funny. XD (What's surprising though is that Kagami stopped Kona halfway, probably knowing where it's headed. Makes one wonder if Kagami is familiar with those kind of games.)

-Fish running away from Kagami, then Kagami shouting 'Gotta catch'em all!'

-Was it just me, or did Kona actually say 'uguu' this time around during the chat scene?

-Kona and Tsukasa playing with the electric fan I can understand, but Kagami??? Especially funny when she was caught in the act when she thought no one was looking. XD

-FLY AWAY!

One thing though, Lucky Channel sucked this time around. Not because it was getting old, but it was just that there weren't any references that I saw, nor was it funny. It didn't feel like the usual LC at all. Oh well, try again next time.

EDIT: There was a reference after all. They put Yutaka instead of Akira in the script, and it would've been funny if I knew who Yutaka was in the first place. XD

Risaa

2007-05-08, 21:21

it would've been better to have their subtitles on top since sometimes the subs obstructed what was being typed.

Aha! An instance that shows it would be a bit better if there were black bars for the subtitles to reside in. ;)

I was so surprised at thehunterattack-san's post about afk's version being out already, I immediately dismissed it as a joke. :heh: Sorry!

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-08, 21:24

CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA was gold. Oh god her voice cracked.

Well I'm just glad I can go too bad that I am not the only one who thought her voice kind of cracked (The weird thing is, the song doesn't actually go into that high a pitch). So good to know I'm not out of it or losing touch with reality.

Thank You, you don't know it, but you've given me a lot of comfort with this post.

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-08, 21:54

...There was a reference after all. They put Yutaka instead of Akira in the script, and it would've been funny if I knew who Yutaka was in the first place. XDYutaka is the name of the fired director. That reference was pure gold, and gives me confidence that they aren't going to go soft now. Especially since they went on to ask for the director, or even the producer. EDIT: Maybe that reference was just fortuitous, since that other Yutaka appears to exist, from DragoonKain's later post. But at least they left it in.

I know nothing about MMOs and still found most references at least marginally understandable and quite funny.

As usual, I've now seen this ep three times: raw, Chinsub and Engsub, and it's funnier each time -- and not just because I understand the languages progressively better. This show, to use Miyuki's seiyuu Endou Aya's metaphor, gets tastier the more you chew on it.

The "depleted uranium" reference coming out of nowhere, and Tsukasa's cheery way of talking about it was one of my favorites.

I totally loved Hirano Aya's "Saa. Ikooou!" (Let's gooo!) as Konata pranced away after the obi scene. I thought her obi looked weird, but did it look special, instead?

I also loved that glutinous "wakuwaku, wakuwaku" (Can't wait!) from Konata/Aya when Yui was about to shoot.

The way they animated Konata walking in geta was pretty amusing, too.

DragoonKain3

2007-05-08, 22:03

In regards to Yutaka, I actually had in mind Kona's cousin (younger sister of Yui, from what Vexx has said). That's because both are short, and both have red hair, thus the 'funny' reference in them changing Akira's name to Yutaka in the script. Sadly, I only knew about Yutaka after reading this thread, which is after I saw afk's subs. XD

Skane

2007-05-08, 22:14

The following is based on [a.f.k.]'s fansub.

Random Thoughts on Ep05:
---- ----

The theme of this episode seems to be online gaming, and not the summer festival; :heh: which befits the nature of the source material, since this is a show about an otaku girl and her friends, and not your standard "bishoujo".
.
It was not really emphasised in the earlier episodes, but this episode confirms that Kagami does rankle Konata's "armour" with her nagging and "evil" comments. :heh: Examples include Konata's reaction to Kagami's comment that summer vacation meant Kagami would not need to see Konata on a daily basis, while another one is when Konata compared Nanako-sensei's online nagging to Kagami's yelling at her in school (before going into ORZ-mode). :heh:
.
Nanako-sensei and Cousin Yui are like the grown-up versions of Kagami and Konata respectively. :heh: Nanako-sensei even has the same expressive"WTH" responses as Kagami to Cousin Yui's mannerisms. :D
.
The girls are looking for romance? I found Kagami's actions when Tsukasa queried about "Dating Sims" to be particularly intriguing. It was not too long ago that Kagami asked why Konata was so familiar with such games, and yet, in this scene, it is heavily implied that Kagami is well-versed on the nature of such games as well (which is not unusual really, considering their ages).
.
Man... Kagami is like, the most weepy-eyed girl amongst them all. :heh: Her emotional teary-eyed talk to the goldfish really brought out the "little girl" within her. Makes me wonder how she will react if the goldfish died (as they are wont to do, since their constitution is like wet tissue). :p
.
Kagami reminds me of characters in which they always try to put on a "mature" front, but desperately want to behave like a child. The electric-fan scene nicely illustrated this. Points to Konata for not needling Kagami about it, despite being heckled by Kagami earlier on.

Konata is probably one of the few characters who actively knows what Kagami wants to do (as opposed to what Kagami thinks she should do), without directly showing it. On a sub-concious level (or rather, on a level that Kagami will not actively acknowledge), Kagami probably knows that Konata knows her best, and thus forming the very basis of their friendship, despite appearing hostile towards each other.
.
It was a little mean of Kagami to play games in front of her friends when they were doing their homework. :heh:
.
ADD] The scene transition problems that plagued the first four episodes were practically non-existent in this episode, which is a good thing. :)

Cheers.

Konata-chan

2007-05-08, 22:31

I watched AFK's episode 5 sub. So what is it about the group that has a cult following?

This episode solidified my love for this show all around, and not just because of Konata. Kagami is starting to make just as witty comments as Kona herself. However, what made me truly starting liking Kagamin were two things: the fact that she tried to hide playing with her voice on the fan, and when she uttered "Getto da ze!" trying to catch the fish. Konata will always have a special place in my heart, but the show would fail without Kagami.

Tsukasa is also starting to make her own presence in the show. The Blue Hawaii scene and the balsamic vinegar scene were such examples of us getting a glimpse into her character. However, she hasn't made me laugh out loud yet...

Kona's little quips never cease to amaze me, and that scene where she was struggling with the homework by herself made me want to hug her so badly! The fact that she considered taking the boy home with her is also another example of why I love Konata; even with her hobbies and interests she hasn't lost touch with the real world. But since I am not much of a MMORPG player myself, I lost touch with some of the references and didn't truly appreciate Konata's character as much as episode 4.

I checked Wiki, and it seems that Yutaka is the same given name for the first LS director AND Konata's younger cousin who has yet to make an appearance on this show. Maybe she could be referring to both, but at separate instances?

Cousin Yui Nanami. I really do like her character too since I see her as a more "mainstream" and mature version of Konata. Her interaction with Nanami was just pure gold! Her cluelessness (especially with how she interpreted "being alone") is quite funny; I look forward to watching her more.

9.5/10. If all other episodes airing afterward are as funny as this and episode 4, this will surely replace Hachikuro as my most favorite show of all time.

Wandering_Youth

2007-05-08, 23:10

Wow. This is my kind of episode. All about MMORPGs + Konata equals win. Man, I can't believe I was like that back when I was in high school, but I'm not as nerdy as Konata whenever I found a super item. :heh: I would never imagined that Konata plays a warrior character. I always though of her as more of a theif/rogue

It was a little mean of Kagami to play games in front of her friends when they were doing their homework. :heh:

With Kagami's personality she probably did it on purpose to brag and all on how the duo shoulda done their homework earlier. Sadistic..mmm....yes.
Yui was pretty brutal too playing her Nintendo DS right next to Konata when she was doing homework. Poor girl had her brain fried after that...awww.

Fixen

2007-05-08, 23:31

Oh...Kagamin is precious. Her tsundere personality is really showing in this ep. Getto Daze, the fan, and the video gaming is awesome. Looks like she's really starting to fight back on Kona since episode 2. It's a real wonder how Kona didn't explode on her at all...she has surprising amounts of tolerance. I'm guessing at some point there would probably be an episode where Kagamin just completely beats down Kona. :heh:

Kona in MMORPG as a tank = XD. All the IMing is great too - I think a.f.k. pulled that one off pretty well. I think I learned quite a few Japanese IM conventions from that. This episode kind of shows off her more vulnerable personality traits, especially with her comment on "learning from Tsukasa."

Yui is...sort of boring. She's somewhere in between Kona and Miyuki, and I'm not really sure whether I like the mix. I'm not a big klutzy meganekko person, and making her Kona-hyper doesn't really make it work for me.

9.5/10...which rounds to a 10. -0.5 because I'm as of now completely ignoring Lucky Channel.

Thought question #3: I wonder what other students think of Kona. I'd assume that video game otakus (especially those as quirky as she is) would be more or less ostracized (and she admits she doesn't have real-life friends other than the twins, Miyuki, and possibly Nanako). Kagamin might have a concern for her reputation...hence the "nobody understands you so stop it" reactions.

Skane

2007-05-08, 23:51

Woah... my vote is actually the lowest? :heh: I suddenly feel a lot of stares. :heh:

Well then, time to explain my score of 07/10.

The absence of scene transition problems was a big positive step, but there were still several elements which pulled the score down. Personal bias also played a large factor.

Number one, the introduction of Cousin Yui felt a little unnatural. The VA sounded as though she was still trying to get her bearings. It was not until we saw Cousin Yui in Konata's room did her voice sound... comfortable.

Number two, Lucky Channel is starting to feel a little draggy. The frequency of my amusement over it has been steadily declining, with no noticeable uptick since episode 01. They need to either do something fresh with it, or take a break so as to give the audience a breather. If Lucky Channel can feel stale from its weekly airing, imagine what watching consecutive episodes from the DVDs can do to your enthusiasm.

Number three, and this one is personal bias, there was not enough Kagami moments. :p

I normally only dish out 08's if an episode made me sufficiently hyped-up, and this was not the case for episode 05. I don't need action for it to happen. I get pretty warm and fuzzy from character development too, but I just wasn't feeling enough of it from this episode.

(09's if the episode can make me go verbal with glee consistently, 10's if it makes me feel blessed)

Cheers.

Therion

2007-05-08, 23:52

Skane

2007-05-08, 23:56

I guess nobody looked, or did and never mentioned it, I mean its something totally random so a very interesting coincedence or they did it knowingly, but the rare item Konata gets from a.f.k.'s subs says Demonic Sword Laevateinn.

Though as I said, it could be a random thing or just a little reference to Nanoha...
Given its mythological origins, probably not. :heh: Laevateinn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laevateinn) is a pretty common name for swords in games (not to mention spells...).

Cheers.

Therion

2007-05-08, 23:57

Yeah...just a random thing then...ah well

*sighs*

Jazzrat

2007-05-08, 23:59

Kyaahahah, the MMO moments is rather similar to my own experiences.
It's a bit hard to understand if you never played one though. I highly agree that we need a MMO episode with Nanako in a mage outfit ^.^

kj1980

2007-05-09, 00:00

What was that song from Tales of Phantasia, Yume Wa Orinai, I could see her doing the piano version of that. This one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr0c4p9APos) That's what I'd see Miyuki singing. Oh teary eyed, such a good song. WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

cho www oma www natsukashii~

I remember that game! I also remember how much I was in shock when I found out that Arche wasn't a virgin! wwww You should read the novel version of that; it actually describes how Arche lost her virginity to a one night stand in quite detail.

ChrissyPie

2007-05-09, 00:05

Mmm.. Hello Everyone. :]

I liked this episode a lot. ^^ Mmm, I thought the pokemon reference was funny when Kagami cought the fish. Hehe. Hmm, guessing by the text-set up of the game Konata was playing, I was guessing she was playing Final Fantasy XI. But that is a total guess. >>;;

Anywho, I liked this a lot and I wonder where the new director will take it. =]

Nemo_N

2007-05-09, 00:28

Number three, and this one is personal bias, there was not enough Kagami moments. :p

Admit it; this is the sole reason for the 7 :p . j/k j/k

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-09, 00:35

DragoonKain3

2007-05-09, 00:40

Must have more Kagami... Tsundere personality in non-romantic situations has never been so interesting!

As for my score, I would rate this highly moreso than every other episode, as its the one that had me laughing in more moments (not necessarily the hardest, since wawawa still takes the cake). Since this show is meant to be a comedy, I'm judging it solely on its comedy, and this one compared to the earlier episodes takes the cake.

@Konata-chan

Answering your question, AFK has been around even when digi-subbing was still growing out of their infancy. As such, it just makes sense that they have a loyal following, not much unlike how other old-guard groups like A-Keep, ANBU, A-Empire have each their own following.

But if one asks why AFK is known to the general populace, it would probably all come down to one word: Haruhi. (yes yes, I'm generalizing) Being the only group to ever finished it in English, I think its no understatement that it's their fault that Haruhi became so popular in the English speaking world.

But their fame is really not without merit. Comparing their version with another group, their script retains much more of Kyon's wit and sarcasm which if one thinks about it, is a huge part of that show. And this goes on with Kanon, especially with how another fansub group praised how they dealt with eps 20. It really says something when one's peers start respecting your work.

Combining all these, and you have people who especially waits for their subs. Or how some people have only their version of a particular show for download in their bots. Or how even now, they still remain on top in most sub comparisons in terms of fluid translations.

Mirrinus

2007-05-09, 00:43

Kaioshin-dono changed his sig??? Now it'll take me weeks to recongize him when he posts...he already changes his avatar as often as I change my sig...

cho www oma www natsukashii~

I remember that game! I also remember how much I was in shock when I found out that Arche wasn't a virgin! wwww You should read the novel version of that; it actually describes how Arche lost her virginity to a one night stand in quite detail.

Wow, that brings back so many fond memories of playing Tales of Phantasia. I agree, hearing them sing that for the end credits would be made of immense win.

I never knew books and brooms made for such deadly weapons. Also, finding out that Arche wasn't a virgin didn't really come as that much of a shock for me, considering how she acts...remember that scene on the boat to Alvanista?

Deathkillz

2007-05-09, 00:44

the random RPG chat was really fun in this ep :D boy how nostalgic that i used to be saying stuff like that as well in a group chat :heh: sensei doesnt seemed as layed back as i thought though telling kona to do her homework while playing in the gaming world herself O.o

and like others have said Lucky Channel has really begun to dry up (somewat expected >.<)

the end song this time was also a blast from the past...good o' times ^o^

Vexx

2007-05-09, 00:53

I think I'm becoming a Kagamin worshipper.... "precious" really fits her.

Need to watch a few more times before scoring it.

Fixen

2007-05-09, 01:03

One more thing...

Konata: "It's not as entertaining when two girls do it."

Nooooooooooooo! What are you saying?! Take that back! >_<;;;

ChrissyPie

2007-05-09, 01:11

One more thing...

Konata: "It's not as entertaining when two girls do it."

Nooooooooooooo! What are you saying?! Take that back! >_<;;;

XD That made me laugh. xDDDD

Witacume

2007-05-09, 01:14

oh man i love tsukasa when she did "><" thingy and I also liked the ending i haven't heard the ending in forever lol DBZ4life!

Vexx

2007-05-09, 01:45

I think this time I'll save a few hundred megabytes of transfer and just wait for the EnA release....

Nemo_N

2007-05-09, 02:04

OK, just watched a.f.k. episode 05. Favorite bits:

Konata: "Since you'd be in Yukatas. An it's outdoors."
Kagami: "Okay, that's far enough."

She was two lines away of an X-Rated description :heh: .

Konata: "It's like i'm getting yelled at by Kagami every day"

Cute because it's the first time I hear Konata acknowledging the role of Kagami in her life :D .

Balsamic Vinegar

I had this same problem with the word "flamingo" a long time ago; flamingo, flamingo...

And Konata's speech at the preview; sounded like Aya Hirano was having fun with this part, specially towards the end. Mad props to her.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-09, 02:19

Kaioshin-dono changed his sig??? Now it'll take me weeks to recongize him when he posts...he already changes his avatar as often as I change my sig...

Wow, that brings back so many fond memories of playing Tales of Phantasia. I agree, hearing them sing that for the end credits would be made of immense win.

I never knew books and brooms made for such deadly weapons. Also, finding out that Arche wasn't a virgin didn't really come as that much of a shock for me, considering how she acts...remember that scene on the boat to Alvanista?

Is that the infamous Beta Translation that had Klarth talking to Cless about which girl he prefers, Mint and her huge breasts and woman-like demeanor (Satomi Koorogi doing her voice makes this all the more ass backwards), or Arche and her flighty nature, followed by "I don't know about Mint, but I bet that Arche F**** Like A Tiger". That's one of my friends favourite talking points about the game. To bad it's gone in the final patch.

Arche was also like the ultimate cheap ass character because there'd be enemies in Moria Gallery that would take out the whole party and she'd be just hanging out up there, completely out of the enemies range on her broom casting Meteor Swarm and extinction.

Finishing off my part of the discussion once and for all on the Karaoke bit, I think I'm still the only one who really truly does not like this weeks ending them. Maybe if they keep things normal from now on it won't bother me as much, because it this point it feels like Kyoto is sending me the message that shows I happen to like such as Action/Sentai/Non-Comedy Mecha aren't deserving of a good try Karaoke at the bare minimum (That my demographic isn't as important), but that things they are involved in don't even deserve to be sung by any of the characters, but by the voice actor herself in full-blown all out effort mode.

Though I may get my answer to whether or not they are playing favourites with their own works in this episode, as apparently Konata sings Hare Hare Yukai in this episode for a bit. I guess I'll know for sure what the game is depending on whether she does a lazy rendition (Ha Ha I'm just mumbling the song as I go along) of it or if she morphs into a Aya Hirano LIVE singing voice for it. Might as well just watch the A.F.K sub as I'm burning to know.

Telliamed

2007-05-09, 02:41

as apparently Konata sings Hare Hare Yukai in this episode for a bit.

Bouken Deshou, Deshou... actually. I couldn't make it out until someone here mentioned the name and I knew what to listen for.

and WTF? ANN has it listed as "Bouken de-show, de-show?"

Jaden

2007-05-09, 02:51

Konata's a tank ... well, that's consistent with the fighting game character from earlier. Still, the MMO lingo of the japanese is "a few levels up" from what i'm used to!

she doesn't really sing Bouken Desho Desho?, just hums the tune while firing up the net game. look forward to the credits though !

a.f.k subs were good!

CrowKenobi

2007-05-09, 03:13

Just watched a.f.k.'s version of ep 5 and gave it a 9! :D

Things to note:
The summer festival was great! Tsukasa answering a question is just a golden moment that helps make this episode. Also when she wonders how Konata's dad knows how to tie an obi is another golden moment. :heh:

The fan-thing with Kagami was hilarious! It looks like she wants to be known as "prim and proper," but circumstances keep showing her other side when she least expects it. :)

Lastly, props to a.f.k. for using the Dragonball-title font for the karaoke lyrics. (note that all the 'o's' are 1 star dragonballs) :D

:cool:

problemedchild

2007-05-09, 03:46

Ahaha, the part about the MMO is so true. During our late night grind sessions a DD would fall asleep in the middle. If you were really unlucky, your healer would be the one snoozing and you're in for a party wipe :<

What's sad is the fact pretending to be female will earn you lots of free equipment. It's sad to see all these guys swoon over one girl in Vent..... >_>

Such good memories with Lineage II...... I really should get cracking on Noblesse.

Sheba

2007-05-09, 03:59

because it this point it feels like Kyoto is sending me the message that shows I happen to like such as Action/Sentai/Non-Comedy Mecha aren't deserving of a good try Karaoke at the bare minimum (That my demographic isn't as important), but that things they are involved in don't even deserve to be sung by any of the characters

You get paranoid again. Breath, take a Fisherman's friend and relax. It is just a karaoke, there are no big conspiracy led by the Freemasons of KyoAni against your genres.
It is just a karaoke.

On-topic:

The realisation of Konata about Kagami's role in her everyday's life is, in my eyes, one of the highlights of the episode.

I was pretty happy over Nanako getting more screentime, she is one of my favorites. I found myself laughing over Yui checking on Nanako's rack.

As for Yui, I'd wait to see more of her to hear how her voice actress will pull it through the series.

The MMO brought me back to when I was a RO nutcase, especially for the rare drop.

But I feel that Tsukasa has more for her, especially with that balsamic vinegar obsession or the fact she was the one who was actually able to find an answer for Blue Hawaii.

And Karaoke. Serious Business.

EDIT: They need to sing "You WA shock!" in an episode! I mean it.

Jazzrat

2007-05-09, 04:34

Willen

2007-05-09, 04:52

Oh, and a big welcome to new user Willen -- I guess our chat on this got him fired up enough to join :) :)
I've managed to stay lurking for a long time. Somehow, I resisted de-lurking all through Haruhi (and that was tough) so I figured Lucky Star wouldn't break me... :uhoh:

CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA was gold. Oh god her voice cracked.
I think that's why I like this karaoke the best so far. It reminds me of the karaoke sessions that I attend.

I think there is a rigid consistency to how they are doing this though, but it won't become apparent whether I'm right or not until at least halfway through the series. If we get a hot-blooded mecha or action series song sung by a female, then I will know absolutely for certain if my theory on Male songs get mangled, female ones don't is true. Of course theories need to be tested and we can't do that yet, so it remains one.
I so hope that we'll get a rendition of Active Heart (Gunbuster OP), but I'm not gonna hold my breath. If they ever do that, especially since they already referenced Noriko Sakai and Gunbuster in previous episodes, I'm a fan of this show for life. Regardless if the rest of the episodes suck to high heaven. I'd even settle for something from the various Macross series. But substantial proof would be in how they would do a song like Cutey Honey as it's in the same style as the other 3 songs that Konata sang - high energy and the lyrics directly make references to the show it appears in - like many anime and sentai songs of the 70s and 80s.

Ahaha, the part about the MMO is so true. During our late night grind sessions a DD would fall asleep in the middle. If you were really unlucky, your healer would be the one snoozing and you're in for a party wipe :<
A smart puller always should have a contingency plan. One of my regular healers would usually fall asleep so it became standard practice to have a backup in the group. But usually we could get him to wake up if a wizard would do enough spell casting near his character that the sounds would jolt him from his slumber.

Anime Online

2007-05-09, 05:53

As I've been playing MMOs for quite a few years, the episode parts about MMO is very enjoyable for me. It really shows the mangaka had experience playing them and, through the anime, resonates with the MMO die-hards.

When Kona-chan was bemoaning after being heckled by Kuroi-sensei to do her homework and sleep early, it really shows how immersive MMOs have become havens of escapism from the real world.

Getting a warrior character to engage lots of mobs while the wizard character to get ready to blast them all with area-of-effect spells is one of the more efficient methods of gathering experience points in a MMO and I've known some people who have a habit of falling asleep while playing. Poor Kona-chan had to spend a whole day to regain her experience points. Yes, Kona-chan, I feel your pain. Those are the times you feel like punching through your monitor, but you can't really get angry at the friend who always fall asleep.

And when Kona-chan went on a rare-drop roll, it brings back memories of sharing the excitement with friends and then immediately wanting to try it out. Of course, the part about forgetting homework has me nodding as well, as my grades would testify (heh heh).

The summer festival parts are pretty good too, as they introduced Yui-chan and showed Tsukasa's penchant for trivia knowledge. The part where Konata was aiming at the store attendant after asking him whether she can get anything she hit reminds me of a similar scene in Gintama. In that scene, the corks started flying and hitting the store attendant's sunglasses, wallet, etc after the characters asked if they could get whatever they hit.

Shiori-chan

2007-05-09, 06:04

love this episode, like mentioned above, the mangaka has alot of mmo experience and that's cool becuz i also play wow ^^

problemedchild

2007-05-09, 06:51

A smart puller always should have a contingency plan. One of my regular healers would usually fall asleep so it became standard practice to have a backup in the group. But usually we could get him to wake up if a wizard would do enough spell casting near his character that the sounds would jolt him from his slumber.

A lot of my guild members play with sound off. Not only that, having more than one of a necessary class detends to destroy exp efficency. Either way, I tend to AoE with myself now, with my boxing 6 clients on a single machine for best exp. So if I fall asleep, I can't blame anyone else but myself. Sucks when I get ganked though.

It's pretty funny when someone you're partying with has their support class on a bot program. They'd try to buff you according to how they're programed adding to some interesting wipes due to lose of buffs or aggro during an AoE pull.

Sheba

2007-05-09, 07:25

BTW, I am guessing that the "Su-" said by Akira after Lucky Channel is Sugita, am I wrong?

Noppapana

2007-05-09, 07:48

my question is Yui really konata cousin ... or is she just a good friend ?

Shiroth

2007-05-09, 07:56

Wonderful points go to afk for using a DBZ font for Cha-La Head-Cha-La.

Great episode --- a lot of funny points. Nanako & Yui's talk was probably the high-point of the episode. Its pretty funny because i have a cousin just like Yui. :3

nadare

2007-05-09, 08:10

Skane

2007-05-09, 08:19

Lucky Channel hit the bullseye... Everything Akira said was the sad and ugly truth in a MMO world.

Such as males roleplaying as females, as in acting like one, will get you a lot of benefits rare items etc.

Reminds me of a time when a friend of mine had a "girlfriend" in a MMORPG, with girl pics + girly voice(they talked on the phone) and everything... In the end she was a guy, "her" friend told us everything. We teased him for a month.. LOL.

The sad truth about when Akira first started... since veterans always assume that newbies don't usually lie on their genders. When they know that person is a girl(assuming she is real girl), they won't hesitate to "court" her by giving her alot of rare items etc. ah... good times, good times!
It kinda reminds me of the "strippers" in WoW who do the Full Monty Dance (since WoW has fairly elaborate dance/action commands) in order to earn Gold. :heh:

But yeah... it's "amazing" how people will literally throw treasure at you so long as you "roleplay" a cute/sexy female character. The "sexual harassment" can be disturbing though. :heh:

Heh.

nadare

2007-05-09, 08:32

It kinda reminds me of the "strippers" in WoW who do the Full Monty Dance (since WoW has fairly elaborate dance/action commands) in order to earn Gold. :heh:

But yeah... it's "amazing" how people will literally throw treasure at you so long as you "roleplay" a cute/sexy female character. The "sexual harassment" can be disturbing though. :heh:

Heh.

LOL. I've seen far worse than those... A chatroom saying "Will strip for game currency, with webcam and everything... one of my friend tried and saw it himself", also... there was once a rumor in the MMORPG I was playing that this girl slept with a GM to obtain a very rare item and when the girl in question was asked, she didn't deny it herself. These are the reasons why I don't play MMO's for more than three months...

Back to the topic... I still don't get what Konata was going to say after she was stopped by Kagami halfway... although i do understand that "event" = "h-scenes"

Sheba

2007-05-09, 08:36

It kinda reminds me of the "strippers" in WoW who do the Full Monty Dance (since WoW has fairly elaborate dance/action commands) in order to earn Gold. :heh:

But yeah... it's "amazing" how people will literally throw treasure at you so long as you "roleplay" a cute/sexy female character. The "sexual harassment" can be disturbing though. :heh:

Heh.

In the Loki server of international Ragnarok Online, we had a running joke about the "e-skanks": pancake nipples. This came from an actual girl who showed off her womanhood, or lack of, in hope to get free rare items.

I do play female characters in this game, because the female sprites are way cuter than males. Sadly or hopefully, I did not take advantage of it (or maybe because I dun play priestess or dancer...).

But yeah, Akira's rant about MMOs hit the nail.

DragoonKain3

2007-05-09, 08:55

I myself played female characters in the brief time I played WoW, but I just did it for aesthetic purposes. All of the male 3d models look too bulky and macho IMO, with the sole exception of the elven males. It's just too bad that my friends were on Ally side, so no Blood Elf (best male 3d model hands down) and since my favorite classes were Mage, Warlock, Pally, no Night Elf either. >_<

@nadare
Actually, I really think that event scene refers to a scene where one bumps into one of the heroines in the festival, or some mushy romance dialogue during the event. The h-scene comes after, which is what is heavily implied what Konata is going to say. :P

nadare

2007-05-09, 09:03

oh... I always thought that event scenes are the H-scenes XD~... thanks.

Tatsumiko

2007-05-09, 09:23

Man...this episode was excellent !!!!

Konata was great...as always X3...but I really liked Tsukasa in this ep..She's was so freakin adorable!!!!!!!!!!!! XDDDD

I really gotta think of more hobby's and fun things to do for summer vacation...^^

But I hate sports...^^"

hehehe....sucker for a female in a MMO....hilarious

Ascaloth

2007-05-09, 09:29

Watched the [a.f.k.] sub, since there weren't any others available for some reason. [a.f.k.] is usually my last choice for subbing groups, since I much prefer translations that aren't so heavily localized; I get to learn a bit more about the Japanese culture that way. Anyway, my thoughts:

1) A certain other KyoAni work has insinuated itself too heavily into my psyche; when Tsukasa picked up that piece of toast, I immediately wondered whether she was going to eat it with a certain orange-coloured jam. :heh:

2) Kagami: "Gotta catch 'em all!"

Is it just Stratos, or did I just see a Pokemon catchphrase there? :uhoh:

3) I wonder if the seiyuu for Sensei is the same as for AIR (TV)'s Kamio Haruka.....I can't tell the difference between their voices....

4) Balsamic vinegar. Urgh. Reminds me of an episode of Iron Chef I happened to catch since there was nothing else to do at the time.....

5) Kona-chan 'aaahing' into the fan. Subtle AIR (TV) reference here..... ;)

6) Why was Akira yelling about Yutaka? Was the KyoAni "change of director" just a publicity stunt after all? :twitch:

7) I really do hope Sugita replaces Minoru next Lucky Channel. It'll be an interesting change, and it's about time Kaioshin-chan reverted to his "tsun-tsun" side too, so that I can get my chances to cos-rape him. :D

DragoonKain3

2007-05-09, 09:40

@Ascaloth
Concerning #2, Kagami said 'Getto Daze!', which is roughly the Japanese Pokemon catch phrase counterpart to 'Gotta Catch'em all!' if I'm not mistaken.

#3, Aya Hisakawa is Haruko, Konomi Maeda is Kanako. Maybe its just their accent that makes them sound similar?

#5, I really think is more of a general thing rather than a reference to AIR. I mean, I've done it loads of times when I was a kid, and so did a lot of my peers back in the day. XD

#6, I really think the reason why Akira was yelling Yutaka is not because of the director, but because of the yet to be introduced character named Yutaka. She's short and also has red hair, which gives more evidence as to how Akira's name changed to Yutaka in the script. And Akira being Akira, gets ballistic for having her name replaced. Directed mainly at those who read the 4-koma already, since they're the ones who would know Yutaka.

Sheba

2007-05-09, 09:52

3) I wonder if the seiyuu for Sensei is the same as for AIR (TV)'s Kamio Haruka.....I can't tell the difference between their voices....

Nah, she voiced the grandson of Chourou (the geezer with the big chest hair in Hake + Guu).

aorta

2007-05-09, 09:53

Can someone explain the exchange between Yui and Nanako right before the eyecatch? Something about being single and having a husband?

Vallen Chaos Valiant

2007-05-09, 10:03

Can someone explain the exchange between Yui and Nanako right before the eyecatch? Something about being single and having a husband?

I do believe it is linked to the old social pressure of Japanese women being told to get married before they reach 30 years of age. The teacher just wanted to feel like she wasn't the only adult female who is single, and thus asked if the cop was "by herself", meaning single. The cop mistaken her comment as "alone in festival", and replied yes. But only because her husband works far away and she doesn't see him often.

The teacher was doing one of those laughs implying an understanding of what it's like to be single, but the cop just didn't get it.:heh:

Anonymous Coward

2007-05-09, 10:23

One more thing...

Konata: "It's not as entertaining when two girls do it."

Nooooooooooooo! What are you saying?! Take that back! >_<;;;

ahahaa yeah. A little voice in the back of my head shouted "Hey! Speak for yourself" :heh:

Some of the other highlights for me:
- Tsukasa's eye for trivia (and Kona's subsequent one-liner) I really hope we get to see a bit more of this in the future
- Cousin Yui!
Although I do agree with Skane that it felt a little bit unnatural at first, I'm going to cut the VA some slack.
While her initial meeting with kona's friend isn't that funny, the real pay off is when she meets (and checks out) Nanako. Oh and her "advice" to Kona latter on == priceless. Looking forward to more
- Kona & Tsukasa with the fan, and Kagami getting dumped in it by her father :p
overall 8/10 (marked down from 9 for Lucky Channel)

I will admit that I didn't get all the MMO references (100% FPS fan here ^_^ - don't see the point of paying monthly subscription fees :eyespin:), infact 99.9% of the Anime/Otaku references so far have gone straight over my head [sux to be a newbie, eh?]

superzombie23

2007-05-09, 10:26

Final Fantasy XI was already used in Welcome to the NHK!, so I don't know if it'd be totally original to portray it. It is more popular in Japan than it is in America, where WoW dominates.

I do believe they mentioned that Konata's RPG has 6-player parties. Plus, one of the shots of Konata playing on her computer in the 4-koma manga showed a display screen similar to FFXI's. But I think a more obsure MMORPG would be funnier.

Typing that reminds me of my days of working with friends to restore the light of the crystals by battling the evil fiend...

I have a high lvl character in FFXI, so all the MMO jokes were ****ing hilarious. Every joke about MMOs in this ep. was similar to aspects of FFXI, and i just loved the part where they show the chats where they're talking about IRL in the game lmao.

Kinny Riddle

2007-05-09, 10:38

It's been ages since I last played Ragnarok Online, yet I still manage to get ALL the MMO jokes. Concerning the tankings, the chats, everything, simply ludicrously funny. Nanako reminding Kona-chan to do her homework on the MMO chat, lmao.

Hunting solo can be so mundane, as shown by Kona-chan doing nothing but clicking on monsters, and it only becomes engaging once you find an extremely rare drop and go off in a chat with your guild/clan.

Interestingly, Yui's advice of just filling whatever answer in the homework was similar to what I used to do when submitting schoolwork. :D What's important is that I've did my part, so the teachers can take it or leave it, LOL.

But yeah... it's "amazing" how people will literally throw treasure at you so long as you "roleplay" a cute/sexy female character. The "sexual harassment" can be disturbing though.

MMORPG, after all, stands for Multiple Males Online Role Playing as Girls. And no, I did not have a female character, regrettably, since RO fixed the player's gender after registration.

Sheba

2007-05-09, 10:46

I did not have a female character, regrettably, since RO fixed the player's gender after registration.

That's why lying about your gender on registration can be handy, or use one of your relatives' names. =P

Kaoru Chujo

2007-05-09, 10:52

my question is Yui really konata cousin ... or is she just a good friend ?Really her cousin.

Skane

2007-05-09, 11:04

~
Interestingly, Yui's advice of just filling whatever answer in the homework was similar to what I used to do when submitting schoolwork. :D What's important is that I've did my part, so the teachers can take it or leave it, LOL.
Way back when I was still in school, we had "Social Studies & Morality" lessons. These lessons were meant to instil patriotism and civic morality into us. As such, we were also given tests on it.

However...

The results would not be printed on our Graduation Certificates. In fact, the results would only appear on our cards, which you can basically discard once you graduate.

Additionally, the questions were moronically easy, since you would need to be a psychopath (or a real sociopath) in order not to get the answers right.

And so... I decided to deliberately answer some of the questions in "amusing" ways. After checking I had at least 60% of the score secured (just so that they won't drag me to the Principal's office on grounds that I might be a potential murdering-psycho), I answered some of the open-ended questions as such...

(Note: I am recalling the questions and answers from years ago, so I am probably off a bit)

Q: During recess, you return to the classroom and witness a classmate of yours extorting money from another classmate. What will be your course of action?

A: I will threaten the extortionist with blackmail and make him pass the money to me instead so that I will not report him to the teachers.

Q: Singapore faces the problem of supporting an ageing population. Give some recommendations on how we can alleviate this problem.

A: Pass a mandatory law to round up all citizens aged 65 and above and execute them on the spot.
~~~~ ~~~~

And so on and so forth. I recall some of my answers involved the beating up of classmates, but I can't remember the question for that one. :heh:

I told my classmates about what I did after the test and they were all basically of the opinion that I was going to "get it". :heh: Surprising, nothing "serious" happened as a result.

Not much, at least. ;)

On the day when we were to receive back our papers, the lady teacher in charge of our SS&M lessons looked really annoyed and as we went up one by one to her to collect back our test papers, she started telling us in a very loud voice that while she understood that this test would not affect our final grades, we should still take it seriously.

When it was my turn to take back my paper... Oh man. The glare that she threw at me. She never said anything to me, but I can still remember that murderous glare vividly, like she wanted to deck me in the chin or something and rend me from limb to limb. :heh:

I still consider it to be one of my "top favourite" test moments. :heh:

Heh... :D

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-09, 11:09

7) I really do hope Sugita replaces Minoru next Lucky Channel. It'll be an interesting change, and it's about time Kaioshin-chan reverted to his "tsun-tsun" side too, so that I can get my chances to cos-rape him. :D

I've come to the conclusion that Sugita is like the Japanese Adam Sandler actually.

Think about it, he's always doing some type of job that nobody appreciates (Samurai in Gintama, Project Oveseer Who's Opponent Has The Militaries Support Gadget Trial, Super Robot Sub-Pilot in Super Robot Wars). He always has one or more good looking female's despite his chararacter's personalities, he has a voice that grows more annoying and hoarse as he continues to talk, he frequently freaks out and starts screaming over the littlest of things like Sandler (Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, Click) and his characters often seem to suffer from near death experiences. Plus both have that look like in their promotional photo's that they've just gone on a huge bender.

If Sugita does a cameo they'd have to have Hard Gay appear too. He is about the only suitable Japanese equivalent to Rob Schneider. :D

Risaa

2007-05-09, 11:33

I've managed to stay lurking for a long time. Somehow, I resisted de-lurking all through Haruhi (and that was tough) so I figured Lucky Star wouldn't break me... :uhoh:

Tell me about it. o_o I've been lurking forever and then registered to make *one* post somewhere in the depths of the forums. Then a few months later I saw the first ep of Lucky Star... and I knew I was done for. :uhoh:

The summer festival parts are pretty good too, as they introduced Yui-chan and showed Tsukasa's penchant for trivia knowledge. The part where Konata was aiming at the store attendant after asking him whether she can get anything she hit reminds me of a similar scene in Gintama. In that scene, the corks started flying and hitting the store attendant's sunglasses, wallet, etc after the characters asked if they could get whatever they hit.

For some reason, that reminded me of this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v303/Risaa/MahorabaShot.png

(I regret this being such a small picture... :( ) It's a different game, but I remember how shocked I was seeing Tamami hit the attendent squarely in the middle of the forehead (and the attendent's facial expression is priceless). I was secretly hoping someone would shoot a cork in the middle of this attendent's forehead too... :D

1) A certain other KyoAni work has insinuated itself too heavily into my psyche; when Tsukasa picked up that piece of toast, I immediately wondered whether she was going to eat it with a certain orange-coloured jam. :heh:
Aah! I thought of that too. XD Right when she reached for it, I immediately looked around the frame for any hint that *special* jam might show up. :)

I'm still watching every release of L*S, and the raw multiple times. I somehow get the feeling I might be a tad bit obsessed with this series. :p

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-09, 12:03

I'm still watching every release of L*S, and the raw multiple times. I somehow get the feeling I might be a tad bit obsessed with this series. :p

Uh Oh! You are becoming an Otaku. You need to develop a stronger resistance to the pressures these types of series exhibit or you'll wake up one morning to find you've decorated your room with Konata merchandise and that your Bank Account is overdrawn and Credit Cards maxed out. If you want to take a break from Lucky Star and don't know what else to watch let me know what you are interested in via PM and I could always recommend a series from my Vast Vast Vast knowledge of anime throughout the years. Vast.

Vexx

2007-05-09, 12:10

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-09, 12:16

I recommend people jam a soldering iron into the Kanon-section of their brain so they can just enjoy L*S as is :)

(and yes, talking into fans is not a cultural reference to anything other than the universal joy of discovering what kind of weird noises you can make. I did it as a kid and I grew up in Texas, not Osaka or Hokkaido)

Vexx you know as much as I do that every joke in this series has been a reference to the popular dating sims of To Heart, Air and Kanon.

In fact that Change Getter joke, not from Getter Robo, oh no that was clearly a reference to the episode of Kanon where Nayuki was changing and Kyon...sorry Yuuichi went in to get her. How could I have been so stupid to think it was from a Go Nagai manga. D'oh! :bash: :joke:

By the way, my character in Morrowind, the closest thing I have to an RPG is a Level 6 Dark Elf Newtype with assigned with Major skills to make him as much like a Newtype character as possible:

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6943/casualrt3.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=casualrt3.jpg) In Casual with lower stats as a result.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8752/myabodeap4.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=myabodeap4.jpg) My character at home.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3870/battleequipedqc3.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=battleequipedqc3.jpg) Battle Equipped with augmented stats.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4651/readyingstrikenr3.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=readyingstrikenr3.jpg) Readying Strike.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5885/swingandeffecthi7.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=swingandeffecthi7.jpg) Swing and Effect (Bonus Lightning damage of 3-5 HP Damage for 2 seconds because of the enchanted Sparksword I found that I'm using)

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/381/thrustvb0.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thrustvb0.jpg) and a Thrust.

Vexx

2007-05-09, 12:43

You're such a card :)

Level E

2007-05-09, 13:58

The "depleted uranium" reference coming out of nowhere.

Ah, but it is a reference very related to KyoAni. ^^

Analyze that conversation.
Who is Tsukasa talking to? Konata
What does she normally talk about? Anime
What is Tsukasa's knowledge on that subject limited to? Kagamin's (and it must be a military one b/c of depleted uranium being mentioned).
What Light Novel Kagami loves that KyoAni animated with a military setting?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rk-92_Savage
http://www.dvdanime.net/articles/36_12.jpg

Laevatein

Also from the above although that AS hasn't been animated yet...
**** FMP SPOILER ****
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARX-8_Laevatein

Just a preview from my TL notes.

my question is Yui really konata cousin ... or is she just a good friend ?

Immediate cousin. Konata's Mom's sister's daughter, IIRC.

2) Kagami: "Gotta catch 'em all!"

Is it just Stratos, or did I just see a Pokemon catchphrase there? :uhoh:

「ゲットだぜ」 is the Japanese catch phrase, just FYI

Fixen

2007-05-09, 14:48

Way back when I was still in school, we had "Social Studies & Morality" lessons. These lessons were meant to instil patriotism and civic morality into us. As such, we were also given tests on it.

However...

The results would not be printed on our Graduation Certificates. In fact, the results would only appear on our cards, which you can basically discard once you graduate.

Additionally, the questions were moronically easy, since you would need to be a psychopath (or a real sociopath) in order not to get the answers right.

And so... I decided to deliberately answer some of the questions in "amusing" ways. After checking I had at least 60% of the score secured (just so that they won't drag me to the Principal's office on grounds that I might be a potential murdering-psycho), I answered some of the open-ended questions as such...

(Note: I am recalling the questions and answers from years ago, so I am probably off a bit)

Q: During recess, you return to the classroom and witness a classmate of yours extorting money from another classmate. What will be your course of action?

A: I will threaten the extortionist with blackmail and make him pass the money to me instead so that I will not report him to the teachers.

Q: Singapore faces the problem of supporting an ageing population. Give some recommendations on how we can alleviate this problem.

A: Pass a mandatory law to round up all citizens aged 65 and above and execute them on the spot.
~~~~ ~~~~

And so on and so forth. I recall some of my answers involved the beating up of classmates, but I can't remember the question for that one. :heh:

I told my classmates about what I did after the test and they were all basically of the opinion that I was going to "get it". :heh: Surprising, nothing "serious" happened as a result.

Not much, at least. ;)

On the day when we were to receive back our papers, the lady teacher in charge of our SS&M lessons looked really annoyed and as we went up one by one to her to collect back our test papers, she started telling us in a very loud voice that while she understood that this test would not affect our final grades, we should still take it seriously.

When it was my turn to take back my paper... Oh man. The glare that she threw at me. She never said anything to me, but I can still remember that murderous glare vividly, like she wanted to deck me in the chin or something and rend me from limb to limb. :heh:

I still consider it to be one of my "top favourite" test moments. :heh:

Heh... :D

Kona needs to do that. She needs to.

Q: During recess, you return to the classroom and witness a classmate of yours extorting money from another classmate. What will be your course of action?

A: Write his name in a black notebook.

Q: Singapore faces the problem of supporting an aging population. Give some recommendations on how we can alleviate this problem.

A: Train still virile people through eroges to have crazy wild yuri loli sex and make more babies to balance it out.

Meophist

2007-05-09, 14:51

@Ascaloth
Concerning #2, Kagami said 'Getto Daze!', which is roughly the Japanese Pokemon catch phrase counterpart to 'Gotta Catch'em all!' if I'm not mistaken.Yes. The meaning is a little different though. "Getto Daze!" means "I got it", or more literally, "It's a 'get'!". Satoshi/Ash says it whenever he catches a Pokemon(when I was still watching the show anyways) in the form of "(Pokemon name here) Getto Daze!".

It makes more sense than "Gotta catch'em all!" in that scene, but I guess it's not too bad.

Risaa

2007-05-09, 15:18

Uh Oh! You are becoming an Otaku. You need to develop a stronger resistance to the pressures these types of series exhibit or you'll wake up one morning to find you've decorated your room with Konata merchandise [...]
... :uhoh: Just ignore all these Kona posters on my walls. :uhoh:

(and yes, talking into fans is not a cultural reference to anything other than the universal joy of discovering what kind of weird noises you can make. I did it as a kid and I grew up in Texas, not Osaka or Hokkaido)

Whaat? You imply that people eventually grow out of doing those sorts of things. D:

Q: During recess, you return to the classroom and witness a classmate of yours extorting money from another classmate. What will be your course of action?

A: Write his name in a black notebook.

Q: Singapore faces the problem of supporting an aging population. Give some recommendations on how we can alleviate this problem.

A: Train still virile people through eroges to have crazy wild yuri loli sex and make more babies to balance it out.

*snorks* Make me spit out my food, will you? :p I really need to stop checking the forums during lunch. :p

I think it was appropriate to put "gotta catch'em all" because it was a reference to pokémon; this way, an English-speaking audience could catch the reference too. Though... I still prefer a more literal translation. Heck what I'd really prefer is being able to understand everything without *any* subs. That day will soon be mine. +_+

Fixen

2007-05-09, 15:21

*snorks* Make me spit out my food, will you? :p I really need to stop checking the forums during lunch. :p

Is it a chocolate cornet? No? Then spit it out. :p

I'm sorry...stupid elitist jokes.

Risaa

2007-05-09, 15:23

Is it a chocolate cornet? No? Then spit it out. :p

I'm sorry...stupid elitist jokes.

Of course. I started at the head and followed a normal distribution of strawberries, cake, and cream bread and choco.

Kabitzin

2007-05-09, 15:33

Ahaha, the part about the MMO is so true. During our late night grind sessions a DD would fall asleep in the middle. If you were really unlucky, your healer would be the one snoozing and you're in for a party wipe :<

That's bad stuff, cause just like in FFXI the MMORPG that Konata plays punishes death with EXP-loss. Nothing worse than getting new equipment and then being unable to equip it because your party wiped and you deleved =(.

As for being a tank, makes sense that Konata would want to play that role. In almost all MMORPGs, the tank is the most gear dependent, and has to be one of the most reliable person in the static group. For obvious reasons, this makes Kontata ideal, since she is always on and she is motivated to grind for the best equipment.

As for Nanako being a mage... well, not to be mean, but DPS is always the easiest cog of the party to replace. Nanako is the earliest to sign off and falls asleep at the keyboard... it is a good thing she isn't a healer or tank!

Fixen

2007-05-09, 15:35

Of course. I started at the head and followed a normal distribution of strawberries, cake, and cream bread and choco.

But don't you cut the thin end off and eat it with the excess chocolate?

Okay, I'll stop. We don't need another ten-minute food conversation, only with each statement stretched out around five minutes each. XD

Baka-yuki

2007-05-09, 16:33

I liked that part, now i really wanna try some of those foods.

For Lucky Star 5, it was worth the wait. Loved the fan bit and when konata started to discribe what would happpen in a dating sim.
Was kona-chan humming Bouken Deshou Deshou when she was gamming? sounded like it.

Mirrinus

2007-05-09, 16:37

Is that the infamous Beta Translation that had Klarth talking to Cless about which girl he prefers, Mint and her huge breasts and woman-like demeanor (Satomi Koorogi doing her voice makes this all the more ass backwards), or Arche and her flighty nature, followed by "I don't know about Mint, but I bet that Arche F**** Like A Tiger". That's one of my friends favourite talking points about the game. To bad it's gone in the final patch.

I was actually referring to the part where Arche gets drunk on the ship and Cless overhears her sleeptalking, but your example works too.

Arche was also like the ultimate cheap ass character because there'd be enemies in Moria Gallery that would take out the whole party and she'd be just hanging out up there, completely out of the enemies range on her broom casting Meteor Swarm and extinction.

Funny thing, after posting that yesterday I felt the urge to play Tales of Phantasia again, and went through the lower levels of Moria Gallery. While it's true that Arche can't be killed by Urchins, Bigfoots, and Tuskboars, she gets clobbered really easily by those Maxwell clone enemies and their Molecular Attack, since she's such an easy target when airborne.

If Konata actually were playing FFXI, I could see her as a tank character, but probably more of a Ninja blinktank rather than a Paladin. I don't think she'd appreciate a Paladin's damage output in a traditional party, and it'd probably be more fitting to her playstyle to form shihei-burn parties instead. Plus good Ninja gear is generally more difficult or expensive to obtain than Paladin gear (their AF armor lasts them almost to endgame), so that'll probably complement Konata's playtime.

Or we're just overanalyzing this way too much. All this MMORPG talk is making me miss FFXI. >.> Time to change signatures to alleviate the feeling.

And for the record, I played a male character in FFXI.

kj1980

2007-05-09, 18:39

Yes. The meaning is a little different though. "Getto Daze!" means "I got it", or more literally, "It's a 'get'!". Satoshi/Ash says it whenever he catches a Pokemon(when I was still watching the show anyways) in the form of "(Pokemon name here) Getto Daze!".

It makes more sense than "Gotta catch'em all!" in that scene, but I guess it's not too bad.

Hmm, I would've used "gotcha." The nuance seems to be appropiate in that sense.

TigerII

2007-05-09, 18:46

Haha the teacher plays the game with her.

Kisuke06

2007-05-09, 18:56

Very good episode. FMP's director did a good job. Finally a new character appears(the cop)but I wonder when new characters are going to pop up.

TigerII

2007-05-09, 18:57

On the chat log part, when you would see wwwwww etc. Is that really lol, and roflecopters or was that just the subbers having fun?

FatPianoBoy

2007-05-09, 19:08

On the chat log part, when you would see wwwwww etc. Is that really lol, and roflecopters or was that just the subbers having fun?

'w' is short for 'warau,' which is Japanese for 'to laugh.' It's used similarly to 'lol.' The way a.f.k. nuanced the different variations in the subs is roughly equivalent.

Fixen

2007-05-09, 19:09

On the chat log part, when you would see wwwwww etc. Is that really lol, and roflecopters or was that just the subbers having fun?

The "wwwwwwwww" is definitely an equivalent of "lol". Roflcopters is a subber's substitute for something else apparently.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-09, 20:08

Very good episode. FMP's director did a good job. Finally a new character appears(the cop)but I wonder when new characters are going to pop up.

Well here's the thing. If he actually directed the episode, then that means they are doing the episodes by the week, which means the whole team is working massive overtime hours to storyboard, record, animate, time and edit each episode to broadcasting standards. Other than that there's three possibilities here:

1. He didn't direct the episode
2. This director change is actually old internal company news from when they did produce the episodes, which was only released recently to the public.
3. Kyoto Animation is not in fact a studio that never makes their animators work overtime like wikipedia used to claim, but the Electronic Arts of anime. (the previously mentioned hypothesis)

I'm thinking number two makes the most sense.

dKiWi

2007-05-09, 21:31

Don't know whether anyone noticed this, but I think this is a reference to Yume Tsukai as well as of course Fumoffu:

From the festival in ep 5

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4310/wmplayer200705101025330zl7.png (http://imageshack.us)

Yume Tsukai's Mishima Touko (三島塔子, Mishima Touko?) - Nichiyousei Yume Tsukai (Sunday Star)

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3199/anime3607es3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

WanderingKnight

2007-05-09, 21:55

Don't know whether anyone noticed this, but I think this is a reference to Yume Tsukai as well as of course Fumoffu:

I don't think it references Yume Tsukai at all, first of all, YT was a pretty low-profile anime which didn't catch too much attention, and secondly, it's perfectly normal for anybody to wear a mask in that way. I don't know about Fumoffu, because I haven't watched it.

You people need to stop looking for references all over the damn series. It kind of remembers me of the pain in the referential ass Pani Poni Dash was. Some fansubbing groups just loved to look even at the most pointless details and get a "reference" out of it, when it was pretty clear that it was nothing more than a casual coincidence. I remember an episode when they put "Let's La Go!" as a specific reference to the phrase coined by (insert name here) in the '70s or something, when that phrase was used in lots of other series, too, with no intention of direct reference.

TigerII

2007-05-09, 21:57

The last episode had a ton of references in it. I just saw one in this one. The mask is from Full Metal Panic Fumoffu.

WanderingKnight

2007-05-09, 21:59

The last episode had a ton of references in it. The mask is from Full Metal Panic Fumoffu.

That doesn't change the fact that putting it as a reference to Yume Tsukai is nothing more than over-wishful thinking...

Anime Online

2007-05-09, 22:01

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-09, 22:06

Risaa

2007-05-09, 22:10

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/4194/konata05vl3.th.jpg (http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?image=konata05vl3.jpg)

Kona-chan's sash looked rather different from the rest. So I'm wondering, for those who know about yukatas, is hers tied properly? Her sash design looks really difficult to tie.

It's pretty messy, actually. The obi, if tying it into a butterfly knot, should be fluffy and big, like the other girls' obi. Saying that Kona-chan's obi looks like it was really difficult to tie is a real compliment to Kona's dad. :)

Oh that's a Suzumiya Haruhi reference cause Haruhi wore a Yukata during one of the festivals.

... :p

Anime Online

2007-05-09, 22:25

It's pretty messy, actually. The obi, if tying it into a butterfly knot, should be fluffy and big, like the other girls' obi. Saying that Kona-chan's obi looks like it was really difficult to tie is a real compliment to Kona's dad. :)

Darn, I thought Kona's dad would be so into galge that he even learnt how to tie the obi, which I understand is a really difficult skill (or at least, a skill not many Japanese know how to do).

As a sidenote, I read that some love hotels even have staff who know how to tie the obi to assist guests who do not know how to retie it.

cpxmay

2007-05-09, 23:18

Did you guys manage to catch this scene? :heh:

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9140/snapshot20070510115153io8.jpg

robertness

2007-05-09, 23:38

This episode was the best so far. The writers are doing a good job of gradually building up the girls' personalities from one episode to the next.

I dug the scene with the fan. I think I did the same thing last summer....

Yui wandering about the carnival in her police uniform with various souvenirs dangling from it was priceless. "If I weren't on duty, I'd really be having fun."

Nightengale

2007-05-10, 00:15

Didn't really look back the pages, so forgive me if it's being stated already but...

Am I the only one who thinks Kagami's goldfish dere-dere was extremely creepy as hell?

That aside, it was a good episode. I still hate Lucky Channel, but I can live with it.

Skane

2007-05-10, 00:29

Didn't really look back the pages, so forgive me if it's being stated already but...

Am I the only one who thinks Kagami's goldfish dere-dere was extremely creepy as hell?
~
I found it very endearing, but at the same time... like a setup for something tragic. :p

Heh.

FatPianoBoy

2007-05-10, 00:32

I found it very endearing, but at the same time... like a setup for something tragic. :p

Heh.

Indeed. Goldfish that size aren't known for their hardiness - especially the ones from festivals, carnivals, and the like.

Suddenly I flash back to her traumatic weight-gain confession when I imagine her finding the poor thing floating :heh:

DragoonKain3

2007-05-10, 00:37

The gold fish is probably forshadowing to future jokes. I can see a million ways they can go about it. Poor poor Kagamin. >_<

Hmm, I would've used "gotcha." The nuance seems to be appropiate in that sense.
But but but... that totally throws off the reference to Pokemon. :p

Skane

2007-05-10, 00:40

Indeed. Goldfish that size aren't known for their hardiness - especially the ones from festivals, carnivals, and the like.

Suddenly I flash back to her traumatic weight-gain confession when I imagine her finding the poor thing floating :heh:
Does anybody else find it amusing that it is Kagami who is crying the most in Lucky Star?

Heh.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-10, 00:50

So the reason I haven't given me piece about this yet is that I've sworn to myself I will finish up the last 4 episodes of the LOGH: Hundred Billion Stars Hundred Billion Lights OVA before doing watching anything else tonight (Which is almost like watching an entire 12 episodes series since they're each 25 minutes long excluding opening and endings and one episode is equivalent to about 3 episodes of most anime in terms of overall story critical content. The series doesn't screw around with its time.)

Anyway finally the 6th Iserlohn Conflict is over and now I'm ready to go back to Lucky Star episode 5:

At School: Looks like its vaction time I guess and the way Kagami states not having to see the other's face for a while is very much like my own circle of friends, too me its par for the course as its exactly something I would say. Dude I must find out how to make Kagami's sweatdrop noise (Why is it that hasn't become a meme? Couldn't tell ya). Anyway apparently teach and Kona have joined a party together in the MMO. I can almost picture some of my high school teachers doing this exact same thing. Yep that sure is MMO lingo and I sure got all of it, unfortunately Kagami and Tsukasa are lost.

At Kagami's: Man Tsukasa looks good in pajama's. The summer sure is hot.

At The Festival: The pan and scan of Konata's uniform reminds me of those Kero's Corner segments in Card Captor Sakura where we'd see Sakura's uniform of the day. Apparentely Yui is Konata's cousin and is a cop. Haha Konata is lolier than the rest. They don't seem to impressed, especially Kagami. Okay is Yui really a sharpshooter or is she just bullshitting. Her sweat drop sound effect needs some work as does her rifle positioning. Don't Shoot Konata. So where does the name come from? What no sound effect on Kagami this time. I'm not sure if A.F.K botched the joke translation here, but is Konata saying there's twincest here. Like the dating sim joke here, that actually probably is worth a boost to Kagami and Tsukasa's relationship score (incidentally the first time I laughed this episode, more on this later). Wow the Goldfish are as scared of Kagami as I am. Yep Getto Daze is the Japanese Pocket Monster equivalent to Gotta Catch em' all from Pokemon. Overdramatic. He its teach and she has a lol' fang (I can already see this making the teachers case as a top tier character for many a Japanese Otaku). I guess Yui's a lesbian as she's staring at Teach (More points for Yui fans). Okay that Bonta-Kun mask literally came out of nowhere (hooray for random references, I guess). Yep Lesbians.

Kagami's House Again: Haven't you learned from Pokemon not to sit so close to the TV Tsukasa. Some Loli stuff. Time to hang with Kona since they are bored I guess.

Konata's House: The type of conversations they have in MMO's are why I refuse to play them, it's the prospect of having to play a game with idiots that turns me off instantly. Okay Konata's kind of scary here. Whoa Kagami has no eyes there. Protect the Skirt Konata. Tsukasa's in Pajama's again (third time I chuckled). Advertisment for Magazine time (Game Penalty -0.5). Whoa Konata's face kind of glitched out there a bit. Wow it must be hard to concentrate when somebody is playing a game right next to you. Hey Rare Drop (Almost through this episode, again more on this later).

WHAT LUCKY CHANNEL ALREADY? WHAT THE HECK?!: Same old same old.

Thank God it's over, this isn't going to be pretty

So it's come to this....WHAT THE FREAKING HOLY HECK HAPPENED WITH THIS EPISODE???!!!! This is without a doubt the single unequivocal worst episode of this entire series for me thus far. This was supposed to be good with the whole RPG summer break fun angle, but as people can see if they compare this episodes breakdown to last ones, I could barely find anything to talk about.

What was the point of this episode, to advertise Comp Fest and to score points with certain portions of the fanbase, it certainly couldn't have been comedy because the only amusing points took place between the 7:00-9:15 mark of the episode and even then it was a "ha" remark. Couple this with inconsistency in pacing (They literally would pause for what felt like 10 seconds at times inbetween lines and it wasn't even a pause for comedic effect, they just stopped), animation (Missing eyes, weird head shapes, Konata's face gaining and losing detail in one scene) and the ending and I can barely think of a single good thing to say about this episode. It was a waste of my time and I pray to god I can pretend this never happened. Not only that but to add insult to injury we've had to endure the same Lucky Channel joke for five episodes in a row. I just feel sick. I don't know if I committed an error in watching the dead serious LOGH before this episode and if I was in the wrong mood for comedy, but even then I should still not feel disgusted, just bored. I'm also not sure if it had something to do with A.F.K's subs, but yet again the presentation was just a step above abysmal for this episodes summer theme.

As it stands all I can give this episode is an extremely generous 3/10, because I did chuckle 3 times and the episode does exhist to get a potential 1 (3+1=4), but it loses points for the advertising and overall inconsistency (4-1.5= 2.5 rounded up to 3). I'm grasping at straws here people should also realize to give the episode the highest rating I possibly can. Also what I can give this episode is a prayer that this gets fixed by the next episode. I'm just.....Ugh.... Why?!

Ffenix Rising

2007-05-10, 01:02

Well... I'm speechless... anyone got a Diet Pepsi?

Risaa

2007-05-10, 01:03

Does anybody else find it amusing that it is Kagami who is crying the most in Lucky Star?

Heh.

Aah, she's the classic type who thinks she's the most stable and self-sufficient of the group, but it turns out she's the most unstable and needy of them all... And she's so adorable when she cries. <3

Ascaloth

2007-05-10, 01:15

Sheba

2007-05-10, 01:15

I found it very endearing, but at the same time... like a setup for something tragic. :p

Heh.

Let's get that urban legend about goldfishes committing suicide comes true in LS!

@Kaioshin-chan,

I'm trying my best to understand your critique here, but as things go, the screwed grammatical structuring of your words left me high and dry. I hardly understand a quarter of what you're talking about. :heh:

He went in the spatial void fillled with trash known as /a/, he forgot his stupid-proof spacesuit.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-10, 01:28

@Kaioshin-chan,

I'm trying my best to understand your critique here, but as things go, the screwed grammatical structuring of your words left me high and dry. I hardly understand a quarter of what you're talking about. :heh:

Fine, I'll explain this in a clear and concise manner, but only once.

I start all episodes with a 6/10. From this 6/10 I look for points to add to the episodes end rating based on what I feel the episode has done right and I take points away in aspects in which I think they have failed to get things right. In this case I followed this train of thought in the end. 6-1-1-1-1=1. 1+3-1-0.5=2.5 rounded up to 3/10 for the final rating. 6 to start, minus one for not being particularly funny at all, minus one for Lucky Channel recycling the same joke for the fourth time, minus one for inconsistency in animation and minus one for inconsistency in pacing and minus one for inconsistency in character (the ending karaoke). Since we are now at 1/10 we can't go any lower, so I tried to think of a way to at least give the episode some points. In an extremely generous maneuver I gave the episode three extra points for making me chuckle three times, but I also took off one point again since I think they failed to convey the theme of the episode in any way and that it came across as an excuse to score points with fans and I took off 0.5 points for the episode having the gall to again try and push the Comp Fest on me. With this we have a subtotal of 2.5/10 and I rounded up to 3/10 for the final score.

That's about the only way I can put it. I would also hope that people don't treat my like some sort of lunatic for disliking this episode and respect the fact that I felt this episode was an extremely poor showing all around for Lucky Star. I have different tastes and I expect different things out of my shows than others and I would hope people will appreciate that and I won't be persecuted for giving this episode a 3/10. The rating is there to give on the poll and that is what I think it deserves. The slate will of course be wiped clean for episode 6 next week and it will start with a 6/10 and I'll do my usual review and synopsis.

Ascaloth

2007-05-10, 02:16

Fine, I'll explain this in a clear and concise manner, but only once.

I start all episodes with a 6/10. From this 6/10 I look for points to add to the episodes end rating based on what I feel the episode has done right and I take points away in aspects in which I think they have failed to get things right. In this case I followed this train of thought in the end. 6-1-1-1-1=1. 1+3-1-0.5=2.5 rounded up to 3/10 for the final rating. 6 to start, minus one for not being particularly funny at all, minus one for Lucky Channel recycling the same joke for the fourth time, minus one for inconsistency in animation and minus one for inconsistency in pacing and minus one for inconsistency in character (the ending karaoke). Since we are now at 1/10 we can't go any lower, so I tried to think of a way to at least give the episode some points. In an extremely generous maneuver I gave the episode three extra points for making me chuckle three times, but I also took off one point again since I think they failed to convey the theme of the episode in any way and that it came across as an excuse to score points with fans and I took off 0.5 points for the episode having the gall to again try and push the Comp Fest on me. With this we have a subtotal of 2.5/10 and I rounded up to 3/10 for the final score.

That's about the only way I can put it. I would also hope that people don't treat my like some sort of lunatic for disliking this episode and respect the fact that I felt this episode was an extremely poor showing all around for Lucky Star. I have different tastes and I expect different things out of my shows than others and I would hope people will appreciate that and I won't be persecuted for giving this episode a 3/10. The rating is there to give on the poll and that is what I think it deserves. The slate will of course be wiped clean for episode 6 next week and it will start with a 6/10 and I'll do my usual review and synopsis.

Whoa, chill, grasshopper!!! I only said that your grammar was unreadable; I wasn't attacking your opinion in any way. :heh:

Although I must admit, I'm amused by how thoroughly you systemized your opinion as to number your rating based on a set system; I know, this coming from the one who did the Monster Final Critique of Kanon 2006, but all the numbers I gave were solely based on gut feeling. On the other hand, you work like a machine, dude. :p

Anime Online

2007-05-10, 02:18

Vexx

2007-05-10, 02:33

@anime online: aye.. you hit it on the nail. That was the subtext in that one.

Yeah, I admit it... it is Kagami's fragile eggshell of toughness that dissolves into tears that makes you just want to protect and hug her. And the subtle blushing... the eyes... the way she eats... argh.

Unfortunately, I've not seen the ep yet to rate it...

Just got back from japanese class --- a bunch of adults who hadn't seen much anime got to see selected parts of episode 1 and 2 of Lucky Star. My instructor had asked me to bring in some good samples for listening practice and those two eps had a lot of vocabulary we'd covered in class.

About halfway through the ep 1 food discussion, I heard "o my god, its like real life... it won't stop <laugh>" ... then the laughter started. By the time I got to ep 2 there was general laughter every sketch.

There's the review from 15 adults, 13 of which aren't anime fans. They thought it ranged from grins to hilarious .... the only down note was Lucky Channel which they thought was completely wacky but didn't feel like it fit into the show. They thought the OP was insane but catchy and a number of them had real life flashbacks of karaoke hell during Kona's banshee wails.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-10, 02:34

Whoa, chill, grasshopper!!! I only said that your grammar was unreadable; I wasn't attacking your opinion in any way. :heh:

Although I must admit, I'm amused by how thoroughly you systemized your opinion as to number your rating based on a set system; I know, this coming from the one who did the Monster Final Critique of Kanon 2006, but all the numbers I gave were solely based on gut feeling. On the other hand, you work like a machine, dude. :p

Wow! Thank you. :)

Don't worry the message wasn't to you or anybody specifically, but for everybody. I get his feeling I'm going to take a lot of flack for being the outlier of the ratings, but then again maybe not as it doesn't seem to have happened. I really just hope things work out in episode 6 and I can put this episode behind me. If there's any episode that deserves a redo for DVD's though I think its this one.

Vexx

2007-05-10, 02:53

Hey... as long as you can clearly articulate what you like or don't like about something I'm fine. You even provide a guide to your rating technique :) Its the "anything with L*S printed on it rocks by definition" droolers and the "it suxx0rs & ur all pedos" poo-throwers I rather chase off.... :P

Myself, I have a bit of grade inflation (an episode of any series starts out at 8 and works up or down from there). I still haven't seen the ep but if Lucky Channel is "same again" I may start giving bifurcated ratings: 1 for main content and other for L*C.
I do suspect the episode will be a bit mixed in my review (moments of perfection mixed with moments of meh)

Mirrinus

2007-05-10, 03:04

Jazzrat

2007-05-10, 03:06

With regard to the goldfish scene, isn't there this perception in Japan that if you are a bad person, animals will start avoiding you? I thought that is why Kona-chan said that was proof of Kagami's barbaric nature. If that's the case, it shows why Kagami treasured the one who didn't flee from her.

The perception is actually quite widespread in oriental culture afaik where a person's "killing" intent can be felt when in close proximity. Lots of martial art/fighting anime/manga typically have characters that can detect or hide such intent/aura.

Konata is probably poking fun at Kagami's blunt display of her aggressive intention to catch a gold fish, not that she's being barbaric.

Ascaloth

2007-05-10, 03:25

Wow! Thank you. :)

Don't worry the message wasn't to you or anybody specifically, but for everybody. I get his feeling I'm going to take a lot of flack for being the outlier of the ratings, but then again maybe not as it doesn't seem to have happened. I really just hope things work out in episode 6 and I can put this episode behind me. If there's any episode that deserves a redo for DVD's though I think its this one.

....eh? What's with the "sankyu"? I wasn't trying to praise you. :heh:

I'm with Vexx-jiji on this one; there may be people out there who hate your guts, Kaioshin-chan, but I'm not one of them. Whatever your quirks, whenever you give a review you do back up your opinion with proper articulation of what you like or don't, and more importantly, you make the qualifier that it's merely your own opinion. And you know, it's kinda hard for me not to respect that; I only ever go HARUHI-MODE at people who give me utter bullshit all the time.

On your part, you only give me bullshit a small fraction of the time, and you make up for it by being so indescribably moe. :p

For myself, the way I rate an episode of any particular anime depends on the nature of the anime itself; for most animes with a basic story like Kanon and Sola, multiple factors go into my eventual review. For content-light comedies like Lucky Star though, I use a far simpler system; the number rating I give is an approximation of the percentage of the episode that made me laugh. That's why you hardly ever see me go below the '6' barrier; that's reserved for those that I just find horrendously bad.

Risaa

2007-05-10, 03:35

My instructor had asked me to bring in some good samples for listening practice and those two eps had a lot of vocabulary we'd covered in class.

Are you sure you brought in L*S just because your sensei asked you to bring in stuff for listening practice (or are you secretly planning to convert your classmates*a-hem*)?

That reminds me, I got to watch Doraemon in my class.. :{D

The perception is actually quite widespread in oriental culture afaik where a person's "killing" intent can be felt when in close proximity. Lots of martial art/fighting anime/manga typically have characters that can detect or hide such intent/aura.

Konata is probably poking fun at Kagami's blunt display of her aggressive intention to catch a gold fish, not that she's being barbaric.

lols, I totally misread this the first time. Here's my second attempt at a comment:

I agree; I doubt that Kona actually viewed Kagamiya as being *barbaric* - Kona just simply likes to take advantage of any opportunity to poke Kagamiya. :) I didn't know about the killing intent/aura thing (maybe because I never watch fighting/martial art anime :heh: ); I only know of a person as being good-spirited if they ward off supposedly unlucky animals and attract lucky ones... but I suppose that's in a whole separate category of its own ne.

And the fish swimming away from Kagamiya is what *always* happens at that game....
Actually I think when you're too aggressive while trying to catch the fish, it tends to make the paper rip faster. D:

Edit: woah I think I misread something... that's what I get for staying up late.

Sorrow-K

2007-05-10, 05:17

Disclaimer: I finished watching this episode about ten minutes ago, and before watching the episode, I did not once read any posts made in this thread, so the following is my opinion formed purely from what I thought of the episode and not influenced by any other post in this thread.

Now, I'm not one for cynicism or conspiracy theories surrounding an animation studio, so, as far as I'm concerned, the name of the director in the credits is the director, no questions asked, and thus the person that deserves the praise or criticisms for a good or bad episode. And, in my opinion, this was a good episode. In fact, I'd say this was the best episode of the series. It's still too early to decisively say that Takemoto is more suited to this job than Yamamoto, but if the rest of this series remains as funny as this ep, then I'd say the decision to change directors was an outstanding one. But this ep was certainly, in my eyes, better than any of the eps that Yamamoto helmed. The jokes fired, the punch lines had more impact, and, more importantly, the timing was significantly better. And the show managed to stay afloat without relying on a massive number of references. This ep was a much better example of the potential of this type of show for comedy, IMO (although I still do think Hidamari Sketch is better). The test now is, can Takemoto maintain this level for the rest of the series.

Lucky Channel is getting tired, though. It's a tough job trying to figure out how to revamp what's virtually a one-joke number without dropping it altogether, but it is pretty much dead-time now.

Overall, I was very impressed. New director seems to have breathed new life into this show. And, I carry no bias either for or against Takemoto when I say this, since, in all honesty, none of his previous work in comedy has really impressed me all that much (with the exception of the FMP:TSR OVA, but that's a one-off, which is hardly enough to turn me into a fan).

Chavenz

2007-05-10, 07:04

Hirano Aya singing Cha La Head Cha La = win!

if only they showed how she looked while singing that, double win!

DragoonKain3

2007-05-10, 07:32

I actually don't bother voting a good deal of the time. I share the same logic that the hosts of X-Play give concerning why they hate rating scales higher than 5, which is that there's really no important difference between, say, a 7 or an 8 on a 10-point scale (or even a few decimals off, if you're going into decimals). As far as I'm concerned, I either like it or I hate it. I'm less averse to rating whole series, but usually for single episodes I don't even bother.
I'm with Mirrinus on everything about ratings. Sure there are some episodes I'd would ineventibly like more than others, but I rather judge a series as a whole rather than each individual episode as I like to see the big picture. I especially agree with the rating scale, as I've found GamePro's rating scale much more useful than all the others in helping choose which games to buy when I used to subscribe to gaming magazines (I don't anymore as now I ONLY play RPGs, and I buy whatever interests me despite bad ratings).

Fixen

2007-05-10, 09:35

I don't know...what I do with ratings is based on how much I enjoyed it at the first and second runs, and not about analysis. If I think it's a good use of my time, it gets a rating above 6. If I can't be bothered to make it through the episode, then it starts getting the sub-5 failing grade. Since I don't have much time for anime and therefore I'm picky to begin with, I never rate below a 6. I mean...as long as the verdict is justified and not just some knee-jerk extreme reaction, I can take it.

Yeah, I admit it... it is Kagami's fragile eggshell of toughness that dissolves into tears that makes you just want to protect and hug her. And the subtle blushing... the eyes... the way she eats... argh.
You, sir, are my brother. (Actually, more like my competitor because I'd swear I want to hug her more)

Suddenly I flash back to her traumatic weight-gain confession when I imagine her finding the poor thing floating :heh:
So she is barbaric!

Aah, she's the classic type who thinks she's the most stable and self-sufficient of the group, but it turns out she's the most unstable and needy of them all...
We need to see her PMSing then.

nikorai

2007-05-10, 09:38

I watched the episode just yesterday. voted for 9.
looked through the pages here. i think i need to watch it once again. seems i miss some details.
Kaioshin_Sama mentioned earlier kero-chan ni omakase. my thoughts exactly. besides in ccs there was also an episode about a festival including a scene with a shooting range. well maybe its not exactly about ccs, more about anime in general where it is quite common to find a festival theme.

Skane

2007-05-10, 09:39

~
You, sir, are my brother. (Actually, more like my competitor because I'd swear I want to hug her more)
If the Avatar thread is of any indication, a LOT of people want to hug Kagami. ;) :p

Heh.

Fixen

2007-05-10, 10:03

If the Avatar thread is of any indication, a LOT of people want to hug Kagami. ;) :p

Heh.

This will get bloody.

Ascaloth

2007-05-10, 10:06

This will get bloody.

Add my name to that list of "people who want to hug Kagami". Now it's going to get even bloodier. :p

dKiWi

2007-05-10, 10:25

Kagami is my favourite Lucky Star girl right now, but I've gotta wait for Chihara Minori's character to make a debut before I commit to hugging XD

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-10, 10:51

Kagami is my favourite Lucky Star girl right now, but I've gotta wait for Chihara Minori's character to make a debut before I commit to hugging XD

Same here only replace commit to hugging with commit to making things bloody.

WanderingKnight

2007-05-10, 11:22

Well, I don't usually have a soft spot for tsundere characters (does Kagami qualify as tsundere?), so I'm gonna go with Kona-chan. Of course, we still have lots of episodes to go and much of what happens can influence my decision.

And of course, if Tsukasa turns into the new Osaka, I'll love her even more.

Kaioshin-chan, haven't you already tried hard enough to make things bloody? One day you're gonna get a heart attack for getting so nervous out of something as superfluous as an anime series.

Vexx

2007-05-10, 11:45

Are you sure you brought in L*S just because your sensei asked you to bring in stuff for listening practice (or are you secretly planning to convert your classmates*a-hem*)?

That reminds me, I got to watch Doraemon in my class.. :{D

Actually, the first time I saw the food sketch - the first thing I thought was "this'd work great for listening practice in class - they're all about the food"
that followed with the Kagami-sick sketch which all about the polite protocol visit. Finished out with a few clips of sensei-speak just to show regional differences.

The instructor and I usually chat after class and she knows about my hobbies - but yes, anyone I can lure to the dark side increases my karma :)
There's another mom in class that's an anime fan (she mentioned Fruits Basket, Prince of Tennis, and Initial.D) and a couple of guys who had watched anime in the 80s/90s and had no idea what current anime looked liked. After class I punched through some example clips (Gurren-Lagann, 5cm, Kanon, PPD, Lovely Complex ...) they were quite amazed. The instructor was also quite taken/surprised though she was often appalled at the grammar and slang :) She spent the rest of class discussing phrases, casual verb conjugation, and the subtleties of particle modifiers like "ne?" and "da yo" along with the honorific transmogrification of Kagami.

Risaa

2007-05-10, 12:32

The instructor was also quite taken/surprised though she was often appalled at the grammar and slang :)

My class is *terrible* about that. Nearly everyone is an anime fan and loves to spout off slang from their favorite show. (I'm particularly fond of an ARIA phrase, "no embarrassing remarks allowed!") Sometimes I really feel that I learn more just from watching anime... Everything sounds so much more natural than what we learn from the book (mochiron). And it helped me to learn short form much quicker. *Much* quicker.

Since everyone seems to be on the subject of ratings... I'll admit I admire Kaioshin_Sama-san's systematic way of doing it. I could never do it that way because I'm too biased (ironic ne). If the show is of a genre I really tend to enjoy, I'll justify myself bumping up the rating a few numbers, whereas if it seems to me to be just another typical harem anime, I'll knock it down a few. Like most others, I tend to go on gut feeling. I've never given a perfect 10 for an episode (no episode, IMO has been *perfectly flawless* complete with sparkles and stuff). Usually if something is lower than a 6 for me, I wouldn't even be hanging out in the thread because I'd already dropped the series.... because everyone knows how much more I linger in other threads than the L*S subforum... :uhoh:

As for Kagamiya... a part of me wants to give her a hug, while the other part of me simply wishes to point and laugh, like Kona does. I'm doing that thing again where I sit on the fence and lean towards Kona as being my favorite... but then Kagamiya does something that makes me snap towards the Kagamiya side... then Kona does something that makes me go over to her side again... It's out of my control, I tell ya. :(

Princess_of_Hell

2007-05-10, 13:16

Who is that girl with the long back hair and the glasses?

Vexx

2007-05-10, 13:28

As for Kagamiya... a part of me wants to give her a hug, while the other part of me simply wishes to point and laugh, like Kona does. I'm doing that thing again where I sit on the fence and lean towards Kona as being my favorite... but then Kagamiya does something that makes me snap towards the Kagamiya side... then Kona does something that makes me go over to her side again... It's out of my control, I tell ya. :(

I suppose in the wonderful world of anime you can have both, eh?

@Princess_of_Hell: you're going to have to be more specific (long black hair?) If you mean the girl in the back row with the red eyes in the OP cheerleading sequence? I've not figured out all the names of the girls (roaming through the manga, haven't even spotted her yet maybe she's in volume 4 that I've not received yet?)
Here's the cast we will see during the animated series (ANN ref):
Aya Endo (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=27752) as Miyuki Takara
Aya Hirano (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=6581) as Konata Izumi
Emiri Katou (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=28606) as Kagami Hiiragi
Kaori Fukuhara (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=57357) as Tsukasa Hiiragi
Hirokazu Hiramatsu (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=2400) as Soujirou Izumi
Hiromi Konno (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=8217) as Akira Kogami
Kaori Shimizu (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=334) as Hiyori Tamura
Konomi Maeda (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=9877) as Nanako Kuroi
Mami Kosuge (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=17673) as Yukari Takara
Minori Chihara (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=22271) as Minami Iwasaki
Minoru Shiraishi (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=14922) as Minoru Shiraishi <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< best casting of all time
Nozomi Sasaki (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=57571) as Patricia "Patty" Martin
Saori Nishihara as Yui Narumi
Shizuka Hasegawa (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=6579) as Yutaka Kobayakawa
Fumihiko Tachiki (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1465) as
Customer (ep 2)
Man A (ep 2)
Teacher (ep 2)
TV (Man) (ep 2)
Yankee (ep 2)
Kikuko Inoue (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=542) as Miki Hiiragi
Kujira (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=3581) as Teacher (ep 1)
Satomi Akesaka (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=22231) as Matsuri Hiiragi
Tohru Furusawa (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=665) as Tadao Hiiragi

Risaa

2007-05-10, 14:08

Minoru Shiraishi as Minoru Shiraishi <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< best casting of all time

I honestly have to wonder how that's like, being cast as yourself. What if you felt like saying, "can I have a do-over? I don't feel like I was in-character"? It's pretty much the same as saying, "can I have a do-over? I don't feel like myself". Or maybe your boss would feel that you're not accurately portraying yourself. Would you be able to ask about a word you're unsure of in the script without having someone else tell you, "you ought to know what that word is since obviously it's *in-character* for you to use it"?

...I imagine there'd be a lot of jokes floating around Shiraishi. :p

Meophist

2007-05-10, 16:36

…with the honorific transmogrification of Kagami.Huh? Could you explain this part?

Vexx

2007-05-10, 17:31

Huh? Could you explain this part?
Konata as she addresses Kagami (in the manga) and the anime.

Kagami-chiyan
.
.
Kagami-chan
.
.
Kagami-chin
.
.
Kagamin

There may have been a Kagami-yan in there as well....

Level E

2007-05-10, 17:54

Who is that girl with the long back hair and the glasses?

Well, there's only a few girls with the meganekko attribute in the series:
1) Miwiki Miyuki
2) Yui nee-san
3) Hiyori-chan
4) Sakuraba-sensei
5) Hinata

The last two may not be in the anime at all as they're not in the OP.

Hiyori-chan is in the OP and probably the girl you're thinking about. She most likely won't come out 'till the latter half of the series.

@Vexx her first appearance is in book #2, iirc. I forget who comes into the story first, her or Patty, but Hiyori is in the 4koma more often - you can't miss her in volume 4 especially.

FireChick

2007-05-10, 17:55

I saw episode 5 on Crunchyroll as www.fansub.tv is like sooooooooooooo flippin' SLOW!!! I MEAN LIKE THREE FLIPPIN HOURS??!! Anyway, I loved episode 5 and Tsukasa was adorable in it! I loved how Akira thought somebody addressed her as Yutaka at the end. Speaking of Yutaka, I hope Yutaka Kobayakawa (Konata's 2nd cousin) appears soon. And I know how Konata feels about not understanding math homework. I am HORRIBLE at math homework! I can't even do it on my own!!:heh:

Telliamed

2007-05-10, 20:45

I honestly have to wonder how that's like, being cast as yourself. What if you felt like saying, "can I have a do-over? I don't feel like I was in-character"? It's pretty much the same as saying, "can I have a do-over? I don't feel like myself". Or maybe your boss would feel that you're not accurately portraying yourself. Would you be able to ask about a word you're unsure of in the script without having someone else tell you, "you ought to know what that word is since obviously it's *in-character* for you to use it"?

There was the movie Being John Malkovich a few years back. Some of the interviews with Malkovich after that were interesting. He basically approached it like any other role and allowed the director to tell him things like, "No, that's not how Malkovich would say it. You have to be more like this..."

And in animation, you've got the artist already showing you the reactions, so Minoru could work off of that. Like in episode 5, when Akira suddenly screams and Minoru leaps out of his chair. (One of the more amusing parts of LC...if not the only part). The scream and nervousness following that are delivered very well.

I wonder if he still had to audition for the part, though.

Kyuusai

2007-05-10, 21:17

I really liked this episode. It continued some of the advances we started seeingi n the third episode: gradually moving away from the "talking head syndrome", awkward timing and straight-out-of-the-4koma 1/2/3/4 pacing... and giving us a little more emotive character movement and character exposition and better use of music (the same tracks, just timed and chosen better to match).

Part of that, I'm sure, has to do with which parts of the manga they're adapting, of course, but in my opinion the animation production has improved. I'm hesitant to give credit to the new director for that because these are things that I started to see in the third episode.

What I was happiest to see in this episode is a bit better view of the characters' personalities.
- Once again, Kyoani is ignoring Nayuk--I mean, ignoring Miyuki, but I guess they don't have much to work with. The little insight into her thoughts as she was mulling over "Blue Hawaii" was much appreciated. And adorable.
- Tsukasa taking such joy out of "barusamiko su" shows us that she's not the way she is because she's dull of mind and personality so much as she just focuses on an entirely different side of life. :)
- Kagami's love for her goldfish and being ratted out by her father shows a side of her that we could have suspected was there, but never seen clearly.

Konata's new attention was even more important. Up until now she was pretty much just a walking collection of laziness and various otaku cliches. Now we see more of her:
- Not only does she speak very respectfully to her teacher despite being in-game, but she really takes the chastisement personally--and shows that she takes Kagami's chastisement personally, too! Proof that more is going on in her head than her reactions let on.
- She's actually somewhat depressed about lack of romance, and actually speaks for the group on that. Another example of there being more to her character than typically meets the eye.
- Her attempt to "win" the game attendant not only showed her interest in boys but was pure adorable gold. Up until then, I really hadn't been able to call her "adorable" so much as "drawn and voiced adorably". I always got the feeling that if Konata were a real person, she'd be a real pain to be around. This scene was a major part in changing my view on that.
- Perhaps most important, though, was that she looks up to her Yui-neesan. It's hard to imagine Konata really looking up to any one, and she's probably smarter and more responsible than Yui, who in all likelyhood has no business being looked up to by any one. Yet Konata seems to think she's wonderful.

I'm still trying to figure Yui out. I really like her voice, but it seems a bit forced (especially the laughs). She's drawn young, and acts young, but occasionally her voice sounds a bit old, and just how old do you have to be to make those kinds of mistake about age? No, she's 26 (or around there), but she's a ditz. She's like a combination of Konata and Tsukasa. Wrap your head around that one! We haven't seen much of her so far, but at this point I don't find her interesting so much as I'm intrigued in her role in bringing more of Konata to light. I do look forward to seeing more of her, though. She really seems to enjoy her "Oneesan" role to Konata, and for some reason this and Konata's admiration of her together amuse me to no end. :)

Lucky Channel was a bit better than last time, but only because I was enjoying Shiraishi's reactions.

Overall, though, this episode takes my enjoyment of the series to a new level, because unlike previous episodes, it pushes my moe buttons. :)

My favorite part of this episode? The ending! I'd only found them to be mildly amusing before, but this time I... well, I've probably played it ten times since I watched the episode yesterday. Not only is it a song I actually know, but Hirano just does such a great job singing it. ESPECIALLY her "CHA LA, HEAD CHA LA!" bits, where she seems to alternate between "swallowing" the sounds and putting on what's almost an American accent (which is ALWAYS cute when it comes out of Hirano).

The only negative thing to say about this episode is that the ending seemed a bit... slow. Which isn't bad in itself, but I don't think the homework issue was built up enough for the reflective tone the ending took. And, well, the homework scene was kind of slow, too. It was also an odd change: The I-can-cram-anything-just-give-me-the-answers Konata is asking for help. That's not bad, it's just another side from what we were introduced to, and the transition, to me, seems a bit odd.

And though it improved upon it overall throughout the episode, the clear feel of the 1/2/3/4 timing was just a bit too strong for me during the gags where Yui and Nanako conversed. I did get a real kick out of the gags themselves, though!

Such a wait until the next episode. I guess I'll just have to watch this episode repeatedly. Like I do all the others. :)

Edited to add:

Regarding Konata's obi: There's not just one way to tie an obi for a yukata, although the butterfly method is awfully common. If it was clearly messy or wrong, I don't think the girls would have been that shocked that Konata's dad tied it.

Kaioshin Sama

2007-05-10, 21:51

My favorite part of this episode? The ending! I'd only found them to be mildly amusing before, but this time I... well, I've probably played it ten times since I watched the episode yesterday. Not only is it a song I actually know, but Hirano just does such a great job singing it. ESPECIALLY her "CHA LA, HEAD CHA LA!" bits, where she seems to alternate between "swallowing" the sounds and putting on what's almost an American accent (which is ALWAYS cute when it comes out of Hirano).

In my opinion she couldn't have done a better job singing her version further from the actual way it was sung. I also think she never once swallowed the song but instead screeched it out max volume. I don't know if my taste is so different that I come from bizzaro world, but there is no single way I can say that this was a good job. Of course I also don't subscribe to the Aya Hirano is always flawless school of singing, so I could be missing something.

Like I said I must be the only person in the world that thinks that Chala Head Chala needs a redo, but hey Aya Hirano is never wrong so who am I? Boy do I feel alienated as usual. If just once I could agree with the majority of this board and have it not be a compromise it would make my day. That's what bothers me the most. Looks like Kyoto Animation continues its unparalled talent at driving a wedge between me and the rest of anime fandom and when that happens it depresses the hell out of me. There's gotta be some common ground I can find on this episode, but where?