Lucky Star - Episode 23 Discussion / Poll

[Pellissier]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Lucky Star, Episode 23.

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[Rion Steiner]

Fellow Suki members, if your rating this, I hope you wont have to go through comparing it to the other episodes, especially 16 and 22.

[drzzit]

Fellow Suki members, if your rating this, I hope you wont have to go through comparing it to the other episodes, especially 16 and 22.

agreed... :D

[Allamanda]

As a semi-final episode, it was a tad inappropriate to focus on Minami more than main characters, although the development was quite good. 7/10

[Sheba]

As for L*C

Gotouza makes her guest appearance. In an unexpected L*S avatar.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Snuck her in at the last second eh. They almost missed the deadline.

@Rion Steiner: There's been no such agreement for any other episode of this series, or any other series I've seen for that matter, but since that's generally what I do anyway, weigh the episode on it's merits (and by that I mean the things I truly find entertaining) alone and not comparing it to anything else, that's what I'll be doing. Why's it so important to you that that happen anyway?

[thelok]

Fellow Suki members, if your rating this, I hope you wont have to go through comparing it to the other episodes, especially 16 and 22.

I think it should be compared relatively to other episodes. I don't like ratings where all episodes are rated either a 9 or 10, this is not a contest to see which series can get the best score. If all episodes are rated 10 or 9 then I won't know which episodes are truly the good ones.

[Luminisk]

I would say Minami was the star in this episode.

[Sheba]

I have a thing for bosozoku since the movie "Black Rain" and GTO made me like them even more, as a stereotype of course.



http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/92/11893513602261771yk0.th.jpg (http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=11893513602261771yk0.jpg)http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2935/11893514020706ca9pg5.th.jpg (http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=11893514020706ca9pg5.jpg)http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/5745/11893514093102196hh3.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=11893514093102196hh3.jpg)

[Wavedash]

I enjoyed the critical mass of the three otaku girls facing off against the normals.

[Keruri]

I loved all of the references in this one!

Lots of Yutaka makes me a happy fangirl. XD

Yukari's "arararara?"'s had me laughing. Awww, Minami x Yutakaaa. <3 The conversation about Patty's music was fun as well. Lots of great Minami moments! Misao and Patty had a lot of good ones too.

Konata's little "walk" up to Kagami was hilarious, not to mention her playing with Kagami's pigtails.

The whole sneezing scene was fantastic. And now we know where the Konata, Yutaka, Minami CD comes from.

One episode to go. Wah. ;-;

[krln99]

This one was kinda uneventful. However, the next one looks cool. BTW, is it mandatory that ever high school anime must have a "bunkasai" (cultural festival) episode? I wonder if they'll pull a Suzumiya Haruhi "Live Alive" with a concert at the end. I wouldn't put it past KyoAni.

[kj1980]

As for L*C

Gotouza makes her guest appearance. In an unexpected L*S avatar.

Yeah, but how many foreign anime fans would get that reference, I dunno.

[Sheba]

Yeah, but how many foreign anime fans would get that reference, I dunno.

I thought that it was a play on one of her hobbies (motorcycles). Can you elaborate more on this one?

EDIT: I am tempted to think of GTO but because I can understand like only 0.00001% of japanese, I am not even sure about it.

[mrm]

Now every member from the SOS-Dan got it's LS avatar. At least, Gotouza-sama didn't appeared moaning or screaming ^_^

I'm really looking forward to the bunkasai next week :)

BTW, what's the anime in 15:27 ? I can't recognize it from the music from the OP (if it's the op) -_-

EDIT: Don't mind me, it was Gigantic Formula, I didn't thought of looking final credits till now.

[Woland]

EDIT: Don't mind me, it was Gigantic Formula, I didn't thought of looking final credits till now.

I'm still waiting for the sub, but this is Gigantic Formula OP, Just in case... ;)

eJhm06R_BZ0

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Yeah, but how many foreign anime fans would get that reference, I dunno.

I don't really get it, but thanks to the wonders of the Internet I have found out that the motorbike in this lucky channel was the same model as one that she owns in real life. (except her real bike is Blue rather than red.)
http://yaplog.jp/tubuyaki3/archive/73

I also know she earned her nickname ゴトゥーザ様 from Kyon's actor by being a serious fan of Fist of North Star, but the rest is probably lost in translation for me.:heh:

EDIT: Here is the original photo of Gotouza-sama, complete with identical helmet and monogram white jacket with the Lucky Channel segment.
http://kei.iichan.net/uni/src/1189423625310.jpg

[Skane]

Random Thoughts on Ep23 (RAW):
---- ----

Although it was a very short segment, Nanako's scene towards the ending induced the greatest laugh from me. The usage of the BGM was brilliant and the comic timing was so intense it sears itself into one's mind.
.
The ED induced a lot of snarky feelings within me.

Waaaay back when Lucky Star was announced to be the next KyoAni production after Kanon(2006), I casually remarked that it followed the usual pattern of fun-serious-fun-serious-~ productions by KyoAni, and that it would be a "vacation" of sorts for the staff before their next "serious" project, CLANNAD(TV).

Little did I realise then... how far they would take it to the extreme. :heh:

I suppose there are other examples of anime studios who have had conducted "working vacations" during an anime series production, but I am hard-pressed to think of contemporary examples in today's harsher world.

Not many studios have the moolah to burn on gimmicky live-action segments that have absolutely no bearing on the actual series' material. Not if they want to actually use the budget on making decent animation (amongst other aspects of animation production that requires money).

Everytime I see another live-action ED from Lucky Star, I can't help but wonder how many rival animation studios are gnashing their teeth, tearing at their hair, and sharpening their knives as KyoAni unwittingly "shows off" to the anime world that, "Hey! Check this out! We got money to burn!"

[I am giving them the benefit of the doubt that they have no ill-intent whatsoever and that they are not a drug-addled studio who print their key frames on 50,000yen bills. :p]

What makes it even worse for their competitors is that even though they are basically goofing around with Lucky Star, they are STILL raking in the cash through merchandising. Let us be honest with ourselves here. If it was not for the Lucky Star tag on the Character Albums, the sane majority of us would consider them to be abominations to the aural canal.

^[My eyeballs nearly exploded when I tried listening to some of the tracks.]

That said, the deviant in me is vastly enjoying the flamboyance on display by KyoAni. The live-action EDs are mostly nonsense, and at times, it feels as though they generated the script by having a drunk meeting (with weed maybe) and see who wrote the most senseless script.

They have devoted CGI resources to the most random of things. So random that one can't help but wonder whether they used a dartboard to decide.

So it is to their credit that despite all this insanity, all this... deviancy, the core material of Lucky Star still stands on its own and shines. Yes, the Animate sequences, the Lucky Channel segments, and the live-action EDs are all deviations from the source material, but they have never overwhelmed it (unlike Hayate no Gotoku). It is made clear that they are more or less on a different plane of reality.

Cheers.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Random Thoughts on Ep23 (RAW):
---- ----

Although it was a very short segment, Nanako's scene towards the ending induced the greatest laugh from me. The usage of the BGM was brilliant and the comic timing was so intense it sears itself into one's mind.
.
The ED induced a lot of snarky feelings within me.

Waaaay back when Lucky Star was announced to be the next KyoAni production after Kanon(2006), I casually remarked that it followed the usual pattern of fun-serious-fun-serious-~ productions by KyoAni, and that it would be a "vacation" of sorts for the staff before their next "serious" project, CLANNAD(TV).

Little did I realise then... how far they would take it to the extreme. :heh:

I suppose there are other examples of anime studios who have had conducted "working vacations" during an anime series production, but I am hard-pressed to think of contemporary examples in today's harsher world.

Not many studios have the moolah to burn on gimmicky live-action segments that have absolutely no bearing on the actual series' material. Not if they want to actually use the budget on making decent animation (amongst other aspects of animation production that requires money).

Everytime I see another live-action ED from Lucky Star, I can't help but wonder how many rival animation studios are gnashing their teeth, tearing at their hair, and sharpening their knives as KyoAni unwittingly "shows off" to the anime world that, "Hey! Check this out! We got money to burn!"

[I am giving them the benefit of the doubt that they have no ill-intent whatsoever and that they are not a drug-addled studio who print their key frames on 50,000yen bills. :p]

What makes it even worse for their competitors is that even though they are basically goofing around with Lucky Star, they are STILL raking in the cash through merchandising. Let us be honest with ourselves here. If it was not for the Lucky Star tag on the Character Albums, the sane majority of us would consider them to be abominations to the aural canal.

^[My eyeballs nearly exploded when I tried listening to some of the tracks.]

That said, the deviant in me is vastly enjoying the flamboyance on display by KyoAni. The live-action EDs are mostly nonsense, and at times, it feels as though they generated the script by having a drunk meeting (with weed maybe) and see who wrote the most senseless script.

They have devoted CGI resources to the most random of things. So random that one can't help but wonder whether they used a dartboard to decide.

So it is to their credit that despite all this insanity, all this... deviancy, the core material of Lucky Star still stands on its own and shines. Yes, the Animate sequences, the Lucky Channel segments, and the live-action EDs are all deviations from the source material, but they have never overwhelmed it (unlike Hayate no Gotoku). It is made clear that they are more or less on a different plane of reality.

Cheers.

That's all great, but what about the actual episode?

[Kinny Riddle]

Now on to the highlights:

- When typing in Japanese, the OS interface usually have a list of phrases for you to choose after you type the pronunciation, since there can be various versions for the same pronunciation. For example, if you enter "hashi", you may get "chopsticks" or "bridge".

Usually, the most used phrases are listed as the "default" choice, but it seems Kona-chan has set her otaku and 2ch-oriented phrases as her default choices. Irritating Kagamin to no end when trying to type her report and coming out with all sorts of awkward terms. :heh:

- Whether it's transferring files within the PC or via p2p, whenever it says "<3 mins remaining", you often get your hopes up and just stare till it countdowns to 0, but then it changes to "60mins remaining" or more. :D

- Soujirou decides to grab a bite and takes a box of instant noodles, only to find out the flask is out of hot water. LMAO

- Minami-chan, Hiyorin and Patty come to visit a sick Yu-chan. Though Yui-nee only has eyes for Minami-chan and totally neglects the two otaku-girls.

- Hiyorin and Patty quickly clicked with Kona-chan the moment they met, being of the same "species". They discuss how to make someone's chest size grow by groping on them, causing Hiyorin to fantasize Minami-chan shyly letting Yu-chan grope her. lol

- Kona-chan has no problem letting Yu-chan read the doujinshis that Hiyorin has lent her, much to Hiyorin's horror as she pleads Kona-chan to give her a break. :heh:

- Yu-chan: Tamura-san, where do you get your inspiration for your manga (doujins)?
Hiyorin: Mostly from personal experiences.
Yu-chan (blushes): P...personal...experiences...
Hiyorin: You...YOU READ THEM, HAVEN'T YOU!? I specifically told her (Izumi-sempai) not to let her (Yu-chan) read those!!! :heh:

- Kona-chan, Yu-chan and Soujirou watching a show about puppies. Yu-chan comments on how cute the puppies are, while the otaku parent-daughter duo only has eyes on how moe the girl owners are. Different perspectives, eh? :D

- Misao-chan is so uber-giddy this episode that I'm lost for words to describe how funny she is, even though I don't exactly understand the sketches. :eyespin:

- Kagamin wonders if Patty knows anything else in Japan besides otaku culture, and asks if she ever listens to J-Pop.

Patty: Well, I do listen to ORANGE RA*GE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Range), CHEMI*RY (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry_%28band%29), Porno Gr*ffiti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porno_Graffitti) and L'*rc-en-Ciel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Arc-en-Ciel) time to time.

Kagamin: Wow, that's impressive.

Kona-chan: They've all sang anime theme songs, haven't they?

Patty: Wow, how'd you know that?

LOL So true.

- Patty telling Kagamin how she wants to be served by a "maid", and lectures her about the difference between a "maid" and a "domestic helper".
Patty: Seriously, which country do you live in?
Kagamin: Er...are you sure you're talking about Japan?

- Poor Minami-chan, she's no good with dogs even, when she unwittingly shoos her dog away from her dinner, then feels lonely when seeing her mom feeding the dog.

- Poor Minami-chan getting teased by Yukari-san after hearing about how "cool and awesome" Minami-chan is, when she has seen Minami-chan's more cute moments.

- Kagamin: Hi, Kona-chan. Ah, watching mecha-anime as usual, I see?
Kona-chan: Well, I'm not exactly watching it for the mechas.
Kagamin: Then why are you watching it?
Kona-chan: Coz it's got cute girls and boys.

- Kona-chan realizes the way Miyuki sneezes is so much more moe than how she sneezes.

- After hearing from Yu-chan about Minami's accomplishments on 100m track races, Kona-chan ponders whether Minami might lose out in a tight race, as she has a "major disadvantage" - chest size. LOL

- While Kona-chan is playing ero-games with Patty watching...
Yui-nee: AHA! Just what kind of game are you playing?
Kona-chan and Patty fumbles for an answer.
Yu-chan: Hmm, what game is that, onee-chan?
Yui-nee joins in covering up the screen as well.
:D

- Poor Nanako-sensei. :sad: Don't you just hate it, after writing a long message for a blog, email, forum, or whatever and clicking send, the internet crashes on you? That is why I always copy and paste it on a notepad just to be safe. (Including this long post as well. )

- Finally, all the SOS Brigade members have appeared on Lucky Star, with Gotou Yuuko, AKA Gotouza! bringing the berserked Shiraishi under control, and actually managing to keep Akira-sama under wraps. Before leaving, she urges, or rather, coerces Shiraishi and Akira-sama to at least be nice to each other for one more episode.

- Silliest. Shiraishi ED. Ever. 'Nuff said.

- As for the preview, all the side characters wanted to say something, though it's Kagamin that calls the shots, revealing that the title for the final episode turns out to be "Undecided".

Kagamin: Wait, what do you mean "Undecided"!?

[Skane]

That's all great, but what about the actual episode?
Pending subs.

Natch.

[shaoron]

Hey... you guys remember that fake dub of "gangsta mikuru" in youtube?

forget that!
now we have...
gangsta GOTO YUKO!
Screenshots (http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/2007/09/10/lucky-channel-23-gotouza-sama/)

[kenjiharima]

Hey... you guys remember that fake dub of "gangsta mikuru" in youtube?

forget that!
now we have...
gangsta GOTO YUKO!
Screenshots (http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/2007/09/10/lucky-channel-23-gotouza-sama/)


One thing I noticed about Goto Yuko, but not biggy though...


Her dress looks EXACTLY like Kuwabara's from YuyuHaKusho even the Kanji or I just don't know how to read Japanese T__T

http://people.msoe.edu/~gintnerv/kaden/Pics/kuwabara5.jpg



Now downloading the raws... :heh:

[Ascaloth]

One thing I noticed about Goto Yuko, but not biggy though...


Her dress looks EXACTLY like Kuwabara's from YuyuHaKusho even the Kanji or I just don't know how to read Japanese T__T

http://people.msoe.edu/~gintnerv/kaden/Pics/kuwabara5.jpg



Now downloading the raws... :heh:

The kanji reads "No. 1 Healthy" in a literal translation.

What that has to do with the character in question, I have no idea.

[Claymore_Obsessed]

I also know she earned her nickname ゴトゥーザ様 from Kyon's actor by being a serious fan of Fist of North Star, but the rest is probably lost in translation for me.:heh:

EDIT: Here is the original photo of Gotouza-sama, complete with identical helmet and monogram white jacket with the Lucky Channel segment.
http://kei.iichan.net/uni/src/1189423625310.jpg


Here is the explanation of her nickname, in japanese
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/keyword/%a5%b4%a5%c8%a5%a5%a1%bc%a5%b6%cd%cd?kid=176530#f5


I can't provide a decent translation, but I tried to read for personal pleasure.
(disclaimer: my japanese really sucks, so if I got something wrong pardon me :heh: )

It seems there are 2 teories about the origin (Hokuto no Ken and Friza from Dragonball), but according to Gotou-sama herself, it looks like the first one is correct.

As you said, she really likes Hokuto no Ken, expecially Raoh, and she talked often with the seiyuu and the sound postrecording people.
Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon) created the nickname because of Gorubeza, who is a Final Fantasy 4 character.

I'm not a FF expert, so I looked for a Gorubeza picture, and he really looks like Raoh when he is in his Kenou armour, with horned helmet and mantle.

So it went like Gorubeza -> Gotuza ? :heh:

and by the way, "GO GO Gotuza Junai Gumi" ! :D

[Kaoru Chujo]

I'm not sure whether to give every episode a 9 or every episode a 10. There were so many things in this ep to love.

The text-entry scene, where Konata's geek-speak words are revealed as having become the defaults.

"Cute" Minami, and Miyuki and her mom laughing at the fact that her friends think she is "cool." Minami feeling sad because she did the right thing with the dog and her mother gave in and had the pleasure of feeding it.

The chain of screen-hiding as first Yui and then Yutaka come in to see what game Kona/Patty are playing. Hiyori saying that she gets her stories from personal experience, then realizing that Yutaka has read one.

Gotuuza-sama. In her remarks at Anime Expo, Gotou Yuuko said she wanted to get roles that were more like her own character: more masculine and forceful. This is her first.

KyoAni's great (but simple) animation of such things as the wooden sword being pressed into Shiraishi's cheek.

Further to what Skane was saying, I'm not sure that the live-action endings are particularly expensive. They took two trips with a small crew -- one to the seaside and one to the mountains -- did a bunch of taping each time, and came home. I imagine that since the first 12 EDs used the same static scene and the latter 12 used simple live-action, the total cost of EDs may be not that different from the normal cost of a fancy animated ED.

[Kyuusai]

This is my favorite episode to date. There have been other scenes that I've enjoyed as much, but as a whole I can safely say it's my favorite.

I've probably talked about timing on more than half of these episode threads, but here... it was fine! They stuck with the established Lucky Star style and simply made the timing work throughout the entire episode. Bravo.

Heartwarming character portraits? Check. Relatable, near-reference-free otaku lifestyle humor? Very check.

The whole episode, though, I could feel things winding down. The "kusai" running gag finally came to a close, the last SOS-dan member was finally featured in a truly awesome scene, and most of all... It was as though since now every element had finally been introduced, Lucky Star could finally just be itself, comfortable in its own skin.

This episode was non-stop hilarity and emotional satisfaction. The only thing wrong with it was the fact that I know every episode before now could have been this good.

[Kaoru Chujo]

...I've probably talked about timing on more than half of these episode threads, but here... it was fine! They stuck with the established Lucky Star style and simply made the timing work throughout the entire episode. Bravo....The end credits say this ep was written by the original director, Yamamoto Yutaka, and edited by the lead writer, Machida Douko. I still don't know if this means she fixed up something he had written before he left, or if he is back with KyoAni now. The storyboard and episode direction were by Yoshioka Shinobu, who did eps 3, 9, and 16; as well as eps 4, 10, 16, 22 of Kanon; and eps 7 and 10 of FMP:TSR.

[darksider]

Watched ep. 23 and Yes! This is what I would expect in the Lucky Star anime!
Utterly random with no plot whatsoever, and they don't even try to connect anything, just barrages of randomly comical scenes! Hit or miss they don't care! :D
And almost all the characters are drawn so lively (except poor Tsukasa, but she is enough popular already I guess) and each scene is mostly well timed. Minimal flaw can still be seen but excellent overall.

My rating is... say, 9.7 maybe? (rounded to 10)

So many good moments and I don't bother to write them down this time. :)
Anyway, Misao vs Kagami on a video game was very good.
That seemingly uninteresting situation depicted their personality so well.

Scariest Lucky Channel ever! She never went yelling, and didn't pile into them too much,
which is the scariest thing. I wonder if Lady Gottuza already offed Ono...

And, geez, looks like Kyoani beautifully tricked me.
I think I actually have known the ep 24 is 'undecided' long enough;
there were even pictures of the script titled as 'undecided' on the web,
so it wasn't any sort of secret after all! I guess I should have expected that though.
And no idea what to expect now... what guys...

The only thing wrong with it was the fact that I know every episode before now could have been this good.

Hmm, to some extent it must be true, but, honestly I can't totally agree.
If you're not allowed to reload, or to set up a defensive perimeter, you can't fire at peak power.

[Anh_Minh]

Poor Minami. It was her episode, and, at the same time, it wasn't her episode...

Nanako crying is so cute, though I do feel sorry for her.

Someone finally called Konata "sempai"! And the united otakus bit was good.

[Ashlotte]

After watching this episode it made me really sad that it took them so long to introduce the full cast...Seems like such a shame to only be graced by everyones performances for such a short time...*sigh*

Well either way it was a pretty damn cute and funny episode...L*C makes me want to go re watch "Mikuru Asahina's Adventure Episode 00" again. :heh:

[archanfels]

A great episode.

Not as powerful as 22, nor epicly eventful as people may expect from the second to last episode, it turns out to be quite "normal", which IMO is actually appropriate and fitting for it's the sum of all the little things that we have come to love about Lucky Star: randomness, culture reference, otaku humor, regular humor, moe factors, konaGami interaction(yes, this one deserves its own catagory) and more.

Another reason I liked it this way is because an actually eventful, epic episode will give you a feeling of closure, remind you that one of your favorite show is truly coming to an end. But with the way ep. 23 is, it feels like nothing is changing, it's the same good ol'fun we all know and love, and thus gives me a sort of hope that this fun that is LS will someday continue, and damn do I hope for that.

[Shiroth]

Episode 21 was great enjoyment from start to finish, Lucky Star style. I like how each of the new characters had some great screen time --- from lol Patty, to classic Hiyori.

Misao yet again shines so bright, i want to play video games with her~

& lol Nanako's last scene was brilliant. I've had that happen to be so many times. Such a classic Nanako thing to happen.

[Vexx]

Guerrand just announced their sub of ep 23. Fire them torrents off now.

[Calawain]

The best parts have been pointed out already, I'll give this episode a 9/10, I really enjoyed it. It was a bit sad during the preview noting that the last episode is next =(

But hey, that means there's only like a month left until Clannad right? ;x

[Yuu-neko]

Orange Ran**, Chemis**, Suneoha**, Porno Graffi***, L'Arc~en~C***, *inn, Night***, etc... L'Arc~en~Ciel rules!!!

Oh my... I was crossing my fingers on this part:
Good job Patty-chan! XD...

[kamo]

I really liked this episode. It had a lot of random talking and there weren't any big events like in the last few episodes (not that I mind them, but it just feels more Lucky Star-ish like this, with nothing happening ^^;; ) Too bad there's only one more episode. ;-;
And Ayano talked! <3 Finally.
I don't get the part when they were watching the dog show though, and Konata says that girl had to be a tsundere because of her pigtails (twintails?) But Yutaka always has pigtails, and I thought most cute characters like her have them instead of tsunderes?

[Midonin]

I loved this episode. Kagami not being able to enter her message properly was hilarious, as was Kuroi-sensei not being able to send her journal entry. Great way to bookend the episode. I completely related to Miyuki's dental visit, and also to Patty. Listening to a wide variety of artists...so long as they perform in anime. That's me right there. Konata and her dad during the dog show was hilarious, as I don't think anybody but Yutaka were actually interested in the dogs.

Got a small laugh out of Konata buying Kahlua's CD - admiring yourself again, are you, Konata? No matter how many times it will be said, it shall be said again - Yuko Goto in the end was completely badass. Can't wait to see how Akira and Minoru pull the last one off.

If I listed all the great moments in this episode, it would turn into a recap, so a 10/10 for enjoyment all the way through.

[aorta]

Kagami's reaction to Powerpuff Girls Z at Gamers was funny.

[Panzer Bandit]

So Kagami seemed pretty irritated with someone on the phone in this episode...

...could it be?

Are we going to be introduced to Kagamin's love interest in the final episode?

[•••Shadow•••]

This was probably one of the best eps...
And lol. I wonder what LCh will be in ep 24 XD

[Wandering_Youth]

I like this episode a lot since it give Minami more screen time and, wow, I was rather surprised seeing her being so forgetful in the grocery store. Hehe. the scene with Miyuki and her mom was also quite funny seeing how her mom was just holding her rising laughter all in as they talked about Minami. Princeless. :D

Poor Minami got the cold shoulder from Konata when they were comparing their *sizes*. That was just mean. :heh: There was alot more that I liked in this episode but talking about them all would be a tedious task for me so I'm stop.

Oh yes, I totally didn't know Yuko Goto was doing that girl in the Lucky Channel section of the episode. I was like who the heck is this? Question, is the 3rd picture in this link (http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/2007/09/10/lucky-channel-23-gotouza-sama/) is suppose to depict Yuko Goto?

[Cloudkiller1]

The overall humor was somewhat lacking in my opinion but not enough to make it an average rating. Overall a nice episode somewhat tame episode. LC was epic from the little battle they had. :D I laughed my ass off there.

[mickal555]

Awesome episode, I loved it.

Loved the computer screen shots too, I wounder what was in those folders on her desktop? :D Translatable?

[Kaioshin Sama]

This was probably one of the best eps...
And lol. I wonder what LCh will be in ep 24 XD

I'm telling people, either the whole Haruhi voice cast will show up (The people), tear down the set (what's left of it) in a fit of antics and then wave goodbye or they'll do something relating to Clannad or Haruhi Season 2.

[kenjiharima]

So Kagami seemed pretty irritated with someone on the phone in this episode...

...could it be?

Are we going to be introduced to Kagamin's love interest in the final episode?

The otaku student? Or Minoru?...maybe...

but the new images on the image section gives us hints what will happen next...

[Anh_Minh]

Also of note: isn't it funny that the dojikko family made fun of Minami's cute side? (Well, it's true they made more fun of the image she projected than of her actual clumsiness, but.)

[Calawain]

I like this episode a lot since it give Minami more screen time and, wow, I was rather surprised seeing her being so forgetful in the grocery store. Hehe. the scene with Miyuki and her mom was also quite funny seeing how her mom was just holding her rising laughter all in as they talked about Minami. Princeless. :D

Poor Minami got the cold shoulder from Konata when they were comparing their *sizes*. That was just mean. :heh: There was alot more that I liked in this episode but talking about them all would be a tedious task for me so I'm stop.

Oh yes, I totally didn't know Yuko Goto was doing that girl in the Lucky Channel section of the episode. I was like who the heck is this? Question, is the 3rd picture in this link (http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/2007/09/10/lucky-channel-23-gotouza-sama/) is suppose to depict Yuko Goto?

Minami wasn't being forgetful if it's the scene I think you are talking about. Her mom wanted her to buy a bunch of whatever was in those black cans, and there was a limit of one per customer. So she would buy one, leave the store, and come back in to buy another, until she got all the one's she wanted. I used to work at a grocery store and people would try to do that by going to a different cashier, it amused me.

[shaoron]

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4434/konakhaluapw9.jpg

and i quote...

Konata: I haven't watched the anime. But the moment i see the cover, i couldn't help thinking we're somehow connected.

anyone can tell me why..? :D

[Midonin]

Glad that someone else besides me noticed that little detail. Once again, Konata admires the singing of herself.

[Anh_Minh]

What anime is that?

[Midonin]

Galaxy Angel Rune. It's the character song for Kahlua Marjoram, who Aya Hirano also voiced.

[TnAdct1]

I don't get the part when they were watching the dog show though, and Konata says that girl had to be a tsundere because of her pigtails (twintails?) But Yutaka always has pigtails, and I thought most cute characters like her have them instead of tsunderes? I have a feeling that the person that Konata was commenting about was one of those girls who has long hair and styles it in a pigtail/twintail. While this hairstyle is considered cute for girls with short and medium-sized hair, a long-haired girl sporting pigtails is usually a sign that she's tsundere.

For examples of what I mean, just look at Asuna from Negima, Eri from School Rumble, and a certain "older twin" whose name currently escapes my mind. ;)

[MajideTime]

Why do the good die young? Or in this case, why does the awesome anime end so soon? What I liked about this episode was that nothing amazing happened, but it was still awesome. I 'specially liked this ep's Hyori yuri fantasy. Fangirl-tastic. And Minami! She was awesome.

[aorta]

Kagami's reaction to Powerpuff Girls Z at Gamers was funny.

Just realized that Emiri Katō also voiced Momoko Akatsutsumi aka Hyper Blossom in PPGZ.

She also played a maid in Pumpkin Scissors; is that why Patty tells her she wants a maid? Odd coincidence?

[Mirrinus]

Otaku culture jokes were at an all-time high here, which lead to quite a few laughs. Also, extra screentime for Minami and Misao is always good. Misao really does crack me up.

And does this mean Yuko Goto is more GAR than Shiraishi now? >.>

[Vexx]

Felt like a good solid mid-season episode... so I guess that's my only real complaint. Just a collection of gags, if you didn't like this one, just wait for the next one kind of humor.

Probably would give it an 8 but the overload of brown-haired snaggle-sugar bumped it to a 9. Also extra icing with one of my favorite voice actresses: Gotou initiating her "I'm going to do more assertive roles like the real me" campaign. And finally, I think Kagamin had more variety of expression this episode than in the rest of the season.

[rainnydaiis]

I just loved this episode. Especially at the end with Kuroi Sensei and the whole blog thing. Also I just loved the Lucky Channel and the ED. Just kept me laughing over and over.

I'm really depressed because that next episode will be the last? Maybe a season 2 will pop out. Hopefully.

[Omfgbbqwtf]

Nice episode, rated it 9/10, I was going to give it an 8, but that last bit of Kuroi sensei is just too funny. That happen to me many times before, and I just hated it so much! The sniffle part is just... put a smile on my face. 1 more episode to go.....

[Maveric]

I thought Patty's comment on the hentai pic being censored was hilarious.

Patty> Is this imaged bugged up?

Konata> Nah, don't worry about it, that's how it's supposed to be.

Patty> Hmmmm, it still looks immoral...

:D

[Yuu-neko]

I just loved this episode. Especially at the end with Kuroi Sensei and the whole blog thing. Also I just loved the Lucky Channel and the ED. Just kept me laughing over and over.

I'm really depressed because that next episode will be the last? Maybe a season 2 will pop out. Hopefully.

It has happened to me too... It sucks... Definetly understand how Kuroi sensei feels XD...

[HashiriyaR32]

Who got all the J-Rock/pop artists that Patty mentioned?

I only caught ORANGE RANGE, L'arc~en~ciel, Porno Graffiti, and Nightmare.

EDIT: LOL @ Goto-san appearing in Lucky Channel!

[Zero Shinohara]

Phew. Time for Zero's take on this, huh? Like most of you, I'm not lazy to shorten my comments and I actually enjoy taking my time :D

Overall it was a great episode, and a real fun one to watch as well. It was also a good relief considering 22 got me really depressed, and as I'm recovering from it, good ol' Lucky*Star awesomeness is always good.

First, Kagamin~'s face while she used Kona-chan's computer is priceless. "Hey, wanna talk about this computer for a bit?" should also be entered as one of her most memorable lines. The junk-mail scene was also hilarious. I almost died laughing at the E-mail subjects. "You've won 5 million bales of rice!". Who hasn't ever gotten one of these? :heh:

The only joke in the entire episode I didn't get was after that, where Soujirou makes a cup-ramen and says "I got teased...". Does anyone want to shed some light on that?

I also feel kinda sad for Hiyori and Patty - Cousin Yui is all over Minami-chan and completely forgets about them. I've had that happen to me quite a few times. The arrows pointing at them also make the whole scene even funnier. But I think that the most memorable scene from this episode is when Konata, Hiyori and Patty are discussing the whole "younger-sister-moe" complex. The three of them seem to know exactly what the others were thinking and even agreed on it. But then the "Attack of scorn from the common folk" kicks in and they all feel so rejected. I don't know a single otaku who's never felt that the others around them gave'em that "What the..." look when they made an anime-related comment. In fact, I get that quite a lot from my family.

But releasing Minami-chan's secret into the open... That's Konata for you! "I normally base my manga off of personal experience" - Yutaka's reaction was indeed, moetastic. :heh: Kagami's phone call was also pretty interesting, although I don't know if that had much to it as you guys are thinking... And HELL no, I don't want that dude from episode 21 touching my beloved Kagamin~!

I also think that another high-point in this episode was the topic on music featuring Patty. You could say it's a "western-otaku" thing, but the fact that all of these bands - and the reason she listens to them - is because they made Anime songs applies very well to us, here in the other hemisphere. I mean, without watching Anime, would most of us ever listen to a japanese song? Perhaps not ones that we would like, at least. One of the points in this episode that I liked is that they gave us, western-otaku, a little attention through the eyes of Patty and how she thinks of Japan. The topic on Maids was actually enjoyable, since some us rarely remember that the real Japan doesn't have maids - as we know them - running around in every household like some series make us believe. "Otakus are the pride of Japanese Culture" - or so she says. :heh:

Konata playing with Kagami's pigtails was also moetastic. Misao's "You're scary to begin with, Hiiragi!" also had me rofling.

Also, Patty's comment: "Isn't this image bugged up?" shows that she's probably just been introduced to hentai and the like, at least in a major way. I mean, a great deal of what's published in the hentai/doujin circle has to be censored by law, right? She shouldn't have been so surprised by it if she had. Poor Patty-chan, being corrupted by Konata's legacy.

And, of course, Nanako's chain of unfortunate events always shine brightly whenever they show up. That has happened to me so many times that >every< time I write something in a webpage, I copy it as a whole before sending it. It would be great if they added a scene where she actually did the same, but forgot about it and copied something over. That's the problem I'm facing at the moment. :heh:

All in all, a great, normal Lucky*Star episode. Misao's appearance are always fun and I'm getting the vibes that her seiyuu will get out of her Lucky*Star role much like Aya-chan did after voicing Haruhi. Her voice is solid and cute, and the amount of "Hiiragiii" and "Uuus" and "Waaahs" that expresses Misao's personality so well might also count a bit for that. I don't want to dwell much on what the last episode will be like, otherwise I'll expecience Post-anime-depression even before it actually ends. This is definitely a series that will be missed, but also remembered for years to come.

[Ascaloth]

The only joke in the entire episode I didn't get was after that, where Soujirou makes a cup-ramen and says "I got teased...". Does anyone want to shed some light on that?


Hmmm, I'd say that's Guerrand not knowing how to sub that line more than anything else. Try thinking in the vein of "I got snookered" or "I got pWn3d" and see if it makes more sense to you. :p

Anyway, to keep it short, I thought the Lucky Channel was better than the main deal this time round. Usually that would mean that the main deal wasn't that good, but this isn't the case this time; Lucky Channel was just too good this time. Gotouza-saaaamaaaaaaa!!!!!! :love:

So here's a "what-if" question; would you guys pay to see a KyoAni original series featuring Gotouza-sama as the lead? :D

[shaoron]

So here's a "what-if" question; would you guys pay to see a KyoAni original series featuring Gotouza-sama as the lead? :D

if she's always as awesome as she was in LC23 almost all the time...

YES!

but then i'm torn between seeing her with a bamboo sword and the typical bandages around her chest with an open coat...

vs

mikuru beam.. :p

[Claies]

Oh dear...they're really rushing volume 4 into this. Looks like a second season really isn't in the cards if they're running like that.

[HashiriyaR32]

but then i'm torn between seeing her with a bamboo sword and the typical bandages around her chest with an open coat...

vs

mikuru beam..

vs

box-cutter?

[CrowKenobi]

Oh dear...they're really rushing volume 4 into this. Looks like a second season really isn't in the cards if they're running like that.Well, IF Lucky Star gets a second season, we probably won't see it until '09 at best, thus we'll have more manga material to work with! :D

:cool:

[workingclass]

noob question dont brand me for it. but what does moe mean?

[CrowKenobi]

noob question dont brand me for it. but what does moe mean?Wiki is your best friend! :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_%28slang%29

:cool:

[Kempis Curious]

The only joke in the entire episode I didn't get was after that, where Soujirou makes a cup-ramen and says "I got teased...". Does anyone want to shed some light on that?


Kinny Riddle pointed out earlier in the thread that the water ran out while he was filling it. I was puzzled by that joke too, since water did come out. :D But even with the punchline, I don't find it very funny since he could just fill it the rest of the way with tap water and microwave it. :confused: Maybe someone could tell us if that's impossible or comically tedious.

I'm not going to verify it... I used to like it, but I ate too much in college. And now I'm embarrassed to say, even though I'm a long-time otaku, I HATE CUP-O-NOODLE Argh, just thinking about it has made me vomit into my own mouth. :mad: Need listerine now.



On a more appetizing note, did anyone recognize the posters at GAMERS?

-k

curious

[shaoron]

noob question dont brand me for it. but what does moe mean?

maybe next you'd be asking what "yuri" and "yaoi" means jsut like yu-chan! :lol:

[AVPlaya]

Oh A 10 for me.. I managed to sqeeze time to watch this on time this week... oh the joy of Lucky Star; this one has everything I love about it, but the climax is the appearance of Gottouza-sama... it was brilliantly paced and drawn. My favorite L*C by far. I knew Gotoh-sama can do a cold-blooded killer... Her yankee-ness just feels so... real... The focus on Minami and Patty is a good pace; we even saw Minami-haha for the first time. Seemed just as nice as her daughter. I don't know, Miyuki's mom getting moe-ed to death by Minami made me really wanted to see more of her; didn't like her as much before.

At this point, near the end, KyuAni/Yamakan is reminding you why you all love this anime to death. The moes, the tsunderes, the chibi, and the flat-chested brigadel the in-jokes (kusai!), the otaku reference, the random TV shows, and the true meaning of lucky Channel. You know after EP24, you will all miss this show deeply and watch every episode again and again. I know I will.

In honor of the ending. I promise that I will have all the references caught up by the release of EP24... Oh I need some indepth L*S research soon or I'm going through a withdrawal... damn my job!


Kinny Riddle pointed out earlier in the thread that the water ran out while he was filling it. I was puzzled by that joke too, since water did come out. :D But even with the punchline, I don't find it very funny since he could just fill it the rest of the way with tap water and microwave it. :confused: Maybe someone could tell us if that's impossible or comically tedious.

Oh you must not have that much experience with instant noodles. First of all, modern Japanese cup noodles are very VERY close to the real thing - so the water temperature, "brewing" time, and water level are all critical. If you already sank a part of the noodle in water while the others stay dry, you will get inconsistent level of noodle chewiness. That's a big NONO. Secondly, if you do NOT emerge the entire noodle pack under a specific water of a certain temperature, the flavor will be different and again, the chewiness will change. If you dip it in cold water and then try to heat it, it will in variably be different than the normal process and the noodle will become mushy. Might as well threw the whole thing out.

Secondly, The noodle bowl Souichirou was eating is the Kitsune version of the wildly popular Nissin Donbei. It's not normal noodle, but UDON noodles with a huge piece of Kitsune on top. If you don't do it RIGHT, the udon will come out like mush and the Kitsune will be uneatable. I know this because I buy it all the time, and I have ruined a few of them. I TOTALLY understand the pain Souichirou went under. It's PAINFUL because Donbeis are REALLY REALLY GOOD. If you have a Japanese market near by, please just go buy it.

http://donbei.jp/syohin/index.html

[Liquidwax]

It was a fun episode.

Pretty much typical of the entire series, and a nice run up to the end episode, more of the same but in a fun way that makes you glad you watched it.

Misao is great, plenty of little hints of her here... almost developing the character, but it's too late and that makes me sad, Misao is a great character..

It's sorta sad that the series will end, but also good, it's been fun.. and the in jokes haven't gotten too old.. leave them wanting more.. thats the best way to go..

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

This episode was very fun compared to the previous one, which was really emotional.
We had all of the Lucky Star characters interact with each other, lots of Minami, and it felt really fast paced for some reason.
I liked Misao...she had alot of screen time in this episode. She sounds so funny whenever she talks.
Patricia getting influenced about Japanese culture from Konata...and made her into an Otaku...hahah that was cool.
Hyori still having those Yuri images whenever Minami and Yutaka are together.
9/10, I liked the preview for the next and final episode..."TBA"...did they really not have a title for the last episode?

[Tsukiyoshi]

10/10 from me!
This one had me lol-ing the entire ep. a good ep to mark the nearing end of a series? probable not but it was a still good ep nonetheless
ill keep this one on my psp forever

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

oh yea, Tsukiyoshi's avatar just reminded me about Kuroi-sensei's little journal blog in this episode...I hate it when that happens to me...you type in something long in some website, you load it up, then then the "page couldn't be displayed" warning pops up...refresh the site, and it still couldn't refresh.
I could really relate to that situation.:heh:
but funny how it happened to Kuroi-sensei though.

[kenjiharima]

maybe there's gonna be a season2, but it will have ALOT of fillers that is not in the manga. Maybe... XD

[Zero Shinohara]

Oh you must not have that much experience with instant noodles. First of all, modern Japanese cup noodles are very VERY close to the real thing - so the water temperature, "brewing" time, and water level are all critical. If you already sank a part of the noodle in water while the others stay dry, you will get inconsistent level of noodle chewiness. That's a big NONO. Secondly, if you do NOT emerge the entire noodle pack under a specific water of a certain temperature, the flavor will be different and again, the chewiness will change. If you dip it in cold water and then try to heat it, it will in variably be different than the normal process and the noodle will become mushy. Might as well threw the whole thing out.

Secondly, The noodle bowl Souichirou was eating is the Kitsune version of the wildly popular Nissin Donbei. It's not normal noodle, but UDON noodles with a huge piece of Kitsune on top. If you don't do it RIGHT, the udon will come out like mush and the Kitsune will be uneatable. I know this because I buy it all the time, and I have ruined a few of them. I TOTALLY understand the pain Souichirou went under. It's PAINFUL because Donbeis are REALLY REALLY GOOD. If you have a Japanese market near by, please just go buy it.

Sasu ga AVPlaya-san desu ne! ( Hopefully I'm not embarrassing myself in here. ) Thanks for giving us a little insight on that. Even after Ascaloth cleared that up, I still didn't get the meaning of the joke completely. And yes, I don't have a lot of experience with cup-ramen, since all of the ones I eat are the simple, Wal-mart-type ones. Pretty lame, but that's more of a "emergency" ration for me than a real meal. But I'm pretty amazed that Ramen is so complicated to make. But well, at least now I can make some sense out of that scene.


maybe there's gonna be a season2, but it will have ALOT of fillers that is not in the manga. Maybe... XD

Well, if you ask me, I wouldn't consider Lucky*Star to ever have fillers. Fillers normally happen when the anime deviates away from its original storyline... but since L*S has little to no storyline at all, I don't think the term "filler" applies. Perhaps "original" anime stories or something of the sort?


Patricia getting influenced about Japanese culture from Konata...and made her into an Otaku...hahah that was cool.
Hyori still having those Yuri images whenever Minami and Yutaka are together.

Actually, if you ask me, Patty has been been appreciating anime since before going to Japan. Of course, Konata had a large influence in her otakuness, that I can tell. But I wouldn't think that Konata forced her into otakudom because of her wide acceptance of the otaku lifestyle. Well, that could be just a theory, of course, but her level of otakuness isn't something you can achieve in just a couple of months, right?

[dodgethis_sg]

Oh wow. Konata is actually watching Gigantic Formula. And that's the OP, United Force by Minami Kuriyabashi.

[mickal555]

Actually, if you ask me, Patty has been been appreciating anime since before going to Japan. Of course, Konata had a large influence in her otakuness, that I can tell. But I wouldn't think that Konata forced her into otakudom because of her wide acceptance of the otaku lifestyle. Well, that could be just a theory, of course, but her level of otakuness isn't something you can achieve in just a couple of months, right?
Wrong. dfjhd

[Zero Shinohara]

Okay, that was a discussion-inducing response. But I'll leave it at that.

[Claies]

Sasu ga AVPlaya-san desu ne! ( Hopefully I'm not embarrassing myself in here. ) Thanks for giving us a little insight on that. Even after Ascaloth cleared that up, I still didn't get the meaning of the joke completely. And yes, I don't have a lot of experience with cup-ramen, since all of the ones I eat are the simple, Wal-mart-type ones. Pretty lame, but that's more of a "emergency" ration for me than a real meal. But I'm pretty amazed that Ramen is so complicated to make. But well, at least now I can make some sense out of that scene.
Oh god...you eat the Maruchan / American Nissin blocks of death? I would sooner burn one than eat one of those. Instant noodles is one thing that America does worse than South Asia.


Well, if you ask me, I wouldn't consider Lucky*Star to ever have fillers. Fillers normally happen when the anime deviates away from its original storyline... but since L*S has little to no storyline at all, I don't think the term "filler" applies. Perhaps "original" anime stories or something of the sort?
It's either no filler or all filler. The thing is we have absolutely no idea what the author would come up with from one month to the next.


Actually, if you ask me, Patty has been been appreciating anime since before going to Japan. Of course, Konata had a large influence in her otakuness, that I can tell. But I wouldn't think that Konata forced her into otakudom because of her wide acceptance of the otaku lifestyle. Well, that could be just a theory, of course, but her level of otakuness isn't something you can achieve in just a couple of months, right?
So tell me...why else would an American come to Japan knowing how to speak Japanese, albeit with an accent?

I'm pretty sure Patty's been watching classic anime (Love Hina, Azumanga Daioh, Haruhi, etc.) dub-style with some subs until Konata taught her everything else. She's one of those non-Asian anime fans who know the basics of anime (sailor fuku, yuri, sushi, and ramen) but no better (not Shinto nor 2channel, etc.).

[Psycho Power J]

Oh you must not have that much experience with instant noodles. First of all, modern Japanese cup noodles are very VERY close to the real thing - so the water temperature, "brewing" time, and water level are all critical. If you already sank a part of the noodle in water while the others stay dry, you will get inconsistent level of noodle chewiness. That's a big NONO. Secondly, if you do NOT emerge the entire noodle pack under a specific water of a certain temperature, the flavor will be different and again, the chewiness will change. If you dip it in cold water and then try to heat it, it will in variably be different than the normal process and the noodle will become mushy. Might as well threw the whole thing out.

Secondly, The noodle bowl Souichirou was eating is the Kitsune version of the wildly popular Nissin Donbei. It's not normal noodle, but UDON noodles with a huge piece of Kitsune on top. If you don't do it RIGHT, the udon will come out like mush and the Kitsune will be uneatable. I know this because I buy it all the time, and I have ruined a few of them. I TOTALLY understand the pain Souichirou went under. It's PAINFUL because Donbeis are REALLY REALLY GOOD. If you have a Japanese market near by, please just go buy it.

http://donbei.jp/syohin/index.htmlThat's all very interesting. I've eaten the same cup noodles, but I've never messed it up before. We don't have that hot water dispenser, so we only heat water just when we're about to eat. Never had to worry about running out that way.

[Sheba]

So tell me...why else would an American come to Japan knowing how to speak Japanese, albeit with an accent?

I'm pretty sure Patty's been watching classic anime (Love Hina, Azumanga Daioh, Haruhi, etc.) dub-style with some subs until Konata taught her everything else. She's one of those non-Asian anime fans who know the basics of anime (sailor fuku, yuri, sushi, and ramen) but no better (not Shinto nor 2channel, etc.).



Think of Patty as a moé version of Chipp from Guilty Gear and Sodom from Final Fight + Street Fighter Alpha.

They are americans who loves japan a bit too much.

Patty can be seen as a satire of japanophile foreigners.

[kenjiharima]

Well, if you ask me, I wouldn't consider Lucky*Star to ever have fillers. Fillers normally happen when the anime deviates away from its original storyline... but since L*S has little to no storyline at all, I don't think the term "filler" applies. Perhaps "original" anime stories or something of the sort?


Yeah...that's much better term than fillers ughh...Naruto.

Maybe the Light Novel will be animated after this 2 final eps? Maybe...yet again XD

[Kinny Riddle]

Think of Patty as a moé version of Chipp from Guilty Gear and Sodom from Final Fight + Street Fighter Alpha.

They are americans who loves japan a bit too much.

Patty can be seen as a satire of japanophile foreigners.
Perhaps we ought to have Patty as ASuki's mascot for their daily "rush" in the Saimoe tournament now going on, to symbolize all them "wacky gaijin otas" who supposedly know "too much" about Japan's "culture".

[Kaioshin Sama]

Think of Patty as a moé version of Chipp from Guilty Gear and Sodom from Final Fight + Street Fighter Alpha.

They are americans who loves japan a bit too much.

Patty can be seen as a satire of japanophile foreigners.

Don't you mean "Katana".:p A football costumed Samurai wannabe from America who wants to become......oh god how did they even put it in the mangled translation. The whole character idea was strange. I liked how he misprounces Kamikaze in his ending though, but I could never be sure if it was an on purpose mispronounciation or Capcom just messed things up.

I get the feeling I've seen a Patty type character in another anime before.

Also I think we also have to be fair as well as how Japanese anime has portrayed American Culture and Mannerisms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4HsAULtuM) in the the past as well though. It's a two way relationship. I can't get over how in so many animes I've seen, American characters are portrayed as buff, loud, materialistic, rude and culturally insensitive types.

[kenjiharima]

Sarah Adiemus from Sukuran? and the blond girl from Ai Aoiyori something...forgot the title that stayed to much inJapan she almost forgot to speak in english.

[AVPlaya]

Sarah Adiemus from Sukuran? and the blond girl from Ai Aoiyori something...forgot the title that stayed to much inJapan she almost forgot to speak in english.

Well, Anna Coppola from Ichimashi doesn't even speak English at all, despite being Born in England. She's not an otaku, but gaijin who knows more about Japan than your average Japanese is not unusual anymore. They're on TV everyday. There are a lot of kids like Anna Tsuchiya who looked very gaijin but can't speak English to save their live. I think what makes Patty unusual is that ordinary Japanese still have problem adjusting to the gaijin ota. Most Japanese would stereotype the shiroi gaijin as being "cooler" than the Japanese, so seeing the otaku-gaijin is an unholy mixing of two opposite stereotypes that just doesn't compute. I think the respect the outsiders paid to the otaku culture has a lot of do with the rise of the otaku status in the recent years. Soon maybe things will turn around for the Japanese otaku, that the intimate knowledge of moe-types and the ability to perform ota-gei would be considered gakkoi. And everyone of us gaiin-tachi reading this forum rignt now is contributing to it.

So in my mind, Go Patty!

That's all very interesting. I've eaten the same cup noodles, but I've never messed it up before. We don't have that hot water dispenser, so we only heat water just when we're about to eat. Never had to worry about running out that way.

Well, almost every single Japanese family will need two item to call a house a home: a rice cooker and a hot water dispenser. Actually that's true for almost all East Asian families. You need a rice cooker to eat, and you need the water bottle for tea and instant noodles. That's the first thing you buy when you move to a new place - I've helped my shares of newbies and FOBs to get started with life in the US, and the first things they all want to get are these two items (if they didn't bring their own already!) Since everyone has one, getting fooled by the water-level meter is a regular event in most families. Unless we want to do the full ramen deal where we cook the noodle in a pot with veggies and other goodies, we'd have to fight with the water bottle every time. In my household, we eat instant noodles as nightly snacks (I think my wife is addicted), so we understand this drama very well.


Remember kids, when you want a rice cooker or hot water dispenser/bottle, always get Zojirushi (http://www.zojirushi.com/). Tiger and other brands maybe cheaper or claim to have more features, but no brand beat the Zojirushi in term of quality.

[kenjiharima]

wait a minute...

So Sodom/Katana from Final Fight/ SF Alpha Series(that was beaten the hell out of Guy) can be compared to her attitude in a sense... XD

Either way she's one with the OUTLAWS!!! New team outlaw Konata, Patty and Hiyorin. :D

[Kaoru Chujo]

...Patty can be seen as a satire of japanophile foreigners.But it's a very loving satire. Impossible to take offense. Patty is somewhat excessive, but quite sweet and quite capable.
I knew Gotoh-sama can do a cold-blooded killer... Her yankee-ness just feels so... real... I'm so glad that she got her wish to play a tougher character, more like her real self. And that "yankee-ness" may be come by honestly. After Anime Expo, she spent at least a couple of weeks in the US. And before she became a seiyuu, she was in college studying to become an English translator. I think she loves America and sees herself riding her motorcycle from biker bar to biker bar across the Southwest.

[AVPlaya]

I'm so glad that she got her wish to play a tougher character, more like her real self. And that "yankee-ness" may be come by honestly. After Anime Expo, she spent at least a couple of weeks in the US. And before she became a seiyuu, she was in college studying to become an English translator. I think she loves America and sees herself riding her motorcycle from biker bar to biker bar across the Southwest.

But she seemed so bubbly (and kinda fake) in Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou; an act for the otageishi perhaps?

I can totally see her do an Easy Rider thing across the West... oh that would be so hot...

[Vexx]

But it's a very loving satire. Impossible to take offense. Patty is somewhat excessive, but quite sweet and quite capable.

Agreed, compared to many satirical comedic renditions of "americans", Patty comes off much more realistically. Earnest if a little clueless about the real position of anime's location in japanese culture.

I'll second AVPlaya's recommendation on Zojirushi for modern gear ... though I'm still a fan of the basic non-computerized one-switch (uses a pressure sensor) rice cooker. We've had ours for about 29 years (it was a marriage present from wife's grandfather).

[Zero Shinohara]

Well, Anna Coppola from Ichimashi doesn't even speak English at all, despite being Born in England. She's not an otaku, but gaijin who knows more about Japan than your average Japanese is not unusual anymore. They're on TV everyday. There are a lot of kids like Anna Tsuchiya who looked very gaijin but can't speak English to save their live. I think what makes Patty unusual is that ordinary Japanese still have problem adjusting to the gaijin ota. Most Japanese would stereotype the shiroi gaijin as being "cooler" than the Japanese, so seeing the otaku-gaijin is an unholy mixing of two opposite stereotypes that just doesn't compute. I think the respect the outsiders paid to the otaku culture has a lot of do with the rise of the otaku status in the recent years. Soon maybe things will turn around for the Japanese otaku, that the intimate knowledge of moe-types and the ability to perform ota-gei would be considered gakkoi. And everyone of us gaiin-tachi reading this forum rignt now is contributing to it.

So in my mind, Go Patty!


Funny you brought this up, because I was planning on asking it at the Japanese Culture topic in the Off-Topic section. I understand that, for the sake of the story, Kona and Patty became friends, or at least partners, quite quickly, even if Patty is a gaijin-otaku. But, in general, how are foreign otaku seen inside the amazing Japanese otaku circle? Obviously, I'd say that we are, at the very least, seen as posers and dishonorable bastards who can't appreciate the true meaning of Anime. ( Obviously, a rough and overly general statement by my part. I'm pretty sure that your average Japanese won't be bothered that much by foreigners and their anime addiction. )

But what do you mean by "cooler"? That just because we're not japanese we're allowed to express outselves in an otaku way more openly than the japanese do? In my opinion, that would be a huge misconception... I mean, Anime is mainstream in Japan. Not only anime, but light novels and manga... You can find them everywhere, including ads, and they take many, many forms and shapes and speak to a very diverse audience. From small children to the older folks, the part of the Japanese culture that hovers around anime has something for them all. Which is not the case in most places here in the west. What does your average high-schooler think when you mention anime? Pokemon, DBZ and, with a bit of luck, Yu-Gi-Oh. Because of that, there's a very high degree of stereotypical response to the ones of us that "go public".

Of course, you could probably say that we're more aware of diversity and that our responses aren't histerical... but I'd say we win in the amount of negative responses we receive for being how we are.

One of the things that Patty's presence in Lucky*Star makes me grateful to the authors is that it probably gives the idea that we're all brothers in otakudom, Japanese and foreigners alike.

Edit: I feel a bit inexperienced whenever I'm around Vexx, AVPlaya and some of the other grown-ups around. Kind of makes me wanna erase my comments and see what they say first every time :heh:

[AVPlaya]

Funny you brought this up, because I was planning on asking it at the Japanese Culture topic in the Off-Topic section. I understand that, for the sake of the story, Kona and Patty became friends, or at least partners, quite quickly, even if Patty is a gaijin-otaku. But, in general, how are foreign otaku seen inside the amazing Japanese otaku circle? Obviously, I'd say that we are, at the very least, seen as posers and dishonorable bastards who can't appreciate the true meaning of Anime. ( Obviously, a rough and overly general statement by my part. I'm pretty sure that your average Japanese won't be bothered that much by foreigners and their anime addiction. )

Hmm, I'm sure actual J-otas like Kj1980-dono can answer better, but from what I read in 2ch and other blogs, there seemed to be two distinct reactions: One is that of amazement, that an outcast subculture can be so widely accepted in the Western world they believe to be to have racist or outdated notions about Japanese or Asian cultures (yes, even they know Hollywood movies are racist). They understand that a few gaijin in Japan can enjoy the real Japan, but masses of gaijin boys and girls obsessing the same 2-D entertainment they need to hide from the Japanese public? Some of them are fascinated and felt proud of that fact. Deep inside otakus always loved their culture, but the gaijin-otas gave them validations that their obession isn't abnormal; it's actually something they could be proud of.

In another hands, there are right-wing leaning "purists" who doesn't believe gaijins will ever GET their anime culture and they fear that outside demand will corrupt the status quo. I think even many anime creators fear the same; that anime will be made to cater to the "Western clientèle" and forsake the J-otas. As you know, the value systems in the West sometimes conflict with the very Japanese otaku culture in term of sex and violence. With works like Afro Samurai I think they have reason to fear. They don't want the "prudish and violent" gaijins to "Hollywood-ize" anime and change its Japanese core. They also believe the ousiders will ever get the real otaku spirit. You can see a lot of this type of reaction in this year's Saimoe tournament.

I think overall, from almost a 3rd party perspective, that the gaijin anime fans has shown a great deal of respect toward Japanese and otaku culture. I don't think any true anime fan who wanted to change the original culture, but rather I see a lot more trying to understand and even participate in it. I believe a lot of the Japanese otakus saw these efforts and appreciate them, so you'll have English-speaking otas like kj1980-dono here in anisuki trying to help folks out. The aformentioned "fear" is a natural extention of the more Hikkomori-like otakus distrust of outside world. Some of these guys can't even talk to people in their own household, what do you think their opinion of gajins half a world away would be? If you read 2ch enough you'll know that the otakus have far more worse things to say about other Asians than the gaijin-otas who tried to support their art-form. I think overall impression is that, gaijin-otas are cool as long as they don't start demanding change or be act in a rude manner (gaijin stereotype here).



But what do you mean by "cooler"? That just because we're not japanese we're allowed to express outselves in an otaku way more openly than the japanese do? In my opinion, that would be a huge misconception... I mean, Anime is mainstream in Japan. Not only anime, but light novels and manga..


2 things here... 1. Anime is NOT mainstream in Japan. Some anime are accepted in the mainstream, like Miyazaki films and some TV anime like Sazae-san or Chibi Maruko-chan, but if you say you're an adult who watched anime late at night, people will laugh at you. For most poeople, anime is children's entertainment. Manga, on the other-hand, is mainstream. Everyone reads manga, and that's not a taboo. Strange to you, but perfectly reasonable to the Japanese. Light Novels are okay for young people to read, but again, if you're an adult you should be reading "The White Tower" and not "Shakugan no Shana".

2. What I meant by "cool" is a general stereotype from the average Japanese about a random Westerner. Japanese in general have a fairly good opinion of white folks visiting their country (other skin colors are another story). Some people, especially young girls, think most if not all white people have "better" tastes in term of music, art, etc due to the very limited view of Western culture they get in Japan. Of course this is all a huge stereotype and most people who actually knew gaijins knows that's just not true. But for a country girl from Takeshima, it's close enough. Same goes with foreign countries in general, especially European countries. Most Japanese girls think Paris is this magical land of love; in so much that some who actually visited Paris needed hospitalization or mental counseling because the real Paris is so far below their expectations (true story). So this "gaijin coolness" is nothing but a positive stereotype of the masses of Japanese who has never seen or knew a real gaijin, but as Japan becomes more open, that too will change.


One of the things that Patty's presence in Lucky*Star makes me grateful to the authors is that it probably gives the idea that we're all brothers in otakudom, Japanese and foreigners alike.

Another thing about Patty which most of you probably missed is this deep desire to see gaijin (especially gaijin girls) appreciate real Japanese culture. Underground or not, otaku culture is genuinely Japanese. Often thought of being discriminated against in the world, the Japanese love to see outsiders really enjoying their culture instead of critiquing it or trying to change it. The number one favorite thing for a non-otaku gaijin expat to do in Japan is to bitch about Japan. Frankly I see WAY less ignorant or even racist bitching from the gaijin otas in Japan. I think the otakus sees that too, and Patty is their mental ideal of the "perfect gaijin-sama"; meaning, the gaijin-otas are much less ignorant and racist than the non-ota gaijins whose knowledge about Japan came from the Western mass-media. Thus they are welcomed more in Japan. I'm sure every single otaku in Japan would love to see more Patties visiting Japan. Yeah the big boobies helped too. ^^;

[Claymore_Obsessed]

One of the things that Patty's presence in Lucky*Star makes me grateful to the authors is that it probably gives the idea that we're all brothers in otakudom, Japanese and foreigners alike.

I really hope this dream can become true one day ^^


I understand the fear of Japanese otakus (Holliwoodized anime would suck so bad), but I think no gaijin otaku likes that idea, so it shouldn't be a real problem to begin with.


My really humble opinion is that otaku culture should be like a bridge connecting worlds.... it should be seen not as a fear, but as a chance.

From a gaijin point of view, first you like manga or anime, then you are fascinated by them, and you want to learn more about the culture that lies behind.... learning other people's culture, traditions, common life-style etc leads to mutual understanding and respect (usually).

From a japanese otaku point of view, well I can only speculate, but I imagine that being in contact with western fellow otakus could be a chance to start forgetting old sterotypes and misunderstandings...

[margafred]

Hm nothing much about this episode that attracts me unlike episode 22 >> 7/10

Less Tsukasa scenes in this episode...and additional Minami scenes as a replacement for it...not like i'm unhappy for it,but maybe becoz i'm too used to Tsukasa's appearance as the main character from episode 1 until 22,in this episode was more like she became a side character,while those other side characters (those from year 1 class) replace her position as the main characters for this episode.

Other than that,everything seems ok for me..Minami was given the most priority for this episode,followed by Misao,Ayano,Patricia and Tamura.

After hiding it for about 9 episodes,finally Minami's big secret was revealed in front of the other girls..it was funny though to see her reaction at the moment Konata pointed her secret out to the others.

As for the Lucky Channel,i'd say the worst of all...well i didn't really expect anything much from it since episode 21...just that i wonder who gonna fill in the "guest star" position for the final episode of Lucky Channel..Ono Daisuke had made his appearance as a guest star for 3 episodes i think,while Yuko Goto made it for this episode.I think,probably the last one would be..someone from Haruhi too i guess,considering the fact that both Ono Daisuke and Yuko Goto are the seiyuu for both Koizumi and Asahina...and also Shiraishi himself as Taniguchi.Probably Minori Chihara? XP

[Anh_Minh]

I really hope this dream can become true one day ^^


I understand the fear of Japanese otakus (Holliwoodized anime would suck so bad), but I think no gaijin otaku likes that idea, so it shouldn't be a real problem to begin with.

Just because gaijin otakus loath the idea of Hollywood anime doesn't mean some decider somewhere won't go "hey, there's a market in the West! Westerners like Hollywood movies, so let's change our anime to fit those tastes! It can't go wrong!".

[Calawain]

The fact that manga is so widespread in Japan compared to most anime being limited to ota's is intriguing. It's the complete opposite of how it is in the States, where anime is a lot more widespread in fandom than manga from my experience at least. Now I don't have any empirical evidence to back that up, just from the friends I have that watch anime and what I've picked up on from the net. I'm sure it has to do a lot with the way comic books are significantly more stigmatized in the States compared to animation. "Nerds" read comic books, but everyone watched Disney when they were growing up. And especially now, where companies like Pixar have pushed a form of animation to a more adult level (see Shrek), I can see American culture being more accepting of anime over manga.

As to the split amongs Japanese otas as to whether to shun or accept gaijin-otas, it's pretty typical in a group of that size. You are going to have your extremist types on both sides if you get a sample size large enough. The fact that they are somewhat shunned by the mainstream culture and would theoretically sympathize with an even slimmer minority of gaijin-otas doesn't seem to have a huge impact on the population. However, I hope anime/manga like Lucky Star and characters such as Patty can convey a more positive image of gaijin-otas to the Japanese otas.

All in all this kind sociological/political analysis is the reason I chose my college majors, and it's quite interesting. Add that to the fact that the Japanese PM resigned yesterday and I have plenty of interesting research to come~

[Zero Shinohara]

Hah, as expected!d A comprehensive and much interesting response :D

And personally, I very much understand their fear of opening the doors to their culture to people of other countries, not knowing what their responses will be. That's a normal thing to do, and the Otaku/Otaku culture won't be the first or the last to try to shield themselves from foreign influence. However, I don't think that most of us would >ever< like to see a Hollywood-based adaptation of anime, or even the gross and perverted anime-wannabes that are popping up like mushrooms in old socks. Hell, we even tend to marginalize Anime series that are too 'americanized', what would happen if they came up with "Superfriends in Tokyo"?

In my case, I've always been amazed by japanese entertainment. And I do mean always, because I know for a fact that from the moment I could walk, I was already swinging a stick around and saying I was a samurai. It's something that was always there - tokusatsu, couple of anime series here and there. It wasn't something that happened very often, though, since the amount of material wasn't enough to reach out to a lot of kids my age, and so I always felt a little out-of-place. Of course nowadays you can get Anime almost everywhere, and it's not uncommon to see kids yelling "Kamehameha" at eachother. But as I grew up, so did my interest for Japanese culture. In fact, if I hadn't met my nemesis ( the computer ), I would probably be speaking Japanese and have a vast knowledge of History and culture. But oh well, at least now I have people to ask this stuff. :heh:

And personally, I didn't know Light Novels weren't all that popular among the grown-ups. I remember seeing a couple of articles on how a large number of housewifes were going to a certain district of Akiba ( I think it was Akiba, but correct me if I'm wrong. ) to buy Yaoi/shounen-ai novels, doujins and stuff of the sort, so that might have given me a wrong impression :heh:.

And I do feel sorry for the country girl from Takeshima. I probably have a worse taste for art, music and the ancients than her dog does. But at least I can use crayons effectively. - Insert Kona-chan's "ok" here. - But from personal experience, Japanese girls aren't the only ones who fantasize about other places. A lot of the otaku girls back in my country did, too, and the lack of information, news and cultural knowledge of Japan eventually got some of them into thinking it was this Magical place where you were bound to encounter samurai fighting on the streets and people carrying Katanas into Kendo training, among other things. And really, you tend to deviate a lot from reality if you don't pay a lot of attention to where you're standing.

I'm sure every single otaku in Japan would love to see more Patties visiting Japan. Yeah the big boobies helped too. ^^;

I'd love to see more Patties visiting Florida. But I guess they need the breasts a little more there than we do here, right? :heh: Still, I think we need more girls joining the otaku fandom as a whole. Anime is still dominantly intended for males, so I guess that's a bit of a turn-off to some of them who're inclined, but lack the conviction to go all-out into anime fanbo-.. fangirlism? Is that even a word? Oh well.

[Meophist]

All of this reminds me of the video game industry, and if you really think about it, the Japanese video game industry and the Japanese anime industry aren't all that different.

[BPHaru]

Dows somebody knows what is the song in the ending?
I know that I have listened to it before in some game or something, but I don't remember where.

Saludos, Haru

[Mirrinus]

Dows somebody knows what is the song in the ending?
I know that I have listened to it before in some game or something, but I don't remember where.

Saludos, Haru

It's the cheesy battle music from the SHnY movie in episode 1.

[AVPlaya]

Dows somebody knows what is the song in the ending?
I know that I have listened to it before in some game or something, but I don't remember where.

Saludos, Haru

It's an original piece written by Shiraishi called "ミクル変身！そして戦闘" or "Mikuru Henshin! And then Battle!"

All of this reminds me of the video game industry, and if you really think about it, the Japanese video game industry and the Japanese anime industry aren't all that different.

The fate of the Japanese video industry with many software houses having to write games catering to Western audience is exactly why the otakus are panicking. It hasn't happen yet, but I do worry about the prerogatives of the racist Hollywood execs who would have zero respect for anything Japanese for the sake of profit.

Add that to the fact that the Japanese PM resigned yesterday and I have plenty of interesting research to come~

All Hail Rozen Aso! May Shinku Lead Japan to world domination!

BTW the Japanese press just reported that the stock of all major manga publishing houses jumped after Abe's resignation. Rule of the Otaku is upon us! Soon Hina-Ichigo will be on the Thousand Yen Bill.

[Zero Shinohara]

All Hail Rozen Aso! May Shinku Lead Japan to world domination!

BTW the Japanese press just reported that the stock of all major manga publishing houses jumped after Abe's resignation. Rule of the Otaku is upon us! Soon Hina-Ichigo will be on the Thousand Yen Bill.

http://www.kidoutenshi.net/random/1182900642035.jpg

I'm dying for one of those :heh:

And we're really going off-topic in here, aren't we?

[Midonin]

I'd love to see more Patties visiting Florida.
I second this enthusiastically.

[Psycho Power J]

Well, almost every single Japanese family will need two item to call a house a home: a rice cooker and a hot water dispenser. Actually that's true for almost all East Asian families. You need a rice cooker to eat, and you need the water bottle for tea and instant noodles. That's the first thing you buy when you move to a new place - I've helped my shares of newbies and FOBs to get started with life in the US, and the first things they all want to get are these two items (if they didn't bring their own already!) Since everyone has one, getting fooled by the water-level meter is a regular event in most families. Unless we want to do the full ramen deal where we cook the noodle in a pot with veggies and other goodies, we'd have to fight with the water bottle every time. In my household, we eat instant noodles as nightly snacks (I think my wife is addicted), so we understand this drama very well. I guess that's half-true for us. I used to see the hot water dispensers everywhere back in the Philippines, but rarely do here in the US. We do have a rice cooker, but I don't think we ever missed having a dispenser since we could always heat water in the microwave. But I think my cousins have one and I see them in offices every now and then.

wait a minute...

So Sodom/Katana from Final Fight/ SF Alpha Series(that was beaten the hell out of Guy) can be compared to her attitude in a sense... XD

Either way she's one with the OUTLAWS!!! New team outlaw Konata, Patty and Hiyorin. :DLOL I keep remembering Sodom's hilarious dialogues. I can kinda see the similarity with Patty.

I'm not sure about the international camaraderie of otakus, but I've got to say that I love seeing the otaku trio together. Their interaction is quite a contrast to the "normals." They really should have been introduced earlier.
http://www.kidoutenshi.net/random/1182900642035.jpg

I'm dying for one of those :heh:

And we're really going off-topic in here, aren't we?Maybe, but I want one of those too. :D

[AVPlaya]

To commemorate the bitter failure of Izumi Soujirou's attempt at a wonderful midnight snacking of Kitsune Donbei, I went out today and got meself a cart load of Nissin Donbei - the regular Kansai version Kitsune, Super-sized Kitsune, Tempura Udon, and Tempura soba versions. I'm going to ease Soujirou's pain by making a successfully bowl of Kitsune Donbei in his name. First I make sure my trusty Zojirushi hot water dispenser is filled with filtered water, because I will NOT suffer his pain, being fooled by a man's own appliance. After 5 minutes of agonizing wait, success! The thick, white udon noodles, although not exactly the real thing, is easily one of the best instant noodle ever made. The soft, sweet, chewy Kitsune, very close to the real thing! Can't believe I make all this in 5 minutes. This is easily the best midnight snack a man can get, except when the man's wife ate half of it. But Soujirou! Your suffering isn't for vain! I have avenged you!

For those who never knew the joy of the Kitsune Donbei, a Japanese favorite since the 70's, here a photo of it. Go buy it for Soujirou!

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/346/imgf49c868azikbzjnt0.jpg

If you've never made an instant noodle, here's a youtube video showing you exactly how to prepare and enjoy a Kansai Kitsune Donbei. Learn and repeat!

MZFgx3CCunw

Oh the things I do for Lucky Star... weekly purchase of Choco Cronet and Pocky, and now Donbei. Damn you KyoAni!

[Zero Shinohara]

Hahaha, know what? I actually do feel like going out to get myself some real Ramen after this excited post. :heh: Perhaps I'll look for a Japanese market around here, although there aren't probably very many. But oh, come on. You guys do live the good life, don't you? I never had the chance of eating pocky... Kagamisama and Suiseiseki-chan eat it all the time... Why do I must endure this suffering?


[img]http://www.kidoutenshi.net/random/1189050510712.jpg[/quote]

And oh jebus... That Ramen actually does look pretty good. Sucks it's that time of the night when I can't even breathe without waking up half of the household... otherwise I'd go cook some Western/tasteless brick ramen just to pay tribute to Soujirou-san.

I'm not sure about the international camaraderie of otakus, but I've got to say that I love seeing the otaku trio together. Their interaction is quite a contrast to the "normals." They really should have been introduced earlier.


Agree completely... I think we would have had a lot of memorable moments had the three of them spent more time together throughout the series. I mean, seriously... Kona+Patty+Hiyorin would mean no anime would be left untouched without having its fair share of jabs and... and... (I've been trying to find the word I'm looking for for three minutes now, if any of that matters... ) oh! yes, references and what-not. It would've been amazing, that's all I can tell.

This is easily the best midnight snack a man can get, except when the man's wife ate half of it. But Soujirou! Your suffering isn't for vain! I have avenged you!

* Sobs * Enjoy your wife getting half of your snack! I'm sure Soujirou-san would give up on every bit of moe in the world to be able to share a bowl of late-night ramen with Kanata!

<- Okay, we're all starting to sound really creepy. Perhaps a little break is needed...

[Psycho Power J]

Ahh, I miss those. Just seeing that video makes me want a bowl of Kitsune udon. I think I'll get some the next time I'm at the Asian store. Hopefully they'll have a Nissin Donbei since they don't always have it. But even other brands beats a Maruchan instant noodle anyday. Those just taste terrible.

[Vexx]

They sell hot water dispensers here in the States but the most common ones are sold to be installed in sinks as permament features.
We bought a two liter insta-heater dispenser that I installed in our kitchen sink. It is the absolute hit of the household and unlike those tabletop units, it is connected to the water supply and never "runs out".

[Kinny Riddle]

All Hail Rozen Aso! May Shinku Lead Japan to world domination!

BTW the Japanese press just reported that the stock of all major manga publishing houses jumped after Abe's resignation. Rule of the Otaku is upon us! Soon Hina-Ichigo will be on the Thousand Yen Bill.

Please pardon the off-topicness again. Japan's Head Otaku is set to become Japan's Head Man, for real. While his promotion of manga culture is welcome, his erm, hawkish views regarding certain "aggressive neighbours" certainly leaves a lot to be desired, and those said neighbours happen to be one of the largest foreign consumers of Japan's manga industry, if you think about it. It's still too early to say Rozen Aso would take over, but we'll wait and see.

[margafred]

Ah sorry for my comments..i completely forgotten that Minami Iwasaki and Yuki Nagato shared the same seiyuu -_-

Soon Hina-Ichigo will be on the Thousand Yen Bill.

http://www.kidoutenshi.net/random/1182900642035.jpg

I thought that's Suiseiseki on the bill?

Well i rather hope they putting Kagami on the thousand yen bill instead of RM dolls..

[Calawain]

Hah, I had no idea Taro Aso was a manga fan, that's pretty funny. However I wouldn't get too excited. In most Parliamentary systems, when a PM is replaced without a general election for the electing body (in Japan's case the lower house) his ability to govern and maintain power is fairly weak. They usually end up dissolving the government and calling for new elections (kind of like Putin did this week!). Kind of off topic, but hey LS was talking about elections a couple of episodes ago and its affects on the interruption of anime!

[Kyuusai]

Go buy it for Soujirou!

Hahaha, know what? I actually do feel like going out to get myself some real Ramen after this excited post. :heh: Perhaps I'll look for a Japanese market around here, although there aren't probably very many. But oh, come on. You guys do live the good life, don't you? I never had the chance of eating pocky... Kagamisama and Suiseiseki-chan eat it all the time... Why do I must endure this suffering?

Might I recommend AsianFoodGrocer.com (http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/) to those folks lacking a good local Asian market? I lack a good Japanese market, myself (we have EVERYTHING international here--from Filipino to Korean to El Salvadorian--except for Japanese!). I made my first order from there after another forum-ite had good things to say about the site, and you can get quite a bit without exceeding the not-quite-US$5 for ground shipping across the US.

Yesterday afternoon, I just purchased bought some Nissin noodle cups: kitsune udon, shoyu ramen, tempura soba, yakisoba, and salt ramen. Remember, folks: When buying Japanese noodles, buy the Japanese manufactured ones! Just because another country's product has the same brand name, it doesn't mean it's the same noodle! ZS, you can also find Pocky there, as well as a ton of other things (I also bought some sweet bread, as well as sweet rice flour and azuki beans for making daifuku and taiyaki--ok, not really taiyaki, since I don't have a sea-breem shaped pan.) It'll take four business days to get to me, though. Oh, what a tragic wait!

I'll have to boil water the old fashioned way, though. What a trial! At least the tap at work has a built-in heater (well, it would be good if the water here was potable). I miss my old dorm, where the hot water straight from the tap was near boiling. :D

[Kinny Riddle]

Hah, I had no idea Taro Aso was a manga fan, that's pretty funny. However I wouldn't get too excited. In most Parliamentary systems, when a PM is replaced without a general election for the electing body (in Japan's case the lower house) his ability to govern and maintain power is fairly weak. They usually end up dissolving the government and calling for new elections (kind of like Putin did this week!). Kind of off topic, but hey LS was talking about elections a couple of episodes ago and its affects on the interruption of anime!
You seem to be forgetting Gordon Brown. Japanese PMs aren't really that powerful compared to some nations like Britain, Koizumi was the exception, and even he couldn't stand the pressure from his party and decided to step down after 5 years. Russia's PM is even worse, they're basically the President's puppet.

Polls show he's still fairly popular over the opposition Conservatives. If all goes well, he'll even call for elections next year, one year earlier than scheduled.

[Zero Shinohara]

@Kyuusai-san:

My eyes are wet and I have a smile that beats the limits of my face. Really, really thank you for this early birthday present! I'll make myself a lifetime order of Pocky and experience the same joy Kagamisama does all the time! Cookies your way.

And although I'm not really versed with Japanese politics, if I remember corectly, didn't Taro Aso say something along the lines of "Japan will conquer the world through Anime", or am I fantasizing? Maybe not in those words... but oh well, bring it on, Taro-san. :heh: So that's the reason Manga/Anime studio stocks went higher, huh? The world is pretty interesting, after all.

[Risaa]

Sorry I'm a bit late and invading the thread again, but when I want to make some ramen and I'm on the go, I plug in the never-has-made-coffee-before coffee maker. The water comes out pipin' hot and I just pour it in the bowl of noodles and cover them up. In a few minutes they're cooked. It's cheaper than buying a water heater and it works just as well.

That said, there are two coffee makers in my home; one for making coffee, and one for making noodles. :p

[Anh_Minh]

I put water in a pot and put the pot over an open flame. Is that weird?

[Shiroth]

It's an original piece written by Shiraishi called "ミクル変身！そして戦闘" or "Mikuru Henshin! And then Battle!"
Its not an original piece, its Shiraishi's version of 'Mikuru henshin! Soshite sentou!', track four of the official soundtrack to The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode episode --- composed by Kousaki Satoru.

[Moridin]

@ All the people talking about japanese food.
Im kinda new to Animesuki and I decided to check out the Lucky star thread. All I can say is that this wasnt what I was expecting, and i mean that in a good way. ;)
I came here to see what people thought about the jokes in this episode, and that went well. But thanks to you, I now feel educated (Im still a beginner at anime and japan) and hungry too. :)
Now its time to go hunting for some asian/japanese store around here... havent checked before so I dont know if that exist yet, but Im hoping.

I want to try this:

MZFgx3CCunw

but before I do, I REALY have to know what that brick-like squishy thing ontop is! Can someone of you experts help me?

@all
Incase you are wondering, then yes, I copyed this to avoid what happend to Kuroi-sensei :D ( I do that by reflex cus it happens all the time to me at youtube :upset: )

[darksider]

but before I do, I REALY have to know what that brick-like squishy thing ontop is! Can someone of you experts help me?

That is called abura-age.
In short, it's thinly sliced and fried (and then flavored in this case) tofu. A common foodstuff in Japan.

[Moridin]

Thanks :)

Now Im going to find one of those noodles and then rewatch episode 23 while eating that :D
Maybe that experience, eathing that very same food that (that/wich?) he fails with, will bring the enjoyment of this episode up to ten points?! Without my noodles I thought that this episode was worth a nine.

[AVPlaya]

That is called abura-age.
In short, it's thinly sliced and fried (and then flavored in this case) tofu. A common foodstuff in Japan.

It's called Kitsune in in Kansai when it's on top of an udon bowl, but yeah abura-age is the generic term for fried tofu. This is why this is the Western Japan version.

I put water in a pot and put the pot over an open flame. Is that weird?

Actually that's the best way to cook instant noodles... put the noodle in after it's boiling along with some veggies and some ready-to-eat things like chikuwa, kaban-age or ika-maki. Cook until the noodle's the right texture and then put a raw egg on top. Make sure you get some really good raman noodle packs so the soup base is good.

Please pardon the off-topicness again. Japan's Head Otaku is set to become Japan's Head Man, for real. While his promotion of manga culture is welcome, his erm, hawkish views regarding certain "aggressive neighbours" certainly leaves a lot to be desired, and those said neighbours happen to be one of the largest foreign consumers of Japan's manga industry, if you think about it. It's still too early to say Rozen Aso would take over, but we'll wait and see.

Actually I was half-joking about Aso being PM... he is too hawkish and will make East Asian relations worse than Koizumi. I really rather NOT see him as PM, even though he is next in line. He would have to get more conservative votes to really be the PM. Plus, Japan isn't going to be run better just because the PM reads BIRZ every month.

Its not an original piece, its Shiraishi's version of 'Mikuru henshin! Soshite sentou!', track four of the official soundtrack to The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode episode --- composed by Kousaki Satoru.

Thanks! You're more knowledgeable than some J-otas then! That's great! For otaku references I only cut and translate, so I can't know for sure.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I'm just checking out the upcoming fall shows, and it appears that there are two new characters in Genshiken 2 that have western names, and are played by Gotou Yuuko and Kaida Yuki. Perhaps we will see two more permutations of gaijin otaku.

And on the off-topic political subject, any move to make Japanese relations with China even worse would be a horrible thing. One of the good things about Abe was that he was not as chauvinistic as advertised. My choice for PM is Fukuda Yasuo, the older guy who did such an impressive job as cabinet secretary until he was tripped up in the pension-contributions thing. He has good relations with neighbors as part of his core policy.

[Claymore_Obsessed]

I'm just checking out the upcoming fall shows, and it appears that there are two new characters in Genshiken 2 that have western names, and are played by Gotou Yuuko and Kaida Yuki. Perhaps we will see two more permutations of gaijin otaku.

Wow, suge! I'm really looking forward to it. Maybe Gotuza-sama will have a more masculine role? Or maybe she's gonna be in a maid dress again ^^;

[Calawain]

I would definitely look forward to more Gotouza-sama roles compared to Mikuru-chan roles. Although she does do great in both, I'd like to see some variation in her roles.

[Shiroi Hane]

Also, Patty's comment: "Isn't this image bugged up?" shows that she's probably just been introduced to hentai and the like, at least in a major way. I mean, a great deal of what's published in the hentai/doujin circle has to be censored by law, right? She shouldn't have been so surprised by it if she had. Poor Patty-chan, being corrupted by Konata's legacy

Hentai DVDs and the like are often/sometimes decensored in the US release* and Patty is from America, so perhaps the producers had this in mind.

*very little Hentai makes it to the UK.. just a few cut/cencored releases like Urotsukidoji that I don't even own (if it got through the censors at all hardcore stuff would by R rated and have to be sold in specialty stores so there is simply no viable market), so I don't have a great working knowledge here.

[Meophist]

I typed this up last night but the Internet went screwy on me so I couldn't post it. Fortunally, my browser lets me keep what I typed even if I hit back, so I just copied to my notes.The fate of the Japanese video industry with many software houses having to write games catering to Western audience is exactly why the otakus are panicking. It hasn't happen yet, but I do worry about the prerogatives of the racist Hollywood execs who would have zero respect for anything Japanese for the sake of profit. Well, the Japanese video game industry was pretty much dying, forcing software developers to look towards other countries for sales. Fortunally, Nintendo was there with the DS, single-handedly reversing the downfall. However, I don't know what the otakus think about that.

As for catering to a western audience, I only really see Capcom, and to an extent, Namco, doing so. I don't actually see the cross-over to be much of a bad thing, however. There's much stagnation within the industry; a bit of western influence on the part of Japanese developers and a bit of Japanese influence on the part of western developers can do the industry good. Of course, some of this is annoyance that western software fare poorly in Japan overall, while the reverse is far from true.

In any case, I am unfamiliar with the anime industry in terms of health, but it doesn't seem too bad at the moment at the very least. It's hardly seems to be "thriving", though.

[Zero Shinohara]

I'm just checking out the upcoming fall shows, and it appears that there are two new characters in Genshiken 2 that have western names, and are played by Gotou Yuuko and Kaida Yuki. Perhaps we will see two more permutations of gaijin otaku.

True, I actually just saw something about that in the Genshiken 2 topic at the Unaired section. It's really good that they're giving some characters a little insight on us, gaiji-otas. From what Shiroth said in there, the character played by Yuuko Gotou has an interesting personality, but I hope "interesting" in a good way. I'd be really saddened if the two gaijin-otas are portrayed the way Americans are usually portrayed throughout the world. You know what I mean, right?

@Shiroi Hane:

Yep, that could be a possibility, although I don't think that Patty would have any experience with Hentai DVDs and things of that sort because it's implied she's not 18 yet, thus not able to buy any of that stuff.

However, now that I think about it, doesn't Patty know about Otome Road, Yaoi and Yuri and seems to be quite versed with Hiyorin's works? If so, then it would be really strange for her to react to Kona's game in that way. Or perhaps, her experience with censorship has consisted mostly of the "black bars of death", instead of the usual CG/Colored pictures' "damned pixels of oblivion". But again, why I'm even dwelling too much on this is a bigger mistery.

@darksider:

Oh, thanks. I was also looking for that information. Not the biggest fan of tofu, but it sure does great in a Miso-soup and with a little seasoning.

[Skane]

It occured to me that for all the "ranting" about the excessive "food-talk" in the early episodes of Lucky Star, here we are happily posting away about the various "right methods" to cook instant ramen. In a way, I suppose the current AnimeSuki-viewership has been filtered enough so that most of those still watching at this point are the ones that "get it". :heh:

"Who the Hell talks about food this much?"
"WE DO!"

I can so easily recall several conversations with my friends in which we discussed various foodie-topics for hours on end. Few things are as universal as what constitutes as good food to fill a man's stomach up.

"More salt."
"NO! Less salt!"

While our hobbies may not always overlap, every man has to eat in order to live. It is something that all brother-in-arms can relate to (unless you are some sort of unlucky bastard who has to live on an IV-Drip since birth). The topic of food is an universal language. A gift of fine cuisine is something that is almost always appreciated.

Cheers.

[AVPlaya]

I'm going to keep this thread alive by adding bits and bits of references. Please feel free to discuss or offer corrections.

I think most of you got that joke about Kagami typing on Konata's computer is about Japanese input, probably not many of you understood exactly what is so funny about it. First of all the Japanese input system works by having the person type in the kana in romaji or kana-keys, and then if Kanji is needed the Input system will automatically map to a best guess kanji or compound based on your most recent usage history. Due to the fact that many Japanese words has similar sounds, this can cause quite a bit of confusion if you're using another person's computer and its kanji conversion history isn't what you expected. The conversion system also works for katakana or even English alphabets as well. Hence the background of this sketch.

I'm going to break down each sentence into what Kagami wanted to write, what she ended up writing, and my take on how it got that way.

Sentence #1

What Kagami wanted to write:

「最近少し不調だったのですが、」(Saikin sukoshi fuchou datta no desu ga,)

"Although recently the conditions were a little bad"
[不調 (fuchou) = bad condition]

What Kagami actually wrote:

「最近少し婦長だったのですが、」 (Saikin sukoshi fuchou datta no desu ga)

"Although recently it was a little head-nursed."
[婦長 (fuchou) = senior or head nurse]

The joke is that the kana "fuchou" was mapped to "Head Nurse" instead of "Bad Condition". It seemed that Konata spend a lot of time talking about Nurses, which are popular characters on many eroge. Perhaps there's a game which featured a Head Nurse and she spend time online discussing strategies to past her stage to get to the "good stuff".


Sentence #2

What Kagami wanted to write:

「間に合いそうなので」 (Maniai sou nano de)

"Since it looks like it's going to be on time"

What Kagami actually wrote:

「マニア移送なので」 (Mania isou nano de)

"Due to 'Mania Transfer'.."

For an otaku the subject of being a Mania of something sure comes up a lot, but I'm not sure why "transfer"'s about... perhaps it's a techie word used often in sci-fi anime and games.


Sentence #3

What Kagami wanted to write:

「もっと助走をつけて、」(Motto Jyosou wo tsukete,)

"Adding more approach,"
[助走 (Jyosou) = an approach]

What Kagami actually wrote:

「もっと女装をつけて、」 (Motto Jyosou wo tsukete,)

"Adding more crossplay"
[女装 (Jyosou) = drag or cossplay in verb form]

Maybe Konata has a thing for crossplaying akiba maido and "man-faye".


Sentence #4

What Kagami wanted to write:

「かつ勢いだけじゃなく委員会の雰囲気も大切にしつつ、」
(Katsu ikioi dake janaku iinkai no funiki mo taisetsu ni shitsutsu)

"Moreover we should pay attention to not only the energy but also the mood of the committee."

What Kagami actually wrote:

「かつ勢いだけじゃなく委員会のふいんき（←なぜか変換できない）も大切にしつつ、」
(Katsu ikioi dake janaku iinkai no fuinki (<- nazeka henkan dekinai) mo taisetsu ni shitsutsu)

"Moreover we should pay attention to not only the energy but also the fuinki (<- somehow this can't be converted) of the committee."

The joke here I believe is that the word 雰囲気 (fu n i ki, mood) is very often misspelled phonically as "fu i n ki", and of course the input system won't be able to convert it to correct kanji. Some folks in 2ch then added the sentence "(<- somehow this can't be converted)" after writing ふいんき in hiragana, and it became the defacto form of the word for mood (雰囲気) in 2ch as a running joke. Kagami made a typical typo, but what came out is all 2ch otaku-ness. Some even invented a new kanji compount 不陰気 (fuinki) to add to the Input system and use it in the same joking manner; this new word looked very negative so it probably has the notion of "negative mood" attached to it. This is very 2ch-ish so I wish some expert would explain more to us.


Sentence #5

What Kagami wanted to write:

「課題の内容を詳しく詰めて行きたいと」
(Kadai no naiyou wo kuwashiku tsumete ikitai to)

"(We) will want to continue to discuss the content of the assignment in detail."
[内容 (naiyou) = content]
[行きたい (ikitai) = wanting to continue or go]

What Kagami actually wrote:

「課題の無いようをｋｗｓｋ詰めて逝きたいと」
(Kadai no nai you wo kwsk tsumete ikitai to)

"(We) will want to kwsk-ly discuss the nothingness of the assignment and then die"
[無いよう (naiyou) = way or manner of nothing]
[逝きたい (ikitai) = wanting to die]


A lot of funny bits here. First of course "naiyou" was mapped into some nonsensical netoge speak. "kwsk" is the short hand form for romanized form of "kuwashiku" (詳しく), and it actually means "Explain more in detail" or "Please tell me more about it". It seemed to have gotten started in 2ch's live news boards. Konata seemed very curious about something... hmmm... The ikitai joke was not a 2ch usage as far as I know, but it sure is common amon suicidal kids... should we be worrying about Kona-chan?

One last note about this segment - Kagami seemed to be a bit lazy. She can easily go back and change the conversion before committing the sentence. But I guess if she has done that, there would be no joke won't it?

[SeijiSensei]

I don't think that Patty would have any experience with Hentai DVDs and things of that sort because it's implied she's not 18 yet, thus not able to buy any of that stuff.

There are ways to get uncensored hentai without going into a store or even spending money. Patty seems bright enough to have figured this out for herself if she was motivated enough.

[Psycho Power J]

Actually that's the best way to cook instant noodles... put the noodle in after it's boiling along with some veggies and some ready-to-eat things like chikuwa, kaban-age or ika-maki. Cook until the noodle's the right texture and then put a raw egg on top. Make sure you get some really good raman noodle packs so the soup base is good.I think he's talking about heating hot water in a pot to pour over the cup noodles instead of any fancy dispensers. But I do that sometimes with the cup noodles. Take everything out of the bowl and put it into a pot then add more stuff.
"Who the Hell talks about food this much?"
"WE DO!"Yes. Yes we do. :)
Kagami meets Kona-computer fun.Thanks for explaning those parts. It's great to have more of those bits of jokes on contemporary internet grammar usage. We don't see a lot of references to other countries' typing quirks, or of sub-groups'.
There are ways to get uncensored hentai without going into a store or even spending money. Patty seems bright enough to have figured this out for herself if she was motivated enough.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MvSAoJdMW0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnJjOlg1ssc

The internet is for porn, the internet is for porn~

[Zero Shinohara]

There are ways to get uncensored hentai without going into a store or even spending money. Patty seems bright enough to have figured this out for herself if she was motivated enough.

Oh sure, of course that goes unsaid. Take me, for example. I'm downloading a 54-gig batch of uncensored, English-subbed hentai series at the moment. However, again, if you're into hentai, you're bound to bump into a lot of pixelized/black bar pictures, so I don't think "Image is bugged" would be a line appropriate for her. Perhaps a "Ah, the pics are censored here?" would be more on-the-spot. But again...

[Meophist]

I just got the thought that maybe in the next episode…Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Miyuki go to a Karaoke place at the end?Anyways, I wonder if KyoAni is planning on continuing Lucky☆Star in the future…

[Proto]

Hmm.... it seems Konata uses winrar and WMP 10 to watch her avi's, not to mention Windows XP default theme. Bleh, despite being more tech savvy than the average joe she's attached to such trifle mainstream applications. pttf... :p

[Wavedash]

Many thanks, AVPlaya. I picked up on the typing joke when I paused to read and noticed the conversion of the "mania" part, but that was the only one I got.

[mickal555]

Maybe patty just isn't into hentai, perhaps shes not really into it so doesn't have much experience. Porn & Hentai isn't for everyone, even otaku's.

[takumi2k4]

Saw the episode a while back, and meh. TBH, I really didn't like this episode. I expected something more crazy coz it's ya know the 2nd to the last episode, but what the heck, I'm totally disappointed about this episode.

Yeah, I liked all the screen-time my favorite gaijin got, but I just didn't like it overall.

7/10 for me.

[AVPlaya]

References for EP23, Part A. This is everything before the eye-catch, minus the things already discussed like Nissin Donbei. They will be added to my final post to Cultural References thread. Saa, Minna! Tsukatte! (I love Live Action Maruko-chan).

Kona's Haruhi Love
Konata's Computer Wallpaper is the picture Haruhi 2nd Season Announcement graphic. It looks like the top half of this:

Where can I find this wallpaper?!
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/6227/gn2007070707ly9.jpg

Tsuruya Spam
When Konata discovered that her mailbox is full of spam, she said 「メールがめがっさ溜まってる！」 (Meeru ga megassa tamatteru!, or I've got a LOT of mail!). めがっさ (megassa, a large number), like Nyoron!, is one of Tsuruya-san's trade mark sayings.

Megassa Chaos (http://mega.saloon.jp/), a Tsuruya-san only compilation doujinshi
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/8069/bg2zp2.jpg


www.tsunderelabulabu.co.jp
It seemed that Konata is busying copying an image folder named TSUNDERE (ツンデレ) from her computer to a.. website? What is she copying? Her secret webcam candid photo of Kagamin? Does she have a pay-only site for the Tsundere Lovers which offers "candid" photos of a certain purple-haired girl with twin-drills? Where do I sign up? NOW we know why she goes to the Hiiragi house all the time now... new source of COMIKET fund no doubt. OKOK She's only copying to her E: drive, but a guy can dream, can't he?

What was that flashing red light in your bathroom, Kona-chan?
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/1971/46323fh3.jpg


The Real Reason the PS3 Failed in Japan
Is due to the fact that Kona-chan's still playing old PS2 games, even while sick at home. If Kona-chan ain't buying, you ain't selling. Them's the rules. Wrapped under her warm and compy futon, Konata is playing one of the best games of 2005, "ワンダと巨像 (http://www.jp.playstation.com/scej/title/wander/)" or "Shadow of the Colossus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus)" in the West. This game became part of Sony's Greatest Hits title, and that's probably the version she's playing.

Cover of the Playstation 2 the Best collection version:
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/7352/b000f9z9aw09sclzzzzzzzcd6.jpg


Yet Another Minomonta TV Show
Minomonta-san (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AE%E3%82%82%E3%82%93%E3%81%9F) is the most exposed person in the world - he's on TV on average of 20 hours a week, a world record. That's how popular he is as a host. He does a LOT of shows, including the one watched by Miyuki and her Momma, an daily afternoon house-wife information show called "午後は○○おもいッきりテレビ (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%88%E5%BE%8C%E3%81%AF%E2%97%8B%E2%97%8B%E3%8 1%8A%E3%82%82%E3%81%84%E3%83%83%E3%81%8D%E3%82%8A% E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93)" (Gogo wa Marumaru Omoikkiri Terebi). It's a show only a house wife or husband would enjoy. In this show, the pink-haired pair learn about the incredible hype surrounding Xylitol, a sugar substitute marketed all over Asia as some magical dental health aid.

Since I can't find a single video on this show, I can only imagine how boring it must be:
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5736/8ev82a282c182ab82e883e8ho7.jpg


The Magic of Xylitol!
Speaking of which, the very next scene we saw Miyuki bought into the hype surrounding this Finnish fake sugar made from wood, and she GET herself a family bottle of the New Lime Mint flavor of Lotte Xylitol Gum (http://www.lotte.co.jp/products/catalogue/gum/04.html#family) (キシリトールガム). Since the darn gum did cause her to visit a dentist needlessly and ended up getting another cavity taken out, I'd say this gum works! I can't believe people who bought into this marketing scam... Xylitol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol) has minimal dental benefits - the best thing it can do is to make gum sweet while not giving you cavity, that's all.

These family bottles are quite handy!
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7813/472f64f6jg0.jpg

DVD Recoder for Kona
Kona mentioned to Nanako-sensei that she wanted to get a DVD recorder. In Japan, as the sale of DVD players fall, the sale of DVD recorder is rising. It seemed that the DVD Recorder adaptation for the Japanese market is faster than the hard-drive based DVR's North American adaption rate. This is probably because the marketing focus of the major Japanese electronic firms are focused on DVD and nex-gen Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technologies and less on the HD technologies, where Japan has no real tech advantage. I do hope she gets a DVD-recorder for her late night anime.. how did watch ALL those shows without one? Most likely she download them from Winny like everyone else too. But really, HDD recorers are so much better, Kona-chan... don't you know at least one AV-otaku (Audio Visual, not the other one)? Like these new sexy Panny Digas... I know you want a Blu-Ray recorder so this Panny BW-200 (http://panasonic.jp/diga/products/bw200_br100/)HDD/BD hybrid recorder is exactly what you'll need to get all your akiba-kei anime in HD! It's a little expensive but you get to burn your own BD anime collection neh...

Just look at this beauty.. you know you want it, Kona-chan...
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8296/dmrbw200so8.jpg

[Risaa]

Thank you for another wonderful references post. I don't say that often enough. :)

Eto, this doesn't have anything to do with the references you picked out, but I wanted to say that I love your little captions! The, "what was that flashing red light in your bathroom, Kona-chan?" type things are really funny and clever, and I like the pictures you find and put in your references posts, too. It's obvious you put a lot of effort into your posts; perhaps you should have a website you can put them in so everyone (even non-asuki members) will be able to find them easily? I would link to it at my blog, for sure (not that that means very much... oh yes, I get LOTS of traffic there :p )!www.tsunderelabulabu.co.jp
Hmm, the link didn't work for me. My end or yours? :(
Wrapped under her warm and compy futon, Konata is playing one of the best games of 2005, "?????? (http://www.jp.playstation.com/scej/title/wander/)" or "Shadow of the Colossus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus)" in the West. This game became part of Sony's Greatest Hits title, and that's probably the version she's playing.I knew the game was popular, but I didn't know how popular it was! O_o My WoW-obsessed friend would often take time off whenever guild-mates were fighting and would play Shadow of the Colossus and its sequel (though the story in the second game is a prequel to the first game). I never caught on with the hype -- I could see myself getting really frustrated with that sort of game.
The Magic of Xylitol!
Speaking of which, the very scene we saw Miyuki bought into the hype surrounding this Finnish fake sugar made from wood, and she bought herself a family bottle of the New Lime Mint flavor of Lotte Xylitol Gum (http://www.lotte.co.jp/products/catalogue/gum/04.html#family) (????????). Since the darn gum did cause her to visit a dentist needlessly and ended up getting another cavity taken out, I'd say this gum works! I can't believe people who bought into this marketing scam... Xylitol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol) has minimal dental benefits - the best thing it can do is to make gum sweet while not giving you cavity, that's all. Hahaha, it's such a big hit in Korea! Every so often I get a bottle of it too, but more for the taste and lack of variety at the smaller oriental stores than anything else. :p

[AVPlaya]

Hmm.... it seems Konata uses winrar and WMP 10 to watch her avi's, not to mention Windows XP default theme. Bleh, despite being more tech savvy than the average joe she's attached to such trifle mainstream applications. pttf... :p

Japan is very, very Microsoft-centric in term of OS and Internet technology. A lot of IIS/ASP/SQL sites and official media is almost invariably Windows Media based. I believe this has to do with the Hero-worship of Billy Gates; he's quite popular in Japan.

Maybe patty just isn't into hentai, perhaps shes not really into it so doesn't have much experience. Porn & Hentai isn't for everyone, even otaku's.

An akiba-kei otaku like Patty? It's impossible for her not to be open to Porn. She might not enjoy it, but at that level, you're pretty much desensitized to a point where porn just don't matter, so she can watch it with fellow otaku like Kona and enjoy AV anime and Ero-ge without caring too much for the "porn" factor. Given that she's from the US might give her some sense of guilt, but if you're in Japan and hanging out with the J-otakus, that hypocritical puritanism probably went away as well. How can someone who enjoy COMIKET and sees Akiba as a Holy Site be offended by porn? :) I don't know why would anyone ask about if Patty seen porn though.. her collection is probably bigger than most of us.

About Patty.... have you guys notice how she pronounced "America"? It's not A-ME-RI-KA a la katakana, but an American-accented "America" with a rolling R. That Seiyuu is a pro.

[bayoab]

Hentai DVDs and the like are often/sometimes decensored in the US release* and Patty is from America, so perhaps the producers had this in mind.
The nico comments were of the (nearly unanimous) opinion that they were playing an eroge/browsing an eroge site, not watching hentai. Also, it was referring to a mosaic.

Maybe patty just isn't into hentai, perhaps shes not really into it so doesn't have much experience. Porn & Hentai isn't for everyone, even otaku's.
She is a fujoshi in every sense of the word. It is quite clear that she has encountered it before.

[Kinny Riddle]

Sentence #4

What Kagami wanted to write:

「かつ勢いだけじゃなく委員会の雰囲気も大切にしつつ、」
(Katsu ikioi dake janaku iinkai no funiki mo taisetsu ni shitsutsu)

"Moreover we should pay attention to not only the energy but also the mood of the committee."

What Kagami actually wrote:

「かつ勢いだけじゃなく委員会のふいんき（←なぜか変換できない）も大切にしつつ、」
(Katsu ikioi dake janaku iinkai no fuinki (<- nazeka henkan dekinai) mo taisetsu ni shitsutsu)

"Moreover we should pay attention to not only the energy but also the fuinki (<- somehow this can't be converted) of the committee."

The joke here I believe is that the word 雰囲気 (fu n i ki, mood) is very often misspelled phonically as "fu i n ki", and of course the input system won't be able to convert it to correct kanji. Some folks in 2ch then added the sentence "(<- somehow this can't be converted)" after writing ふいんき in hiragana, and it became the defacto form of the word for mood (雰囲気) in 2ch as a running joke. Kagami made a typical typo, but what came out is all 2ch otaku-ness. Some even invented a new kanji compount 不陰気 (fuinki) to add to the Input system and use it in the same joking manner; this new word looked very negative so it probably has the notion of "negative mood" attached to it. This is very 2ch-ish so I wish some expert would explain more to us.

Even when I hear the three words read out loud, I've always mistakenly thought it's read as "fu-in-ki" instead of "fu-ni-ki". Either that or the seiyuus must have mispronounced the term as well themselves.

I think it's a bit like "porn" being misspelled as "pr0n", "OWNED" being misspelled as "PWNED", and "the" into "teh". These originally started out as minor misspellings, but because these words are so easily misspelled that over time it actually became fashionable to actually misspell them.

I had wanted to comment on "Mania Transfer" probably being a typo of TYPE-MOON's infamous "Mana Transfer" plot devices, but realized "Mana Transfer" is not written as such in Japanese.

[Psycho Power J]

Japan is very, very Microsoft-centric in term of OS and Internet technology. A lot of IIS/ASP/SQL sites and official media is almost invariably Windows Media based. I believe this has to do with the Hero-worship of Billy Gates; he's quite popular in Japan.I noticed that Nanako sensei was using Microsoft Internet Explorer for her journal entry. Haven't used that as my main browser since I migrated to Firefox, and later to Opera. Never had to worry about losing a long post since you could go back and all the things you typed is still there.

[Calawain]

The nico comments were of the (nearly unanimous) opinion that they were playing an eroge/browsing an eroge site, not watching hentai. Also, it was referring to a mosaic.


She is a fujoshi in every sense of the word. It is quite clear that she has encountered it before.

Pretty much sums it up there. A lot of popular ero-games that you don't see US ported censor the naughty bits. So for instance in the small amount of h-scenes in Fate/Stay Night everything below the belt is blurred. That is in contrast to ero titles released in the United States which tend to be less story and more sex. American companies probably don't have the money to pay for licensing a game like FSN because of the tiny market. So I was thinking that if she had been watching much American released ero she would be surprised by the censorship in some of the popular Japan-only releases.

Edit- These are just conclusions I have come up with after my experiences with ero-games released in the US and fan translated patches of FSN and others, do not take it for absolute fact!

And yes, her fujoshi status makes her quite able to stand the site of sex, especially if she is such a frequent patron of Otome Road.

DVD Recoder for Kona
Kona mentioned to Nanako-sensei that she wanted to get a DVD recorder. In Japan, as the sale of DVD players fall, the sale of DVD recorder is rising. It seemed that the DVD Recorder adaptation for the Japanese market is faster than the hard-drive based DVR's North American adaption rate. This is probably because the marketing focus of the major Japanese electronic firms are focused on DVD and nex-gen Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technologies and less on the HD technologies, where Japan has no real tech advantage. I do hope she gets a DVD-recorder for her late night anime.. how did watch ALL those shows without one? Most likely she download them from Winny like everyone else too. But really, HDD recorers are so much better, Kona-chan... don't you know at least one AV-otaku (Audio Visual, not the other one)? Like these new sexy Panny Digas... I know you want a Blu-Ray recorder so this Panny BW-200 HDD/BD hybrid recorder is exactly what you'll need to get all your akiba-kei anime in HD! It's a little expensive but you get to burn your own BD anime collection neh...

Just look at this beauty.. you know you want it, Kona-chan...

The hard drive based HD-DVR recording devices are really freaking awesome. I love ours and now aside from sports I never watch commercials. It allows you to tape stuff every week without forcing you to spend money on DVDs to record shows you may not want. Plus if you really do want it you can archive them (although that costs extra).

[stassy]

Small tidbits catched on this ep. and not referenced yet :

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/siteriss/vlcsnap-171841.jpg
One of the first mails has the header "it's Mi*noru". Might not be a spam... ;)

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/siteriss/vlcsnap-172252.jpg
Aren't most of those theme related to Kagami? :rolleyes: Omg 35/60 min of pics transfer, there might be more than thousand gig to move, usually a few gig don't even take more than few minutes. Also I didn't see any yuri/yaoi folders, we know that Konata bought some Hyorin doujin so they might be somewhere else :)

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/siteriss/vlcsnap-202430.jpg
Nice shoot, the Ahoge cockroache antenna of Konata is placed exactly on Saber face in the FSN poster, which of course happen to have one as well

[Kinny Riddle]

Small tidbits catched on this ep. and not referenced yet :

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/siteriss/vlcsnap-171841.jpg
One of the first mails has the header "it's Mi*noru". Might not be a spam... ;)

Poor Minoru, lol. Speaking of which, if you had registered to join the SOS Brigade in the official Haruhi TV website, you would get those interesting SOS Brigade emails sent by Kyon himself, announcing new activities while grumbling at the same time.


http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/siteriss/vlcsnap-172252.jpg
Aren't most of those theme related to Kagami? :rolleyes: Omg 35/60 min of pics transfer, there might be more than thousand gig to move, usually a few gig don't even take more than few minutes. Also I didn't see any yuri/yaoi folders, we know that Konata bought some Hyorin doujin so they might be somewhere else :)

Wonder if "Elf" means "Elven-eared" or that eroge game studio Elf? :cool:


http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd281/siteriss/vlcsnap-202430.jpg
Nice shoot, the Ahoge cockroache antenna of Konata is placed exactly on Saber face in the FSN poster, which of course happen to have one as well

Legend has it that if you pluck off the ahoge off Saber's head, she'll become Dark Saber. :D Who wants to try this on Kona-chan so we can see Dark Kona?

[Kaoru Chujo]

...About Patty.... have you guys notice how she pronounced "America"? It's not A-ME-RI-KA a la katakana, but an American-accented "America" with a rolling R. That Seiyuu is a pro.That seiyuu is the relative newcomer Sasaki Nozomi ささきのぞみ, owner of the moe-est voice in anime (imho). She's a 24-year-old college graduate, shrine priestess, and office lady who got her break last year at an open workshop in Kobe and was picked to star in Bokura ga Ita as her debut role. She has a great blog (http://ameblo.jp/19830219/) that she is posting to several times a day, almost rivalling Ochiai Yurika for posting frequency. She was the biggest reason I was looking forward to this show. Of course, I have lots of other reasons to like the show now.

Here are some photos from her blog:

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2493/sasakinozomiepstb0.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2493/sasakinozomiepstb0.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6374/sasanozo10030750102psgf4.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6374/sasanozo10030750102psgf4.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2482/sasanozo10030829690psft4.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2482/sasanozo10030829690psft4.jpg) http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/535/10031172784sxe1.th.jpg (http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/535/10031172784sxe1.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7525/sasanozo10028124790psad8.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7525/sasanozo10028124790psad8.jpg)

She has a series of photos on her blog now of a trip to Kyoto. The second-last pic shows her on the terrace at Kiyomizu-dera. She is so happy to get back among people speaking Kansai-ben. I think she is from Osaka. I was not overwhelmed by her work in LS at first, but either she is getting better or I am getting used to the way she's doing it, because I thought she was great in ep23.

[Rion Steiner]

Here are some photos from her blog:

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2493/sasakinozomiepstb0.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2493/sasakinozomiepstb0.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6374/sasanozo10030750102psgf4.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6374/sasanozo10030750102psgf4.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2482/sasanozo10030829690psft4.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2482/sasanozo10030829690psft4.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7525/sasanozo10028124790psad8.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7525/sasanozo10028124790psad8.jpg)

She has a series of photos on her blog now of a trip to Kyoto. She is so happy to get back among people speaking Kansai-ben. I think she is from Osaka. I was not overwhelmed by her work in LS at first, but either she is getting better or I am getting used to the way she's doing it, because I thought she was great in ep23.

How old is she in these photos, she doesnt look even pass 16 and I gotta admit she has great potential and I love her English. Nozomi Sasaki as well as Aya Hirano and Misao's Seiyuu (I cant find her >_<) did a marvelous job on giving life to their characters.

[AVPlaya]

Thank you for another wonderful references post. I don't say that often enough. :)

[...] perhaps you should have a website you can put them in so everyone (even non-asuki members) will be able to find them easily?

Thank you for the kind words. These are labors of love, so I'm always glad when others find them useful. I've thought about putting it on a personal website, but I've done that before and managing and maintaining a blog/site is always a hassle, plus posting it here ensures that present and future fan of the show will always find this info. I'm sure more people will start watching it after it's over, like people do with Haruhi even today.

The reason I started doing them was really for myself - Although I know a bit about Japan they always manage to reference some obscure TV show or comic bits I need to do research on. Plus I'd miss most of the ota references anyway. Looking up these things and writing about it is incredibly fun - I get to look for things I'd never looked into before, like the name of the darn Horse Crap Sea Urchin... I had no idea I was eating them all these years. Since it's a joy I'd share with other fans of the show who may not know about the real J-culture that intimately. Like the bit about Xylitol.. I see so many articles and CM on this stuff I got the joke right away, but Xylitol was never marketed the same way in the US so people maybe scratching their heads a bit. But as you know, Xylitol gums are becoming almost defacto in markets across Asia.

Hmm, the link didn't work for me. My end or yours? :(

It's Kona's end. She spend all her "income" on C72 that she forgot to pay her ISP and her site got shut down. Those damn Maido3 Banana Servers (http://www.maido3.com/).... just because they host 2ch (in California, no less) they think they can act like asshats.

That seiyuu is the relative newcomer Sasaki Nozomi ささきのぞみ, owner of the moe-est voice in anime (imho). She's a 24-year-old college graduate, shrine priestess, and office lady [...] I think she is from Osaka.

I fully expected this excellent post from our ichiban resident seiyuu-ota, Kaoru-dono, the moment I wrote that sentence. :) She's a cute Miko-OL-Seiyuu? What a killer combo! Must got quite a fanbase. According to her wiki page (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%95%E3%81%95%E3%81%8D%E3%81%AE%E3%81%9E%E3%8 1%BF), she lives in Kanagawa, but her parents are from Osaka. She probably speak Osaka-ben at home and being in Kansai (where Kyoto is) made her feel at home.

You know, Kyoto used to be shrines, temples, and maiko-chans to me; now Kyoto is Nintendo, KyoAni, and Lucky Star. I'd better not say this to a non-outlaw Japanese...

How old is she in these photos, she doesnt look even pass 16...

She's born in '83 so that makes her 24. She's a college grad you know. It sounds like you're not used to the age of Asian women... many girls looks like this in their 30's and 40's. My wife still gets carded now in her 30's.

Small tidbits catched on this ep. and not referenced yet :


Great catch! Also if you've noticed the mail are all dated October 07... So it's early fall in L*S time already. KyoAni's vaunted attention to detail... Does Shiraishi want to date Kona too? Hmm... Kaori-chan (Tsukasa's Seiyuu) does have that chibi look...

As for the folders, maybe they are mostly photos of Kagami in various stages of... dress and posture...? I can't keep this up or I'm gonna get a nose bleed.

I don't think Kona is a full fujoshi though... she is so much more Akiba-kei. But since she did dig Marimite, I'd say she's a Yuri fan more than a full fledge fujoushi, who would put more weight on Yaoi and Shota. I'm actually quite surprised that she bought Hiyori's Circle doujin... That meant she went all 3-days, even BL-days. What other Yuri goodness did she buy? Hmm....

[723]

This is what I am talking about when I tell my friends to see L*S right now. A big part of this show is the internet chatter we are doing every day. Moreover, occident-minded people like me wouldn't get half the jokes: this is why I have to thank AVPlaya and all the other guys who help in this whole thread. No only because of the explication, but also theories, ringtones (xD), images, etc...

So, after this happiness moment I had (XD), how is the situation about the lovers stories in L*S? The only one which was treated properly was Kagamin's one (and it could have been ommited ¬¬). The rest of the stories are kept in such a quiet mood... if there is a reason for the Minoru hints, I say xD.

And... I think we have talked about this but... who stinks? Why does he stink? Why he does not stink at the end of episode 23? I really want them to say something about that in the last episode!! This is as "weird" as balsamic vineaguer madness... x3

[Kaoru Chujo]

How old is she in these photos, she doesnt look even pass 16 and I gotta admit she has great potential and I love her English. Nozomi Sasaki as well as Aya Hirano and Misao's Seiyuu (I cant find her >_<) did a marvelous job on giving life to their characters.All those photos were taken in the past few months. Photos 2-4 are all from the past week or so.

I have a page giving info on all the main seiyuus (http://hashihime.atspace.com/etc/luckystar/charseiyuus.html). Misao's seiyuu is Mizuhara Kaoru 水原薫. She has a blog (http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kaoru_mizuhara) she just started last month. She hasn't appeared in much yet, just having debuted last year with bit parts in Otoboku and Angelique Mezameru Toki. Nobody seems to know her age (Sasaki Nozomi is one of the few seiyuus who puts her birth year on her own home page). Wikipedia says she got interested in voice work because of her mother being a public address announcer in a department store. Really have to give KyoAni's people credit for finding good but little-known seiyuus and getting good work from them.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/2564/mizuhara1ds1.th.jpg (http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/2564/mizuhara1ds1.jpg)

And by the way, thanks to AVPlaya for all the background info. And thanks again to Guerrand for the quick subs. Watching #23 again was a total joy. So dense with humor and interest. It seemed as if not a second was wasted.

[himemiya613]

i cant believe this series is about to end!!!! :(:(:(:(:(

[Prim8]

i cant believe this series is about to end!!!! :(:(:(:(:(

I feel ya, I feel ya.
I'm going to miss it so much. :upset:

[Shiroi Hane]

The nico comments were of the (nearly unanimous) opinion that they were playing an eroge/browsing an eroge site, not watching hentai. Also, it was referring to a mosaic.
I assumed they were playing a game yes, I mentioned DVDs in particular since I know these are de-censored in the US but I don't know much about the erogame market in America, other than it is smaller than the H-anime market. The L*S producers probably most likely know less than me, so I was running on the assumption that they know stuff is sold uncensored in the US but overestimated the scale of the market.

[Calawain]

Re-watching the episode today I once again was in agreement with Kona-chan about little sister characters and moe. I have a sister who is several years younger than me, so I rarely see any moe in the younger sister or loli types. As soon as I hear the male lead being called "onii-chan" I prepare for the worst. I never really understood the whole lolicon type, I mean in the Saimoe tournaments from years past, 9 year olds from Nanoha won. Blows my mind.

[nikorai]

Hello. Watched the episode. It's full of laughing moments indeed. I voted 10


AVPlaya
Once again, thank you for another set of cultural reference. I learn a lot of new things every time I read them.
Also, thanks for your comments on Kagami's typing skills. I type in japanese myself so when i watched the episode the joke was clear to me.
I just came up with a possible English equivalent to the joke (you probably all know this, I remember this poem since the time I was learning English in the uni).

eye halve a spelling chequer
it came with my pea sea
it plainly marques four my revue
miss steaks eye kin knot sea
eye strike a quay and type a word
and weight four it two say
weather eye am wrong oar write
it shows me strait a weigh.
as soon as a mist ache is maid
it nose bee fore two long
and eye can put the error rite
its rare lea ever wrong.
eye have run this poem threw
i am shore your pleased two no
its letter perfect awl the weigh
my chequer tolled me sew.

[Moridin]

Re-watching the episode today I once again was in agreement with Kona-chan about little sister characters and moe. I have a sister who is several years younger than me, so I rarely see any moe in the younger sister or loli types. As soon as I hear the male lead being called "onii-chan" I prepare for the worst. I never really understood the whole lolicon type, I mean in the Saimoe tournaments from years past, 9 year olds from Nanoha won. Blows my mind.

And that is where the irony of the "little sister moe" lie. The easiest way for an older guy to be around younger girls is if he has a little sister, and then she has a lot of friends. But since he is an olderbrother to a girl of the same age he would probably be feeling "protective" or "caring" for the girls, rather than "atracted" or "turned on" or "overwhelmed by cuteness ( hehe ;) )". So the reason that this kind of moe exist is that the ones that actualy gets to be around young girls dont realy think about the girls in that way, leaving the rest of the guys wishing that they were in those guys shoes (thus reacting to this kind of moe).
I reason like this. when a person that feels "younger sister moe" sees a young girl with some dude, he thinks "IF that happend to me it would be soo cute" or some other thought in that general direction. In my theory the main word of all those thought is the "IF". So for the moe to exist, things like that cant happen to you, because of they did, then there would be no "if" in that thought.
This is just my thoughts, and I dont know alot about "younger sister moe" or Moe in general. Actualy I hadnt even heard about moe until I watched Lucky star. So if all this sounds increadibly wrong, or my use of the word "moe" is all wrong, then it is just me thinking that I knew something when I realy didnt... it does happen from time to time ;p

[HashiriyaR32]

Hello. Watched the episode. It's full of laughing moments indeed. I voted 10


AVPlaya
Once again, thank you for another set of cultural reference. I learn a lot of new things every time I read them.
Also, thanks for your comments on Kagami's typing skills. I type in japanese myself so when i watched the episode the joke was clear to me.
I just came up with a possible English equivalent to the joke (you probably all know this, I remember this poem since the time I was learning English in the uni).

eye halve a spelling chequer
it came with my pea sea
it plainly marques four my revue
miss steaks eye kin knot sea
eye strike a quay and type a word
and weight four it two say
weather eye am wrong oar write
it shows me strait a weigh.
as soon as a mist ache is maid
it nose bee fore two long
and eye can put the error rite
its rare lea ever wrong.
eye have run this poem threw
i am shore your pleased two no
its letter perfect awl the weigh
my chequer tolled me sew.

http://forums.gtrcanada.com/images/smilies/icon_rofl.gif http://forums.gtrcanada.com/images/smilies/icon_rofl.gif http://forums.gtrcanada.com/images/smilies/icon_rofl.gif http://forums.gtrcanada.com/images/smilies/icon_rofl.gif http://forums.gtrcanada.com/images/smilies/icon_rofl.gif http://forums.gtrcanada.com/images/smilies/icon_rofl.gif http://forums.gtrcanada.com/images/smilies/icon_rofl.gif
*falls out of chair*

[AVPlaya]

Okay, Reference List Part B for Episode 23! I think I've skipped something but I fogot what... Iku ze!



Cake-flavored Strawberries
Tsukasa made an interesting observation that the strawberry has a "cake" flavors to it. It's funny because Strawberry Cake is the best selling cake in Japan by far. In fact when people mention ケーキ, the first image that pops up is a creme-layered pound cake with a strawberry on top. Japan is filled with Bakery/Pastry shops selling cakes and other baked-sweets by the piece, and every one of them feature a signature Strawberry Cake. Buying and eating cakes is an everyday occurrence in Japan, that is in contrast with the West where we mostly eat cakes at Birthday parties or eating out in a fancy restaurant. Japanese cakes are also special in that they're mostly sold in pieces, exquisitely encased in its own plastic wrappers. The cream is not very sweet, unlike the diabetes-inducing sugary thing we called frosting here; the cake itself is also light and fluffy, not dense and again, sicken-ly sweet like the boxed cake found on Safeway shelfs. Numerous strategies has also been developed for eating a strawberry cake, as EP1 as eluded to.

In short, Japanese cakes are 10x better than anything in the US, and only select European cities can boast better cakes than the ones found in any normal street in Japan. If you ever go to Japan, please do make sure and visit a Japanese pastry and try a strawberry cake or mount blanc - you will be amazed. Japanese and Asian-style pastry shopped can also be found in large American cities; you just have to know where to find them. This was supposed to be a short entry, but as you can guess, I'm a big fan of Japanese pastries.

These strawberries all taste like cake!
http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/8659/itigoku1.jpghttp://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7485/20070224170221ku2.jpghttp://img49.imageshack.us/img49/9857/dscn9765thumbwe8.jpg


Tsundere Doggie
The show Yutaka watched with the Izumi's after she woke up is a segment of a morning information show ala The Today Show from Fuji TV called "めざましテレビ (http://wwwz.fujitv.co.jp/meza/index.html)" (Mezamashi Terebi, or Alarm Clock TV). At every Monday to Friday around 7:54AM, they will do a segment called "きょうのわんこ (http://www.fujitv.co.jp/meza/wanko/wanko.html)" (Today's Doggie). In L*S the segment is called "きょうのわんわんわん"; both Wanko and Wanwan are children's term for puppies or dogs. As you might have guessed it, it features a puppy a day to doggie-moe everyone before they go to work or school. The only difference is, The segment is about "Today's Doggie", so only 1 dog is featured per day, yet the show in L*S featured at least 2.

The Dogs Featured on "Today's Wanwan":

Welsh Corgi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Corgi)- cute, smallish dog with big face and short legs - the Chibi'kko of dogs
Siberian Husky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Husky)- Appearantly the Tsundere of dog breeds. Not sure where do they have a "twin tail" though; the Mascot Animal for Lucky Star for the past 13 episodes.


Some video of "Kyou no Wanko":

L0GZTcg8b1M
RF4qaXxcYus
Jd0fUjge8nU
If I bite you, it's because I love you.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9863/jordan006zz2.jpg


Patti Rocks
Patti, like most gaijin-otas, listen to a lot of J-pop music. However, like most of us, she only listen to a band when they have an anime OP/ED, and mostly will only listen to their anime work. For example, Orange Range was the biggest act in Japan back in 04 and 05, and yet most of us here only knows about them because of Bleach. It's a shame, really; I always think that if you dig anime songs, you should also dig right into J-POP/Rock scene and look for non-anime works of a good band/singer.

One thing I'd like to add is that if I'm a gaijin-ota in Japan and I'd like to hide that fact to a non-outlaw Japanese, I would do exactly what Patti did - name these popular mainstream bands but never mention the fact I only listen to their anime songs. Of course I'll never ever bring up names like "Function Junction", "angela" or *ugu* "ALI Project".

I'm going to list all the JPOP/Rock acts Patti listed for Kagami and a mention just 1 anime song from each band; for the complete list go here (http://www.syu-ta.com/luckystar/luckystar-parody-23-patty.shtml).


ORANGE RANGE - BLEACH OP: "*~Asterisk" (This is really not made for Bleach)
CHEMISTRY - Gundam SEED Destiny OP: "Wings of Words"
SUNEOHAIR - Honey and Clover ED: Waltz (I LOVE THIS SONG!!!)
Porno Graffitti - FMA OP: "Melissa" (Awesome song)
Laraku - FMA OP: "Ready Set Go" among many others (Are the otakus?)
Jinn - BLOOD+ OP: "Raion"
Nightmare - Death Note OP: "The World"


We give otaku nightmares
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7772/319311oi7.jpg

BTW, I have to give Patti's seiyuu props again. When she said "maid" to Kagami the first time, she used correct American English pronounciation, not "MA-I-DO". That's why Patti has to repeat it. Perhaps her OL job has to do work with English a lot, or that she'a good NOVA student.


Kona Ota Compilation
Sine I'm lazy, I'm going to list a bunch of ota references Kona-chan (and some by Kagami/Tsukasa) here:

When Kagami/Tsukasa walked into Kona-chan's room while she's watching anime, Kagami said "Oosu" and Tsukasa said "Meesu". This is supposed to be a reference to "鉄コン筋クリート (http://www.tekkon.net)" or "Tekkon Kinkreet" (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6531) manga and anime movie. I haven't watched the series even though I wanted to, so I'm not sure but these seemed to be the catch serifu for the 2 main characters.

The Mecha anime with bishounen/shoujo Kona was watching is "機神大戦ギガンティック・フォーミュラ (http://www.gigantic-f.com/)" or "Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7488)". The song playing is the OP from the series, "United Force" by seiyuu/singer Kuribayashi Minami (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=17030) (rather catchy).


Yeah! Kona-chan watches us for our moe-ness, not our mecha!
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3783/20070406000446eb9.jpg


Gamers Deeto
So Konata asked Kagami out on a date, and they went to the Gamers (http://cgi.broccoli.co.jp/gamers/omiya/main.html) store in Oomiya-ku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Cmiya-ku%2C_Saitama) of Saitama City. There's only 18 gamers in all of Japan, and although this one is in Saitama, from school they would have to travel West to Oomiya Eki instead of North to Satte Eki (Kona) and Higashiwashinomiya Eki (Hiiragi Twins). Since it's out of the way and time-consuming, Kona wanted her favorite Tsundere to go with her. *Holy Site Alert!*

At gamers the girls played a self-referential game. First Kona picked up the Character Single CD for an anime she never "watched". This single CD features Kahlua/Tequila Marjoram of Galaxy Angel Rune (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6255) or II (a Brocolli property, owner of Gamers). Of course Kona would be feel connected to the slutty Tequila/Kahlua-chan since that's another character played by Hirano Aya. Kagami's eyes just so happen to land on the vol 8 of the "Damashite! Power Puff Gilrs Z (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5371)" Collector's Edition DVD, of which she felt an instant connection. That's because Kagami's seiyuu, Katou Emiri (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=28606), also played Hyper Blossom in that series. Sometimes serendipity has some marketing undertone too.

Yes, the entire Galaxy Angel manga/anime/game universe is one of my guilty pleasures.

Do you find me hot now, Kagamin?
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/535/04allpa6.jpg


Vampires and Small boobs
The light novel Kagami used to annoy Misao with is "レンタルマギカ吸血鬼VS魔法使い (http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/bunko/bk_detail.php?pcd=200612000035)" or "Rental Magica: Vampires VS Wizards" I really, really want to watch this anime now.

The nikoniko-eqsue words flying above the girls after Kona proclaiming her breast-based advantage to Minami called the girls "胸ぺったんガールズ", which is a slangy term for "Flat-breasted Girls", a new sub-group for the Lucky*idols. Watch for their new single soon.

Let us remind ourselves why a pair of flat boobies is precious and rare.
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/6070/hinnyuusutetasuyj1.jpg


Gottouza-sama's Ride
Since we've talked a lot about the origin of Gottouza-sama (gosh I wish we can see more of her), I'm just going to add a bit. Her ride in anime and real life is the Honda CB400 Super Four (http://www.honda.co.jp/motor-lineup/cb400sf), in which she has posed with on the cover of her single, "Red Zone (http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000R9TN2A/syusquizhomep-22/ref=nosim/)". The bike debuted in 1992, and has a nick name of "Project Big 1". It's a 4-cylinder bad boy and capable of 105 mph, which back in 92 is pretty awesome. Honda still make a version of CB400SF, so I'm not sure what year is her lovely bike. I'm pretty sure it's a vintage model though.

Also some info on the kanji sowed on the sleeves and the back her yankee uniform - it's "音舞羅" (nebura) or the kanji-fied name of her radio show "ねぶら (http://lantis-net.com/nevra/)".

Oh Ride me, Gottouza-sama!
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7140/cb400sfla2.jpg

Also, the song for the ED is of course the battle insert song for "Asahina Mikuru no Kibou Episode 00". I can't believe I missed it because I loved that song. I blame Shiraishi.. the guy can't even hum a song!


===
23 done! Now to watch 24... but I don't know if I want to...

[Calawain]

And that is where the irony of the "little sister moe" lie. The easiest way for an older guy to be around younger girls is if he has a little sister, and then she has a lot of friends. But since he is an olderbrother to a girl of the same age he would probably be feeling "protective" or "caring" for the girls, rather than "atracted" or "turned on" or "overwhelmed by cuteness ( hehe ;) )". So the reason that this kind of moe exist is that the ones that actualy gets to be around young girls dont realy think about the girls in that way, leaving the rest of the guys wishing that they were in those guys shoes (thus reacting to this kind of moe).
I reason like this. when a person that feels "younger sister moe" sees a young girl with some dude, he thinks "IF that happend to me it would be soo cute" or some other thought in that general direction. In my theory the main word of all those thought is the "IF". So for the moe to exist, things like that cant happen to you, because of they did, then there would be no "if" in that thought.
This is just my thoughts, and I dont know alot about "younger sister moe" or Moe in general. Actualy I hadnt even heard about moe until I watched Lucky star. So if all this sounds increadibly wrong, or my use of the word "moe" is all wrong, then it is just me thinking that I knew something when I realy didnt... it does happen from time to time ;p

Makes a lot of sense, I used to find most of my sister's friends irritating rather than attractive. However, now that my sister is 17 I don't always see it that way, although I rarely see them as I live 3,000 miles away from where I grew up.

[Calawain]

http://www.syu-ta.com/luckystar/luckystar-parody-23-patty.shtml


I went to this site and I get jibberish for most of the characters for some reason. I have the regular language packs installed, so I go to moonphase for example and it's readable Japanese. Am I missing something for this site, some language pack I overlooked?

[nikorai]

I went to this site and I get jibberish for most of the characters for some reason. I have the regular language packs installed, so I go to moonphase for example and it's readable Japanese. Am I missing something for this site, some language pack I overlooked?

It is ok for me. Maybe you should check the encoding, it is in Shift-JIS.

Ok, offtopic, continued
Speaking of the wapro I wanted to mention the fact that when typing in japanese it s much easier to make mistakes of you're not careful. Russian textbooks are notorious for numerous typos in them. Textbooks on japanese language are no exception. While they are quite professionally written, the technical part leaves much to be desired.
For example, the one that i'm studying at the moment features proverbs and idioms in each lesson.
So among other things I noticed it was typed
地震雷家事親父

家事 is house chores while it should be 火事 (fire).
The other one is typed like this
清水の舞台から飛下りる
i think the other kanji is used - 飛び降りる, though in this example both kanji seem to be interchangeable.

[Risaa]

My own silly comments again. :)

Cake-flavored StrawberriesI LOVE LOVE LOVE the fruity Asian cakes. I find most typical cakes here to be way too sweet with too much icing, so when I want a cake, I hit the oriental bakery (sad, sad, oh so sad for you if you don't have one in your town.... everything inside is lovely and sweet to eat). I have a thing for cake with strawberries and kiwi and mandarin oranges on top. Those are the best! I also like mocha cake. :) :)

Patti, like most gaijin-otas, listen to a lot of J-pop music. However, like most of us, she only listen to a band when they have an anime OP/ED, and mostly will only listen to their anime work. For example, Orange Range was the biggest act in Japan back in 04 and 05, and yet most of us here only knows about them because of Bleach. It's a shame, really; I always think that if you dig anime songs, you should also dig right into J-POP/Rock scene and look for non-anime works of a good band/singer.It's so true! In the past year I've been into pretty much only anime songs, or songs that were referenced in anime. Part of the reason is that my favorite J-pop song download site got a new horrendous layout, and then finally shut down. I know of another site with lots of j-pop, but they distribute using torrents and it's cumbersome for such a small file. Anime music for direct download is really easy for me to find though. (Everyone wanted to kill me when I found the Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu OP theme... I put it on repeat, over and over and over and over... :) )

If I ever do see a song from an artist I've heard an OP or ED from that I liked, I will definitely nab it though. :) (I have thirty-eight Kaela releases now!)

[Meophist]

About the cake: I've always found "Strawberry Shortcake" a very common item in RPGs, so I'm not surprised to hear at all that it's the most popular type of cake in Japan.

[CrowKenobi]

Episode 23 is out by a.f.k. Only one more to go! :D

:cool:

[Traece]

I have to say the funniest part of this episode for me personally, may have been the part with the Xylitol gum. I just saw ep 23 today after getting back from the dentist and they mentioned it. The coincidence had me laughing before Miyuki even hurt herself.
Plus every time I see Minami pat her lack of breasts I just have to crack into a smile and a chuckle.
Honestly I can't end this post without mentioning Konata's autocomplete.
Konata... I must say... Has the strangest autocomplete in the history of autocompletes. It's like her computer is programmed to turn EVERYTHING into something that has to do with her. How can someone type like that?? Well, only Konata can it seems.

[taelrak]

http://s02.imagehost.org/0236/kannaduki_sig.jpg

Why do I keep getting this picture in my head when Konata talks about inserting random moe and other stuff to mecha shows? :p

[Sorrow-K]

Probably the lesbians? Hell, sometimes I completely forget KnM even had mecha to begin with.

Just watched this ep. Holy crap, it was actually funny. Brilliant, even. Why the hell couldn't this anime be this funny more often or earlier? What a waste of potential...