Lucky Star - Episode 04 Discussion / Poll

[Kaoru Chujo]

I think the director change announcement is a fake, inserted on the KyoAni site by vandals. Here is my reasoning:

1. No press release would say "because he has not reached the level of being a director yet," as I read this one to do.
2. The announcement was posted sometime between midnight and 3am Monday morning, when staff is normally not at work.
3. It says the change will take place with episode five, but episode five will already have been completed by now.
4. The announcement opens in a small new window, unlike other announcements in the news list.
5. The announcement page was made in Adobe GoLive, using the "x-sjis" character set. The rest of the site appears to be simply in "shift_jis" and gives no creating software.

In my opinion, Lucky Star is a unique and superior show, and one of the best comedy anime I have ever seen, at a higher level of humor than all but a few other anime.

It seems to me likely that some kimo-ota, emboldened by their success over Gurren Lagann, are now turning their sights on someone else with a higher aesthetic sense than theirs.

Time will tell. It is now not quite 4am Monday in Japan. KyoAni staff will not be on the job for a few hours yet.

[Daniel E.]

Omni sure got it fast this week.

Random curiosity - Lucky Star Eps. 04

Is that a Death Note parody that I see!

EDIT:

Sorry my bad, the entry was made by Jaalin and not by Omni.

[Kyuusai]

Originally Posted by Skane

Question for those who have watched Ep04 and understood the dialogue. Why did Kagami cry?

*sniffle*

(I should be asleep already... but I am burning to know answers from this and StrikerS... Man... I am going to "die" tomorrow...)

Spoilers! SPOILERS!

[GHDpro]

Man, out of all the episodes this one sure was the fullest of references. While there were plenty of visual gags (the To Heart one was absolutely BRILLIANT considering some of the fan-art floating around), but there were a few voice-only ones too.

Spoiler for some thoughts about ep 4:

Early in the episode Konata makes excuses for being late twice. I think the important keywords for the first one were "otoko narimashita" and the second one "taiyuki". While I didn't quite understand it completely, I think the first "excuse" might be a Maze reference (or Ranma?) and the second one a Kanon one. Interestingly Konata actually got a cold the time after that, yet the teacher didn't believe her (I guess that's what you get from making up to much false excuses).

There was also a moment where Konata clearly imitates Shin-chan from Crayon Shin-chan with her voice. Then there were loads of small references too: not only see we a visual Haruhi reference, at one point Konata turns on the TV to watch it too (and on here PC it seems she has 2ch [or similar] ready for talking about it just like I'm doing now). Shuffle and Galaxy Angel also made another apperance. There was also the manga Konata was reading, but I'm afraid I don't know it's name...

Anyway... I'm not sure what exactly to think of this episode; there were great moments but overal it might be a bit less than episode 3. Anyway, once again this episode clearly proved my Japanese isn't quite good enough, so I'll wait for the subs to watch it again and catch all the jokes.

Originally Posted by Skane

Question for those who have watched Ep04 and understood the dialogue. Why did Kagami cry?

*sniffle*

(I should be asleep already... but I am burning to know answers from this and StrikerS... Man... I am going to "die" tomorrow...)

I think it has to do with her weight (namely, that it increased again). But I'm not sure.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Vexx

As long as we distinguish between 'advertising product placement' and 'this is the normal sort of thing Konata would be chatting about' .... just the use of fad items is okay if it is in context because this is what these sort of people would actually discuss.

Rather like "Want a Coke?" is not an inherent product placement.

In a real sense, *ALL* anime is advertising --- they want us to buy the manga, the figures, and CDs, DVDs....

I'd make a distinction between what I call "Direct Advertising" and "Indirect Advertising". An example would be Konata's "Don't You Feel The Urge To Buy Things Related To A Particular Title" comment in reference to Comptiq's Refill Card Plan. Once your character starts endorsing your products within an anime it becomes direct advertising (Plus in this case it's a double whammy, because the naive may not know it is happening AND it is being advertised by a cute character, which is almost the "Autosell", whatever I mean by that). Ultimately, most of anime I like to think of as indirect advertising where you want to make people buy your product based off of the content they see and enjoy.

[Nemo_N]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I think the director change announcement is a fake, inserted on the KyoAni site by vandals. Here is my reasoning:

1. No press release would say "because he has not reached the level of being a director yet," as I read this one to do.
2. The announcement was posted sometime between midnight and 3am Monday morning, when staff is normally not at work.
3. It says the change will take place with episode five, but episode five will already have been completed by now.
4. The announcement opens in a small new window, unlike other announcements in the news list.
5. The announcement page was made in Adobe GoLive, using the "x-sjis" character set. The rest of the site appears to be simply in "shift_jis" and gives no creating software.

In my opinion, Lucky Star is a unique and superior show, and one of the best comedy anime I have ever seen, at a higher level of humor than all but a few other anime.

It seems to me likely that some kimo-ota, emboldened by their success over Gurren Lagen, are now turning their sights on someone else with a higher aesthetic sense than theirs.

Time will tell. It is now not quite 4am Monday in Japan. KyoAni staff will not be on the job for a few hours yet.

Wow. Your reasoning seems good.

Like you said, time will tell.

[Meophist]

Originally Posted by GHDpro

Spoiler for some thoughts about ep 4:

I think it has to do with her weight (namely, that it increased again). But I'm not sure.

Spoiler:

I'm pretty sure it was this too.

Strangely, I found it easier for me to understand this episode then the others. Perhaps the many blatent references helped.

[dahl_moon]

Wow, the ending song was totally random. Kagami was watching this '81 series with Tsukasa a while ago?
Edit: Apparently there was a remake of the series last year... never mind my comment above.

Spoiler for Episode 4 Ending song by Kagami:

Another episode that was over my Japanese level. Although I have to admit, Konata's presents for Kagami and Tsukasa was a totally win moment for me. By far (for me) the funniest moment.

As for the not able to study on a hot day + mosquitoes, and staying up all night reading after casually picking a book up, that is so true...

Next week: festivals and Yukata!

[Woland]

Konata has a very good taste for manga

Spoiler for reference get:

Mugen no juunin by Hiroaki Samura
That's a Kodansha's manga (serialized on Afternoon if I remember well) so not all the clear reference are for Kadokawa products

[GHDpro]

Originally Posted by dahl_moon

As for the not able to study on a hot day + mosquitoes, and staying up all night reading after casually picking a book up, that is so true...

Yup. I could completely sympathize with Konata's study methods. I too have more than once delayed learning for a test (or a report etc) until the last minute by simply setting my alarm clock earlier and doing it early in the morning. Though usually I would not end up staying up until 2 am in such cases. Not exactly feeling like learning after waking up so early like Konata subsequently also happened to me (as well as simply running out of time because I had not set the alarm clock early enough).

[Meophist]

That reminds me… I have a project due for tomorrow. Instead of doing it, I'm watching anime and am on Internet posting on message boards. I'm telling myself that I need to do the project, but here I am.

In other news, I avoid reading books because I have a hard time putting them down. When I do read books, I often end up staying up all night just to finish it(in one sitting), as my perception of time goes away.

[krln99]

Did anyone see the Fumoff Bonta-kun in Kagami's room? That was a nice touch. Also LOL at Kona watching Haruhi while posting on 2ch.

The ending song, if anyone was curious, was "sailorfuku to kikanjuu," (Sailorsuits and magine guns) orignally by Hiroko Yakushimaru, but most recently re-made and redone by Nagasawa Masami.

[aorta]

Originally Posted by [Woland]

Konata has a very good taste for manga

Spoiler for reference get:

Mugen no juunin by Hiroaki Samura
That's a Kodansha's manga (serialized on Afternoon if I remember well) so not all the clear reference are for Kadokawa products

Spoiler for more info:

aka Blade of the Immortal. This is volume 19.

[Mirrinus]

Yeah, I can sympathize along with you all. I have a 12-page Political Science paper draft to turn in tomorrow (I'm on pg. 4 atm), yet here I am posting on this forum...

[WanderingKnight]

Spoiler for episode 4:

Nice episode, I understood a bit more dialog than episode 3 but I'm still lacking too much vocabulary. The teacher's Osaka-ben was particularly tough to decipher. Though many parts still were funny and in many others where I couldn't catch the words, the meaning could be figured out by context anyways. Oh, and Lucky Channel seems to be getting tamer by now. Wonder if Akira'll keep calming down. Though I loved it when she freaked out at Shiashi for interrupting her.

Originally Posted by GHDPro

Spoiler:

and the second one "taiyuki"... and the second one a Kanon one...

Spoiler:

If you're looking for a Kanon reference, it should be taiyaki, not taiyuki. Tayuki means "great courage".

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by Skane

Question for those who have watched Ep04 and understood the dialogue. Why did Kagami cry?

*sniffle*

(I should be asleep already... but I am burning to know answers from this and StrikerS... Man... I am going to "die" tomorrow...)

She lost weight, so she started eating her favorite snacks again, and her weight increased once again. www



Random thought:

Hirano Aya's mimicry of Nohara Shinosuke's voice is superb. GJ!

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I think the director change announcement is a fake, inserted on the KyoAni site by vandals. Here is my reasoning:

1. No press release would say "because he has not reached the level of being a director yet," as I read this one to do.
2. The announcement was posted sometime between midnight and 3am Monday morning, when staff is normally not at work.
3. It says the change will take place with episode five, but episode five will already have been completed by now.
4. The announcement opens in a small new window, unlike other announcements in the news list.
5. The announcement page was made in Adobe GoLive, using the "x-sjis" character set. The rest of the site appears to be simply in "shift_jis" and gives no creating software.

In my opinion, Lucky Star is a unique and superior show, and one of the best comedy anime I have ever seen, at a higher level of humor than all but a few other anime.

It seems to me likely that some kimo-ota, emboldened by their success over Gurren Lagen, are now turning their sights on someone else with a higher aesthetic sense than theirs.

Time will tell. It is now not quite 4am Monday in Japan. KyoAni staff will not be on the job for a few hours yet.

There really aren't that many good comedy anime I find. Most of them miss the mark, so I'll agree to that. Not much competition.

By the way, this sentence, "It seems to me likely that some kimo-ota, emboldened by their success over Gurren Lagen, are now turning their sights on someone else with a higher aesthetic sense than theirs." I really don't understand what you are talking about here. Could you elaborate.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

...By the way, this sentence, "It seems to me likely that some kimo-ota, emboldened by their success over Gurren Lagann, are now turning their sights on someone else with a higher aesthetic sense than theirs." I really don't understand what you are talking about here. Could you elaborate.

kimo-ota="disgusting otaku," a Japanese catch-word. For others: a producer of GL resigned recently when controversy erupted on 2channel over a change in styles for one episode and it came out that he (I'm not sure why I thought it was she; I'll accept your correction from the GL thread) and a staffer had posted insults on a supposedly private site about kimo-ota on 2channel not knowing anything about animation but thinking they were smarter than anyone else, and about 2channel being the "anus of the Internet." 2channel posters on their GL thread are triumphant. I thought it may be someone of that group finding a way to hack the KyoAni site. There was a lot of negative reaction to Lucky Star on 2channel when it came out. I basically like this show and liked ep4 of GL at least as well as other eps, so I was denigrating the taste of people on 2channel who don't, and making wild accusations against them.

I hasten to add that I actually enjoy 2channel and will defend it in other contexts.

As for comedy anime, I'm sure our tastes differ, but I agree there aren't many I love. Ichigo Mashimaro is my favorite. The current Hayate the Combat Butler is pretty good, too, in a totally different way from either LS or IM.

As for episode 4, the raw is as usual above my Japanese comprehension but still funny. So much win in Konata's half-hour of studying to four hours of nap, reading, playing, etc., and in Kagami's all-night read. Also in Konata's comment about a game (?) where the small-breasted character has an advantage -- Aya being notoriously small-breasted. And Tsukasa's musing: "I guess I'm all right too, then." And I continue to be thrilled with Aya's work as a female kimo-ota. That voice keeps giving me the feeling that Konata doesn't bathe enough, lol.

kj1980, am I right in thinking that the announcement on the KyoAni site says that Yamamoto "hasn't reached the level of director yet"? This is the main thing that makes me think it's bogus.

Spoiler for Japanese text of supposed KyoAni announcement:

TVアニメーション作品「らき☆すた」監督交代のお知らせ
「らき☆すた」監督の山本寛は、監督において、まだ、その域に達していないと弊社は判断し、交代いたしまし た。
　放送第５話から新監督武本康弘のもとスタッフ一丸となって作品制作をしていきます。
引き続きよろしくお願いいたします。
平成19年4月30日
株式会社京都アニメーション

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

kimo-ota="disgusting otaku," a Japanese catch-word. For others: a producer of GL resigned recently when controversy erupted on 2channel over a change in styles for one episode and it came out that he (I'm not sure why I thought it was she; I'll accept your correction from the GL thread) and a staffer had posted insults on a supposedly private site about kimo-ota on 2channel not knowing anything about animation but thinking they were smarter than anyone else, and about 2channel being the "anus of the Internet." 2channel posters on their GL thread are triumphant. I thought it may be someone of that group finding a way to hack the KyoAni site. There was a lot of negative reaction to Lucky Star on 2channel when it came out. I basically like this show and liked ep4 of GL at least as well as other eps, so I was denigrating the taste of people on 2channel who don't, and making wild accusations against them.

As for comedy anime, I'm sure our tastes differ, but I agree there aren't many I love. Ichigo Mashimaro is my favorite. The current Hayate the Combat Butler is pretty good, too, in a totally different way from either LS or IM.

As for episode 4, the raw is as usual above my Japanese comprehension but still funny. So much win in Konata's half-hour of studying to four hours of nap, reading, playing, etc., and in Kagami's all-night read. Also in Konata's comment about a game (?) where the small-breasted character has an advantage -- Aya being notoriously small-breasted. And Tsukasa's musing: "I guess I'm all right too, then." And I continue to be thrilled with Aya's work as a female kimo-ota. That voice keeps giving me the feeling that Konata doesn't bathe enough, lol.

kj1980, am I right in thinking that the announcement on the KyoAni site says that Yamamoto "hasn't reached the level of director yet"? This is the main thing that makes me think it's bogus.

Spoiler for Japanese text of supposed KyoAni announcement:

TVアニメーション作品「らき☆すた」監督交代のお知らせ
「らき☆すた」監督の山本寛は、監督において、まだ、その域に達していないと弊社は判断し、交代いたしまし た。
　放送第5話から新監督武本康弘のもとスタッフ一丸となって作品制作をしていきます。
引き続きよろしくお願いいたします。
平成19年4月30日
株式会社京都アニメーション

That's a word I would like to add to my vocabulary. Thank you for providing its definition, it will come in handy for sure in the future.

Also on the game discussion with the character having an advantage. I wonder if its an H-Game, because I've noticed the small-breasted characters in H-RPG's and Strategy games always seem to be either event-loss bosses, or very very powerful. From my point of view, Konata speaks the truth.

[krln99]

The next ep looks really good, especially for those critics who say they "don't do anything" in this series, cuz they're going to a summer festival.

What I don't get is that we assume Konata and the Hiiragi sisters have been friends since at least 1st year of HS, yet they were surprised when Kona told them her mom died when she was little. I think somewhere in the first year that would be revealed in some way.

I hope Kona drags her friends to the Comike or the Comp Matsuri. Those would definitely provide for some great laughs.

BTW, am I the only one who enjoys the fashion in this series? Each of the girls' fashion suits their characters. Kagami is always well dressed. One would imagine she pours through fashion magazines and always buys what's in-style at the moment. Tsukasa dresses much more casual and wears "cute" things suited to girls her age, or maybe even younger. Just the opposite is Miyuki, who is very lady-like in her appearance always in long skirts and long sleeves. Least fashionalbe, unsurprisingly, is Kona, who dresses like a tomboy, and is mostly seen in t-shirts and shorts.