Lucky Star - Episode 22 Discussion / Poll

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by Vexx

On Soujirou's laptop in the flashback: I had my first laptop in 1986, Data General One (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General-One) --- it was very expensive but I used it in my travels for the project I was on. My next laptop was a Toshiba, orange plasma screen in 1992. So... early 1990s? No problem for laptops.

Unfortunately, the Japanese language uses kanji, hiragana, and katakana, so it wasn't simple to just type out letters like an English typewriter. The difficulty lay in the Japanese language in itself as one needed to change from hiragana-katakana-kanji at will. Therefore, most Japanese companies still relied on handwritten notes and memos until Toshiba introduced the first all-Japanese capable word-processor (wapuro) in 1978. Basically it's a typewriter with a monochrome display. No Windows or DOS, just a plain basic OS built by the manufacturer with very basic software (dictionary, word processor, fonts, calculator, save to floppy disks and the like). Little tweaks here and there, along with larger memory to store larger amounts of kanji and dictionary, as well as reduction in prices lead the wapuro to become a rather popular office tool in the Japanese office space from the mid 1980s.

As prices further dropped, Japanese authors and script writers began to adopt wapuro for their jobs.

Compared to a notebook PC, wapuro was much more cheaper, lighter, and more versatile. Higher-end models had a built in thermal printer which allowed people to create hagaki (postcards), but its price was still relatively much cheaper than the lowest-end laptops of that era.

By the mid-to-late 1990s, wapuro began to die out and began to be replaced with notebook PCs as they began to fall in price.
Here's a link with a picture of one of the very last wapuro ever made (Nov. 2000):

http://journal.mycom.co.jp/photo/art...mages/002l.jpg
Which by this time, wapuro had internal modems and color LCD displays, e-mail and internet capability. For a few ten thousand yen more, one could buy a relatively cheap laptop which can do much more. Obviously sales of wapuro declined to a point where they ceased production altogether.

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by ProtoMan

In konata's and Kanata's case their name is written in same Hiragana so a different rule may apply, or it may be the same custom of family having similar name's. I think kj might be able to give you more info.

No. Konata and Kanata are different in hiragana. (こなた vs かなた) Konata's name is written entirely in hiragana, but normally the kanji would be 此方. Kanata is written as 彼方 in kanji.

[Zero Shinohara]

On Soujirou's laptop in the flashback: I had my first laptop in 1986, Data General One (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General-One) --- it was very expensive but I used it in my travels for the project I was on. My next laptop was a Toshiba, orange plasma screen in 1992. So... early 1990s? No problem for laptops

Yeap, seems like I was a little off. After posting that comment, I went to Wikipedia to get a little lesson on the history of laptops and oops, there it was. However, I didn't really feel like coming back to edit my post as I'm working on a little vectoring now.

I'm insanely curious as to how they're going to bring the curtain down on this series at the end. I'm assuming it'll be another "day in the life of...." but the details make the difference...

Same with me. I don't think Lucky*Star deserves an ordinary ending, but knowing the pace of the series, it seems to me like that's the most probable outcome. Personally, I think it would be great to not follow the same path Azumanga Daioh/Manabi Straight! took, which is

Spoiler:

sending the girls off to wherever they think their future is stored. In Azumanga, that left me really depressed for a long time, because I felt like I was the only one "left behind". Yep, I'm that much of an otaku, but I bet others have shared the same experience.

Personally, I think the endings with Minoru are getting old - I mean, it's still really funny and he's an expert at making a fool out of himself, but they don't have that "ROFL" in them anymore. Love the "Sou-kun, there's turbulence and I can't fly!" line by Kanata, though.

[Claymore_Obsessed]

Originally Posted by Zero Shinohara

Same with me. I don't think Lucky*Star deserves an ordinary ending, but knowing the pace of the series, it seems to me like that's the most probable outcome. Personally, I think it would be great to not follow the same path Azumanga Daioh/Manabi Straight! took, which is

Spoiler:

sending the girls off to wherever they think their future is stored. In Azumanga, that left me really depressed for a long time, because I felt like I was the only one "left behind". Yep, I'm that much of an otaku, but I bet others have shared the same experience.

Personally, I think the endings with Minoru are getting old - I mean, it's still really funny and he's an expert at making a fool out of himself, but they don't have that "ROFL" in them anymore. Love the "Sou-kun, there's turbulence and I can't fly!" line by Kanata, though.

yes you aren't alone, I had that same exact feeling about Azumanga ending. It would be weird feeling that again for LS... KyoAni, please don't make us sad

well, Minoru's ed aren't unexpected as they were some time ago... but the megamix-medley was a huge ROTFL for me, one of his all-time best

[Vexx]

Same here.... it was like *I* was being left behind as the camera pulled away. Ouch.

@kj1980: I vaguely remembered the wapuro (several companies actually tried such things in the US as well in the early 90s) and I do remember it taking a while before the non-phonetic scripts were "solved" for such things. But 18 years ago (we're not sure how long Sou and Kanata were childless after marriage), laptops and a variety of related products were somewhat the rage and I figured Sou was an early adopter of geek toys anyway

[narmi]

Hmm, in my opinion I think Kanata and Soujirou were childless for about 5 years after they marriage. When you compare the events and images we were given (including Konata's age) they must have had Konata at around 1990 or 1991. The events that took place in Lucky are similar to the events that have happened recently (for example; Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu season 1 including the mini novels).


Episode 22 was great and because of the "elements" they used in this episode. I want to buy the DVDs for the series (not thinking about buying Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu season 1 for DVD heh). The scene where Kanata finally gets an appearance and scene was amazing and touching. At the end of the scene where Kanata's photo was taken with Konota and Souhirou was hilarious quote; "What's this shadowy image?!" "AHhh we have to burn it" hahaha. At least it there isn't otaku's doing a ceremony (one example is Ashita no Joe where Rikiishi dies during the match with Joe, source of an Ashita no Joe)

Anyway in my opinion if they did a season 2 of Lucky Star it wouldn't be as awesome as season 1 but heck it's better to have a bit more of Lucky Star.

[Proto]

No. Konata and Kanata are different in hiragana. (こなた vs かなた) Konata's name is written entirely in hiragana, but normally the kanji would be 此方. Kanata is written as 彼方 in kanji.

Uh... sorry. I meant that they were both written in hiragana, not that they used the same kannas. Blame the language barrier. ごめんね。

[Ashlotte]

Well that was an...odd episode. I can't really see what the point of putting such an emotional segment in the middle of an absurdest comedy like this.

They've done things similar to this and the segments in and of themselves I really adore, but they never really seem to fit very well in with the flow of the show in the least for me.

I want to say I really liked the episode, but I guess itd be more accurate to say I liked part of it with the sketches preceding it feeling completely out of place afterwards. Maybe its something how the shows been structured up to now with a very literal 4-koma feel with it being very obvious where the jokes start and stop.

Having the pacing all chopped up like that was fine but then to throw in random elements of actual story, plot, and character development feels almost alien...

Ah im rambling. I guess ill go with as separate entities I liked the kanata part and the "normal" L*S segments a great deal, but taken as a whole episode it felt like a failure of atmosphere and pacing. *shrug*

[takumi2k4]

I think I may have figured out Konata's birthdate year.

If you remember back in episode 12, Konata mentions that she attended the very last Comiket that was held in the previous location, Harumi.

Now according to this website: Click Here

The very last Comiket that was held in Harumi was in December 30, 1995. In the same episode(12), Konata said that she was 5 years old during the very last Comiket. It seems pretty weird though, if she was 5 years old during 1995, then she obviously wouldn't be 18 in 2007, that is, unless the current year in L*S is 2008.

Now assuming that the flashback scene was in chronological order, then we can assume that Kanata and Soujiro got married sometime after 1985, then I'm guessing a year later, Konata came and Kanata left.

If the wapuro really did become pretty affordable for writers in the mid 80's, then there's more proof I guess.

[Steg]

The very last Comiket that was held in Harumi was in December 30, 1995. In the same episode(12), Konata said that she was 5 years old during the very last Comiket. It seems pretty weird though, if she was 5 years old during 1995, then she obviously wouldn't be 18 in 2007, that is, unless the current year in L*S is 2008.

Well if you consider how fast time moves in Lucky Star (2 years in a five month running time) it seems pretty accurate to me.

[Nenkitsune]

yep, sounds about right to me as well.
T_T i didn't think lucky star of ALL shows would make me tear up haha.

[narmi]

Originally Posted by Nenkitsune

yep, sounds about right to me as well.
T_T i didn't think lucky star of ALL shows would make me tear up haha.

Well I'm happy they did the scene with Kanata, Konata and Soujirou together. With that I was extremely statisfied with Lucky Star but I still want more hahaha.


Response to a previous post about the scene with Kanata's appearance.

Well in my opinion that scene was a good event to happen. They did have a few scenes where Kanata was the topic of the conversation (one example; when they were talking about the photo of Konata's mother and her appearance). At least they did a scene for Kanata because I was wonder what she was like. With that now we know how she was and why Souhirou and Kanata married each other and had Konata.

[Maveric]

I want a remote controlled light...

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by takumi2k4

...It seems pretty weird though, if she was 5 years old during 1995, then she obviously wouldn't be 18 in 2007, that is, unless the current year in L*S is 2008....

If she turned 6 in 1995, then she would turn 18 in 2007, wouldn't she? As long as her birthday is after Comiket, I think your timeline works.

[Kempis Curious]

I'm glad that Dad didn't remarry after his wife died, but instead focused his life on raising his daughter. It's often the case that when a man is happily married, he will quickly re-marry if the wife dies.

I also think it's great when a daughter knows that her father "loves her mother more than anyone in the world". I imagine it gives her a good example of what kind of man she should be interested in.


-k

curious

[shoehead]

I thought this episode was really touching..
I really wanted the scene with Kanata to last longer.

Has anyone confirmed how Kanata passed away? Was it really an effect of child birth? Did they ever mention it in the manga?

[Vexx]

It was implied that there were complications after childbirth.... really, childbirth is a pretty risky proposition - even with modern technology. You're asking a mom to push something the size of a watermelon out between her pelvis... lots of things can rip, tear, or fail especially with small moms. .....

[EXEs]

if it was a childbirth effect, wouldn't we not see Kanata holding Konata?

[Meophist]

Originally Posted by kj1980

*wapuro stuff*

Yeah, that's what I had. I remember thinking that it was pretty cool. It was like a computer, but not exactly.

[723]

Originally Posted by EXEs

if it was a childbirth effect, wouldn't we not see Kanata holding Konata?

You got a point... I believe that it was some kind of terminal illness. I thought that after seeing the image of Soujiro crying on Kanata's bed. That's a pretty common image after telling someone you love that you are going to pass... But, don't doctors ask family first if they want the ill person to know?

It is also possible that Soujiro decided to tell her and he couldn't hide his sadness. Kanata smiling after hearing what is happening to her fits very well to her personality... What do you think?