Lucky Star (Generic Discussion thread)

[Lucky_Day]

I seem to be posting much more now that there are fewer people to read my posts. This is partially due to people in general posting less making a greater percentage of the remaining posts mine. I do expect a surge in posts once the dub is released but I have no idea how big a surge or how long it will last. I plan to buy the Lucky Star DVDs eventually but I see no reason to rush into things.

[Dee Eon]

Originally Posted by Lucky_Day

I seem to be posting much more now that there are fewer people to read my posts. This is partially due to people in general posting less making a greater percentage of the remaining posts mine. I do expect a surge in posts once the dub is released but I have no idea how big a surge or how long it will last. I plan to buy the Lucky Star DVDs eventually but I see no reason to rush into things.

Is there any way you can put a sound clip of your radio interview on YouTube??

Dee

[Lucky_Day]

YouTube may be difficult without any audio. Below is a link to where it can be found in the archives.

Radio Interview, my segment is from 36:00 to 43:45, 7 minutes 45 seconds in all.

[margafred]

Its finally here

Lucky Star OVA

[archanfels]

Originally Posted by margafred

Its finally here

Lucky Star OVA

*Sniff

There IS a God...

[kenjiharima]

Originally Posted by margafred

Its finally here

Lucky Star OVA

YES!!!!

Finally I will see Kona-chan again! Maybe this time Kanata will be more involved!

[Tabris]

I thought I'd ask here, but is Lucky Star worth watching?

Everytime I hear a mention of Lucky Star on other places, the reactions are mixed and usually negative, and I don't quite understand why. So, I'm about to cave in and watch it (I know it's licensed), but I'd at least like to know what makes it so popular?

[Rembr]

Originally Posted by Tabris

I thought I'd ask here, but is Lucky Star worth watching?

Everytime I hear a mention of Lucky Star on other places, the reactions are mixed and usually negative, and I don't quite understand why. So, I'm about to cave in and watch it (I know it's licensed), but I'd at least like to know what makes it so popular?

It's mostly the moeblob factor that people rave and hate about. And the fact that the show's contents can be hard to catch a lot of the time.

[Lucky_Day]

Lucky Star is definitely not for everyone, but it seems to have a loyal fanbase among those who do like it. Unlike ratings, selling DVDs depends more on a loyal fanbase than appeal to a general audience.

[Tabris]

I'll give it a go anyhow

[Vexx]

I often compare it to Peanuts --- (the original Peanuts, the way it used to be - irreverent, philosophical, daily life). Modern examples might be the comics like Zits or Bucky. Focusing on the moeblob, to me, means the ranter just took a shallow scoop and missed the meat.

There are a fair amount of "inside obscure joke" references --- but in almost every case, it doesn't matter if you "got the reference" or not because all you really needed to know was that Konata associates everything with some cultural/anime/manga reference. Most of the base humor is "daily life humor" and the "obscure gags" are anime-only inserts.

I always tell people who hear mixed reviews: look at who is MAKING the review. Liking or hating a show like Lucky*Star (or AzuDa or ARIA or...) often tells me more about the reviewer than the series.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Rembr

It's mostly the moeblob factor that people rave and hate about. And the fact that the show's contents can be hard to catch a lot of the time.

No no, it's the otaku pandering aspect that many including me were turned off by part way through the series run. That and the tendency of Kadokawa to constantly inject references to their manga licenses into the show at every possible turn, but to no real benefit. It was just like:

Oh here's a Full Metal Panic Yaoi manga, remember Full Metal Panic?

Me: "Yes......Oh that's it.......that's the joke? Really"

Occasionally you'd still get some decent character moments after the 1/3 way point, but once Konata and to some extent Kagami actually started to advocate for Kadokawa the love was lost more or less from my stand point. I just saw her more as a mascot then a real character at that point. That's not a good thing.

[Vexx]

Strangely enough, I completely see and understand Kaioshin_Sama's remarks as well.
The series executes on a number of frequencies - whether you can tune out the ones that annoy you will determine any enjoyability.

Though the FMP yaoi "gag" (at least in my view) was more "Kagami loved some manga series... at the con she picks up a book that has her favorite characters on the cover.... a few pages in she becomes distraught at the realization that the story has her favorite characters doing Very Explicit Things she never would have thought of them doing."
Whether it was FMP or not was completely irrelevant -- in fact the strip it is based on just has her picking up an unnamed unidentifiable doujin of a series that we know she likes. However, many of the what I'll call "fad fans" focused completely on the added references rather than any plot within a sketch segment.

[Tabris]

Originally Posted by Vexx

hating a show like ...( ARIA or...)

UNPOSSIBLE.

And to be on topic, I started watching Lucky Star, it isn't too bad so far

[Rembr]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

No no, it's the otaku pandering aspect that many including me were turned off by part way through the series run. That and the tendency of Kadokawa to constantly inject references to their manga licenses into the show at every possible turn, but to no real benefit. It was just like:

Oh here's a Full Metal Panic Yaoi manga, remember Full Metal Panic?

Me: "Yes......Oh that's it.......that's the joke? Really"

Occasionally you'd still get some decent character moments after the 1/3 way point, but once Konata and to some extent Kagami actually started to advocate for Kadokawa the love was lost more or less from my stand point. I just saw her more as a mascot then a real character at that point. That's not a good thing.

Originally Posted by Vexx

However, many of the what I'll call "fad fans" focused completely on the added references rather than any plot within a sketch segment.

So he's a fad fan, except he hates instead of appreciates.

But that's fine, a lot of the contents are hard to catch for folks over here.

[Vexx]

No, not really --- KS just had trouble tuning out the "extra contaminants" so it ruined the enjoyability of the core show for him. For him, its just like someone took your Favorite Show and inserted product placement (always hold the can so the audience can see the label) and character's saying crap like "Mmmmmm, don't you just love McDonalds and their McPseudoChickenNuggets(tm)?"

Myself, I just spent more time grinding my teeth when they'd veer off. I don't mind anime-only storylines, but when they involve anime-only characters I just see time budget frittering (anime-tenchou...). I initially liked the L*C segment but after about 7 or 8 episodes it became more of a chore to watch than a joy and I saw it as simply "more L*S strips we won't see animated". On the other hand, I don't mind something like the "Initial D" moment in an early ep simply because they're demonstrating something taken from the comic (she drives like a maniac) and icing it with a reference. Konata is an otaku --- so she's going to be surrounding herself with otaku fad items. A person can completely not notice the references because they don't have to --- they just see that she's into "a bunch of otaku stuff". Many of those are more like "easter eggs" rather than distracting.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Rembr

So he's a fad fan, except he hates instead of appreciates.

But that's fine, a lot of the contents are hard to catch for folks over here.

Actually Lucky Star had a pretty good run with me until they eventually just seemed to give up on the social commentary side of things and just went with whatever they knew Otaku wanted to see. This is one of the only series I've ever seen where one episode would earn my respect with a 9/10 and follow it up with an episode that I received very poorly and gave a 2/10 too. Hit and Miss didn't really even begin to describe the show for me.

[Rembr]

Originally Posted by Vexx

No, not really --- KS just had trouble tuning out the "extra contaminants" so it ruined the enjoyability of the core show for him. For him, its just like someone took your Favorite Show and inserted product placement (always hold the can so the audience can see the label) and character's saying crap like "Mmmmmm, don't you just love McDonalds and their McPseudoChickenNuggets(tm)?"

Myself, I just spent more time grinding my teeth when they'd veer off. I don't mind anime-only storylines, but when they involve anime-only characters I just see time budget frittering (anime-tenchou...). I initially liked the L*C segment but after about 7 or 8 episodes it became more of a chore to watch than a joy and I saw it as simply "more L*S strips we won't see animated". On the other hand, I don't mind something like the "Initial D" moment in an early ep simply because they're demonstrating something taken from the comic (she drives like a maniac) and icing it with a reference. Konata is an otaku --- so she's going to be surrounding herself with otaku fad items. A person can completely not notice the references because they don't have to --- they just see that she's into "a bunch of otaku stuff". Many of those are more like "easter eggs" rather than distracting.

Konata liking Haruhi or even having a character like tenchou within an anime like Lucky Star seems a lot more natural than an ancient-race green-haired girl with a funny name that has a fetish for Pizza Hut.

Would they have been more successful sales-wise without them?

[DJ_RockmanX]

Originally Posted by Rembr

Konata liking Haruhi or even having a character like tenchou within an anime like Lucky Star seems a lot more natural than an ancient-race green-haired girl with a funny name that has a fetish for Pizza Hut.

You can't compare apples and carrots much more than you can apples and oranges.

Originally Posted by Rembr

Would they have been more successful sales-wise without them?

Likely not.

[Rembr]

Originally Posted by DJ_RockmanX

You can't compare apples and carrots much more than you can apples and oranges.

I'm just saying, the apple looks a lot redder than the orange.