[WanderingKnight]

Disclaimer: I'm not one to numerically rate a series. I can't. It's impossible for me to extrapolate my feelings into numbers, whatever they might be. I can't say "Oh, that plot sure deserves 0.5 points more than this one!", or "According to my calculations, animation in this series is 1.5 points more than the one in this other series". I don't know how people in general manage at all to do so... but I don't want to rant on this point, so I'll cut it short and get to the substance.

Disclaimer II: Nothing of what I say here is a universal truth. So if anyone disagrees with what I write here, by all means do so, because nothing of what I say is worth more than what anyone else says.

The starting point of this series is exactly the same as the one in a beloved series of mine, Azumanga Daioh. This, combined with the fact that I'm a die hard Slice of Life fan, and that I usually appreciate Kyoto Animation's work, pushed me towards watching this series. However, in the end, I was disappointed in both the Azumanga Daioh comparison and the (missing) Slice of Life element. Kyoani also disappointed me a bit, with the overuse of needless Haruhi references.


On the "Azumanga Daioh comparison" point:

This might as well be called "emotional involvement". The fact that I can't easily remember the name of half the cast is proof of how little attachment to the characters I felt. Yes, some of them, like Kagami and Tsukasa, were deeply lovable, but I'll take Osaka and Chiyo-chan any day. It's true that Lucky Star had an element missing in AzuDai, which is represented by the otaku-related references, but even those jokes didn't jack me up as much as Osaka's randomness and Yukari's immature attitudes did. Azumanga was also better structured--gags were grouped more or less in a "setting" of sorts (three small "settings" per episode). Lucky Star's gags were randomly thrown around, without a consistent feeling to it. The fault might lie in the original material, though, so I'm not really sure on this point.

But I think the definitive point, the final proof of how much Lucky Star was missing to provide me the same emotions Azumanga did was the ending. AzuDai's ending was deeply emotional--Lucky Star's was bland, anti-climatic and emotionless. I watched Azumanga three times in 6 months... and I don't feel like watching LS again for a long, long time. Perhaps, as I said in the final episode thread, it's because I'm not in high school anymore... but either way, the end result remains the same.


On the "Slice of Life" point:

First of all, let me introduce my concept of Slice of Life. It's not only depicting real life. In fact, you can completely ignore real life, if you want, and still get a perfect SoL show (ARIA is the best example). The importance is in the setting. Some shows focus on character relationships, other shows focus on plot development, but slice of life shows focus mainly on the setting. It can be mixed, though: Azumanga Daioh and Ichigo Mashimaro successfully mix strong character relationships with an equally strong attention to the setting. However, Lucky Star failed to deliver it. I think I didn't even found one single scene where the main focus was a depiction of the setting. This disappointed me quite a bit, since it was something I had expected to see on this show from the word go.


On the "Overuse of Haruhi references" point:

Well, not much to say here. Whatever people may argue against this, the fact remains that there are at least one or two Haruhi references per episode. That's way, way too much. Yeah, I laughed when, in one of the first episodes, Konata is caught watching Haruhi. But after a couple of episodes, the joke started to wear out. The lowest point (when I was actually actively annoyed by the reference instead of just passively bothered) was the Hare Hare dance in episode 16, clearly in my eyes the poorest episode of the series. Yes, I liked SHnY, I liked the Hare Hare dance, I liked Hirano Aya as Haruhi (and as Konata), but just cut it out.

Thankfully enough, from episode 17 onwards the show went back up, and those final episodes ended up being much more enjoyable than the rest of the series.


So what positive things can I say about this series?

The fact that it was funny. Not AzuDai-funny, but funny nevertheless. The fact that it had very good voice acting for the most part. The fact that it had lots of cultural and otaku-related references. The fact that key animation was constant among the whole series. The fact that, in the end, and despite my criticism of it, I enjoyed the series. It's not the best, I don't feel like watching it again, but I enjoyed it anyways.