Lucky Star

I first heard this kind of anime which is called Lucky Star around 2008 and I was so curious about it aside from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I also heard that many (or let's say millions) of anime fans that they are excited to see that anime because of comedy and a mix of slice-of-life genre. In the opening theme of the series which I first found it in Youtube, the characters are cute and cartoony plus showing their funny facial expressions. Now when I first saw it in TV5 for real, I realize that their looks can be really deceiving....

The Lucky Star manga was created by Kagami Yoshimizu back in 2004 and published in Kadokawa Shoten's Compiq. It later published in other magazines like Shonen Ace. The anime version was created in the year 2006 by Kyoto Animation. The story tells about the daily life of four girl friends who are both in high school - Konata Izumi, Miyuki Takara and the twin girls Kagami and Tsukasa Hiiragi.

When I saw Lucky Star in on Philippine TV , it seems that they fell apart when it comes to storyline especially the show was dubbed in Tagalog. It doesn't mean that the dub is horrible than the original Japanese. If you ever watched few episodes of Azumanga Daioh, you'll know what I mean. Of all of the twenty-four episodes in anime, all you can see is that the main chacters meet in school, talk to each other about certain things, making jokes and do hang-out. In other words, they are just a bunch of vignettes. Plus before the ending credit of an anime, there goes a mini segment called the Lucky Channel which adds the taste of comedy and squeaking the fans.

The problem of the many viewers who watch Lucky Star (especially if the a viewer is a manga of anime first-timer) is that they must be familiar in Japanese video games, anime, and other Japanese pop culture stuff so they will understand the conversation of the characters. Else,the comedy will be terrible to them. Aside from less comedy slices and humor, I also think that the main character's personality doesn't change or develop as the episode goes on. Konata Izumi , is a smart and sporty gal who has blue hair and green eyes. Sometimes she can be lazy in school work and instead she likes to play video games every day which is the reason why she's not good at school. Kagami Hiiragi, one of the Hiiragi twins with a long purple hair is a smart, stubborn one but not good at household chores. Tsukasa Hiiragi, twin sister of Kagami who has a short purple hair is the opposite of her sister - nice but an airhead. Miyuki Takara, a girl with pink hair and glasses is intelligent but sometimes she can be clumsy.

As I watch the few episodes of them on TV5, I felt like I've wasted every 30-minutes and I'd rather switch the channel to watch the news like 24 Oras or TV Patrol. There are few things I really impressed about Lucky Star are the music like the opening theme here and the clean artwork design. I also the like the show's impression of making cameo appearances of other anime shows and characters like Sgt. Frog and Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

In the end, I'm quite enjoyed watching the series. It may have a weak plot but I'm interested as well because of their modern culture like anime and manga. Lucky Star is just like the junior version of Azumanga Daioh where a bunch of random high school girls are present and experience situations, either can be fun or frustrating as long as they're friends. It can be a good comedy series, only if you understand the Japan's entertainment culture.