Lucky Star - Drinking the Kool-Aid

Lucky Star QUALITY

KyoAni is still executing, just on their terms. The animation can be fluid and detailed, but only when they really want to make a point, as in the car chase, MariMite parody, the sprint-video game analogy, etc.

Just as the source material has no continuity, the series doesn't either. Each episode is like an anthology of gag scenes strung together by a sometimes jarringly minimal amount of transition time. Episode structure accepted, moving on.

I like trains

Lucky Star has its moments. I suspect that the older you are, or the more series you watch from back in the day, the more moments there will be. I think comedy is generally lost on me, with the exception of really stand-out acts, like Russell Peters, and even those are funny only because they're just crazy and offensive (to the politically correct) enough to be true.

Lucky Star's moments are not crazy nor offensive, but they are true, and they elicit that kind of warm smugness that you get when you share an inside joke. It's as if the hook offered by the series is along the lines of empathy: We've all been there and done that, too, gotten the shirt while we're at it.

Lucky Channel is more of the same. Most of the (attempted?) humour was lost on me after the subversion of moe via Akira was reused over and over again. Then again, Lucky Channel is all about showing Akira's two faces, and incidentally commenting on the show itself, or promotional events on websites or magazines.

Lastly, the karaoke credits, like much of the episode content, is a salute to veteran watchers.

Kommander Konata

In terms of characters, I find a bit in common with perhaps their sorest points. I'm skeptical like Kagami, absent-minded and prone to losing things like Tsukasa, slack and play games but not nearly as many or as well as Konata, and know things that no one really cares about like Miyuki. Yep, you're reading the writings of one of the finest specimens humanity has to offer.

I freely admit that I'm watching as a mostly clueless observer, given that I'm essentially green when it comes to number of shows watched, and most are recent shows at that. But for veteran watchers, this is a perfectly fine show to rally around and reminisce about the Golden Age.

Admittedly, this was pretty awesome