The End of the World

[Categories: OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Lucky Star final thoughts: it wins at life

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Lucky Star]

Buried under removal boxes and a viewing backlog, I marathoned the closing episodes of Lucky Star. It was a show I was infinitely sceptical of at first, only to warm to it later on - eventually it left me not just pleasantly surprised but actually a little disappointed that it was over. It was a refreshing change and turned out to be a worthwhile series that could sit alongside the rest of my DVD collection. It’s strange to think that a series that kicked off with four kids discussing their lunch could achieve so much - sometimes the best entertainment comes from ordinary people doing ordinary things.

The criticisms, and the arguments that blow the more unfounded ones out of the water, have been well covered throughout the blogosphere by now so I won’t dwell on those too much. No series is perfect of course, and I’d be lying if I said the saucer-eyed character designs weren’t offputting - if only because I couldn’t play it to many of my friends back home because they lack the stubborn open-mindedness that I needed to see past the cutesiness. It never really went anywhere in particular either - not an issue unless you view the lack of character development as a wasted opportunity; an inevitable result of its 4-koma roots. Even Love Hina saw its cast grow up and change (albeit within their character archetypes’ boundaries) but sadly this was never on the cards here. I can’t judge it too harshly on that though, because such a complaint stems from my expections rather than what the series set out to do.

Okay, on with the positives then. First off, Lucky Star was delightfully subversive. The op theme for instance set my teeth on edge initially but by the final rendition in the final episode I viewed it as an anime theme equivalent of Siamese Dream’s Geek U.S.A., in that it’s a parody of the genre its creator was inspired by but simultaneously revels in the very aspects that make the said genre so enjoyable. In case I lost you there, Corgan’s song is a parody of Hendrix- and Sabbath-esque tunes that consist of fuzz guitar power chords and self-indulgent soloing but is still great; on a smaller scale Take It! Sailor Uniform sums up everything (both good and bad) about cutesy Jpop anime themes but at the same time you can’t help but get carried along for the ride.

Overall the show is partly the high school-based fare that’s KyoAni’s bread and butter yet it offers one heck of a lot more than the superficial entertainment that made it so marketable, which is I guess the main thing I want to highlight here. The supposed ‘sell-out’ aspect that KyoAni is so often accused of is only half the story in this case - the so-called ‘reverse satire’, if that is what it is, allows it to be successful thanks to the drooling otaku masses who are unaware that the joke’s on them. Like I said, it’s delightfully subversive in that regard…and I love it all the more for that. Besides, I still think the in-use definition of moe is flawed and quite frankly bollocks so I can’t be bothered to discuss that point further:

Indeed. Let’s move on, shall we?

Lucky Star could easily have been a parody and stopped there, dropping in zillions of references à la Spaced, falling back on slapstick and still have been fun. As with the more serious aspects, which I’ll get to in a minute, its approach to comedy is relaxed and almost painfully observational. It doesn’t go out of its way to be funny or random for the most part; there are moments such as the comic book store guys, the Lucky Channel and the end themes in the second half that are a bit outrageous but generally it made me laugh in the same way that my friends and family make me laugh. It picks out quirks and home truths about how we go about our daily lives, which may be trivial and hence boring for some but refreshing to others because it is utterly effortless to relate to. The gags sometimes had a punchline and sometimes not - often it was merely pointing out that life itself is sometimes absurd.

What really makes it special for me is that it’s pure win as slice of life drama. The characters look like caricatures - there’s Konata’s geekiness, Tsukasa’s cellphone, Miyuki’s clumsiness or Kagami and her goldfish but they are well rounded and complex personalities. The bottom line is their behaviour and feelings are very real. This shines through in the heartwarming scenes the girls spend with their families, or the numerous occasions where their friendship overcomes differences in interest and opinion. There are too many “that’s happened to me too!” moments to list here but then my personal fave was that post-concert scene where Konata is far from her talkative self; I understood implicitely that when a musical performance really moves you, you simply can’t put that feeling into words.

This attention to detail is never more obvious than in that stunning episode #22 in which we see Konata and her dad at home together with the sadly-departed Mrs Izumi, who looks on in spirit form at a happy and loving household who obviously care about each other. It’s no small feat for a comedy show to portray genuine emotion like this just as effectively as a live-action equivalent; I was welling up at the time and even now as I write this there’s a lump in my throat. When a show jumps so effortlessly from the laugh-out-loud funny to the profoundly moving that is where it becomes extraordinary.

Speaking of extraordinary, I was all fired up for criticising that simplistic style again: the repertoire of background music was limited but like the animation the cheapness was probably intentional. Coming to think of it, is it really cheaply animated? The Initial D skits and other parodies demanded an upturn in art quality because it was momentarily slipping out of LS mode; looking more closely it’s actually a solidly-produced show that passes itself off as cheap. Similarly, the VA talent is superb and equally underplayed. Aya Hirano, especially in the cosplay café scene, changes her voice from the impish Konata to the bolshy Haruhi and back again like the flick of a switch - even with a very limited grasp of the foreign language dialogue I couldn’t help but acknowledge that these people are consummate professionals.

Yeah, quoted for truth again. The catastrophic event that befalls Kuroi-sensei soon after this has actually happened to me in the past, on this very blog too. Art imitates life, eh?

So then, Lucky Star was both a generic show and a show that, rather than making a conspicuous point of trampling over genre boundaries like Haruhi did, quietly disregarded them completely and proved to be very far from generic. It was funny in the same way that ordinary life is funny; it was also touching, trivial, profound and occasionally melancholy…in the same way that everyday life itself is touching, trivial, profound and occasionally melancholy. In its own modest way it was pure, simple fun and actually very memorable. Good job! ^_^

[Filed under OAVs, Movies and Full Series]  [Tags: Lucky Star]

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