[Anime Reviews]
11 Oct 2008
Posted by Martin [Tags: Lucky Star]
I was actually looking forward to a Lucky Star OAV. There, I said it. Not as much as a full second season, though: a one-off outing lacks that long build-up to sentimental attachment to the characters that the TV run offered but I’m not complaining or anything. It felt like a bonus episode and gave me that hate-to-love-it feeling all over again; I guess you do still need to watch the whole TV series to appreciate this fully, not to mention get used to its little quirks and unique charm.
Back on familiar ground
Kicking things off with Tsukasa looking for her cellphone and a portrayal of the uneventful life of Cherry the dog highlights the delightful iyashicomedy (copyleft pending) side of the show, which is one of my favourite things about the series and is also I think where the Marmite-like nature of the series comes from. Gags without punchlines, punchlines without gags, not knowing whether you should laugh or not (as for the latter point: as long as you watch this at home rather than in public, don’t worry about it) and so on. I’ve come to really appreciate the offbeat, reference-crammed comedy all the same, which has led me to think of Lucky Star as the anime equivalent of Spaced.
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[Anime Reviews]
22 Dec 2007
Posted by Martin [Tags: ABC, Lucky Star, Twelve days of Christmas]
One show that earned a fervent following in the blogosphere was Lucky Star, the one show that I’ll forever remember as The One That I Was Surprised To Enjoy. By rights I should have hated it but for a number of reasons (which I’ve outlined not once but twice and concerning a matter I’ll examine in more detail later) it turned out to be funnier, more moving and generally miles more entertaining than I ever expected it to be.
Aw hell, don’t start THAT again!
Because I’ve already reviewed the show as thoroughly as I ever intend to, all that’s left is to pick a Memorable Moment…the problem is, because the series portrays a lot of stuff happening and nothing happening at the same time, that’s well-nigh impossible. Instead, I’ll pick out my favourite bits featuring the four leads and invite the rest of you to share your own; reminiscing about fun times is after all one of the best things about the festive season! And no, I haven’t deliberately left the supporting cast out. I don’t want you to experience a tl;dr moment so the borderline shoujo-ai overtones of the Yutaka/Minami relationship, Hiyori’s obsession with including friends in her doujinshi, Yui’s Initial D-standard 1337 driving skills or the mayhem fourth wall wrecking of the Lucky Channel won’t make much of an appearance here, for shame.
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[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]
03 Nov 2007
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.
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[Editorials]
21 Oct 2007
Posted by Martin [Tags: Lucky Star, Over-analysis]
I haven’t done an editorial in a while I know, but as so often happens inspiration fails to materialise until a flood of vague ideas appear and begin to take some sort of shape. What you are reading is the third rewrite in what was intended to be a more general waffle but turned into an appraisal of Lucky Star instead. It was a productive train journey in the end - I recommend taking your laptop with you on days out too.
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[3 Comments]
