What a star
Kyoto Animation does it again…
WHILE I’VE ENJOYED all of Lucky ☆ Star up until now, somewhere in the last ten episodes it turned from unashamed 4-koma gag show adaptation to really enjoyable almost-slice-of-life wonderfulness. Then, just when it gets into that particular stride it ends.
Of course, this is what we’ve come to expect from Kyoto Animation’s productions, and with the exception of Kanon, which slightly overstayed its welcome, every other franchise that the company has turned its hand to ends up leaving us wanting more.
It’s interesting watching the trajectory that Lucky Star has taken. I don’t think many people will disagree that the early episodes were somewhat awkward, with difficult pacing and a kind of jumpy fractured feel that made it feel more like a collection of jokes than a coherent whole.
The middle section, meanwhile, got somewhat bogged down in trying to shoehorn in as many plugs-cum-satirical nods to everything from the latest anime and Kyoto Animation’s back catalogue to favourite adverts from the 1980s. There was also this odd obsession with the ‘Anime Tenchou’ segment, which I guess was one of those jokes that passed me mostly by.
Lucky Channel continued to amuse, while the early karaoke endings involving the four main characters were quickly booted into touch by the antics of Minoru Shiraishi, which ranged from hilarious to so so bad that I guess it inevitably became good again. It was worth tuning in just to see what the daft bugger would be up to this week.
What made the show for me though was the addition of not one or two, but six extra characters. It gave an extra dimension, as well as introducing a second boost of fang power to Lucky Star in the form of Misao, supplementing the already fab teacher Nanako. I didn’t have a problem with the Konata+Kagami+Tsukasa (+Miyuki) axis on their own, but the show was more enjoyable by the time that extra characters had been introduced.
I know a lot of people’s attentions will now move onto the next big thing, which I guess will by KyoAni’s next Key game adaptation Clannad, but the prospect of another visual-game-turned-anime leaves me frozen at the moment. I’m still in the wait and see camp.
Ghost Hound (with Ryutaro Nakamura directing) and Moyashimon look good to me.
(PS., Gareth, Yamamoto Yohko has a fang.)
dm
September 17, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I have Yamamoto Yohko already on my hard drive and ready to go and have done for some time, but I just haven’t gotten around to watching it. I’d like to watch all of Shinbo’s shows at some point. I guess I could filter it through at one or two episodes a week…
lastarial
September 17, 2007 at 5:42 pm
My first question on my 24 Lucky Star questions post was on how come the new set of characters weren’t introduced beforehand? They did more than inject fun into the show. :P
TheBigN
September 17, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Patty has a portable Navi? What is that in her hand?
Speaking of Shinbo, I found three disks of The Soul Taker in a used shop for about $12 total, so I added it to my Shinbo binder. I didn’t like it much the first time through, but I think I might appreciate it more, now. One thing is true: a good deal of the series is very pretty to look at.
I still have to finish the last few episodes of Hidamari Sketch. Maybe I’ll do that next.
dm
September 17, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Its a shame to see Lucky Star go, though it is a show that has plenty of rewatch value — lets see how long i can go with randomly watching episodes.
dm: yes i agree, SoulTaker is a beautiful show to look at, and i quite enjoyed it.
shiro
September 17, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Regarding rewatch value, I think that this show would do well on whatever the anime equivalent is of satellite channel E4 (US readers insert channel name/number of choice), which seems to only ever show re-runs of Friends or Seinfeld.
I think you could probably get away with watching any episode from Lucky Star out of sequence without too much trouble.
I dunno what Patty has, I just assumed it was some flash Japanese mobile phone. Their phone market is just insane with gadgetry.
Soul Taker is on my list too :)
lastarial
September 17, 2007 at 11:27 pm
More people do need to watch The Soul Taker, if just for Shinbo, JAM Project, and Komugi. :P
TheBigN
September 18, 2007 at 12:00 am
& a wonderful Ko Otani musical score (i had to add that in).
Regarding Lucky Star rewatching, they’re on my laptop now — so whenever i’m in the mood, i know i can chill out on the bed with it.
shiro
September 18, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I wonder if this will ever be licenced?
lastarial
September 19, 2007 at 3:14 pm