Lucky Star Scene

Lucky Star is an anime that was originally a 4-panel comic strip run in Japan’s Comptiq magazine.  It has since become an anime in the same category as “Azumanga Daioh”, a similar comic strip-turned cult anime phenomenom.

I’ll start off by saying Lucky Star really has no plot.  The story revolves around the familiar anime scene of a Japanese high school, and in this case, focuses primarily on a group of girls that are good friends, much like Azumanga Daioh.  However, unlike Azumanga, there is very little plot to hold the series of events together.  At times, this is annoying, but if you can get into it, that’s not something that would bother you that much.

A bit of a warning is that a lot of the humor is very honed in toward the Japanese culture, so quite a bit of it flies right by your typical western audience.  For instance, the characters occasionally go on tirades about what Japanese words mean, and how they rhyme with other words, which is obviously lost in translation.  Other jokes revolve around traditions and pop culture. Though, if you watch enough anime or, I’m sure you’ll catch a few jokes.

Speaking of translation, the Dub done by Bandai really is not as bad as some dubs can be.  Sure, there are annoying voices, but quite a few of them fit very well.  The voice of the main character, Konata, seems to fit very well.

The character designs are of the “Super Deformed”, as in big heads, small bodies, and eyes so huge, you wonder how they avoid poking them out by accident.  So while the art style may make it seem as though these are small children, these characters are in fact 16-18 years old.

Overall, the art style and characters draw me in.  The story is not a major draw, but there are a few jokes that make watching the entire thing worth it.

Currently, out of the six DVD’s slated to be released, four have been released in the United States by Bandai.