Lucky☆Star OVA

Slice of life is probably one of the most divisive genres in the anime medium. Not only is there debate over whether the genre itself is worth anybody’s time, what with the general plotlessness and lack of direction these shows tend to feature, but it goes even deeper. Show me any slice of life genre, I’ll show you one person who thinks it’s boring as fuck, and another who loves it with all their heart. One of the most iconic of these titles is a 2007 anime called Lucky Star, a show that owes at least part of it’s fame to the close connections it shares to a certain cultural phenomenon named The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Like countless anime both before and since, Lucky Star was a series about four girls navigating high school while trying to survive both everyday life and each other, but the gimmick for this series was that it made constant nods to otaku culture. I’ve already reviewed the series proper, and while I’m not too fond of how that review turned out... I’m probably going to rewrite it and several other old reviews at some point... I’ve decided to start by reviewing the OVA mini-series first.

Believe it or not, it’s pretty uncommon for an OVA special to look the same as it’s main series counterpart. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it out-right rare, as some shows will have one or two OVA episodes that were never shown during broadcast, but fit into the series so well that they just slot right in with the other episodes on the DVD release... Spice and Wolf and 009-1 come to mind... But when an OVA is so far removed from the series that it’s mainly referred to AS an OVA, and you can only really find it as a special feature, then it gets pretty rare. Normally, episodes like this one would either take a different art style... Chibi, super deformed, the odd CG... And act out superfluous little non-canon skits that really only appeal to hardcore fans of the series proper. Sometimes they’ll retain the main art style, but explore a new mini-story that’s usually geared towards fanservice(especially if the animators had previously been held back by TV standards), but they can also just explore new concepts, from the mundane to the surreal, albeit with a huge budget drop.

The Lucky Star OVA... Which the Blu-Ray refers to as “JK,” which usually means Just Kidding in the west, I’m honestly not sure if it means that here... Is unique in the fact that it looks exactly like the series proper. It was produced and directed by the same people, and it was released less than a year after the series ended, so I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising, but I’ve seen similar circumstances yield far less attractive results. I can’t even compare it to it’s cousin Haruhi Suzumiya, as that show’s OVAs were all chibi-form. If you squint hard enough you might be able to notice some budget disparities in comparison to the series, but even that’s being extremely nit-picky. Lucky Star’s art style was always simple and aesthetically pleasing enough that it never really had to throw money around to impress people unless it wanted to, and that translates here. Kyoto Animation didn’t always hit the nail on the head with the series, it had it’s rough moments, but by the time the OVA was in production, they had long since figured out how to make the franchise look it’s best, and the result is a diamond in the rough compared to similar OVAs.

Much like the series itself, this OVA has a couple of skits featuring the cast playing an MMORPG together, and I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea how they animated this. Part of me wants to believe they animated from scratch, but it looks pretty convincing, so did they just pull a Machinima and record a scripted gaming session? I’ve seen people online point to a couple of different Japan-exclusive games that could be the culprit, and while I guess it’s possible they featured the game for promotional purposes, none of the leads I’ve found really match the aesthetic of their game. Two reasons I believe they animated it from scratch are that in-game movements are heavily limited and tend to repeat themselves in the background of the main cast’s talking heads, and because everyone’s avatars look exactly like them. That is not how MMORPGs work. I’d like to see at least one series get this right aside from just South Park in their Warcraft episode. In any case, it looks just as amazing as it did in the series. Also, I’ll get into this more later, but they change direction style in the final segment, and it also works really well.

The music is largely the same, once again using familiar background tracks that are as repetitive as anything else you’d find in the genre, but still pleasant to listen to, and pretty much entirely distinct. Lucky Star is one of few shows, along with Azumanga Daioh, whose soundtrack is instantly recognizable. There’s no opening, which will either be a disappointment or a godsend depending on whether you find the original Lucky Star theme annoying or not(I like it), instead they put together a cute intro sequence out of one of the background tracks, and it’s fine. There’s no English dub, probably because a couple of characters the studio doesn’t own make a cameo towards the end, but I’ve seen similar situations resolved by recasting before, so I’m sure there’s some other reason. In any case, this is one of the few titles I have extensive experience with in both languages, so it’s not a big deal, most of the cast is pretty much equal anyway.

The only character who’s noticeably superior in English is Akira Kogami(Stephanie Sheh was amazing in this role) and the only character who sounds noticeably superior in Japanese is Konata, as Wendee Lee did a great job(she actually sounds much better as Konata than she did as Haruhi), but I’ve honestly never seen a western voice actor measure up to any character ever played by seiyuu Aya Hirano. She adds a spark of insanity to most of her roles that make even the weirdest concepts sound sincere, and thanks to that, she plays Konata as a self-indulgent otaku with nothing short of one hundred percent self-awareness. She sounds like she’s long since become comfortable with her lazy and unproductive lifestyle, and unless she’s called out by an authority figure or roasted by Kagami, she never feels ashamed of it. There are actors in the dubbing community I think could replicate her performances well, but I’ve yet to hear Brittney Karbowski, Jessica Calvello or Emily Neves voice any of her characters, so we continue to wait. I’ll admit I kind of miss Kari Wahlgren as Kagami, as she and Emiri Kato do approach the character differently, but they’re still equally good. Other than that, the lack of a dub doesn’t bother me one bit.

This is usually the part of the review where I’ll move away from the technical and production aspects and discuss an anime on a deeper level... Well, as deep as I can. The problem is, there isn’t a whole lot to dissect here. Material-wise, this OVA is even more plotless than the series itself, and there’s nothing profound or intriguing about it, not even on a comedic level. I don’t want to pull a bunch of pretentious slosh out of my ass, but I also don’t want to post one of those Golden Goose Egg reviews that spend the minimum word count lumping vacuous praise on a title with no actual criticisms. That leaves me with two options; I can either skip this title and review something more meaty, or I can get creative and take a new route from what I’m used to. Well, as it turns out, I’m a creative person, so let’s fucking go. I’m just going to look at each segment on it’s own, and give my thoughts on them, in order. Granted, I haven’t done a sequential review since Oblivion Island, and that review kinda sucked, but I’m feeling a lot more confidant this time.

Our opening segment takes place in the home of Minami Iwasaki, and primarily stars the B-cast. I’ve gone on record in the past saying that, in my opinion, the core of Lucky Star’s comedy is in the dynamic between Konata and Kagami, and that the farther you branch out from the core, the less funny the series gets. Thus, I’m not a huge fan of the B-cast, they don’t usually do anything for me, and in the series proper, I honestly find them kind of boring. In this OVA, however, they only get about five minutes as a whole, and thankfully the absolute best of them was condensed into that slot. The plot of the segment sees Minami lamenting how little affection her lazy dog gives her, which is quickly compared to the reactions Cherry has to all of her closest friends... These interactions are nothing short of cute and/or funny, and the segment over-all is the perfect way to set the tone for the rest of the OVA. The main cast do get cameos here, but Miyuki is the only one who features strongly, most likely due to her absence in some of the segments to come.

Following this is one of the three most infamous segments, an MMORPG gaming session between Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and their teacher. I’ve already talked about the animation in this segment, so for the segment itself, it’s pretty fun. I’m not into MMO’s myself, but I’m assuming if you were, you’d get a kick out of some of the everyday gaming struggles they reference here. All four characters are here for a reason, they each contribute to the segment with their own comedic moments throughout, and it’s just a funny segment over-all. Following it immediately is the second infamous moment, Kagami’s dream sequence... Can I call it that? I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but I’m pretty sure you can tell more or less right off the bat that this isn’t really happening. Anyway, Konata invades Kagami’s dream in a twisted retelling of Cinderella that involves boxing, marriage proposals, and Kagami being forced to cosplay a bunch of different twin-tailed characters. This is probably the funniest segment over-all.

So, I’m noticing at this point that out of the six main segments, each of the central four offer a starring role to a different girl... Well, somewhat. Even in the series proper, Miyuki was always floating just between the main cast and the supporting cast. In our fourth segment, we have Tsukasa struggling through a volleyball game with several other characters... Including Konata, who’s on her team, and Kagami, who’s on the other team, and is kind of unintentionally kicking the crap out of her. The weird thing about this segment is that while most of it doesn’t do much for me, it all builds up to a pretty hilarious conclusion, and that does kind of describe a lot of the comedy involving Tsukasa’s character... Patience is key. In the fifth segment, the girls get lost on a field trip, and since this is (kind of) Miyuki’s segment, she has a few noteworthy moments to shine... Sure, she’s overshadowed at times by the other girls’ interactions, but she’s revealed to be the narrator at the end, so, take that? I’ll be honest, she deserved better from this OVA. And I’m a Kagami stan, so I shouldn’t care.

In the final segment, the third infamous one... Well, this is what people talk about when they say the Lucky Star OVA is really trippy. Yeah, I guess it’s possible that they’re talking about Kagami’s dream, but they’re not, just trust me. They use a lot of eerie cinematography in this segment... Lots of tilted frames, wide angle lens cutaways to dialogue on the screen silent-film style... Building up to a bizarre cameo and an even more bizarre twist, and yeah, I’m not a fan of this one. Nothing about it specifically bothers me, but it really only works on first viewing, and any subsequent viewing is just going to raise a bunch of awkward questions. There’s a reprise of the MMO segment, and we end on the first ever live action Lucky Channel segment... Which is fine. I never really got into these, and when I initially watched the show in Japanese before the whole thing was dubbed, I’d usually skip them. The only thing that ever made them consistently enjoyable for me was Stephanie Sheh’s portrayal of Akira. I’m not going to pretend like seeing one of these in live action isn’t interesting, and it did get a couple of chuckles out of me the first time I saw it, but it got pretty skippable afterwards.

So, the OVA on the whole? I really like it. Nearly the entire cast was given a chance to shine with the exceptions of Konata’s dad, Yui Narumi, and... MAYBE Ayano Minegishi? I don’t know, she might have had a cameo, but I didn’t notice her. Their absences are felt, but considering the fact that we’re condensing the cast of a 26 episode anime into a 45 minute short, it’s impressive they got as many characters as they did. I actually feel like this OVA was way more efficient with its comedy than the series was, but that’s also largely due to the fact that its shorter and didn’t have as much space to fill. If you like Lucky Star, you’ll really dig this OVA. Even if you have mixed to positive feelings about Lucky Star and think it’s kind of hit-or-miss, like I do, you’ll still dig it. The few segments I didn’t care for were by no means bad, they all definitely have something to offer, and I’d recommend checking it out. It’s included as a special feature in most releases of the series, or you can easily find the whole OVA online and on Youtube.

I give the Lucky Star OVA a 7/10.