
a review by BriForABri

a review by BriForABri
If you, or someone you know, have never seen Lucky☆Star before, are planning on watching it, and would like a general idea as to how its plot and overall flow will evolve throughout the show, I would highly encourage you/them to do a quick Google Search of the opening theme and watch it for yourselves. It will, in all likelihood, put to rest any expectations that you/they once had about Lucky☆Star providing a gripping, action-packed, and cliff-hanging plot (Or any plot, for that matter).
If you, like me, were able to get past the opening with your concentration intact and watch the entire show and OVA (see review later) congratulations - you can keep reading! If you were, in fact, unable or unwilling to continue watching, congratulations! This review will likely not dash any hopes you may have had about the show possessing any semblance of plot, story development, or flow. Because while it fails to possess any of these aspects, Lucky☆Star does manage to string something together - and what a something it is.
I wish I could give a decent depiction of what Lucky☆Star is truly all about, but doing so would require so much work that I, quite frankly, am not willing to put towards for the sake of this anime - I doubt I could even find the focal point of the show, even if I were to analyze this iceberg of a show with a microscope. It gives us the main cast of characters from the get-go - a veritable record-label girl group of four high school students named Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Miyuki - but also fails to mention that establishing this star-studded shojo student cast in Episode 1 (even sooner, if you count the opening) is one of the only details that remain set-in-stone for the entire show. These four characters are the Sun around which every other nonsensical antic shown in each episode revolves. If this cast of main characters are the Sun, then the other side characters are each of the eight planets and each of their moons are their own wacky antics - everything revolves around the Sun in their own unique way.
Needless to say, even taking a guess as to what will happen next in each succeeding episode is as easy as predicting where an asteroid may or may not land - I just couldn't do it. Now, for those who have read this far, it would be easy for you to assume that I hate this aspect of Lucky☆Star. But you'd be wrong - quite the contrary, in fact. Lucky☆Star establishes from the very first beginning - as early as the first opening from Episode 1 - that it has no discernible plot. As a matter of fact, it seems to relish in this fact - the opening theme and the countless scenes within paint that picture quite clearly. Sure, the story is nonexistent, but the humor of it all fills the void quite nicely, in my opinion. Yes, I would generally prefer to have something plot-wise to make me excited for the next episode of a show, but Lucky☆Star abandons that for pure chaos - something that was a very pleasant palate cleanser. The only reason I went into such detail about this earlier in the review was precisely because of how potentially off-putting this plot style may be to some viewers. You either embrace the madness and enjoy it, or you get tired of it a couple episodes into the show. I enjoy how it takes such a simple approach to story-telling, but I feel that many others may not.
1. Music: 84/100 - If music was created to inspire others, bring smiles to people's faces, and transcend generations through its infectious ability to get stuck in our heads, then Lucky☆Star did a pretty damn good job at making a one-hit-wonder. "Motteke! Sailor Fuku," the opening theme, has been the subject and template for many classic YouTube memes and amatuer dance clips for over a decade now, and I still cannot forget the lyrics even if I tried. It carries this anime's OST and remains a classic 15 years after it blessed our ears.
2. Plot: 59/100 - I can't really say that Lucky☆Star has a "bad" plot, because it really doesn't even one to begin with, as I so very colorfully described earlier. With that being said, however, the void left behind by the lack of any coherent plot was, in my opinion, filled very well by the humor and chaos that littered each episode. The Lucky Channel! endings in each episode provided another great form of comedy that would often leave me anticipating the end of each episode, ironically enough. It did get a bit stale for me as I approached the end of the show, but it was still a nice addition to the show.
3. Characters: 86/100 - Arguably the strongest aspect of the show, I will, once again, cite my Sun analogy pertaining to the characters of Lucky☆Star : Because this anime has no plot to grab the attention of the viewers, it falls to the characters to pick up the slack - something that Lucky☆Star does very well. You got the four main girls, Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Miyuki, who act as the Sun - nearly everything that happens in the show revolves around them. And then the side characters and THEIR own antics are the planets - they all revolve the central focal point of the show. I personally found all of the main characters to be enjoyable and amusing, but not so much from the side cast.
4. Art & Animations: 55/100 - I should mention this now: I love Kyoto Animation. They were the studio behind my favorite anime of all time and have done incredible work in recent years, whether it was for shows or movies. But I think I speak for everyone when I say that Lucky☆Star 's art style did not age well. I'm sure the art style reflects that of what Kagami Yoshimizu and Yukiko Horiguchi intended for the manga and original designs, but that doesn't mean it aged very well compared to other anime of the time. There's something very nostalgic about it and I will always associate that feeling with anime like Lucky☆Star and its characters' design choices, but that's truly the extent of my feelings towards it.
I started watching Lucky☆Star unsure of what my expectations for the show actually were, and after finishing the show, I am still unsure as to what I even expected from the beginning. It is an incredibly famous anime from the mid 2000's for many reasons, and I have friends from America, Europe, and Japan who all have fond memories of watching it as kids. The music, characters, and chaotic humor will bring a smile to your face even after you finish watching it - I still sing "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" in my head whenever I'm reminded of this show. My one recommendation is that you watch it with as little expectations as possible - know that the incoherent plot is overshadowed by the wacky humor and character interactions. I am glad to have watched it, and, at the end of the day, I'm sure you will too.
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