This series is art in its purest form, seriously. How can a CGDCT series with no overall plot connecting all the events, presenting only a collection of short slice of life moments, be considered art? Well, it manages to be so thanks to the brilliance of the small interactions between the characters and the moments they share, which also lead to some genuinely beautiful reflections.

The four main girls and the side cast don’t have particularly complex conversations, but they talk about everyday things that are incredibly easy to relate to, as they are situations everyone has experienced in their own life. The genius lies in how these situations are presented: they’re written in a way that makes even conversations about nothing consistently interesting and fun, helped by the charm of the protagonists. Each of them has her own quirk and a clearly defined archetype, and thanks to these traits they always manage to give their best, especially when all four main girls share the screen.

One of Lucky☆Star’s defining traits is how deeply tied it is to otaku culture, something that’s evident in the countless meta references, such as the use of terms that describe certain tropes like “tsundere,” “moe,” or “fanservice,” as well as the many references to other famous series of the time like Fullmetal Alchemist, Code Geass, Fate, and especially The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is referenced most frequently. There are some truly brilliant gags, like those playing on the fact that Aya Hirano, Konata’s voice actress, is the same as Haruhi’s, and that Konata herself is a huge Haruhi fan.

It’s also a series that plays with the characters’ self-awareness of being in an anime, with lots of small fourth-wall breaks. Speaking of characters, I can’t not mention my huge appreciation for the protagonist Konata: a hardcore nerd obsessed with anime, manga, and video games, with so many of her behaviors and attitudes being incredibly relatable that I almost felt spied on while watching, because they felt incredibly personal.

The artistic style of the characters and backgrounds, combined with strong technical presentation and soundtracks that perfectly accompany every situation, makes Lucky☆Star a truly complete and polished presentation in every aspect, at least for me. It’s a show that entertained me and warmed my heart in every episode, and it earns a spot on my personal podium of the best slice-of-life “cute girls doing cute things” anime I've seen, alongside K-On!.
Simply fantastic.