About otaku, for otaku. Konata Izumi is a close character to any anime artist. An ordinary schoolgirl at first glance is a cheerful girl who cannot live without anime, online games, manga, visual novels and other anime nonsense. And since this hobby takes Konata almost all the time every day (even at night), she does not think much about studying, living one day and by the way, whenever possible, writing off her homework or molesting with requests to clarify a particular topic to her friend Hiragi Kagami. In addition, Konata is on good terms with Kagami’s sister Tsukasa and her classmate Miyuki. And Konata has cousins Yu and Yutaka, a writer father and many acquaintances, with each of whom Konata can easily find a language.
For some reason, when viewing it was constantly haunted by the feeling that I had returned to Azumanga, although it would be sacrilegious to compare these two samples. After all, if in “Azumanga” it was somehow possible to describe the plot and even find some purpose in it, despite the fact that, in fact, the series simply told about the everyday life of several girls, then in “Lucky Star” everything is simplified much more. Here you can not meet a certain theme, which adheres to this or that series (the exception is only the last series), and in each episode there are several stories in which our heroines fall, which is more like a plot, but an attempt to reveal in detail the character of each girl to the viewer. The whole series is all the same everyday life of Japanese schoolgirls, with an admixture of a little irony and a sea of humor. The main character, of course, is Konata, and she really embodies, if not all, then half the qualities of any anime artist, and therefore becomes closer to the viewer.
The fact that Konata is lazy and otaku, but at the same time murderously kind, open and sincere, and creates, in fact, the atmosphere of humor of the series, and this, perhaps, holds near even such a collected and serious girl as Kagami. Friendship with her Tsubasa is quite understandable - she is practically a prototype of Konata, adjusted for coolness to the anime and a more meek disposition; well, Miyuki is like an addition to Tsubasa - almost the same modesty and timidity, but an outstanding mind and the same collectedness as Kagami. It seems as if girls in any case would become friends, no matter what their preferences.
However, these characters are not limited to the plot, and although the secondary characters are not flashed as often (as, for example, Inori, Matsuri, or Misao with Ayano), many of them are given quite a decent role: that concerns Yu - a crazy policewoman who loves to drink beer and fast races in her car; Kuroi Nanako, Konata’s class teacher, is troubled by the fact that she is not yet married and, like Konata, hangs out at night in online games. Yutaki is Yui’s younger and gentle sister, who, due to her transfer to a new school, began to live in Konata’s house. Sozdiro – Konata’s father, a writer who loves little girls and visual novels of hentai content; Minami is a close friend of Yutaka, not distinguished by verbose words, dreaming of a big breast.
Despite the fact that the series has many of the most diverse characters, Lucky Star is a creation primarily about otaku. Konata’s fanatical desire to buy everything that directly relates to Japanese animation, even if it has an 18+ rating, already suggests some thoughts. Well, at least take in principle the “problem” of anime in the world – without touching other countries, everything is not so simple in Japan itself, and even this is too clearly shown in the series (yes, you at least look at the regulars of the anime club where Konata got a job), or, for example, listen to what she talks with her father in the final episodes. According to society, otaku are dangerous people, obsessed with hentai games (oh, how often this is mentioned in relation to Konata’s father!), sooner or later becoming hikikomori, able to go crazy or stop living in the real world. Don't you think so? "Lucky Star" makes a confident attempt to break this stereotype, well, or ridicule it (who prefers), stubbornly explaining that everything depends only on the person and on the society in which he lives. Is Konata capable of hurting anyone? A girl who does not shut herself up, easily goes into contact with others, living a full life can be dangerous?
However, “Lucky Star” is not as funny anime as it seemed to me before watching – I heard about it very enthusiastic reviews, and was preparing to laugh with all my might. Yes, the events of the series led by the cheerful Konata and her girlfriends are fascinating, but in many ways inferior to many other comedies, and here you can rather see the response to society as a whole to their calls about how dangerous otaku is, and therefore the viewer will partly laugh, and partly think that, probably, it was planned from the very beginning. But "Lucky Star" can not be blamed for at least one - it is positive so much that you start to remember all these reasonings only after the finale of the last series, and before that - just sit, watch and enjoy. And what I really didn’t expect was drama — but again in the finale, as if something out of the ordinary happened to the creators at that time.
But the finale should be said separately. When the series ends (for me, any), you always feel some emptiness inside, because you have to say goodbye to the characters you have already got used to, and some and fall in love with, and how exactly the last series ends affects this very emptiness - will it be giant as an ocean, or will it shrink to the size of a puddle? Lucky Star, in my opinion, chose the right path: turned things around as if it was time to say goodbye to them. This is how we should end the series – with a note of continuation that someday both Konata and her friends will return, and, therefore, do not say goodbye!
Overall, it's a great anime, but it's made for people like Konata. For us Animeshniks.
8 out of 10
... a pleasant viewing.
