Today the spotlight falls on the third volume of Kadokawa/Bandai’s special edition Region 1 Lucky Star DVD series.

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This post will be called filler because it isn’t about any particular topic or anything. There were a couple quiet updates here and there on the backend that you probably won’t notice. You can also find Yamcha on MyAnimeList now. I’ll slowly add anime that I’ve seen over the years as I try to recall them. In my old age that might take a while.

The region 1 release of Lucky Star is out, and the consensus on the dub voices is generally positive. Also, if this is any indication, Bandai Visual is planning to release all six DVDs in limited edition variations to siphon even more cash from the collectors out there.

Going by the Lucky Star LE retail price of $65 US (which I’m assuming will remain stable), the total set for all the LE boxes will end up at $390 before tax. In a best case scenario you can get each LE box for ~$40, which is still an outrageous $240 for the whole set. Bandai struck gold with the Haruhi LE sets, so this is guaranteed profit. I’m on the fence about the frivolous extras, but the collector in me says to go for it. Cognitive dissonance’d.

Trailer at Youtube. It looks like Bandai is placing their bets on Lucky Star’s success on this side of the ocean. With all the blatant Haruhi references in the show, as well as Haruhi’s massive success over here, it looks like money in the bank.

Let’s talk about the trailer though. I do try to give dubs the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn’t sound good. Based on the preliminary viewing, Konata and Kagami are way off. The dub voices for Konata and Kagami are so far out of the ballpark that they somehow ended up in a soccer field. Miyuki and Tsukusa are pretty decent, but the show is still predominantly a Konata-Kagami comedy act. I dread having to imagine the VAs do the karaoke bits at the end of each episode.

As an aside, how is Bandai going to handle all the cultural jokes and obscure references that will no doubt fly over the heads of most mainstream anime watchers? If Bandai doesn’t pack any liner notes as extras, half of the experience is already lost. As an aside to an aside, how will the Minoru Shiraishi ending “songs” play out? I’m not exactly holding my breath, but I’ll put LS on the Netflix queue when it gets released.

Source: Bandai

Lucky Star is officially over and it was a sweet ending. It’s a bit odd that they decided to end the show with the girls’ last school festival rather than a graduation ceremony or something. No matter because it was a fun episode. I expect to see otaku doing the full “Motteke! Sailor Fuku” dance en masse around the world now.

This final episode was just plain chock full of Haruhi references. Konata’s witch Yuki impression was pretty spot on and I must say I’m impressed with Aya Hirano’s voice range… But maybe she cheated and had Chihara Minori do that bit.

Overall series impression: This whole show was just a giant plug for Haruhi and to a lesser extent, Kyoto Animation. It was by no means a bad show. The comedy was really a hit-or-miss roller coaster with the low points getting pity chuckles and the high points inducing laughter that made me laugh out loud quite literally. The first half of the show really felt like the Konata and Kagami Happy Hour with Tsukasa and Miyuki tacked on as the straight (wo)men. I felt that Yuutaka and the other minor girls were introduced too late for me to really click with them.

The minor girls just really seemed very tacked on to me. We saw them so many times in the opening sequence but their characters really didn’t seem to shine too much when they were introduced so late in the show. Manga yuri fangirl was my favorite of the minor group due to how hilarious she was.

See ya later Lucky Star! Timotei timotei!

Today’s post will cover the Lucky Star anime, a very hit or miss anime full of cultural jokes and not-so-subtle self-promoting references to Kyoto Animation’s previous shows, most of which is based on Haruhi. Take a premeasured box of Azumanga Daioh, mix with a cup of Genshiken and let simmer for 24 minutes to create this wacky show. The show started with the Haruhi Suzumiya’s director, Yutaka Yamamoto, at the helm, and it was pretty dull for the most part. Anyone that saw the first half of episode 1 can vouch for that.

Yasuhiro Takemoto (Full Metal Panic) took the director’s seat from episode 5 and the quality improved drastically. I for one do not remember anything funny in the first four episodes, because the most memorable skits started with the new director. The Initial D parody in episode 6, anything with the crazy Anime Tenchou, and Kagami’s yaoi encounter are the first things that come to mind.

However, Lucky’s comedy comes like a rollercoaster. There are a lot of slumps, but when the comedy hits it is hilariously funny. I’ll compare the comedy acts to another comedy anime currently airing called Hayate no Gotoku (Hayate the Combat Butler).

Hayate is more consistently funny but its high points never reach Lucky’s best moments. So do we prefer to have a trade-off with quantity versus quality?
Currently listening to: Yoriko - Daia no Hana