Lucky☆Star

♥	This article is dedicated to Kyoto Animation, who lost 36 employees in their arson attack on July 18, 2019., the voice actress of Hiyori Tamura, Philece Sampler (1953-2021) in the English dubbed version. May all those employees rest in peace.

Lucky☆Star (Japanese: らき☆すた, Hepburn: Raki☆Suta) is a Japanese four-panel comic strip manga series by Kagami Yoshimizu. It has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq magazine since December 2003. Cameo strips were published in other magazines such as Shōnen Ace and others. There is no ongoing plot and typically focuses on the daily lives of the characters.

Lucky☆Star

🎵🎶 Aimai san-SENCHI sorya puni tte koto kai? Cho!

RAPPINGU ga seifuku, dā furi tte kotanai pū. Ganbaccha yacchacha Sonto KYĀCCHI & Release gyo!

Ase (Fū) ase (Fū) no tanima ni Darlin' Darlin' FREEZE!! 🎵🎶

Genre:	Comedy Slice of Life Shōnen
Running Time:	24
Country:	Japan
Release Date:	April 8 - September 17, 2007
Starring:	Japanese: Aya Hirano Emiri Katō Kaori Fukuhara Aya Endō Kaoru Mizuhara Mai Aizawa Shizuka Hasegawa Minori Chihara Kaori Shimizu Nozomi Sasaki Konomi Maeda Miki Inoue Hirozaku Hiramatsu Sumi Shimamoto Chiwa Saito Tōru Furusawa Kikuko Inoue Nozomi Masu Satomi Akesaka Mami Kosuge Junko Iwao Kujira Hiromi Konno Minoru Shiraishi Yukiko Takaguchi Yui Kano English: Wendee Lee Kari Wahlgren Michelle Ruff Karen Strassman Lara Jill Miller Peggy O'Neal Hynden Walch Philece Sampler Patricia Ja Lee Kate Higgins Dorothy Elias-Fahn Tony Oliver Rebecca Olkowski Julie Ann Taylor Richard Epcar Bridget Hoffman Derek Stephen Prince Stephanie Sheh Sam Riegal Rebecca Forstadt
Seasons:	1
Episodes:	24

An audio drama CD based on the series was released in August 2005, and the series spawned four video games released between 2005 and 2009. A 24-episode anime adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation aired between April 8 and September 16, 2007. The anime was licensed in North America by Kadokawa Pictures and distributed by Bandai Entertainment; six DVDs have been released between May 2008 and March 2009. An original video animation (OVA) episode was released on September 26, 2008 accompanied by a drama CD. Bandai Entertainment released the OVA in an English-sub only version on August 4, 2009. The anime is currently licensed by Crunchyroll, formerly known as Funimation. Viz Media acquired the rights to publish the manga digitally in 2014.

A spin-off manga, Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku, began serialization in January 2008 in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp H's magazine. An anime adaptation by Ordet and Encourage Films began airing on Ustream in April 2013.

陰謀 (Plot)

Lucky☆Star follows the daily lives of four cute high school girls—Konata Izumi, the lazy otaku; the Hiiragi twins, Tsukasa and Kagami (sugar and spice, respectively); and the smart and well-mannered Miyuki Takara.

As they go about their lives at school and beyond, they develop their eccentric and lively friendship and making humorous observations about the world around them. Be it Japanese tradition, the intricacies of otaku culture, academics, or the correct way of preparing and eating various foods—no subject is safe from their musings.

ラッキースターの理由 (Why It's a Lucky Star)

For an anime with no plot or lore, it's really enjoyable and it sometimes perfectly captures everyday life.
It stays almost completely faithful to its original source material which was the manga.
Catchy opening theme song that runs on through the entire series which also gain popular attention from internet users later on.
Very adorable character designs, as it gives the series a nice chibi-esque art style.
Four cute and lovable characters:
- Konata, who's a lazy otaku, but a funny and clever one,
- Kagami, a responsible tsundere twin sister,
- Tsukasa, an air-headed twin sister,
- Miyuki, a beautiful but clumsy student.
- Even the side characters are just as memorable as well, from the aloof Minami, the young and loving teacher Kuroi-sensei, the innocent Yutaka, the clumsy cop Yui, Konata's dad, Sojiro as well as her late mother, Kanata.
Despite lacking an actual plot or lore, every single episode passes the Bechtel Test.
Awesome animation, even after a decade and a half, the animation has aged well along with the CGI animation even for 2007 standards.
It parodies other anime series from Initial D to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
- Fun fact: In one of the episodes, Konata cosplays as Haruhi and what's even more interesting is that both characters in the English and Japanese dubs both share the same actors!
Along side with parodies, there are many pop culture references to technology, video games, and other media.
It spawned a decent, short spin-off successor titled Miyakawa-ke no Kuufuku.
Cute and good cheerleading scenes.
Awesome voice acting in both the English and Japanese versions of the show, as well as Wendee Lee giving out an amazing performance as Konata.
Features many enjoyable and hilarious scenes and moments.

不運な資質 (Unlucky Qualities)

Lasted only 24 episodes, which sucks because this show was very popular when it first came out. The manga lasted longer, though, up until 2014.
- Speaking of lasting only 24 episodes, the anime did not include the manga characters such as Izumi Wakase, Miku Busujima, Kou Yasaka, and Tamaki Yamanobe. However, the Lucky Star manga Volume 4 where it introduced Fuyuki Amahara and Kou Yasaka was released during the same year the anime was airing. Izumi Wakase, Miku Busujima, Tamaki Yamanobe were introduced in Volume 7 in 2009, making it somewhat excusable that the show was unable to include these characters, but still a shame.
The parody scenes can feel like commercials to anime fans as well as some product placements in the show such as Konata with her PlayStation 2, Wii, and Nintendo DS (though this can be somewhat excused due to the fact that it did receive a PS2 and a DS game at the time) as well as some manga advertised for different anime. Anime fans watch anime for the characters and stories, not to sit through ads. Thankfully, the advertisements, like the Haruhi Suzumiya ones, don't appear in the manga version.
Akira Kogami and Sojiro (though not as bad as Kogami) are unlikable. Akira likes to torment and torture Minoru (her assistant) for no reason (although she is likable in her alternate persona). Sojiro, on the other hand, intends to stalk and take pictures of schoolgirls without their consent.
- Minami can be completely unlikable at times.
The OVA (while great) did not receive an English dub like the rest of the show did, and as well as its 2016 Blu-Ray release from Funimation, there is still no English dub available.
Patricia Martin's voice in the English dub is just awful. She's supposed to be a stereotypical American, but her English voice is somehow even HIGHER-PITCHED than Minnie Mouse.
The 2016 Blu-ray release from Funimation had significantly barely any improvements, which being the resolution as it was falsely advertised as 1080p but as it says in the back of the box art it’s 1080i.
- Another problem with the Blu-ray is that the image quality is partially blurry. While since Lucky Star was produced in an SD format and is still watchable, there are many episodes on YouTube that are AI upscaled that are supposed to match the quality standards on modern displays compared to the Blu-ray release.
- It was on Crunchyroll once, but it was removed due to Bandai Entertainment losing the rights to the series and was eventually picked up by Funimation.
It faded into obscurity sometime during the 2010s and hasn't aged very well since then (except for the animation standards).

レセプション (Reception)

Before Lucky Star was made into an anime, Kagami Yoshimizu, the author of the original manga, was interviewed by Newtype USA in the June 2005 issue where he stated, "I don't really think my production process is anything special." However, he has the opinion that "...my personality is very well suited to doing four-panel comic strips, and I really enjoy creating this one." As if to predict the future, Yoshimizu also was quoted to say, "...but one day, I wouldn't mind seeing these characters moving around on screen." In the same interview, Newtype USA reported that the first volume of the manga sold out so quickly that Kadokawa Shoten had to do a rush reprint. As of April 2008, the first five volumes of the Lucky Star manga have collectively sold over 1.8 million copies.

Lucky Star became an immediate hit in Japan, receiving a broad following in the anime fandom. Explaining this phenomenon, the analyst John Oppliger of AnimeNation, for example, suggested that a major factor in the series' success is its similarity to an earlier work by Kyoto Animation—The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (the show itself makes numerous references to the same series). However, he also admitted that Lucky Star is quite different from its "predecessor" and that the second major factor is its "unique" composition that "panders to the tastes of otaku, but does so with good humor and sly wit", thus, making it "the ultimate in fan service", a "witty, self-indulgent, guilty pleasure".

The Special First Edition version of the first DVD volume was released on June 22, 2007, and contained the first two episodes to the anime. The first DVD sold quickly in Japan, and it has been reported that "Amazon Japan has already sold out its entire supply of the DVD." Furthermore, "the majority of the stores [in Akihabara] with special displays for Lucky Star have run out." Anime News Network has noted that the anime is "extremely otaku-centric".

The popularity of Lucky Star also brought many of its fans to the real life settings of the anime, beginning in April 2007. The August issue of the Newtype magazine ran a feature on the various locales which the anime is based on, including Konata's home in Satte, Saitama, Kagami and Tsukasa's home in Washimiya, Saitama, and the school in Kasukabe, Saitama. The magazine also included directions on how to reach these places from the otaku hotspot Akihabara, which resulted in massive "pilgrimages" to these areas.

The most widely reported consequence of this is in the Washinomiya Shrine of Washimiya, where the Hiiragi sisters work as miko in the anime. Various Japanese news media reported that the shrine became a place teeming with photographers trying to replicate scenes from the anime, cosplayers wandering around, and ema prayer plaques ridden with anime drawings and strange prayers like "Konata is my wife". The ema were mentioned in episode 21 of the anime.

The locals were initially divided on the situation, with some suggesting that it is good for the shrine to have so many worshippers, and some being concerned about the town's security. Despite the negative reaction by some of the locals, the Washinomiya Shrine hosted a Lucky Star event in December 2007, featuring special guests including the author Kagami Yoshimizu, and the voice actors Hiromi Konno, Emiri Katō, Kaori Fukuhara, and Minoru Shiraishi. The event attracted 3500 fans. Subsequently, the Hiiragi family have been registered as official residents of Washimiya because of the anime's wild popularity. Other fictional characters who share this honor in Saitama are Astro Boy of Niza and Crayon Shin-chan's family of Kasukabe. As of July 30, 2008, sales of Lucky Star food and goods brought the town of Washimiya ¥42,000,000 (about US$390,000) in income, described by The Wall Street Journal as a source of relief to the local economy reeling from Japan's economic slump in the 1990s.

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