Itadakimasu! Lucky Star oishiisou!
How do you like your minced pork noodles? It’s a matter of taste. Just like the way Stripey and I enjoy eating bah chor mee, discussing anime and looking at beautiful girls (often doing all at the same time) but have serious disagreements on which anime and beautiful girls we enjoy watching most, likewise for food. To paraphrase the English saying about football, ‘it’s not a matter of life and death, it’s more important than that.’ Mee pok or mee kiah? With extra vinegar or not? Chilli sauce? Pork liver? Stewed black mushrooms? Fried lard? Or which is The One True Katong laksa. Or the lagi best nasi lemak. Don’t even get me started on why mee siam char kway teow must be eaten with cockles. Of course, I don’t force my dining companions to order their char kway teow with cockles. That said, I can’t help but think that they are missing out on a good thing.
I’m glad I waited for the a.f.k. sub of Lucky Star 1. Behold the Power of Procrastination. Some push back seems to have started already.
Based on this episode (I know nothing about the manga), I felt that there’s a Pani Poni Dash! vibes mixed with the Azumanga environment. The characters seem to be further along the ‘weird’ part of the ‘normal to weird’ scale; there are generous helpings of self-conscious references to other animes and manga; there is also considerable permeability of the fourth wall, mixing the world of the Lucky Star anime with the worlds of anime production and fandom. Although the whole conversation about eating chocolate cornets made some anime bloggers stabby, I think the wave of disappointment helped to lower my expectations. And since low expectations are the Secret of Happiness, I did find myself actively enjoying this series – the little details of the food conversation as well as its extended parody of Osaka’s question to Chiyo about how to eat taiyaki.
This scene seems to be a blatant reference to Haruhi’s explanation, made even more blatant because it’s Aya Hirano voicing Konota too, for why she enslaved Mikuru for the SOS Brigade. Some of the blatantness, like with the OP in general and how the title popped up in particular, may be a turn-off for people who disliked being reminded of the hype over Haruhi (which I agree with Kabitzin still doesn’t hold a candle to the wave of sheer collective madness that gripped fanboys, like me, by the short and curlies) or that this heralds how KyoAni will self-destruct like GAINAX. Let’s put it this way, I don’t think Lucky Star is going to be a Mahoromatic 2.
The difference between a cold and a flu also reminded me of Azumanga jokes about Tomo thinking that reindeers don’t exist, her wanting to join Interpol without knowing anything about it and a bit of Osaka’s escalator/elevator dilemma. There’s also the lines about idiots having high resistance to illness which is the starting point of the PPD! episode about the Peach Moon virus. Mixed BTW some characters look sooo much better with their hair down e.g. Yumi Fukuzawa from MariMite. Ditto Kagami.
Yeah, this is my general reaction to Stripey when he defends SUNRISE’s crappy ending in Mai HiME and, to a more limted extend, GSD. I think the Hawke sisters could so do with their own Fumoffu-style High School scenario spin-off.
I hope we will get more of Bitter vs Sweet Akira. The bitter part was all the more funnier because of the contrast with the sickeningly cute side which, in turn, becomes slightly sinister because of how we’ve been shown her dark side. Like Muteki Kanban Musume’s Megumi Kannazuki or SHUFFLE!’s Kaede Fuyou, the emergence of the repressed personality is a great source of entertainment because of the contrast and how it subverts the image of their ‘normal’ personality.
I’m looking forward to the appearance of the green-haired girl and her erm friend. Not because I have impzism (liking of green-haired girls) but because she might be a Rei clone.
In conclusion, I found the first dish of this 24 course banquet to be pretty scrumptious and hope that we’ll have tasty, varied and interesting servings to come.
Related posts:
- Lucky Star OVA For me,
>>>Mixed BTW some characters look sooo much better with their hair down e.g. Yumi Fukuzawa from MariMite.
I always wondered whether this is deliberate or mere oversight by anime producer.
>>> Like Muteki Kanban Musume’s Megumi Kannazuki
I still prefer drunken Miki.
>>> Osaka’s question to Chiyo about how to eat taiyaki.
I wonder how many eats the stomach part first like I do.
I may see the 2nd episode of Lucky Star only because I liked the ‘ending’ song
A bit off-topic, but ah… the colour for your visited links is BLACK. With no underlines to mark it, it makes it difficult to relocate links. ^^;
Natch.
maglor, drunken Miki is great though the reversal was the opposite of the type I was trying to illustrate in Akira’s case. The ED is really PPD but not sure if it’ll make another appearance…
Skane, thanks for your note. Have adjusted the vlink value from #330033 back to the K2 default of b41. I didn’t notice this problem at all because I didn’t see it in Firefox. Are you using IE?
You would have to drag me through the pits of Hell and the jaws of Cerebus before I would consider returning back to IE.
Using FireFox v2.0.0.3
About the ED, you can read my comment on Jeff Lawson’s entry on Lucky Star for the reference. It’s from a show that aired in 1976.
Cheers.
“I’m looking forward to the appearance of the green-haired girl…because she might be a Rei clone.”
Make that Nagato Yuki II coz she’s voiced by… Lo and behold, Chihara Minori (assuming ANN didn’t give the wrong info).
Oh, you might have something *subtle* to look forward to when it comes to her and her friend. ;3
I prefer Mee kia. But generally hate noodles. Except TOmyum koka cup noodles. I use a sieve to remove the impurities but leave them soaking in the soup for a while to get the taste out. According to my calculations, one bowl of that is 70% of our daily recommended sodium intake and thus we should have that only once a day.
Laksa is overrated. I think Laksa should be banned. But I still eat it once in a while. I don’t like Katong laksa because they cut my noodles. Nobody should cut my noodles. When you cut your noodles, you are forced to eat it with a spoon and hence it is more likely to cause a greater ingestion of the gravy. It is not very healthy. I don’t like that oily feeling. The cockles are quite good. I like cockles in laksa but not in char kway teow. I reckon it is because the gravy dilutes the disgusting sewage taste.
The green haired girl is Minami Iwasaki…Iwasaki…SASAKI?? From azumanga? dunno yet since I’ve only seen a few manga 4koma’s and some scantalations I can’t judge yet. Anyways it looks like another pigtailed girl is popular. But Kona-chan is so cute and unique among the other characters gotta love that!!! FTW!!! Akira seems to be a pyscho MOE…maybe…LOL.
“Mai hum, mai hum..” talk about mee siam and cockles you sure kena mark one… I better standby for new hosting XD
Probably will give Lucky Star a miss for now. If good, do pls gai seow when it’s finished. :)
Skane, ah gomen. I’m also using the same version of Firefox but probably needed to clear my cache.
Dav, that’s great news!! Yeah! A bit of yuri makes everything better!! I’m so looking fwd to Iwasaki now – she and her friend just have this erm Mai x Sayuri type of vibe. Actually I also consider Yuki Nagato to be a Rei Ayanami (new and improved) clone.
tjhan, my favourite laksa is actually near Sim Lim Sq, behind the old police post at Sungei Road.
kenjiharima, I can’t really recall any other otaku-type girls who are the lead character. Usual suspects like Genshiken, Comic Party etc. have guys as the main character… And goodness, the psycho moe crowd grows from strength to strength! LOL
Bro, if I’m going down, u’re going down with me, kekeke. Brothers got fortune together share, got difficulties together bear! Yeah, given that you didn’t love PPD, wait and see how first. New season has got loads of stuff to keep everyone busy anyway.
Six words Zyl…
Can I join you for dessert?
IT WAS MEANT TO BE A JOKE
Also, I’m more of a ramen/soba kinda guy.
Still, my favorite laksa place is actually the one next to my house, LOL.
No one has ever accused me of having a sense of humour. Ahaha~♥ But more importantly WHERE IS YOUR HOUSE!? Knowing where is good laksa is always worth knowing!!