Of the dozen, the Lucky Star Character Song Vol.002 featuring Kagami was my clear favourite. Really happy that Amazon.co.jp managed to get it to me within a week of my order (gushing post about Minorin’s Contact akan datang).
When buying character songs, it’s really important to me that they have enduring appeal; like buying DVDs of anime series, buying the CD gives me the satisfaction of owning a product that I feel is high quality, value for money and gives me lots of enjoyment to listen to again and again.
Actually the Kagamin Chara Songs didn’t grab me with its first impression but they grew on me as I relistened to them over the past few weeks. I was charmed by how Emiri Katou’s singing did a wonderful job of capturing the sound and the feel of her Lucky Star character; full, as they were, of tsuntsun, deredere and Kagami-neechan goodness.
Particularly when I looked at the translations of the lyrics by syuria of prismaticmoon for Kenka Yohou Jikan da yo and 100% Nai Nai Nai. The former is Kagami in tsuntsun naggy mode and the latter is really deredere, especially when she bemoans to the gods about her fate of always being in a separate class from Konata. The third is an interesting mash-up and mix of Kagami’s dialogue with a marvellous line that goes: ‘I wonder why tsundere is moé?’ LOL
From the lyrics, it also became pretty clear that both the first two songs were about Kagami’s relationship with Konata. While I’d like to say there’s yuri, I really can’t see anything more than the two being best friends. Of course, this presents me with a bit of a conumdrum because Kagami’s behaviour towards Konata has been described as tsundere. But AFAIK tsundere has only been applied in the context of romantic relationships. Yet, from the Kyoto field trip episode, Kagami more or less completely ignores Konata when she becomes preoccupied with the prospect of a guy confessing to her. Ah well, I guess that’s not going to stop Konata x Kagami fanfic and doujin from being produced. :3
Kagami is the first role that I’ve heard Emiri Katou play (only one other starring role based on ANN) and I’m definitely a fan as a result. She’s had great chemistry with Aya Hirano’s portrayal of Konata and often her delivery of punchlines actually, IMHO, steal the show from Aaya. Given the popularity of L*S in Japan, could Kagami be Emirin’s breakthrough role?
I really love that mix-track. It just gets better every time I listen to it. It’s well thought up, I just wish it was a little longer. Maybe that would destroy the magic though… :>
Ouch, just need ! :)
I don’t really like the tsundere type, but Kagami has enough of the deadpan snarker to smooth over the rough edges.
And “100% Nai Nai Nai” is my favourite track of all the LS character songs thus far. It’s just so… poppy, and I love to bop along to it.
Kagami made me like the tsundere type.
Kagami got distracted, but that doesn’t necessarily say she’s not interested in Konata. There really hasn’t been a situation where Kagami really had to ask herself, “Do I love Konata?” So far it’s just been fun tension between the two.
And Konata noticed right away that something was off with Kagami. So you could argue that Konata cares a lot, is worried about her, or misses the attention she usually gets. But Konata wasn’t going to pressure her about it, and eventually things got better again, so no worries?
^_^ KonaxKagamin yay
I’m not fond of tsundere either, mainly because of the physical violence ‘comedy’ associated with it. But when that latter element is excised or toned down, e.g. Rin Tohsaka in Fate/Stay Night and Kagamin, then I enjoy the chara-interactions much more.
Edit: See this PS2 game cover! Kona x Kagamin 4TW! :3
I’m very late with this but I’ve got to let more people know about this. Sure Konata and Kagami are just friends, however, friendship feelings is NOT the case here. Hints to yuri in the Konata/Kagami relationship were made throughout the series. Kagami does like Konata in THAT sense. Konata is a question mark in this relationship. I’m just not sure from her point of view. Kagami gave a LOT of hints to being interested in Konata in THAT sense throughout the series. I was very impressed with Kyoto Animation. The hints were very cleverly displayed while still being clear in the yuri sense. Some of the yuri hints from Kagami to Konata were so BLATANTLY obvious, it’s absolute amazing how the hints got badly ignored by the fans. You can’t give off more of a BLATANTLY obvious hint then the train scene of episode 3. If you didn’t realize what Kagami did in that scene, go back and watch it NOW. What Kagami did in reaction to Konata in this scene was so BLATANTLY yuri obvious, it’s absolute amazing how Kagami was able to get away with what she did. YURI is the only reason for what she did in that scene. It was just too blatant. Did anybody realize that Kagami had quite a bit of verbally blatant yuri statements about Konata as well? The most blatant was by far the statement she made in episode 4. Just before the Lucky Channel segment, Konata said, “That’s why I just don’t get girls.” Kagami responds by saying, “Last time I checked you were one as well.” Kagami checked to see whether Konata was really a girl? That would mean that Kagami might have actually saw Konata’s………………………………… and I serious can’t go that far. You need to re-watch this series and keep your eyes FIXATED on Kagami. When I did that, I was picking up so many yuri vibes from Kagami to Konata I was literally crying. You can serious call Kagami a Tsundere, she has a love interest in Konata. I picked up quite a bit of dere dere Kagami to Konata moments that a lot of the fans didn’t noticed. My favorite moment was by far the moment of episode 15…………………………………….. and you know what? I’m NOT referring to the Haruhi concert scene.XD All I’m going to say about this scene is that I LOVE THIS MOMENT TO DEATH.XD So, there is actually more yuri in this show then people think.