I’m back off of a recent anime slump. I think it was the lackluster Winter season that drained my interest. And the series that got me back into watching: Lucky Star.
I tend to watch a lot more lighthearted, slice-of-life series than the artistic, meaningful shows that I see as the real expression of the potential of anime. You’re more likely to catch me at an episode of Lucky Star than an episode of Mushishi. The reason’s a simple one: when I get home at the end of a long day and I want to watch something, I don’t want to strain too hard and I want to relax. Slice-of-life is more of an everyday serving, and artistic is something of a devoted, weekend-watch.
I’m just about finished with the series, up to episode 19, and I have to say they keep the funny coming. I think it was the addition of Konata’s younger cousin and her classmates about 3-4 episodes ago. They provide another quartet to explore jokes and foibles of personality, and while it may seem a bit of a copout to just make some new characters, it really does work. When you think about it shows like Lucky Star are all about pronounced character types and the interplay between them, so why not add some more characters to the mix when the originals are becoming a tad stale?
I’m excited to see how the show wraps up, and this will definitely be a series I keep on hand to go back and watch an episode or two every now and then. Up next I plan to watch School Days on the suggestion of my friend John (even though I can’t stand “relationship” series) and possibly catch up with the second season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei after that. Which reminds me I still need to write about the first…
