Apr 08 2007
You think KANON was a waste of resources, get a load of this!
I know I’m
beating this KyoAni/Kanon thing into a wall by now but after watching Lucky Star this has to be said. Actually I didn’t even watch it past 7 minutes because of how awful it was. Yes the animation was pretty, yes the characters were cute…but there was no point to anything (as it would be in a 4koma) and I don’t find the song catchy (or catchier than Hare Hare Yuukai.) It almost seems like this whole show is just a marketing ploy to milk off Haruhi, Hirano Aya and whatever fame Lucky Star has. They spent the first 7 minutes talking about how they eat various types of food.
I 
really don’t give a crap if people get pissed at me for insulting this show, but to me it’s THIS SHOW that’s a waste of resources. Kanon was a beautiful story and had a characters with personalities beyond “I’m cute and moe and I wear a school uniform.” This is just to target Otaku who go MOE over stupid girls eating food (and doing whatever the hell else they manage to squeeze in the next 23 weeks.) They even admit this if you listen to the lyrics of the song where you can hear crap like “we wear our seifuku” and “cute” all over the place. And this is supposed to be 24 episodes? Heezus! I couldn’t even sit through more than 7 minutes, and they wanna try to run this into a wall for 24 episodes? Yea, no thanks, I’ll pass. I’ll be looking forward to Clannad, KyoAni-san-tachi.
P.S. Before you go flaming me, please watch the episode yourself (and if you don’t know Japanese, watching it raw doesn’t count.)
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66 Responses to “You think KANON was a waste of resources, get a load of this!”
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If they don’t pander to dvd/figure/9xsoundtrack/etc-buying otaku, how will they get enough money to make things look good? It’s the vicious cycle of moé, I tell you!
It’s interesting that only 7 minutes (not even a full episode) was enough to declare the entire 24 episode series unwatchable… :/
Thank God there’s at least one other person who thinks Lucky Star is crap! I read the manga and was utterly amazed at the complete lack of funny. And given the general manga > anime rule, I’m too scared to even try the anime.
Yeah, I was pretty disappointed as well, I will try another episode and drop if it doesn’t get better.
On another note, am I the only who thought than Tsukasa and Kagami look like Kyou and Ryou from Clannad.
Nice man! I also hate KyoAni and don’t understand why everybody was waiting for this show so desperately. Very good blog btw!
I don’t hate kyoani at all, but I feel this is probably the worst thing they ever made. 7 minutes is enough to get the general feel of the show and I’m just not FEELING it at all.
Hadler> I didn’t think about that but yea good point haha…maybe that’s their way of “hinting what’s to come” haha
I read a bit of the manga the other day and it wasn’t at all funny…I was hoping the anime could somehow transform it by improving the timing and delivery of the jokes but I guess that was hoping too much.
I read the first volume of 4koma so I kinda knew what to expect. I found the part at the end where they were reading the postcards pretty funny.
But your review suprised me Hinano, you’re usually more diplomatic and less vitriolic.
You must have been expecting very different, not to have even given it seven minutes.
Philip I was REALLY expecting something extraordinary and I felt like this show was a personal slap in the face which is why I guess I got so angry. Everyone was hyping it up saying how it was all funny etc. and since I loved Air, Kanon, Haruhi I expected KyoAni to pull something amazing. So I guess it’s kinda like dressing up and going to a prom only to walk in and have someone throw a pie in your face.
Compared to their other shows, this show seems to barely use any resources at all tbh. I say this show costs em 1/10th of what kanon/haruhi/TSR cost at the time. (depending on what they pay hirano aya, wow she had a lot of lines)
The OP (which I think will end up being the ED) was worth watching over and over instead of the rest of the show, which wasn’t the best, but kept me actually watching till the end (with rewinding back to the OP every few minutes to rewatch it).
I found this OP more catchy than hare hare yukai.
Show seems like a good moneymaker to buy some time to do the other shows well.
Like you I don’t think I can stomach the show itself for that long, but being a waste of resources or not really depends on what it costs to make compared to the money it will bring them.
I’m still inclined to watch a few more episodes at least.
However, if you compare this show to every other kyoani show, well, it’s obvious the other shows were better, duh =p
[...] So, I beat Hinano. She went down to watching a whole seven minutes of this show; I successfully jacked out at two and a half. The moment Blue-tan started licking that… thing… I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this. Tell me I’m not win otaku, as tj han has, if you will, but if win otaku means being pleased by shit like this count me out. [...]
//I don’t hate kyoani at all//
Not that is going to convince all the kyoani haters you have now unintentionally become friends with.
Anyway it’s probably a good idea not to blog this anyway, just like there are going to be far too many groups subbing the show, there are going to be far too many people blogging it, and it’s not worth blogging something you have a severe hatred for to the point of allergic reaction. You should do something that no ones blogging, like Kaze no Shoujo Emily, not that anyone is going to be bothered to read it or anything….
Well if you set your expectations really high (by thinking it’ll be extraordinary) you’re bound to get crushed.
I’ve read the few chapters that were scanlated, I found it funny, I guess it’s just up to the individual if they liked it or not. I thought it gave off an Azumanga Daoih meets Genshiken vibe.
I’d say give it more than just 7 minutes, I know if I judged an entire series based on 7 minutes I wouldn’t have finished half of Gasaraki (cause boy I found the entire first episode boring).
Christ, if you don’t like a gag anime show, I don’t stand a fucking chance with this…
Hinano: You are NUMBAH 3.
Then again, I have pretty low standards :V
It sounds like this is mostly your own fault for falling victim to the hype, I thought people on the interwebs were too smart for that? I did my research and checked out the 4koma first and the first episode is pretty much what I expected.
boo> yea haha I was thinking that after I wrote the post like “hmm I bet this really didn’t use too many resources…”
mike> I wasn’t planning on blogging it at all haha. I got my sunday show (hayate) so I’m good to go!
B0zz> I guess I set them high because KyoAni has never disappointed me. I did end up scrolling through the rest of the ep to see if it was more interesting that food chat, but…it really wasn’t which is why I didn’t bother “fully” watching it.
Digi> Gag anime with a story = good (like Inukami), Gag anime for the sake of gag anime (Azumanga) = bad. I hated Azumanga so I didn’t expect myself to like this unless Kyoani pulled something amazing…which they did not.
Shenlong> Yea I did fall for it. I shoulda done my research but I always try not to spoil myself ahead of time just so that I’d be pleasantly surprised…except in this case I was unpleasantly surprised ^^;
yeah i agree, i am not a huge fan of shows like this, i DO like kyoani, but just b/c i like them doesn’t mean i’m going to go grab everything they do
i liked haruhi, i love FMP (fav series), but this and Kanon = meh
to be fair, i havent watched it, but something says this is like sensei no ojikan, 2×2, excel saga, which i wasn’t a fan of (i dont like random humor for just random humor… like you said, if it has a plot, i can bear it, but if that’s all it has [is the randomness] then count me out!)
//I always try not to spoil myself ahead of time just so that I’d be pleasantly surprised//
….It’s a 4koma, what the hell is there to spoil?
Well spoil in a sense of “knowing what this show will be about” I know it’s a 4koma but I was hoping KyoAni would just do something crazy with it like make up their own story or do something creative…rather than try to just follow the original material. This is where I’m disappointed.
The previous KyoAni shows were great (according to most people, they’re not to my taste at all) because they had a great source material to work with. KyoAni is an animation studio, it’s not their job to be creative with story and characters. They just animate what someone else writes. So yeah, give them some substandard material and they’ll make a substandard anime out of it.
Gah, my English sucks today.
//I was hoping KyoAni would just do something crazy with it like make up their own story or do something creative…//
I don’t get how you would expect KyoAni would take the very un-KyoAni approach of not following the source material quite closely. If it was any other company, sure, but to expect a company that is well known for following it’s source material literally to the letter, to just bs their way through a series……that’s just weird.
kuro> Considering that KyoAni did a few “creative” things with Kanon (even though they did mostly follow the story) I didn’t think of them as “WE ONLY ANIMATE FRAME BY FRAME FROM THE SOURCE MATERIAL” studio. Otherwise Ayu, Makoto, and Shiori would have worn the exact same outfit for 24 episodes and Ayu wouldn’t have ended up in a wheelchair. Many animation studios go “creative” (i.e. TOEI) so I didn’t think that KyoAni is “unable” to get away from the source material. A growth means change and I thought for once by picking up such an unusual source material, they’d change their style an do something different. Do you see where my hopes have been crushed here?
//I don’t get how you would expect KyoAni would take the very un-KyoAni approach of not following the source material quite closely//
Eh? This is the same studio which did VAST rewrites when producing FMP:TSR.
[...] Lucky Star 01 Seems like there’s a lot of Lucky Star hate going on right now. [...]
//Considering that KyoAni did a few “creative” things with Kanon (even though they did mostly follow the story) I didn’t think of them as “WE ONLY ANIMATE FRAME BY FRAME FROM THE SOURCE MATERIAL” studio.//
You didn’t? Then what was with all the frame to frame comparisons you did when you blogged Kanon?
Sure, KyoAni has done a few ‘creative’ things with their material, such as the rather trivial costume changes to important plot changes and so forth, but those ‘creative’ things happened later in the series… not in the first seven minutes of the first episode. KyoAni can’t make shows better for those that set themselves up to be disappointed, folks
mike> Are you a KyoAni fanboy or something? You seem to really want to defend them with blood sweat and tears here.
I was mostly comparing KyoAni’s version to TOEI’s rather than to the game. I just used the game CGs to compare artwork because to be honest when I actually played the game, I didn’t know jack of Japanese. And if you go back on my posts my comparisons are all to the TOEI anime, rather than to the game. 
//Eh? This is the same studio which did VAST rewrites when producing FMP:TSR//
When they need to make VAST rewrites for adaptation, like all companies they will do so. But otherwise they try to stay faithful to the material. Hell they felt so bad about leaving so much stuff out the Summer Arc in air that they made an extra 2 episodes of Air later in the year with some of the Summer stuff they left out, that’s how devoted they are to source material.
//mike> Are you a KyoAni fanboy or something? You seem to really want to defend them with blood sweat and tears here.//
Again for full disclosure I didn’t particularly like this episode either, that’s why I haven’t been arguing with what you actually thought about the episode, instead I was arguing about your overblown expectations.
Then again, since FMP:TSR, KyoAni hasn’t really been known for fantastic first episodes, the Haruhi explosion didn’t start until episode 2, and the First Episodes of Air and Kanon didn’t really convert anyone that haven’t already been fans of the games.
Was the first episode of Lucky Star excellent? No, and I didn’t expect anything more than that. The reason why I’m being a pain in a butt, is that there seems to be an awful lot of people who simply don’t get this and expect greatness faster than KyoAni is willing to give it. Will Lucky Star be as great as KyoAni’s previous endeavors? Who knows, but it is a crime to judge an entire series on merely 7 minutes.
Well like I mentioned in one of my comments, I ended up scrolling further to see if they finished talking about food and something interesting happened…which it didn’t. Even the Street Fighter parody which I might have found funny….did not draw a laugh out of me. Maybe you’re right, maybe this is like the Adventures of Asahina Mikuru and for all we know next week it could be a blast but from seeing this I expect them to follow this format until the end if they stay “true” to the source material like you said. Unless people next week are gonna rave that it got better I probably won’t even bother with episode 2 ^^;
Aha! I was going to check this out after somebody submitted an video to my site but looks like I wont bother after reading your post ^^;
“I was REALLY expecting something extraordinary and I felt like this show was a personal slap in the face which is why I guess I got so angry.”
Hype can often be a double-edged sword. That’s why I attempt not to get really excited about a show (though I’m failing in that respect with Hayate the Combat Butler :P). I think just watching 7 minutes is nowhere near an accurate barometer of how a show is going to be. Not all shows can immediately grab you/be done in a way like immediately. It can take time, though conversely, it can just continue to suck. At least keep giving it a chance for a couple more episodes. :/
>> Who knows, but it is a crime to judge an entire series on merely 7 minutes.
>>At least keep giving it a chance for a couple more episodes.
In defense of Hinano and other anime watchers out there, I typically find that once someone decides that they dislike a particular movie/show/book/etc, getting them to watch more usually produces a much worse negative effect on their viewing experience.
I haven’t watched the show myself yet, nor let hype get to me and others, so I do have low expectations of the show. But in any case, I do believe it takes the right mindset to enjoy some particular shows and it seems that this will be one of them.
Fubared> Thank you for your words of wisdom!
Danny> 「萌え」好きなら大丈夫と思うよ。（笑 I’d expect you would like this type of show since it’s centered around moe….(which is what I THINK you’re into?? XD) So don’t go based on my opinion, check it out yourself since I’m not sure if our tastes in anime are similar.
TheBigN> I might watch episode 2 because I guess it’s a possibility that this could be like the Adventures of Asahina Mikuru ep 00 but as Fubared said I don’t think I’m in the mindset to enjoy this particular style of storytelling/humor (or lack there of)
[...] April 9th, 2007 Oshi It’s Hinano dorama get in the pickup [...]
“In defense of Hinano and other anime watchers out there, I typically find that once someone decides that they dislike a particular movie/show/book/etc, getting them to watch more usually produces a much worse negative effect on their viewing experience.”
True, but I still disagree that 7 minutes is enough. Way too short, and first impressions shouldn’t be everything.
That being said, I also agree that you need to be in the right mindset to enjoy it. As someone who tries to watch things without any expectations, anything can become interesting to me.
Haha! The intro to this show is hilarious! They sound like chipmunks! lol!
The intro actually reminded me of Galaxy Angels
>Sarah: I don’t know, the OP sounded a little over the top to me to some extent that all they were emphasising on was the moe of the show. I think I might blank out upon over-exposure to such moe-orientated material.
Okay, back to watching Kanon again.
I think simply looking at the animation style indicates that this is a show for the younger and ADD side of the demographic that loved Haruhi for the dancing and moe and whatnot. It’s almost unfair to expect that kind of sophistication (and ESPECIALLY Kanon sophistication) going into it.
That being said, I also hated the Azumanga Daioh anime compared to the manga which I loved. If they’re following it so closely like that anime did, leaving lots of space for “comedic” timing, I’m going to have low expectations going into it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in order for something to be a waste of resources, doesn’t it have to actually consume those precious resources in the first place? If Lucky☆Star had high-level sakuga quality animation like Kanon did, then perhaps I can see some merit to your argument. However, from what I understand it seems like the usual animators for Kyoto Animation are just taking a break after Haruhi and Kanon in preparation for Clannad, and this is just a lesser project in between to cut them some slack, while saving up money for later, bigger projects.
It appears fairly smart, actually. Give their usual staff a break by working on a 4-koma adaptation, since 4-koma’s don’t rely on good animation or intricate plot build-up or anything. I’m not expecting anything deep from the series or its characters, and Kyoto Animation has done absolutely nothing to suggest that this show is anything but a cute, mindless romp. All they’ve show us prior to the first episode is 14 seconds of “Uuuuuuuuu”, while unreasonable fans are running around hyping it up without substance. Seems to me like the fans are more to blame. In all honesty, what reason was there for people to expect the coming of the animessiah from a 4-koma adaptation?
Well, there is one good thing about all this vitriol: I can enjoy this show (which happens to be my favorite genre, slife-of-school-life comedy) without people claiming it’s overrated. If anything, among the blogging circles it’s probably going to end up underrated. Which is just fine by me.
Arrr, I watched the first 7 minutes, found it rather bad but held on to end. To be honest, I quite like it. There is nothing really holy impressive about lucky star but it just has a certain draw for me. Not great, but watchable for now.
THIS IS MADNESS! THIS IS LUCKY SPARTAAAAAAAA!!
Stupid fanboys.
tj> LOL!
TONIGHT WE DINE ON THOSE SWIRLY THINGS THAT KONATA EATS
[...] April 9th, 2007 Oshi It’s Hinano dorama get in the pickup [...]
“I think simply looking at the animation style indicates that this is a show for the younger and ADD side of the demographic that loved Haruhi for the dancing and moe and whatnot. It’s almost unfair to expect that kind of sophistication (and ESPECIALLY Kanon sophistication) going into it.”
LOL. If it is that kind of show then they have failed. The type of people you are referring to would most probably want to look at all the pretty pictures/animation and would want to be seeing stuff happen throughout. Seriously if you even watched the first episode you probably wouldn’t be saying that. Since they spend almost a third of it talking about the different ways they eat food. Not something the ADD crow would lap up. Imagine if you will the Yuki nagato sitting in the club room scene from Haruhi where virtually nothing happens for 3 minutes. The first episode of Lucky Star was like that for long stretches, only there was more noise from the main characters. Again I’d assume the ADD crowd would switch off long before they got through the whole episode.
Shit… er… just to add to my previous comment:
I’d go as far as to say it’s the opposite of what the ADD crowd would lap up. Probably the reason why I think there’s such an uproar after the first episode. I think people were expecting another Haruhi or something.
As for the blog post. I kind of agree with Hinano. I didn’t think the first episode was good. However my expectations for the show weren’t crazily high and so it’s not affected me in such a way as it has Hinano. I will be sticking with for the time being as like all shows I give them a 3-4 episode grace period. I’ve seen far worse shows through to the end so I might just end up sticking with it all the way. Heck I’m still watching the subs of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge!!!!!
arkon> The Nagato Yuki thing is totally what this reminded me of except the background animation in that scene was probably better than a bunch of gradiated figures in the background
(And as you said more talking)
Haha. Yeah, can’t argue with that.
I think it’s interesting that people flame it so much, as it really captures the nature of Lucky*Star pretty well. I mean, it’s all KyoAni’s fault, I guess. But it’s one of those things, I think. Just like Crayon Shin-chan is sort of hard to swallow, Lucky*Star is sort of a laid back, heavily cultural thing. Like how Americans often don’t get British humor.
The humor doesn’t click, so we hate the cute characters and pass them off as the sole purpose of the show (Though we refuse to hate IchiMashi and Hidamari Sketch for these same reasons since the humor is more approachable or the show is more stylistic).
I think if anything, the recent wave of hate directed towards this show is largely a reaction to the hate generated by how “lame” Kanon was. (which I also disagree with. Though not because I’m a KYOANI SUPAFAN! Shaft is still #1 in my heart.)
I can’t believe even Choo-tan would toss this one aside without giving it a shot. COME ON CHOO-TAN! How you gonna listen to Nanners? She’s all spiteful and artsy! Just like JP! It’s a conspiracy!
Ok, I’m done now.
Decided to watch this for myself…
• the opening song was cute and well done
• the first 7 or so minutes you were talking about… boredom city… who cares about how you eat certain food? Yeah, a random topic to shoot the breeze, but not really something to show as entertainment. I fast forwarded to the next “talk”
• whoa… my attention started to wander and I began looking at things on my desk…
• Koma’s seiyuu is the same as Haruhi’s right?
• I skipped to the ending credits… the karaoke bit made me let out a small laugh.
Conclusion: great review, Hinano!
you know I notice how all the people who agree with me are those who UNDERSTAND japanese AND have watched the episode rather than those who dont understand japanese and didn’t watch beyond the op song.
…if only this crap was adult anime and featured a young, cute, and handsome guy…
c’mon! they have to target another kind of audience group anyway? i dowan kyoani to be some company tt onli caters emo people. -.-”
and besides, they might have done this a long time ago since the 4koma. then again.. we dunno how the industry works. but overall, its alright.
Yeah heavily cultural as in underage girl playing eroge.
I’m guessing that’s why silly Akiba-kei references abound.
I’ll admit I was looking forward to this, sortta wish it didn’t come attached with “hype” because of the animation studio and the seiyuu and what not, because the molotov comments being hurled are making me sad.
I’ll just take comfort in that I enjoyed it for what it was (manga and episode 1), not out of some crazy warped devotion to Kyoani or Aya Hirano or their past works.
I for one love the art style and presentation of Lucky Star. I’m glad it’s not like Kanon or Suzumiya Haruhi (except for the dancing bit. That was whack!), because it looks so much better the way it is. As for the comedy, I’ve watched the episode for more than 5 times (from start til end), and I still find it amusing. Note, not hilarious, but amusing. So in a nutshell, Lucky Star may not have turned out to be what many of you wanted, but I love it, and hope that it wouldn’t change at all. Screw tsr or kanon or suzumiya, Lucky Star rocks in its own unique little way.
Yeah, I’m in the “likes/loves” Lucky Star boat. In fact, at this point, I like it better than Azumanga because of Kona’s wicked accent. And also for the ED, which I’m hoping will be a different classic Tokusatsu/Mecha/Anime/Whatever OP or ED every week, and that alone would make it worth it for me.
As for the actual show, I don’t think this is a show only people impressed with “teh grafix” would like. Mainly because “teh grafix” aren’t all that detailed, which goes perfectly along with the 4koma style (and boy, I’m glad they did or it *would* be a waste of resources).
Anyways, this stuff’s definitely my kind of humour. I lived in Hong Kong for the first 6 years of my life, and on and off afterwards. Seeing as I personally know what they talked about (the how you eat your food part), it really made me amused and pleased. Just simple and subtly humourous conversation, and that’s something I don’t mind and can deal with.
Of course, I’m not looking towards the series and thinking it’s going to be deep, high in substance, moving or intellectually satisfying. It’s a low budget romp with (for me) amusing conversation and quality animation (since while there isn’t much required, what does happen happens well). I agree with the people who say that Kyoto’s full team of animators need a break from all that work anyways, lest they slip up and make a series that does a Gonzo QUALITY, which would be even more disheartening than this.
But yeah, I definitely don’t think it’s revolutionary or “teh greatst anime evar”, but I’m satisfied and will even say I look forward to a great season of mundane but amusing conversation. Really, I’d almost insist the market needs more of them. >_>
Kanon is crap for sure, but Lucky Star is THE MOST AWFUL THING I CAME TO WATCH SINCE I WAS BORN IN THIS PLANET. So goddamn unfunny, and also ugly.
[...] Exhibit A Exhibit B Exhibit C (btw, these links are ranked #1 and/or #2 on Google, lol.) [...]
[...] Article 1 [...]
I can’t believe it, I accually made it throught the first episode. first 8 min. I have to agree are lame. Is talking about how to eat food for that long their best idea???
maybe its your own faults for believing the hypes
i never heard of any rumors before i watched the anime, and i ended up first seeing it over my cousin’s shoulder when he thought i was somewhere else
sure the first episode is boring! they have to introduce the characters and their personality’s before thay can launch into something bigger
although i agree the food thing went on for far too long, once your past it, the anime becomes watchable.
besides, not all animes have to be full of ACTION and rushing from event to event.
Well, Im VERY LATE to the discussion, but here it goes:
Lucky Star is a excellent show…….for people who like 4 komas. I am usually bored watching them, and if, for some reason, I’m interested in more than 1/2 of an 4-koma episode(rarely), it’s mostly because it doesn’t appear to be one.
In short, if you are not the audience Lucky Star is aiming for, you probably won’t like this show.
Hmmm
This is interesting… No snide comments here by me or aliases. Which is unusual considering this IS the lucky aids post. I suppose the commentary was in JP’s side and there was no point repeating the pointlessness of this POC show. I’m waiting for the day that the fanbois turn against this company like they did gonzo in the past. :3