Lucky Star/Headscratchers

"Kagami: Jeez, just how long is she going to sleep? Misao: A...Ayano...and big bro's here too... Misao: Uuu...perverted... Ayano: Misa-chan, just what sort of dreams were you having behind my back...? Misao: Hey, why is Ayano angry? Kagami: Just apologize, already."
 * Okay, in episode 17, Konata shows an aversion to reading. Thing is, is she's such an enourmous fan of Suzumiya Haruhi, wouldn't she have read the light novels sooner or later?
 * She makes a distinction between light novels, magazines, internet articles, and actual books.
 * You can bet she read the light novels at some point. What she hates are basic books of anything not relating to games or anime.
 * Two words: Fanon Discontinuity. Given the Haruhi thing is anime-only and Konata's dislike of light novels has been mentioned in a few Yonkoma strips, This Troper will be more willing to joss the former.
 * In one of manga vol. 5's Kadokawa Hot Line strips, Kagami calls her out on it and (unsuccessfully) tries to get her to read the original novels.
 * Happens in the anime as well.
 * The final scenes of the OVA, WTF? It randomly went from fairly normal (by LS standards) to weird 'camera' angles, random flashes to a flickery grey screen with words on it, echoy audio, living key-ring frog things, and then everyone turned into frogs, then the screen gets rolled up by a flying Minouru Shiriishi (sp?) who starts singing and flys away. Could someone please explain what this was supposed to be about?
 * I think that was an intentional Mind Screw, and a bit of homage to the When They Cry franchise.
 * I found that bit disturbing, too. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it were toward the middle of the OVA and not the last we saw of Konata's friends.
 * Nothing says a heartfelt farewell like "completely horrifying."
 * Superlaser, you know the rest.
 * Let's say, what does Soujiro write? You know, Crack is Cheaper than being an otaku, not to say having two otakus in the same house-- yet the Izumis didn't appear to have any money problems. Not that Yoshimizu doesn't know about this, since some of the omakes were about... a female otaku who lives with her younger sibling and they're... not really broke, but very poor due to her hobbies.
 * Oh come on. It's never occurred to you that those pictures that he takes are for generating revenue on... certain sites? It's never occurred to you that maybe he sells his fantasies to Hiyori?
 * It is certain that Soujirou does not write anything remotely pornographic. A strip in manga volume 2 had Kagami ask Konata what does Soujirou write, and before Konata even started, Kagami got Blue with Shock--and Konata answered, as-a-matter-of-factly, "Hey, hey, he doesn't write that kind of stuff."
 * They've talked about him writing 'scripts', although I got that from a... non-official sub, so I don't know how accurate it is, but... conceivably he could be a writer for a television show, or a movie, or something.
 * Life Insurance from Kanata, perhaps?
 * Ayano. Is she lying about having a boyfriend? Why doesn't she have an image song?
 * I'm not sure whether to reply "Who?" or "Her?".
 * Seemingly Misao's best friend. I mean, you rarely see either one without the other.
 * Or "It?" Ok never mind. That's just me.
 * Oh wait, she has two image songs that involve Misao..Wait..
 * Manga, volume 5, Page 70. Misao's talking while sleeping on her desk, . Ayano was NOT pleased.
 * Do want to see.
 * I just went to the trouble of getting the entire volume 5 just to see this strip, so I might as well put it up [[media:ayano_misao_sexy.jpg|here]] for the rest of you. A liberal translation:


 * It seems like it can go multiple ways. Misao has a brother who is Ayano's boyfriend and that happened, Misao had a dream about her brother and Ayano and Ayano was mad because of the type of dream, Ayano likes Misao's brother but they aren't a couple, *enter Misao/Ayano related WMG here*, etc.
 * Is he actually her brother? I mean, you know, that term is a lot more general than we usually tend toward.
 * ITT Occam's Razor. The term used was "aniki", so unless Misao's in a youth gang or something I think it's pretty safe to bet on her talking about her own brother.
 * This is confirmed once again in Volume 7 - Misao, Kagami, and Ayano discuss the situation again. Ayano is dating Misao's brother, definitely.
 * Twice, including Ayano's First Kiss to Misao's brother.
 * To further add to the confusion, the officially licensed English translation of Volume 5 has Misao fawning over Ayano's brother, who exists only in that dream. What is to be made of that? Is it merely a translation error?
 * Must be translation error. When Misao said "Aniki" without additional qualifier, she mean her own brother, not Ayano's.
 * But wait! Hiyori's stalkerish character notes in manga vol. 4 list Misao as an only child! Was that another translation error?
 * The Wiki for the series says she's talking about someone who doesn't exist, and that's why Ayano was mad.
 * Ayano is more likely to be mad because Misao was dreaming sexual activity between Ayano and Misao's brother, which did not exist.
 * Who on earth wrote that? I think that's Fan Wank, there's no way that's true given Volume 7.
 * Is Kuroi a Expy of Yukari? She looks like Excel but acts a lot like Yukari. Even her companion has a slight resemblance to Nyamo, and their relationships are similar (in more ways then one).
 * Although Kuroi is more sedate and not as jerkassy as Yukari...
 * They still act pretty similar.
 * A lot of attributes of the various characters seem like a mix-and-match of Azumanga Daioh characters: Kagami and Konata together are a lot like Yomi and Tomo; Yutaka is similar to Chiyo; Minami is like Sakaki, especially considering how close she and Yutaka seem to be, and so on.
 * For a relationship even closer to Yukari/Nyamo, see Hikari/Fuyuki.
 * Misao. Manga. Hair color. I've seen two manga official arts with official coloring and she has black hair. They're not coloring errors either; Everyone else has the correct coloring. What gives?
 * Adaptation Dye Job, it's just for more variety.
 * Kagami and Konata's relationship. Did the author confirm an (at least) onesided crush in a manga omake, or is that Fan Wank?
 * This Troper has not read anything to that effect in the omake for the first six volumes.
 * Moderately suggested by "official" extras like Kagami's (Emiri Katou's) music CD, in which she sings rather affectionately for someone in a different class, who copies her homework and "gets emotionally moved at anime concerts." Never actually confirmed though, which is the way most good creators like their work- immersive, open to interpretation, and discussion. In that sense, your work lives on far after the series is over.
 * Yes, but that's for the anime, which intentionally had a lot of Fan Service. We're talking about the manga.
 * It's definitely Fan Wank. This troper owns all seven volumes and there is no omake like that.
 * She's officially a Tsundere. Isn't that enough?
 * This troper recalls reading something on The Other Wiki about the author stating something to this effect in an interview, but that could be mistaken.
 * If I remember my knowledge of the manga, wouldn't the end of Volume 6 (before the two specials/omake) almost be desperately hinting at the likely possibility of at least some relationship tension? With that, I wouldn't be surprised if they make Official Couple status at one point.
 * The fact that Konata and Yutaka are Older Than They Look. If we discount the Kanata-disease thing, then wouldn't they themselves know a bit about why they're so short? Their heights are clearly within little people territory, and should be noticed by any doctor.
 * ...What?
 * This Troper thinks they're insulted. I'm only about 10 cm taller than Konata who is 142cm, and I'm older than her aka not growing any more. She's not an unreasonable height, although the getting mistaken for a kid is common...
 * What the hell is that thing Konata disguises herself as in the episode 6 (the white-headed baby)?
 * That is a mask like the one worn by Sukekiyo (the name she says) in the movie Inugamike No Ichizoku. (Ahh, liner notes...)
 * Kuroi. She's supposed to be completely Japanese and yet she has green eyes and blond hair? This anime has characters with a rainbow of hair colors and eye colors, but still..Those are realistic ones. Ayano isn't that far fetched, but Kuroi?
 * Green eyes are extremely rare among Japanese people, but not impossible. Young Japanese women also like to dye their hair in unusual colors, so blond is not even that strange. Maybe she even wears colored contacts.
 * Yet you don't comment on the much more unusual blue, pink, purple, green, etc. colored hair of nearly everyone else...
 * In episode 6 (the beach/spa episode), Tsukasa and Kagami are talking about their periods. Konata butts into the conversation, much to the irritation of Kagami. Kagami asks if she's ever had a period (which Konata should have by now. I mean, she's 16 or 17 by this point!). Konata's answer is unclear, but it seems to point to Konata not having her period yet. Which is interesting if you compare her appearance with her mother's appearance.
 * Artistic shorthand.
 * Methinks you missed the point of the joke.
 * It's possible that she doesn't have it. The supermodel Tyra Banks didn't get her period until she was seventeen. It usually happens in very thin girls, and if you consider Konata's size, it's not so much of a stretch.
 * I'm just surprised that the one anime trope that was never lampshaded was the Hair Colors...
 * It's especially weird at the anime convention they go to. They stand out in a massive crowd of people with realistically-colored hair.
 * Misao in the manga. Her hair color actually. Is it black? On the volume 5 color..She has either a very dark shade of brown or black hair. Her eyes are gold too.
 * It's black with gold eyes.
 * Is Yutaka's cat in episode 17 real or fake?
 * I'm pretty sure it's some sort of pillow or toy, like the one Chibi-usa uses from Sailor Moon. Also probably a reference to the yawning/sleeping cat of the commercial breaks.
 * More specifically it is a reference to Yoshimizu himself (who personifies himself as the cat when talking about himself and Lucky Star in the manga omakes).
 * In episode 9 how on Earth did Konata manage to watch Saw III with a children's ticket?
 * Heh heh. Maybe they're just a little more lax in Japan, or you can see it with an accompanying "adult" (in this case, Kagami and Tsukasa.)
 * Why haven't they made Konata's MMORPG yet?
 * While I'm not familiar with Japanese MMOs, chances are the one in the Anime is very similar to an existing one, meaning there'd be two problems to overcome. 1) potential copyright issues, 2) playerbase. Numerous as they are, an MMO wont live on Lucky Star fans alone, and any non-fan would likely drift toward established titles rather than what looks like a cheep replica (which would you rather play? WoW-esque MMO based on one played by cartoon character A, or WoW?)
 * Actually, from what's shown of the MMO Konata is playing and based on cross-referencing from gameplay footage, it seems to be the The Tower of Druaga: The Recovery of Babylim.
 * This is more a translation-related annoyance than content: there's a strip in volume 1 (and animated in the first episode) where in all English translations, official or otherwise, Kagami complained about Konata's lack of social skills, while all Chinese translation agreed Kagami was complaining about Konata's lack of social life. So what did Kagami actually said there...?
 * The exact words used in the anime, at least, were "shakôsei zero" ("zero sociability"), which... isn't necessarily either.
 * (Checks up dictionary on "socialibility") Nah, I don't think that fits in Konata well either.
 * Konata is clearly very sociable and social, but she also prefers to do stuff by herself. That last bit is considered very suspect in Japan, with its emphasis on group activities, so this might be more a case of "Loners Are Freaks".
 * Good answer. This lines up well with the fact that Kagami often considers Konata a Hikikomori.
 * Ryouou is supposed to be relatively prestigious. How did Tsukasa get into there? It bugged Kagami too, and so do I...
 * Tsukasa is likely not much less intelligent than Kagami, since both girls share the same genetic makeup. Perhaps she studied hard to get into the same school as her sister, but reverted back to her lazy ways after that.
 * I remember Kagami and Tsukasa are fraternal twins, which may have different genetic makeup.
 * They're possibly fraternal twins. The anime has a whole conversation where Konata discusses reading an article about how a lot of twins who think they're fraternal ("two-egg") twins were found, after genetic testing, to actually be identical ("one-egg") twins. Kagami and Tsukasa acknowledge the likelihood of this, as they not only look so much alike but fit the usual identical twin stereotype (one is usually a bit taller and has a more aggressive attitude).
 * Well, even identical twins can differ in that regard, but Tsukasa doesn't strike me as really stupid, only more fun-loving and perhaps a bit work-shy.
 * What the devil is Kurokona? I've looked everywhere but gotten no answer. Is it a meme? An early character design? A scrapped character? What?
 * She's a 2chan meme AFAIK. Somebody parodied the Darker and Edgier tendencies of Lucky Star fan-works by giving the girls realistic hair colors, and the internet ran with it, as it is wont to do.
 * ...so then what about the picture, and the meme itself? Do either of them have a base plot/character line or anything?
 * I've also seen this around, mainly in Danbooru. From what I've seen, the general gist of Kurokona present in a pic means it's about a Darker and Edgier version of the regular Lucky Star universe. Mainly, it takes the original, degrading and loathing connoations of the word Otaku in real-world Japan and applies them to this world, almost always to Konata or Kuronkona, depending on which one the author wishes to use. Such pics have things like, but are not limitied to: writing words like "Die!" and "Go away!" in Konata's seat, which may or may not be destroyed; have the other three main girls (who are supposed to be Konata's best friends) laugh at her, in front of her or behind her back, in which Kagami may or may not do so in a less Jerkass, no less frank and hurtful way that she's annoying and immature; rape, and in general, other extreme forms of cruelty.
 * When the story begins, in both the manga and anime, Konata appears to not have known the Hiiragi twins for a particularly long time (they don't know what she works with after school, that her mother his dead, and Kagami even asks her how she and Tsukasa first met, something that one would think would've been mentioned early on), but they still know each other well enough to be on First-Name Basis. This in itself isn't what bugs me, but why is Kagami then still on Last-Name Basis with Ayano and Misao, considering that they've been in the same class and/or school for several years, and hang out together fairly often? Apart from maybe Rule of Funny.
 * Things like First-Name Basis and Last-Name Basis is also related to perceived social status. In this case, the reason is probably Ayano and (clearly) Misao considered Kagami's attitude to be someone above to them.
 * Possibly also due to convenience. This is speculation (since this speaking troper is not a japanese one), but it's possible that Konata calls them by their first names so that there's no confusion as to which "Hiiragi" she's referring to. Not sure whether or not people would do something like that.
 * Compare with how Yutaka is the first one to meet Minami, and her closest friend, but the last one to call her by her first name.
 * It may just be the way their friendship has gone, even if they've known each other for a long time (as is implied at one point when one of the other Hiiragis mentioned how Konata sometimes visits during the summer). Some people are more private than others, and it also varies from society to society. I knew my best friend for at least two years before he ever told me anything about his family background, and even many years later after we were very close I chose not to tell him about certain difficult things that were happening with my family just because I was having a difficult time talking to anyone about those things. Konata may never have brought up that her mother is dead because she just doesn't want to talk about it with anyone, may not have mentioned working after school because a lot of Japanese schools forbid it and she was worried someone would overhear and tell (or that Kagami would give her grief over it), and so on. tl;dr version: Knowledge of another person's personal life and family is not necessarily a good indicator of the closeness of their friendship or length of their association.
 * The way they just abandon jokes. The show could have been five times longer if they built upon some of the jokes they set up and abandon. Watching an episode of this show is like watching the beginnings of a bunch of episodes of Seinfeld. They tell a joke, set up for a bigger punchline, and then switch to a different subject. I realize this is a result of the show starting off as 4-panel comics, but seriously now. They could have built off of the scenarios they create instead of animating the quick gags of the strip and loosely stringing them all together.
 * Much like Seinfeld, the show is more about the character interactions and not so much the jokes themselves. Admit it: Kagami shutting up Konata never gets old.
 * Fridge Brilliance. People, especially teenagers, tend to talk like this.
 * This troper liked Kagami's character song, Kenka Youhou Jikan Dayo, until I heard the english lyrics, which make her look really like Cartman. She was actually my favorite character until then...
 * All of the references added in the anime. They weren't executed well and got annoying.
 * What bugs me are the people who watch the first episode and then quit. That's practically the definition of lightweight.
 * If people hate the first episode of a series, why should they watch more?
 * It just shows people have a serious lack of integrity.
 * The first few episodes have very little of the madcap homaging that is the series trademark. There were some changes in the creative team partway through, altering the tone to the one most people remember.
 * It's not exactly unreasonable. The first episode of a good series is usually what pulls you in and makes you want to watch more.
 * Also, some people may not be comfortable with anime that talks about 18+ only computer games (among other things). It's not really as "family-friendly" as some people might think (and this refers to the original Japanese language version); it is a seinen production after all.
 * Also, the first episode is the infamous one where they talk about food for half of it. If you're not interested in it, prepared for it, or have either the will to tough it out or people who can persuade you that it gets better, I can see how it might be off-putting.
 * In Vol 6, the four main characters all graduate. Why are they back in school in the next chapter like nothing ever happened? Unless they all decided to get held back for no reason, shouldn't they be in college?
 * That's an illusion as the chapters as collected in the manga may not be in publication order.
 * According to the left strip on page 117, it's some kind of optional college prep. Chapter 217 in vol. 7 is definitely a Flash Back though, as Minami's gym uniform reads "1st Year."
 * Check the beginning of each chapter: It lists the publication date of that chapter and what magazine it was printed in. The volumes tend to group the chapters by magazine, meaning that after you get through the main strips from Comptiq and see the characters graduate, you then go to the side-strips that were published in other magazines months prior to the graduation strips, and they're back in high school.
 * In Vol. 7, Patricia Martin is introduced as a brand-new character, throwing all of her previous appearances out of continuity. What.
 * I came here to say that. Guess I'm not the only one who thought that was weird. And apparently, she also lives with Konata, when i swear i heard Kagami say a while back "It must be hard living on your own." There was alot of weird things in Volume 7, it almost seemed more like a doujin than an actual volume~
 * Kagami said that in the anime, not the manga.
 * The entire Lucky Star universe is already messy; the "main show" and Lucky Channel are mutually fictional, and Lucky Star itself can appear in the "main show." Before this point Patty has been omake-only and it is until now she appeared in Comptiq. Hence, I would cut this some slack. This is not to say--I don't believe she can stay in the dorm for more than a year.
 * Viewers who can't figure out that Patricia Martin's high voice and speaking mannerism is meant to be a joke in itself. I've seen people type so angrily about it that it is actually hilarious. The point is that Patty is a foreigner, she is supposed to sound like she is speaking with an accent. So Japanese or English her voice is atrociously high but funny. I think Nozomi Sasaki and Patricia Ja Lee nailed the whole point of character simply by speaking a few words.
 * While Konata is certainly not your stereotypical "good student," can she qualified to be the worst troublemaker in anyone's (at least Kuroi's) teaching history? For me she's just lazy and being unapologetic about that.
 * Japan.
 * The only thing I can really see that puts her a little beyond that is the first strip in episode 89 of the manga, where Miyuki is asking the class to be quiet, and Konata says they "have no intention of becoming the type of adults that passively take other people's orders".
 * Akira's popularity. Lucky Channel and the Akira Club omake strips was clear that Akira wasn't popular at all. However, this troper's reading of the "main" strips is that while she's not the most popular Idol Singer in Japan, she's not that unpopular. At least Konata is a fan of Akira's...
 * The way Konata treats Kagami. They're supposed to be best friends and Konata seems to be the only one who is really aware about Kagami's insecurities but goes out of her way to tease her about them (Kagami's weight, for example). I realize that Kagami enjoys teasing Konata about how small she is and is often a bit blunt (like when Konata got her postcard published in Comptiq) but she apologizes or at least reassures Konata (once again, when Konata got her postcard published in Comptiq). Konata seems to blatantly bully Kagami (or at least make her uncomfortable a lot of the time).
 * It's just their relationship dynamic. Konata is actually kind of insecure because she doesn't really have a lot of friends and has odd looks and habits. Kagami is tougher, more sociable, and more "mainstream", and thus has less need for comforting... when she's had enough of Konata, she tells her off or smacks her one, says something angry, and is over it. Basically Konata gives Kagami a harder time because she knows Kagami can take it... you'll notice she gives Tsukasa far less teasing, since Tsukasa would obviously be less capable of dealing with it. (Besides, Konata likes it when Kagami acts all tsundere, and teasing her is one way to put her in tsun-tsun mode.)
 * Kagami and Tsukasa are Non-Identical? They look Identical, just with different hair lengths.
 * One cause of fraternal twins is an egg splitting before being fertilized(rare, but not unheard of), so they probably share 50% of their DNA. Since their physical differences would probably be minor, the lack of them can be Handwaved due to the art style.
 * Kagami does mention (at least in the English dub) that "the definition of identical and fraternal twins was recently expanded".
 * It's in the sub too, though the conversation's more about the fact that some people who think they're fraternal twins are actually identical twins. Kagami and Tsukasa agree it's a distinct possibility in their case, but that it doesn't really make much difference. They're probably only identified as fraternal twins in the first place to make it clear to the audience that they shouldn't be expected to behave identically.
 * How can Konata still believe in Santa Claus after having watched/read Haruhi?