Lucky Star 12 starts off with the girls back in school just after X-mas, and Konata tries inviting Miyuki to a festival, but Kagami interrupts the conversation warning Miyuki that she really want her to go to comic market with her. Later Kagami is writing New Years cards and calls Konata to ask if she had a death in the family that wasn’t announced, (Cultural Note: In Japan families send card to family and friends around New Years, most of these cards are printed by computer with a generic greeting or family picture on them, but people send personally hand written ones to really close friends and family. So, this shows that Kagami considers Konata a very close friend by wanting to personalize her card.)
The next day Konata, Kagami, and Tsukasa are on the way to comic market, and Tsukasa is very excited about it, and Kagami tries to warn her about the environment, but Tsukasa doesn’t understand until they finally get there. Once at comic market Konata gives Kagami and Tsukasa the shopping plan, she has it all planed out with the precision of a military operation. As the day progresses Konata and Kagami do pretty good as planned, but poor Tsukasa is blown away like a leaf in the wind by the crowd. A little later Kagami spots a yaoi manga and tries to pass it by but can’t resist, hey I know the feeling, sometimes I just can’t pass by a yuri manga. At lunch the girls get back together and Konata tells them how good comic market is compared to the old days, she’s been going to comic market with her dad since she was five years old.
Later that night Kagami and Tsukasa are helping out as miko at the local festival and they run into Konato and her dad. The girls then draw their New Year’s fortunes, and Konata draws bad luck. After the festival Konata and her dad spend time at home, and the next day she tries to get Kagami to go to Gamers with her but no dice. Well, That’s all. Below are some screen shots.
Well, I really liked the feel of episode 12, I don’t know how to explain it but it just felt good. The girls spend time at comic market, and then spend time on New Years eve together. I think this episode shows how very good friends the three girls are, and also no matter how strange Konata and her dad are they are in reality a very loving father daughter pair. This episode also had a lot of nice cultural touches about the Japanese New Years holiday.
Episode 3 starts off with Judy’s arrival in New York City by train, she arrives at Penn. station (Note. Penn. station no longer exits), and her suit case is promptly stolen leading to a chase through the streets surrounding the station. After the thief gets a look at Judy’s meager belongings he no longer wants them, Walter Griggs whom has been following Judy is mistakenly arrested by the police for the theft of the suitcase. On her way to Grand Central station Judy bumps into a man carrying a lot of package making him drop them, she then helps him pick the stuff up, a young girl in the car has the driver give ten dollars for her help, she tries to refuse but the girl tells her to buy some new shoes. Then Judy arrives at the school and rushes up to her room and meets one of her roommates a nice girl named Sallie Mcbride.
Then Judy’s other roommate arrives, to her surprise its the same from earlier in the day, and her name is Julia Rutledge Pendleton. Judy returns the money that was given to her by Julia, needless to say that the two girls don’t hit it off. Whenever Judy compliments something, Julia bad mouths the very same thing. A little later Judy asks Julia if somethings wrong with her that’s making her so unhappy, this really pisses Julia off. Julia goes on a rant about how the maid and her gardener have bigger rooms than them, and Judy says that she feels sorry of her. Later Julia ask Judy what her father does and Judy says that both her father and mother died when she was young. Judy goes on to describe and hide her orphanage upbringing by just changing the description of the orphanage sightly. Then the girls must get ready for the party being thrown for them by the school’s headmistress, this presents a problem for Judy because she spent all her money on gifts instead of buying clothes for school. At the last minute Walter Griggs delivers Judy a trunk containing a lot of nice clothes including a beautiful dress, so Judy ends up attending the party after all. That’s all for episode 3. Below are some screenshots.
Well, in this episode Judy sets off on her journey to school, and we get introduced to three main characters we’ll throughout the series. But, the main point of the episode is that Judy’s upbringing in the orphanage has left her severely handicapped in the social graces area. Julia’s spoiled rich girl attitude is a nice contrast to Judy’s always sunny personality, and Sallie’s middle of the road Mideastern sensibility is a nice middle ground. Well, its going to be interesting to see how Judy fits in with the elite girls at the school.
Lucky Star 11 begins with the girls talking about the shooting star they saw the night before, and Miyuki stating she’s never seen one before. The girls also talk about what their going to do for winter break (note: in Japan Christmas is a pretty big commercial event, and Christmas eve has become a big night for couples a lot of marriage proposals and very romantic date take place, but none of the Lucky Star girls happen to have boyfriends!). The girls then send a lot of time talking about falling asleep on trains and missing your stop, and how you deal with people who lean against you when they fall asleep on the train. The next day at school the girls compare their exam grades, and Tsukasa gets ripped on by Kagami, and Konata. Later in the day Tsukasa and Konata talk about Christmas presents, and Tsukasa asked Konata how old she was when she stopped believing in Santa Claus, to Tsukasa’s surprise Konata still believes in Santa, and Kagami thinks this is pretty funny. Later Tsukasa and Kagami ask Konata if she wants to get together with them on Christmas eve, but she has to work at the cafe, she’ll cosplay as Santa. Then Konata say that Tsukasa and Kagami both cosplay as shrine maidens at the temple on New Years, now that’s really funny calling traditional Japanese matsuri clothing cosplay.
The next day at school the girls talk about how lately adults are going after kids, and Konata says they should be taught martial arts, but then Kagami says that later the adults will just be stronger. Then the girls get their report cards as early Christmas presents, and Konata says she doesn’t want this present. Then the girls talk about Christmas cake and what happens to the unsold cakes, and Konata talks about marriage and Christmas cake just as her teacher is walking by (note in Japan in is a insulting comment to refer to an unmarried woman over a certain age, 25 to 27 but this age is rising, as Christmas cake, or stale cake, looks good on the outside but tastes old or stale on the inside). On Christmas eve Konata’s dad is angry because she’s late getting home from work until she gives him his gift then he softens up. At the end of the episode Konata’s teacher is in a store buying leftover Christmas cake, and she basically says that she’s not all stale. Well that’s all for this episode. Below are some screen shots.
Well Lucky Star 11 was a pretty good episode about school life and the Christmas holidays, the episode shows the differences between how Americans and Japanese celebrate the holiday season. In Japan the Christmas season is more commercial than in the United States, no matter how commercial you think Christmas has become in the US its still a Christian holiday, in Japan its more about buying gifts for family and friends, also Christmas is about lovers and couples. In Japan, Christmas eve is one of the most popular day for marriage proposals, and if your single it can be a lonely time, look at how the girl’s teacher reacted to the Christmas cake comment. This episode also shows how the Japanese view other religions, look at how Kagami and Tsukasa deal with other religions, Konata ask if they pay respects to other Gods and they say yes, then the sisters are shown helping at a Shinto shrine, visiting a Buddhist temple, and singing inside a Christian church. Overall Lucky Star 11 very cute anime episode about the holiday season.
