Cruel Angel Theses

1,000 hits in 12 days! Definitely wasn’t expecting this. Thanks once more for all the relentless support. Past few days have been a bit tiring and my PC’s power supply unit was force-fed the red pill the night before, which sucked. That makes it the third PSU in like 6 months, but at least the warranties cover it. I had Sociology again today, and you know what that means — I was bored and started scribbling stuff on my notepad. I was able to multi task this time so despite sitting right in front of the lecturer it appeared like I was taking notes.

the characters don’t fit at all, I’d use Fuuka and Fumika, followed by Evangeline and Patch- I mean, Yue for extra damage.

The second episode made it all clearer. After watching it yesterday I realised why I liked Lucky Star so much — a central part of the comedy stems from how it’s amusing watching a girl going through the motions of what a guy otaku would do, only since it’s a girl the whole thing comes off as surreal and parodying, not desperate or sad like Welcome to the NHK was.

However, the problem with the above reason’s that it reflects the existing gender roles and stereotypes that we’ve been socialised into as a result of this subculture: that girls don’t do anime — at least, not to the extent that guys do. Or even if they do we’ve been looking at it as a curio, a seemingly fascinating thing (like the “there are no girls on the internet” meme) that, in turn, is what drives Lucky Star to equal parts blind criticism and praise — one side looks at it and perceives it as a gimmick due to Konata’s surreal character and then pushes it aside, while the other lauds it as a homage to the various offshoots of anime and a cunning novelty — neither coming close to the heart of the matter.

Lucky Star as I see it, is refreshing and interesting in that it challenges the preconceived notions about the extent of a girl’s involvement in what is generally perceived to be a guy’s domain — would a girl Konata’s age in real life do what she does, like reading light novels and manga, going to the arcade, and playing eroges and MMORPGs in considerable amount? Obviously a lot of us find this hard to accept as normal, and, as I mention earlier, either write it off as a lame attempt by KyoAni to cash in on Aya Hirano’s success or another school comedy cum slice of life anime.

Sadly, it takes an anime like this to realise how too many of us have made snap judgements on Lucky Star to be either gimmick or novelty due to the aforementioned norms and values held by the community, that coincidentally reflect that of the patriarchal society Japan is rooted in. I’m of the opinion that Lucky Star has in this aspect, invited comparisons to Azumanga Daioh not because of the genre similarities alone, but also due the underlining expectations that society impose upon women.

In Azumanga for instance, Yukari and Nyamo can be seen lamenting their fate at being single at such an age, which can be read as a commentary on the very real social stigma that afflicts women of that demographic. The girls behave in a manner that seems to reinforce stereotypes of what a girl should be, and those who deviate from it are punished accordingly. Kaori as an example, is perpetually infatuated with Sakaki; she is in turn harassed by Kimura before being eventually transferred to his class. Tomo and Kagura, as the tomboys of the group, are afflicted with bad grades for a huge portion of the series.

Rozen Maiden is another good example of an anime that dismisses that notion, through the sustained dependence and submission of the female characters to the male ones despite the former outnumbering the latter — the dolls continually seek the approval of Rozen, their enigmatic father figure. The female mediums in the series come across as incompetent and weak — Tomoe, Megu and Mitsu all display immense character flaws that result in the viewer being unable to take them seriously in their intended roles. Jun, on the other hand, despite being a hikkikomori, is able to overcome the odds and empower the dolls when occasion calls — Suiseiseki goes so far as to even say that she is unstoppable with him by her side.

Lucky Star, on the other hand, rejects the hold of maleness and patriarchy through the interactions of Konata and her friends — they accept her for who she is and do not impose moral judgement on her. Kagami can be seen to be torn between disapproval and approval of Konata — whether she should abide to the traditional gender roles ascribed to her as student and daughter or embrace Konata’s arguably progressive stance against such prescribed notions.

Assuming Konata was male, it would be safe to say that Lucky Star would never have courted the controversy and noise it has at this time. Her actions and behaviour seem misplaced, even odd to the average viewer due to male-centric gestures, and instead of questioning the rationale behind it and arriving at the root of the matter, the fanboy sentiment that throws out all semblance of rational discussion have been endless.

It’s too bad there aren’t as many female anime bloggers out there (feel free to correct me on this), because as I see it the discussion so far has taken on a typically male black-or-white structure, and an opinion or two from the ladies reading this about how they view the matter at hand would be great. Do you see Lucky Star as advocating female empowerment and equal rights in the otaku subculture? Or does it seem like just another “moe anime” to you and something you avoid like the plague like your male counterparts? Tell me what you think — guys too, if you’ve got something new to add.