Lucky Star (Generic Discussion thread)

[Kagami~n]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Aye.. this is some strange use of the word "bohemian" to describe dingy, simple, and loopy crazy.

courtesy Merriam-Webster:
bohemian
2often not capitalized a: vagabond, wanderer; especially : gypsy b: a person (as a writer or an artist) living an unconventional life usually in a colony with others

That's what I thought it meant. An artist living unconventionally. I think Hiyori is the best fit for that description, if anyone...though her lifestyle still appears conventional for the most part.

[JoieKawaiiDesu]

How do you find out those birthdays?
and how do you remember them?

[Dee Eon]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Aye.. this is some strange use of the word "bohemian" to describe dingy, simple, and loopy crazy.

Gee, Vexx! That's exactly the description I was looking for! What word is it??

Dee

[Kagami~n]

Originally Posted by JoieKawaiiDesu

How do you find out those birthdays?
and how do you remember them?

Have you met my good friend Wikipedia?

I'm really not good at remembering them, actually. I just have Konata and the twins memorized. I know Miyuki is somewhere in October.

[Vexx]

I think the best word for Misao is nyan-simple. She likes to eat, she takes a lot of naps, she misses most of the intent of whats being said, she's happy, bright shiny things grab her attention.

[JoieKawaiiDesu]

Originally Posted by Kagami~n

Have you met my good friend Wikipedia?

I'm really not good at remembering them, actually. I just have Konata and the twins memorized. I know Miyuki is somewhere in October.

hehe, yes i have met your good friend Wikipedia!!
Thanks

[Dee Eon]

Greetings:

Can anyone recommend the addresses of Lucky Star fanfiction / doujinshi sites in Japan which I can run through Google's Translation Tools service for translation and reads?

Thanks and stay safe!

Dee
"Miyuki's Spaced-Out Secret" and "The Yamato Effect"

[Claies]

Originally Posted by Dee Eon

Greetings:

Can anyone recommend the addresses of Lucky Star fanfiction / doujinshi sites in Japan which I can run through Google's Translation Tools service for translation and reads?

Thanks and stay safe!

Dee
"Miyuki's Spaced-Out Secret" and "The Yamato Effect"

As far as I know, there is no such central effort as fanfiction.net in Japan. Web hosting is easy and dirt cheap there as it is, so many authors host their own sites for their fanwork. I know obscure series with over a hundred such sites, so I dare to estimate thousands of them for Lucky*Star, none of them particularly linked together.

The best I can do is tell you is not to go to this:
http://www34.atwiki.jp/konataowata/

Some otakus are extreme in their feelings, including hatred for Konata. The above site contains suicide/death fiction around her, some of the accompanying images are pretty extreme. You've been warned.

[Dee Eon]

Originally Posted by Claies

As far as I know, there is no such central effort as fanfiction.net in Japan. Web hosting is easy and dirt cheap there as it is, so many authors host their own sites for their fanwork. I know obscure series with over a hundred such sites, so I dare to estimate thousands of them for Lucky*Star, none of them particularly linked together.
The best I can do is tell you is not to go to this:
http://www34.atwiki.jp/konataowata/
Some otakus are extreme in their feelings, including hatred for Konata. The above site contains suicide/death fiction around her, some of the accompanying images are pretty extreme. You've been warned.

This is fascinating! (like why web hosting's so cheap over there too!)

With everyone acting apart so, how does news about anything get around fast the way it does there, or how does an author get their site out? How on earth do they coordinate showing up en masse at events like shrine pilgrimages and such? You'd think there'd at least be some main directory or clearinghouse of anime sites over there! No wonder it's next to impossible to mail praise to any of those artists at Raki-Suta! Anyway, thanks for that site address even though I boldly crossed the forbidden line but didn't get far seeing anything past that pix of Konata being a swinger at a necktie party, since I couldn't even read the menus to take a tour!
But I wonder what their beef with Kona is! Her quirkiness gives otakus a bad name or what? Like my western sins can see it with Patty , but Konata?? She must represent one really awful anathema to them!

Thanks for the input!

Dee

[Kagami~n]

Originally Posted by Claies

Some otakus NEED HELP.

I never understood wasting your energy on directing such negativity toward a fictional person. Whatever their reasons are, that they would go to the trouble of writing death/suicide stories or pictures that coordinate to that indicates to me that they need some serious help. At least those otaku who dress up and go to the shrine are directing positive energy towards something.

Thanks for the warning though, some jerk posted that link on luckystarfans.com's forums as some sort of justification for writing an extremely offensive and sexist analysis of the Lucky*Star cast on a thread. Now I'm glad I didn't click it.

[Vexx]

Some of the many examples of a small set of "fans" that literally have no existence outside of their hobby and channel their darkness into it. More examples of the emotional sewer overflows can be found on some the *chan sites. Yes, many of them actually need psychiatric help. The japanese are rather behind the curve from the US on recognizing and treating mental illness because of cultural attitudes toward mental illness (though they have a better healthcare system for it, go fig.).

To answer some of Dee's queries:
1) cellphones and texting play a much bigger "networking" role in Japan than in the US. Spontaneous gatherings for street dance and the like are cellphone coordinated.
2) All Internet costs are much cheaper in Japan, please thank your US telecommunications giants and large ISPs for not updating our networks or providing reasoned price points on packages despite taking in huge profits and tax breaks through their regional monopolies. The US is Third World when it comes to the Internet these days.
3) Animation companies never provide the linkage to their individual artists -- I call it a cultural thing (everything is team-oriented). However, most all the voice artists maintain their own websites to connect with their fans. Manga artists tend to be reclusive (often their sex isn't even known) though a few blog (like Yotsubato's mangaka).
4) Some otaku have decided the Konata character MAKES FUN OF their lifestyle. As they have no sense of humor on the subject - they hate her. The rest of us understand that self-deprecating humor can be healthy. Since Lucky*Star is all about the self-deprecating humor ... ya gotta wonder just how clueless these dilweeds are.

[Kagami~n]

Well God forbid anyone should ever make fun of us dorks. :P Konata seems like a lovable, fairly intelligent character. At least they over in Japan aren't represented by a flake like Patty. Personally though, I chose not to be offended by Patty, since there is a lot of truth to the stereotype she portrays and she's pretty likable in her own right.

Konata's also fairly glorified, and is only ever shown in a bad light when she's getting chewed out by Kagami. In fact, I've found her behavior to be far less offensive than a lot of what I've heard of other Japanese otaku. Case in point. You'd think that to be a mangaka, or to work in an animation studio, you'd have to have a certain level of otaku about you anyway. It kinda seems like they chose to interpret it as being mocked.

But yeah, seek help plz. It's interesting to know that they have better care for mental illnesses over there. What exactly is their view on mental illness, that it would keep them from seeking treatment or recognizing it?

[Claies]

Originally Posted by Dee Eon

This is fascinating! (like why web hosting's so cheap over there too!)

With everyone acting apart so, how does news about anything get around fast the way it does there, or how does an author get their site out? How on earth do they coordinate showing up en masse at events like shrine pilgrimages and such? You'd think there'd at least be some main directory or clearinghouse of anime sites over there! No wonder it's next to impossible to mail praise to any of those artists at Raki-Suta! Anyway, thanks for that site address even though I boldly crossed the forbidden line but didn't get far seeing anything past that pix of Konata being a swinger at a necktie party, since I couldn't even read the menus to take a tour!
But I wonder what their beef with Kona is! Her quirkiness gives otakus a bad name or what? Like my western sins can see it with Patty , but Konata?? She must represent one really awful anathema to them!

Thanks for the input!

Dee

2channel, its clones (that collapse back into 2channel sooner or later anyway), cell phones, and massive amounts of word of mouth.

2channel does have fanfiction, but it's a nightmare to sort. I didn't even try. Even if you're reasonably fluent in Japanese it'd probably take an entire night or two to step in the fray to figure out where everything is, and then start over because things may have changed by then. Nobody really knows the entire site (no, not even Konata). The only way to really sort the fanwork out is to have community-run wikis archive the flow, the link I told you not to click on is one of them. I haven't bumped into others.

If you've ever seen 4chan (if you didn't, stay that way), the phrase "hate machine" that popular media attaches to it has a grain of truth. 2channel is what 4chan was derived from, and there are over 600 boards of every damn topic imaginable. With that level of diversity, it's inevitable that the more emotional types there will hate each other. In particular, a section of people within anime and video game boards (~30 boards) hate each other for personal tastes. Lucky*Star was practically built to attract all this. For any character in any series, you can expect a fan topic and a consequential hate topic, it goes on and on.

So if you can't take criticism, don't go there.

Also, 2channel likewise would hurt your eyes if you blindly click on links. One can tell that Konata is a reasonably "experienced" netizen, in more ways than one.

[Dee Eon]

Thanks for the informative insights all!

But I think it's sooooo ridiculous the U.S. doesn't have a cream of the cream internet infrastructure that Asia has and which our telecoms are always clucking about us having! Maybe there's a niche here for a Jap firm to step up to the plate and offer their services here!

But all this talk about the mysterious forbidden 2chan is like waving a whipped creme jelly donut in front of a child, and I just find myself tempted to take a peek to sate my curiousity! I wonder how different their LS sites are from ours, and as for their fanfiction I'm sure there're some golden nuggets in the crazy garbage too, but until there's a good online lang translator to pipe those sites thru I guess that's a dream for now! Still, aren't there any "safe zones" in 2chan you can recommend where I can get a taste that won't ruin my eyes?

Thanks!

Dee

[Kagami~n]

2ch is mysterious and forbidden? Since when?

Also, for the future - "Jap" is a derogatory term, and shouldn't really be used in casual conversation when referring to Japanese people.

[Vexx]

Ditto.... "jap" still generates *extremely* derogatory feelings .... almost everyone of my family's japanese side would have your face in the concrete if you used it, young or old. It evokes the time of internment camps, theft of family assets, and hatred. It's the same as using any racially derogatory word - the effect is to dehumanize, making it easier to abuse or mistreat someone.

It doesn't take that long to type "japanese" but in an extreme hurry - I'll tell people that the Microsoft abbreviation of "JP" is passable shorthand.

[Claies]

2ch is neither mysterious nor forbidden...it's just not made for Westerners and would take extra labor for outsiders to understand.

By the way, "Jap" = "Chink" = our own names for you guys, which we try not to use to avoid problems.

[aorta]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Ditto.... "jap" still generates *extremely* derogatory feelings .... almost everyone of my family's japanese side would have your face in the concrete if you used it, young or old. It evokes the time of internment camps, theft of family assets, and hatred. It's the same as using any racially derogatory word - the effect is to dehumanize, making it easier to abuse or mistreat someone.

It doesn't take that long to type "japanese" but in an extreme hurry - I'll tell people that the Microsoft abbreviation of "JP" is passable shorthand.

Interesting article about this:

http://www.jref.com/nikkeiview/jap.shtml

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Kagami~n

Well God forbid anyone should ever make fun of us dorks. :P Konata seems like a lovable, fairly intelligent character. At least they over in Japan aren't represented by a flake like Patty. Personally though, I chose not to be offended by Patty, since there is a lot of truth to the stereotype she portrays and she's pretty likable in her own right.

Konata's also fairly glorified, and is only ever shown in a bad light when she's getting chewed out by Kagami. In fact, I've found her behavior to be far less offensive than a lot of what I've heard of other Japanese otaku. Case in point. You'd think that to be a mangaka, or to work in an animation studio, you'd have to have a certain level of otaku about you anyway. It kinda seems like they chose to interpret it as being mocked.

But yeah, seek help plz. It's interesting to know that they have better care for mental illnesses over there. What exactly is their view on mental illness, that it would keep them from seeking treatment or recognizing it?

Konata as a character is mostly meant to portray Otaku in an ultra positive and flattering light and to feed into their imagination of an ideal girlfriend. One who thinks like them, shares the same interests and represents some of their most beloved fetishes. She's pure fantasy through and through.

[Amray]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Konata as a character is mostly meant to portray Otaku in an ultra positive and flattering light and to feed into their imagination of an ideal girlfriend. One who thinks like them, shares the same interests and represents some of their most beloved fetishes. She's pure fantasy through and through.

Probably. No girls that perfect. Haha. She is just adorable too though. I would want a girlfriends like that so Kyoto Animation have fulfilled their purpose. A girl that you could sit down and play Dead or Alive with, watch anime with, she is extremely cute at the same time, AND has blue hair!

But to be honest I would much prefer Tsukasa. She is the best for me and has features that I look for and adore in females. Short hair, small chest, just plain cute, big eyes, clumsy, sweet, ...the ribbon....AAGH! I hope girls like her atleast exist!

Nontheless I am sure their are some awesome otaku females out there. ^_^