Lucky Star, Vol. 5 has something I’ve never seen before in the Lucky Star franchise…Yuri.
In the main, the formula remains the same; Konata is an otaku, and she is surrounded by an increasing number of characters who are identified by their hair in combination with their fetishes/gags. This is definitely not high art….
I’m finding, though, that the now strangely large cast (strange, because so few of them were actually introduced to us, but somehow just showed up in the story and we were supposed to know who they were or, if we didn’t, the interstitial character profiles were all we had to identify them by) actually works for me. With so many characters, the one- or two-joke per person works better with what is quickly approaching infinite possible combinations. It took a village to raise Lucky Star.
The first snatch of Yuri is, not surprisingly at all, in Hiyori’s head. (There’s an allegory in there, I’m sure of it!) Someone mentions Konata kissing Miyuki and it’s all fan delusion from there on. I really like Hiyori, because she’s very self-aware. She knows just how dangerous mentioning something like this to her is. ^_^
The next shot of Yuri comes from two of the teachers – the one who looks just so cute and little you can’t really believe she’s an adult and the school doctor. … Gee when I say it that way, it seem so fetishy and pandering, huh?
And lastly…wait. You know how a martini is made? You know how some people joke that the vermouth is pretty much waved over the cocktail? That’s kind of the way the final bit of Yuri is – we see Minami and Tsukasa standing next to one another and each thinks warm and fuzzy thoughts about the other. We whisper the word “Yuri” over the panels and lo and behold! a Yuri Manga is born.
Ratings:
Art – Color helps a little…
Story – Realistically dull slices of life
Characters – Color helps a little…
Yuri – Here and there
Service – If LovePlus seems like a perfectly acceptable replacement for a relationship with a human, then yes, an LF is you
Overall – 7
A mysterious, unnamed Okazu Hero sponsored today’s review! If you’d be so kind as to tell me who you are, I can credit and thank you properly!
The convenient thing about Lucky Star is that you don’t need to have Yuri goggles; Hiyori will tell you what you’d see through them anyway!
In hindsight I don’t know why I was so in love with the series a few years ago. Minami and Yutaka might look like a couple but overall there aren’t any meaningful Yuri here.