Diary of an Anime Lived: Lucky Star

This was the uncanny mental image I had that will be explained below.

Okay, so even 2DT has a Diary of an Anime Lived post and I never did one. This must be resolved!

So when I was going to buy my readers for my studio theory class, this poor sod is dealing with this very cynical, very jaded Asian lady who operated within two poles of personality – serious but nice, and soul-crushingly cynical but happy.

I’ve never seen a man’s soul crushed before. My experience arguing with Germaine Greer at a book talk over whether my question about “why there’s no male equivalent to The Female Eunuch” doesn’t count, because that was my own soul being crushed by a leading female intellectual I formerly respected as a trailblazer.

This dude, this sorta-blonde, sorta-surfie dude – he couldn’t figure out the right course code for the readers he needed to buy. The lengths people will go to to spend seven dollars on something they need instead of forty dollars on something they don’t is amazing. But he couldn’t remember his lecturer’s name.

There was arguing. Dude got told, he needs the right info to buy his readers. That isn’t what the most chilling, uncanny moment of it was.

The chilling, uncanny moment was this: as that guy was walking away – defeated – crushed – that desk lady was putting her fingers in her ears and I kid you not – she had the same mannerisms as Akira from Lucky Star as she went “La-DA La-DA LA LA LA” with her fingers in her ears and smiling. Dare I say it, it was so tsundere moe I nearly died.

These chilling, uncanny moments are what happens when I notice some things in life are more like anime than you could possibly imagine. These uncanny moments aren’t just uncanny because they remind you of something – it’s uncanny because it’s like Takashi Murakami’s nightmares come true. Anime theoretically shouldn’t exist in real life. That’s the point of anime – it allows things that can’t exist in real life to exist – at least in an artistic standpoint. But when you run into those cynical desk lady uncanny moments, that’s when you freak out. It’s when you realise – as much as you think you can escape your anime hobby in real life – you can’t get away from it that easy.

I still managed to buy my readers from her. Mainly because she understood the language of two things – facts, and cash. Some people you have to try more than once with. Jane Austen once said “First impressions are often misleading”.

It think that would what life would be like for Akira in Lucky Star. In that 2D slice of life parody world, she’s probably a very lonely woman indeed. The desk lady turned out to be helpful and had a good sense of humor. But Akira? She has the same name as one of the manliest anime films of all time, is two faced and tends to be a bit bitchy.

But who would try to understand Akira, as the woman she truly is? Not her helper from the Lucky Channel show I bet. I can’t remember his name, but Akira – she’s standing out from the crowd. Perhaps a little too much for people to get to know her in any real sense.

I feel sorry for Akira in the same way I feel sorry for Yomiko Readman. Difference is between those two women is this: Akira’s jadedness hidden behind a sweet exterior = funny. Yomiko’s jadedness hidden behind a sweet exterior = tragic.

I don’t know what it is about me, but I always try to give a woman a chance to redeem herself if she’s a bit jaded. Maybe she’s had a tough day and she’s just as tired as me. Maybe, she acts like she has a personality that’s more complex than just two polar opposites. Real women, they’re not as simple as the women in Lucky Star are. Moe is moe, but keep in mind the implications of what you don’t see in these shows. You don’t really see Akira striving towards some ideal of what she wants to do with her life other than being a moe idol on TV. Maybe that’s because . . . she’s frightened of what she might find out about herself if she digs deeper.

Maybe I over-think merch-driven moe shows too much. Some of my interpretations of what possibly goes on inside anime girls’ heads are borderline fan fiction in terms of logic. But you have to wonder, maybe Akira’s like that desk lady at my university doing paperwork she most likely hates. Nobody really gets to know her in a real sense unless they try.

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Text Copyright © Jacob Martin 2010. All Rights Reserved.