Wednesday
May052010
With All the Money You Spent on Sister Princess Merchandise, You Could Have Bought a Car
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 04:09PM
With All the Money You Spent on Sister Princess Merchandise, You Could Have Bought a Car
-or-
A comparison of the Otaku-related humour of Lucky Star and Hayate the Combat Butler
I recently read the fourteenth volume of Hayate the Combat Butler. That got me rewatching the third disc of the anime for some reason, so I have had Hayate on the mind lately. I am a huge fan of Hayate for all sorts of reasons, but it is interesting that I find the otaku-related humor so appealing, when the same thing caused my slight distaste for Lucky Star near its end. Both of these series have a lot of "otaku jokes for the otaku" that come in many forms. Sometimes the characters are just name-dropping various series in conversation, jokes can be made about the fandom or how in-show characters too deeply involved with anime, or even entire scenes can be a parody of another series. There are many ways that a show can add humor by taking advantage of the otaku target audience.
Lucky Star was originally a 4-koma series published in Comtiq. Like most comic strips, the point is to conclude with a punchline. Naturally, the otaku jokes were a response to trying to make a joke or reference the geeky audience would enjoy. In the transition to anime, the humor and saturation of anime/game references can sometimes feel very forced. The otaku culture aspect is a huge part of Lucky Star, and to remove it would be to remove an essential element. However, I've always wished that it would be toned down at times. Generally, these things fit into the context or lie unobtrusively in the background, contributing to Genshiken-like "show for otakus" appeal. The problem is when certain instances come off as completely manufactured to throw in more namedrops to anime series. It doesn't help that the protagonist is a huge otaku, and not many other significant aspects to her character. As if you didn't already know from her first hundred hints, the series constantly reminds the viewer of just how hardcore otaku she is with almost every bit of dialogue eventually relating back to her precious cartoons and video games. By the end, I was getting very tired of this. I really liked the show, and still do, but eventually the amount of needless geek appeal began to pile up. A lot of the otaku humour was very good, and would have been more effective if not surrounded by lesser examples. Too often, the constant barrage of otaku jokes and namedrops go from being slight nudges toward the audience to a rocket punch into the viewers face.
Hayate the Combat Butler also has tons of humor that relates to anime, games, and the like. The main difference is that it is to the side of the greater plot. Hayate falls into the "crazy comedies" of the anime world, but with an ongoing plot throughout that remains the focus of the series. Humor of all types fit their way into the story and the copious amount of references fit alongside naturally. Unlike Lucky Star's obvious effort into the references, I've always gotten the feeling that Hata is writing his story and the events lead to humorous comparisons to other anime and games he likes. Instead of just chuckling to himself, he shares the jokes with the viewers by writing it directly into the plot. Having characters shout out classic lines or comparing situations to Gundam flows naturally right into the story. Unlike Konata, Nagi Sanzenin has a lot more to her than just being a geek. Her hobbies and poor social skill are an important aspect of her character, but do not define who she is. Konata is practically just a loli version of the audience to laugh at and relate too; Nagi is a much more developed character.
Both of these shows take the otaku-show concept, but approach it from very different angles. In Hayate the otaku appeal supports the series, while Lucky Star goes all out with the concept becoming the series. I happen to strongly prefer Hayate the Combat Butler, but Lucky Star does have enough hits to counter the misses. This is just something I had been thinking about and was interested if others felt the same way about it.
Note: Both the header image and front page icon are of Nagi Sanzenin in order to show off my bias.
A comparison of the Otaku-related humour of Lucky Star and Hayate the Combat Butler
I recently read the fourteenth volume of Hayate the Combat Butler. That got me rewatching the third disc of the anime for some reason, so I have had Hayate on the mind lately. I am a huge fan of Hayate for all sorts of reasons, but it is interesting that I find the otaku-related humor so appealing, when the same thing caused my slight distaste for Lucky Star near its end. Both of these series have a lot of "otaku jokes for the otaku" that come in many forms. Sometimes the characters are just name-dropping various series in conversation, jokes can be made about the fandom or how in-show characters too deeply involved with anime, or even entire scenes can be a parody of another series. There are many ways that a show can add humor by taking advantage of the otaku target audience.
Lucky Star was originally a 4-koma series published in Comtiq. Like most comic strips, the point is to conclude with a punchline. Naturally, the otaku jokes were a response to trying to make a joke or reference the geeky audience would enjoy. In the transition to anime, the humor and saturation of anime/game references can sometimes feel very forced. The otaku culture aspect is a huge part of Lucky Star, and to remove it would be to remove an essential element. However, I've always wished that it would be toned down at times. Generally, these things fit into the context or lie unobtrusively in the background, contributing to Genshiken-like "show for otakus" appeal. The problem is when certain instances come off as completely manufactured to throw in more namedrops to anime series. It doesn't help that the protagonist is a huge otaku, and not many other significant aspects to her character. As if you didn't already know from her first hundred hints, the series constantly reminds the viewer of just how hardcore otaku she is with almost every bit of dialogue eventually relating back to her precious cartoons and video games. By the end, I was getting very tired of this. I really liked the show, and still do, but eventually the amount of needless geek appeal began to pile up. A lot of the otaku humour was very good, and would have been more effective if not surrounded by lesser examples. Too often, the constant barrage of otaku jokes and namedrops go from being slight nudges toward the audience to a rocket punch into the viewers face.
Hayate the Combat Butler also has tons of humor that relates to anime, games, and the like. The main difference is that it is to the side of the greater plot. Hayate falls into the "crazy comedies" of the anime world, but with an ongoing plot throughout that remains the focus of the series. Humor of all types fit their way into the story and the copious amount of references fit alongside naturally. Unlike Lucky Star's obvious effort into the references, I've always gotten the feeling that Hata is writing his story and the events lead to humorous comparisons to other anime and games he likes. Instead of just chuckling to himself, he shares the jokes with the viewers by writing it directly into the plot. Having characters shout out classic lines or comparing situations to Gundam flows naturally right into the story. Unlike Konata, Nagi Sanzenin has a lot more to her than just being a geek. Her hobbies and poor social skill are an important aspect of her character, but do not define who she is. Konata is practically just a loli version of the audience to laugh at and relate too; Nagi is a much more developed character.
Both of these shows take the otaku-show concept, but approach it from very different angles. In Hayate the otaku appeal supports the series, while Lucky Star goes all out with the concept becoming the series. I happen to strongly prefer Hayate the Combat Butler, but Lucky Star does have enough hits to counter the misses. This is just something I had been thinking about and was interested if others felt the same way about it.
Note: Both the header image and front page icon are of Nagi Sanzenin in order to show off my bias.
Reader Comments (2)
I think that the best parts of Hayate is when there is an Otaku element to a joke but even if you don't get the reference the situation is still funny enough that it does not matter. Lucky Star does not do that as often and that is why is not not succeed as well.
Also the best Hayate chapter title is: "Spiderman's Everyday Life Isn't About Fighting Movie-like Monsters, It's About Saving Civilians. A Butler's Everyday Life is Similar to That."
I haven't seen/read Lucky Star and I don't plan to, but I read two volumes of Hayate some years back and I'm not sure whether I liked it or not. Personally, I don't mind this kind of humor so long as it's either integrated well into the story or just makes for a great joke. From what I remember, the otaku references weren't overbearing (Weren't they bleeped out, actually?), but the comic just didn't strike my funny bone too often.
Most series I read don't really fall into this category, except for maybe two. SGT Frog is one that has neat little cameos littered throughout its pages, but it doesn't really go beyond those types of jokes and does its own thing. I've heard often that it's different for the anime, but it's obviously aimed for (very) young children and doesn't really do the original justice (although it's dub, despite it's liberties, seems like a winner). Gintama is pretty much the same deal, and from what I've heard the anime makes even better use of otaku jokes.
I guess as I delve more into anime I'll come across more stuff like this. Nice read.