Lucky Star comes through again with its barrage of cringing, awkward, ZOMG hilarity.

This episode did a great job of showcasing this kind of humor that’s unique to those awkward social moments we all experience. It’s also good to see the various side characters getting some genuine airtime (sorry Akira-chan, maybe next time). What I enjoy about LS so much is that, despite largely being moe caricatures, the characters still have very real and very everyday conversations. That’s what endears me to the cast.

Speaking of which, I also used to attempt to balance pencils, spin quarters, and just generally do utterly anything in order to continue procrastinating when I couldn’t focus. And by used to I mean, well…now.

And speaking of awkward social situations…

“Chinchin!”

Most. Shocking. Moment. Ever.

I had the bad luck to be right in the middle of a nice cup of genmai tea, which got sprayed all over my nice new LCD monitor.

Even Encyclopedia Miyuki doesn’t want to touch that one.

All right, for the life of me I cannot fathom why she’s still single. Certainly she spends a great deal of her time indoors playing MMORPGs, but she’s gotta go out sometimes, and you’d think she’d have guys asking for her number everywhere she went.

Yeah, what’s up with that?

“It seems people who are afraid of scary movies are actually the ones who watch them most frequently.”

Yet another case where Lucky Star touches home. Most of the people I know who watch horror flicks are the sort who freak out if you suddenly pop out from around a corner at them. I imagine it’s probably because movies of that sort tend to rely on lots of bad dialogue and fridge logic, so unless you’re the sort who really gets caught up in the mood of the film, you’re likely to be bored silly.

Haven’t seen the Grudge, which is what Miyuki’s mom is holding there, but I certainly came away from The Ring feeling pretty underwhelmed. The TV screens acting up, the horses committing suicide, and the host of other random “creepy” events that didn’t make any sense were never explained, and that really killed the mood for me. On the other hand, the girls who had screamed throughout the entire movie wasted no time getting out their cell phones and raving to their friends once the movie ended.

“Please rely on me sometimes!”

Poor Mr. Izumi. You know, you’d think that since Konata and her dad are pretty close and have similar interests that she would seek out his guidance more. The problem is, unless it’s concerning bishoujo games or Canon telephoto lenses, he probably wouldn’t be of much help.

I would complain more about the sweating-blobs Shiraishi apparently has for classmates, but the cast is pretty bloated already, in my opinion.

Clumsy Waitress Moe Mode: +10 moe points for Kagamin.

Jason’s new banner was prophetic! Well, except for the symmetrical docking part…

Embarrassed Apologizing: +5 moe points.

Nervous Hair Twirling: +3 moe points.

Wow, Kagami’s really been on a roll lately! How will this affect her upcoming performance in SaiMoe2007? And what about the price of tea in China?

Konata’s explanation of moe clumsiness was priceless, especially when Kagami attempts to be clumsy and adorable and over-acts so gregariously that even Konata is weirded out.

I love how this show illustrates everyday humor. If you have friends with diverse interests, some of the most amusing stuff arises out of someone else’s understanding of something their friend is really into. As a basement dwelling anime fan, my observations concerning sporting events have long been the subject of much ridicule, so I speak from experience. But then, how was I supposed to know that football players don’t get RBIs?

“If you have friends with diverse interests…?”

Who are you kidding? This is an anime blog. I don’t think many of our readers will be able to relate to that one.

Bento Check Time!

Minami: A pretty standard two-level bento.

Yutaka: A tiny, single-tier bento. No wonder she doesn’t grow if she eats like that all that time!

Hiyori: Melon pan and melon soda?! While I think the nutritional merits of such a diet are somewhat questionable, I certainly can’t disagree with this decision.

“What?? The new Transfomers movie is full of emo teen bullshit instead of awesome giant robots?!”

(Yes I’m still bitter about that.)

When Yutaka’s friend Tamura, the wayward doujinshi artist, wantonly entertains yuri thoughts concerning Yutaka and Iwasaki, you just have to chuckle. Well, perhaps not chuckle so much as sigh and shake your head; nonetheless, it’s highly entertaining and sadly quite true.

I love the pairing of her overactive imagination and self criticism. The oddities of the characters are also pretty much accurate: like photographing random cosplayers. If you’ve ever been to Akihabara you know that seeing people cosplay or act out scenes from anime on the open street is actually somewhat common. So, once again the feeling of how honest the show is keeps me interested.

I hereby nominate this shot for the 2007 Most Disturbing Scene Transition Award.

“Suzaku-sama!”

So now we’ve moved from Haruhi advertisements to Code Geass? Does this mean we’ll also be getting Pizza Hut cameos by proxy?

Naturally Haruhi is winning, with an impressive 5 strikes out of 7 frames. Curiously, Yuki is only doing so-so. Perhaps she’s holding back so as to avoid completely demolishing the lane? Mikuru, in a shocking bout of athleticism, has managed to hit a whole 19 pins. One wonders if this is perhaps less than the number of pins she’s knocked over in other people’s lanes.

I for one wouldn’t mind seeing Mikuru, fully decked out in meido fuku, of course (bowling gear isn’t moe at all), clumsily trying her best to not kill anyone with a wayward throw. Forget Lucky Star episode 20, KyoAni needs to animate this scene without delay.

Apparently her connection to the Data Integration Thought Entity has been severed. Wait…aren’t they supposed to disappear from the bottom up?

Second most shocking moment ever.

This was pretty much my reaction as well. Fortunately this time I had the good foresight to not be drinking anything.

Even when she’s in uber genki mode she still manages to freak Shiraishi out.

I vote that Akira be transferred to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai and given her own story arc.

The Lucky Channel segment, meanwhile, will be taken over by new host Michael Savage, who will speak out vehemently against illegal immigrants and the incorrect usage of the term tsundere by the ignorant masses and…er, what’s that? They’ve already got that one covered?

Well ok, so Lucky Channel would just be helmed by Shiraishi Minoru alone. Which come to think of it is actually not a half-bad idea. It certainly would serve to inject some much needed fresh material into the segment.

Motteke! Hiking Gear!

If the next Lucky Star episode features the new Shiraishi Minoru Extreme Wilderness Survival Challenge I’ll be positively giddy.

And Shiraishi Minoru comes through again with yet another ridiculous song. I was never aware nudity was such an integral part of “a man’s way of life”. Nonetheless, I dub it Epic Win.