Good Luck Girl!

Ichiko Sakura is only 16 years old but already has everything going for her: she does very well at school, is admired by all the boys there, she’s very wealthy, and has the most magnificent boobs. However her life is turned upside down by the arrival of a Poverty God by the name of Momiji who is on a mission to restore the Fortune balance of the world. Apparently Ichiko’s good fortune is due to having an enormous amount of happiness energy, more than any human should posses. Ichiko also has a rare ability of stealing it from others, meaning that anyone around her will eventually become unlucky and eventually suffer for it. But Ichiko is not going to give her up happiness energy without a fight, I mean who would want to have their good luck removed and become a NORMAL person anyway?

Good Luck Girl is a comedy first and foremost, and in the nature of making you laugh it takes a lot of cues from the 1999 series Excel Saga. The cast is consistently loud, backed up by large visual gags, there are plenty of references to the fourth wall and there’s even a seemingly cute-on-the- outside teddy bear-like creature who accompanies the Poverty God. Like Excel Saga it also comes across as so damn proud to be in your living room that its noisy nature can be a turn-off for those who prefer a more subdued comedy, but its longevity is in the diversity in humour that comes apparent once the ground work has been set. The script is sharp when it comes to comic timing; just at the tail end of a loud hilarious argument there follows a swift sarcastic comment so those with different senses of humour will laugh at the scene, regardless of which part. The visuals gags are an entertaining variety of explosive violence and brilliantly placed references to other anime from Dragonball Z to Death Note to Princess Mononoke, which give the animators a chance to really push the boundaries as far as they can in each episode whilst still keeping the quality high and brimming with energy. That’s not to say that every joke hits the nail; as stated, the jokes reference all realms of comedy, so unless you have a particular sensitive funny bone, you’re not going to find every gag a winner. A few of the recurring jokes are overplayed in the latter half of the series, especially when it comes to Ichiko’s chest. However despite some well-trodden material, it’s the wacky cast that keeps it all together and coming back for more. The two female leads shine from the moment you press ‘play’ as they bounce off each other incredibly well, comic timing is spot-on and, regardless of each having their own agenda, none of them are clean-cut good or evil characters. Ichiko’s selfishness is relatable because, let’s face it, who would want to give up a lifetime supply of God-like good fortune? She’s a cow, admittedly, but this gives her an edge most female protagonists would blush at. Then there’s a part of you that wants Momiji to succeed in getting some good luck her way, but her sneaky methods are rather questionable and if she did get her way, then there’d be no misery for Ichiko or comedy to speak of.

The majority of the series consists of self-contained stories with different gods of various things coming and going as they please but the side characters that stay for the long haul all get to crack many a joke to warrant their place in the series. The leading ladies are the main outlet of wit but to balance the scales you also have Bobby the perverted monk, Momo’o the dog god with a fetish for S&M and the girl-pretending-to-be-a-boy stock character, Ranmaru Rindo. There’s also Keita Tsuwabuki, who seems to play the aloof love interest, and although he doesn’t really add much to the comedy side of the show, his reactions to some of the bizarre things that happen in this series are priceless. He’s a well-written male character that thankfully balances out the other males that are all about the sex jokes.  

The series isn’t just a gag fest however, there’s also an underlying element of a more serious character development for Ichiko. She has tsundere-like qualities, complete with a less-than-perfect childhood being the reason for her hostile exterior, but an evolution like that doesn’t happen overnight, and seeing Ichiko change her opinion on what it means to be happy over time is satisfying. Thankfully she doesn’t need to sacrifice her confident personality to do so; her arc actually adds depth and growth to her character rather than wrapping her into a diluted version of herself. However when Good Luck Girl does turn to its more thoughtful side, it runs of the risk of being somewhat mundane.  There’s something to say about a girl who has all the good luck going for her but is still unhappy, and the series does try to make something of it without compensating on the comedy, but what it does has been done in other anime many times before. Watching Ichiko stumble to express her acceptance of friendship with others is run-of-the-mill at best, and if the series didn’t have any of its wacky comedy the series would be utterly forgettable for the majority of the time. Saying that, the heart is there and it’s all done with good intentions, preventing it all from being tedious. But it’s not until the last episode, which gets across a message that isn’t expressed in other series as much, that the moments of melodrama seem worthwhile.   

The soundtrack for the comedy is provided by Masaki Mamauzu, who’s best known for his work on the Final Fantasy series (notably XIII) and I’m sure he composed a competent score, but good luck trying to hear it underneath the characters’ constant yelling and your own laughter. He is a talented composer, and he hasn’t done much music for anime, so it’s a shame that his rare work outside video games is buried underneath a wacky comedy. The only music that gets a clear listen are the opening and closing themes for obvious reasons. The opening theme by Piko (Make My Day!) is a loud, energetic pop-rock anthem that fits the tone of the series perfectly. It’s a fun song but it probably wasn’t the best choice to use as a DVD menu theme – it’s a bit jarring on the ears out of context and without the animated visuals. The closing theme by Happy Birthday (Koiboudou or ‘Love Riot’) is a mid-tempo track about one girl’s dislike for a rival fawning over her love interest. The catty nature of the song fits the relationships between the female leads very nicely, and notwithstanding the vocalist’s nasal tone, the song is catchy.    

In the DVD set comes a healthy amount of extras with a US trailer, cleaning opening/closings and commentaries for Episodes 4, 8 and 12. One thing to bear in mind is the scene skip feature; in most anime sets the opening and closing animations are self contained, meaning you can skip them and head straight to the start of episode or scene after the ending for a post-credit scene (which a lot of these episodes have) however in Good Luck Girl they are not, so if you skip the song you’ll end up jumping a lot of the episode too. In short, it means you’ll have to fast forward the tracks if you don’t want to miss anything. Annoying? Yes. Deal breaker? Nah.

Good Luck Girl is loud, obnoxious and slightly laddish in nature, but it’s also very funny, well animated and darn proud to be what it is. Not every scene is laugh-out-loud but there’s enough wit and effort in the production of this show to warrant a purchase.