Manga The
four-panel comic strip manga version of
Lucky Star started serialization in
Kadokawa Shoten's magazine ''
Comptiq's
January 2004 issue sold on December 10, 2003. The first tankōbon volume of the manga was published on January 8, 2005, and as of October 26, 2013, ten volumes have been released. Besides Comptiq
, the manga was also featured in other Kadokawa magazines including Shōnen Ace, Newtype, Comp Ace, Dragon Magazine, Mobile Newtype
and Kadokawa Hotline'' for various lengths of time. The manga went on a lengthy hiatus beginning in 2014, later returning to regular serialization in Kadokawa's
Mitaina! magazine on November 10, 2022. The manga was licensed by
Bandai Entertainment for release in English in North America, and the first volume was released in June 2009, though only the first eight volumes were produced. Following Bandai Entertainment's closure, the manga has been licensed by
Viz Media. A spin-off manga titled
Lucky Star Pocket Travelers (らき☆すた ポケットとらべら〜ず,
Raki☆Suta Poketto Toraberāzu), which has the four main characters waking up one morning to discover they have shrunken to doll size, was serialized in
Comp Ace between the January and August 2008 issues. A single volume of
Pocket Travelers was released on October 10, 2008. Another spin-off manga, based on the
Lucky Star Moe Drill video games and titled , began serialization in the January 2008 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's ''Comp H's
magazine. The magazine transferred to Comp Ace
with the June 2009 issue, and has also been featured in Comptiq
. The first volume of Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku'' was released on June 26, 2012. An official parody manga titled by manga artist Eretto was serialized in
Comp Ace between the July 2008 and December 2009 issues. A single volume of
Boo Boo Kagaboo was released on March 18, 2010. Another spin-off manga, based on the
Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku manga and titled by manga artist Tsubomi Hanabana and cuisine supervisor Etsuko Ichise was serialized in
Comp Ace between the November 2013 and May 2014 issues. A single volume of
Miyakawa-ke ga Mampuku!? was released on July 10, 2014. In November 2022, shortly after returning from its 8-year hiatus, a new spin-off tentatively titled was announced. It is to be set 15 years after the original series.
Anime The
Lucky Star anime, produced by
Kyoto Animation, aired between April 8, 2007, and September 16, 2007, containing twenty-four episodes. After the first four episodes, series director
Yutaka Yamamoto was
fired from his position and was subsequently replaced by
Yasuhiro Takemoto. The reason given was that: "Our company has determined that the director of
Lucky Star—Yutaka Yamamoto—has not reached the standard of director yet, therefore we have changed the director." Near the end of every episode, there is an additional segment called co-hosted by
Akira Kogami and her assistant
Minoru Shiraishi. The humor of this segment takes on a decidedly darker, mean-spirited, more cynical and mature tone than the main show, disguised as an
infomercial that skims over characters who appear in the anime, but mainly deals with the progressively abusive and violent work-relationship between Akira and Minoru. Akira is a typical "cute excitable girl" character while going through her script, but instantly changes to a bored, perpetually annoyed character the moment her segment is officially done and sometimes before then too. The anime also features small cameos of
voice actors besides Shiraishi that also have worked with Kyoto Animation which include
Yuko Goto,
Minori Chihara,
Tomokazu Sugita,
Daisuke Ono, and
Aya Hirano, all of whom voice themselves.
Kadokawa Pictures USA and
Bandai Entertainment announced that they licensed the
Lucky Star anime with a teaser trailer as a special feature on the volume 4 DVD of
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The first four English DVD volumes were released by Bandai Entertainment in 2008 on May 6, July 1, September 2, and November 18. The fifth and sixth volumes were released in 2009 on January 6 and March 17. However, the sixth volume's limited edition release has been canceled due to low sales of the other volumes' limited editions. Bandai released a six-disc DVD box set on April 6, 2010, as a complete collection under their
Anime Legends line. As much as possible, the English cast was paired with the same characters as those of the Japanese voice actors from past shows, in order to translate the anime references clearly. For example,
Wendee Lee voiced the lead roles for both
Haruhi Suzumiya and
Lucky Star, in reference to their original voice actor, Aya Hirano. At AmeCon 2010, European anime distributor
Beez Entertainment announced that they have the distributions rights to both TV series and OVA, and will be released in two half season sets. Following the 2012 closure of Bandai Entertainment,
Funimation Entertainment (now known as
Crunchyroll) announced at Otakon 2014 that they have licensed the anime television series, which they released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 12, 2016. A pre-announcement was made in Kadokawa Shoten's
Comptiq magazine that an
original video animation project would be produced for
Lucky Star. The June 2008 issue of
Comptiq reported that the OVA was due out in summer 2008. However, it was delayed and instead was released on September 26, 2008. The OVA features six separate stories revolving around the cast, some of which border on the bizarre; one of which is an MMORPG environment being played by Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Nanako Kuroi, and another in which Kagami has a 'suggestive' dream about Konata. The Lucky Channel segment is performed in live-action rather than being animated. The ending theme to the OVA, , is sung by Uchōten, which is composed of the singers Hiromi Konno and Minoru Shiraishi. The song was originally the opening theme to
Fist of the North Star. The North American release of the OVA was later licensed by Bandai Entertainment, and was released in a subbed-only DVD on August 4, 2009. As with the TV series, the OVA has also been re-licensed to Funimation. by
Hiromi Konno was used as an insert song in episode one.
Books There have been five
light novels based on the series published by
Kadokawa Shoten under their
Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko label. The three novels are written by Tōka Takei and feature illustrations by
Lucky Stars original author
Kagami Yoshimizu. The first light novel, , was published on September 1, 2007. The second light novel, , was published on March 1, 2008, and the third, , was published on October 1, 2008. The fourth light novel is written by Touko Machida and feature illustrations by Yukiko Horiguchi, , was published on April 1, 2009. The fifth light novel is written by Heisei Izu and Kei Tanaka, and feature illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu, , was published on February 1, 2012. A spin-off light novel, based on the
Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku anime, is written by Touko Machida and features illustrations by Harapeko and Tsubomi Hanabana; it was published on February 1, 2014. An original novel written by Osamu Kudō was also offered as a pre-order bonus for
Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill: Tabidachi: DX Pack. In 2010, a
theoretical chemistry book was published by Chukei Publishing titled , written by Takashi Matsubara and feature illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu. In 2013, an
organic chemistry book was published by Chukei Publishing titled , written by Takashi Matsubara and feature illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu, with characters such as Konata, Tsukasa and other girls. In 2013, an
inorganic chemistry book was published by Kadokawa Chukei Publishing titled ; it was written by Masashi Inutsuka and features illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu and Sayoi.
Video games A video game, titled , was released on December 1, 2005, on the
Nintendo DS. A limited edition game with many extras was sold called the "DX Pack" along with the regular version. A sequel, with the title of was released on May 24, 2007. There are two different types of one-person games: "Hitasura Drill" and "Drama Mode". The player can also link the game with another person. When this occurs, the player can use the character that is built up in Drama Mode as a selectable character. Additionally, if the player wants to use a special battle skill against his or her opponent while in link mode, the player must shout out the name of the skill into the microphone. In Drama Mode, the player partners with one of the characters, and tries to increase her parameters and have her learn new battle skills. There are five different types of "drills". One of the quizzes called "Ondoku" requires the player to shout out the answer into the microphone. Several mascot characters of large anime and dōjin shops (like
Broccoli's
Di Gi Charat,
Animate's Anime Tencho and
Toranoana's Miko) make cameo appearances.
Kadokawa Shoten produced a
visual novel game for the
PlayStation 2 entitled which was released in Japan on January 24, 2008. A portable version was released on December 23, 2010, for the
PlayStation Portable (PSP). Kadokawa Shoten also produced an
SLG game for the PSP titled , released in Japan on December 24, 2009.
Audio CDs The
Lucky Star drama CD, aptly entitled
Drama CD Lucky Star, was released on August 24, 2005, by
Frontier Works. The
video game soundtrack entitled
Lucky Star vocal mini album was released on December 22, 2005. The anime opening theme
single Motteke! Sailor Fuku was released on May 23, 2007. An album containing the first twelve ending themes entitled
Lucky Star Ending Theme Collection was released on July 11, 2007, by
Lantis. A
maxi single with the name containing two songs sung by
Hiromi Konno as Akira Kogami, and
Minoru Shiraishi as himself in the anime version was released on July 25, 2007. A remix single of
Motteke! Sailor Fuku was released on August 8, 2007, by Lantis. Two more albums were released on August 29, 2007:
Misoji Misaki by Hiromi Konno as Akira Kogami, and
Cosplay It! Oh My Honey, by
Aya Hirano as Konata, and
Nozomi Sasaki as Patricia. An album called
Shiraishi Minoru no Otoko no Rarabai contains the ending themes sung by Minoru Shiraishi from episode thirteen onwards and was released on October 10, 2007. Four character song CDs were released on September 5, 2007, sung by the voice actresses Aya Hirano as Konata,
Emiri Katō as Kagami,
Kaori Fukuhara as Tsukasa, and
Aya Endo as Miyuki. Four more character CDs followed on September 26, 2007, sung by the voice actresses
Shizuka Hasegawa as Yutaka,
Minori Chihara as Minami,
Kaori Shimizu as Hiyori, and Nozomi Sasaki as Patricia. Another two character CDs followed on October 24, 2007: one as a
duet between the voice actresses Kaoru Mizuhara as Misao Kusakabe, and
Mai Aizawa as Ayano Minegishi, and the other as a
trio between Aya Hirano, Shizuka Hasegawa, and Minori Chihara as Konata, Yutaka, and Minami respectively. Another two character CDs, both duets, followed on November 21, 2007: the first between Hirokazu Hiramatsu as Sōjirō Izumi, and
Sumi Shimamoto as Kanata Izumi, and the other with Saori Nishihara as Yui Narumi, and
Konomi Maeda as Nanako Kuroi. A thirteenth character CD, again sung by Kaoru Mizuhara as Misao Kusakabe, was released on March 26, 2008. An album entitled
Lucky Star BGM & Radio Bangumi "Lucky Channel" no Digest o Shūroku Shita Special CD 1 was released with the first anime DVD on June 22, 2007. The album contained
background music tracks featured in the anime, by
Haruhi Suzumiya composer
Satoru Kōsaki, along with original audio dramas featuring Hiromi Konno as Akira Kogami, and Minoru Shiraishi, as himself. Another similar album with more background music tracks and audio dramas was released with the second anime DVD on July 27. The third volume in this series was released with the third anime DVD on August 24. The fourth volume followed with the fourth DVD on September 28, the fifth volume was released on October 26 while the sixth and seventh volumes were released on November 27 and December 21, 2007, respectively.
Live concert and musical A live concert was held on March 29, 2009, at the
Budokan called spanning 4 hours, 40 minutes. The concert featured the various cast members from the anime, and was hosted by
Hiromi Konno (the voice of Akira Kogami) and Minoru Shiraishi. A DVD of the concert was released on December 25, 2009, and included a 24-page booklet with 2 DVDs. A musical was held between September 20–30, 2012 at the
Tokyo Dome City Attractions "Theatre G-Rosso" called . ;Cast: • - Ran Sakai • -
Mana Ogawa • - Yurino Sakurai • - Wakana Hagiwara • - Ayumi Mizukoshi • -
Makoto Koichi • - Yurika Sannomiya • -
Mayu Yoshioka • - Ryō Koarai • - Katsuyuki Miyake • - Motoko Nakane • - Mao Higuchi • - Chika Kumagai • - Ryōsuke Tsuruta • - Kensuke Fukuyama • - Shin Ginoza • - Shō Takano • - Mizuho Nagashima • - Masanori Mori ==Reception==