The Japanese animation industry has the occasional tendency to make a mockery of itself intentionally, if only to achieve some sort of comic effect. One may also theorize that moments of that sort also come as a form of stress relief for writers and animators, who often bear the brunt of their own jokes. For the most part, this type of humor has been minimal in the anime industry, used sparingly to avoid the chances of giving off the impression of attacking their fans, who tend to be stereotyped as having some stunted form of social anxiety. It is rare that an anime actually appears to dedicate entire segments to the above form of mockery. The oddly titled Lucky Star is probably the most effective example of it.
Lucky Star is, at the very core, a show about nothing — in the same way the US sitcom Seinfeld was. The basics of it follows the lives, trials, and tribulations of four Japanese high school girls throughout high school. There is no overarching theme (aside from frequently recurring discussions about chocolate cornets), no final goal to attain (unless graduating high school counts), and no real antagonists or causes of stress and anxiety to be found. The...