Episode 3: Lucky Star Universe

Translator's Notes

The name of the Episode itself is a reference to the RPG "Phantasy Star Universe",
developed and published by Sega in 2006.

This line from Konata in the intro, where she talks about a game where you can
talk to a fish person is in reference to the 1999 Sega Dreamcast game "Seaman",
in which the player raises a fictional creature known as the "Seaman".
While the Seaman takes on many forms throughout the game as it grows up,
its most iconic form is as "Gillman", in which it takes on the appearance of a
fish with a humanoid face.

Additionally, being able to talk to the Seaman using a microphone attached
to the controller was a major selling point of the game.


There's also a second reference made in this line, with the part about the
fish girl who lived "at the top or bottom of a cliff". This is a reference
to the 2008 Hayao Miyazaki film, "Ponyo", which is about a humanoid fish girl
who goes by the same name. The Japanese name of the film is "Ponyo on Top of the Cliff",
and the film was also inspired by a book by Natsume Souseki called "The Gate" about a man
living at the bottom of a cliff. This is why Konata is uncertain about whether it was
the top or the bottom of a cliff.




This line from Konata in the intro about counting the prime numbers
is in reference to the character Enrico Pucci, the antagonist of the sixth part
of "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure": "Stone Ocean". Specifically, a scene where he
counts the prime numbers in order to maintain his composure as poisonous frogs
fall down upon him.

According to Pucci, the prime numbers give him strength due to their indivisible nature,
but clearly Konata does not have the same attachment to them.


A clip from the "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" anime featuring this moment
can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFQhOkEp-yo


This has already been discussed in the Episode 1 and Episode 2 translator's notes, but to reiterate, this line is
in reference to an iconic scene from the series "Slam Dunk" where Hisashi Mitsui, a former basketball player
turned delinquent after a knee injury, breaks down in tears and wishes to become a basketball player once again
upon seeing his old coach whom he greatly respected.


In the anime adaptation, the scene appears in Episode 27 from 17:20 to 19:30, which can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GIyyxM87qQ&t=1080s


In this line from the intro, Konata's quote is a reference to a notable quote from
famous Japanese gamer and former Hudson Soft executive, Toshiyuki Takahashi, better known
as "Takahashi Meijin", meaning "Master Takahashi". This famous quote of his is as follows:

"Don’t play more than an hour of games each day.
Go out and play. Work and study hard.
When you do better, you’ll enjoy the games more, too.
You are the future of our country."


As an additional fun fact, if you are familiar with Hudson Soft's
"Adventure Island" series, Takahashi Meijin is actually the protagonist
of the series, though the character was renamed to "Master Higgins" abroad.



If you listen to the voice acting, or have seen the original Japanese line
for this moment where Konata carefully enters her password to log into Lucky Star Universe,
you'll notice that she says "BS, BS!". While it might be funny to imagine it as Konata
cursing at the computer, one of the names in Japanese for the "backspace" key on a computer keyboard
is the "BS" key. So Konata is merely just saying that she is pressing the backspace key to correct her mistake.


The poster seen in this background of Konata's bedroom is for the game "Shoukan Shoujo: Elemental Girl Calling",
another game made by VRIDGE, the developers of Ryouou Gakuen Outousai. Specifically, the game had a few different
boxarts, with this art being one of them.



The name of the artwork that won the grand prize in the Lucky Star Universe art contest,
"Brighter than Indigo Blue", is a reference to the 2005 adult visual novel "Brighter than Dawning Blue".


While it likely goes without saying, the "tvittor" feed seen on the Lucky Star Universe website
is a parody of the social media website "twitter".


The "bearded tactician" Konata is referring to is likely Chinese historical figure,
Zhuge Liang. As mentioned in the notes on Episode 2, he is an important character
in the historical novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and was known for being a great military tactician.


In the second intro scene, when Konata hits her head on a desk,
she blames Tsukasa and says it'll result in her receiving
"Oyashiro-sama's Curse".

Oyashiro-sama's Curse is a reference to the "Higurashi" series,
in which Oyashiro-sama is a deity that guards Hinamizawa, but is
said to curse you if you disobey his rules. The effects of the curse
is receiving what is known in the series as "Hinamizawa Syndrome",
a brain disease that causes severe anxiety, paranoia, and delusions.

One of Oyashiro-sama's rules has to do with being trustworthy,
and given that Konata believes the chair falling apart
leading to her bumping her head was Tsukasa's doing, she's accusing
Tsukasa of not being trustworthy with this line.


Following the above reference, when Tsukasa denies involvement,
claiming that the chair fell apart on its own, Konata accuses her
of lying with this line.

As mentioned in the notes for Episode 2, this is also in reference to "Higurashi",
in which characters will often shout "LIES!!" with an intense voice and facial expression.


The above reference is followed up on yet again with this line from
Konata, claiming that she sees that Tsukasa is holding a cleaver or a handsaw.

Of course, Tsukasa is actually holding neither. Instead, Konata is just making reference
to the characters Rena Ryuuguu from "Higurashi" and Kotonoha Katsura from "School Days".

For Rena, she has the nickname "cleaver girl" due to her use of a cleaver as a weapon
for killing people. For Kotonoha, she is known for killing people using a handsaw.

Additionally, continuing the theme of distrust, both Rena and Kotonoha end up killing
as a result of distrust and paranoia. In Rena's case, it's due to the effects of
Hinamizawa Syndrone. In Kotonoha's case, it's partially out of suspicions that
a competing love interest is not actually pregnant, and so slices open her stomach,
discovering that there was in fact no baby inside.




When Kagami intrudes on the above reference-making,
she actually makes a reference of her own, that being to a notable moment from
episode 38 of "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam", where character Bright Noa expresses frustration
over their barrage being too weak against the enemy sporting several gundam units that are new models.



The moment in question can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edtz6ucE2uE&t=753s


This line from Konata near the end of the second intro scene about opening your "fifth eye"
is likely a reference to the "five eyes" talked about in Buddhism, with the five eyes being
the physical eye, the heavenly eye, the wisdom eye, the dharma eye, and the Buddha eye.

While there is much you could learn about these kinds of eyes, I don't believe this reference
is getting at anything deeper than just generally referring to the concept.

An article on the topic can be found here, if you are interested.
https://www.baus.org/en/publications/dr-shens-collections/the-five-eyes/


On the way to school on the first day, if the protagonist runs into Patty, she'll give him the above advice
when he starts to question how it is that he knows where the school is.
The line "Don't think, feel!" is taken from the 1973 martial arts movie "Enter the Dragon", starring Bruce Lee.
Notably, the movie was released just days after Bruce Lee passed away and was his last completed film appearance.

The scene in which the line is said has Bruce Lee's character giving a lesson to a student about how
one needs to fight with "emotional content" and perform actions with feeling but not anger.
When the student then performs a kick to Bruce Lee's satisfaction, he asks how it felt, leading the student
to pause and think, but Bruce Lee scolds him for this, telling him "Don't think, feel!".

The scene in question can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d5o8d1kitM


As part of Patty's strange ramblings if the protagonist runs into her on the way to school on the first day,
she says that the bridge you cross is "Namidabashi".

Namidabashi, which translates to "bridge of tears", is a real bridge that existed in Sanya, Tokyo that has since
been demolished, but was so named due to it being the place where criminals would say farewell to family members
before crossing the bridge to be executed at the Kozukappara Execution Grounds.

However, Patty's reference to the bridge is not because of that, but is instead due to the bridge's appearance
in the series "Ashita no Joe", which takes place in Sanya. The protagonist, Joe, crosses this bridge in the first
episode to enter Sanya, which is what kicks off the events of the series.

Additionally, Danpei Tange, who takes Joe in and trains him to become a boxer,
lives in a shack located underneath Namidabashi.


Following the above rambling from Patty, she says "sieg moe". Though this may bring certain imagery to mind,
this is not a reference to Adolf Hitler, at least not directly.

Specifically, this is a reference to a famous moment from "Mobile Suit Gundam", in which Gihren Zabi,
the series' main antagonist, gives a funeral speech for his brother, Garma Zabi, rallying the people of Zeon
to fight back against the Earth Federation. The speech ends by repeatedly chanting "sieg Zeon",
meaning "victory to Zeon".

So though it might seem like Patty may be making a highly questionable reference, and even though
comparisons are made between Garma Zabi and Adolf Hitler within Mobile Suit Gundam itself,
Patty is merely quoting this speech and declaring "victory to moe".

The moment can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q91pwseWhQ&t=80s


If the protagonist chooses to look up the school online before heading out on his first day,
you'll be shown his computer's desktop, which has shortcuts on the left side of the screen
for two programs that are references to real programs.

The first one, appearing as the second from the bottom, is "FOX Explorer", which is a combination
of the internet browsers "Mozilla Firefox" and "Internet Explorer". The icon is even a combination
of the two, with it being the Firefox logo, except instead of the fox being wrapped around the Earth,
it's wrapped around the Internet Explorer "e".



As for the second program, appearing at the bottom, is "Soul Link Messenger", which has a logo and name
that resembles Microsoft's instant messenger app, "MSN Messenger".



If the protagonist runs into Hiyori on the way to school on his first day,
he'll find her when she's deep in a delusion, leading the protagonist to consider calling 110.
110 is the emergency telephone number in Japan, similar to 911 in the United States or 999 in the United Kingdom.


If the protagonist runs into Hiyori on the way to school on his first day,
as part of Hiyori's delusions, she says this after noticing the protagonist.

This line is in reference to the infamous homosexual one-shot pornographic manga "Kuso Miso Technique".
Specifically, the opening to the manga, where Takakazu Abe greets Masakichi Michishita by unzipping his
jumpsuit, revealing his genitalia before saying "yaranaika?", meaning "shall we do it?", as an invitation
to have homosexual sex with him.

Note that the "let do it" below is just the result of poor translation. It is normally referenced either by
keeping it in Japanese or by translating it as "shall we do it?".


The title of the Unlucky★Sisters segment found in this Episode's version of Episode 0,
"Den-noh Moe Coil", is named after the 2007 science fiction anime "Den-noh Coil", which is about a
group of children who by putting on special AR glasses are able to explore the hidden virtual side
of the city they live in.


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