Episode 4: The Girls (and Boy) Who Leapt Through Time

Translator's Notes

The name of the Episode itself is a reference to the 2006 animated film,
"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". The above key art for the film was also
parodied in artwork made to advertise Lucky Star: Ryouou Gakuen Outousai as a whole,
replacing the film's protagonist, Makoto Konno, with Konata Izumi.

The Unlucky★Sisters segment the protagonist watches before leaving for the first day of school
is about the "Seven Wonders" of the school. Similar to the concept of the "Seven Wonders of the World",
in Japan places like schools will often have "Seven Wonders" of their own.

However, there's a key difference between the Seven Wonders of the World and these more local Seven Wonders.
Unlike the Seven Wonders of the World, which is a list of awe-inspiring places, when people
talk about the "nanafushigi" or Seven Wonders of places like a school in Japan, they are usually referring
to things like urban legends or mysterious phenomenon associated with a place.

The wonders described by Hikage, as well as the wonders listed in the above CG, are some examples of these
kinds of urban legends that may form a school's "Seven Wonders".

Starting with Hikage's wonders, the "red-stained restroom wall" is possibly in reference to the story of "Aka Manto"
or "Red Mantle". This story revolves around a spirit wearing a red cloak that appears to people in public restrooms,
in particular haunting the farthest wall, which may be why Hikage refers to the wall as "red-stained".

The Aka Manto will present people with an option to choose either red or blue toilet paper, and depending on which
color is chosen, the person will be killed in a different manner.

Next there is the "mirror that you can see ghosts in" that Hikage describes,
which may be a reference to the story of "Bloody Mary", a ghost who appears in mirrors when her name
is said repeatedly and can predict the future.

Now, on to the wonders listed in the CG. For "Music Room Painting", the kinds of paintings you may
find in the music room at a school of famous musicians and composers such as Beethoven or Bach are generally
considered to be creepy and are thus easy targets for urban legends to form around them.

Though not from the time period Lucky Star: Ryouou Gakuen Outousai was released in, one example of
urban legends surrounding music room paintings making their way into Japanese pop culture is the
music room portraits that come to life in the "Dandadan" series.

For "Mona Lisa", this is of course referring to the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
Similar to the "Music Room Painting", the Mona Lisa is often a painting that will be featured
in art rooms in Japanese schools, and consequently opens itself up to having similar urban legends
about it. In particular, there are rumors of such replicas of the Mona Lisa being able to curse you
if you stare at the woman in the painting for too long.

For "Statue of Kinjiro Ninomiya", it is in reference to Japanese agriculturalist Kinjiro Ninomiya
who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries and has since been commemorated with statues of his likeness
in Japanese schools across Japan as a role model for virtues such as diligence. Consequently, these statues
have had urban legends form around them in relation to various positive outcomes that may come to you
by praying near or touching the statue. These positive outcomes usually relate to things like getting
good grades or other forms of academic success.

For "Hands of the Pool", I was unable to find any specific urban legends about this,
but one can imagine they relate to the idea of a school swimming pool being haunted and having hands
that come out from the pool and drag victims under the water.

For "Hanako-san of the Toilet", this is arguably the most famous urban legend of the ones
explicitly listed here. It involves the ghost of a girl named Hanako-san, who was either killed or committed
suicide, depending on the specific variant of the story, via drowning in a school toilet. Consequently, she haunts
the toilets of school bathrooms, and may attempt to drag others into the toilet as well.

As for "Angel-sama", this is in reference to a Japanese board game often played among school children,
better known by the name "kokkuri-san". It's played with a pen, paper, and a coin and works similar to a
ouija board. Participants will write the full hiragana table and "yes" and "no" on a sheet of paper, place a coin
on the paper, and then ask questions. The idea is then that the titular "Angel-sama" will move the coin
either to the "yes" or "no" to answer yes/no questions, or move to each hiragana character to spell out answers.

Lastly, for "The Curse of the Seven Wonders", I couldn't find anything in particular that this is referencing,
but one could imagine that it's some sort of overarching urban legend that would surround the Seven Wonders
of a school as a whole.

After watching the Unlucky★Sisters segment about it, if the protagonist concludes that his uneasiness
thinking about the potential Seven Wonders of Ryouou High School is due to him having psychic powers,
Hinata will chime in saying that everything are "conspiracies foretold my Nostradamus".

As discussed in the notes for Episode 2, this is a reference to the manga "MMR: Magazine Mystery Reportage"
about a group of reporters investigating paranormal phenomena, as well as the prophecies made by Nostradamus
to determine if they are really true. MMR became well known online for its moments in which a character will
dramatically come to a conclusion, with the other characters responding in surprise.

During lunch on the third day of Episode 0, during the discussion about potentially staying the night
at school in order to get the preparations done in time, Konata will complain that she wishes she had
more time to watch anime. Kagami will then ask why she can't just catch up on it after the festival is over,
leading to Konata saying the above line.

The part about references that aren't fresh being just ordinary references is itself a reference
to the 1992 Hayao Miyazaki film, "Porco Rosso", which is about a bounty hunter and pilot named
Marco Pagot, who goes the title "Porco Rosso" ("Crimson Pig" in Italian). He goes by that title
as he has been turned into an anthropomorphic pig by a curse.

At one point during the film, after surviving being shot down by rival pilot, Donald Curtis,
Marco calls his friend Madame Gina to inform her that he's safe. However, he then follows it up
by asking her to tell Curtis that he'll be seeing him again, as both he and Marco frequent the
Hotel Adriano, which she owns.

However, this remark infuriates Gina, scolding Marco for continuing to be so reckless
even after being shot down and how she doesn't want to see him get killed.
Marco then responds to this by saying "a pig that doesn't fly is just an ordinary pig",
essentially stating that his life would have no purpose if he gave up flying.
It is this same sentiment that Konata is trying to echo by making this reference.

During the "Occ★ult" Unlucky★Sisters segment exclusive to the Episode 4 version of Episode 0,
when Hikage demands an explanation for why the "2 a.m. Girl" is actually sci-fi and not occult,
Fuyuki prompts Minami to say the above line as the reason why they cannot elaborate.

This is a reference to the character "Mikuru Asahina" from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya",
who is a time traveller from the future. However, as she is not allowed to reveal details about
the future to people living in the present, she often uses the term "classified information" as a stand-in
for such details. She will also use "classified information" as an excuse to not clarify things further
when she says something that causes characters to wonder what she meant.

Additionally, Minami being the character chosen to say this is because her voice actress,
Minori Chihara, is the same as another "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" character, "Yuki Nagato".

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