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Good Luck Girl!
Anime Review
Okay let's see, here's yet another boring, seen it all before... wait a minute, did they just reference Dirty Harry in the opening song???
Ichiko Sakura is a lucky girl. A very lucky girl. Incredibly lucky. Blessed, even, she's smart, sexy, beautiful, rich, athletic, and nothing bad ever happens to her. She is, in fact, a good-luck vampire, sucking the luck from other people and bestowing it onto herself. She's so lucky that she's upset the balance of luck and even the gods have taken notice.
So, a poverty-god has been assigned to her case to take back some of that luck and redistribute the wealth, so to speak. Poverty-God Momiji, a slacker if there ever was one, begrudgingly takes the case. And Momiji initially thinks that things would be simple, except Ichiko has no intention of letting her luck be taken. Ichiko wants to continue to be smart, beautiful, have the attention of all the boys, be despised by all the other girls, and have everything in the world come to her on a silver platter and intends to fight Momiji with every trick she can think of, preventing her from taking her happiness energy.
 It all sounds like the set up to a fight show, and it kind of is, but it's a slapstick comedy and quite a funny one too. Their to-the-death struggle over happiness energy is hilariously frantic, non-stop comedy.
Ichiko, obviously designed to be marketed as a hug-pillow, is actually a clever protagonist, and Momiji, initially uninterested in the assignment, gets beaten so often that she starts becoming motivated to succeed simply as a matter of pride that a normal human is beating a god. Momiji stoops to devilishly ruthless schemes to steal Ichiko's happiness energy, and yet at the same time evolves into Ichiko's moral compass.
The show could have easily devolved into mere fanservice, (implied by the opening and closing credits, the animators clearly were having fun doodling Ichiko's character in various outfits) but thankfully the series is smarter than that, and the comedy is also smarter than it is funny, and yet it's actually pretty funny (which means it's pretty damn smart). Sure, there seems to be a bath scene every 3rd episode, with someone barging in on her, but it's used to hilarious effect because Ichiko doesn't take anything sitting down.
 Ichiko eventually learns that there's something to be had by giving, by sharing her luck/happiness energy, and buried deep in the bowels of this wacky in-your-face comedy is an alegory about the haves and have-nots. Perhaps I'm jaded, but I see something in this series about the American Financial Crisis, and how the 1% have everything, and the rest of us do not.
The show is rife with anime insider jokes and references (Dragonballz seems to be a favorite) as well as being self-aware it's an anime TV show, there's a bizarre potpourri of supporting characters, and although competently executed I can't truthfully say the animation or music will win any awards -- nevertheless it is a totally enjoyable romp with enough humor to keep you interested, and a moral heart to hopefully drive home the overall point of the series. In other words, if you give it your time, it'll give back enjoyment.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, February 2014
Below: Scenes from Good Luck Girl!.
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Below: Promotional illustrations and characters from Good Luck Girl!.
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