Lu's Time (Chinese: 撸时代, pinyin: lū shí dài; literally Era of fap/LoL, see below) is a 24-episode (mostly around 12 minutes per episode) sports anime produced by Penta Studios about a group of college students who want to become professional e-sports players on the League of Legends scene. The series has two seasons and episodes vary in length from 6 minutes to 10. It's been fansubbed into English on YouTube, but Chinese viewers will love all the pop culture references and memes that the English subs couldn't translate.
The titles of the show and the studio themselves are Chinese puns. Penta, while referencing pentakill, is also the Chinese pronunciation for "flaming at them" (喷他, pēn tā), and Lu (撸, lū) is a slang for masturbation, but also means League of Legends since a Fan Nickname of League of Legends in China is "Lu A Lu" (撸啊撸, loosely "fap and fap"), corrupted from the game's initialism, "LoL".
League of Legends is played in 5-man teams, so naturally there's a Five-Man Band but there's also a Sixth Ranger, a Yaoi Fangirl, a Tsundere and an Alpha Bitch. The show is full of yaoi Ship Tease thanks to requests from fans but the main focus is always on the team's struggles to stay together, win championships and become better players. Frequently invokes both Rule of Funny but also Rule of Drama.
This anime provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: Mao walks in on girls changing, thinking it's his room, and has a girl in a short skirt end up accidentally sitting on his face.
- Anime Hair: Nan has long pink pigtails and Li Xingzi has aqua hair.
- Attention Whore: Juicy demands her fanboys serve her as minions but she really is that good.
- Band of Brothers: The main 5 won't give up on each other, no matter what. Likewise, Mao will always be there for his sister Tiantian.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The narrator addresses fan complaints about a 2-min opening song in a 6-min anime, there is an opening that looks like part of an episode but then turns out to have been the characters watching the game, characters frequently comment on how many lines they don't have and there's the classic gem "Next time don't show plot development while I'm in the bathroom!".
- Burning with Anger: Lu has hair on fire that's worthy of Hades when he's heated up in the season 1 finale. He also briefly goes Super Saiyan.
- Defying the Censors: There's a recurring character who wears a Darth Vader mask and likes to polish his lightsaber. And no, that's not an Unusual Euphemism. Everyone treats him like a pervert and it's clear what it's referring to.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Everyone comments on what a handsome young man Yang is. EVERYONE.
- Fan Disservice: The characters end up dressed as their champions when they play. In most cases, that's Fanservice but occasionally that results in Fan Disservice.
- Gamer Chick: Averted. There are multiple female players and nobody acts like it's anything special.
- Gaming Clan: Multiple gaming clans exist, including the professional ones.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today??: Mao mentions he's straight within the second line of the anime.
- Hollywood Hacking: Most notably when they lose power to their dorm, thanks to the landlady, and have to hack the electricity grid to get power back.
- Most Gamers Are Male: Averted. Nan, Tiantian and Juicy all play League well with Juicy being enough of a pro to have actual fans while Li Xingzi is the only one who can beat Yang and is good enough to actually be a team manager for pros.
- Naked People Are Funny: Whether it's Shaolong losing his pants falling off a balcony or him pulling down Yang's pants accidentally, it's definitely played for laughs.
- Nosebleed: Frequently. In one match, the enemy Vladimir nosebleeds to death.
- Power of Friendship: Juicy and Kya's match is all about whether she's a good enough player to win alone despite how she treats her teammates or if KYA is going to win because they have teamwork.
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Self-Imposed Challenge: Yang has a team made up of four kids - and himself. He solo-carries his way through the tournaments rather than create a real team. - Serious Business: Justified in that an e-sports career is what they're aiming at meaning it's as serious as any college football player who wants to make it into the NFL. E-sports revenue totals over 1 billion at least count.
- School of No Studying: Played straight most of the time - despite it being set in college, nobody ever talks about finals or classes. However, during one tournament, Shaolong apologizes *on air* to his professor for not having shown up for a final exam because he was taking part in the tournament.
- Shipper on Deck: Mao's sister, Tiantian, ships him with Yang and is not afraid to say so. Frequently. Loudly. At length.
- Ship Tease: Mostly because of the Ho Yay between Mao and Yang, Lu and Yang, which includes nudity, bedsharing and everyone mistaking Mao and Yang as a couple.
- Sudden Game Interface: Played with. There's little to no warning when the characters switch between their normal lives to playing in the game. Further made confusing by the decision to blend the game characters and anime characters together so it looks as if the main characters of the show are cosplaying League characters.
- True Companions: They're always there for each other and 5 of the characters live together. Truth in Television since pro gamers often live together in a house their organization pays for as well as vacationing together and occasionally sharing beds/rooms while at hotels.
- Villainous Breakdown: Zhu/Juicy takes losing without her grace but she has a comeuppance, and ends up devolving into a full on Motive Rant.
- You Are Not Alone: Mao is both the beneficiary of this and the instigator. Also leads to a moment when he stands up for his sister.
