Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kagami Yoshimizu created Lucky Star, a four-panel comic strip manga that began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq magazine in December 2003. Yoshimizu also illustrated several of the series' light novels and tie-in chemistry books.
Lucky Star is a slice of life series about the daily lives of four Japanese high school girls, led by the lazy but intelligent Konata Izumi, with little overarching plot. The setting is based mainly on the city of Kuki in Saitama Prefecture.
The 24-episode Lucky Star anime, produced by Kyoto Animation, aired between the 8th of April and the 16th of September 2007. A separate original video animation episode followed on the 26th of September 2008.
Kyoto Animation replaced director Yutaka Yamamoto with Yasuhiro Takemoto four episodes into the 2007 broadcast. The studio stated that Yamamoto had not reached the standard of director yet.
The story is set mainly in Kuki, Saitama Prefecture, though fans traveled to real locations including Satte, Washimiya, and Kasukabe starting in April 2007. Washinomiya Shrine in Washimiya, where the Hiiragi sisters work as miko in the anime, became the best known pilgrimage site.
By April 2008, the first five volumes of the Lucky Star manga had collectively sold over 1.8 million copies. The very first volume had already sold out quickly enough that Kadokawa Shoten needed a rush reprint.