Azumanga Daioh

[Rift120]

Heh went on a Aniem splurge recently and picked up some titles I haven't seen yet. Among them one I have often heard about, Azumanga Daioh. Well actually only hte first 3 dvd's but i'm short on cash

Based of a very well known manga (of which I also have the complete set) this is a anime that follows a group of girls in a japanese highschool.

If your looking for a deep involving plot, look elsewhere. THe plot here is basically what I just said above. but for the series it works.

THere are several charcters each with their own quirks and personalities.

CHiyo-chan- the 10 year old prodigy moved up from elementry school to high school. She is generally akint o the class mascot, but gets her own share of knocks in bumps (usually in P.E. and/or from Tomo.) Although she is rich and smart and able to cook, she is awfully naive and easily scared. Definiatlyt he sweet 10-yearold who never gets mad at anyone, with the occasional exception of Tomo. If it can be said the show revolves around any charcter, than it would probably be Chiyo-chan.

Sakaki- THis is the tall silent girl int he class whos good at pretty much everything. ALthough she portrays the tough lone wolf image, she has a serious love for anything cute.  She absolutley adores cats, and cats adore her... and by adore I mean they find her hand a tasty treat to snack on. She longs to pet a cat, but either they run away or bite her. Most jokes which she is in either revolve around cute things, attacking cats, or her incredible figure

Kaorin- not much screen time given to her, but she is a girl who has  huge crush on Sakaki, somuch that it pretty much defines her. She is also for some reason one of the main targets for Mr. Kimura's attention, and is rightfully repulsed by him. Many jokes with her revolve arounda moment of bliss with Sakaki, followed by a sheer terror encounter with Kimura.

Tomo- NOt the brightest, fastest, or smartest. But definiatly one of the more energetic. She doesn't do anything half-way and often zips and zooms around. She has a extrodinary knack for getting on other peoples nerves, and delights in annoying her friend Yomi. She is also highly impulsive and is the type of kid who has to be told to stop about 20 times before she comprehends what your saying.  She also tends to get lost in a over blown imaginary world of her own, exagerrating things to monumental propoertions. I'd almost say she had ADHD if I were to take a guess.

Osaka- A girl who comes from Osaka. If tomo has ADHD, than Osaka has ADD. Shes a bit of a air head and takes a bit to come to conclusions. She also has a habit to come up with random questions and observations that have little to dow ith reality around her. She also believes there is something unnatural about Chiyo-chan's pigtails. She is probably best classified as Tomo's Henchwoman, as she often follows along with Tomo's schemes and wild stories.

Yomi- THe 'straight woman' to Tomo who has been in the same class as her since grade school. She is basically the 'normal' one in the group of friends, and her habits help put the quirks of the other charcters into perspective. SHe appears to be a rather good student, who is often the voice of reason and logic. When she's not braining Tomo for her latest stunts and shenagians that is.

Kagura- You don't really learn much about her till the 3rd DVD (or the 2nd manga book if your going that route). She is pretty much Sakaki's equal in sports and a member of the swim team. Academically she is pretty much bottom of the rung. Her main relationships in the group is with TOmo where she alternates between being Tomo's main verbal sparring opponent and being the third member of the coven of 'knuckleheads' (Kagura, Osaka, and Tomo). SHe also interacts with Sakaki as her sports rival and to (Much to Sakaki's dismay) destroy or scare away cute things.

Finally there are the three teacher main charcters.

Miss Yukari- this is the homeroom/english teacher for hte group. She tends to be lazy, unmotivated, and highly sarcastic. But she does have moments where she shines as a good teacher and motivator to the students she teaches. She is also very selfish and it shines through int ehs cenes we see of her personal life, but she does care a bit for her students.

Nyamo- THe PE teacher at the school and Yukari's bestfriend/rival. THey went to the same highschool when they were young, and often will fight over past boyfriends and other stuff that they recall about each other. She often tries to get Yukari to do her job, or at least to stay out of the pool while she's teaching swimming. She is pretty much the sterotypical afterschool special teacher, always ready to help her students achieve their full potential.

Mr. Kimura- this guy i sa perv, and a freaky perv at that. You have to be kind of weirded out by his deep heavy breathing and hte fact that in his first appearance when asked why he decided to teach, his first response was to shout at hte top of his lungs: "BECAUSE I LIKE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS!". He's mainly used for gags to shock the females of the cast by showing up at odd times and places. Occasinally his charcter is developed by acts of charity and such, as well as his wife (although she hasn't shown up yet in the 3 dvd's I have).



The episodes are broken up into chunks that can pretty much stand alone (In fact if you were to take any episode I've seen so far you can pretty much choose scenes at random and not be worried). Most of these chunks are based off strips from the manga series.

However the series does not follow the same chronological order as the manga with strips and scenes moved around (one gag from near the end of the manga was pushed to the 1st DVD for example) and a few are cut out.

I've found it, when in comparison to the manga, to be a mixed result. Some jokes are much better on paper than int he anime (key point when Chiyo-chan forgot her homework and the teacher baps all the students works MUCH better on paper.) while other jokes are funnier when seen in motion.

Of course some of the gags are good no matter what. Such as Chiyo-chans reaction to Miss. Yukari's driving ^__^.

The joke style is a mix of word play and facial gags. You'll often see the background or the charcter change in response to the stimulus provided by the gag in question and its paced very well. However several gags are rather oriented towards Japanese society, so you may have to look them up occasionally to understand whats going on. (in fact each DVD has a little bit in its pamphlet to help explain some of the more obscure gags and jokes for each episode)

overall I found the anime to be rather fun to watch. Its lack of a plot works rather well witht he series, alowing the anime to jump from joke to joke without worrying a whole lot about continuity and hte art style is well paced and placed.  

I recommend you watch it.