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Azumanga Daioh
Media: Manga/Anime
Genre(s): Comedy, School Life, Slice of Life
Manga-ka: Kiyohiko Azuma
Anime Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori
Studio: J.C. Staff
Number of (manga) volumes: 4
Number of Episodes: 26
Licensed? Yes (ADV)
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Azumanga Daioh is one of those shows that all of your friends who like anime have already seen.
And for good reason! This is a show that absolutely defines the word "entertainment."
Azumanga follows the lives of a group of high school girls enrolled in a private school in Japan.
In 26 episodes, we watch their crazy antics as they progress through their 3 years until graduation.
Chiyo-chan is a 10-year-old child prodigy who was accelerated up to 10th grade.
(and yet she's still smarter than all of her classmates...)
Sakaki is a quiet, kind of creepy girl with a minor secret...she loves cats and "cute things."
Tomo is a wild and competitive girl who makes a scene at any given moment.
Yomi is the smart one, and she wears glasses and is always worried about her weight,
Finally, Ayumu Kasuga, better known as "Osaka", is an Osakan transfer student with a near-zero attention span.
These characters' strange and varied personalities are played out against the backdrop of their teachers, the lazy and immature Yukari and the more reasonable (and nicer) Nyamo.
By Vampt Vo
The story is not very complex at all.
The show is organized in a very episodic way, so there is no real overlying story.
Interestingly, every episode is split up into about three sections, all with different plots.
This is because on Japanese TV, the show was shown in small 10 minute episodes each time.
Consequently, Azumanga feels very much like its inspiration, a 4-panel Japanese comic strip.
This does not hurt the series at all, since it becomes very laugh-out-loud funny, as a comic should be.
Furthermore, the characters are the driving force of all this comedy.
Their contrasting personalities allow for what i would call "comedy combinations."
Every character has a reaction with another that both illustrates their personalities and provides comic relief.
For example, Tomo and Yomi fight because Yomi is smart and Tomo is jeaous because she herself is stupid.
Tomo, in her crazy bursts of energy, always hurts Chiyo.
Chiyo and Osaka are always very clumsy together, since they are both immature.
Kaorin (who, yes, is a girl) likes Sakaki (although if it is a homosexual romantic like or just admiration is never explained) and follows her, freaks out when they are not put in a group, etc.
These combinations go on and on, and they form the backbone of all the comedy in Azumanga Daioh.
The characters are the strength of this series, with their many and humorous differences.
Animation is fairly simple, which fits the theme just fine.
The characters look unrealistic and are very simply drawn.
The backgrounds are also fairly simple.
The series is drawn with an extremely bright and lively palette, though, letting off the air of youth and happiness that Azumanga is going for.
Interestingly, the series uses still shots a lot, but almost always for a good (and often humorous) reason, such as to illustrate silence or allow a joke to sink in.
The Japanese dub is very well-done.
The best are Chiyo, whose cuteness could level mountains, Osaka, who seems like a natural in her spaced-out role, and Yukari, pulling off some very funny angry voice acting.
In the sub, most of the characters are surprisingly bearable once you get used to them.
However, Chiyo's high-pitched squeal can get on your nerves sometimes, and Osaka's voice was a big mistake.
To create the most accurate representation of an Osakan accent, the dubbers cast Osaka with an American Western accent, which can get painfully annoying.
The music is one of the most memorable parts of this show, and the lively tunes, including Oranges and Lemons' catchy opening and closing, will be stuck in your head for a while.
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| Animation: |
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2.5
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Average:
(3.1 stars)
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| Plot: |
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3.5
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| Voice Acting: |
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2.5
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| Sound: |
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3.5
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| Overall: |
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3.5
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If you like this...
Genshiken
Lucky Star
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
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