Azumanga Daiou The Animation

It seems to me that people who have seen Azumanga Daioh are divided into two groups. The first group consists of people who enjoyed it, and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. The other consists of those that thought it was boring and nonsensical. I find myself right in the middle. It wasn’t so bad story wise – usually I’m all for “anything goes” anime. The problem I had with it was that it wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be. I had a few laughs now and then, mostly thanks to Osaka, but there were times when I thought the jokes were too corny for my taste. Even thought I’m not a fluent Japanese speaker, I got the jokes, but I didn’t think they were that funny (I definitely saw funnier before). I guess it’s a matter of taste, and it must be a huge hit in Japan. Every time I would watch it I kept waiting for it to get better, since for the first few episodes I didn’t think it was funny. I kept wondering why people like this anime so much, and why they speak so highly of it. I seriously think it’s not that funny, like I said there were a lot of corny jokes, and sometimes the jokes lasted too long. There were scenes wherein there was nothing but silence. Some people may think that’s funny, but if it lasts for about a minute I tend to get bored. I like the characters though. My favorites are Kagura, Osaka and Chiyo. Kagura’s just one cool chick. Osaka is weird but funny, and Chiyo’s adorable. Seeing her in that penguin (?) suit made me squeal like Sakaki armed with 100 furry and friendly cats and Speed. Tomo was a bit irritating, and I can’t help but think in a few years she’ll end up like Yukari-sensei. I didn’t like Kaorin either. She’s like some annoying extra and I felt her character wasn’t that important. Kimura-sensei is one of the weirdest characters I’ve ever seen. His mouth is open all the time, and he has a dirty, school girl lovin’, mind. The character is simplistic, and for this anime, simplicity was the way to go. It wasn’t as detailed compared to other JC Staff series I watched in the past (although it did have at least one buxom character, like all JC Staff series I’ve watched). I like the fact that the characters all had different body types, which is in a way, realistic. I like the colors too. They were really nicely done and contrasted nicely. There were no clashes in color whatsoever. The voice acting was done well, because the characters’ personalities were brought out through their dialogues effectively. I like Kagura’s (Houko Kuwashima) tomboyish tone, Osaka’s (Yuki Matsuoka) soft Kansai-ben accent, Tomo’s (Chieko Higuchi) loud and upbeat speech and Chiyo’s (Tomoko Kaneda) tiny voice. I was also surprised to find many well known names among the cast, such as Rie Tanaka. Despite the fact that the opening song made barely made sense, it was still catchy. It really fit the anime’s mood, which was carefree and random. I liked the ending song better, I thought it had the charm of a folk song, I’m not sure why, but maybe it’s because of the instruments used and the singer’s soft voice that was sort of telling me a story. Generally, the BGM was nicely made and beautifully crafted. A lot of the tracks were upbeat and fit the mood of the series. My one sentence review would be “I yawned, I laughed, and I’m glad to have watched it.” While it may not be the best for me, anything that ends in a heartwarming beat is good enough for me.

Azumanga daioh is one of the funniest animes i have ever seen PERIOD! Azumanga takes place during the high school years of a handful of girls. No its not a girls only school but the only main characters are ALL girls. The entire cast all run the gamut of moe-ness. Ranging from super chibi to a girl that thinks she's not cute. The story is basically a slice of life anime basically meaning it a Seinfeld-esqe sitcom surrounding high school girls. Theres no real story element, and thankfully no multiple part episodes are around here. Just short simple and hilarious situations that can be finished in 30 minutes ^_^ Even the oav's are hella short! But at least they get the points across and they do it hilariously! The way they create their characters are really one of a kind. You'll actually want to know more of how these girls happen to befriend each other before/during high school. Character progression is really good. Each character has their own role to play for every other character and you can really tell by how they react to eachother and try (or don't try) their best to make it past high school. Animation is very simplistic as are most high school comedies are. Most of the time, they'll only draw the girls and make silhouettes of all the other students. Theres tons of emotes abound in this show as each girl gets embarrassed, frustrated, scared, etc. The emotions animations are very simple as well yet for the most of the times, they REALLY get the point across. Even so much that you'll pause the show just to stop laughing. I never realized not adding color or drawing people all squiggly would be so funny. They'll also flip back and forth between normal anime to chibi anime quite alot. Some times the chibi-ness isn't needed but for the majority when its implemented it makes the scene that much funnier. The seyiu are great in this show. Even tho some sound like you've herd the same before but with the animation and the little sound effects here and there make the entire experience an enjoyable one. And the music is pretty simple but you'll be singing the op over and over again because of the catchyness of it. Speaking of the op you'll also realize most of the scenes in the op will make sense after about ep22 ^_^ But overall the sound is your usual high school sound effects... crowds in the cafeteria, groaning in unison in the classroom, and cheering during sporting events. All the usual sound fare :) All in all everything about this show SCREAMS mediocre from the sound to anime to even the characters. But this is proof that just as long as you have a killer story and a staff that can illustrate the desired effect your show will be a runaway hit ^_^ Azumanga daioh is one of the funniest anime i have ever seen PERIOD! 9/10

Azumanga Daioh took me by complete surprise. I discovered it from a YouTube clip where she meets "Chiyo's father" and I thought it was the funniest thinger I have seen in a long time. I asked around and was wondering if it would interest me. After researching it for a bit I decided that yes, I would watch it. I sure am glad I looked at the related videos that day, that clip eventually led me to watch the awkwardly hilarious slice of life anime known as Azumanga Daioh. Story : This is a slice of life anime, and what that means is, there generally isn't any story. But I'll tell you what there is. Skits. Alot of skits. Hilariously over the top skits. Such as their teachers terrible driving, the way the other students see the beautiful, athletic and mysterious Sakaki, without knowing of her love of cute animals, Tomo's innuendo and curiosity about the "love life" and Kimura sensei's love for minors. But there are realistic events as well. The new years, studying for exams, trying not to fail school, athletics, snowball fights. This show can be completely realistic or mind bogglingly over the top. Art : Originally, I wasn't too fond of Azumanga Daioh's artwork. But as I watched the show it grew on me, and then I began to recognize how brilliant it is! The artwork in this show is clean while remaining detailed. But most of all, it's hilarious! Seeing the expressions of the characters as they react to the situations they are in is incredibly funny! The way the artists portray the situations in their clever style is always fun to watch. Sound : The music in Azumanga Daioh fits every situation very nicely. The music is very unique. It is a nice combination of surprising instruments that I certainly didn't intend to hear. But they all work, and they make the situations funnier. There is also an odd use of a car horn that lasts throughout the show... The "ding ding" noise whenever someone realizes something, or Ayumu's slow, sleepy voice [They honestly couldn't have chose a better voice actor], are all used properly and to humorous effect. Characters : The characters is where this show really shines! From the grudging Yukari, to the cute and innocent Chiyo, to the energetic instigator Tomo. The characters in this show are varied, and all very likable. Even creepy Kimura is likable! Honestly though, as anyone who has watched it will tell you, the real star here is Ayumu. Anything she says is funny, no matter what the context, where she is, or what she's doing. She often makes a mistake doing such trivial things, has incredibly weird daydreams (she once dreamed that Chiyo's ponytails controlled her and gave her the ability to fly) and has probably one of the best voice actors I have ever heard matching a character. Honestly, there couldn't have been a better voice actor. Every single character in this show is likable, no, LOVABLE, to the point that you will be thinking about them years after this show has ended. Enjoyment : You will watch this show over and over and over again and still laugh!! The jokes are all well thought out and hilarious. Even when the characters are just standing around, not talking and staring at each other you will laugh. Why? Because the way they are set up is just so brilliant! The gang of Azumanga Daioh will forever be in your heart after this show, and that is exactly why you should watch this show. I can't recommend this enough to fans of the slice of life genre and comedy genres. *At the time of this writing, it has been months since I have watched this show, I plan on re-watching it soon, though.

Azumanga doesn't have a plot. There is nothing in Azumanga that even vaguely resembles a story. So it must be character driven, right? However, Azumanga lack conflict and character development. The show covers 3 years of their lives (High School) and after 3 years all the characters look and act the same. umm wait Chyio-chan did change her hair style by putting her pig tails lower… So what exactly is Azumanga? Azumanga is a gag anime, designed to get a quick laugh out of the audience. They use an ensemble of students and teachers with distinct quirks all of which are female (except one). We watch the characters go through a variety of normal everyday situations. Through the characters quirks and exaggerated expressions, we get most of the humor in the show. The character's quirks and jokes are very funny. That is until you watch a few more episodes. Then the jokes get old and very repetitive. How many times did the same cat bite Sakaki? How many times does Koarin obsess over Sakaki? Yes, we know you are a freak that likes high school girls. The repeated use of the same quirks makes many of the characters seem shallow and one-dimensional. I mean is there anything else beyond the two, three word description you can give to each character (ie "airhead" "pervert" "smart/cute" "athletic" "energetic"). The jokes did not come from the characters, the characters themselves were the joke. What breaks this anime for me is that even the situations are repetitive. How many times did we have a Sport fest, culture fest, and beach episode? By the time I was at the 5th episode I was getting bored, ok I’ll admit there was the occasional funny scene. An interesting thing about this anime is its pacing. Azumanga is not the fast, hyperactive anime that most AMV's will lead you to believe. In fact, many times it’s pretty slow paced and requires you to be in a certain mood. Perhaps the use of still shots and repeated animation gives this feel. The use of "still shot" sometimes help establishing the mood similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion did, but for comedic purposes. In turn, the use of repeated animation can get tiring and boring fast. Perhaps its a pet peeve of mine concerning repeated animation. The animation was bright and very vivid albeit fairly simplistic. However, the animation in general was not really note worthy. Azuamga's greatest strength was its nostalgic mood and feel it often invokes. It reminds us of a more carefree time, especially since there are no real conflicts. My favorite scene was one that invokes a strong nostalgic feel. That scene was in the end of episode 9 were the main characters were walking and laughing in the field of clouds. Perhaps I’m being too critical on Azumanga, the source, a 4 panel comic can’t really give that much substance, right? However, I think about Lucky Star, also based on a 4 panel comic and realized how Lucky Star is superior to Azumanga in every possible way. In addition, the jokes come from the character in Lucky Star, not the character themselves being jokes.

STORY 7/10 Azumanga Daioh is a show about nothing, literally. Think of it like Seinfeld, but with high school girls and as much hilarity, and you've got all the bases covered. The episodes revolve around six girls and their daily life at a high school, which always ends up being random in some way. The comic formula is hilarious. Many scenes will make you scratch your head and wonder "eh?" while simultaneously laughing, while other scenes make you laugh by repeating the same thing over and over and over and over, far past the point where you think it should have just stopped the joke. The best comic relief was definitely the male teacher who was always hitting on the girls, who had a trademark jaw drop constantly. He would randomly be thrown into the episodes very spasticly, making anyone with a sense of humor laugh out loud. So really, don't go into watching Azumanga thinking you'll get any sort of a plot. There are only a few episodes that are linked somehow, but the rest do follow a timeline (the girls making their way through three years of school, up to the satisfying conclusion). Art 6/10 The animation is really simple and clean which fits the style of this anime, but I don't like this kind of look. There's nothing too impressive about it. Sound 6/10 The music in this anime was alright sometimes bordering irritating, I wasn't too fond of the opening it just sounds irritating with the high pitched voices but I suppose it goes with the show. The background music started rubbing me the wrong way after a while. But from what I recall it's mostly silence since they have such long silences after a "joke" which I didn't find that funny. They would have these ridiculously long pauses after a joke and I'm just sitting there still bored to death and I'm like was that supposed to be funny? Is someone supposed to be rolling on the floor laughing from that? The seiyuus all did a good job portraying high school girls and especially Chiyo-chan. CHARACTERS 9/10 The character development was basically non-existant, yet I still gave this section a 9. Why? To put it bluntly, Azumanga Daioh has some of the most hilarious characters I've seen, who all fill their incredibly exaggerated role perfectly. Chiyo is the little girl who is the epitome of cuteness. Her voice helps with this persona, as well as giant watery eyes when she gets upset, and her little girl ways of doing things. Sakaki is obsessed with cute things and is super quiet, and always blushes whenever she sees a cat or dog, yet (for the comedic effect) she always is bitten when she tries to pet things. Tomo is the most obnoxious character by far and is always yelling and pissing people off. Yumi is probably the least developed character -- her one quirk is that she is obsessed with her weight. Then there's Osaka, an extremely slow and stupid girl who tends to always make you laugh with the idiotic things that come out of her mouth. And finally, Kagura is athletic and competitive. These six characters are fairly extreme to begin with, but them morph into super extreme characters by the end of the series. The entire series is about pushing the limits of comedy, and the characters help out with this immensely. OVERALL 8 / 10 Azumanga is a great watch for any fans of comedy. Out of all the random series I've seen, Azumanga definitely has the highest concentration of randomness and laugh out loud moments, combined with hilarious characters and wacky moments alike. If you like comedy series, I can't see why you haven't watched this yet! And if you haven't, pick it up right now, since you'll surely like it.

I am a huge fan of the slice-of-life genre. Something about seeing cute girls sit around and do... Stuff is somehow entertaining for me. Slice-of-life however, seems to be one of the most hated genres only second to ecchi/hentai stuff. The only expectation to this rule seems to be a few iyashikei (healing) slice-of-life shows and Azumanga Daioh. While I could rant on how the iyashikei genre isn't very good, I am instead going to rant about why Azumanga Daioh, one of the most celebrated slice-of-life anime, is one of my least favorite ones out there, as I do not like this at all. Now, the most important thing in a slice-of-life shows is the characters. While I consider characters the most important part of all anime, as if you don't care about the characters, what's the point of watching them, this is especially true with slice-of-life anime, where the whole point is watching a random group of people mess around and do stuff. If these characters fall flat, then the show automatically falls flat too. A common complaint for the slice-of-life genre is that it recycles character archetypes a lot. Now, I personally consider that to be part of the genre and judge the characters not by whether we've seen their personality ten times before, but how much they add new stuff to their personality and become their own character. Now, Azumanga Daioh, being one of the first “a bunch of school girls mess around” show creating all of these archetypes we see so much in today's slice-of-life, the characters in Azumanga Daioh would be unique enough that everyone would want to rip them off, and the answer to that question is a big no. While you don't go to slice-of-life shows looking for multi-layered characters, you can't just give them a personality and role with it, you need to flesh out the personality and add details to it and that is one thing Azumanga falls at miserably. The teacher, Yukarin, is lazy, Tomo is the energetic goofball, Chiyo is the small, cute, and smart one, Yomi is the straight man in the group, Osaka is the ditz, Sakaki is the tomboy who likes cute things, and Kagura... Is tomboyish? I guess? That's all there is to it. Nothing more. That's literally the whole show right there. These have to be some of the most one-sided characters I've seen in any slice-of-life anime. So due to the fact we have a group of dull characters with only one or two traits to them, the comedy suffers. And there is no plot to this show, just comedy. Jokes get over-used all the time. Goofy, random stuff happens for no reason to be goofy and random, and some people might, but I do not find random humor to be that funny. Well, okay, maybe it's funny in all doses, but if I sit through a show where the whole purpose is goofy random humor, I just get used to the randomness and it isn't funny anymore. I didn't laugh once through the energetic comedy FLCL as the comedy just bounced off me as once I quickly got used to the randomness, you well, get used to the randomness and it doesn't become funny anymore. While Azumanga Daioh does try to pull out a more slow pace than other random comedies out there, in a way that's even worse as it drains whatever personality this show is trying to have even more. Not to mention that four episodes in, whatever comedy the show had quickly gets old as these are one-sided characters with nothing to them and they can't do much else besides act to their one-sided personality. Not to mention that this show reuses plots so much. Three beach episodes, 3 sport festival episodes,and 2 festivals. That means that 5 episodes in this show reuse plots from previous episodes. And stock footage too if I recall correctly. Which brings me to my next negative on this show, the animation,which, to be honest, sucks. Characters never move while talking, the character designs are about as undetailed as you can get, with some of the cast members even looking alike as there's little variation. Backgrounds are dull and just fade in. Footage is sometimes repeated for little reason expect to save money. The voice actors are also pretty mediocre too, but who can blame them with the terrible characters they're put into. The music is rather good though, with catchy background tunes and a very memorable opening and ending theme. Azumanga Daioh Final Consensus Story- Comedy falls flat and relies too much on randomness-3. Characters- A terrible, one-sided cast-3. Art-Very poor- 4. Sound- Dull voice actors, good music-6.5. Comedy anime around 2004 must have all sucked if this is seen as one of the greats in the genre (and now that I think about it, the only other comedy from around that time that I ever see get recommend is Cromartie High School, so perhaps that's true). Azumanga Daioh is everything a slice-of-life anime should not be. While you cannot ignore its influence on the genre and on anime in general, I still cannot recommend this to anyone. Overall, a score of 4.

Azumanga Daioh epitomizes innocent, playful and unexplainable comedy. The humor which mainly comprises of repetition, slapstick and awkward placings of pauses, makes this unique Slice of Life anime an instant classic. The series does not revolve around a plot, character development and exploration, nor does it discuss social trends or fantastic adventures, simply put Azumanga is about mood. The viewers of the series play as much a part of the series as the wonderful, quirky, eccentric and blissfully honest characters that star in it. The nostalgic and anti-serious mood evident throughout every episode will put every single viewer into a state of pure and innocent happiness - regardless of any stationary issues or problems, it is this fact which has propelled the series to popularity. While the characters may, at times, seem to be immature it is more than obvious that they were created by geniuses. The mature and ageless true-to-life humor will bring all ages together into childish ecstasy. Whether you adore Chiyo's over the top cuteness; Sakaki's satirical mysteriousness; Yomi's pragmatic level-headedness; Tomo's volatile irrationality or Osaka's notorious enigma, you're sure to fall face first into this everyday and uncanny familiarness that is school life. The music in Azumanga Daioh is possibly the best suited track ever created for an anime. It's gentle and nostalgic flute and trombone melodies are as important as Tomoko Kaneda's contribution as Chiyo's voice. The seiyuu and music brings the series together into perfect harmony which is concluded by the aptly fluffy ending animation (song titled 'Raspberry Heaven'). If you're looking for random, if you're looking for eccentric, if you're looking for kawaii, Azumanga Daioh is your answer. If you haven't figured it out yet Azumanga is my personal number 1 favorite and I rank it as a Masterpiece on any scale. I've re-watched the series four times and laughed at different places every time. The amazing thing about Azumanga is that even though it has accumulated millions of fans in Japan and the West alike, a sequel is really not necessary or appropriate. A true Masterpiece is when there doesn't need to be more to satisfy the fans, it's when the conclusion is the end and the end is the best part. I hope that the magic honesty in Azumanga Daioh entertains everyone the same way as it entertained me.

I'd heard that Azumanga Daioh was a comedy that no one should miss so I started watching. Mistake number one. Assuming that 4-5 eps wasn't enough to really "get" this anime for what it was: Mistake number two. Most people fall into one of two groups; those that really really like the series and those people like myself that were not impressed by the series in the slightest. If you don't like the series after 4-5 episodes stop watching. Art: The art in Azumanga Daioh is decent, not bad but nothing really ground-breaking either. Rating: 7 Sound: The voice acting was just about equivalent to the art of the series. My opinion of the voice acting in this series is probably biased by the fact that the nature of each character was tied to the voice acting so take this with a grain of salt. **The Japanese sub is very much better than the dub btw Rating: 7 Character: Where to begin. Tomo was annoying; no let me rephase that: Tomo was half the reason why I couldn't finish this series for as long as I did. Chiyo and Yomi were probably the better of the major characters in that they managed to not be either annoying, have ADHD or leave long unnecessary pauses in their speech. Rating: 4 Story: There isn't one. This is a slice of life anime that took the genre to the extreme. The "jokes" used in the series that everyone seems to find funny for some reason get old pretty quickly. Sakaki getting bitten by cats for example; funny the first few times but after a while it makes you wonder why the series kept reusing it... So goes every other bit of humor in the series. Ah yes the awkward pauses... How could I forget... This is the only series I could find that does this and for good reason. Rating: 4 Enjoyment: I didn't really enjoy watching the series much. I have a need to finish animes once I start them; so Azumanga Daioh ended up being an anime that I've had to force myself to complete. That's not a good sign. Rating: 4 Overall: Azumanga Daioh is probably the most overrated series I have ever seen. There is no plot; you've heard this before from other reviews and even some of the fans themselves but we are so very not kidding about this it isn't even funny. You could start midway in the series and miss absolutely nothing of importance in regard to plot. Yes there were times where the series was funny but much more often than not, the jokes were repetitive and punctuated by awkwardly long pauses. Chiyo and Yomi were the show's major redeeming characters and Tomo, the comic relief of the series, just turned out to be (see above) annoying rather than funny. Rating: 5

Azumanga Daioh will probably always remain one of the top comedy anime titles of all time, and with good reason too. Even if it does ends up being a different experience than most would think right off the bat. Story: 7/10 Being that this is a mix of school life, comedy and slice of life-- one shouldn’t expect too much from the actual story and plot. Basically it opens up as one of the high school teachers is in a hurry to make it to her class, which ends in her stealing one of her own student’s bikes in a aggressive manner. And at this point most will get the idea of where this anime is going. Each episode pertains about the lives of six high school female students. And like with any good comedy series a roller coaster of laughs ensues. However the way this particular series does it is what makes it such a great series. Many of the joke and puns have a big amount to do with Japanese culture (though not nearly as much as Lucky Star)--all the while adding a good amount of random gags to the mix. For example: some of the episodes have to do with dream sequences, which have to do with a girl being able to fly with her pigtails, to one of them being a super hero, to another having a cat as a father (however they end up being carried out and/or implied even in the real world as well). The dialog is also very funny, whether it be about jokes dealing with food, to school uniforms, to even a few Sakaki boob jokes here and there. Gags like these abound in Azumanga Daioh, most of which seem to come out of nowhere, and will leave many viewers scratching their heads afterward. Now I know most would be thinking at this point: "Oh, so it’s just about random gags with no sort of plot or story then!" Nothing could be further from the truth, because Azumanga Daioh mixes random gags with an actual story. Granted there is no real overall plot to this as mentioned before, other than the girls simply trying to make it through high school. But it does go by an "episode by episode" plot. Whether it be the girls trying to win the sports festival, doing their summer homework, to relaxing at the beach. Despite the over the top humor of the series, it also can do it in a quite relaxing way too, which should satisfy most slice of life fans out there. Now that doesn’t mean the story is all peaches and cream; some episodes seem to get a bit slow paced at times, with not too much happening going on, and some scenes tend to drag on a bit. But I think my biggest grip with the storyline, is that a number of episodes seemed to be recycled over from past ones (ie: two sports day episodes, two summer home episodes, and two dream sequence episodes). The latter are still quite funny, it’s just a shame that they couldn’t have given us a bit more of variety. Since there is no real plot in mind, I would say that the ending is appropriate, though I think that it could have ended a little better. Even so, with Azumanga Daioh it’s all about the comedy, and that is what makes this anime so enjoyable! Art: 7/10 Being that this series tries to capture a more realistic high school in Japan (most of the character’s hair are black and/or dark colored), the characters themselves also look very cutesy! They all have bigger eyes than most anime you will find, and look quite un-proportional compared to real life Otakus. I feel this was made intentionally however, as to show the audience that this anime does not take itself seriously in the least. However, this still doesn’t change the fact that the art style over all looks pretty simplistic, and the backgrounds can range from decent looking-- to no backgrounds at all. Nothing too bad, it just leaves much to be desired at times. Sound: 8/10 I actually had the pleasure of experiencing both the English and Japanese version, and must say that both felt quite comfortable to listen to. The opening and closing themes were quite catchy and fit the goofiness of the series. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy watching random Japanese animated women fly through the sky without a net? Or even wings for that matter? It’s pretty much saying: "this is your brain on drugs!" Which is what a lot of people will probably be thinking while watching this show. The background tracks do contain a good portion silly and sincere sounds, though I wish there could have been a little bit more of it! Characters: 9/10 Considering that this is a comedy anime, and therefore doesn’t concentrate too much on depth, Azumanga Daioh actually has a pretty fleshed out cast of characters. Not only from the six main female leads, but also from the teachers and staff workers as well. Such as "Koyomi, " the girl who is on a never ending quest to lose weight, to "Sakaki, " who has an unhealthy addiction to cats, to "Kimura, " the perverted school teacher. I wouldn’t go as far to say that they are the most deep cast of characters you'll see in an anime, but they do interact with each other very well, and you get a good amount of time to get to know each ones likes and dislikes. They're funny, interesting, cute and definitely the back bone of the series! Enjoyment: 10/10 The well done merger of comedy and actual storyline really made Azumanga Daioh a winner for me! It’s something that is very hard to do in an anime, but this series proves that with a little love and care; anything is possible! I just couldn’t stop laughing in so many parts while going through this! Overall: 8/10 I feel Azumanga Daioh can be enjoyed by most comedy fans out there. Some viewers might find its humor a bit redundant and too silly at times, which can be seen as a turn off. Even so, if you are a big fan of comedy anime like myself, and have 25 minutes of free time to spare on a good laugh, then this series should fill that time quite nicely!

Biggest mistake younger me made was dropping Azumanga Daioh half way through episode one way back in 2005. It wasn't until late 2009 that I watched it through and enjoyed it and as of this year I had time to re-watch and and LOVED IT! Going back on it, I didn't think too much about how I took this show for granted. I initially and still do see it as a "generic slice of life comedy that follows the lives of certain individuals." However! there's so much more to it than that. With Azumanga Daioh, although it has that "I've seen shows like this thousands of times" vibe, the shows story and characters do a amazing job of retaining it's own unique individuality. Moving along from that, the story and plot are actually quite simple. What you see in the description, is exactly what you're going to get. There is astonishingly, not too much I can add on how I feel about the story because it felt almost non-existent, plot too at times. Artwork and animation is on par for the shows time. There isn't anything that stands out too much, nor should there be. The soundtrack was pretty good, a bit childish but it helps the show retain its' "cutesy" feel. I think my favorite thing in the sound department though, overall is the OP song. LU LA LU! it's that old fashioned catchy intro song that you would expect to hear in an older series like this. The ending song was pretty okay too. The thing that makes Azumanga stand out the most, and this is totally my opinion, but Number 1 thing has to be the characters. While it is possible I think its' very difficult to hate the girls of Azumanga. Each of them are just freaking adorable! I mean they could not have found a better voice actress for Chiyo, and Osaka (Best girl.) My least favorite of all is Kimura-sensei who started the annoying "Waifu" phrase. I mean, the guy has his moments but he's too much of an oddball for me. Now for favorite character whose made her way into my heart is Osaka. She is literally the best original dizzy dimwit character I have seen in quite some time. In this order Osaka, Chiyo, Sakaki, then Tomo make the show worth watching in my opinion me... I can't forget the crazy Yukari-Sensei either. Azumanga Daioh is a show that I would have to recommend at least every fan watch at some point in time. I think its' one of the last shows of the early 2000's to retain some sort of originality. Overall I would, and will most likely in future watch Azumanga daioh again. I enjoyed, loved, and truly found myself engaged in this show. I gave this show a 9/10 because its' a timeless masterpiece. Lastly, I believe Azumanga is an essential show that every other anime collector or down loader whatever he/she may be should have in their perspective collection.

Ah yes, Azumanga Daioh, the anime responsible for spawning a metric fuckton of high school comedies trying to mimic the magic of this show. Some uninformed people might be tempted to call Azumanga Daioh "generic high school comedy," but in the early 00s it was far from that, and to this day it still stands as the pinnacle of the slice of life genre. Slice of life is a tricky genre to get right, because essentially it tries to capture mundane realism in an entertaining fashion, and many shows don't get the latter right at all; nobody wants to watch an anime of something lame that they might as well experience in real life, so what's the key to a compelling slife of life story? Good characters. This is where Azumanga Daioh excels. The show revolves around six eccentric high school girls and their two teachers, and along with skillful voice acting, beautiful audio and visuals, it radiates a charming and relaxing atmosphere that never gets old. I know, it's easy to disregard Azumanga Daioh as boring today if you read the synopsis, but you're wrong. There is no story in Azumanga Daioh, but the character-driven writing makes up for that, and J.C.Staff captures the essence of Azuma's four-panel form manga masterfully. In short, whatever "story" you get is pretty much a large variety of situational scenes, events, and mundane chatter among the main characters, and that is more than enough. You get attached to the characters from the very beginning, and the more you get to know them the easier it becomes to immerse yourself in the anime, and that's what slice of life should be about, right? It's not an anime that tries to be edgier-than-thou or filled with slapstick cheese--it's simply a relaxing show that you can sit down and enjoy, and because of its episodic nature there's no continuity, so anyone can sit down and watch it. It's an anime that I'd recommend to most people, regardless of their experience with anime. Most people have probably already seen the famous viral clip of Osaka kicking off her shoe at anyone from Fidel Castro to Italy's Marco Materazzi anyway, so you might even get some "ah, so that's where it's from!" moments as well. Those are always fun. I vaguely mentioned sound and art earlier, and it deserves some comments. Because slice of life is so mundane in nature, I think that it's vital that it has stunning audio and visuals. It sets the overall atmosphere and tone of the show after all. There's nothing breathtaking about Azumanga Daioh's visuals, so too bad if you expected delicious eye candy. Go watch K-On! or some other moe blob show. While the art isn't great, it really compliments the audio (great music and seiyuu!) so overall I wouldn't criticize it too much. Getting lost in details is stupid, and the overall vibe the anime radiates is still top-notch. Azumanga Daioh has aged well, and it is still as hilarious, engaging and relaxing as it was back in the early 00s. This is a timeless anime classic, and judging by the current trend of high school comedies it'll probably stand as the epitome of the genre for many more years to come. Give this anime a shot if you haven't already. Seriously.

This was always going to be an interesting one to review. Azumanga Daioh is frequently held up by people such as myself as a cutesy 4-koma adaptation that is actually good and therefore proof that I don’t unconditionally hate moe comedies. But Azumanga was made long before those series became a commonplace and diluted the market with their terribleness. I was genuinely unsure what returning to it would reveal. Was there some secret trick Azumanga pulled that all subsequent series failed at, or will I regard Azumanga with the same disdain at disgust I usually reserve for stuff like A-Channel? People often say that Azumanga doesn’t have a plot, which isn’t true. Or perhaps ‘plot’ isn’t the right word, but there is a very strong narrative running through the show. You know the way Japan has this idea that high school is the greatest time of your life. There’s a whole load of societal reasons why this time period is fetishised to this degree, from the oppressive lifestyle that is working salaryman life to the widespread culture of idolising youth in general, but it’s a big part of why 99% of anime are set in high school. Anime fans take issue with this, but that’s because anime fans are nerds and therefore high school sucked for them. Western culture likes to idolise college life because it’s seen as when you finally get freedom to get away from your parents, drink alcohol legally and have lots of sex, which again comes down to a whole load of cultural reasons. But anyway, Azumanga is selling this idea of this idolised highschool life, and does this by presenting it through the eyes of a 10 year old girl. It’s similar to the author Kiyohiko Azuma’s other work, Yotsuba-ampersand, which takes the view that you can enjoy even the simplest things in life if you view it through the eyes of a 6-year-old. The other thing that Azumanga does is, while events are certainly suger-coated in that nobody in the show suffers severe repercussions from their crippling social anxieties, child-molesting teachers, or closet lesbianism, it’s also not like everyone is wonderful to each other all the time. A nice subtitle for the show would be “Teenagers bully a 10 year old girl: The Animation”. The first half is more about setting up the various characters and giving them their single defining trait that will make up every single bloody joke they’re involved in for the entire rest of the goddamn show, but the second half leans way more heavily on the high school life portion. This is largely because the characters are leaving school and everyone becomes introspective about how their friendships formed and what they’re going to do with their lives from now on. It’s about the importance of the relationships you form and how each person’s eccentricities make up the entertaining concoction that is your school life. But equally it’s about this being the last portion of your life where you don’t have to make any serious choices that effect your career direction. It’s about the characters coming to terms with what they like and making those decisions by themselves, but also about hoping for the best for your friends and giving them support, even if it’s as dumb as giving them charms to take into exam. The inclusion of the teachers as major characters is fascinating, because in many ways their constantly reliving their high school life. Apart from still physically being in the school, they spend most of their time together reminiscing about high school. They also are made face the decisions they made at the end of highs chool to become teachers in the first place. That episode in particular was weirdly poignant. It came before the rest of Azumanga got more reflective and was mostly a dumb comedy, so the teacher’s hard thinking about where they were in their life and whether they made the right choices was a perfect mirror to hold up to the same questions the girls had once the final batch of episodes kicked in. The comedy in Azumanga isn’t particularly clever or anything. Its connection to the overarching narrative of girls growing up and forming relationships gives it a bit of weight at least, but as singular jokes they’re hardly the height of social satire. There are a few occasions where it slips into the surreal, in particular an episode focused around each character having bizarre dreams involving Chiyo and her cat-dad. Those episodes are brilliant, both from a surreal humour perspective, and the way they tie how the other character’s views of Chiyo. Chiyo is kinda surreal in her own way, being this ball of cuteness so concentrated that it forces you into a fever dream that distorts reality around her, so seeing that presented in the form of dream sequences was fantastic. But those surreal sequences are few and far between. Most of the rest of the humour is the same gag for each character repeated to breaking point. Sakaki is the worst in this regard. At least when Osaka is dopey, she’s dopey about a different thing every time. Sakaki is so single minded about cats that she basically has nothing else inside that head of hers. Yomi is even worse, to the point that they struggle to come up with any personality trait whatsoever and in the end make a half-hearted attempt to have her weight issues become something more character defining. The comedy gets by mostly on its timing, for which it has the best comedic timing for anything anywhere anytime. There was a scene where Osaka runs after her friends with her hands above her head yelling “CAKEEII~”. By itself not particularly funny, but the pause they did before where Osaka’s brain clunks into gear before she realises that there’s cake to be had is so perfectly timed. Osaka is usually the recipient of these pauses, which work brilliantly because you can practically hear the rusted gears inside her brain whirring as she comes to some nonsense conclusion. Generally though, the humour’s quality wanes alarmingly quickly because there’s so little to it and it repeats itself so bloody much. The show’s depth doesn’t truly appear towards the end, so the occasional surreal episode and cuteness of Chiyo are left trying to hold up the rest of the show by themselves. They do a surprisingly good job of it though. Only towards the 3rd quarter did some of the episodes really start to bore me. As I was watching this show and formulating these thoughts about Azumanga’s depiction of high school life, I realised that I had seen these exact same arguments made about another anime: K-ON! This idea that you’re watching the characters form relationships and live their high school life, coupled with that same depressing feeling when you reach the end and watch them leave school together. That is exactly what I got from Azumanga through exactly the same format with exactly the same genre construction. Which got me thinking as to what the hell it was K-ON did wrong that caused such an internet backdraft against it? Perhaps I could blame the fact it came once the moe boom was in full swing, or that it came after Lucky Star ruined that genre forever by being literally Hitler. But Azumanga’s jokes are fairly repetitive with stupid characters and leans heavily on cuteness too. I didn’t enjoy Azumanga as much this time around, but I still certainly enjoyed it. Maybe I should try watch K-ON aga- NO SCAMP BAD SCAMP DON’T DO THIS QUICK GET OUT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!

Out of all the comedy I have ever seen or care to remember, there has never been quite anything like 2002's Azumanga Daioh. Simply put, no anime to date has made me laugh longer, harder, and more frequently than this series. Undoubtedly a "guilty pleasure" if there ever was one, at least in the sense that on the surface, it smacks of everything which I would normally find immature, annoying, and mundane. However, along with its surprisingly powerful endearing qualities, I quickly discovered how perfectly Azumanga succeeds as a pure and simple comedy in virtually every way possible, and remains to this day the hands-down funniest show I have ever seen. Now granted, to say that a "perfect comedy" exists is a lot like saying that a "perfect flavor" exists. This is because comedy is by and large the most subjective genre in terms of enjoyment and thus most difficult to review; this also means that the more "purely comedic" a title is, the more murky its value becomes and the more divisive its reception is. Nevertheless, I have noticed certain "patterns" which the most successful comedies almost always have in common. It is therefore primarily the brilliant and nearly flawless execution of these basic patterns which makes Azumanga Daioh such a comedic masterpiece. First, and perhaps most importantly, is the balance between realism and surrealism. Often times an anime will veer off towards either extreme, and thus quickly become unfunny and boring. Too much realism and one soon feels like they are simply watching 24-hour candid camera footage, complete with all the rather mundane and unfunny activities of daily life (eating, sleeping, etc): Lucky Star is a perfect example of this. On the other hand, too excessive the absurdity and one begins to feel alienated in watching what is fundamentally no more than a bunch of ungrounded, directionless noise ("random crazy stuff"): for good examples of this, see Excel Saga or most SHAFT comedies. Azumanga Daioh, on the other hand, has both these elements in near perfect harmony, lending itself effectively to neither extreme. It is grounded in plausible, physical reality in the sense that everything which happens within the show is, technically speaking, "possible" (i.e. giant alien robots do not come out of people's foreheads, characters do not die and then suddenly come back to life, etc). At the same time, being a cartoon, it is fantastical in the sense that most of the show's events are stylistically exaggerated to some degree or another, e.g. Kamineko's huge mouth when he bites Sakaki or Osaka's hiccups which last a whole day. At the same time, Azumanga does of course have a strong sense of the downright absurdist and surreal ("Chiyo's Father" and the "detachable pigtails" gags), but these events are all placed within the realm of dreams and private fantasy, making them believable while still highly amusing. It is in this way that an endless string of "ordinary" situations become hilarious--that is, when they are mixed deftly with just the right amount of ridiculousness. In summary, one could say that Azumanga bends the rules without breaking them; it has a sense of the absurd while still essentially "playing it straight." The second defining aspect of Azumanga Daioh is that it is a fundamentally character-driven comedy. I say "character-driven" as distinct from something like a sketch comedy in which most if not all humor is merely "situational" (hence, "sit-com"). In fact, Azumanga Daioh, like most slice of life anime, is quite the opposite of this in the sense that the "situational" aspect of the show is by itself rather bland and uninteresting. What makes this character-based delivery so effective is that it allows the producers to create diversity by putting the exact same handful of people, strange personality quirks and all, into myriad situations and having them react in completely unique ways which are at once both familiar and unexpected. It is also in this way that certain "running gags" remain fresh and funny, with no two instantiations of the same joke ever being exactly alike. In fact, the show's structure is rather ingenious in that regard, insofar as it begins by introducing the a basic joke or personality quirk and then gradually over the course of time adds greater and greater layers of complexity, combining it with other jokes and quirks as it goes on. Now to the last point: where the show's character-driven comedy really stands out, and this is key, is not necessarily individuals interacting with situations, but rather these same individuals interacting with one another in addition to their situations. Therefore while Azumanga's ensemble cast are all memorable and basically likable characters in and of themselves, what is truly fantastic is the way in which this show allows these personalities to bounce off of each other in a seemingly "random" fashion while still remaining completely believable and entirely consistent. We get to see aspects of the girls' personalities clash and overlap, talents and interests mesh or collide. For example, the six girls can be grouped into smart (Chiyo, Sakaki, Yomi), stupid (Tomo, Osaka, Kagura), athletic (Kagura, Sakaki), and competitive (Tomo, Kagura); Chiyo might share Sakaki's love of cute things, but not her athletic ability, whereas Kagura shares her athletic ability, but certainly not her love of cute things, and so on. The only place where this falters somewhat in execution is the fact that the relationship between Tomo and Yomi is almost identical to that of Ms. Yukari and Ms. Kurosawa, albeit the difference being that Yukari's vices are more specifically "adult" (e.g. alcoholism, fanatical driving, and general social irresponsibility). However all in all, this character interplay is truly the show's most prominent point, thus your love or hate of the characters will undoubtedly determine your love or hate of the series in general. The aforementioned relatable-yet-“twisted” sense of realism plays out extremely well in this respect, with the Azumanga girls often resembling either parts of ourselves or people whom we know. Finally, Azumanga Daioh demonstrates mastery in a variety of comedic styles and devices. That is, it has verbal as well as physical humor, word-play jokes as well as slapstick, and more or less everything in between. This comprises anything from Osaka's bizarre and ever-irrelevant internal monologues and Kimura's sudden "pedophilic" outbursts, to Kamineko's assaults on Sakaki's hand and Tomo/Yukari's near-constant physical abuse of Chiyo. What this show executes particularly well in this regard is its sense of comedic timing and rhythm. In particular, I have yet to see a better use of strategically-placed, long, awkward pauses (either with very little to no movement and/or sound), demonstrating that the animators understand fully how a well-timed 10 seconds of silence can be just as hilarious as speed-lined Tomo intentionally flinging herself into chairs. In fact rarely did I laugh as hard as I did during a five second still frame of Osaka nonchalantly staring out a classroom window on a sunny day, backed only by the ambient sounds of springtime. I can think of more than a few anime comedies which could have been greatly benefited by these simple, yet effective techniques. On the aesthetic side, Azumanga Daioh is lovingly animated by J.C. Staff and remains probably one of the best and most surprisingly effective adaptations of a manga I have ever seen (especially for one which was originally a four-panel strip), perhaps even surpassing the original in some regards--with all due respect to comedic genius Kiyohiko Azuma. As is typically the case with J.C. Staff's productions, the animation is consistent but nothing outstanding, resulting in a pleasant, mid-budget median between choppy and liquid smooth. The backgrounds are relatively simple yet still well-detailed and colored, with the only hint of "laziness" being the all-white …

A short review for a little series that punches above its weight: Azumanga Daioh was based not on a traditional manga or a light novel, but on a 4 panel newspaper comic. If you remember how hard the Dilbert cartoon failed in the 1990s, you know that pulling this kind of adaptation off is NOT an easy task. For an anime, it is almost unheard of. No, Boondocks doesn't count as an anime! Azumanga, unlike some other newspaper adaptations like Kill Me Baby, actually manages to translate the silly humor and excellent character chemistry that made the newspaper comic work on to the screen. Azumanga is charming, funny, and all around amusing. If you look through my ratings, you will find that I am not really a big fan of "slice of life" moe. I HATE Lucky Star, Kon, Rail Wars, and most of the shows like that. Why is Azumanga any different? Firstly, it is actually funny! Secondly, the characters are all excellent and likeable instead of horribly annoying. I will warn you that Azumanga is a really, really random show, but its humor works if you like that kind of thing. I personally find Engrish speaking cat monsters coming out of nowhere to be funny. The random humor level of this show is so high it often seems far closer to Aqua Teen Hunger Force than to Lucky Star. Don't be scared off by the little moe girls on the cover! This show is a very decent comedy that deserves a chance! However, you will know within a few episodes if it is your cup of tea or not. If you watch 4-5 episodes and absolutely hate it, you don't need to force yourself to finish the whole series.

tbh i slept thru the whole anime since like the 7th episode so i can't really say much about it BUT the show has a great meme potential and is funny when you watch a compilation of it on youtube but when you watch it fully... god it's boring the budget is really low, every couple of episodes there should be a joke about repeating the same thing over and over for like a minute and it felt pretty funny at first but on the second, the third... why some people may like that type of humour so i won't say that the show is just outright bad, you should still give it a try sakaki san is so cool

I don't quite understand why everyone advertises Azumanga as a comedy anime. Yes, it is a comedy, but that's not the show's primary value. I enjoyed it very much, mostly due to fact that I had graduated from high school one year before watching. Azumanga lets you to forget about your problems and go back to the happy school days. So, if you are a highschooler, you've got some kind of Azumanga in your real life and you might find it boring. But it's simply NOSTALGIC. Funny and cute, too. Ideal for relaxing. Who should watch it? Anyone who wants to relax with slowly paced story and silly jokes. Anyone who'd like to get back to high school, just to do crazy stuff with his friends. Anyone who has enough of magic, sci-fi, violence and romance in other anime. Who shouldn't watch it? Those who love action - there's very little. Those who are impatient - the show goes really slowly. Those who watched first episode and didn't like it at all - all eps are like that, so stop now, watch something else. Now I'll deal with detailed review: Story: (5/10) Meh. Nearly none. But, because of randomness of the show, it's no issue. It's all about classmates, as they spend their time during high school education. The story covers 3 years, during which there's many things happening, but it cannot be considered enough for anything higher than 5/10. Art: (7/10) Not bad, although the creators love to use super-deformed forms, and the art isn't detailed. Nothing unusual, nothing original, but also nothing lame. Sound: (8/10) The opening and ending song are representing two main properties of this show - funniness and nostalgia, respectively. The voice actors do their job well. In the show, you can hear many catchy tunes. Nothing bad. (Yeah, I wrote some nonsense here, but I don't care about either art or sound. It's the story that matters.) Characters: (9/10) Well, after you see Osaka/Chiyo/Tomo/Sakaki, you'll have to agree. Each character is original, and many of them change during high school. It's all about the last period of the childhood and entering the adulthood. And about craziness and silliness, too. Enjoyment: (9/10) It was simply nice. Not as much funny as nice. It is one of those shows you watch totally relaxed, knowing there's nothing to destroy the happy atmosphere of the show.. It's just random craziness but in low speed. Pretty nice for the evenings, when you have no energy for following a fast paced story. Overall: 9/10

Educated experts sad "Its like Nichijou". Nichijou from temu at best. Osaka-san at the end very well summarised what happened in the entire show. Chiyo-chan gained few cetimeters in hight, Sakaki-san in chest. It had its moments ...a few, but mostly just girls and women screamed or shouted, sometimes to eachother. Absolutely no one, not a single charachter developed a tiny bit by anymean. It hadn't said anything meaningfull about lonelyness, love, friendship, decision making, strugling... caring... BUT ALL OF THIS, IS IN THE SHOW! For the fuck sake... sometimes a character raised the actual interesting question, with her mouth! BUT! When the slightliest opportunity appeared to try to tell a story about something, what had actual weight or influence, the writers just droped. Left behind. In the begginging i was so hyped because the setup was perfect for a silly slice of life comedy what actually had to say something. Chiyo's age and the dinamycs between her and her class/schoolmates was a gold mine. But there was Kaori's feelings, Sakaki's struggle to connect, the rivalry between Sakaki and Kagura, Osaka's struggle with her slowlyness, Yukary's lack of empaty, Minamino's decision about its own future, Kagura's challenges in various sports... The saddest thing, this isn't even spoiler, because they didn't used them. Episodes just happened one after another. There was no story, nothing to learn, nothing to say, nothing... just... loud emptiness. At the end if they didn't screamed, they just... tiredly repeat something like morons, for minutes. Why was that anyway, budget cut? ...idc Holy mother of sweet crucified Jesus on the wooden cross on the wall... there was TREMENDOUS amount of oppurtunities in this show and all of it left alone. Every interesting thing in this entire 26 episodes, left untouched. The animation compared to The Very Short Movie and the Web Daiou was a step back too. Then brings up the question, "Why did you watched it and why did you scored to 7 silly riváj?" Very good question! Thank you! The answer is: Because it had the potential to tell something memorable. At least at the end. 1 to 4 basicaly unwatchable. 5-6 interesting, enjoyable at least in someway. 8-9 great with flaws. 10 Frieren or Evangelion. But 7... 7 is the WORST. 7 has the material, the base to shine, but it doesnt even tried. It isn't fail, it isn't try. Pure medicoreium.

Azumanga - the first genre of anime everyday life (for me) that wants to stand up and applauded for the high level of humor, Kawai, children's spontaneity, character, ease of viewing and good mood ... Story: 7 (Stories there is no per se, there are separate inserts, pictures which becomes interesting to watch this creation) Art: 10 (I'm not fussy to affectation, and to the left in general, only a good impression) Sound: 8 (to the music I'm fond of, if I did not like I can reduce the anime to score, but rarely are funny OP and that is all I can say is good = () Character: 10 (This anime was done for the sake of humor, character and good humor, which is Cio-chan, Osaka, Bravo!) Enjoyment: 10 (I would not say that this anime is closely linked to the side of "interesting", but if we judge only of humor, then 10 points) Overall: 10 (Although the overall assessment must be exactly 9 points, I put 10, because, for me this anime will be in terms of humor masterpiece)

Azumanga Daioh, eh? the story is very simple at first. It's all about high school girls. Typical high schoolers.The story resembles about the random things or maybe the typical things that happens inside the classroom. But the story is really funny. So it's really enjoyable to he viewers. The art is poor. Yes, it's poor. Sorry for all the A.D fans but, guys, this IS a review. I can write whatever I want. cause it's MY review. So yeah, back to the topic. It's nothing really interesting. I mean, I think this was made a long long LONG time ago. So, I'll make an exemption ;) The sound effects are okay. Simple and very natural. The voice characters are cute. Although, the Opening and Ending song is too much of a noise. I dislike the first part which kinda irritates my ears. It's unpleasant most especially when you're using Youtube as your T.V to watch it. Hee . The characters are well planned. There different students as well as teachers that resemebles everyone in the society. There are nerds, nerds, cuties, etc. Enjoyment. IT"S FUNNY! Watch it.

Ohh, what to say... there was a point where I really did love Azumanga Daioh the anime, even though I liked the manga more. But now, I just can't like it as much, when I like the manga that much more. I mean, I would rather read the manga than watch the anime. I'm in the minority here, but that's okay, I realize most people think the anime is amazing. Story The story is something either people really like, or really dislike. Some people believe it's genius, while other believe it's annoying and boring. Personally slice-of-life is my favorite of genres, so it suits me well to watch or read Azumanga Daioh. The humor is abundant and always allows for laughs. The story doesn't have a complex plot; basically it follows the simple day-to-day life of 6 high school girls. But the way it's presented makes the difference, and it's not a boring read or watch at all. Animation One of the reasons I like the manga more is the poorly done animation. There's often deliberate pauses, and the characters don't move much. I'm aware that most anime does not have amazing animation, but Azumanga Daioh has worst than most, in my opinion. Music/Soundtrack I think this is my favorite aspect: the soundtrack music. In fact, I bought the first soundtrack CD. Some are peppy and enthusicastic, while others are sweet and nostalgic. The opening and ending themes are also well-suited for the show. Character No matter in the anime or the manga, I just love the characters of Azumanga Daioh (my personal favorite being Kagura). There is Chiyo-chan, the ever adorable child progidy, the quiet mysterious cute-loving Sakaki, the annoying and rowdy Tomo, the slow-minded and incredibly unique Osaka, atheltic and rambunctious Kagura, and finally, the weight-conscious sensible Yomi. Each character has their own quirks and are well-rounded. I like their relationships with one another, too, and how their friendship progresses throughout the series. Voices The voices are a downfall, at least with the dubbed version. I just can't stand Chiyo-chan's squeaky and unnaturally high-pitched voice. Actually, I can't stand Chiyo-chan's voice in either the Japanese or the English. However, the voices of the others are all well done. Overall, I give Azumanga Daioh, the anime, a 7. I give Azumanga Daioh the manga a 10. Even so, I reccomend this anime, but while reccomending that one should read the manga beforehand.