Azumanga Daioh Highly recommended

Director
Hiroshi Nishikiori
Production
GENCO, J.C.Staff, Kadokawa Shoten
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
2002

Azumanga Daioh

By Adam Cook
26th Apr 04

Azumanga Daioh is a comedy anime series based on the manga of the same name devised by Kiyohiko Azuma. The story revolves around a group of class mates in a Japanese high school and is roughly over a three year time period. The way in which the series is structured is very similar to a traditional comic strip with each episode made up of smaller segments that tell a separate story and joke, but has an over riding theme running through the entire episode. It's an interesting structure to use and keeps the story moving along and makes sure the audience will stay interested.

Azumanga Daioh is a hard anime series to review as so many of the jokes and references are visual that trying to do them justice with only the written word is impossible. Therefore I shall stay away from telling you about the jokes and just urge you to try and get hold of the anime as it is very funny. In fact it is probably the most consistently funny anime series you are likely to watch. But whilst the jokes are funny, the series would still not be the success it is without a group of well rounded and interesting characters for the audience to get involved in. There are six key characters with a host of smaller characters that our main protagonists socialise with and interact with. To understand the series better I shall give you a run down on some of the characters featured in the series;

Chiyo - A 10 year old genius that has been moved up from elementary school early. There is always a fine line between cute and vomit inducing sweetness, but thankfully Chiyo tread's the line perfectly and is a great central character.
Osaka - Is a student from Osaka (hence her nickname) and is permanently zoned. She struggles to concentrate and is continually forgetting things and being late. Whilst the concept of the character is nothing original, the way she is handled makes her very refreshing and definitely one of the stars of the show.
Tomo - Is seriously hyperactive and has a very high opinion of herself, she is also best friends with...
Koyomi - Who has been in the same class with Tomo since elementary school, but unfortunately finds Tomo very irritating.
Sasaki - Is a very quiet and somewhat mysterious character, she loves animals but she seems to have a problem with cats, or more accurately cats have a problem with her. As she is one of the most mysterious characters, she is also one of the most interesting and intriguing.
Kagura - Is very keen on her sports and is always very competitive with Sasaki, even if Sasaki is not always aware of it.

Whilst these characters appear in nearly all the episodes, there are a host of smaller characters that appear throughout the series which include;

Yukari - Who is the form tutor and English teacher in the school. She is a seriously dangerous driver and is also very competitive with another teacher called...
'Nyamo' - Who is the P.E. teacher at the school and is liked by all the pupils, she also went to school with Yukari. Kimura - Is a perverted male teacher who only chose his profession because of the school girls. None of the characters like him, but there is a deeper and more complicated side to his personality which is uncovered throughout the series.
Kaorin - Is in love with Sasaki and she could even be classed as a stalker in some of the episodes.

The series characters appear at fist glance to be very one dimensional and shallow, however as the series progresses the audience learns more about each character and occasionally new questions are raised about each of them. This gradual introduction to the true personalities of the characters is a very effective method of keeping the audience hooked and the way in which each character relates to the people around them provides a very interesting, varied and balances set of cast members which makes it hard to single out any particular one as the star of the show.

Visually the series is quite distinctive. Whilst for the most part it looks like any other anime series, many of the characters will go off into dream worlds where the visual style changes, often to reflect children's drawings and black and white silhouettes. The changing between the styles works very effectively and is in perfect keeping with the manga the series is based upon.

The soundtrack is perfectly acceptable but at the same time it is nothing special. The music fits in well with the animation but is never particularly memorable, but thankfully the vocal talent from the series is perfect with each character sounding exactly as you would expect.

Azumanga Daioh is without a doubt one of the greatest anime series ever produced. Whilst some people may not get it as much as others, I do believer everyone will find something they like in the series, be it a particular character or joke. The series does have a lot of cultural references and jokes based on kanji etc, which I admit most went over my head, but there are enough jokes and visual gags to keep complete anime novices happy.

Pick up the manga, watch the anime and immerse yourself in the world of Azumanga Daioh, just be warned, you may never want to leave.

-- Adam Cook 26th Apr 04

Azumanga Daioh Images