Azumanga Daioh (TV)

Title:Azumanga Daioh (TV)
Azumanga Daioh: The Animation
あずまんが大王 THE ANIMATION (Japanese)
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: ASAKAWA Yuu
Animation - JC Staff
HIGUCHI Chieko
HIRAMATSU Akiko
HISAKAWA Aya
KANEDA Tomoko
KUWASHIMA Houko
MATSUOKA Yuki
NOGAWA Sakura
Production - GENCO, Inc.
R1 Distributor - Section23 Films (ADV)
R1 License - ADV (Renamed)
TANAKA Rie

A wildly funny series following the lives of a wacky group of schoolgirls and their teachers through three years of high school.

[TV series, 2002, 26 episodes of 5 parts each, 23 min.]

See also: Azumanga Daioh: The Movie, Azumanga Web Daioh.]


Left to right: (front) Yomi, Osaka, Chiyo-chan, Tomo; (back) Sakaki, Kagura.

1:33min Series Opening - YouTube Video

The mangaka AZUMA Kyohiko has also authored another 'wacky' manga series called YOTSUBA&! which can be read in a translated online format at MangaFox
Episode Details 
26, 99, 1893
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 9 9 8 8 9 Dreamer [series:456#2279]
This series is pure charm... through and through. Every episode was just absolutely fun to watch.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
Osaka is the darn cutest, most kawaii girl of all time. Her lack of common sense, sheer stupidity and innocense is what makes her so cute. Love her character. Then there is little Chiyo who's so uber cute as well... almost the huggable-to-death type. Really, all the characters are amazingly cute and lovable. As for artwork and animation, it was nothing really special but it mostly on the cuter side.... as well.

Music
Watch the OP! You've gotta watch the OP. It's not only cute, but silly enough to have you laughing and chuckling out loud. Loved it. Probably one of the better openings in a long while. There is an assortment of music in this series. Mostly on the lighter side and sorta cute or charming. There's some fun pieces as well... with banjos, trumpets and similar.

Series and Episode Story
The characters are what makes this series so darn fun to watch. All our characters are just purely lovable, adorable, uber cute and did I mention kawaii? This series has no real plot rather, it's episodic. And each episode is full of either laughs, silly antics or super kawaii character interactions and dialogue. For the most part, each of our main characters get an episode or two to themselves, which brings a bit of life to each character and makes them even more lovable.

Episode 2 with the volleyball scene was just a riot. I was laughing so hard my cheeks were cramping up. My god I was cracking up with tears. It was just the pure stupidity of the two girls (Chiyo and Osaka) trying to pass back and forth the ball and how the scene played out. I'm writing this review almost a week after finishing this series and still laughing out loud just remembering the scene. Episodes 11.... another gut wrenching scene. Poor Sakaki always getting bit by the cat on the way, but here she accidenly slaps the cat on Kagura's face.... and the cat just clings there wagging its tail..... hahahahah!! Kagura nonchalantly grabs the cat and tosses it on the ground with a mundane look on her face.... oh my god that was just too funny!

Overall, this series is a pure fun watch with lots of laughs, charm and kawaii characters. There's no violence, no amazing drama, no climatic scenes or demons, monster or other creates from the beyond. Instead, it's just pure storytelling about the simple lives of a group of girls in their high school years. Simple, yet amazingly fun to watch!

Last updated Tuesday, August 17 2010. Created Tuesday, August 17 2010.
Buy 8 8 7 8 8 8 Anonymous #3161 [series:456#3161]
Simply outrageous.

Last updated Tuesday, September 15 2009. Created Tuesday, September 15 2009.
Buy 9 9 9 9 9 9 Ggultra2764 [series:456#1552]
The Pros: Azumanga Daioh is a series that puts a comedic, slice-of-life twist on the perils of high school life for the students and teachers. Each episode is actually 5 mini-episodes within a 20-minute block that centers on a certain aspect of one of the characters told in comical fashion. The series features key events within the lives of the female students, which include culture festivals, final exams, summer vacation, and even lectures from the teachers. Each of the girls have their own different personalities to admire and even laugh it from spacey Osaka, child prodigy Chiyo, energetic but untalented Tomo, level-headed Yomi, cute-loving Sakaki, and athletic Kagura. Viewers will also get a chance to laugh at the teachers as they can laugh over the childish antics of English teacher Yukari, the love woes of gym teacher Nyamo, and the questionable tastes of history teacher Kimura. Interactions between these personalities make for much of the hilarity in the series, especially between Yomi and Tomo. This is a series that will make those who underwent the perils of high school life laugh as they reminisce of those days they endured. In terms of animation, the series character designs maintain the looks they had from the manga series, including the super-deformed comedic sequences. The music features a whimsical soundtrack that flows well with the craziness of everyday life that the girls face.

The Cons: Like most comedy anime, Azumanga Daioh’s comedic gags can get repetitious at times, the most of which being on Yomi’s problems with Tomo’s silly antics. In addition, the series is an acquired taste and will not appeal to some anime fans, especially those of fast-moving action titles.

Facts on the Series:

-Based on the manga series written by Kiyohiko Azuma, which is also licensed by A.D Vision.

-The series was originally broadcasted in Japan in five-minute blocks for each of the mini-episodes throughout the week. The mini-episodes broadcasted during the week would be shown in a half-hour block at the end of the week to air it like a half-hour anime series.

Last updated Wednesday, January 09 2008. Created Sunday, January 06 2008.
Buy 7 8 8 6 7 8 SnowBall [series:456#2187]
This is a show that will win you over by its character development and charm. I first discovered Azumanga in AMV Hell 3 (which Azumanga takes up about a quarter of the music videos in it). Considering it was used so much in the amv, and the silly style displayed commonly throughout the AMV made me wanna check it out. Few days later I've seen the whole series and was quite sad for it to be over. I really clinged to the characters by the end and even reflected some on my days in High School. The character devlopment was pretty good, and all of their personalities intertwining was quite comical most of the time. Overall I loved the story. Check this out if your looking for some good innocent (yet often silly and outrageous) comedy.

Last updated Monday, February 20 2006. Created Monday, February 20 2006.
Buy Stretch [series:456#628]
I was warned in advance by other websites that despite all the praise it has gotten, Azumanga Daioh "would not be for everyone", might be a "love-it-or-hate-it" series, and might not appeal to those who do not feel particularly nostalgic about their days in high school. My initial impression was that this series was mildly amusing, and worth a watch, but hardly the Anime Gods' gift to mankind as all the stars and high ratings would lead a person to believe. It never did make me laugh-out-loud more than a handful of times (I think my favorite was when Osaka suggested a compromise between the two factions of the class who couldn't agree whether they should create a tea shop with a cutesy motiff, or a haunted house for the school festival). Nevertheless, somehow this series grew on me. There was enough comedy to keep me interested, and silently, insidiously, the characters became so familiar, so charming, and so believable that I felt sad when they graduated and the series came to an end--as if genuine friends of mine were going their own ways and I would probably never see them again. I think that's the true secret to the popularity of this series--though it plays an important part, it's not really the comedy that makes this show work. I have bought my own set of DVDs, and although I have a mountain of unwatched anime on hand, I've rewatched the series once and will almost certainly do so again.

Last updated Tuesday, February 05 2008. Created Thursday, September 01 2005.
Buy Forbin [series:456#1573]
Drama : Low/Med
Comedy : High
Action : Low
SciFi : None
Ecchi : None
Finished! The Culture Fest is my Favorite Episode. Chiyo-chan in the penguin suit was so cute!
This is a very funny anime. When it ended, I felt a little empty as I wanted to see more of their Antics. Suprisingly this is very episodic. Meaning no episode is really connected to the others (Well except for the Yukari mobile :) ). In fact, when it is over the only real progression that I saw was with Sakaki. I did wonder why they brought in Kagura and sorta phased out Kaorin in the middle.
Of course before seeing this anime, you MUST have watched a few other ones or you won't get half of the jokes. They do not explain a lot of the regional things going on such as the Summer Festival or Culture Fest. So this should not be your first anime, more like your 50th. Then you will find this a riot, especially Osaka.
BTW This is really meant to be a girls Anime, the men involved have about 3 seconds on the screen before they are forgotten (Such as a CLAMP show). Well except for the Pervert Sensei who is in love with Kaorin. (The Garden scene was priceless!)

Last updated Tuesday, February 15 2005. Created Tuesday, December 28 2004.
Buy 10 9 10 8 8 7 Pingu [series:456#1578]
Azumanga Daioh is a nice school comedy based of a bunch of high school girls and their fellow teachers who go through your everyday school life and adventures. Dont think this is another tybical saucey anime. Well it aint.
However be warned, this anime may be too cute for some and you wont be finding any violence or nudity. Well actually just a bunch of teens in swim suits.
Azumanga Daioh packs laughter and heaps of humor. You wont find lots of sadness or sympathy so the mood of the series stay happy, which is good. Therefore its hard to get bored of it.
Animations are nice but the storyline however doesnt have much to it. Though you dont beed it anyway considering it takes place most of the time in a school ground.
Other than that Azumanga was one of the most famous manga in Japan and is definitly one of my favourites. It's easy to fall in love with one of the characters. If you like cuteness and humor, do yourself a favour and pick up the boxset.

Last updated Wednesday, September 08 2004. Created Tuesday, September 07 2004.
Watch 8 9 7 7 5 9 Devil Doll [series:456#752]
[Score: 71% = Watch+; similar but better girls-only high school friends story: K-ON!]
It is quite difficult for me to rate this series. On one hand, I completely failed to understand why this would be so funny the first time I watched some episodes of it. But after several recommendations I rewatched it now, knowing a little more about the Japanese culture, and this made quite a difference. This time I liked it and couldn't wait to see each subsequent episode. Still, I have problems to remember what this show actually was about.

The strong aspects of this series for me are the fun elements and the use of SD presentation. As other reviews said it before, you never know for sure when and whom it's going to hit next, and that's part of the fun.
On the other side, this still isn't quite my type of series somehow. There is only little storyline, there is not enough development of the characters (perhaps Kagura is performing best in that category, and Osaka may well surprise the audience now and then), and you don't get to know much about each character except for their obvious stereotypical attributes. I'd really like to learn more about Kagura, Yomi, and Sakaki.
So what's left is how much one likes the characters as they are shown - and I had quite a few problems with them at first. Many of them are too annoying and one-dimensional for my taste, be that Yukari-sensei, Kimura-sensei, Kagura (in her early stage) and most of all, Tomo the Tomboy. On the other hand, while I began to like Osaka, Yomi and even Kaori when they had their own episodes focusing on their characters, I immediately liked Nyamo-sensei, Chiyo-chan and especially Sakaki-san. Therefore it is obvious that my favourite episodes are 21 (the Okinawa trip) and 24 (Yamapikarya).

If you want to go on a fun ride, this show may well be your first choice. Just don't expect too much of it, and be prepared for many subtle puns that require a lot of understanding about the Japanese culture. And if you did like this show, I guess you'd like NieA_7 as well.
Just one more note about the fan-service. I wouldn't agree there is none - it is just more subtle (girls talking about the size of their breasts, several thigh shots, and a lecherous teacher) than in, say, Love Hina or Hanaukyo Maid Tai. One might compare it to Kanon in this aspect.

Last updated Thursday, April 21 2011. Created Saturday, August 21 2004.
Rent 8 8 8 5 10 Curi [series:456#1429]
Series story gets a 10, because there is no story. It's just the tracking of high school girls and their everyday lives.
This reminded me of when I was a high school student in Japan, complete with all the stereotypes. You have the overly cute, tiny genius. You have the fish out of water. You have the amazingly energetic jock who can't beat anyone at anything. You have the sullen girl.
And since it's based on a comic strip instead of an actual manga, you have no plot. But that works for it somehow, allowing directions the series couldn't otherwise take.
I loved the teachers, and most of all, Osaka-chan.

Last updated Saturday, June 12 2004. Created Saturday, June 12 2004.
Rent 8 9 10 9 7 7 Marcus [series:456#679]
Azumanga Daioh is definitely funny, but it's funny in a Japanese kind of way. There is a definite "Japanese" sense of humour, and if you don't like it you probably won't enjoy this series. Many of the jokes have a cultural basis, poking fun at everything from regional dialects to boxed lunches to caligraphy....even fan service gets one in the eye! Of course, this means that if you're not familiar with Japanese culture you'll wonder what's so funny. You might want to watch this with a Japanese friend or someone who knows a bit about the country, in order to fully enjoy it.
At its heart, Azumanga Daioh is about the everyday lives of 'normal' high-school girls. But, of course, the characters all have their unique personalities, quirks and weaknesses. In fact the characterisation is the best aspect of the series, so you may enjoy just watching the characters play off each other and getting themselves into trouble, even if you don't get all the jokes.
Personally I think this series is very good, but I can easily see how people could find it too strange and over-the-top. So rent a few episodes first and make up your own mind.

Last updated Wednesday, December 03 2003. Created Sunday, October 19 2003.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 10 Ashibaka [series:456#575]
This is the best darn anime ever. :)
BTW, I am giving it all 10s not because it is the best anime ever, but because it deserves 10 in each of those categories. In no way could this anime have been improved.

Last updated Wednesday, September 03 2003. Created Wednesday, September 03 2003.
Rent 5 5 8 9 Greg Bread [series:456#763]
I can understand how the bright colours and childish humour would turn people off from this series immediantly.
The episodes are split into several different shorts, Each short usually deals with an area pertaning to a characters conflict. The plot doesnt advance much and there is no enemy to defeat, its just a bunch of highschool girls going about thier lives.
The characters all have a unique personality and are very likable, the conflicting attitudes and situations they get into is what makes this show so great. Its constantly entertaining and it grows on you.
The part about chiyo-chans father is the funniest thing I have ever seen.
N e ways I'd suggest you watch a couple fansubbed episodes of the series, just to see if you'd like it. It's not for everybody

Last updated Thursday, June 12 2003. Created Thursday, June 12 2003.
Buy 8 8 10 8 0 9 AstroNerdBoy [series:456#436]
Watch the opening of this series -- never has opening music ("Soramimi Cake") and animation better expressed what the show is about -- nothing but manic fun!

There is no story to Azumanga Daioh as that's not the point of this series. Each episode is comprised of five shorts. These mini-episodes are usually only loosely related though sometimes they are more connected. Each story deals with a slice of high school life as we follow six high school girls, thier female English teacher and female gym teacher, and the a lecherous male teacher. There's also a lesbian girl who shows up from time to time.

The 26 episodes cover a time period from when they first enter high school until they graduate three years later. What are subjects covered in these tales? How about Chiyo-chan's pigtails? Or getting rid of hiccups. Or trying to pet a neighborhood cat. Or speaking in English. Or having dust in one's eyes. Or eating lunch early. Or taking a trip to Okinawa? Basically, things that are done in everyday life is explored here with very funny results.

The cast of characters and their seiyuu's are the shows main asset combined with the ultra-kawaii factor. The series wouldn't work if we didn't believe these girls were truely friends. The seiyuu's bring life to their characters that is just amazing. And while some jokes are predictable, you never know just when it's going to hit. Who knew anticipation could increase the humor factor?

Bottom line: Very cute, very funny, very likeable characters (minus the lecherous teacher who got on my nerves and the lesbian chick that didn't do a thing for me), and funny little stories make this a must-see!

Additional: The DVD from ADV isn't as bad as I feared, but "senpai" always being translated as "senior" is cringy as is all of the high school girls normally addressed as "-san" called "Miss." They have left the "-chan" honorifics in the subs though.

Last updated Tuesday, May 04 2004. Created Thursday, March 20 2003.

Buy 5 5 7 5 5 Mark Clifton [series:456#126]
~~~~Wheeeeeeeeeee!~~~~
This is a really funny series, lots of laughs and just absolutely insane. I have had so much fun watching this series. People who watch this anime series will fall in love with the characters... my favorites are Chiyo-chan and Osaka!
Though the animation is lacking, it is still a surprisingly splended series, probably a sleeper hit.
If you like girls and halarious comedy, this is your meal ticket... grab it!

Last updated Thursday, January 16 2003. Created Thursday, January 16 2003.
Buy 5 5 6 7 mamerite [series:456#407]
Azumanga Daioh is a silly and light-hearted high-school comedy series. This series is very, very funny. It is also a very unpredictable show--there have been very few times when I have been watching this where I could figure out in advance what would happen. That is a quality which I definitly like.
The action also often takes a fairly random turn for the surreal--for example, going from a scene where the girls are walking home during sunset to a sequence with them running around and playing in the clouds. The dream episode (around number 10 or 11) is one of the strangest things I've ever seen.
The music may be too cutesy for some people, but I liked it, and it fits well with the action and general feel of the show.
While this may or may not be an issue with people, Azumanga Daioh is definitely a family-friendly show, so to speak. There is no fanservice to speak of in this series, which may be a good or bad thing, depending on who you are.
The one major flaw with this series is the artwork and animation. While the artwork is not actually bad, and the characters are pretty well-designed, it simply doesn't compare with most anything else. There are also a few sequences here and there that get a bit too drawn out.
All in all, Azumanga Daioh is a wildly funny and entertaining series with a tendency towards unpredictability and wierdness. I highly recommend it.

Last updated Monday, October 21 2002. Created Monday, October 21 2002.

Other Sites
NameURL
Azumanga Daioh http://www.azumanga.tv/
Azumanga Daioh Episode Guide http://www.xerez.demon.co.uk/anime/azumanga/
A small site with some information about the show.
Adfilms http://www.advfilms.com/titles/azumanga/
Official Adfilm site. Has plenty of downloads for you

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