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Plot Synopsis

Azumanga Daioh is a slice of life anime that follows six friends throughout their three years of high school. There is no overarching plot other than following the experiences of these six characters through high school; however, Azumanga Daioh still succeeds on its strong cast of characters and their interactions. The main characters are all female, and the friends - and their teachers - get into some very interesting and hilarious situations. They are: Tomo, the energetic one with no self control, Yomi, Tomo's...'friend' through all their school years, Chiyo, the 10 year old genius, Osaka, the airhead, Sakaki, the tall, athletic and shy one with a thing for cats, and Kagura, the athlete and self-proclaimed rival of Sakaki.

Credits: destati

Story & Characters

Azumanga Daioh has not plot. No one is out to save or destroy the world, there's no teenage romance, no fantasy magic, no evil demons that need to be hunted down to retrive the 80000th piece of a shattered sword some hero was stupid enough to accidently break when he tripped over his own feet and dropped it down a bottomless pit a couple hundred years back. Azumanga Daioh is about the everyday life of six typical teenage girls making it through high school. There is no series-long plot; every episode actually consists of a couple of different mini-episodes that highlight an ordinary situation such as the arrival of a new transfer student or the school's sports festival. One might think that this sort of storytelling would become boring quite easily, but the opposite is true.

The great fun-ness that is Azumanga comes from the unique, quirky characters. We have Tomo, the loud, attention-craving, lazy underachiever; Yomi, her best friend who's much more cynical and loves to eat; Sakaki, the quiet, athletic one who loves cats but, to her dismay, discovers cats like to munch on her hands rather than be petted; Kagura, Osaka, the airheaded, daydreaming Osakan transfer student; and Chiyo, the 10 year old genius student. The students aren't the only ones that make the series great, however, we have the teachers as well: Yuakri-sensei, the girls' homeroom teacher who's late to class because she's out buying Playstation games during lunch hour; Kurosawa-sensei, the gym teacher whom everyone loves much to Yukari-sensei's jealous dismay; and Kimura-sensei, the guy who became a teacher "cause he likes high school girls and stuff!"

I must admit that the first couple of episodes didn't fully draw me in immediately--I thought they were funny, but I was still looking for some sort of plot. When I realized there really wasn't one, I also realized that this was a very refreshing realization. It's a nice break from the action and drama-packed mainstream anime, and there's just something charming about watching Kamineko chomp on Sakaki's hand, or Osaka dreaming about accidently killing Chiyo by knocking her pigtails off. The story isn't flawless, though: It does drag very slighty at some points, probably because every episode is a collection of small vingettes that typically don't have much to do with one another, and if you're a die-hard action/drama fan, you're probably not going to like the refreshing sense of quirky normality (if that's possible) of this series.

Rating

9 (very good)

Art

The animation of Azumanga is smooth and clean. It's fully digital, though, so that's to be expected. The color schemes reflect the lighthearteness of the show: Everything is done in light, fluffy colors, and the style of anime also reflects the non-fantasy, everyday likeness of the show. The backgrounds tend not to be anything special, just normal buildings and environments. The characters are drawn so as to reflect their personality, and it's easy to tell who's who even when they're all wearing their uniforms.

Rating

7 (above average)

Sound

The minute the opening song starts, you are pulled into a quirky world of happy, fun, lightheartedness. Every piece of background music fits the mood of the scene and the overall show perfectly, and I challenge anyone to not catch themselves happily humming one of the upbeat songs as they walk away from watching an episode.

The voice actresses are extremely talened in both the original and dubbed version: The dub I was especially impressed with, as the English voice actresses sounded very close to the original Japanese ones, which preserved each character's personality quite well.

Rating

8 (good)

Presentation

Azumanga Daioh has been described as Japan's Charlie Brown, and it is very much so. There is no cliched or story-driven tragic plot, no tense final battles, no hormonal love story (No, Kimura-sensei does not count!), nothing to get in the way of the simple, charming, everyday life of six normal high school girls. How Azumanga manages to make such everyday conversation about hiccups, bra sizes, and test scores humurous and interesting just shows how greatly the (lack of) story is told. Every situation, although perhaps not monotonous and a little out of the ordinary, is nevertheless believable, and perhaps that is part of the charm--we can all identify or relate to one bit or another.

The sweet, refreshing charm of Azumanga is what makes me be able to watch it over and over again, at any time, without getting tired of it. This would be a great series to introduce someone to anime, and a jewel to add to any appreciative veteren's anime collection as well.

Rating

9 (very good)

Final Verdict

8.50 (very good)

Reviewed by MenchiBurger, 3y 36wk ago