Azumanga Daioh! Of course, I’m talking about the animation and not the Manga for this is a review team that reviews anime, not manga. Get over it!
It’s a 26 episode comedy series that follows the average day life of a group of friends at school. Very cliché. However, every “average” day is filled with comedy filled moments. It’s a concept much like Seinfeld, so this particular anime series is very special (and I’m not talking about the blag-eh-guh special). What I mean is that this particular series stands out amongst the others because it is the first anime series that we’ve seen ever that isn’t about half-naked girls running around with their obscenely huge boobage flopping around hitting innocent bystanders in their faces. It’s a series about a group of girls experiencing high school life. Sure there are moments of where sexy like things become a topic, but it’s done in a respectful manner. There’s no “hey my breasts are bigger” and then they actually compare chest sizes. There’s none of that, just discussion in a comedic fashion.
You meet all kinds of animated characters, each with their own history and characteristics. The series brings these characters to life in ways you’ve never thought possible. Especially that Mr. Kimura guy who looks like a perverted zombie and needs to have his head destroyed. I recommend a sledgehammer, BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, the characters are very entertaining to watch as they try to overcome many obstacles in the most ridiculous way they know how.
The voice acting is also incredibly good. The voice actors portray these characters as if they were actually them and are actually talking to each other in real life, you can’t detect any signs of “acting” in the dialog because the voices sound natural and realistic. Well, okay, you get some scenes where you can detect the “acting” easily, but that’s beside the point! I can say the same for the English Dub. Now if they can only get these English voice actors to voice act in certain English Dubbed Japanese games then the world would be a better place.
Although the series is rather short, it is an enjoyable one and when it finally ends you cry your little eyes out because the group of friends in the series that you’ve just became friends with have grown up and are now departing to begin their own lives. So now you’re left with the wonderful memories of that wonderful, comedy-filled journey.
Now, we were upset with the fact that the anime version left out so much great material that where professionally crafted in Kiyohiko Azuma’s infamous four-panel comic strips. So many stories and jokes were left untold that would’ve done well in the anime version. Sometimes we reread the manga to fill in some of the gaps so we can fully enjoy the Azumanga Daioh experience. We recommend you do the same.
Occasionally we’d rewatch the episodes. The comedic moments aren’t at funny as when we’ve first watched the series, but they are still very amusing.
So overall we give Azumanga Daioh a 5 out of 5. While there are better anime series out there in terms of art and story, this series gets a 5 out of 5 because of its uniqueness! And we love anime series that stand out amongst the others.
Here’s something that I NEED to point out. And that is the character of Tomo Takino. Many find her completely annoying and all I have to say is that if you find Ms. Takino annoying then you’ve never had a cheerful, energetic, and optimistic friend who knew how to lighten the mood you miserable person.
