Azumanga Daioh Review (Anime)

Azumanga Daioh has been described as the "Seinfeld of anime", and that is pretty accurate.  It is a show about nothing.  There is no real overarching plot.  There are no real heroes or villains.  It is just a group of high school girls in Japan doing normal Japanese high school girl stuff.  But it is one of the funniest and sweetest and just plain fun shows to watch that you'll find.


In Japan, Azumanga Daioh aired as 5-minute mini-episodes in-between other shows.  On the weekend, it was shown as one full 25-minute episode.  The complete series is made up of 130 of those 5-minute sections put together into 26 25-minute episodes.  Got it? 

The basics of Azumanga Daioh is that it follows a group of high school girls all the way through their three years of high school.  This means three sports fests, two culture fests,, lots of studying, lots of cramming for college entrance exams, a class trip, and mostly a lot of goofing around.  The strength of the show lies squarely in just how great and likable most of the characters are.  They are doing a whole lot of seemingly boring, everyday stuff, but the characters make it interesting.

I'll only cover the highlights instead of everyone.

Chiyo-chan is a 10 year old genius who was allowed to skip ahead to high school.  She is annoying and I hate her. 

Miss. Sakaki is taller than everyone else, athletic, smart, quiet, and shy.  She loves animals, but animals, for whatever reason, don't love her.  A running joke in the series is her encounters with a neighborhood cat the usually ends up with her getting bit.  Sakaki is the only character with any real depth through the series, and is my favorite.  I love Sakaki.

The rest of the cast include a hyper "wildcat idiot", Tomo, a boring bespectacled girl who is Tomo's best friend, Yomi, an exotic looking athletic girl named Kagura, and a really stupid transfer student from Osaka who they nickname Osaka on the first day and her real name is forgotten from there after.  Three teachers also play regular roles - Miss Yukari, the girls' homeroom teach who is a bad driver and generally kind of a bad teacher.  Miss Kurosawa, the PE teacher and Yukari's childhood friend.  And Mr. Kimura, a pervert.

All of these characters come together for some really funny and entertaining episodes.  This is one of the few series I can re-watch over and over again and not skip any episodes.  Pretty much everything is good, aside from the first episode which is super Chiyo heavy.  My favorite highlights from the series include -

-A yearly trip to Chiyo's summer home.   One year, Miss Kurosawa gets drunk on Sake and tells the girls all sorts of wild sexy tales from her past.  You don't actually hear what she is saying, but the reactions of the girls are pretty hilarious.

-New Years Dreams.  Having a dream on New Year's Eve is supposed to come true, but the girls have goofy funny dreams.

-Osaka.  Osaka says and does ridiculously stupid and funny stuff.  Things like telling a story about smelling a fart that "wasn't mine", or telling a story about killing Chiyo's dog and father and asking what she would do.  Or when she suggests a culture fest exhibit starring dead animals.  Osaka is great.

-Miss Sakaki.  She starts off kind of cold, but by the end it is hard not to love her.  Also, towards the end of the series when she finally finds a cat that doesn't hate her, it is one of the sweetest things ever.  What happens a few episodes later with that same cat (think Homeward Bound but in reverse ...) is also pretty amazing.  I'll admit it, I tear up a little because it is the best thing ever and you feel so happy for Sakaki. 

-Mr. Kimura.  He's a pervert, which makes the girls uncomfortable, but is funny for the audience.  The best part is when a student asks him why he became a teacher, and he replies "Because I like high school girls, thats why!".  Classic.

The show overall has a clean, but sort of simple art style.  It has to be said that even though the show is about super cute high school girls, some with great bodies (I'm talking about Sakaki and Kagura, here), there is pretty much zero fan service.  This isn't a show about bouncing breasts and panty shots and over-sexualizing the characters like a lot of animes do.  It is just good, clean, PG-rated fun.

A real standout in Azumanga Daioh is the music.  There are a few different themes that get re-used through the series, but they never grate on you even after you hear them a hundred times.  It is always catchy and nice to listen to. 

All in all, Azumanga Daioh is a great series.  It is one of the funniest anime I have ever watched, and has really great characters that you really like by the end.  It is also refreshingly normal and realistic in a world where anime is generally expected to be over the top.  It is a show about nothing, but that is why it is fun to watch.  I highly recommend it.  I give Azumanga daioh a 9/10 or three Iriomote Cats.

You can buy the complete series at Amazon in a 6-disc set for around $40 (though, when I bought mine 4 months ago it was much cheaper, so shop around).  Azumanga Daioh: The Complete Series at Amazon