Azumanga daiô

See, there can be a situation comedy basically about nothing but doesn't harp on dating relationships and sex! It's so uproariously funny in many places I got both the manga and the 5 DVD anime.

No one save the lecherous Kimura has a significant other. There's too many American TV shows depicting singles whether there be teen or adult as being perpetually seeking love. In the course of this too short series none of the girl students date. There's only one episode in this series that deals with teachers dating--These characters present us with other concerns to laugh about--Pet Obsessions, hero worship, who is the smarter teacher, petty jealousy, catching a cold, etc. "Daioh" stands out even among it's anime fellow no magical quests, no titanic battles of universal good versus universal evil. The only universal elements is the day to day progress of life and for those who can find humor it's in the characters' a tickling the funny bone.

Now, this is what I've been waiting for! An anime series without spells, heartless villains and destroyed world. Not that I don't like these either but it was about time to watch a simple, beautiful and amazingly funny story like Azumanga Daioh. There is no plot in this show, instead we get to see the everyday life of six girls with different characters throughout their three high-school years. Sounds boring but believe me, it's not. It's so funny, it's so weird and surreal at times, it's possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen. The voice cast fits perfectly (I prefer the Japanese voices, they are so much cuter!) and it has one of the greatest music scores I 've heard. Really, the music is so unique and distinctive, cheerful harmonicas and flutes, setting a great mood. it's also very touching and sweet at certain episodes. From all the characters I would say Osaka is the best, she will make you laugh hard with her weird personality.

I really hope more anime series like this will come in the near future.

definitely 10/10

This animation is based on a Japanese comic strip, kind of like Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" in North America. Like the "Peanuts" cartoon each episode is built on short segments taken from the comic strip. It has been shown at a few Toronto anime clubs and I also have seen it on DVD. It was jarring watching the show at first because the episodes are really just a series of short gags and then suddenly we see the next episode preview. We have some anime stereotypes like the loudmouth Tomo, the dimwitted Osaka and the pushy Yukari but some characters seemed fresh like Chiyo a bright ten-year old girl who was advanced all the way to high school. Since Japanese high school covers 15 to 17 year-olds Chiyo is much shorter and physically underdeveloped compared the rest of the class. This leads to recurring gags like when Chiyo acts like an elementary school student or when she can't keep up with the rest in phys ed class. If you search the Internet you should find a few translated comic strips so you can see if this series is right for you but I give it a "thumbs-up".

I usually try to avoid hyperbole - I've studied enough English to know how overdone it can be. And in this case I will avoid hyperbole as well. I can quite honestly say that Azumanga Daioh is the best anime I've ever seen, and probably the best show.

Scratch that, actually. The number of *things* of any form which can match Azumanga can be counted on the fingers of both hands.

In every single episode, I found myself laughing out loud, going "Awwww, sooo cute!", and smiling with just... happiness. This is an idiosyncratic show, but also an incredibly poignant and touching one. I can think of nothing else which touches me so deeply that it makes me cry a tenth as often as And does. In that sense, it is the best feel-good panacea I have ever come across, or heard of. It's possible I am forgetting a Norse myth which spoke of something better, but I doubt it.

The show is also, of course, incredibly funny. Whilst there is the occasional joke lost in translation, or which benefits from a little knowledge of Japanese culture, the vast majority of the humor is accessible to anybody who cares to watch it. It has more classic lines than anything except perhaps Monty Python.

Put simply, this show has everything necessary to be a classic. It is for Azumanga Daioh that anime and television and efficient, modern distribution methods exist. If you have any soul, any joy in your body, I cannot recommend this enough. Import it, track it down in stores, do whatever you can to get a hold of it. Well, anything except theft. Everyone involved with the creation of this masterpiece deserves every penny they are paid, and several edifices to their greatness besides.

Azumanga Daioh (Hiroshi NISHIKIORI, 2002) (based on Kiyohiko AZUMA's comic strip of the same name)

Take the fundamental sweetness of the best of the "Peanuts" TV specials, mix it with the whacked out humor of "Calvin and Hobbes", add in some stylistic homages to Isao Takahata's films (the memory scenes of "Only Yesterday" and his neglected 1999 masterpiece "Our Neighbors the Yamadas") -- and you have anything but a routine anime series. (It also reminds me a bit of the quirky short-lived TV series "Square Pegs" from many years ago). The show follows the lives of seven girls (including one 10 year old genius who skipped middle school) and three teachers (two highly dysfunctional, one _mostly_ sane) through all three years of high school (that's how the system works in Japan). This is mostly side-splittingly funny, though it managed to evoke a few furtive tears before it ended. The characters are everything in this virtually plotless traversal of three years of school (and vacations). Although this series runs for 26 episodes, it ends all too quickly -- I was far from weary of the charming and loveable characters portrayed here. (The best term to describve the show is, of course, Japanese -- "kawai" which means not only ultra-cute but very loveable). This show was immensely popular in Japan, and has recently been licensed for release in the USA (thank you ADV).