Azumanga Daioh

Azumanga Daioh is a manga by Azuma Kiyohiko that was made into an anime in 2002.

The manga consists of four panel comic strips which were published in the magazine "Dengeki Daioh". While Westerners are used to this and similar formats, known as "4-koma" in Japan, a full-length manga series being composed of them is almost unheard of.

The anime was broadcast in five-minute segments every weekday, and as a 25-minute compilation each weekend. Thus there are 130 five-minute episodes which can also be seen as 26 25-minute episodes.

Both the manga and the anime follow the trials and triumphs of everyday life in a Japanese high school. Six schoolgirls and two teachers make up the main cast with a few secondary characters including a creepy male teacher and another girl in the same grade who seems to have a crush on Sakaki, one of the main characters.

At first Azumanga Daioh appears to be normal high school type anime, but actually is quite unique in its focus on everyday events rather then the common staples of magic, aliens, robots, monsters, and apocalyptic disasters. We follow Sakaki's obsession with neighborhood cats, Chiyo's struggle to find acceptance in an age group far above her own, Yomi's patience with a rather silly best friend, and get to see yearly accounts of summer vacation, holidays, tests, and athletic events. Often surreal and certainly silly, Azumanga Daioh is a unique addition to any anime fans collection.

Four of the girls made it into Newtype Magazine's top 100 anime heroines of 2002: Osaka came 7th, Chiyo-chan 11th, Sakaki 21st, and Yomi 78th. Together they made Azumanga Daioh the joint 2nd most popular series of 2002 for female characters.

Main Characters

• Yukari Tanizaki (谷崎 ゆかり) - English teacher. Selfish, irresponsible, miserly, and generally dysfunctional. The series focuses on her class.

• Minamo Kurosawa, a.k.a. "Nyamo" (黒沢 みなも) - Gym teacher. An old friend and rival of Yukari's. Far more in-control then her, although she has her own faults.

• Chiyo Mihama (美浜 ちよ) - Child prodigy, who has skipped five grades and is still at the top of the class. Has rich parents who never seem to be around. Best friends with Sakaki.

• Tomo Takino (滝野 智) - This girl somehow manages to be extremely driven and a slacker at the same time. She irritates everyone around her to no end.

• Koyomi Mizuhara, a.k.a. "Yomi" (水原 暦) - A grade-school friend (...or perhaps that's the wrong word) of Tomo's. Quite mature and serious, diets periodically.

• Sakaki (榊) - A large, quiet girl with a tough exterior through no fault of her own. An incredible athlete, even though she's not particularly interested in sports. Her secret passion is all things cute, especially animals, and very especially cats; unfortunately, cats hate her for some unknown reason.

• Ayumu Kasuga, a.k.a. "Osaka" (春日 歩) - A transfer student from Osaka, as you might guess. Not actually dumb, but... narcoleptic and absent-minded to an extreme. Nevertheless, a sweet girl, and a good friend of Chiyo's.

• Kagura (神楽) - A later acquaintance who devotes most of her life to the swim team. Has a rather one-sided friendship with Sakaki.

Minor Characters

• Kimura (木村) - Creepy classics teacher. Obsessed with high-school girls, especially Kaorin. He has a wife and daughter, who love him despite his strange obsession.

• Kaori Aida, a.k.a. "Kaorin" - Not much is known about her other then her massive crush on Sakaki. In her senior year, Kimura transferred her into his class, much to Kaorin's dismay.

• Chihiro - A classmate. Nothing is known except the name.

• Chiyo-chichi - A strange catlike creature that appears in Sakaki's dreams. Claims to be Chiyo's father.

External Links

• Wonderland, an Azumanga Daioh fansite
• Everyone's goin', "What in the heck?", the official English site
• Azumanga TV Daioh, the official Japanese site