"Azumanga daiô" (2002) TV series

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Director:

Nishikiori Hiroshi

Seasons:

1

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Tagline:

School goes crazy

Plot:

A humorous and highly unpredictable animated series following a group of high school girls and their teachers.

Plot Keywords:

High School | Love | Manga | Friendship | Emotionally Vulnerable

Cast

Tomoko Kaneda	...	Chiyo Mihama (26 episodes, 2002)
Yuki Matsuoka	...	Ayumu Kasuga / ... (26 episodes, 2002)
Chieko Higuchi	...	Tomo Takino (26 episodes, 2002)
Rie Tanaka	...	Koyomi Mizuhara / ... (26 episodes, 2002)
Yu Asakawa	...	Sakaki (26 episodes, 2002)

Also Known As:

"Azumanga Daioh" (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:24 min (26 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | Germany:12 (episodes 1-7, 20-26) | Germany:6 (episodes 8-14) | Germany:o.Al. (episodes 15-19) | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:12 | Australia:PG | Canada:PG | UK:12 (part 1) | UK:PG (part 2) | Australia:MA

Company:

J.C. Staff

Trivia:

Episode #21, there was a name Tomoko Kaneda (the voice of Chiyo-chan), amongst staff list of key animators. What drawing she did was never revealed, though it is suspected that it is the depressed Chiyo-chan scribble at the start of the episode

Quotes:

Kimura: So how'd it go?
[he fixes his glasses]
Koyomi Mizuhara: How did what go?
Kimura: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding... ding!
[he leaves]
Koyomi Mizuhara: What the heck was that?
Sakaki: A bell?
Koyomi Mizuhara: Like the bell when you're in a game show? I don't get it.

Movie Connections:

Follows Azumanga daioh (2001)

Soundtrack:

Soramimi Cake

loveable, oddball characters at a Japanese high school

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".