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Description:
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Plot
A handful of high school girls? Check. A super smart kid who ruins the curve for her older counter-parts? Check. A lecherous teacher? Check. All of these elements make Azumanga Daioh, but the way they are brought together proves that this show is worth more than the sum of its parts.
Upon first glance, you might assume that Azumanga Daioh was your standard issue, "getting through high school drama", when in fact, it is a riotously funny adventure through the trials of high school.
The show is one, all-too-short, season that encapsulates all four years of high school, including festivals, school trips, ambitions and college hunting; oh, and there are lots of cats.
Audio and Visuals
Boasting a solid soundtrack (or rather, collection of them), the show manages to stay fresh and cheeky, while also having depth enough to explore more candid moments when characters take a moment from their school lives to peer deeply into their personal lives and ambitions.
The voice actors and the seiyuu sound fairly similar, which is a nice surprise. Both sets easily convey the full spectrum of emotion that the varieties of characters require. It is a refreshing change of pace to not have to completely swear off a version of the show because the voice acting is bad, or even just "different". The only thing worth noting here is that ADV falls back on making Ayamu "Osaka" Kasuga sound like she is from the south, but it isn't a strong enough difference that it should really bother anyone.
The animation is crisp and clear. Colorfully and cleanly rendered enough that the style will maintain its illusion of being new, without having the "future is shiny" approach to animation that is so popular these days.
Overall Thoughts
Part of the brilliance of this show is how they turned the original manga, which were essentially comic strips, into cohesive shows.
The other particularly striking part of it is that you never feel like high school will be forever. Every so often in the show, more or less spaced evenly, the show will reference a new year starting, either punctuated with a summer trip, or a consideration on growing up. They steadily, but wearily grow to take their positions as seniors, while you grow with them, seeing what will turn into memories along the way as these young adults work their way to the next steps of their lives.
Flaws
The major flaw with Azumanga Daioh, (in the version released by ADV), is how much local humor is seeded within the script. ADV does its best to include several references in the books that come with the DVDs, but it is not nearly as convenient as it was when I first watched the fansubbed version. It may help to keep the booklets nearby when you watch them.
Also, it is interesting to note that a few of the more lewd jokes fail to make it into the dub, mostly because there was no real English equivalent. However, the show tends to be gracefully innocent, especially when you consider the main characters are all high school girls.
Final Verdict: 9.0/10
Official website at www.advfilms.com/titles/azumanga
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Keywords:
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high school, cats, summer, everyday life, events, osaka
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Sound & Graphics:
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Excellent
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Entertainment Value:
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Excellent
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Replay Value:
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Very Good
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Plot:
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Average
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Genre:
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Comedy, High School, Seinen
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Episodes:
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26
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Studio:
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J.C.STAFF
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Anime Online
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