Azumanga Daioh

July 30, 2008 at 7|50|pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: manga, review, shojo

It’s amazing when you look closely at Azumanga Daioh, just how different it is from other school comedies.

For instance, there is no adorable blushy love triangle.

There are no incidents of girls having to be carried to the nurse’s office.

And there are no paranormal twists such as seeing the past (Land of the Blindfolded), leading past lives (Please Save My Earth), or having a robotic lover (*shudder* Absolute Boyfriend).

Instead, you’ve got a main cast of six girls and two teachers, very talented pigtails, a stuffed cat dressed as Santa, very bad hiccups, and…

Well.  I could go on forever with this mysterious, catchy-sounding review blah blah blah, but I know most of you want me to get straight to the story.

Basically, Azumanga Daioh is about eight main characters.  There’s the fanatical English teacher Miss Yukari, who throws chalk at students more often than she teaches them.  Her complete opposite is her best friend Nyamo, the gym teacher, who’s more easy-going and definitely a lot smarter.  Their students include: Tomo, the most annoying girl you’ll ever meet (but really, you’ve got to love her); Yomi, a studious brunette with glasses and a fixation on her weight; diminuitive little Chiyo-chan, ten years old and already starting high school; Kagura, whose athleticism is nearly unsurpassed; Sakaki, who looks tough and hard but really only wants a cuddly plushie; and Osaka, who dreams about flying and giant cat plushies when she should be paying attention in class.

Sound confusing?  It is, a little.  But it’s goddamn funny.  Almost every page made me laugh out loud, and the ones that didn’t made me smile.  There are even some moments that made me go, “Aww,” and wish for a friendship like the ones the girls share, like the scene at the graduation ceremony or their winter outing to karaoke and dinner (cut short by a very rude appearance by… well… I won’t tell you yet.)

You know how some reviewers say that a manga isn’t for everyone?  I’m not going to tell you that.  I’m going to say that Azumanga Daioh is a must-read for any manga fan out there.  Because no matter what genre you like, how old you are, or how much you hate hate hate teenaged girls in school uniforms, this manga will definitely bring a smile to your face.

And if it doesn’t?  Well, fuhgeddaboudit.