The music of the show matches it perfectly. Composed by Masaki Kurihara, the score is truly hard to describe. The best way to describe it would be light, peppy, and somewhat circuslike. The animation is not the best you'll see in anime, but it's very good nonetheless. Lack of movement and repetition are used to comedic effect with great results. The character designs are more realistic than something like Sailor Moon and the use of color is excellent. The English dub of this show, done by ADV Films, is actually quite good. The actresses do a fine job with the characters and get better with each subsequent DVD.
Azumanga Daioh is not an anime series that will appeal to everyone. Japanese humor is quite different from American or British humor and for some people, the laughs will be lost in translation. In addition, since the anime has virtually no male characters that interact with the girls, some will think of it as an indulgent male fantasy. They will think that it's all about cute, innocent girls being...well, cute and innocent especially since the creator is male and the manga ran in a magazine targeted towards men. I think there is a bit more to Azumanga Daioh than that. Azumanga Daioh is an idealistic look at that portion of your life that brings about the end of childhood. This show is purposely devoid of all of the problems that teenagers face during their time in high school including sex, violence, drugs, peer pressure, and overall angst. Azumanga Daioh focuses on the good things, the things you look back on fondly. It celebrates something that, apart from religion, can help people through both the best and worst times...friendship. That is something that everyone can relate to.
Azumanga Daioh is currently available on DVD in six individual volumes from ADV Films. A thinpak boxset of the show will be released in September.
Article comments
1 - Uchenna Kema
A nice summary of the series. Its honest practcal and it describes it well. Keep up the good work!