Azumanga Daiou The Animation

I'd heard that Azumanga Daioh was a comedy that no one should miss so I started watching.
Mistake number one. Assuming that 4-5 eps wasn't enough to really "get" this anime for what it was: Mistake number two. Most people fall into one of two groups; those that really really like the series and those people like myself that were not impressed by the series in the slightest. If you don't like the series after 4-5 episodes stop watching.

Art:

The art in Azumanga Daioh is decent, not bad but nothing really ground-breaking either.
Rating: 7

Sound:

The voice acting was just about equivalent to the art of ... the series. My opinion of the voice acting in this series is probably biased by the fact that the nature of each character was tied to the voice acting so take this with a grain of salt. **The Japanese sub is very much better than the dub btw
Rating: 7

Character:
Where to begin. Tomo was annoying; no let me rephase that: Tomo was half the reason why I couldn't finish this series for as long as I did. Chiyo and Yomi were probably the better of the major characters in that they managed to not be either annoying, have ADHD or leave long unnecessary pauses in their speech.
Rating: 4

Story:
There isn't one. This is a slice of life anime that took the genre to the extreme. The "jokes" used in the series that everyone seems to find funny for some reason get old pretty quickly. Sakaki getting bitten by cats for example; funny the first few times but after a while it makes you wonder why the series kept reusing it... So goes every other bit of humor in the series. Ah yes the awkward pauses... How could I forget... This is the only series I could find that does this and for good reason.
Rating: 4

Enjoyment:
I didn't really enjoy watching the series much. I have a need to finish animes once I start them; so Azumanga Daioh ended up being an anime that I've had to force myself to complete. That's not a good sign.
Rating: 4

Overall:
Azumanga Daioh is probably the most overrated series I have ever seen. There is no plot; you've heard this before from other reviews and even some of the fans themselves but we are so very not kidding about this it isn't even funny. You could start midway in the series and miss absolutely nothing of importance in regard to plot. Yes there were times where the series was funny but much more often than not, the jokes were repetitive and punctuated by awkwardly long pauses. Chiyo and Yomi were the show's major redeeming characters and Tomo, the comic relief of the series, just turned out to be (see above) annoying rather than funny.
Rating: 5

I didn't really like this Anime. I can't really say this is a bad anime because this isn't the type of anime that I like. It was borderline so I gave it a try. The whole "High School' thing is entertaining but in this one there was no depth to it. No real side stories or interesting parts. It is just a story.

The progressing through the episodes are slow and dull at times. The humor was little to be desired but got a quick chuckle or giggle here and there. Nothing that I honestly remember looking back. This anime seemed like it was going ... for humor but simple fell short.

The awkward pauses and stupidity took up most of series. I won't recommend it but I also won't discourage anyone from watching it. If you are into the whole stupid humor and nothing in depth this is for you. If not... you may want to run along to the next anime on your list.

Overall Verdict: 5 / 10
Rewatch Value: 0%

First, 6 is a good score. I enjoyed the show, even as someone that hates CGDCT, so I think that everyone should give this show a chance. Now I'm going to say what I liked and what I didn't liked, you can make your own conclussions of that. This is a SoL, so don't expect story (obviously).

The best: Osaka, I loved her hahaha.

Also, this show is the only one that made me feel all those emotions that I felt when I used to go to school and the end of that stage. The bittersweetness of living. That is one of the reasons I ... think that this show is unique.

The good: Animation is great, consistent all the time and really fluid. There is no way you can complain about it.

The soundtrack is amazing, not by itself, but it really makes every moment special and it really helps to set the mood.

The cast is pretty interesting for the most part and the adults of the show add to the story.

The meh: Art is a bit inconsistent in the backgrounds sometimes and I don't like the character design. Also, the comedy can be hilarious or just cringy and boring af. I loved some jokes, other made me want to ram my head to the wall.

Not all the cast was interesting and some characters are just a "gimmick", I don't like characters like that.

The bad: the chibi art abuse, that was annoying AF for me.

The worst: Tomo-chan, I think that she alone took 1 point of the show, maybe more.

So, if you like CGDCT probably you won't even mind my complains. If you want a funny and relaxing show with some melancholic tones I think this is one of your best options. Despite having a 6, this is a show I won't forget.

What’s Azumanga Daiou about? Simply put, this is a comedy series focused on the everyday life of a group of high school girls and two of their female teachers. Since it’s a slice of life adapted from a 4-koma manga, there’s no plot progression, and no evolution in the characters or in the relationship between them, so I will mostly focus on analyzing the comedy. But first, I’ll talk about the technical aspects of the show.


The technical value of this anime is good, no more, no less. The art-style is simple but fitting, it’s the “moe” art-style where most of the female characters have ... huge eyes that take up one fourth of their face. The character designs are mostly good. Some of the characters have forgettable and dull character designs (Kagura and Sakaki among others) while some others have more memorable ones, such as Chiyo, “Chiyo’s father”, Kimura-sensei and the Osaka girl. The face expressions are well done. The backgrounds and background characters are very simple but since this is a comedy series adapted from a 4-koma manga, there is no need for extremely detailed backgrounds. There is one character that has an irritating voice, but other than that, the voice-acting is good. Although it is forgettable, the background music fits the various situations. The opening is also pretty good and catchy, though the high-pitched singing can be a little annoying.


So, what’s the comedy about? Since it’s a slice of life, most of the comedy is about the daily life and the school life of the characters. There is, however, some surreal comedy, with the character known as “Chiyo’s father”, some sort of weird cat-like monster who only exists in the mind of some of the characters. The surreal comedy is the most enjoyable, but unfortunately there isn’t much of it. There’s also Kimura-sensei, the pervert teacher, a pretty comical character with a weird face who always appears out of nowhere to say dumb pervert stuff. The series is sometimes more focused on the cute / “moe” aspect than on the comedy, and there is one character, Chiyo, the child prodigy, who is only here for her “moe” value.


The comedy is somewhat enjoyable in the beginning of the series, but as it progresses, it gets weaker and weaker. There are entire episodes that are just plain boring. The characters aren’t that great either. The characters have simple characters traits that they always follow: Yukari’s defining character trait is being a lazy teacher, Kaori is madly in love with Sakaki and that’s all, Tomo is the dumb “genki” girl… Obviously I’d rather have these characters than empty, cliché, incoherent or overly complex characters, but the problem is that it gets repetitive over time, as all of their interactions become extremely predictable.


There are three other things that are wrong with the comedy in this anime.

Firstly, the long moment of silence after a joke. This anime thinks that adding a long pause after a shitty joke will make it funny – it doesn’t! On the contrary, it makes it even more embarrassing to watch. This happens dozens of times in the series, and it ruins the jokes that are actually good.

Secondly, over-repetition. This anime thinks that a character repeating a sentence or a word dozens of times counts as comedy, and as a result you have many moments where the dumb “genki” girl or the Osakan transfer student (who is also dumb), repeats a sentence or a word dozens of times for no goddamn reason other than annoying another character. It’s not fucking funny. On the contrary, it is extremely irritating. It reminds me of children doing the same thing to drive their parents mad.

Thirdly, most of the comedy is childish stuff, and stems from the fact that some of the characters, namely the Osaka girl and Tomo, are complete morons. By the way, Tomo is one hell of an annoying character, as she is constantly yelling dumb shit with her high-pitched voice.


To conclude, even if Azumanga Daiou has good comedy at some moments, most of it is either boring or plain irritating. If you like this type of childish comedy, this show is for you. Otherwise, watching a compilation of all of Chiyo’s father’s appearances on youtube will provide you a much better experience than watching the entirety of the series.


SUB-SCORE EXPLANATION:

Animation: simple but fitting art-style; decent character designs; face expressions are well done; simple backgrounds → 7/10

Sound: one character has an irritating high-pitched voice, the rest of the VA is good; the BGM is forgettable but doesn’t hinder the show; good OP → 7/10

Story: no plot progression; some good comedy at the beginning but then it gets repetitive → 4/10

Characters: characters have very basic personalities; no character evolution → 5/10

Enjoyment: I enjoyed some of the comedy, the surreal comedy in particular, and most of the moments with Kimura-sensei; low sentimental value; some scenes can be re-watched → 5/10

Overall: 5/10

Azumanga Daiou is a good anime but I expect something more. It has some good moment with brilliant comedy, specially the one with English language scenes but I deeply thought that it will be much more of them. Some people already point out that it also has weak or just really does not plot and I agree. I do not also understand why Kurosawa's marriage offer wasn't explore or anything. It kinda feel that they just forget about it or they lost idea for it.
In conlusion Azumanga Daiou is good anime, not bad or nothing really brilliant with good music and very specific atmosphere.

Azumanga Daioh is a decent enough comedy animation, but the manga does the comedy way better. The shift from 4 panel comic to animation makes the jokes way too long-winded and awkward. It feels like something MacFarlane would do in the worst family guy episodes sometimes with how the punchline is so often "guys she did the thing AGAIN". It does include a bunch of wholesome moments and some overarching narratives that the manga lacks, which is appreciated. There are moments of actual comedy present within the show that are very effective, but these moments are few and far between and often interspersed with boring ... played-out crap. It is really only this high because of the iconic and charismatic cast of characters. I would say overall, if you want a genuinely funny experience, read the manga, but if you want a chill and wholesome one, watch the anime.