A word of caution: While this is a masterpiece, there is a good percentage of people who dislike the overall silliness of the genre, so don't go around recommending it to your work supervisor simply because he has enjoyed Death Note and Attack on Titan.
The anime adaptation follows very closely the manga, so this review can be applied interchangeably to both of them. The greatness of Azumanga Daioh can be found after you peel the initial layer of simplicity, in the underlying complexity of the work. The main focus is too make you laugh and it delivers. The cuteness of the scenes and the wackiness of the surreal elements are welcome additions, but they always remain byproducts, and are never allowed to upstage the comedy.
The principle of initial simplicity and underlying complexity can also be found in the 8 or 9 main characters. Initially they look like stereotypes that can be found in dozen other works, but the fact that they are masterfully written, makes them lovable and memorable.
The magaka gave me the sense that he really knew what he wanted the manga to be about and never bothered with elements he did not care about. For instance there is no romance (just a few o-nee-sama gags), no adversity (well, there is a hateful cat), or any drawings of boys (a fact that is farcically mentioned in the anime). I found that this lack of elements the mangaka did not care about made the whole much stronger.
The greatness of Azumanga Daioh has spawned many copies, but they cannot capture the brilliance behind it. There are a lot of 4-koma manga (and their anime adaptations), a lot of “cute girls do cute things” slice of life manga/anime, but Azumanga has no peers. The only one getting kinda close is Nichijou, but its success lies on the fact that it copies Azumanga shamelessly.
So if you loved the manga the only thing you can do is watch the anime (and vice versa). To get yourself a work of similar quality you will have to cross genres a little bit into high school shoujo (Ouran Kokou Host Club, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun) or shounen (Great Teacher Onizuka, School Rumble) comedies. Great stuff 9.0/10.
