I will preface this review by declaring my love for shows like Nichijou, Lucky Star, Polar Bear Cafe, and many other anime from the Slice of Life genre. Azumanga Daioh has always been on my radar as something I should probably watch sooner or later, but after having watched about 3 episodes of this anime however, I wish it had been never.
Slice of life is in of itself a calmer and much more slow genre, as the workings of every day life don't necessarily lend themselves to something of a fast and exciting pace, but Azumanga Daioh is even slower still. Pace, for me personally, has usually nothing to do with how much I'll enjoy the show however, as I enjoy anime such as Polar Bear Cafe which has a probably even slower pace than this. No, pacing is not the reason I dislike this show; the reason is much more simple. This show is bereft of either value or tasteful humor. I would much more compare this anime to that of today's ecchi, which is both distasteful and unappetizing to most people, as is this anime. I will thus detail my dislike for this show, because on paper I should like it, but in reality this anime will forever scar the genre of Slice of Life in my very humble opinion.
The...substance of this anime consists of jokes surrounding 6 high school girls and two or three of their teachers living their lives in a very slapstick sort of way, but the only word I can use to describe watching this show is...embarrassing. The jokes in this show could perhaps appeal to maybe an 11 year old boy...maybe. The jokes in this show I suppose take advantage of the characters, none of who are relatable or realistic in any way, and while that in of itself isn't a bad thing, the characters of this anime are horrendous.
The characters of this anime all seem to have a flaw of some sort, but the flaws pointed out are not only shallow and uninteresting, they are also completely nonsensically rude and overall abrasive to watch. The female teachers that are almost more important than the six girls at most times are embarrassing to watch as well, and the teacher "Yukari" is the most abrasive in the show. This leads me to the male teacher in the show; the incel pedophile who is hard to look at and ruins the mood of this show.
Perhaps this anime is dated, and perhaps the humor has simply not aged well enough to be likeable to a more modern audience, but I would argue that if I were to have seen this show even mere years after its release, I would have found it both unappetizing and boring at best. This anime shares so many similarities to the ecchi genre, but is neither as lewd or generally as straightforward as the shows in that genre.
This anime was...grueling for me to watch. The characters have a semblance of fun that I attempted to latch onto, but these characters are puppet-show-tier simplistic, with each and every personality in this show as flat as a board. This anime is based off the 4-koma by the same name, and perhaps reading it may enlighten me to the point of this show, but as of writing this review, I am filled with some of my deepest loathing an indigestion I have ever experienced from watching an anime.
If you watch ecchi and are fine with no plot, no depth, no artistic or intrinsic value, then go ahead and watch this anime. I personally will have to finish this anime while intoxicated at a bare minimum. I don't enjoy berating an anime that has a deep foothold in classic anime fans everywhere, but I truly beg this anime to offer up something better than at least its first three episodes, because that is all I will most likely ever have the strength to watch.
