The story is basically a slice of life anime basically meaning it a Seinfeld-esqe sitcom surrounding high school girls. Theres no real story element, and thankfully no multiple part episodes are around here. Just short simple and hilarious situations that can be finished in 30 minutes ^_^ Even the oav's are hella short! But at least they get the points across and they do it hilariously! The way they create their characters are really one of a kind. You'll actually want to know more of how these girls happen to befriend each other before/during high school.
Character progression is really good. Each character has their own role to play for every other character and you can really tell by how they react to eachother and try (or don't try) their best to make it past high school.
Animation is very simplistic as are most high school comedies are. Most of the time, they'll only draw the girls and make silhouettes of all the other students. Theres tons of emotes abound in this show as each girl gets embarrassed, frustrated, scared, etc. The emotions animations are very simple as well yet for the most of the times, they REALLY get the point across. Even so much that you'll pause the show just to stop laughing. I never realized not adding color or drawing people all squiggly would be so funny. They'll also flip back and forth between normal anime to chibi anime quite alot. Some times the chibi-ness isn't needed but for the majority when its implemented it makes the scene that much funnier.
The seyiu are great in this show. Even tho some sound like you've herd the same before but with the animation and the little sound effects here and there make the entire experience an enjoyable one. And the music is pretty simple but you'll be singing the op over and over again because of the catchyness of it. Speaking of the op you'll also realize most of the scenes in the op will make sense after about ep22 ^_^ But overall the sound is your usual high school sound effects... crowds in the cafeteria, groaning in unison in the classroom, and cheering during sporting events. All the usual sound fare :)
All in all everything about this show SCREAMS mediocre from the sound to anime to even the characters. But this is proof that just as long as you have a killer story and a staff that can illustrate the desired effect your show will be a runaway hit ^_^
Azumanga daioh is one of the funniest anime i have ever seen PERIOD! 9/10
