Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Azumanga Daioh
I've been putting off posting this. I'm lazy.

Anyways, as said in my revious post Azumanga Daioh was the 2nd anime that I crossed off what I now dub "Sean's Ginormous List of Anime That He Wants To See". Seriously, there's 34 serieses on this list and I'll most likely add more later. 2 down, 34 to go?

I'm getting off topic now. Back to Azumanga Daioh. I enjoyed the silliness. Osaka is the character that most definately makes this anime funny. Plus there's the craziness of Yukari-sensei and Tomo, Chiyo's naivity, and sometimes a cheap laugh from Sakaki and Kaorin. Ohhh... and how can I froget Kimura-sensei!? I don't think there's a time that he was on screen that I didn't laugh.

Anyways, here's a little overview of the characters for those who may read this and haven't seen the series:

Students:
Ayumu Kasuga a.k.a. "Osaka"
Ayumu is uncreatively given the nickname Osaka by Tomo because she transfered from the city of Osaka. She's a little bit slow and is in her own little world. She reminds me of my sister. the kind of person who seems like they could be on drugs when you know they aren't.

Chiyo Mihama
Chiyo is a 10-year old genius who skips a bunch of grades and goes to high school. She turns 11 during one of the episodes in her first year of high school so she had to be 13 when she graduated at the end of the series. She's so cute and sweet that you may get a toothache just watching her. Chiyo is understandably naive given her age.

Sakaki
Tall, cool, quiet, and very athletic despite not playing any sports. That's what people see on the outside at least. Inside she has a deep affection for all things cute, especially cats (though the cats don't seem to like her).

Tomo Takino
Thre's one word to desribe Tomo: outrageous. Tomo has a lot of energy, that much is for sure. She's not particularly good at anything but that doesn't stop her from thinking she is. Tomo constantly tries to prove how awesome she is but only succeeds in annoying others or embarassing herself.

Koyomi Mizuhara a.k.a. "Yomi"
Yomi doesn't really do much for the series. She's the "normal" girl of the group. Yomi has been a classmate of Tomo since kindergarten so they have their own unique relationship. She is annoyed by Tomo and yells at her often but is still best friends with her. Yomi also has a problem with her own weight and goes on many diets. I don't know whether that is supposed to be funny or not...

Kaorin
Kaorin is classmates with all the girls in the first two years but gets seperated in 3rd year. She has a lesbian crush on Sakaki... and that's about the only thing she's around for. She becomes the target of Kimura-sensei's affection in the 3rd year.

Kagura
Kagura is a very athetic girl on Nyamo-sensei's swim team. She has minor appearances in the girls' first year because she is in another class. She becomes classmates with the rest in th 2nd and 3rd year though as Yukari-sensei recruits her so she can win the yearly sportsfests. Kagura, Tomo, and Osaka form a team known as Bonklers (or Bonkuraazu.. whatever) which is like the plural form of Baka. They seem proud that they do poorly in school.

Senseis
Yukari Tanizaki
Yukari-sensei is sort of like a grown-up version of Tomo. Homeroom sensei of the girls all three years, Yukari-sensei is quick to anger and likes to party and live dangerously. She also seems to have Tomo's lazy attitude for school.

Minamo Kurosawa a.k.a. "Nyamo"
Nyamo-sensei was a classmate of Yukari-sensei in high school and they are still good friends. She's basically the exact opposite of Yuraki... students love her, she loves her job, and she's pretty reserved. Nyamo teaches Phys Ed and also coaches the swim team.

Kimura
Hilarious character! Kimura-sensei became a sensei because he likes young girls. Yes, he's vry creepy and very weird and I wouldn't take him any other way.



There are a lot of funny moments in the series but three of them stand out to me. My favorite is during the 2nd sportsfest. Osaka runs the obstacle course because she really wanted to do the part where you stick your face into flour to get a piec of candy. When she got to that part she stuck her head in, lifted it up a little bit... then did it again and giggled... and again. It's something you'd have to see to find it funny. I laugh every time I see it. Another Osaka moment is when they were on some trip and Tomo lifts Chiyo up and shakes her around as they were looking off the side of a cliff. Tomo started to drop her and it cut to a slow motion shot of Osaka rushing to catch Chiyo. They go back to regular speed, with Osaka still of the screen, and Chiyo falls into Sakaki's hands. Osaka then comes from off the screen with her hands outstretched and her eyes closed and bumps into Yomi. The 3rd funny momnt that pops into my head is when they were all visiting Chiyo's summer home and she says that if she lost the key that they wouldn't be able to get inside... so Tomo takes the keys from her hand and throws them into the woods.

Azumanga Daioh is very funny and random. I recommend it. *thumbs up*

Staying with the school comedy theme, the next anime on my watch list is an already downloaded School Rumble. I've watched 1 and a half episodes before I got bored and stopped watching. I'll watch the rest later though and I'll be sure to post my thoughts on it soon.
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