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Let's begin with some backstory. I first watched Azumanga Daioh in 2009. Back then I was an anime newbie and this would be my first completed series, which needless to say, was an absolute success. I adored every bit of the show and became really invested in it. And this didn't end there because over the years it has only become more and more obvious how deeply it shaped my tastes and perhaps my entire attitude towards the medium.
Two conclusions should be inferred from the above paragraph. One, I'm a fanboy. Two, I came late to the party. When I discovered the show, it was already a product of another time. It had its rise of popularity once it aired and a while later, but what I found here and there were the remainders. Understandably so, but also kind of sad. After all the idea that Azumanga has to be observed in perspective has never been convincing to me.
Of course we could all agree about its position as a genre codifier and how it became the inspiration of a trend that has since then attained a lot of diversity. This has been talked about many times. Perhaps too many. I mean, historical perspective is fine to respect and praise a show, but that won't make me like it more. And this series deserves far more than being reduced to an anecdote in anime history. To say that it has passed the test of time with flying colors is an understatement. It never had the chance to grow stale. Simply, because it's really amazing at what it does. And in a way, it's also unique.
The main quality of Azumanga as a series is its comedy. We all know however about the problems to establish a universal appeal for this genre. What makes me laugh and what makes my neighbor laugh is different, it is not a reaction that can be forced or taught. And that's why people refer to comedy as the most subjective genre. A bullshit statement, actually, but one that illustrates the point and leads to the inevitable conclusion: Azumanga is not for everybody. It never was and it was never intended to be.
That point established, I think there is a lot to be said about the comedy of this show, which I find near flawless for a number of reasons. The style is reasonably varied. There is slapstick as well as wordplay, mundane with absurd and even some amounts of surreal. However in every single one of them it's the delivery what makes them work. Azumanga has some nice quotes here and there, but it's not an inherently quotable series like other comedies may be. A simple phrase without context tells you nothing about how far the joke reaches. There is a lot of care in the show to craft each of these jokes and make the most of them. Particularly, timing has been brought again and again as a key element that makes these jokes deliver. And it's not surprising. Even those who dislike it and find the scenes too slow or too dragged would easily agree that it does have a strong sense of timing, wrong and misguided as it may be. For me, it is by far the best I have found in a comedy. The way it uses silence and pauses is so far unmatched to me. There are entire jokes that consist on pure silent buildup and they work. The pauses between the dialogues and reactions match the characters and the context, and they add nuance and are by themselves hilarious. An issue I often find, not only in comedies but in many stories, is that the characters will answer each other in an unrealistically spontaneous way, like a battle of wits. In Azumanga Daioh, characters pause and take their time, which can vary from functional to very awkward, to process what they experience. There is a consistent effort to make these interactions really come to life.
In addition to this, the aesthetic accompaniment is always on point. Overall, the visual aspect is probably the least fascinating of this show, particularly in terms of animation being often reduced to an austere functionality. However by saying this one would probably think that the quality of the joke can be severely affected, and it is actually the contrary. Azumanga seems to be very aware of its limitations and uses them in its own advantage. One of the most hilarious visual jokes of the show involves several poorly drawn stick figures dancing spastically around the classroom. The reaction faces and expressions are also less visually striking than one would probably expect in a show that relies so much on them, but they are very effective nonetheless.
With the points stated so far about its visuals it may seem that there is nothing particularly elaborate in this aspect of the show. This, while true to an extent, is also an understatement. The issue here is that it can be elaborate, when it needs to be and when it adds. Some really interesting shots, perspectives and visual effects are thrown from time to time, showing that there is potential. And believe me that the attention to detail and continuity can be really mindblowing at times. But by far the most impressive aspect I found about the Azumanga visuals is the color palette. This is obviously not a Makoto Shinkai or a KyoAni level of sophistication, however it adds a lot of identity to each scenario and it knows, very well, how to transmit emotions through colors, that add a lot of warmth or liveliness when needed.
The character designs are simple, but recognizable. I believe the anime does a fine job improving the standards of the manga in this aspect and making some of the characters more clearly differentiable. With very ordinary hair colors and simple hairstyles -except for Chiyo- and face structures, the variety is found mostly through their body complexions, their gestures and, whenever they are not at school, their clothing, which becomes a key descriptive element of the characters by itself.
In short, what makes the art of Azumanga work is not its technical reach, which good enough as it is doesn't really seem very ambitious, but the expert crafting of the material it works with. It's not fascinating, it's not excessively eye-candy... it is efficient. Very efficient. And delivers perfectly in a style of comedy that relies a lot on visuals, and somehow doesn't need to do anything over-the-top with them to work.
But what about the sound? While I can certainly understand that the art of this show may lack enough appeal for many people, the same can't be said about the sound design. To me this is as close to perfection as it can be, and as its stands, definitely one of the most severely understated qualities of the series.
The opening and ending can't be more different, but they both fit perfectly the mood of the show in their own ways. The first is a quite catchy, pure sugar-induced madness with lyrics that make no sense; the second plays a quiet melody of trippy melancholy, and lyrics that are equally nonsensical. Out of these two, by far my favorite is the ending, which delivers a mellow mood that I find perfectly fitting to end every episode of this show.
Except for a few diegetic moments, the rest of the soundtrack is instrumental, with pieces that are short, simple and just plain catchy. There is a clear intent to evoke the easy-going atmosphere of high school nostalgia through these and they do really well at it. But again, what matters here is whether these compositions manage to mesh well with the content. Needless to say, they do. Many scenes are so deeply shaped by, and associated with their musical accompaniment, that it becomes near impossible to separate the two. Like everything else in this show, the music adds to the mood, reinforces the delivery of the jokes, and is part of what makes many of its sequences iconic and immediately recognizable. In addition to this I'd also like to put some emphasis on the sound effects. They are simple, sometimes weirdly creative (wait... a car horn?), but for some reason they work way too well on me.
The voice acting allows for very recognizable pitches and fits each of the characters like a glove. I only have a few minor issues. Specifically, Osaka in the first episode sounds a bit off, like her voice actress was still getting used and trying to find the right tone for her, and some isolated instances of Chiyo sound a little too high-pitched for my tastes. Luckily, this is not the norm as both characters have wonderful voices that work perfectly 99% of the time, such as Tomo's, Yomi's, Sakaki's and the rest, each in their own style. What makes all even more amazing is that their performances excel not only in the tone, but also in the pace. The case of Osaka stands out in particular, with a voice that is the embodiment of chill and drags the viewer into a dreamlike state every time she talks.
Moving on to talk about the characters. This is the central aspect of the show and likely the easiest to talk about, since there is a lot of stuff to mention. The reason is that Azumanga Daioh is strongly character-based. They drive every single aspect of the narrative, and therefore their presence is what gives cohesion to the series, what justifies every aesthetic and storytelling choice and what makes Azumanga ultimately what it is. The personalities fit comedic roles and tropes, and can be labeled easily in that surface level, but I think there's a lot more to each of them.
Chiyo is the closest this series has to a main protagonist. An impossibly cute ten-year-old who happens to be a child prodigy and skips five grades all of a sudden, becoming an endless source of cuteness and being admired and supported by her new classmates, who see her as some sort of mascot. However that is not all there is about her and for a character that is so implausible in her premise I find her realism very refreshing. Hanging out with people that are older, you can notice how difficult it is for her to understand certain things, and that childhood innocence is often an object of light teasing. She is booksmart, she can understand academic concepts and apply them, but she's also immature and childish, and it shows. When somebody makes fun of her favorite baseball team, she gets mad. When a typical teen conversation is brought, she feels completely lost. Her obsession with growing fast and catching up with her classmates is there, and also the increasing passive-aggressive tolerance she grows towards Tomo's antics. What makes Chiyo so great is that she systematically avoids a reductive approach to her character and comes off as way more multi-layered and dynamic than she initially seemed to be.
Sakaki is the shy and introverted girl who appears to have an intimidating presence. She is initially played as a character who seems difficult to approach by her classmates and by being accepted in a group of friends she gradually opens up. And bold "gradually" here. If there is something that truly resonates in this character to me is how, even when she has attained a stable group of friends, she still feels and behaves like the odd one. I'm not talking about individual quirks all the other characters have, I'm talking about the group not being able to understand her or her feelings (resulting in some instances of surprisingly abstract and non-sequitur comedy), her not engaging into conversations so often and being reserved even with them. You don't fix lack of self-confidence overnight and that is something the show understands brilliantly with her. Sakaki is the one who has the most consistent character arc, if not in terms of focus (though she at least comes close) at least in terms of linearity. I have a soft spot for her for personal reasons and I think it's a wonderful display of this character model.
Next comes fan favorite Osaka. Oh, what can I tell about her. My favorite character not in the group, not even in the series, but in the entire range of the anime medium. The point is, she does not have a dramatic character arc and she is quite static in the sense that she doesn't seem to grow significantly through the series or become any better or worse at anything. However what makes her stand out to me is her base personality, which is just that great, so much that it becomes an endless source of comedy. To know what I'm talking about: we have a girl who is the literal definition of quiet and mellow, and so easily distracted that she will get asleep in class in a regular basis or lose any train of thought as soon as it comes to her head. However that is not the only thing about her as her logic operates in a truly different wavelength, one that you can't either call genius or stupid, just so distinct and unique it stands out. Add more character traits out there: odd skills for puns and lateral thinking, rather creepy sense of humor, absolute lack of self-discipline and just plain laziness. The possibilites all of these offer for interaction are huge, and just her presence in an eight-second still frame letting me guess how her brain is operating and processing things that precise moment is enough to crack me up. Everything is slowed down around her, everything feels nicer and more pleasant when she is there. Osaka is not just a character. Osaka is a mood alone and by herself.
I can't help but start talking about Tomo and Yomi as a single entity, as their character dynamics are very tightly tied to each other, working as some sort of "odd couple". Their interactions match the typical boke-tsukkomi that is very common in Japanese comedy, with Tomo being the noisy idiot and Yomi being the straight man. Two polar opposites that somehow complement each other so well that their conflicting friendship is probably, by far, the most solid of the group. What I find most interesting about this beyond the comedic delivery is that there is an actual, tangible sense of mutual respect in both of them, that they would never admit but it's there. This is less obvious with Tomo, whose wildcat personality is not prone to self-reflection, but Yomi at points really seems like she enjoys and wants to indulge in the same view of life her friend does. Yomi herself has a quite interesting personality. She is a hard worker and projects some strong self-confidence that kind of hides but not completely her own quirks and insecurities, which Tomo knows better than anybody else, to her dismay. In the end she is probably the one who needs to get away from her own personal concerns the most, and there is something in there about the way she talks about and acts towards the group that truly resonates. Tomo on the other hand could be summed up as an eternal waste of energy who loves to poke fun at her friends and annoy them. The kind of personality you need a lot of time to tolerate, let alone hang out with and find amusing. However, if Yomi hides insecurities, Tomo's attitude seems to be the product of insecurity itself. She wants to be the center of attention all the time and has serious displays of envy when others perform better than her at this.
The final member of the sextet comes a bit late to the party. Kagura is, like the rest of the cast, a character I like a lot, however I would not call her exactly a personal favorite. That is partly a byproduct of something that could actually be seen as a positive compared to the others. The point is, her set personality is more ill-defined than the rest. Yeah, you could say she is the resident tomboy but it's not like that defines her spectrum in its entirety, not even a significant enough fraction. And similarly to her other traits. She is competitive, yes, but it doesn't affect her relationships that much. She is stupid, yes, but not in an obnoxious or particularly remarkable kind of way. She is also very kind and prone to help, but it doesn't play a specially crucial narrative role in the character. Her personality is more down-to-earth than the rest, less veering to extremes and more about reaching a common ground. Which is kind of weird in a series about, precisely, flashy and contrasting personalities, and makes her role in comedy sort of secondary even when she is an integral part of the group. For that reason I think she performs better at more serious or emotional instances, which sadly for a character with this potential, are not the most prevalent aspect of Azumanga Daioh.
Finally, in this set of main characters we have to count the teachers. Yukari and Nyamo become very prevalent in the narrative of this series and they represent the adult approach... sort of. Maturity is not really their most prevalent trait, and for the most time their interaction is filled with childish taunt and arguments due to their extremely conflicting personalities. You can think of them as grown-up versions of Tomo and Yomi, following very similar patterns. While this sounds like lazy writing and I certainly do see where people come from when they bring this up, the quite noticeable differences between this couple and Tomo & Yomi, particularly on the subject of their conversations, their reactions and the extremes they reach in their personalities, allow to add nuance and display some interesting commentary here and there. The main one is that they are adult characters in an adult environment, who are pressured to act according to social standards that are way stricter. In that sense, the consequences of their behaviour are obvious, and while under the same base personality Tomo appears as silly and ultimately harmless, Yukari is reckless and transgressive. In a series that presents adulthood as the inevitable conclusion, the presence of these two teachers stands as the remaining trace of a rebellious spirit. Nyamo is worried about her long-term future as she feels she gets old and hasn't fully conformed to the standards of her age; Yukari just doesn't care, as if she simply refused to grow up. With this I may be putting too much emotional package on what is otherwise a hilarious comedic duo that just happens to work like that most of the time, but this in particular is explicitly tackled in the show and the result is really satisfying, and it added a lot to the series in my opinion.
There are still other characters that play minor yet mildly significant roles. Kaorin, a classmate who develops a huge unrequited crush for Sakaki, is probably one of the very few frustrations I have with the series because I feel her being relegated to a -most of the time- side role took away a lot of what this character had to offer. Her personality would have been very interesting to explore more in depth and in more situations aside from her standard running gags. Other than that, she is just absurdly cute and the series uses her as an excuse to deliver a lot of great visual jokes through her reactions.
And finally, we get Kimura, who is often cited as the most controversial aspect of Azumanga. One of the very few male characters of the show and the one who has the most presence, he is a teacher who happens to be a creepy pedophile... except he's a genuinely great person and family man... except he's sick and disturbing... except... well, you get it. A duality that is played for laughs and has understandably bothered some people in an otherwise harmless show due to the seriousness of the topic it nonchalantly jokes about. Some have, on the other hand, claimed that he is meant to represent and parody the perverted trends of the viewers and therefore defend his presence on the show as some sort of satire. Understandable as they may be, I don't particularly share these interpretations, and the main reason why is that Kimura to me appears so surreal and outlandishly absurd that I can't take him seriously as a representation of anything.
I would go on describing each of these characters and how the show puts a lot of great emphasis on their individualities, but the truth is, in this kind of series you wouldn't go anywhere if there is not chemistry among them. Luckily, that is not the case because these otherwise hilarious and interesting personalities really shine when they are combined with each other. The amount of quirks, jokes and character exposition we get from these characters increase exponentially through their interactions, and the significance they manage to acquire can be mesmerizing. After all, this is a show about interaction, and this is where it is at its absolute finest. Particularly, what it understands exceptionally well is that the nature of relationships can be fundamentally different even in the same group, and there's a big enough difference in the way Chiyo for instance treats and approaches Tomo, Yomi, Sakaki,Osaka and Kagura. Expand that to each character in the relationships they grow through the series and you get a rather complex and very well thought out microcosm that brings a lot of nuance not just to the individual characters but to the whole group.
But in the end, what is the point of this? What is Azumanga Daioh about? Well, you may have heard that common expression that is always up there when a series of this sort is brought. "It is a show about nothing".
Please never bring this again. Please.
I'm joking of course, and it's obvious and understandable why one would state this. There is not an end goal to this story and characters don't face hardships. Due to the eventful nature of regular fiction, the absence of this is enough to label it as a fine and simple "nothing happens". The problem is, the "nothingness" of Azumanga is far richer and more expressive than this simplification may make it look, and while I don't have any problem with selling this show as a relaxing and laidback piece of simple fun in contrast with other more stressful and thrilling pieces of fiction, I feel that it diminishes a lot what this show has to say in the several relevant topics it deals with through its run.
I would probably reduce the storyline of this show to three main themes. The first one is obviously, as this is a slice of life, routine. Through its 26 episodes, we get a reasonably detailed view of how school life is, the events, the regular classes and the holidays, for three years. We observe the characters in several routinely environments and learn from them through this exposition, while understanding them as part of a dynamic narrative. One of the most defining traits of this show on this is how ideally happy and inconsequential it is. There are not big conflicts at school, the main characters never get into complicated romantic plots, and people in general are very nice to each other, leaving a comforting feel that helps to see this whole scenario as the evocative ideal it intends to be.
The second one is friendship. Azumanga after all is a story about the consolidation of a group of friends, observing their interactions and the subtle changes in the way they approach each other. I have covered this in a way when I talked about the characters and their growing and dynamic relationships, so I won't expand my thoughts too much on this one, but I'll just say that the final scene of this show works mainly as a reaffirmation of this theme, and it is one of my favorite anime conclusions of all time. This is a fine measure of how powerful and resonant it is to me.
And last but not least, transience. This may not be apparent at first, but trust me that it will permeate when the journey is over. It is implied in the structure of the show as it deals with a stage in life that is transitory and has clear boundaries, and the concept of time passing is everywhere in it. It is a story strictly about the three years of high school and doesn't go anywhere before and after that, and there is a linear narrative with a very clear progression towards the end of this journey. This clear delimitation of time and space serves a purpose that is at times directly mentioned, like in the victory parade scene or as the main theme of episode 19 (both of which are additions from the anime, by the way), where characters become aware that things are not going to be like that forever and need to face the eventual change. But above all it is something that is there in the background as a constant factor and ties everything to a major reflection on life and the way one should conceive it. It is certainly nostalgic, but it is in no way reactionary; since change is inevitable, better enjoy and make the most of what you are now.
In the end Azumanga is not about deep topics with complicated reflections. You will probably not find anything challenging or thought-provoking in here, and it's not its intention. However there is some artistic reach in its simplicity and the execution underlines its significance in ways that to me, personally, have permeated further than many other shows who were heavier in narrative content and theoretical implications. How much and how well this works is up to the viewer, so I am not going to pretend like this is a universal reaction when it's far from that. However I think that the content and narrative of this show deserves at the very least to be talked about, and hiding it behind a phrase like "nothing happens" or "it's about nothing" looks condescending to me and keeps on evoking the idea to future viewers that it really has nothing to say, which I do not and will never agree with.
The anime is based on a 4-koma manga, which for those who don't know is basically a collection of comic strips. Oddly enough, in terms of content it is very loyal to its source, despite some of the jokes not being adapted and them being displayed in a different order. In addition, the anime has some additional content like the above mentioned, but it's very well combined with the whole, and doesn't feel like filler at all. There are a few minor differences in tone, particularly on the way some jokes of the manga are adapted, that make the anime look more amiable and less cynical, and at the same time there is more emphasis on this nostalgic feeling and transience, however these are circumstantial and I believe they are a near-perfect representation of each other. I would recommend the anime if you liked the manga and vice versa because they are enjoyable in almost equal terms, though I lean towards the adaptation. There is something about the inherent difficulty of translating the rigid pacing of the comic strips to the continuity of an animated narrative that I admire a lot, and the way it manages to deliver the same jokes and concepts by having to reconceive their narrative structure in their entirety is one of my favorite things of the show. I said before that the timing was brilliant, and this is probably the most blatant testimony of this.
Overall, I can't recommend Azumanga Daioh enough. It is random, consistently hilarious and among the most rewatchable of all comedies I've seen. That alone would be enough to place it as a solid recommendation, but it is also a very tightly constructed show with a strong sense of identity and an execution that hits all the right chords and elevates its narrative simplicity and straightforward messages to a higher and more transcendental category than expected. And I insist on this: it is not a complicated show in theme and narrative, it is simple. But to make this simplicity work to the reach it gets in here you need mechanisms that are far more complex and deserve a lot more spotlight than they are usually given. If you want to extract a conclusion from this whole wall of text, let it be that this series is just exceptionally good at what it does. No more, no less. And that, simple as it is, requires a lot of work in the right direction.
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