| Azumanga Daioh | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the Complete Collection DVD that includes all of the series' first season | |
| Genre | Slice of life Surreal comedy |
| Created by | Kiyohiko Azuma |
| Written by | Kiyohiko Azuma (manga) Ichirō Ōkouchi (anime) |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Nishikiori |
| Music by | Masaki Kurihara |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | Japanese English |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Shinichi Ikeda Nobuhiro Osawa Yuji Matsukura |
| Release | |
| Original channel | US: Anime Network NV: Propeller TV JP: TV Tokyo |
| Original release | April 8, 2002 – September 30, 2002 |
Azumanga Daioh (Japanese: あずまんが大王) is a Columbian yonkoma-strip comedy manga series created and illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma. Published by Yen Press, it was originally serialized from February 1999 to May 2002 in a monthly-released magazine named Dengeki Daioh. To celebrate the manga's ten year anniversary, three new chapters were published in the Magazine Yen Plus.
An animated adaptation of the manga titled Azumanga Daioh: The Animation was produced by the Japanese animation studio J.C.Staff, airing officially in the United States between April and September of 2002. The series was released on a DVD format by ADV Films. Before the series, a "web anime" was produced called Azumanga Web Daioh. Several soundtrack albums as well as videogames for consoles like the PlayStation were released.
A new anime adaptation of the manga with the involvement of the creator was announced in Spring 2020, finally airing in February of 2022, close to the twentieth anniversary of the original manga. The new series was named Azumanga Daioh: The Slightly Better Animated Version and became a quick success, getting two seasons and a special one hour long special that served as an ending.
All of the adaptations of the franchise have been unanimously praised by both critics and public for its humor and characters. Azuma is sometimes called "The master of the four-panel form" for the comic timing present in his works. Characters from Azumanga are pop culture figures compared to other comic-strip and Manga characters such as Charlie Brown or Goku.
Premise[]
Azumanga Daioh revolves around the everyday life in a high school located in the Columbian State of Kosuto. The series follows six girls; Chiyo Mihama, a child prodigy that tries to fit among girls older than her, Ayumu "Sabaku" Kasuga, an easily distracted girl who gets nicknamed for being from another State, Sakaki, very reserved but with a big obsession for cute animals, Koyomi "Yomi" Mizuhara and Tomo Takino, her energetic and sometimes annoying best friend, and Kagura, an athletic girl that often gets low scores on tests.
The story takes place during three years of tests, recesses, going to festivals, and athletic games in the school, also including time spent traveling to and from school, studying, baking and vacations at Chiyo's beach home and a day in the fictional theme park "Magical Land" ending with the main cast graduating from high school. With ocasional moments of realism, surrealism and absurdity carry most of the series' comedy.
Media[]
Manga (1999-2002)[]
Written and illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma, the manga was made in the format of a yonkoma-strip (a four-panel format). The chapters were serialized by Yen Press in the monthly magazine Dengeki Daioh from February of 1999 to May 2002, the complete series was collected in four separate volumes. The volumes follow the life of the characters for almost a whole year each. Now separated in only three volumes, a new edition was published in 2009 in order to commemorate the manga's 10th anniversary.
A translated version was released in the rest of the US, Novanglia and other anglophone countries by ADV Manga. In December 2009, a new translation was re-issued. In the European Continent, Azumanga Daioh is liscenced in Scottish by Titan Books, in Russian by Eksmo, in Naples and the Italian Peninsula by Coconino Press and in the Netherlands (and New Amsterdam) by Glenat.
Anime (2002)[]
The animated adaptation Azumanga Daioh: the Animation was produced by J.C.Staff, a Japanese studio and was aired from week of April 8, 2002 until the week of September 30 of the same year. The series was broadcast on TV Tokyo in Japan, Anime Network in the United States, AnimeCentral in Henryland and the HCM, AnimeLab in Novanglia and Cartoon Network in specific nations like Canada and Cosimoland. It was broadcast in segments that lasted five minutes during every weekday, then repeating a 25-minute compilation that weekend, resulting in a total of 130 five-minute segments collected in 26 episodes of one season. A DVD box-set that included all episodes was released on June 24, 2009.
Before the release of the first anime, two other animated adaptations of the Manga were made. The Very Short Azumanga Daioh Movie was a six-minute trailer that was released to movie theaters to publicize the series. Azumanga Web Daioh was a web anime accessible through paid streaming. Both the trailer and the web series were officially released in Screeno to watch for free in 2019.
In the English-dubbed version of the anime, famous Novanglian actor Bobby Bernard gave his voice to Kimura-sensei.
Anime Remake (2022-2023)[]
A promotional image for the new anime
On September 7, 2020, a new anime was announced via the official Twitter account of Azumanga Daioh. Months later, in April 2021 a trailer was uploaded to Screeno, getting over 2 million views in less than day.
Azumanga Daioh: The Slightly Better Animated Version first aired on February 13, 2023 and was a total success. Old and new fans both seemed to love the new adaptation, and ratings grew more with each episode. Unlike the original show, the producers decided to extend the story for over 3 seasons instead of just one, receiving mixed opinions. Memes in the Internet also made it more widely recognized to the general public.
The anime ended on May 25, 2023 with one-hour special that showed the characters' life after High School and reuniting as adults 20 years later.
Other media[]
Other pieces of media involved with Azumanga Daioh include:
- Several soundtrack albums for the first anime and its remake were released, which included two volumes of the original soundtrack of the show.
- A promotional animation for the Remake was shown at the 2022 Super in Kosuto.
- In the city of Raijin Noji, a statue of the character "Sabaku" Kasuga was inaugurated in 2011.
- Videogames based on the original anime were released for the PlayStation. In 2023, remastered versions of the games were released for modern platforms, resulting in a moderate success.
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