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Azumanga Daioh
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Animation - 8.3 |
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Sound - 8.4 |
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Story - 7.5 |
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Character - 9.1 |
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Value - 8.5 |
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Enjoyment - 8.9 |
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Average - 8.5 |
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
0 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| If one has seen recent anime over the passing years (as I have since 2005), it is undeniable that the number of shows using school life as the central location element of the show have gone up in number considerably. While some shows combine the school with romance, others combine it with some action element, yet others use the school setting for a parody. However, Azumanga Daioh is perhaps the only work I know that focuses on school life instead of using school life for some other reason (like FMP or Shana). And Azumanga does this without any plot, without just one theme: school life. How does it do this and how well does it fare?
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
0 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Azumanga Daioh is a classic. Based on a popular four-panel manga series, this anime which features its unique characters with irreplaceable personalities did not disappoint. When I think about what stirred the current-day school life/comedy genre (Hidamari Sketch, Kyou no Go no Ni, and Minami-ke), most will look back this particular anime.
To avoid confusion, for marketing reasons, the merchantised version of Azumanga Daioh usually comes in 26 episodes but in actuality each one of those "episodes" contains five 5-minute episodes bunched into an "episode". It does not matter whether the episodes are broken into five or twenty-five minute segments since it does not take away the humor of the series.
Character design is what made Azumanga Daioh great. Each character stood alone and was different from the others, yet when they were put together into a compelling story each character shined. This series is flat out funny and immediately gives a great first impression. Not only is it a never-ending comedy, but the plot is not compromised because of the comedy. The plot offers what current-day school life animes offers; nostalgia. While Azumanga Daioh is a depiction of a "what it could of been" lifestyle a few girls in this small world, it does it perfectly.
To me, this is a must-see anime for any real anime fan. I totally recommend this anime and had no regrets watching it except that it made me miss school life a little. However, impressions are important. Great animes leave impressions.
For this genre in particular, this revolutionary classic of the comedy/school life genre is still unrivaled.
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Azumanga Daioh is a heart-warming comedy series, depicting the everyday happenings of a group of
female high-schoolers. While this may not sound particularly ground-breaking, Azumanga is an enjoyable experience, through and through, with a good dose of light, "non-agressive" humor and overwhelmingly warm atmosphere.
Everything about this anime is relaxing, from the visuals, to the sound, to the characters, even the most extravagant ones, as will be explained further below.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Is this another School Rumble? Of course not!
Zany characters, fun scenarios, kawaii moments, crazy teachers, plot? There's a plot?!
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Ecco |
(2008-04-14 12:40:15) 2008-04-14 12:37:49 |
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| OK first off if you really want to enjoy this anime you have to remember something. It basicaly like a "Peanuts" cartoon aka Charlie Brown. That being said I loved this anime. I am extremely glad I bought this anime, and I also own the soundtrack.
Animation I felt was top notch. Great faces and smooth movements with well done backgrounds = 10. Also each main character had specific physical traits to make it easier who is who, because with 6 characters that can become quite confusing. I enjoy this art style as well so that is a big plus on my side.
The sound... I did tell you I bought the soundtrack right? This the only soundtrack I own of an anime as well. This really quirky music is destined to get in your head for days on end and you will be OK with that. Even the music in each episode is really well done and matches the style of this anime perfectly.
The story plays in my mind like a comic strip, which if you know anything about the manga I think is how it is suppose to. Nothing too deep or a complete transformation of the characters just a nice show to pass the time and laugh a whole lot. I docked it a bit here just for the fact, I was not completely satisfied with some of the repitition of the episode plots. We are going to the beach again, or sports day... again.
Characters for what they were ment to be were wonderful. All similar but very different. Not much character development, but that is clearly not the point of this anime. You will find yourself quite quickly connecting with specific characters. I really connected with Osaka and Sakaki myself.
Value and enjoyment. While it is clearly not for everyone it really does hit a wide audience of people that can really attach themselves with this anime. I enjoyed every last episode and it is easily on my to three list of favorite animes I have seen. Highly recommended.
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| One thing about comedy animes is that it is not easy to sustain the viewer's attention throughout the whole series. However, Azumanga Daioh has pretty much done it, and it just keeps getting better, and better. It's in-depth characters whom are so distinctive yet are able to capture the essence of Japan culture, and coupled together with the slapstick humor which worked wonders definitely deserves two thumbs up.
On first glance, Azumanga Daioh might seem like your average slice of life, regular anime. What separates it from others is that the characters are very well developed, all 10 of them. What i mean is, they have their distinctive traits, and have been exaggerated to extremes. Nonetheless, this exaggeration becomes harmony when all the characters come together. It's not totally unbelievable to begin with, and it's pretty much within reality that these characters can actually exist, which makes the anime even more attractive. People who have watched this anime can definitely remember the cute child-genius chiyo, "osaka" who spaces out and simply weird, sakaki the cool yet animal-obsessed athlete and so many other characters. They are so distinctive in their own aspects, yet when together they fit in harmony.
Storyline wise, it tells of the path of 7 girls who are going through high school. Throughout the 3 years. 3 years in 26 episodes sounds pretty heavy doesn't it? Which means you're going to see 3 repetitions of the whole series right? Yes and no. Even though year after year, the same events do happen (summer house, sports festival), there is always a twist, a new character, or a funny moment which defines that particular repetition itself. Again, it's the work of the characters that mould the story to what it is. It would have been great if there was further development in terms of their outside life, but what they have presented is pretty much great as it seems.
The seiyuus in this anime have done a great job in giving each character their distinctive personas, and at the same time, developing them into what they actually are at the end. I wouldn't comment too much on the soundtrack, however, the OP for this series, even though (personally) i wasn't impressed, it brought out the eccentric nature of the anime which had a good transition into the anime proper.
Definitely, Azumanga Daioh has brought out the essence of the Japanese lifestyle, and it has been a totally hilarious journey throughout the whole series. Never in one anime would you be captivated all the way towards the end, and definitely worth rewatching again. It's something that would give most viewers a good laugh, and wanting to know more of the characters, and also their development in their daily lives. With that, if you haven't watched Azumanga Daioh, watch it! It's not your average anime, and definitely can't be compared to the quality of animation now, but you'll definitely be impressed at how well the characters are developed and enjoy a good laugh at the same time!
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| One of my favorites. A sweet and funny series with not a whole lot of fan service. One of the cutest characters in anime, Chiyo-chan.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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brynolf |
(2007-10-21 08:41:34) 2007-10-09 21:58:36 |
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| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Phew, just finished watching all the episodes in a streak. Now, what's this anime all about, then? Basically, we get to follow a handful or two of girls through their high school years.
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2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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HerLovely |
(2007-08-22 23:26:41) 2007-08-09 14:19:35 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| To me, this anime was very light and carefree. It's something to watch on a mild summer day while sipping lemonade. Most of the jokes are based on everyday thoughts that you would not take time to consider, which makes it somewhat clever and witty...somewhat. But honestly, there's nothing in this series that actually makes you want to commit your time to it. It isn't driven by any main plot really, which is probably what the creators intended. Also, the artwork is very basic, and the colors are very overly light and almost washed out. You won't be missing out on anything if you decide to skip this series, but if you're willing to sit back for some innocent fun, then that's okay too.
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1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Tejal |
2007-08-06 01:31:28 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| A simple yet deep anime about girls in the highschool career. The characters may be archetype's, but they grab you from the first episode. You begin to care what happens to them, and although it is not action packed you become part of the lives of these girls. Simple activities become interesting, like getting lunch, going shopping or just studying.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| The first episode of Azumanga Daioh sucked. So did the second. After the third I was about to quit. Then slowly I began to not hate it quite so much; it was actually mildly amusing. Azumanga Daioh is a comedy that bases ALL its humor in its characters and the first episodes open it up rather poorly. Until you get the understand the characters and their personalities, it's incredibly boring.
Though the animation quality of Azumanga Daioh is rather poor, the style fits the series perfectly. It employs the archetypes of Japanese humor -- chibiness, teardrops, absurd facial expressions -- and blends them a fair bout of randomness. The style is something that might have to grow on you, as it certainly did for me; again, it's not really funny until you get to know the characters.
The Seiyuu in Azumanga Daioh is absolutely superb, however. The voice actors do a fabulous job at building the personas for each of the girls, especially Chiyo and Tomo. For an entirely character based show, this is an absolute must, and definitely proves to be one of AD's strong points. As has been said by other reviewers, the opening song has to grow on you for it to be somewhat enjoyable, though even then it's not all that good; same with the ending. Decent background music, but it fits the series rather well so I have no real complaints. You don't really notice it but you don't really have to either for AD to be enjoyable.
I'm not going to say much about the story. Nearly all my points toward its story score are in how AD was executed. In fact, there is no plot at all. It's purely about the characters and their interactions with each other.
Now onto where AD really shone: its characters. Basically it takes a bunch of personality stereotypes and amplifies them to extremes. There are a total of ten characters (three teachers and seven students) each very uniquely designed. Once you develop a taste for each, the hilarity soon follows (I laughed out loud a good many times, which usually doesn't happen with comedy anime for me). Kimura is absolutely hilarious and had to be one of the best comedic character designs I've ever seen (come on, total pedophile teacher who is obsessed with recycling and tending to flower gardens?). Though there isn't a whole lot of depth to the characters, it isn't necessary, as part of the humor is the characters being somewhat flat.
All in all, I'm glad I didn't quit after an initial bad impression. I was a little disappointed that the last few episodes took on a bit more serious tone, but it's a fitting ending to the series, as it spans the entire three years of the girls' high school life. Don't hesitate to have your hand over the fast forward button, as I just skipped the mini-episode arcs that I didn't care for (such as Sakaki's; never found them funny). Give it a few episodes to form an impression; had I only given it one, I wouldn't have watched or enjoyed the rest. Definitely one of the more amusing comedies out there.
Recommended.
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0 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| You really don't hear bad things about Azumanga Daioh. Most reviewers in official magazines are calling it one of the best manga and anime series of our time, and I can see their point. Even if there's not much plot to be seen, it amuses you and, at times, freaks you out.
The characters are really....interesting. A 10-year-old child prodigy, a cool girl obsessed with anything cute, a loud and annoying girl with a dangerously large amount of energy and a spacey girl with the wildest imagination ever. And that wasn't all!
Azumanga Daioh isn't the kind of series you devote your life to and never want to watch any other anime besides it. It's the series you are looking for when you want to watch something funny with crazy characters doing even crazier stuff. It's school humor at it's best!
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is very funny. It's one of the funniest I've seen. You have to watch this, it's an essential; I don't regret buying this a single bit. It basicly follows some girls through high school but they're all unique characters and I found myself addicted to each episode and looking for the next character developements! Sometimes you can see how they're reused the same picture but it's not very often and the quality of the picture and animation you will see is very well done. The music is suiting and I am now absolutely loving the opening theme tune. Only bad thing is that it made me depressed seeing as my high school days are almost over XD.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Hehehe, hohoho, heeheehee, it just gets crazier than ever with Azumanga Daioh. But don't let it fool you. If you're expecting a South-Parkish or Family Guy style humor, you'd most likely be let down, yes somethinig that can make you laugh without all those potty and black humor.
Azumanga Daioh's animation is plain and simple. No overly flashy animation, so plain in fact, it looks stale on the surface. And as you continue on, you'd soon notice instances of lengthy lags in betweeen jokes, don't be alarmed if your DVD player froze, those are really part of the humor. And then there's the character designs. They aren't overly moe or fugly in any sort, just your average generic designs. In short, just okay, look at my score for it.
I'll be lying if I said that Azumanga has bad music. Lend an ear for Soramimi Cake and Raspberry Heaven and god knows that you at least made a slight semblance of a smile. BGM is alright. Ambient, laid back, and repetitive at times. I think the purpose of it was to also prolong some jokes, it helped to keep the viewer in check. Voice actors are excellent with their roles and also made Azumanga funnier(Kimura was hilarious in Japanese audio.). Nothing else to talk about here.
Aah, story...was there any in it? As much as I liked it, as almost all comedies, this one also a "been there, done that" formula. I mean, who hasn't done a high school slice-of-life anime before? Take away the characters, jokes and what do you have left? Bare bones. Don't get me wrong, without it, the rest of the elements would feel out of place.
Now we're onwards to the good parts. The backbone of its series are its cast. We have Chiyo, the young prodigy, Osaka, the girl from, well, Osaka, Tomo, the girl who really needs to lay off the caffeine, Kaorin, the jock of teh group, Koyomi, the stern serious student and arguably the girl with the most on screen, the quiet and animal loving Sakaki. And together with their egotistical homeroom teacher, Ms. Yukari, they make one of the biggest foils in anime with laughs to follow. Not to mention Mr. Kimura, Ms. Minamo and company to add the spice. No way, Azumanga would have stood with such acclaim without them.
I'll combine the humor with value. As I said, this isn't for everyone. The comedy here is mostly slapstick and situational which could turn off some viewers. I suggest you rent it before buying it. You might regret having it sit on a shelf collecting dust...
With that being said, my enjoyment somewhat contradicts with my review. Being observant of its pros and cons, when you add it all up, it's just an okay show, nevertheless, it does have merits of its own.
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0 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Xyanide |
(2006-11-03 12:15:38) 2006-11-03 12:08:28 |
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| To be honest I only started watching this to see what all the fuss was about. And to be honest there shouldn't be any in the first place. If you think this anime might be very hilarious each and every episode then let me answer that for you: no. Somewhat amusing yes but the only thing I kept watching for was to get a fair image of this anime to review it and hoping for Kimura (the male teacher) to show his gaping face again.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| An anime with a simple story. Very amusing, but can get a little repetitive.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Azumanga Daioh is overrated, however there is no denying that there is a charm to its simple, albeit repetitive formula.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Following the lives of 6 young girls and 2 teachers through three years of high school in Japan, Azumanga Daioh probably does not deserve its place on this site as one of the best 15 anime ever made. While there are some amusing scenes, and some scenes that made me laugh out loud, the anime is not hilarious enough to keep me completely interested for all 26 episodes. However, despite these flaws, it is a unique anime which accomplishes what it set out to do: amuse its' watchers.
The animation is fairly basic; you won't find Ghost in the Shell-esque character models or special effects in this anime. The character models are, however, unique enough among the main characters to distinguish them, but still similar enough to make it noticeable (especially Kagura and Tomo).
Much of the comedy (or attempted comedy) in this anime is visually-based, with outrageous faces and over-the-top emoticions and actions. In this aspect, the animation succeeds in its' goal; though the animation is not technically spectacular, it serves its purpose: to accentuate the comedic aspect of the anime.
The soundtrack, while at first a bit annoying and over-the-top, will grow on you. By the end of the series, I really enjoyed the opening song, and it got stuck in my head everytime I listened to it. The ending song wasn't half-bad either.
As for the voice-actors, they played their parts perfectly; this anime bases its' comedy on the emotions and dialogue of the voice-actors, and without convincing and amusing performances by the voice-actors, the anime would not have been amusing at all.
The story for this anime, being of tertiary importance compared to the comedy and characters of the anime, was very underdeveloped and simple. While this is to be expected of a semi-realistic "school-life" story, that does not make the story any more interesting.
The story's only purpose in this anime is to put the characters in the position to do amusing things; they go on trips in order to spice up the comedy and provide new scenery for the comedy. The transition between years serves for comedy in and of itself (the athletic competition each year, etc). Even the graduation is more of an oppurtunity for graduation-related comedy than it is a resolution of the story.
The main aspect of the story, however, is the many situations and random actions of the characters that occur each episode. Each of these "mini-stories" may focus on a different character or set of characters, including any of the 6 students or the 2 teachers.
As to the characters, they lack a bit in development, depth, and background due to their primary purpose being merely comedy. All of the characters retain their personalities and mannerisms throughout the series; the most development shown is probably Sasaki being a bit more friendly and besides that there is really no development. We find out nothing about any of their backgrounds besides sprase things (Yomi and Tomo knew each other since they were kids, "Osaka" is from Osaka, Chiyo is rich, Sasaki's mother is allergic to cats, etc).
However, despite this lack of depth and development, Yomi, "Osaka", Chiyo, Sasaki, Tomo, Kagura, and the teachers (Yukari, and Nyamo) are all funny in their own way; each brings a different aspect of comedy to the series. Without these interesting and unique characters, the series would have been a complete flop.
I probably will not rewatch this series; it was plenty long enough that I think I have had my fill of this type of comedy for awhile. While not as zany as FLCL or as amusing, this anime was worth watching and I would reccomend it to fans of this type of anime.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
4.8 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
4 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
| As you can see, I gave this anime kind
of a low review. This show is VERY highly
overrated. I actually went out and bought this anime for 50 bucks because of the ratings people gave it. I absolutely believed that this anime would make me howl with laughter. But it wasn't so.
Animation: Although the characters were cute and some scenes were pretty
There is no real "stand out" scenes that
break any new ground in animation. Some times it seems kind of boring I really couldnt see a male (who was straight) liking this show. I couldnt get my boyfriend to watch it with me for more than 10 minutes.
Sound: The theme song is kinda cute
but Im not really into anime songs other
than watching intros to anime...
Story: There is basically no plotline except for the fact that they are all in
high school and its a story of them on their way to graduation day. I suppose the plot is kinda unexpected sometimes.
Some of the stories are strange (like
Chiyo-chans father being a cat?) And
a lot of the jokes are stale or you don't
really get it? Sometimes it seems like
I should have laughed but instead I was puzzled. Also, there were a lot of times they would drag out a scene to where you would want to SCREAM. Like how the crazy cat girl would pet a cat for well over a minute with no talking or other actions other than a hand movement.
Some of the scene dragging seemed pointless and VERY boring.
And sometimes the characters repeat certain phrases OVER AND OVER AND OVER until you want to turn the damn thing off.
There were lots of times I wondered to
myself why I was still watching it. But I guess I forced myself to watch all of them because the fact that I bought it
Character: Great characters but they could have made the jokes a little better. I suppose that if I spoke Japanese and was able to watch it in its natural language that some jokes would seem funnier.
Value: Less than 50 bucks thats for sure... I literally forced myself to watch every episode eventhough I was zoning out on the screen most of the time because I became so bored of the storyline.
Enjoyment: I can't really say that I didnt laugh through it but I wish it were funnier. It really had the potential for a lot more laughs, but didn't deliver.
I probably would watch a select few episodes again, but Im not sure about sitting through all 130 episodes again..
If you are thinking about buying this anime without watching a few of the episodes first.. STOP!! Download a few of the first episodes and decide for yourself whether you would like that kind of stuff.. because personally I was pretty disappointed.. ..... and left to think that I should have just bought Jubei Chan instead... :(
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0 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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|
MikeDavis |
(2006-09-01 06:34:04) 2006-08-28 03:30:27 |
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Azumanga Diaoh is a slice-of-life high school comedy, rightly called a classic, centering on some adorable girl students and the mighty fun, strange, and SUPERCUTE shennanigans they get into.
Based on Azuma Kiyohiko's four panel manga series, the greatest thing about this show is the way it treats the realistic aspects of high school life while being totally funny and warped (in the best way).
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