12-Days of Anime, Day 10: Azumanga Daioh

I’m halfway through and I still have no idea what’s going on in this show….

giphy

What’s up, everyone, my name is Ken,from thebuttonsmashers.com, and today, I present to you Day 10 of the 12-Days of Anime, featuring me TRYING MY DAMNEDEST to describe whatever the hell this show is :  Azumanga Daioh.

Azumanga_Daioh_Wikia_Picture

Ok, I’m not even gonna do a plot summary, because there really isn’t one.

Azumanga Daioh is a bunch of short stories detailing the ordinary and not-so-ordinary misadventures of our main cast in an episodic format.  Rinse and repeat.  Each episode is comprised of a bunch of short stories/skits that describes the life of the main characters, all having little to no inter-connection between the story as a whole except for the passage of time.  Now, this format is wonderful for grabbing the viewers’ attention, as each short doesn’t really last for very long and there’s enough variety in each of the little stories that they put out to keep your eyes on the screen until, before you know it, the episode is over.

Azumanga-daioh-azumanga-daioh-14818436-320-166

So, since that is the case, how is the comedy for the episodes?

Well, I like it, but it can be very hit-or-miss depending on your taste in comedy.

And that’s, of course, understandable, as most of the jokes in the show are slapsticky and are inside jokes referencing certain aspects of Japanese culture, so if it flies by your head, either because you didn’t get the reference or you just don’t find it funny, then that’s probably gonna influence how you see the show from that point on.

tumblr_mrxq4tsBzQ1r32an8o1_500

The characters are another part of the show that I enjoyed, however, as each of them have these stereotypes, and yet are quirky enough to warrant them not being stale cookie-cutter tropes, that compliment one another.  The situations that these characters are put in, as well as how they react to them, make up for a big chunk of the show’s comedy, so even though I personally didn’t get EVERY joke mentioned, seeing how these characters react differently was very entertaining for me, so there’s that.

Yukari_GIF_2

Now, this show came out in 2002, and as such, you can see it in the animation.  There is a considerable style to the show that gives it its organic and slice-of-life feel, but sometimes the lack of detail can be seriously noticeable.  While the OSTs for the show are nothing too special besides the fact that it does keep the light-heartedness of the show rather well, the opening theme is especially note-worthy for being just like the show:

COMPLETELY NONSENSICAL 

So what recommendation do I give this show?

Check out the first few episodes.  Personally I would immediately recommend this to any self-respecting anime fan, but I have to take in people’s various tastes for comedy into account, and in that case, you should check out the first few episodes and see whether you can at least put up with the humour of the show.  Who knows, you may just be surprised.

Aaaaaaand, with that, I bid you all adieu.  This has been Ken for thebuttonsmashers.com Anime Reviews, and I’ll see you guys tomorrow for Day 11!

2 Comments

  1. I tried watching this series a couple of times and ended up dropping it. The comedy, although cute, was too random for my tastes. Perhaps it would have worked better had he episodes been shorter.

    1. totally see what you mean, although i was able to get through that and ended up finishing it feeling satisfied