It’s not often that you find a series that really really hits it out of the ballpark for just about everyone.
A good series that fans really really dig and really really get into is a rarity. This is one of those rarities.

By now you know the story if you’ve seen it before, but in brief once again…
The Seinfeld of Japanese Anime/Manga, Azumanga Daioh is an experience for the senses in both formats you must see, read, and experience for yourself.
Experience three years in the life of a special class of girls from Miss Yukari’s English class, their quirks and up and downs, and their lives as you get to know them better until graduation day.
The manga is a bit of four panel refinement. The four panel format, best known from some of the classics like Peanuts, Garfield or Hagar the Horrible, works well here with an easy to get into format that readers can easily pick up and get into from the first minute the reader starts flipping the pages.
The anime is a cult classic in it’s own right. The loving work of it’s staff from Director Hiroshi Nishikiori right down the production line, a sure hit with viewers. The results? A superbly crafted and designed adaptation which is true to the series and takes it steps beyond which makes it solid viewing.
And yes, I am still sticking to my reversal of opinion on the English Dub and still think it’s good.
Now the notes and then the DVD.

NOTES TO NOTE
FOR ADVFILMS
This is a Region 1 review, covering the release of Azumanga Daioh in North America (and wherever else the Region 1 of DVDs cover). This means only those in Region 1 can watch this… or anyone who owns a Region Free DVD Player, they can watch it too! This may (by the way) include the upcoming release of the PS3 which is supposed to have a

region free DVD playing option. We’ll see.

FOR LANGUAGE
The entire review is on the English language version, just so you know that I do watch those from time to time when I do my reviewing.

Volume 3
Episode 10
It’s the second year and now the girls are movin’ on up… movin’ on up… to the big… yes, I’ll stop now.
Anyway now that the girls are second years they have all the pluses and minuses to consider, especially Chiyo-chan now that she is one grade older and yet still has troubles with being treated like a kid.

Episode 11
Hey! It’s an entire episode dedicated to Kagura and Sakaki, and no Kagura doesn’t need to know how to quit Sakaki… that’s Kaorin’s problem. Anyway watch Kagura struggle with English as a second language (which doesn’t make much sense as a joke if you’re watching the English language version), Sakaki’s continued feline follies including her troubles with the biting cat, the vandalism of Necoconeco by Kagura, and a alley full of cats… all at once… all at once… huh? Oh, mind wandered.
Did I tell you about Kagura’s obsession to buy a mountain bike? She’s got one (obsession I mean) and it shows here… really… all at once… sorry. Moving on now.

Episode 12
Last time it was Kagura and Sakaki, today it’s a day in the life of Chiyo-chan!
You wouldn’t think Chiyo-chan had much problems short of always being noticed for being a kid, but in fact she does have abit of problems. You see she is beginning to feel “homesick” for her old self and is beginning to think back to when she was a carefree grade school student going to swimming and playing jumprope and all that. But thankfully, with a little help from MOST of her friends (maybe not Tomo though) she’ll get through this day, narrated by Chiyo herself and riddled with learning, swimming and jumprope. A great episode.

Episode 13
These

are the days of infamy. When even the strongest are tested to the core of their mettle, and the quality of their inner strength is fired hot in the roaring furnaces of … exams.
Some overcome, some wade and bubble near drowning, some become to subject topic of issues of Confidential Confessions under the subheading “suicide”… gee, how harsh.
But this is a story of none of this for these days give birth to… the knuckleheads.
Yes, verily, three knuckleheads (aka numbnuts if you read the manga) are “born”, though they have always been here… we’re just calling them knuckleheads (with an “s”) as of this episode.
Tomo you know, Osaka you suspected, but as for the third… Kagura… who would have thought it!
I mean look at Sakaki! She’s sports compatible and yet she’s smart too, even if she’s not the best drawer in the class, so what’s with Kagura!
Anyway since it’s exams and it’s too late to pick new knuckleheads we’re stuck with what we got.
Behold the trials and tribulations of the knuckleheads. Be afraid.

PS. Here’s the episode where the confusing joke about foreign names comes to life.
In the manga you might have read about Van Damn (Jean Claude) and Damn Van, but how about this episode and Blue Three (Bruce Lee)? That makes even less sense than Damn Van, trust me.

Episode 14
Soon enough Summer comes about once again, and another trip to Chiyo-chan’s summer home is in order, even if nobody invited Miss Yukari (and she invites herself to the trip).
The start of the episode, after the phone calls to verify whose coming, can be summed up into three categories…
“Wobble Wobble Wobble FWHACK!”
“The Tissue People”
“E is for…”
After that it’s off to the summer home, where Tomo loses the last ounce of common sense left in her brain when she decides to throw Chiyo-chan’s house key into the woods.
Things can only get worse when they hit the beach

and a scene of “The Sea & Osaka” unfolds… which is followed by a festival and kimono wearing and an adult education unleashed by Nyamo.
Oh, so she DID see Teacher’s Pet didn’t she … woah.
Uhm… (blushing)… ehhh…. Err… break… br… move on! Nothing to see here, move along now… eck.

Azumanga Breakdown the 3rd
What’s Hot?
Third verse same as the first.
Once once again It goes without saying that ADVFilms is going to pull a -- ECK!! … uh, sorry… (gulp)… cold shower cold shower cold shower… uh… a Chiyo-penguin (next DVD) out of a hat by delivering a quality series worth raving about, worth talking about, and worth forming two dozen fanclubs and organizations over. Oh, and once again don’t forget that it’s also worth owning in your collection regardless of whether you live in R1 or R2 land.
Without a doubt Azumanga Daioh is one of those home runs that hit’s the mark and scores high for the home team, which makes it worth checking out.
Anyone knows about the Azumanga Daioh thinpack yet? Is that available yet in R2? Do you think Nyamo got her copy of Anyone You Can… (-_-) … moving on.

What’s Not?
The extras are still not extra enough, and that’s it for my few complaints.

Moments to Remember?
Once again just about everything is good. Third time in a row I said that, and I mean that.

What to Ignore?
The English voice acting is going solid now so I have no complaints about it, so ignore me.
No, no, I mean it. Ignore me. After I go off ranting up there you can please ignore me. Thanks.

Overall?
Here we go again, but I have three words to say to you about Azumanga Daioh the Anime series.
Buy-this-series. Nuff said. Own it, watch it, enjoy it. You’ll be glad you did. See you next time!

No, really, I’m done now. You can stop staring at me. Please. I’m done. Bye… bye…
(leaves room)