Around 1995, Japanese animation (anime) began pouring into North America, Europe and across the globe in video form. Most of these titles were unknown outside of Japan and never covered by animation journals. Whether a title is highly popular or very obscure, a high quality theatrical feature or a cheap and unimaginative direct-to-video release, they all look the same on a store shelf. Therefore, Animation World Magazine will regularly review several new releases (including re-releases not previously covered) that have merit.

Azumanga Daioh literally means "the greatest comics ever." © A.D.V. Films.

Azumanga Daioh. V.1, Entrance! V.2, Festivals! V.3, Rivals! V.4, Friends! V.5, Seniors! V.6, Graduation!
TV series (26 episodes), 2002. Director: Hiroshi Nishikori. V.1, 3 & 4, five episodes/125 minutes; v.2 & 5, four episodes/100 minutes; v.6, three episodes/75 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: A.D.V. Films.

There seem to be an increasing number of anime schoolgirl romantic comedies being released in America. This is the first of three such titles reviewed this month.

Azumanga Daioh literally means "the greatest comics ever." This is arguably justified in that seldom have a manga (a Japanese newspaper comic strip rather than the usual comicbook series) and its anime adaptation been so popular with almost no action. It has been described as a situation comedy, but it is really a personality comedy more like Charles Schulz's Peanuts -- a good American rival for the title of "the greatest comics ever."

Six girls go through the three years of high school together. Tomo is hyper energetic and rambunctious, always leaping into action without thinking things out. Sakaki is so physically huge and taciturn that everyone stereotypes her as athletically minded and anti-social, not realizing she is painfully shy. Yomi is the studious "brain,” irritated by being constantly interrupted by Tomo. These three middle-school classmates are joined in their high school freshman homeroom by two transferees; Chiyo-chan, a 10-year-old prodigy promoted directly from elementary school, and Ayumu, who has just moved to Tokyo from Osaka and is promptly nicknamed "Osaka" by Tomo. The sixth begins as Kaori, another classmate of Tomo, Yomi and Sakaki who has a schoolgirl crush on "Miss Sakaki,” but she is replaced due to a homeroom shuffle by Kagura, who is similar enough to both Sakaki and Tomo to become a friend of one and a rival of the other.

Each of the DVD volumes covers a half-year of school. The 26 episodes (animated by J.C. Staff, broadcast April 8 through September 30, 2002) are each divided into five mini-episodes in emulation of the manga's newspaper comic strip format, although the mini-episodes are connected into a single story to encompass a particular test or sports event or seasonal activity. The girls gradually become comfortably familiar with each other and their classmates and teachers (particularly English teacher Miss Yukari and Phys. Ed teacher Miss Minamo -- in a casting against type, it is the P.E. teacher who is most sensitive and intelligent and the English teacher who is crass and oblivious); and we follow along with them as they grow intellectually and emotionally during the three years until their graduation.

Unlike most other girl-oriented high school anime series, Azumanga Daioh has no fantasy element other than the TV-comedy exaggeration of humorous situations (it is fun to watch the insensitive Yukari mishandling her classes, but let's hope that no real school system would retain a teacher like her for long), and there are no first-love situations. Azumanga Daioh concentrates on other aspects of co-eds' lives: working together on class projects, going shopping together, holding karaoke and slumber parties, and in the final episodes deciding on what future careers to try for. There are personality-driven ongoing situations: both Tomo and Osaka are poor students (Tomo is too energetic to concentrate while spaced-out Osaka mentally veers off into non sequiturs), and their friends help them develop study habits.

Chiyo is emotionally three years their junior; they realize the situation intellectually and try to work around it, but there are times when it is just awkward for a group of adolescent girls to have a "little sister" tagging along with them. Sakaki likes animals and thinks she would like to become a veterinarian, but she has never had a pet and is constantly being bitten by a neighborhood cat. Is this just an unusually bad-natured cat, or does it indicate that Sakaki is poor at handling animals and should choose another career?

A 12-page booklet with each DVD explains Japanese educational and social customs. Many will be amusingly fascinating to American viewers, notably how Japanese students struggle with mandatory English-language classes. Considering how mundane the setup is, it is hard to describe how heart-warmingly charming the characters become and how funny the brief setups can be. One of my favorites is the Christmastime conversation when the other girls realize that Tomo thinks just because Santa Claus is not real, reindeer aren't either, and they must convince her that reindeer really exist even if they don't pull sleighs through the sky. Azumanga Daioh is delightfully witty and even an educational window onto what Japanese high school life is really like.