Nov
28th

Review-Haibane Renmei


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Haibane Renmei or Ailes Grise (Haibane Renmei or Ailes Grise translated by the author as Charcoal Feather Federation) is a set of original d?jinshi written and illustrated by Yoshitoshi ABe, which was adapted into a 13-episode anime series based on those books, which was broadcast by the anime television network, Animax, in its respective networks around the world, including Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, under the title Ailes Grise. Both series follow a young girl named Rakka, a newly arrived haibane (an angelic-looking being), and other characters in the city of Glie (guri), a walled city with one entrance where no one is allowed to leave.

Characters
Rakka (”Falling”)
A new arrival to Old Home, Rakka struggles throughout the series to find herself, and has trouble escaping from curiosity of her past. She forms many friendships, but her closest is that with Reki.

Reki (”Pebble”/”Small Stones”)
Always smiling and being kind to the other Haibane, Reki—one of the most senior Haibane in the home—is troubled by her past and by her dreams. Reki has been a Haibane for seven years.
Kuu (”Air”)
The youngest of the “older” Haibane, Kuu overcame initial awkwardness to achieve a sense of peace. She develops a good friendship with Rakka.
Nemu (”Sleep”)
The oldest Haibane at the home, she is often teased for her habit of sleeping in. Nemu has been a Haibane for nine years.
Kana (”River fish”)
A mechanically inclined tomboy, she works at the clock tower in the center of town.
Hikari (”Light”)
A serious, but occasionally mischievous haibane. She works in a bakery in town.
Hyouko (”Icy lake”)
The leader of another group of Haibane in town (the “
co-educational” Abandoned Factory nest).

Plot summary
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The series starts out with two parallel scenes. One contains the image of a girl falling from the sky, cradling a crow; it tries to stop her fall, but cannot. The other consists of a group of Haibane finding a large
cocoon growing in a storage room. When the cocoon breaks open, the teenage girl inside is brought to the guest room, where she is cared for by several Haibane, mostly one named Reki. All the girl can remember is her dream of falling. As Haibane are traditionally named based on their dreams within the cocoon, she is named Rakka (”falling”). Shortly after arriving, the Haibane present Rakka with a halo, and Reki helps Rakka go through the painful ordeal of having wings grow from her back.
As time progresses, Rakka learns her way around the Old Home, one of two places in the city where Haibane live. She learns about the town, in which the people are friendly and generous to the Haibane, but in which Haibane must work and are subject to restrictive rules with harsh penalties. Foremost of these is to not touch or even approach the wall that surrounds the town. These rules are enforced by the Haibane Renmei, who oversee the lives of the Haibane.
Rakka begins to bond with her friends, especially Reki and another Haibane named Kuu, and begins to search for a job. However, during this time, Kuu grows distanced. One day, Kuu disappears in the western forest near the wall. Rakka becomes distraught when she learns that Kuu has passed over the wall and will never return, as this is the eventual fate of all Haibane who are not tied down by guilt.
Rakka becomes depressed, and notices her wings turning black. Despite Rakka’s desperate attempts to curb and conceal it by cutting her feathers, Reki discovers this and shows Rakka how to hide and treat the spots. Rakka learns that she is “sin-bound”, caught up in guilt for past deeds. Reki reveals that she was born with this condition, with black wings and a dark dream she could not fully remember, and has been hiding it ever since. Depressed and confused about her condition, Rakka later runs off in despair, then is led into the western woods by crows. There she finds a well, climbs to the bottom, sees her full dream, and buries a dead crow found at the bottom of the well. Somehow she knows it was a person who loved her in her past life, who then became a bird to pass over the wall and let her know she was not alone. Finding closure and forgiveness for her sins, her guilt is relieved and her wings turn gray again. However, she also learns that Reki’s time is running out, and Rakka turns her focus towards helping her friend find her way.
Rakka works to get another group of Haibane from the other side of the city to forgive Reki for a long past transgression in which she tried to pass over the wall which resulted in her friend being nearly killed and severely punished for damaging it. However, Reki is resigned to her fate; she refuses to trust anyone for fear of betrayal, and will not ask for or accept help. Her dream is revealed to her as a gift from the Haibane Renmei, but its destructive nature only serves to drive her into a self-loathing frenzy. As Rakka tries to shake her out of it, Reki reveals to Rakka that she never really cared for her, and was just taking care of her as a final effort to save herself.
Rakka leaves her, crushed, but finds and reads Reki’s diary. From it, and from the forgotten memories it reveals, Rakka discovers that Reki spent so long performing good deeds for forgiveness that it has become her identity, even if she cannot see it. Realising that Reki truly did care and wanted someone to trust, Rakka’s belief in Reki is restored, and she returns to save her friend from the dark fate of a sin-bound.

Haibane

Rakka in sunlight.
The Haibane are a race of people who resemble angels in that they have wings and haloes. However, their wings are short, not functional, and rather than white they are charcoal grey. Furthermore, their haloes are forged for them by the Haibane Renmei, although it is likely the case that they can still only be worn by a Haibane.
Haibane are born from cocoons that grow from small seeds that appear in places such as Old Home (in all the depicted cases they in fact grow in uninhabited rooms). In the introduction sequence to the anime the seed of Rakka is seen falling from the sky, so it is possible that all the cocoon seeds fall from the sky this way. Once in Old Home they dig into the floor and grow at a tremendous rate to a very large size much bigger than a person (although Kana indicates that Rakka’s cocoon is bigger than Kuu’s. Presumably, therefore, the size of the cocoon is indeed linked to the size of the Haibane inside). Veins/roots grow out of the cocoon into the surrounding surfaces to support it. The cocoon is filled with liquid but the Haibane inside can breathe it.
Inside the cocoon a Haibane exists—fully formed and human in appearance (and also dressed in a plain white robe). It is unknown whether the person in the cocoon grows with it until they reach their correct size, or if they only appear when the cocoon is big enough to hold them. While in the cocoon the Haibane sleeps and has a dream—many fans speculate that the dream reflects the reason they “become” Haibane, and relates to some kind of inner problem they have to resolve in order to ascend on their Day of Flight. When they wake up from the dream they must dig their way out of the cocoon (it is a Haibane tradition; it is believed if they cannot break free themselves, rather than having their cocoon broken open, they will not be strong).
All Haibane are born as children or teenagers. Haibane have no memory of their lives before being in the cocoon (even though all are sure that they had lives before that), although Rakka manages to remember some details of her emotions in her previous life.
Haibane are traditionally named after their cocoon dreams (although younger Haibane have less respect for this tradition and often choose a different name for themselves).
After a Haibane “hatches” they are given a halo which is put over their head. The halos are solid, made of a special metal-like substance. ‘Light leaves’, that are found within the wall, are used in their making. They glow brightly. They hover over the Haibane’s head like a repelled magnet, although they exert a physical force on the Haibane (as sometimes Haibane can be pulled around by their halo). The halo is not always fixed very well when first applied to a Haibane. In Rakka’s case she had to connect hers to a headband with wire so that it wouldn’t fall off at first, but before long it became fixed. When a Haibane’s Day of Flight approaches their halo flickers and dims.
A little while after a Haibane “hatches” (about a day, at the most) they start to grow their wings—which first form as lumps on their backs before their wings painfully break through. Their wings must be cleaned of blood and fluid, otherwise they will stain. It’s a very long procedure to clean them thoroughly, and another Haibane must perform this as the newly born Haibane are too weak after the wings grow through. At first the wings are delicate and very hard to control, as well as being prone to exhaustion, but eventually are strengthened with use, and Haibane learns to control them like any other part of their body.
Haibane are not allowed to use money, and instead are given a notebook by the Haibane Renmei, leaving notes (similar to cheques) to pay for things, which are presumably exchanged for legal tender with the Haibane Renmei or the Haibane’s employer. Haibane can only have second hand things or things they make themselves, it is a rule for them to use things that humans no longer need. Haibane must find employment, although they are only allowed to work in a few places; however, as it is mentioned that Hikari works at the oldest bakery in town, we can assume that age is a factor in whether or not Haibane can work somewhere. As mentioned above, they cannot handle money, but their work presumably pays for what they need.
After a certain amount of time (when they are fully prepared) a Haibane will become drawn towards the Western Woods for their “Day of Flight”, when they pass over the wall in a beam of light. Most fans speculate that this implies their ascent, perhaps to Heaven or their next life. Their halo is left behind, and it no longer glows.

Sin-bound
Some Haibane do not remember their cocoon dream properly and are called “sin-bound”. These Haibane can be recognized by the black splotches that grow on their wings. Fans conjecture that these Haibane committed suicide in their past lives—this would definitely appear to be the case with Reki, and her incomplete dream seems to indicate this. Not all sin-bound Haibane are born that way. For example, Rakka became sin-bound only during her depression after Kuu’s departure.
Sin-bound Haibane cannot have their “day of flight” until they are no-longer sin-bound. If they do not achieve this within a certain amount of time, they cease to be Haibane. As the Haibane Renmei communicator tells Rakka, these Haibane lose their wings and halos, and are required to live apart from humans and Haibane. (The camera at this point focusses on the false wings that are a part of the communicator’s uniform, perhaps indicating that the Haibane Renmei are these “fallen Haibane”. It’s also possible that these former Haibane are the Toga, the only people who can leave the city of Glie. The Toga never speak, save for communicating in sign language to the Haibane Renmei, and they never reveal their faces.) Despite this, Reki believed that when her time was up, she would simply vanish.
Sin-bound Haibane usually feel guilty about something they have done in their previous life, and until they can overcome this they cannot become a normal Haibane.

Context and interpretation

Reki and Rakka.
Some fans have made the conjecture that the Haibane are, actually, children who committed
suicide and were reborn into Glie world to atone for their sin. Suicide is a particularly high-profile issue in Japanese society, and some facts could support this hypothesis, like Reki’s hallucination in the last episode, or an interpretation of the characters names (”Sleep”, sleeping pills or coma; “Light”, died in a fire; “Ice Lake”, frozen; “River fish”, drowning; “Falling”, suicide by jumping). ABe disagrees with this interpretation, but he encourages readers and viewers to come to their own conclusions.
A common variation of the above interpretation is the idea that all Haibane were simply children who died before their time; in this case, their names may simply represent the cause of death. Reki and Rakka’s black wings and the Washi’s reference to their sins are then assumed to be ways of showing that they committed suicide in their past lives. Some proof of this was the trouble both Reki and Rakka had in remembering details of their cocoon dreams. None of the other Haibane mentioned similar troubles.
Both interpretations suggest that the Haibane exist in a world between
Heaven and Hell, although other interpretations involving non-Christian concepts are fully possible. Though they bear wings and halos as per occidental angels, the wings are vestigial and turn black if the owner becomes overly depressed. Since Haibane live comparably short “lives” it’s possible the truth of how and why their wings might change color is never developed among the Haibane, and the inflicted individuals think it’s because of their personal faults or sins. The time between arrival and departure suggests that they are not ready to proceed to their destination due to something they have not learned, experienced, or atoned for. It is superficially similar to the Catholic concept of Purgatory, although unlike it, Haibane stay there permanently if they fail to resolve their issues before the Day of Flight.
Another symbol that could support either theory is the presence of certain animals in Glie. In the animated series, only two types of animals are ever seen within the city walls: crows and cats. Although they weren’t actually associated with death or the underworld, cats were revered by some societies, and even mummified after death by the Egyptians. One reason for their presence may be the old “nine lives” tale. Crows hold a much more powerful position in the story; they’ve long been associated with death. In the movie “The Crow,” it is said that crows carry away the souls of the dead. In “Haibane Renmei,” the crows are said to bring back objects from the past over the wall—for Rakka, the crows bring back her full dream and a message that she isn’t alone.
It is possible to draw a faint, but plausible connection between the birth of a new Haibane and an existing Haibane’s Day of Flight. Kuu’s Day of Flight arrives shortly after Rakka is born; while Rakka and the others are searching for Kuu in the Western Woods, Reki comments that there has not been a Day of Flight for a long time. The close proximity of Rakka’s birth and Kuu’s departure implies vaguely that for every Haibane born, another leaves. This is further emphasised later in the series, when Kana comments that Nemu, who is the oldest Haibane at Old Home, has not had her own Day of Flight yet because she is waiting for Reki to go first. After Reki has left, Rakka finds two Haibane seedlings in an abandoned room. This might suggest that Nemu will soon have her own Day of Flight and that the two new Haibane will ‘replace’ both her and Reki, just as Rakka replaced Kuu.
In an interview in the magazine
Animerica, ABe stated that the series was inspired by Haruki Murakami’s novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, half of which takes place in a walled city with no apparent outside. Some fans believe the series contains influence from another Murakami novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, in which the main character spends a large amount of time at the bottom of a well.
That article was taken from wikipedia, kinda lazy though to make my own review :P. Here is a wallie from related anime from animepaper, enjoy:




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Nov
4th

Review-Azumanga Daioh

This anime is very funny! Even though there are many scenes that consists of “silent comedy”, which is usually wasting time and patience, I like the development of the story a lot. The story isn’t so heavy, no love-love things, and it is all about friendship… unique friendship to be precise. Well, here it is:

The title of the series has no meaning. “Azumanga” is a portmanteau of “Azuma” (the name of the series’ creator) and “manga”, while “Daioh” comes from the magazine in which it was originally published, Dengeki Daioh. Daioh is also referred to during the next episode previews as meaning “king,” or “great king.” The name Azumanga is the general term for Kiyohiko Azuma’s works (illustrations and comics) advocated to get readers to keep the author’s name in mind (The originator is unknown).[1] For example, the titles of two work collections published in 1998 and 2001 containing official comics of Pioneer animations (Tenchi Muyo, Battle Athletes Victory, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, El-Hazard, Pretty Sammy and Serial Experiments Lain), Doki Doki Pretty League and Forestall Army Corps were Azumanga and Azumanga 2. Azumanga was published in the form of a reduced-size edition later, called Azumanga Recycle. Though Azumanga was defined with the intention of implying all of Azuma’s works at first, the current opinion is divided among Japanese fans on what is included within the limits of this title. One faction maintains that only Azumanga as work collections are called Azumanga, another holds that Azumanga Daioh is also a kind of Azumanga, and the others claim that the original meaning should include Wallaby, Yotsuba&! and even Inma no Ranbu, a collection of short stories which enthusiasts have given the nickname “Underground Azumanga” ???????, “Ura Azumanga”?[2].

Plot

Both the manga and the anime follow the trials and triumphs of everyday life in a Japanese high school. The readers and/or viewers follow Sakaki’s obsession with neighborhood cats, Chiyo’s struggle to fit in with an age group far above her own, and Yomi’s (sometimes lacking) patience with a rather silly best friend, Tomo, whose energy is rivaled only by her total lack of sense. They get to see yearly accounts of summer vacation, holidays, tests, and athletic events. Although it generally follows everyday life, this series is occasionally marked by bursts of surrealism and absurdity, such as an episode featuring the characters’ New Year’s dreams.

In the anime, Episodes 1 through 10 cover the first year of high school, and introduce the main cast and their personalities and foibles. Episodes 11-19 cover the second year as the girls become more mature and Kagura joins Yukari’s class. Episodes 20-26 cover the third and final year, as the girls prepare for college entrance exams, and the series concludes with graduation.

Characters

The main characters. From left to right: Sakaki, Kagura, Chiyo, Tomo, Yomi and Osaka

The main characters. From left to right: Sakaki, Kagura, Chiyo, Tomo, Yomi and Osaka

Six schoolgirls and two teachers make up the main cast alongside a few secondary characters, including a creepy male teacher with an abnormal obsession with teenage girls (Kimura-sensei), another girl (Kaorin) in the same grade who seems to have a crush on Sakaki (the most distant of the main characters) and a friend of hers with a relatively small role in the story (Chihiro).

Four of the girls were included in Newtype Magazine’s top 100 anime heroines of 2002: OsakaChiyo 11th, Sakaki 21st, and Yomi 78th. Together they made Azumanga Daioh the 2nd most popular series of 2002 for female characters. was awarded 7th,

Character profiles are given in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

Students

Chiyo Mihama
A child prodigy, Chiyo has skipped five grades to 10th grade (freshman in Japanese high school) at the start of the series and is still at the top of the class. This type of grade-skipping would be unthinkable in Japan, and thus the series itself humorously explores its consequences[2]. People find Chiyo amazingly cute, but her friends sometimes take advantage of her young age and scholastic abilities. Her lack of stature in comparison to her classmates leads to a lack of confidence, particularly in physical pursuits where she feels she is a burden. However, she tends to draw jealousy not only with her intelligence, but the fact that her family is exceedingly wealthy (they own an enormous mansion and a summer house where Chiyo is visited by her classmates on several occasions). The graphic rendering of Chiyo’s ponytails later allowed for several visual gags in both the manga and anime, usually as flying wings in Osaka’s daydreams. At home, she can almost always be found in the company of her enormous dog, Tadakichi. Out of all of the girls, she is the only one who does not sit through college “entrance exams” as she intends to study overseas, possibly in America.
Tomo Takino
Tomo is extremely energetic and competitive, despite being unathletic and a slacker at the same time. She tends to irritate everyone around her, especially Yomi, her classmate since elementary school. This is mostly due to the fact that Tomo is extremely impulsive and never really considers nor cares about the consequences of anything she says or does. On their second trip to Chiyo’s summer house, Tomo actually grabbed Chiyo’s house keys and threw them into the forest because she wanted to see what would happen if they’d lost them. However, on the occasions when Tomo has actually been inspired to concentrate on something, she’s proven to be quite capable. The most notable example of this is the fact that she managed to get the grades to qualify for the same high school as Yomi. Of course, she did this mostly out of spite, since Yomi ridiculed her and openly said there was no way she could pull it off. Once Tomo got into high school however, she basically returned to her lackadaisical ways.
Koyomi “Yomi” Mizuhara
A grade-school friend and general antagonist of Tomo’s, Yomi is the title’s voice of reason, carrying herself as the most mature and serious of the group. Though smart and athletic, she is constantly dissatisfied with herself due to her weight and is always trying various diets in an effort to become thinner. She can never seem to stick to these diets however, as she finds herself constantly tempted by her favorite foods. Another weakness of hers is that while she is above average in pretty much everything else, Yomi is almost criminally bad at singing. This tends to make her hard to be around at certain times because singing karaoke is actually one of her favorite things to do. While usually functioning as Tomo’s “straight man”, she sometimes manifests a rather cruel sense of humor. Yomi also has an uppercut that Tomo is usually on the receiving end of whenever she pushes Yomi too far.
Sakaki
Tall, soft-spoken Sakaki is uncomfortable with her height, and her busty physique. Because she is so shy, she doesn’t speak much, and her reticence is misinterpreted as mysterious, or cool. This reputation has been compounded by the fact that most of the school’s sports teams try to recruit her every year because of her natural athletic ability (she’s usually stronger and faster than most of the male students in school), but mostly she has no real interest in sports. But in contrast to what the other students think of her, Sakaki is in reality, a very emotionally sensitive person who holds a secret longing for all things cute. She loves cats, but for some strange reason cats always bite/scratch her - in particular, the grey one she calls Kami-neko (lit. God Cat/Biting Cat, depending on the kanji Or Gray-Cat / Spirit-Cat, for a more indirect translation). However, Sakaki ends up spending a lot of time with Chiyo upon finding out that Chiyo’s dog, Mr. Tadakichi, will let her pet him. This friendship actually shows the irony of their circumstances, as Sakaki wishes she looked more like Chiyo (so she could openly pursue her interest in cute things) and Chiyo wishes she looked more like Sakaki (so people will take her more seriously).
Ayumu “Osaka” Kasuga also known as “Osaka”
Ayumu is a transfer student from Osaka. Tomo, expecting her to act like the stereotypical Osakan (loud, exuberant and fond of bawdy jokes), quickly chose for her the nickname “Osaka,” although Ayumu’s behavior could not be more different from the “typical” Osakan. Ayumu considers her label “too simple” and “icky,” but she lacks the energy or motivation to dispute it. Unlike the stereotypical Osakan, she seems slow and easily distracted, but she merely has a mind that works quite differently than most people. This makes her prone to daydreaming, absentmindedness, and non-sequiturs, but it also makes her unusually good at answering very specific types of riddles. She is also easily amused by things that most people would consider bizarre. During the Sports Festival, she made a big deal out of running the obstacle course because she thought the event of sticking her face in flour to get a piece of candy was funny and had a giggle fit when she got there. The manga also revealed that she actually likes to run outside and play in typhoons. Also, her unusual way of thinking gives her a very vivid imagination and a unique way of seeing the world that could actually be considered quite intelligent in its own way.
Kagura
Kagura is a later acquaintance, joining Yukari’s class in the 2nd year (Yukari selects her as a ringer to win the school athletic competitions). She was originally in Nyamo’s class and displays a very competitive spirit with her peers in all things (though with little success in studies). She devotes most of her time to the swim team but is an all-around good athlete, and genuinely nice to her classmates. She has a slight obsession with Sakaki, whom she sees as an athletic rival. This is mostly due to the fact that while Kagura trains constantly to stay in shape, Sakaki is a naturally gifted athlete with no training at all. Like Tomo, Kagura tends to be quite impulsive in her actions (although unlike Tomo, Kagura is consciously aware of this and makes a genuine effort to try and keep it under control). Kagura does have her sensitive side, however, which we see in episode 6 of the anime following her homeroom’s defeat in the sports festival, and the final episode following graduation. Like Sakaki, she is quite busty, but is something of a tomboy (in contrast to Sakaki’s more elegant nature). She has also made it perfectly clear that she will not tolerate the antics of Mr. Kimura.

Teachers

Yukari Tanizaki also known as Yukari-sensei
The girls’ English and homeroom teacher (class 3), but a teacher with very unconventional methods and a rather close relationship with the class. Her students are casual enough to call her by her first name: Yukari-sensei, and some of them even use the very informal and intimate name and title of Yukari-chan. Depending on the day, time, and her mood, she can be either a horrible tyrant or one of the sweetest, most touching teachers ever. Like Tomo, Yukari is incredibly impulsive and has a tendency not to think things through (such as stealing a student’s bike to avoid being late for class), in sharp contrast to fellow teacher Minamo’s more reserved nature. Yukari is also a reputedly bad driver, as evidenced by the horrid condition of her car the students’ have lovingly dubbed “the Yukari-mobile” (although in reality, the car belongs to her parents, Yukari simply borrows it from time to time). Apparently, on the first trip to Chiyo’s summer house, Yukari’s driving was so bad that poor Chiyo was pschologically scarred for life and she has gone to enormous lengths to avoid riding with Yukari at any point in the future. In fact, the only student who seems to actually enjoy the way Yukari drives is (not surprisingly) Tomo.

Minamo Kurosawa also known as Kurosawa-sensei or “Nyamo”

A gym teacher at the girls’ school. In the girls’ first year of high school, she is the homeroom teacher of class 5. During their last two years, she is the homeroom teacher of class 2. An old high school friend and rival of Yukari. Popular with the students, Nyamo is nicer, less obnoxious, and far more in control than Yukari. A fact that causes so much resentment in Yukari that she’ll go to just about any length to prove that she’s a superior teacher (including signing up Kagura for her class so Minamo wouldn’t have anyone who could challenge Sakaki in the Sports Festival). But although they do have their fights, Minamo does try her best to take the high road and not let Yukari’s antics get to her. She also tries to help Yukari out from time to time and tries to inspire her to become a better teacher (although most of her efforts are met with failure). However, Minamo has proven that she can be just as vulnerable to losing control as Yukari is. During one of their trips to Chiyo’s summer house, she drank a whole bottle of alcohol in an effort to keep Yukari from getting drunk and embarrassing herself in front of the students. But her plan only resulted in getting herself drunk and she ended up spending half the night telling the girls perverted sex stories from her youth. Fortunately, Chiyo was too young to understand what she was talking about.

Kimura

The only male teacher seen regularly in the series, Kimura’s open-mouthed expression (as well as his ability to simply appear out of nowhere) tends to creep out most of the female students. While he has shown tendencies to be responsible and kind-hearted (he recycles littered cans, donates frequently to charities and even offered 10,000 yen as an offering at a Shinto shrine to pray for world peace), he openly enjoys looking at girls wearing buruma sports gear and swimsuits (he even so much as admitted that he became a teacher because he liked looking at schoolgirls). Obviously, the girls find this perverted, but it also creates empathy with the male students, most of whom would like to do the same thing. He does come dangerously close to crossing a line in the third year though, through his borderline harassment of Kaorin (one of the series’ secondary characters, most well-known through her enormous crush on Sakaki). Kimura also has a pretty wife and a school-age daughter, a fact which shocks several of the students.

Differences between manga and anime

The Azumanga Daioh manga is relatively short, totalling a mere four volumes. This, coupled with the fact that the series has a very straightforward premise, means that there are few outright changes between the manga and the anime. There are, however, still a few differences. Some jokes simply could not be adapted to an animated format, and were either changed significantly or excised completely, although both of these are few in number. Also, in the first manga volume, Osaka looks noticeably different from the anime and the 2nd-4th volume.

The anime also contains some “filler”, perhaps to help round out the number of episodes, or simply to explore aspects of the characters that were not explored in the manga. For example, in the anime, Miss Kurosawa actually goes out on a date at one point. This episode, while still comedic, has a somewhat more serious tone, and gives the viewer a look at the adults when they are not annoying the daylights out of each other. The slight re-arrangement of episodes within the anime as well has given rise to one minor character point: in the manga, Yukari-sensei’s birthday occurs on summer vacation, (presumably in the space between the annual summer trip and the start of school on September 1st), while in the anime it occurs during the spring holiday in March.

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