Like most people, I was first introduced to Azumanga Daioh through online meme clips (although the first work I saw by the author was Yotsuba&). I actually read the manga first and fell in love with the characters and humour, and I got just as much fun out of the television series. However, like at the end of any great series, a part of you ends up craving more. Thankfully, today on Trash Tolerance we’ll be talking about some pieces of Azumanga Daioh media that you may not have known about.
Azumanga Web Daioh is a short original net animation adapted from the manga Azumanga Web Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma. Directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori and animated by Ajia-do, it was made available for paid streaming on chara-ani.com on December 28, 2000. The short was originally intended to gauge whether there was enough interest to create a web-released anime adaptation. Because of overwhelming demand, however, the original plan for web-release was changed to a television release with new voice actors, music, and staff.
If you didn’t know, Ajia-do is best known for creating the anime adaptation of the ecchi series How Not to Summon a Demon Lord (A series that will certainly get its own article at some point. Granted, they’re also responsible for less lewd series such as Kemono Jihen and Ascendance of a Bookworm, but I feel like there are certain aspects of the animation here that lead me to believe the studio had certain agendas. In my opinion, it was a good thing that the series was handed off to J.C. Staff.
The story of this pilot has Chiyo bring a video camera to school for a project, only for Tomo to get a hold of it and get into shenanigans all over campus. Most of the short is from the perspective of the camera, and at the end we see Osaka bury a VHS tape of the footage in a time capsule, before it gets bulldozed by a waste management company doing construction.
The lighting of this short along with the use of 3D makes it feel like those old Cartoon Network City bumpers from the mid 2000s, which is funny because Azumanga Daioh actually used to air on CN in Asian countries. (Funny how at some point in time you could see Adventure Time and Azumanga Daioh back to back on cable).
Although there isn’t much plot here, I’d say this does its job as a pilot, and is worth checking out just for vibes alone. 6/10.