The Forgotten Azumanga Daioh Side Stories

Introduction

Like most people, I was first introduced to Azumanga Daioh through out-of-context clips online, and fell in love with the unique characters and humour. However, like at the end of any great series, a part of you ends up feeling listful. And so, today on Trash Tolerance we’ll be talking about some pieces of Azumanga Daioh media that you may not have known about. This isn't a comprehensive list of all Azumanga Daioh media; just my opinion on some works I found interesting.

Azumanga Web Daioh

Azumanga Web Daioh is a short original net animation adapted from the manga by Kiyohiko Azuma. Directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori and animated by Ajia-do, it was made available for paid streaming on the Japanese character merchandise website chara-ani.com on December 28, 2000. The short had a completely original story and was 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.

SPOILER WARNING: 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.

Fumiaki Asano, Director: The original "Azumanga Daioh" already has well-established characters, so we aimed to create a work that would satisfy those who have read the original. I would definitely like people to watch this after reading the "Azumanga Daioh" manga. (Translated from interview)

Although there isn’t much plot here, I’d say it's worth checking out due to the unique aesthetic. 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. A fun curiosity, but I do prefer the J.C. Staff. interpretation.

The Very Short Azumanga Daioh Movie

In December 22, 2001, a six-minute trailer was released to movie theaters to publicize the then-upcoming television series, titled Azumanga Daiou: Gekijou Tanpen. When the anime series was released in the United States by A.D. Vision as a DVD set in 2005 (The same company that originally had the English publishing rights to the Azumanga Daioh and Yotsuba& manga), this film was included as one of the extras on the sixth DVD volume under the title The Very Short Azumanga Daioh Movie.

Some tidbits about the physical media for Azumanga Daioh that relate to this film: This short was only made available to the west through the original ADV Films DVD releases, not the current Sentai DVDs and Blu-rays, due to licensing issues. Additionally, there are a suprising amount of music CDs that have been released for Azumanga Daioh, with the credits song of this film, "Sarabai!" being one of several character image including in the Azumanga Daioh Vocal Collection.

SPOILER WARNING: The short opens with Chiyo introducing herself to the audience, then cut to the classroom to get a few jokes showcasing all the characters’ main gags, which ends with the reveal that the whole short was one of Osaka’s dream sequences which she of course wakes up from, thus ending the short. During the credits we watch a spinning 3d model of Chiyo’s father, accompanied by a song sung by Chiyo’s voice actress, Tomoko Kaneda, titled “Sarabai!”.

The pacing in this is a lot faster than in the original show, which makes sense seeing as this is basically a commercial meant to sell people on the show’s premise; high school girl slice of life mixed with surreal absurdity straight from the eternal void. What really stands out here is production quality, which is a lot higher than that of the anime. Of course the atmosphere of the original series is also outstanding, but if you’re interested in seeing the characters in a smoother, more expressive, and just less bleached* setting, then be sure to check this out.

Azumanga Daioh: Hoshuu-hen

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the manga, three 16-page chapters serialized in the magazine Monthly Shōnen Sunday starting in May 2009 under the title Azumanga Daioh: Hoshuu-hen, which translates roughly to “Azumanga Daioh: Supplementary Lessons.” These would later be compiled in the 2009 reprint of the series released in Japan by Shogakukan also to celebrate the tenth anniversary. While the original series was released across four volumes, the reprint was instead released in three volumes, correlating with each of the three school year arc. In turn, each volume included one of the supplementary lessons chapters from from the anniversary.

Another book that released for the series' tenth anniversary was the tribute anthology Osaka Banpaku that also released for the manga's 10th anniversary called The Osaka Expo. It includes official artwork, images of merchandise released for the series, and guest comics by manga artists such as Barasui (Strawberry Marshmallow), Dowman Sayman(Voynich Hotel), Keiichi Arawi (creator of Nichijou), and Ume Aoki (creator of Hidamari Sketch).

For a bonus fun fact, the June, July and August 2009 issues of Monthly Shōnen Sunday where Hoshuu-hen was published were actually the first issues of the magazine that were ever put into print.

Although each of the chapters are split into two segments, part A and part B, the chapters don't deviate from the usual 4-koma antics you would usually see in the series. That is not to say that the writing falls short of the original, as the comedy is just as entertaining as ever. Still, I was for something more like the special chapters of the original run that ditched the comic strip in favor of a more traditional format, which were some of my favorites. Still, if you’re craving just a few more chapters of the series, this will be right up your alley. Plus, we get to see the characters all dripped out on the sides, so that’s a plus.

Conclusion

That's all I have to say for this review. I'm hoping that you've learned something new about Azumanga Daioh from this article. Speak of which, I have some reading to do myself.