Revengeful Lobster

Bah. Been suffering from lack of anime. The fireman’s strike has meant that all the social clubs that take place in the Humanities and Social Sciences building (which is 99% of them), have had to cancel for the last week. Even though the Student’s Union bar is still open, all other campus buildings close at 6pm. This way, I miss the Monday and Friday Anime Society meetings. Just in case you didn’t realise, I like anime.

I’ll write about a series I’ve been watching in my spare time, because several have grabbed attention recently…

Azumanga Daioh

Now this really is special. I was beginning to fear the anime industry was producing titles with a strict template in relation to female characters. Especially the tried “One Guy Five Girls” scenario. You get the Sporty/Strong type (who usually beats up the protagonist), the intelligent/glasses-wearing/quiet type (or the Sensible One), the kawaii factor (I guess this one is mandatory), the “crazy” one (responsible for surrealism), and the last character will probably have an exaggerated chest for good measure (must be the reason why she keeps falling over and into embarrasing situations). Azumanga manages to get away with nine lead female roles, without using the template once. Altogether, we have:

Chiyo-chan

The closest coming character to the any stereotype (the Cute One), Chiyo-chan remains totally unique. She is a 10 year-old prodigy, promoted six years, struggling to cope in the world of high school.

Yomi-san

Hark! Could this be the Glasses-Wearing Sensible One? She would be, if she stopped karate-chopping her friends.

Kagura-san

Self-proclaimed rival of Sakaki-san (who couldn’t care less), Kagura seeks to beat her in all sports.

Sakaki-san

She may look scary, but she has a critcal weakness to anything cute.

Tomo-chan

You may consider her crazy at first, but Tomo-chan’s hyperactivity is simply spent on her ambition to succeed.

Kaorin-san

It would be an understatement to say she was Sakaki-san’s number one fan…

Kurosawa-Sensei and Yukari-Sensei

P.E. and Engligh teachers respectively, they continually cease to set a good example to their students.

Kimura-Sensei

My second favourite character, the only recurring male in the series has to be the estranged and perverted Classics teacher.

Osaka-san (Real name: Kasuga Ayumu)

I saved my favourite character for last, Osaka. Hailing from Osaka (no surprise there…), she adds the perspective of abstract truth to many situations. Ignorant people would call her “dim”, or “slow”. But it is clear to me that there is a burning intelligence of untold preportions in her control, just released at the wrong time in the wrong direction. What else could be the case for someone who could believe that a ten year-old is short because they had their height “sucked” out of them like a vampire?

The episodes follow a pattern that pays homage to the four panel manga it is based on. Some may feel that Azumanga lacks cthe continuity or solid structure of other series, but perhaps they forget it was aired daily in Japan as five minute episodes, with an twenty minute omnibus in the weekend. Basically (and you can never give a good description of a good anime starting with the word ‘basically’...), Azumanga is a comedy that tracks the daily lives of its characters, through their experiences at school, in their dreams, and time off. Most of the character building is done on the spot, with little background info, but that keeps it in the style of the manga, a style which I feel opens up a new direction in the anime industry.