World Famous Comics: Azumanga Daioh Omnibus Volume 1 (Azumanga Daioh)
Azumanga Daioh Omnibus Volume 1 (Azumanga Daioh)
By: Kiyohiko Azuma Publisher: ADV Manga Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: ADV Manga Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 686 Publication Date: November 21, 2007
Product Description: High school: a time of friends, memories... and biting cats? Leering teachers? And is that penguin carrying a tray?! Welcome to Azumanga Daioh, the acclaimed story from writer/illustrator Kiyohiko Azuma (Yotsuba&!) about the humor and wonder of teenage life. Join the brainy Chiyo-chan, spaced-out Osaka, over-the-top Tomo, soft-spoken Sakaki, hair-trigger Yomi and brash Kagura as they fumble their way toward graduation and the future, collected here for the first time in a single volume.
Not at all what I expected. First, let me get this out of the way and say that I absolutely LOVE Yotsuba. Its probably one of the best series Ive read since I started with manga. With that said, this "Azumanga Daioh" garbage is terrible. I was recommended to purchase this volume through Amazons recommendation system, and usually I'm quite satisfied with its suggestions. I've gotten about 50 pages into this book, and its not even slightly amusing, funny, witty or endearing, I honestly cant see how anyone could read this simplistic tripe. The art to this series is really good, but I think the story was written by an elementary student. Its extremely simplistic, and I feel myself getting dumber with each page I turn. A perfect example of this would be a segment involving a discussion about "e-pets". When its suggested that a one of the students purchase an e-pet, she spends the next three panels trying to figure out what the "e" in e-pet means. Then it finishes.... Thats the punchline!! I do understand a lot of it is cultural, and I do understand most of these as I live in Tokyo (the breaking of the chopsticks, the school clubs, lunches, etc.) but its just not funny. I think I'll read a few more chapters, then I'm done... Look for my copy on ebay next week. With so much manga out there to translate and bring to the English-reading community, its a real shame that ADV chose to publish this omnibus.
Humorous, wacky and awesome manga! This is done by the same author of Yotsuba (and you know that it's going to be awesome). ADV decided to release all 4 volumes in one Omnibus edition and the paper is a larger print (a huge plus since I've owned omnibus edition that were the same size as a regular manga and it simply messes up the entire book). The price of all 4 volumes combined is around $40 but you can own all 4 in one book for around $20 and that's a great deal! (Unless you are the type of person who does not like hulling around a big book and would like to carry 4 small books instead).
The manga itself centers around 6 high school girls and their daily life in high school and pretty much that means your going to have a lot of funny moments. Of course the story does include high school teachers and other aspects of life other than life in high school, you will simply enjoy the life these characters go throughout the book. There has not been one panel (the book is written in a 4 panel comic strip) that I have found to be boring or redundant, although there were some panels that I didn't quite understand (simply because I am not very accustomed to Japanese culture). There will be some jokes that some may not understand because of the culture, but with this book you will be able to understand Japanese culture a lot more.
If you are a fan of the anime series, Yotsuba, or want a series that is light on content but very funny, pick up this series as you will not be disappointed.
Economical way to enjoy Azumanga Daioh: The Manga As a fan of Azumanga Daioh (the animation), I've been interested in reading the original manga, but the price of collecting all four volumes (around $30) was a barrier. When I saw that this Omnibus was much cheaper, I decided to buy it.
The manga itself deserves 5 stars, as Azuma is hilarious in his writing and drawing. Some of the jokes that fell a bit flat in the animation really shine in written form. Content-wise, this manga is great.
Moreover, the Omnibus has some slight improvements over the original manga. Some of the glaring inconsistencies present in the original manga have been fixed (e.g., Yukari is now an English teacher from start to finish, and Osaka's accent has been toned down). Also, the Omnibus has slightly larger pages, making the text easier to read.
However, the Omnibus' packaging is somewhat lacking. It is entirely black and white (unlike the original manga books, which had color inserts). There are still no translator's notes for volumes 1 and 2. Moreover, the translator's notes for volumes 3 and 4 refer to the original page numbers (and not the pages in the Omnibus), so a note for "page 13" may actually refer to page 505.
In sum, if you're looking for an economical way to enjoy the manga, the omnibus is a good buy.
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Trevor
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