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R4 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 22 April 2005 13:58 |
 No show overdoses on festival episodes quite like Azumanga Daioh.
After volume 2's first-year festivals, this volume revisits the theme
now that the girls are in their second year. I sense we'll be
seeing them again at some stage, too. It's not all festivals,
though, as Yomi & her dieting feature quiet heavily, while
Kimura-sensei's wife appears...
15 - Sports Fest, Second Year
Sports fest arrives, and it's time for
Nyamo's and Yukari-sensei's rivalry to be renewed. Suddenly, the
reason for Kagura's move to Class 3 is clear, while Chiyo-chan's eager
to do better than she did last year - although she seems to being
entered in all the events she's no good at. Meanwhile, the girls are
surprised to discover Kimura-sensei has a wife and kids - how come he's
so creepy if he's normal enough to have a family? When she turns up
at the sports fest, they just have to investigate...
16 - Culture Fest, Second Year
Class
3's having the usual hard time deciding on what to do for the cultural
festival. In the end, they decide to stick with what they know best
and go with the stuffed animal cafe again. They do have a secret
weapon, though - the ultimate in cuteness, Chiyo-chan in a penguin
suit, which is just too much for some people to handle. It all goes so
well until Kimura-sensei decides to help 'attract' customers. Later,
Chiyo-chan discovers being cooped up in a costume all day isn't all its
cracked up to be....
17 - End of Second Semester and Christmas
There's
a new book on pandas due out, and Chiyo-chan wants a copy before it's
sold out. She gets distracted by Osaka, though, who isn't sure what a
panda's meant to look like - are they black on white, or white on
black? Yukari-sensei's acting a bit strange, too - she's decided she's
bored of teaching English, so tries something else. Maths doesn't work
out so well, so she tries PE, but that doesn't quite go how she planned
it, either. Finally, the end of term comes around, and brings
Christmas with it - meaning there's presents to look forward to. But
does Chiyo-chan still believe in Santa? And don't mention Yomi's
karaoke efforts...
18 - Koyomi's Ordeals
New Year's been and
gone, and the girls are back in school. Yomi's been away to Hokkaido
over the holiday, and she's making sure everybody knows about it -
although she soon comes to regret that, as Tomo's jealousy leads her to
do do her best to annoy Yomi. Hearing about Yomi's trip gets Osaka
thinking about where she'd like to visit, so it's not long before she
appears with a pile of travel brochures. The girls can't afford to go
on a real trip, but perhaps a visit to a theme park will do - so it's
off to Magical Land for everyone. Except for Yomi, who's struck down
with flu on the big day...
19 - One Spring Night
Nyamo's
mother is trying to arrange a husband for her, much to Nyamo's disgust.
Meanwhile, the girls are having trouble concentrating in class now
that spring's arrived and the weather outside is so nice - but falling
asleep on the school roof when they should have been in Nyamo's gym
class maybe wasn't the smartest move for Osaka, Chiyo and Tomo. Spring
means cherry-blossom season, and the annual flower-watching ritual -
Nyamo and Yukari meet up with an old friend for the occasion, while
Chiyo faces the horror of a trip through the darkened late-night
streets, in search of an eraser...
I did get a horrible feeling of deja vu watching the two festival
episodes, although Chiyo-shan's appearance in her penguin suit was
almost enough to make it all worthwhile. Almost.
The other three episodes are really Yomi stories, which is no bad thing
- she's been one of the more neglected characters up until now.
Tomo's constant teasing of her is always worth watching (although
episode 19 shows they're really good friends, despite all that), and as
she's one of m favourite characters it's good to see more of her.
Now, if we could have some more Kaorin...
Otherwise, these episodes stick to the tired-and-tested AzuDai
formula. If you've made it this far, you won't be disappointed by
them.
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