27 May 2010

More Azumanga

Above, an episode of Azumanga Daioh (Episode 3). Below, Notepad, for drafting a blog post. I suppose it's good news for me that I would rather watch Azumanga Daioh than draft the blog post, but I think it's because you folks know me by now, I'm easily distracted and still trying to get this whole blogging thing down.

I think that I truly spoiled myself, though... I watched the last three episodes of Season One of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and it hit all of my sweet spots. A weird, out-there plot. Interesting characters. A running narrative commentary. Humor, good music, and it carried an interesting message. I could even see the parallels with some of the characters and people in my own life. It was a show that I really did not want to finish watching, yet Season One ended. I will likely be checking into getting Season Two as well, and crossing my fingers that they make more episodes as it is such a recent series. (I guess I will have to content myself with finding some fanfic, with the bonus that I will be enjoying the good stuff and likely riffing the bad.)

Azumanga Daioh is not all of the above for me, at least not yet. On the other hand, it is interesting enough for me to keep my attention, and the shows seem designed to allow someone to keep going in the series. As the original source material for Azumanga Daioh are four-panel short comics, the show stays very true to the formula by presenting four- to five-minute segments that sometimes are barely connected. This does mean that if you're not crazy about a segment, just wait it out and something else will happen shortly. (This is the ultimate "short attention span theater")

This show is one that appreciates and sometimes revels in sheer zaniness. There are segments where you wonder exactly where the joke is going, only to have people laughing for no reason. There are lots of explanations for jokes too, and people who enjoy anime in-jokes will completely understand and enjoy Azumanga. Much like what Megane 6.7 and I do, generating humor in very small areas, Azumanga assumes that the viewer will have a background in some of the references that it will be riffing on.

I am sure that I will have more opinions as Azumanga Daioh unfolds on my screen. The semi-interesting ones I will share here, while the boring ones may be edited out.

Postscript:
Reasons Life is not like Anime, #495:
What came out of the hole in the Gulf of Mexico would have been infinitely scarier, far more violent to humans, but likely more interesting.

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