An animation antidote.

This entry is meant as an antidote to the Oshima entry, but it's giving me guff.

As my friends have been hearing ad nauseum, I’ve been watching too many Japanese films from the 60’s. There aren’t a lot of positive female role models to be found; if there’s a film without a beating, humiliation, murder and/or rape, it’s because everyone’s too busy trying to defeat the giant monster. That's a sweeping statement, I know...but I can't even feel guily about it right now.

Thusly, I’ve decided to write about one of the more clever and charming animated shows to come out in recent years: Azumanga Daioh. A friend (a male friend no less) introduced me to the series; I watched several shows and then intended to purchase the dvd boxed set. Years later, I’ve finally gotten around to it!

The show is about school. And girls. And girls in school. It manages to touch on a lot of teen (and pre-teen) issues without going anywhere too dark…and yet doesn’t soften the subject matter either. It becomes almost sentimental at times, but manages to avoid it through the rather eccentric characters, who, while unique, also remind us of people we knew. Or were. Pile on this some very nice animation and an exceptionally charming soundtrack, and I have to say this is something that shouldn’t be missed. The show manages to remain somewhat timeless through anime flairs and school uniforms, and the subject matter never becomes dated. And if you went to school, ever… the show will speak to you.


TECHNICALLY

I may as well begin with a slightly technical approach. My aforementioned friend insisted I wouldn’t be able to find anything like what he had bootlegged – and so, of course, I had to prove him wrong. Which admittedly, was easy enough to do years later. The shows he’d copied had since gone from English-dub-only to a wonderful Japanese language w/English subtitles version (the Class Album boxed set). And it’s marvelous! Not only do you get excellent translations of what characters are saying, but it also translates titles, signs, and any newspaper, poster and random print in the background. Unlike many subtitled films, you feel you’re in on the mise-en-scène jokes. For instance, when the two female teachers (to be discussed later) go out drinking, and one has to carry the other down the alley, the sign in the background says “Please sort your trash.” It’s little things like this that an audience misses when they rely on (sometimes dubious) translation. The show itself is also filled with cultural references and nigh training sessions for the uninitiated. Highly useful for someone intending to visit or live in Japan. I've learned more spoken Japanese from this show than from any cd or book.



And now, on to the characters.


SAKAKI

Sakaki is one of many high school archetypes, the huge girl who scares everyone simply because she’s more developed. She’s taller than anyone in the class, her hair longer, her breasts are bigger, she’s more athletic (despite not belonging to any teams), and in the beginning, people assume she’s a rough, getting into fights outside school (they see the bandages on her hands). Sakaki is a terrifically sweet person and has a vivid imagination that often runs away with her. She’s very shy, quiet and monosyllabic, and it’s especially touching as she begins to enter the group of friends. Everyone thinks she’s cool, but you get the impression she’d rather not be noticed at all. She's always surprised and modest when someone invites her along on an outing...it's nearly heartbreaking. She’s an interesting play on all the poetic romantic stuff we know, with her long hair and quiet manner, and yet is indeed terribly cool.



Sakaki is terribly embarrassed of her large breasts. There’s one entertaining discussion in an early show where Osaka states that Sakaki is an American because her breasts are so huge, and that Tomo is Japanese because hers are so small. This is an ongoing concern for all girls, and women, everywhere…hell, I’m 38 and still feel bad when someone points out another woman with (what I perceive to be) a nicer chest. But when you’re a maturing girl, the fact you have breasts at all can be quite traumatizing; people around you suddenly treat you differently, sexually. Dependent upon whether you start developing early or late, that spins off into its own sets of stressors and trauma as people tease you about being too big (if you started early) or being too small (if you started late, if at all). And bras are a challenge for a little while. I remember the exact turning point for me: walking down a school hall one day in a white blouse, and a boy took me to the side and told me my nipples were visible through the shirt. It hadn’t occurred to me that this might be an issue until that very moment. Rest of day spent with book clutched at chest. And I wore bras from then onward.




KAORIN

One must follow the note on Sakaki with Kaorin. Kaorin is another character easy to identify with. In school, it’s common for both girls and boys to have crushes on peers of the same sex…it might be because of a perceived “coolness” or for other reasons, and isn’t always acted on, but is there nonetheless. Kaorin is a great play on this. She admires Sakaki from afar at first, spouting about how cool she is: “Kakkoii!”

I think Kaorin goes a little beyond the typical girl-girl crushy stuff where you practice kissing each other because you’re learning how to kiss boys (supposedly), and may be a baby lesbian in development - which is a lovely inclusion for a children’s cartoon. She adores Sakaki, and in true crush style, freaks out whenever she misses the chance to see her, get a photo, attend a sleepover, etc. There are some very cute ultra-gay fantasies including showers of petals and rainbows in the back while she and Sakaki dance together, ride a horse together, walk together...in one episode about New Year dreams, she has a fantasy-dream where Sakaki rides in on a horse and saves her from bandits, with Sakaki in the traditional male role and Kaorin gleefully clutching her; so happy! - until her mother wakes her.





KIMURA

The male teacher who’s “fond” of his female students is a problem most girls have to face. I myself went to a school with a rather infamous coach who was overly fond of wrapping girls ankles and giving them "massages". All in the name of sports, of course. This character is brilliantly inserted into the show via Kimura-sensei, the classic lit professor. Much like in any school, he hasn’t done enough to cause real trouble, but everyone knows about his proclivities. The teachers feel they have to put up with him (to a point) and the students, while a little clueless, know enough to realize he’s a bit creepy and start to hypothesize about his personal life (in one episode, the girls suppose he’s a killer who's hiding bodies in the bushes). There’s great shock and perturbation when it’s discovered he has a beautiful and kind wife…no one can quite put it together. This temporarily gains him renewed sympathy and trust from a few of the girls. They finally come to the conclusion that his wife is an unfortunate person with bad judgement and is to be pitied. No one is quite sure how to report him, or whether he’s done anything to truly warrant it (or whether he is indeed a bad person) so he slides by time and time again.

In the end, inside and outside cartoons, the problematic male teacher is a rite of passage for every young woman. I gather from male friends that there's a sort of polar parallel in "the female teacher who was my first time (or who should have been)".





NYAMO and YUKARI

Yukari is the English teacher. She's self-involved and lazy (to the point of having all the same people from her first year class in her second year class because she doesn't want to learn new names); she's a risk-taker, a gambler, a drinker and a loudmouth. Nyamo Kurosawa is the girls’ Physical Education teacher, and is perceived to be inutterably cool by most of the students. She’s very sensitive to the needs of the students and supportive whenever she can be.

Nyamo's amiable rivalry with Yukari is evident at the school, and the girls sometimes wonder about what their relationship could possibly be. Nyamo is prone to admit mistakes, and follows through on promises. This of course provides the “straight man” for Yukari-chan, who is loud, excitable, fun-loving and duplicitous. She’s deeply envious of Nyamo’s popularity among the students and tries to throw a wrench in the works whenever she can (as long as the results are to her advantage). She’s another person the girls have to weigh, deciding what her motivations are and whether they (should) like her. She and Nyamo were peers at the same school, and this lends to their weary acceptance of one another - in this way, foreshadowing Tomo and Yomi's relationship. Nyamo and Yukari add a slightly more adult, if no less immature, flavor to certain stories...and point out that, despite being older, women still have many of the same problems the girls do themselves. Some things never change.




OSAKA

"Osaka" is the spaciest of space cadets. Another type we can all remember from school (and in fact I may have fit into this category). She is sweet and soft-voiced, and prone to believe or hypothesize the most outstanding things. She's intelligent, and can be quite clever at times - or is she clever all the time, and it's us who doesn't get it? Osaka (who gained her nickname because she's a new student from, well, Osaka) has a goal to improve herself, to be more aware, to learn more, to be more like her idols. To "get it together". In reality, she falls asleep often; everywhere, in fact. She's easily distracted and muses on strange things. To be honest, this character is a little too close to me to be fair about ^^ I remember having a boyfriend in early college who called me...hm-mmm, Space Girl? Something like that. He wasn't too fond of the art thing either. Which is fine, as he in turn taught me exactly what I didn't want in men. A call out to all men! Appreciate your artistic spacey girls!




YOMI

Yomi is the other character I'd identify with most...wish I could say it was Sakaki and Chiyo-chan, but nope. Yomi is very studious and serious; she's generally classified in the show as being second in smarts after Chiyo. She's tall, reasonably athletic and has a good shape, but is constantly worried about being fat (something she's relentlessly teased about by Tomo). She seems to me to be the Velma of the show, bright, quick on the uptake, but not as cool as Sakaki, as smart as Chiyo or as sporty as Kagura. I think this is a pretty typical stance for most students; not everyone can be the best at something. Being surrounded by talented and/or attractive peers can be devastating. But she holds herself well - she's strong and is the one who keeps everybody else balanced. Yomi's there to provide support and common sense when the others can't. She and Tomo have been together since the beginning of grade school, although you discover it's not necessarily because of friendship that they still interact. Tomo aggravates Yomi to no end with her skittish fantasies and ennui, but in the end, they're indulgent toward each other. It might be the glasses that make me identify so solidly with her.




TOMO

Tomo is described in the show as being the class wildcat idiot, which isn't too far off. She's the perfect expression of those people who are ruled by their chemistry, off-the-charts energy and twitchiness, lack of patience and focus. She too has a strong fantasy-life, invariably having dreams in which she is somehow better than everyone else. She's insanely competitive even though she excels at nothing. However, her energy lends itself to the others and can be infectious...and deep down, she is kind and can (rarely) have moments of insight. Tomo and Yomi are inextricably linked throughout the series, Tomo relentlessly teasing and aggravating; Yomi frustrated and angry. As I mentioned, we see an early version of Nyamo and Yukari in these two.

Tomo reminds me of almost all the boys in school: legs bobbing at 200 bobs a minute, shaking the desks with energy, joking, teasing, doing malicious things without really thinking about it because they're so bored or frustrated. Except, in an odd play on the type, not only is she a girl, but she likes to think of herself as a particularly cute girl as well. Her fantasies regularly showcase her in bikinis and haute couture, or better yet, as manga-style superheroes (and she seems to have a fixation on Lupin). Tomo is that jittery up-the-wall friend you always hoped you'd see on the playground because they always came up with the best games. And later, the friend who'd con you into going to a college frat party and leave without you.




KAGURA

Kagura is a later addition to the main cast - she's introduced early on, but you don't get to really meet her until the second year. Kagura is the physical type who's struggling in school. She excels at sports and is the best on the swim team - she feels strongly competitive with Sakaki, who beat her in a race the first year, and in fact is in the running with Sakaki for being the coolest girl in school (and also the one with the biggest chest). While they could have fallen completely for the "dumb jock" stereotype, the show manages to develop her character with those facets we miss when we slap labels around. Although I must admit one of my favorite moments is when she, Tomo and Osaka form the "Knuckleheads" to spite Yomi, who won't show them her schoolwork. They play the stupidity up a bit in that segment! Kagura is good-natured and means well, although this doesn't always work out to the advantage of everyone involved, as she has the empathy of a brick.





CHIYO

And finally we get to Chiyo-chan ^^ Chiyo could be said to be the main character...I feel she's far and away the eye of the show. Chiyo is a 10 year-old prodigy who's receiving higher schooling. She's mature for her age, and yet is still a little girl at heart. Ten is right on that cusp between jumping rope and your first menstrual cycle, and she's an excellent representation if this. Chiyo is a peace-maker and organizer. At times she's shown seeing her grade school friends in the street, and she feels the difference and mourns her childhood just a little. But she brushes herself off and realizes she's off to better - or at least different - things. Chiyo worries terribly about dragging her class down in some ways. She's hyper-aware of her small size and poor performance in sports. She looks at her grown friends and can't wait to grow up. Chiyo is the smartest in her class, and the most responsible. Her family is quite wealthy; the house is nearly a mansion. These things might work to a person's disadvantage, but Chiyo is a sparkling individual. She always sees the best in her friends, although at times her age doesn't allow her to see the bigger picture.

It is very touching how she worries that she and the others will grow apart after school is over. It reminds me of similar concerns as grade school moves to junior high; your classes are shuffled, another whole school of kids is mixed with the people you knew and your best friend is in a different lunch period. Times like this, one finds new friends and perhaps grows out of old. You're aware of the changes but can't help it. Circumstance. And certainly when high school ends and college begins, that's a true test of friendship. So her worries seem valid, but in the end, unnecessary.




KAWAII and NON-HUMAN CHARACTERS

There are other characters in the show nearly as important as the humans: Tadakichi-san, Chiyo's dog; Kamineko, the evil stray cat forever cutting Sakaki up; Nekokoneko, the absurdly cute kitten-on-cat plushie; and "Father", which is a very surreal addition to the show, a stuffed cat Sakaki dreams is Chiyo's father. He occurs quite randomly, more often than not floating through the background or shown as a stuffed toy on a shelf. These characters add a sense of the fantastic to the show (for instance, Kamineko bolting 100 miles per minute around an alley, Father inviting Sakaki in for tomatoes, or Tadakichi-san running across a field of multicolored clouds), and an opportunity for more development of the girls personalities (as Sakaki bonds with Tadakichi-san, or Chiyo throws her kawaii Nekokoneko towel over the fence to dry). Animals, live and stuffed, make up a huge portion of the show.




Boy oh boy, I've gone on too much - but this was a hard post to write. I could either create a concise summary of the show and feel I'd cheated you, or do what I've done, which is to go on ad nauseum about something other than Oshima ;) No matter how much I write, I don't feel it lends any strength to the show, which is plenty strong on its own. If you have a chance, watch it.

On an ending note, here's some group shots - these more than anything express the distinct and sometimes eccentric comeraderie of the characters:




Bye y'all! Until soon.