Azumanga Daioh, Vol. 2

あずまんが大王 [Azumanga Daioh] #2

by Kiyohiko Azuma

It's not manga, it's Azumanga (and it's smart, fun and totally addictive)! Created by the iconoclastic Kiyohiko Azuma (hence the name), Azumanga Daioh is strongly character driven, telling the story of a group of high-school girls and their hilarious daily tribulations.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Comics, Humor, Comedy, Fiction, Slice Of Life

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Kiyohiko Azuma (東清彦 or あずまきよひこ Azuma Kiyohiko) is a Japanese manga author and artist. His most well-known work is Azumanga Daioh. His current series is Yotsuba&!, which is serialized monthly in Dengeki Daioh magazine.

Reviews

[Artemy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than the first volume! Some of my favorite scenes are in this volume, mostly coming from Osaka, Sakaki and Tomo. Azumanga keeps being a wonderful feel-good comedy manga and is a great way to cheer up on a cold autumn day!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new volume and a whole new term filled with relatable questions and adventures almost every high-schooler has gone through, in real life and in their imaginations.

I got to see the characters in a more fleshed-out manner and boy, are they wildly different from each other. I found myself relating to a little bit of each character, and also saw my own set of friends in them. I absolutely loved the full-page panels.

All in all, Azumanga Daioh continues to remain one of my favorite slice-of-life manga.

[Johanna Lehto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series so much! It's so funny that I can't stop laughing out loud. Eventhough the scenes are over exaggerated I still can relate back to my own exchange year in Japan: The summer festival, the exams, sport festival etc.

This volume also probably have my favorite Nyamo and Azumanga Daioh scene ever: The drunken sex ed at the summer house. It's so out of the blue and kind of out of character for her. But kind if funny that even when drunk, Nyamo is the best teacher ever xD Truely wish she was my teacher back at high school.

[MissAnnThrope · Rating 4 out of 5]

19 June 2013

Azumanga Daioh Vol.2 is even more amusing than the first volume and it's mostly due to Miss Yukari's crazy antics. The second volume kicks off in January with the gang returning from winter holidays. Lucky for us, this motley group entertains us with all their hilarious monkey business all the way into August, ending the volume with summer break.

For a series with nary a plot, it is superbly entertaining and leaves you with such a happy feeling (like being smothered in puppy kisses). The dream sequences that coincidentally all involve Chiyo are ridiculously funny. Tomo is even more brash and poor Yomi suffers the effects. I felt so bad for Yomi with the diet and fever with Tomo rubbing salt in the wounds. She's so evil that I can't help but love her! Tomo's obsession with the tatas cracks me up.

The funniest moments involve the relationships between friends who are complete opposites of each other. For example, Tomo/Yomi and Miss Yukari/Miss Kurosawa. The dynamic between Yukari and Kurosawa is comedic gold! I love Yukari's payday dance and that she is a complete drunkard. My favorite moment involves Yukari, Kurosawa, and chopsticks.

The bit with the hiccups is pretty darn funny as well. Of course, Sakaki and her pained relationships with cats is always humorous. I also really enjoyed the role reversal between Yukari and Kurosawa at the end. Seeing Kurosawa in rare form is priceless. I can't wait to read the next volume. This series is the perfect medicine for anyone needing their spirits lifted.

[Setsanata · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 4-koma manga filled with comedy and craziness. Very random.

At points the comedy had me laughing, and at others, it didn't really hit me. The comedy, however, was funnier in this volume.

Every strip has comedy in it, whether you realize it or not, marking this book as down right comedy.

***** Stars, and I will be advancing on!

Has anyone else noticed that Tomo's hair keeps getting longer??

SPOILER SCENE!! IT'S A REALLY FUNNY ONE!!

Tomo: "Adult relationships involve sex, right?"
Nyamo [Kurosawa]: "AHH, IT'S ALL ABOU SEX! FOR EXAMPLE...
.....
Chiyo-chan: "Ma'am... What does it mean when people say..."
Nyamo [Kurosawa] "WHAT?! Chiyo-chan! Where did you learn that kind of language?"
Yukari: "From you, last night."

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the first volume took some getting into, when I put it down and picked this one up, it just "flowed". Sakaki is my favorite character, playing with Japanese schoolgirl stereotypes. Also, I like cats. The dream sequences are hilarious (The creepy cat-dad thing!) and really get across immature "school girl" humor. Half of the time I wasn't laughing because the joke was funny, but laughing that the characters thought it was funny. It's a very difficult thing for an author to do that, and I think both author and translator did great jobs.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a good re-read as well!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a while, but I worked through another volume.

As before, there's a lot that's taken from the anime, so when I think about it the scenes from the anime are what I think about. The book ends with the trip to Chiyo-chan's family's vacation home and the summer festival, where Nyamo gets drunk and explains the Facts Of Life to some of the students. One of the funniest strips in the book is entitled 大人の世界 ("Adults' World") and has no dialogue, just Tomo and Ōsaka listening and becoming increasingly more embarrassed as Nyamo, visible from the back, gestures.

The strip after that has Chiyo-chan, in innocent confusion, ask

え？あの。。。どういうイミ。。。？
"Uh, well, what do you mean."

And Ōsaka answering with:

しっ！黙って聞いとき！大人になればわかる
"Shh! Be quiet and listen. You'll understand when you grow up."

There's a strip where an English-speaker comes up to ask Chiyo-chan and Tomo for directions, and in contrast to Yukari-sensei in the previous collection, Chiyo-chan easily responded and was able to explain to Tomo what happened while Tomo said she was like an イタコ ("medium, shaman").

A lot of the humor comes from the characters and their interactions, so without already knowing the characters it might be hard to understand why the scene where Chiyo (and only Chiyo) is offered a position back at her part-time summer job, or what is going on with the strange stuffed cat that Sakaki sees in Chiyo's house. But the self-contained nature of a four-koma format means that I never had to keep track of long speeches or complex actions when I was reading the Japanese.

Still great.

Previous review: Volume One

[Juniperus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was just less funny than the first volume. A higher % of the jokes have aged really poorly, mostly the ones about the pedophilic male teacher, or about eating disorders, so it was a bit more disturbing. There's also less stories about Sakaki, who I find to be the most compelling character. There is a new character though, named Kagura, who I wasn't really sure what they were trying to do with her. One thing I liked in this volume was there were two segments where Azuma breaks out of the 4-panel format, and it's effective for longer gags (reminiscent of his other series, Yotsuba). Of course I'm very attached to all the characters because this series is super nostalgic for me, but if this was the first volume instead of the second I think it'd put off a lot of new readers because of the frankly disturbing content.

[Ladz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content warning: Creepy male teacher

The school year is underway as we follow the day-to-day of these school girls with not a brain cell to be found. The four koma format really works. I think with the fact that there is a calendar aspect to the manga, it has a sense of direction and plot. Some of the comics connect, which works wonderfully for pacing.

My favorite bits are when they go on summer vacation with their teachers. It brought back so many of those nostalgic feelings that come with the pause during the school year. In addition, seeing the polar opposites of useless lesbians Kurosawa and Yutari interact make for the greatest interactions.

[The Book Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The antics continue with more page space for some of the newer characters like Kagura. It’s also easier to tell the characters apart now that the art style is settling into a more stable pattern. The only character that still throws me for a loop is Kaorin. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, you’re in the same boat.

This end of this volume also has the famous scene featured on Anime America (look them up on YouTube, they’re great). The drunken sex ed lesson. Don’t worry though, the dirty stuff is only implied.

This series has 4 volumes.

[Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another volume down, and I'm still really enjoying revisiting this series that I loved so much as a teenager. This volume is definitely a lot more fleshed out than the first, you can tell that the characters are a lot more locked down in the author's mind & the tone is a lot more clear. So many classic & iconic moments in this volume!

As ever, the only downside to this series is Kimura. Fucking oof.

[Britt Halliburton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as enoyable as the first, if not more. We don't see much of poor Kaorin, but we see Kagura join the main cast. Her relationship with Sakaki is both entertaining and tragic as she, like everyone, doesn't know the real Sakaki. Ot is Chiyo who best sees more to Sakaki than the rest. Tomo never ceases to make me laugh, though I know I may have murdered her if she were my friend.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

These girls are just hilarious. We still follow them through their high school years, and now we have a new girl in the group. We also start learning a bit more from each of them, I seem to remember the next volume to be even funnier, so I’ve enjoyed going back to this story. It’s just perfect for some relaxing afternoons.

[Tilápia frita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muito engraçadinho como sempre, adoro quando as professoras participam, elas são um combo muito engraçado. Parece que teve menos ação nesse, algumas tirinhas foram bem sem graça, fora a parte do professor esquisto do caralho pedófilo, muito esquisito vários paineis que mostram as garotas de biquini de forma sugestiva também, o autor é outro esquisito do caralho eu eim.

[Diogo Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume of Azumanga Daioh is more of the same, but I feel this is a great thing. Not many jokes that didn't translate well this time, and the series kinda found it's way on the recurring jokes, so no complains from me!

[Nathaniel Buffington]

A multicultural book taking place in Japan about a group of high school girls getting by in school and living their comical day-to-day life. A helpful slice of life story that can help students more interested in Japanese culture.

[Tiya Mulani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reread.
The first one is funnier than this but still entertained me.
Tomo is always the funniest, craziest, weirdest. I feel like seeing part of myself on her lol

[Miki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series makes me laugh out loud! I want to watch it again now :)

[Shin Donghae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tak bosan menikmati yonkoma manga satu ini.
Kali ini sudah tahun kedua kehidupan SMU mereka.
Ditambah satu karakter baru

[Jez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Follows on from volume 1 perfectly. Still as funny, surreal and sweet while expanding on its characters. Still got the dodgy teacher in it tho, and a bit of 'male gaze' going on, too.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dans la continuité du premier tome.

[Tabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
🌟🌟🌟🌟✨️

[Eve Lumerto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fave<3

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another cute, light, and at times funny title in the series. I enjoyed it more than volume 1, so I will continue on with volume 3.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny manga with further adventures of the class, each of which has their own funny personalities. Mr. Kimura, the creepy teacher actually has a pretty wife which amazes everyone. Some of the characters have funny dreams. For summer vacation, Tomo is even more obnoxious, throwing the key to Chiyo-Chan's parents beach house in the bushes and keeping everyone up all night and getting up early. Sakaki still pines for an animal, the normally sober p.e. teacher Miss Kurosawa has to drink too much to keep the crazy Miss Yukari from having too much alcohol. Azu Mang Daioh 3-Kaorin has a crush on Sakaki, the students run a cat and dog cafe for the school New Year's festival, Chiyo dresses up as a penguin. Cats bite Sakaki!

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this next book and year for these high school friends we get introduced to Kagura! Kagura is the athletic one who declares Sakaki as her rival since Sakaki is naturally gifted in sports while Kagura trains to be the best. Although Sakaki doesn't remember her all that well, but they still become good friends. Sakaki and Chiyo form a bond as this series goes on because Sakaki likes Chiyo's dog Tadakichi. Kagura, Tomi, and Osaka also have a bond over who gets the worst test scores and just forgets things in general. Even though Osake is very strange, she does better than both of them academically.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adorable! I read it so fast, it's a shame I don't have the next volumes yet. All the characters have their own particularity and make their group of friends unique, and I love this about Azumanga Daioh.

The only thing that really bothers me is that creepy professor - whose name I forgot, but anyways. He's always making coments about the girls, and is portrayed as a pervert, so I don't like the comedic way he's seen. It would be better if he didn't exist at all, tbh.

[Ludwig Aczel · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10
My general thoughts about the series are here.
This second volume was a bit less funny to me than the first, maybe because of the repetitive patterns. Also, in this volume there is not always a gag at every strip, like at the beginning of the series. Sometimes the same gag is constructed over two or three strips.
Anyhow, still a nice reading to put a smile on your face!

[Sue Wargo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay. Maybe 2.5 stars. The underlying obsession with the size of the breasts of a lead character I thought a bit much. The lecherous teacher a stereotype. It clouds what could be a decent story. My students haven't flocked to this series, but maybe by the copyright this is dated material.