Bought Azumanga Daioh DVD Vol.1-6 over Christmas and first week of the new year from Forbidden Planet London and Amazon.co.uk. Absolutely lovely series though some of my friends whom I lent my non-DVD copy to commented that there were too many Japanese puns in the series for their liking (presaged by the untranslatable title) or that “nothing happens!” Bah, philistines! :P And due to Erica’s reviews at Okazu, I got the complete set of GONZO’s Bakuretsu Tenshi manga via the Yuricon shop’s convenient links to Amazon.co.jp. Shipping cost was more than the manga themselves though. T_T
I think GENCO and J.C. Staff have done a wonderful job of preserving the spirit of Azuma-sensei’s four panel format manga. I always laugh out loud in the first episode (no matter how many times I’ve seen it) when Chihiro is still sobbing following the scene transition after her fessin’ up to being tutored by Chiyo-chan.
But I also appreciated the addition of more adult-themes in the TV series especially the episode where Yukari and Nyamo talk about singlehood, dating and marriage. Particularly enjoyed Houko Kawashima’s performance of Kagura (my favourite character) which was spirited and had that lovely tomboyish drawl. Also upon reflection, I now think Nyamo is the more interesting of the two teachers. While Yukari plays an excellent Unconventional Teacher act, she is a largely consistent character while Minamo Kurosawa has two sides which are in tension with each other - the usual friendly, reliable, conformist, conventional Kurosawa-sensei and the love(less)-sick, sentimental, sometimes deeply unhappy Nyamo-chan that Yukari knows and can provoke so well. And though both teachers are hetero, just like Miyuki and Natsumi in You’re Under Arrest! (esp in Ep 4 of the OVA), there are occassional tingles of a coupley sorta vibe between them.
No real complaints about ADV’s treatment of it. I never bother with the dubs but I do appreciate their necessity to reach out to a wider (and more parochial) audience. Just three nitpicks. It would have been better if I could have gotten a thinpak boxed set here in the UK as well as if the last DVD (with only three eps!) could have included the preview Very Short Movie. Given the otherwise excellent sub-titles in the anime and supporting notes in the DVD booklet, I’m disappointed that they chickened out on translating “chinsuko” (dick) and “ukoncha” (shyte tea) during the Okinawa episode in Vol.4. Are English-speaking audiences really so fragile? Maybe one day the executives of these companies, or the male ones at least, will rediscover something wonderful.
About the Bakuten manga, I’ll probably be doing ruthlessly short chapter summaries and photo highlights so suffice to say for now that it was an excellent mix of action, humour and sweet sweeeet yurilicious moments between Jo and Meg - such a lovely and loving yuri couple. I was feeling apprehensive as my (non-)confidence in GONZO has sunk lower and lower - I gave up on the Bakuten anime after four and a half eps. But happily the three manga volumes have been yet another excellent Okazu-recommended buy!
I feel poor. I feel really really poor. I hate Malaysia. The only truly original stuff that I have is some copies of the Shounen Magazine and Negima! tankoubans 1-11 (still missing out on 12 & 13).
Ringgit xchange rate sucks :P.
Well, back home in Singapore, most of the anime are shitty HK bootlegs. And although the exchange rate is kinder, there’s still a risk of loot getting intercepted and confiscated like what happened recently to Dark Mirage. Selection in London is quite good but not as good as, say, NYC and the prices can also make me feel very poor. -_-;;
I wouldn’t call Yukari hetero. She is so bi. and so is Miyuki from YUA.
You forgot about that incident in Season two of YUA when Natsumi left for a while. Miyuki was in the dumps.
I dunno about Yukari. Any examples of her bi-ness? Miyuki is a definite yes, I agree. The poor dear was so out-of-sorts when Natsumi joined the motorbike patrol unit and then was tearing and all when she returned.
The VSM is actually present in the volume 6, in Extras. The DVD menu calls it “Mini-movie”. There’s nothing about it on the jacket or in the liner, but it’s there.