Azumanga Daioh minor characters
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The following is a list of characters from the manga and anime Azumanga Daioh.
Contents |
[edit] Kimura-sensei
Mr. Kimura (木村先生 Kimura-sensei) - Creepy Classical Japanese teacher who openly admits to his students that the reason he became a teacher was because of the high-school girls; he is constantly lewd and very open about it - finding excuses to "observe" the girls' swimming class, loitering around the girls as they get measured/weighed by the school nurse. He especially likes Kaorin, much to her dismay. His eyes cannot be seen behind his glasses, and his mouth hangs open almost constantly; however, he did not always look this way. In his first appearance in the manga, he looked almost entirely normal, glasses and all. It is only when he is asked why he became a teacher and has his famous outburst about liking high school girls that he adopts his creepy, gaping-mouthed look, indicating that he may have had some sort of mental break. However, he still had the gaunt jaws, and he closes his mouth at times over the course of the manga. Only in the anime is he constantly open-mouthed. He has a beautiful wife and daughter, who love him despite his strange obsession; his wife even claims to find him very handsome, and thinks "he's cool!"
Oddly enough, he seems to be a perfectly good person aside from his obsession with schoolgirls; he donates generous amounts of his money and time to charitable causes, as well as cleaning up trash carelessly tossed away. Almost the entire female student body (and some of the faculty) intensely loathe him, yet there have been occasions when the boys in his class have shown great appreciation for his "sincerity". He is the only recurring male character to maintain a position of prominence throughout the entire series.
Voice actors
- Japanese
- Kouji Ishii
- English
- Andy McAvin
Character song
- "Law of 'True Vocation is Equal to a Pleasant Feeling'" Words by Aki Hata, music by Kosuke Kanai
[edit] Kaorin
Kaorin (かおりん) - A girl with a major infatuation for Sakaki (in both the anime and the manga it is hinted that it may be a romantic one). Her given name is actually "Kaori" (かおり), but she is almost always addressed by her nickname of "Kaorin" - adding an 'n' to the end of a name is often used among Japanese youth for those they are familiar with. Kaorin is normally shy and sensitive to a fault, but frequently has been known to display a ferocious temper and is prone to extreme jealousy when Sakaki is involved. She also has some artistic talent, and helped design Chiyo's notorious "penguin suit".
For her first two years, she is a member of the Astronomy Club and goes to their camps during the summer break, but in her senior year she accompanies the group to Chiyo's Summer Home. In her senior year, Mr. Kimura transferred her into his class, much to Kaorin's dismay. After that she was gradually faded out from the series. Her utter loathing for Mr. Kimura knows no bounds, matched only by his fixation on her.
Kaorin's appearances in the anime are more frequent than in the manga. For example, in episode 8, she was one of the characters to have a New Year's dream (along with Osaka, Tomo, and Sakaki); in the manga, she wasn't shown having a dream.
Kaorin's surname is speculated to be Aida, judging from a panel in volume one of the manga.
Voice actors
- Japanese
- Sakura Nogawa
- English
- Tiffany Grant
Character songs
- "Mon-Ami of Wind" Words by Aki Hata, music by Masumi Itō
- "Let's Sleep in Tea Rose" Words by Aki Hata, music by Masumi Ito
[edit] Chihiro
Chihiro (千尋) - A classmate and friend of Kaorin. Little is known except her name. In the manga, Chihiro dressed as Chihiro from Spirited Away during the sports festival, an in-joke for those knowledgeable about the movie. Chihiro, when she appears, is usually keeping Kaorin company, and collaborates with her on some projects. Occasionally Chihiro has had to bear the brunt of Kaorin's temper, without knowing why (it is unclear how aware she is of Kaorin's girl-crush on Sakaki). Chihiro is basically the most normal student in the school, except for the time when Chiyo-chan tutored her, and Yukari assumed the reverse.
Voice actors
- Japanese
- Akane Omae
- English
- Hilary Haag
[edit] Chiyo-chichi
Chiyo-chichi or Chiyo-Dad - A strange looking and even stranger acting cat-like creature which appears in Sakaki's dreams, claiming to be Chiyo's dad. (Chiyo-chichi has also appeared in Osaka's dreams, with the same claim, despite the fact that Sakaki has apparently never really explained these dreams to other people). Polite but taken to fits of uneasing anger, he may be bullet-proof, a great baseball player, and/or Santa Claus. Osaka gives Chiyo a stuffed animal shaped like Chiyo-chichi on her birthday. In addition, Chiyo-chichi can levitate from place to place, finds the color red discomforting and is occasionally followed by lines of code.
Voice actors
- Japanese
- Norio Wakamoto
- English
- Jason Douglas
[edit] Miruchi and Yuka
Miruchi and Yuka - Chiyo's friends from grade school. Despite being in high school herself, Chiyo still treats them as peers. In both appearance and name, they appear designed to resemble the girls' teachers, Minamo and Yukari.
According to the author, "Miruchi" is her nickname and her real name is Michiru.
Voice actors
- Japanese
- Akane Omae (Miruchi), Sakura Nogawa (Yuka)
- English
- Sasha Paysinger (Miruchi), Mariela Ortiz (Yuka)
[edit] Masaaki Ohyama
Masaaki Ooyama (大山将明 Ōyama Masa'aki?) is the girls' bespectacled male classmate in 10th grade. In the original manga, his performance in the exam is rather good. His English language writing skill surpasses his teacher at the time when he first enters high school (though considering Yukari's performance as a teacher, this is not terribly surprising). Yukari nominates him as a class representative, judging by the fact that he wears glasses (a meganekko often appears in such a role in many manga and anime). This job continues until he resigns in September and yields the post to Chiyo Mihama. He also serves as the graduate representative in the very end. While he is obviously an intelligent boy, he is also a pious disciple of Mr. Kimura. In the anime, he seldom appears, though he suggests a haunted house for the culture festival in episode #7.
Voice actors
- Japanese
- Hiroyuki Yoshino
- English
- (unknown)
[edit] Kokoro Kosaka
Kokoro Kosaka （小坂こころ） is a girl who goes to different high school from the one to which the six girls attend. Originally she is a heroine of Wallaby, Azuma's pre-Azumanga Daioh work. She appears in "November Part-2" of Azumanga Daioh, and this episode is actually a sequel to the final episode of Wallaby. She appears in the stuffed-toy café storyline. In Wallaby, a classmate of Kosaka-san's died, and she made a stuffed toy of a wallaby as a tribute to him. The toy, however, ends up being possessed by the spirit of the dead boy. In her Azumanga appearance, Kosaka has the wallaby in her pocket.
[edit] Kamineko
Kamineko (噛み猫, literally "biting cat") - A cute grey cat that Sakaki occasionally sees on the way to and from school. Having a great soft spot for cats, Sakaki tries to pet it, but it ends up latching its huge, beartrap-like teeth onto her hand. This becomes one of the series' biggest running gags. Kamineko seems to bear Sakaki strong malice, and at one point attempts to rally an entire neighborhood's worth of cats to attack her. Tomo has somehow managed to get her hands on a plush version of kamineko.
[edit] Tadakichi-san
Tadakichi-san (忠吉さん), also known as "Mr. Tadakichi" - Chiyo's pet dog, a Great Pyrenees, who has been with her for five years prior to her admission to high school. Mild-mannered and gentle, he is large enough for Chiyo to ride on his back and indulgent enough to allow her to. Sakaki particularly likes him, because he allows her to pet him without biting her.
[edit] Mayaa
Mayaa - Sakaki's pet cat, whose name is derived from a local name for his species, "Yamamayaa". An Iriomote Mountain Cat, he followed Sakaki home from Okinawa after his mother was killed by a car. Because Sakaki cannot keep pets at her house (her parents, especially her mother, have allergies), Mayaa is temporarily staying at Chiyo's place until Sakaki goes to college. Mayaa is, apparently, the only feline in the world that doesn't act aggressively towards Sakaki.
Due to being a wildcat, Mayaa has displayed the ability to manifest an imposing "battle aura," scaring off dozens of domesticated cats and thwarting Kamineko's Sakaki-chomping ambitions. In spite of this he is very comfortable around people and even Tadakichi-san, and is so calm around Sakaki that he lets her bathe him -- something all cats generally dislike. Chiyo has speculated that he has imprinted on Sakaki and views her as a surrogate mother.
[edit] Nekokoneko
Nekokoneko - not a living character, but a popular stuffed animal franchise that appears frequently in the series. Nekokoneko appears to be based off the real life toy franchise Tare Panda. The typical example is a white cat with a white kitten sitting on its head. Sakaki adores it, much as she does all cats. Conventional romanization spelling of the pronunciation yields "nekokoneko" ("neko" Japanese for cat; "koneko" Japanese for "child cat", or kitten); however "Neco Coneco" is often used and creates another joke in itself, Connected Cat. During the class trip to Okinawa, Sakaki buys an Iriomote Cat version of Neco Coneco.
They are also heroes (or heroines?) of "Neko koneko no Tabi" （ねここねこのたび lit. "Journeys of Neko Koneko"）, a series of photographs which was once on Azuma's website.
[edit] Yukari's car
The Yukari Car, aka The Yukarimobile (ゆかり車 Yukari-guruma[1]) - While, again, not a living character, the Yukari Car seems to have a personality and history all its own. While it actually belongs to Yukari's parents, and was at one time a rather nice automobile, Yukari's tendencies at driving recklessly have rendered it into a scarred, beaten thing suitable for a Mad Max film. As a result of this, Chiyo in particular will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid riding in it or any other vehicle Yukari might possibly be driving. Even the sight of photos of the car can cause terror and flashbacks for those who have lived through a ride in it, with the upside being that said survivors claim that they no longer fear any roller coaster. However, it should be noted in Tomo enjoyed her ride in it, showing she has some similiarites to Yukari.
[edit] Others
Voice actors
- Japanese
- Naoki Yanagi - Male Student A
- Hiroyuki Yoshino - Male Student B
- Ryoko Nagata - Kaorin's Mother and Female Student A
- Akane Omae - Female Student B
- Sayaka Ohara - Mrs. Kimura
- Yuka Koyama - Eiko
- Yuko Nagashima - Michiru "Mitchy" Ogino
- Takahiro Yoshimizu - Nakuro "Nakku" Tanaka
- Yonehiko Kitagawa - Ishihara
- English
- Cynthia Ann Feaster - Kaorin's Mother
- Chris Patton - Male Student A
- Greg Ayres - Male Student B
- Shelley Carlene-Black - Eiko
- Kaytha Coker - Mrs. Kimura and Michiru "Mitchy" Ogino
- Nomad Kaerf - Nakuro "Nakku" Tanaka
- John Swasey - Ishihara
[edit] References
- ^ Though "car" is normally kuruma in Japanese, it may change to guruma according to circumstances. See rendaku.
| Azumanga Daioh characters |
| Chiyo Mihama - Tomo Takino - Koyomi "Yomi" Mizuhara - Sakaki |
| Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga - Kagura - Yukari Tanizaki - Minamo "Nyamo" Kurosawa |
| Minor characters |
