List of Azumanga Daioh characters

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The following is a list of characters from the manga and anime Azumanga Daioh.

Six schoolgirls and two teachers make up the main cast alongside a few secondary characters, including a creepy male teacher with an abnormal obsession with teenage girls (Kimura-sensei), another girl (Kaorin) in the same grade who seems to have a crush on Sakaki (the most distant of the main characters) and a friend of hers with a relatively small role in the story (Chihiro).

Four of the girls were included in Newtype Magazine's top 100 anime heroines of 2002: Osaka was awarded 7th, Chiyo 11th, Sakaki 21st, and Yomi 78th. Together they made Azumanga Daioh the 2nd most popular series of 2002 for female characters.^[1]

Character profiles are given in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

Contents 1 Major characters 1.1 Students 1.2 Teachers 2 Minor characters 3 References

[edit] Major characters

[edit] Students

Amoungst the students there is a variety of different personalities. Several of the girls have a fondness for horror stories. Tomo, Osaka and even Chiyo, who is easily scared, have told at one time or another; Osaka's method of telling a horror story is especially disturbing, since she tells stories about serial killers. Tomo's "The Terror of The Moldy Bread" is more science fiction than Osaka's stories. Oddly enough, what bewilders Chiyo is "dirty stories", of which Tomo seems particularly fond. Sakaki doesn't enjoy scary stories at all, and is quite embarrassed when listening to the "dirty" ones.

Chiyo Mihama (美浜 ちよ Mihama Chiyo)

Voiced by: Tomoko Kaneda (Japanese), Jessica Boone (English), Connie Madera (Spanish)

Chiyo is a child prodigy, Chiyo has skipped five grades to 10th grade (freshman in Japanese high school) at the start of the series and is still at the top of the class. This type of grade-skipping would be unthinkable in Japan, and thus the series itself humorously explores its consequences.^[2] People in the story find Chiyo amazingly cute, but her friends sometimes take advantage of her young age and scholastic abilities. Her lack of stature in comparison to her classmates' leads to a lack of confidence, particularly in physical pursuits where she feels that she is a burden. However, it is revealed in the story that she tends to draw jealousy not only with her intelligence, but also due to the fact that her family is exceedingly wealthy (they own an enormous mansion and a summer house where Chiyo is visited by her classmates on several occasions). The graphic rendering of Chiyo's ponytails later allowed for several visual gags in both the manga and anime, usually as flying wings in Osaka's daydreams. At home, she can almost always be found in the company of her enormous dog, Tadakichi. Out of all of the girls, she is the only one who does not sit through college "entrance exams" as she intends to study overseas, possibly in America.

Tomo Takino (滝野 智 Takino Tomo)

Voiced by: Chieko Higuchi (Japanese), Mandy Clark (English), Xochtil Ugarte (Spanish)

Tomo is extremely energetic and competitive, despite being nonathletic and a slacker at the same time. She tends to irritate everyone around her, especially Yomi, who has been her classmate since elementary school. Tomo's character is extremely impulsive and never considers nor cares about the consequences of anything she says or does. During the second trip to Chiyo's summer house, Tomo actually grabbed Chiyo's house keys and threw them into the forest because she wanted to see what would happen if they had lost them. However, on the occasions when Tomo has actually been inspired to concentrate on something, she has demonstrated that she is quite capable. She succeeded in gaining the grades needed to qualify for the same high school as Yomi, though Yomi ridiculed her and openly said that there was no way that she could do so. Once Tomo began attending high school, however, she returned to her lackadaisical ways.

Koyomi "Yomi" Mizuhara (水原 暦 Mizuhara Koyomi)

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (Japanese), Nancy Novotny (English), Ana Lobo (Spanish)

A grade-school friend and general antagonist of Tomo's, Yomi, as she is commonly known, is the title's voice of reason, carrying herself as the most mature and serious of the group. Though smart and athletic, she is constantly dissatisfied with herself due to her weight and is always trying various diets in an effort to become thinner. She can never seem to stick to these diets however, as she finds herself constantly tempted by her favorite foods. Another weakness of Yomi's character is that while she is above average in everything else, Yomi is an awful singer, but karaoke is one of her favorite pasttimes. While usually functioning as Tomo's "straight man", she sometimes manifests a rather cruel sense of humor. Yomi also has an uppercut that Tomo is usually on the receiving end of whenever she pushes Yomi too far. However, even though she likes to think that she is well above the childish behavior of some of her classmates, Yomi has demonstrated in the story that she can be just like the rest of the characters on certain occasions, such as trying to get Chiyo to infuse a shrine charm with some of her intelligence so that she could pass her college entrance exams.

Sakaki (榊 Sakaki)

Voiced by: Yu Asakawa (Japanese), Christine Auten (English), Irina Indigo (Spanish)

Tall, soft-spoken Sakaki is uncomfortable with her height, and her busty physique. Because she is so shy, she speaks seldomly, and her reticence is misinterpreted as mysterious, or cool. This reputation has been compounded by the fact that most of the school's sports teams try to recruit her every year in the story because of her natural athletic ability (she's usually stronger and faster than most of the male students in school), but, for the most part, she has no real interest in sports. In contrast to what the other students think of her, Sakaki is in reality a very emotionally sensitive person who holds a secret longing for all things cute. She loves cats, but the neighborhood cats dislike her and her parents do not allow cats in their house. Sakaki ends up spending a lot of time with Chiyo upon finding out that Chiyo's dog, Mr. Tadakichi, will let her pet him. This friendship actually shows the irony of their circumstances, as Sakaki wishes she looked more like Chiyo (so she could openly pursue her interest in cute things) and Chiyo wishes that she looked more like Sakaki (so people will take her more seriously). Later in the series, Sakaki also befriends a Yamamaya cat that had lost its mother and sought out Sakaki, whom he met earlier when the group was on vacation to a class trip to Okinawa, with a side trip to Iriomote Island.

Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga (春日 歩 Kasuga Ayumu, also known as "Osaka" 大阪 Ōsaka)

Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese), Kira Vincent-Davis (English), Ana Lucia Ramos (Spanish)

Ayumu is a transfer student from Osaka. Tomo, expecting her to act like the stereotypical Osakan (loud, exuberant and fond of bawdy jokes), quickly chose for her the nickname "Osaka", although Ayumu's behavior could not be more different from the "typical" Osakan. Ayumu considers her label "too simple" and "icky," but she lacks the energy or motivation to dispute it. Unlike the stereotypical Osakan, she seems slow and easily distracted, but she merely has a mind that works quite differently than most people. This makes her prone to daydreaming, absentmindedness, and non-sequiturs, but it also makes her unusually good at answering very specific types of riddles. She is also easily amused by things that most people would consider bizarre. During the Sports Festival, she had made a big deal out of running the obstacle course because she thought the event of sticking her face in flour to get a piece of candy was funny and had a giggle fit when she got there. The manga also revealed that she actually likes to run outside and play in typhoons. Her unusual way of thinking gives her a very vivid imagination and a unique way of seeing the world that could actually be considered quite intelligent in its own way.

Kagura (神楽 Kagura)

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Allison Sumrall (English), Liliana Barba (Spanish)

Kagura is a later acquaintance, joining Yukari's class in the 2nd year (Yukari selects her as a ringer to win the school athletic competitions). She was originally in Nyamo's class and displays a very competitive spirit with her peers in all things (though with little success in studies). She devotes most of her time to the swim team but is an all-around good athlete, and genuinely nice to her classmates. She has a slight obsession with Sakaki, with whom she sees as an athletic rival. This is mostly due to the fact that while Kagura trains constantly to stay in shape, Sakaki is a naturally gifted athlete with no training at all. Like Tomo, Kagura tends to be quite impulsive in her actions (although unlike Tomo, Kagura is consciously aware of this and makes a genuine effort to try and keep it under control). With the arrival of Kagura, the "Bonkuraazu" are formed along with Tomo and Osaka, their name for a trio of underachievers. Kagura has a sensitive side, which the audience sees in episode six of the anime following her homeroom's defeat in the sports festival, and the final episode following graduation. Kagura and Yukari enjoy playing video games. Like Sakaki, she is quite busty, but more tomboyish (in contrast to Sakaki's more elegant nature). She has also made it perfectly clear that she will not tolerate the antics of Mr. Kimura.

Kaori (かおり)

Voiced by: Sakura Nogawa (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English), Cristina Hernández

Kaori A girl infatuated with Sakaki, whose unrequited feelings are a frequent source of anxiety. While her given name is "Kaori," she is almost always addressed by her nickname of "Kaorin" (かおりん). This takes the first part of her name "Kao" and adds the cutesy honorific "rin" to it ("rin" is a cutesy form of the "chan" honorific and is used in many anime/manga titles). Because of ADV's policy to not use any honorifics in the subtitles save for "chan," they attempt to hide the fact that this is an honorific by using "Kaorin" rather than "Kao-rin."

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, Kimura-sensei transferred her into his class, much to Kaorin's dismay. After that she was gradually faded out from the series.

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.

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] Teachers

Yukari Tanizaki (谷崎 ゆかり Tanizaki Yukari), also known as Yukari-sensei

Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese), Luci Christian (English), Diana Perez (Spanish)

Yukari is the girls' English and homeroom teacher (class 3), but a teacher with very unconventional methods and a rather close relationship with the class. Her students are casual enough to call her by her first name: Yukari-sensei, and some of them even use the very informal and intimate name and title of Yukari-chan. Depending on the day, time, and her mood, she can be either a horrible tyrant or one of the sweetest, most touching teachers ever. Like Tomo, Yukari is incredibly impulsive and has a tendency not to think things through (such as stealing a student's bike to avoid being late for class), in sharp contrast to fellow teacher Minamo's more reserved nature. Yukari is also a reputedly bad driver, as evidenced by the horrid condition of her car the students' have lovingly dubbed "the Yukari-mobile" (although in reality, the car belongs to her parents, Yukari simply borrows it from time to time). Apparently, on the first trip to Chiyo's summer house, Yukari's driving was so bad that poor Chiyo was psychologically scarred for life and she has gone to enormous lengths to avoid riding with Yukari at any point in the future. In fact, the only student who seems to actually enjoy the way Yukari drives is (not surprisingly) Tomo.

Minamo Kurosawa (黒沢 みなも Kurosawa Minamo), also known as Kurosawa-sensei or "Nyamo" にゃも Nyamo

Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese), Monica Rial (English), Rosy Aguirre (Spanish)

Minamo is a gym teacher at the girls' school. In the girls' first year of high school, she is the homeroom teacher of class 5. During their last two years, she is the homeroom teacher of class 2. An old high school friend and rival of Yukari. Popular with the students, Nyamo is nicer, less obnoxious, and far more in control than Yukari. A fact that causes so much resentment in Yukari that she will go to just about any length to prove that she is a superior teacher (including signing up Kagura for her class so Minamo would not have anyone who could challenge Sakaki in the Sports Festival). Although they do have their fights, Minamo does try her best to take the high road and not let Yukari's antics get to her. She also tries to help Yukari out from time to time and attempts to inspire her to become a better teacher (although most of her efforts are met with failure). However, Minamo has proven that she can be just as vulnerable to losing control as Yukari is. During one of their trips to Chiyo's summer house, she drank an entire bottle of alcohol in an effort to keep Yukari from getting drunk and embarrassing herself in front of the students. But her plan only resulted in getting herself drunk and she ended up spending half the night telling the girls perverted sex stories from her youth. Fortunately, Chiyo was too young to understand what she was talking about.

Kimura (木村先生 Kimura-sensei) also known as Mr. Kimura

Voiced by: Kōji Ishii (Japanese), Andy McAvin (English), Irwin Daayán (Spanish)

The only male character seen regularly in the series, Kimura is the "creepy" Classical Japanese teacher. He openly admits to his students that the reason he became a teacher was because of the high-school girls; a fact he is constantly lewd and very open about - finding excuses to "observe" the girls' swimming class, loitering around the girls as they get measured/weighed by the school nurse. He especially likes Kaori, much to her dismay. Indeed, his addressing her as "Kaorin" is very inappropriate for a student-teacher relationship since the use of "rin" as a cutesy form of the "chan" honorific should only be used by her friends. He takes this a step further by trying to get himself addressed as "Kimurin." 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. While most of female student body (and some of the faculty) intensely loathe him, male students admire and shown great appreciation for his "sincerity". Despite his lewd activities, he has shown tendencies to be a responsible and kind-hearted person. He recycles littered cans, donates frequently to charities and even offered 10,000 yen as an offering at a Shinto shrine to pray for world peace. 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!"

Character song

• "Law of 'True Vocation is Equal to a Pleasant Feeling'" Words by Aki Hata, music by Kosuke Kanai

[edit] Minor characters

Chihiro (千尋)

Voiced by: Akane Omae (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English), Irina Indigo (Spanish)

Chihiro - 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.

Chiyo-chichi

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Jason Douglas (English), Esteban Siller (Spanish)

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.

Miruchi

Yuka-chan

Miruchi and Yuka-chan

Miruchi Voiced by: Akane Omae (Japanese), Sasha Paysinger (English), Irina Indigo (Spanish)
Yuka-chan Voiced by: Sakura Nogawa (Japanese), Mariela Ortiz (English), Leyla Rangel (Spanish)

Miruchi and Yuka-chan - 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 ("chi" being a cutesy, childish form of the "chan" honorific) and her real name is Michiru.

Masaaki Ohyama

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese), Gabriel Ramos (Spanish)

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.

Kamineko

Kamineko (Japanese for "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.

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. Sakaki also daydreams about being able to ride Tadakichi as Chiyo does.

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.

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.

Yukari's car

The Yukari Car, aka The Yukari-mobile (ゆかり車 Yukari-guruma^[3]) - While, again, not a living character, the Yukari-Mobile 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 reckless driving habits 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 a photo or the mere mention of the Yukari-mobile can cause terror and flashbacks for those who have lived through a ride in it, with the upside being that said survivors claim they no longer fear any roller coaster. However, it should be noted that Tomo enjoyed her ride in it, showing she has some similarities to Yukari.

Other Minor Characters

Male Student A Voiced by: Naoki Yanagi (Japanese), Chris Patton (English), Enzo Fortuny (Spanish)
is the male student without a special feature. He is the boy whose bicycle robbed by Yukari in chapter 1.

Male Student B Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English), Gabriel Ramos (Spanish)
is the male student with Nyamo-like long sideburns.

Female Student A Voiced by: Ryoko Nagata (Japanese), Monica Manjarrez (Spanish)
is the female student with the pigtails. Her real name is unknown, but rather a name "Rachel Handlebarz" thought up by the image board Idlechan. She is also seen as a "younger version" during the cat-saving part of Tomo's new year dream.

Female Student B Voiced by: Akane Omae (Japanese), Irina Indigo (Spanish)
is the female student with brown, short hair. She seems to have associated with Male Student A in chapter 19.

These four nameless students appeared in the eye catch of the last episode with Ohyama.

Kaorin's Mother Voiced by: Ryoko Nagata (Japanese), Cythia Ann Feaster (English), Monica Manjarrez (Spanish)

Eiko Voiced by: Yuka Koyama (Japanese), Shelley Carlene-Black (English), Irma Carmona (Spanish)

Mrs. Kimura Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (Japanese), Kaytha Coker (English), Leyla Rangel (Spanish)

Michiru "Mitchy" Ogino Voiced by: Yuko Nagashima (Japanese), Kaytha Coker (English), Sylvia Garcel (Spanish)

Nakuro "Nakku" Tanaka Voiced by: Takahiro Yoshimizu (Japanese), Nomad Kaerf (English), Carlos Hugo Hidalgo (Spanish)

Ishihara Voiced by: Yonehiko Kitagawa (Japanese), John Swasey (English), Arturo Mercado Jr. (Spanish)

[edit] References

1. ^ [April 2003] in Kimberly Gueire: Newtype USA (Magazine), 6, John Ledford. Retrieved on 2006-12-16. 
2. ^ Case study: The Educational System in Japan. Accessed 2006-12-16.
3. ^ Though "car" is normally kuruma in Japanese, it may change to guruma according to circumstances. See rendaku.