List of Azumanga Daioh characters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The main characters. From left to right: Sakaki, Kagura, Chiyo, Tomo, Yomi and Osaka
The main characters. From left to right: Sakaki, Kagura, Chiyo, Tomo, Yomi and Osaka

This is a list of characters from the anime and manga series Azumanga Daioh.

The main cast consists of six schoolgirls and two teachers, along with a few secondary characters, the latter including a creepy male teacher with an unhealthy obsession with teenage girls (Kimura-sensei), another girl (Kaorin) in the same grade who seems to have a crush on Sakaki, 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

[edit] Major characters

[edit] Students

Among 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.

[edit] Chiyo Mihama

Voiced by: Tomoko Kaneda (Japanese), Jessica Boone (English)
Chiyo Mihama (美浜 ちよ Mihama Chiyo?), usually called Chiyo-chan, she is a child prodigy, having skipped five grades to 10th grade (first year in Japanese high school) at the start of the series yet is still top of the class. Such grade-skipping would be unthinkable in Japan, and the series humorously explores its potential consequences.[2] The other characters find Chiyo amazingly cute, but sometimes take advantage of both her youthfulness and her scholastic abilities. Her diminutive stature leads to her having a lack of confidence, particularly in sports where she fears she is a burden to others. Chiyo is frequently viewed with jealousy by fellow students, initially because of her intelligence, but later also because of the discovery that her family is exceedingly wealthy (they own an enormous mansion and a summer house which Chiyo invites her classmates to visit on several occasions). The stylistic rendering of Chiyo's pigtails allow for several visual gags in both the manga and anime: Osaka often imagines them to be flapping wings, or as entities independent of Chiyo herself. At home, she can almost always be found in the company of her enormous dog, Tadakichi-san. 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.

[edit] Tomo Takino

Voiced by: Chieko Higuchi (Japanese), Mandy Clark (English)
Tomo Takino (滝野 智 Takino 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.

[edit] Koyomi "Yomi" Mizuhara

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (Japanese), Nancy Novotny (English)
Koyomi Mizuhara (水原 暦 Mizuhara Koyomi?), commonly known as Yomi, is a grade-school friend and general antithesis of Tomo. She is the voice of reason of the series, 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 pastimes. 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 immature behavior of some of her classmates, Yomi has demonstrated on certain occasions that she can be just as childish as the rest of the characters, 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.

[edit] Sakaki

Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa (Japanese), Christine Auten (English)
Sakaki ( Sakaki?) is a tall, soft-spoken girl uncomfortable with her height and busty physique. Because she is so shy, she seldom speaks, 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 an Iriomote mountain 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.

[edit] Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga

Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese), Kira Vincent-Davis (English)
Ayumu Kasuga (春日 歩 Kasuga Ayumu?), commonly known as Osaka (大阪 Ōsaka?), 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.

[edit] Kagura

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Allison Sumrall (English)
Kagura (神楽 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 "Bonkuras" (or "Bonklers" in the anime, translated as "Knuckleheads" in the dub and "Numbnuts" in the english manga) 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 (and Tomo teases both of them about their large breasts), 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.

[edit] Kaori

Voiced by: Sakura Nogawa (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English)
Kaori (かおり Kaori?), also known as Kaorin, is a girl infatuated with Sakaki, whose unrequited feelings are a frequent source of anxiety. Her friends seem mostly unaware of her crush on Sakaki, and it is unknown whether or not Sakaki would reciprocate (in the first episode, Kaorin was put off inviting Sakaki to the astronomy club due to fear of rejection; Sakaki, however, seemed sad that Kaorin had not invited her) Even if Sakaki knows of Kaorin's affections for her, she never shows any sign of seeing her as anything other than a friend.
While her given name is Kaori, she is almost always addressed by her nickname of Kaorin (かおりん?) (nicknames are often formed by changing the end of a name in this way to sound cute). Kaorin's surname is speculated to be Aida, judging from a panel in volume one of the manga, however this is still unconfirmed.
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 can also be more than a little neurotic. 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 - after the main group's first visit to Chiyo-chan's summer home she is horrified to learn that Sakaki went after seeing some rather glamourous pictures of her would-be love interest, particularly one with Tomo inadvertently sleeping with her arms around Sakaki. In her senior year, she accompanies the group to Chiyo's Summer Home (and is, like Chiyo, left emotionally scarred by her ride in the Yukari-mobile). Also during that year, Kimura-sensei transferred her into his class, much to Kaorin's dismay (Kaorin dreads Kimura-sensei's attention even more emphatically than her peers).
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 is the only character to have one of their parents actually shown on-screen; her Mother (who bears a striking resemblance to her) appears in episode 8, waking Kaorin up from her New Year's Dream.
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

[edit] Yukari Tanizaki

Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
Yukari Tanizaki (谷崎 ゆかり Tanizaki Yukari?), also known as Yukari-sensei, 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.

[edit] Minamo Kurosawa

Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)
Minamo Kurosawa (黒沢 みなも Kurosawa Minamo?), also known as Kurosawa-sensei or "Nyamo" (にゃも Nyamo?) or "Nyamo-sensei", 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. She is an old high school friend and rival of Yukari. Popular with the students, Nyamo is a nice person, and unlike Yukari she is generally in control. This fact causes so much resentment in Yukari that she will go to almost any length to appear the 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 sake, and an unknown quantity of beer, 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 explicit sex stories from her youth. Fortunately, Chiyo was too young to understand what she was talking about. She did ask for clarification afterwards, though, much to Nyamo's horror.

[edit] Kimura

Voiced by: Kōji Ishii (Japanese), Andy McAvin (English)
Kimura (木村先生 Kimura-sensei?), also known as Mr. Kimura, is the only regular male character in the series. Kimura is a "creepy" and lecherous Classical Japanese teacher, who openly admits he became a teacher to be close to high-school girls. He is constantly lewd and openly seeks excuses to "observe" girls, such as during swimming class or when they are measured and weighed by the school nurse. He especially likes Kaorin, much to her dismay. His addressing her by her nickname "Kaorin" is inappropriate for a student-teacher relationship; he takes this a step further by asking her to address him by the similarly cutesy name "Kimurin".
Kimura habitually appears with his mouth gaping open, and his eyes cannot be seen behind his glasses. At his first appearance in the manga, Kimura seems normal, but takes on his usual expression after he was asked why he became a teacher—as if he had some sort of mental break. In the anime, he is always open-mouthed. Most female students (and some faculty) intensely loathe him, but some male students admire his "sincerity". Despite his lewd activities, outside of school Kimura appears as a responsible and kind-hearted person: he recycles littered cans, donates frequently to charities, and even offered ¥10,000 to a shrine as he prayed 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

[edit] Chihiro

Voiced by: Akane Omae (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English)
Chihiro (千尋?) is a classmate and friend of Kaorin. Little is known except her name. When she appears, she is usually keeping Kaorin company, and she collaborates with her on some projects. Once, when Chiyo-chan tutored her, Yukari assumed it was the reverse. Occasionally Chihiro bears the brunt of Kaorin's temper, without knowing why; it is unclear how aware she is of Kaorin's crush on Sakaki. Chihiro was also one of the most disgusted by the coakroach that appeared in class in Episode 2. In the manga, during the senior year sports festival Chihiro dressed as Chihiro from Spirited Away, partnered with another student (possibly Kaorin) dressed as Kaonashi from the same film. Chihiro's surname is speculated to be Inoue, judging from a panel in volume one of the manga, however this is still unconfirmed.

[edit] Chiyo-chichi

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Jason Douglas (English)
"Chiyo-Dad" (「ちよ父」 "Chiyo-chichi"?) is 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 inconsistent about whether he really is a cat. The stuffed animal Chiyo-chichi also appears as merchandise in Azuma's current manga, Yotsuba&!.

[edit] Kimura's wife

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (Japanese), Kaytha Coker (English)
Kimura's wife is depicted, in Japanese terms, as a stereotypical beauty, having long wavy hair (other examples of this stereotype to be found in anime include Sailor Neptune and Nadeshiko Kinomoto). The incongruity of the unwholesome Kimura being married to such a beautiful (and evidently wholesome) woman is used as a humorous device, with her appearances invariably leading to bemusement and speculation amongst the other characters, who are uncertain whether they ought conclude she is a saint, or an idiot. Like Kimura, she also recycles frequently. She seems to have a somewhat Osaka-like personality, such as when she chases a tin can until she hits her head on a lamp-post. She also refers to Kimura's lunch as the "Love Wife Lunch" like her husband does. In the anime, when asked flat out why she likes Kimura by Tomo she responds that she like how he's cool, causing the girls to think she has no taste. She then explains that his style of cool is just currently out of style, bewildering Yomi, Tomo and Chiyo.

[edit] Miruchi and Yuka-chan

Miruchi Voiced by: Akane Omae (Japanese), Sasha Paysinger (English)
Yuka-chan Voiced by: Sakura Nogawa (Japanese), Mariela Ortiz (English)
Miruchi and Yuka-chan are Chiyo's friends from grade school. Despite having skipped ahead into high school, Chiyo still treats them as peers. In both appearance and name, they appear designed to resemble the girls' teachers, Minamo and Yukari.

[edit] Masaaki Ohyama

In the manga, though he appears infrequently, he has his time in the spotlight.
In the manga, though he appears infrequently, he has his time in the spotlight.
Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino
Masaaki Ohyama (大山将明 Ōyama Masaaki?) 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.

[edit] Other Minor Characters

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

Bearing a striking resemblance to her daughter, she only appears once when she wakes Kaorin up from an idyllic dream, much to Kaorin's annoyance.

Eiko Voiced by: Yuka Koyama (Japanese), Shelley Calene-Black (English)

A former classmate of Yukari and Nyamo appearing from chapter 19. She presents Nyamo with a higher-paying more prestigious job and introduces the teachers to two men.

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

A host of the radio show in chapter 19 that Yomi writes to about her dieting attempts.

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

A host of the radio show in chapter 19 that Yomi writes to about her dieting attempts.

Dr. Ishihara Voiced by: Yonehiko Kitagawa (Japanese), John Swasey (English)

A vet that takes care of Tadakichi-san and Mayaa. From chapter 24.
Four unnamed students appeared in the eye catch of the last episode with Ohyama.

Male Student A Voiced by: Naoki Yanagi (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)

A male student without any special features. He is the boy whose bicycle was stolen by Yukari in chapter 1.

Male Student B Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)

A male student with Nyamo-like long sideburns.

Female Student A Voiced by: Ryoko Nagata

A female student with pigtails. Her real name is unknown, but she has been unofficially nicknamed "Rachel Handlebarz" or "Braid Maiden" by the image board Idlechan. A younger version of her is also seen during the cat-saving part of Tomo's first dream of the new year. In the first episode of the anime, she discusses Sakaki with Kaori, and is seen in a later episode walking with Kaori when they met Sakaki in the gaming arcade.

Female Student B Voiced by: Akane Omae

A female student with brown, short hair. She bears a striking resemblance to Chihiro and seems to have associated with Male Student A in chapter 19. She may also be in the cheerleading team in the first sports fest episode.

[edit] Animals

[edit] Naru

A cat that used to live in Sakaki's neighborhood, little is known about him/her.

[edit] Kamineko

Kamineko (「噛み猫」, "Biting Cat" in Japanese) is a cute gray 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, complete with bear trap teeth.

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

[edit] Mayaa

Mayaa (マヤー) is Sakaki's pet Iriomote Mountain Cat. His name is derived from Yamamayaa, a name in Okinawan_language for his species. He is also known (by Osaka, at least) as "Pikameowmeow", or "Pikanyaa", from a corruption of yamapikarya, another Okinawan name for the species. They met on Iriomote when he was a kitten during the class trip to Okinawa, and he was the first cat to ever let Sakaki pet it. After his mother was killed by a car, he followed Sakaki home to Tokyo. Because of her mother's allergies, Sakaki cannot keep pets at her house and Mayaa stays temporarily at Chiyo's house until Sakaki goes to college.
Mayaa can manifest an imposing "battle aura", scaring off dozens of domesticated cats and protecting Sakaki from Kamineko. In spite of being a wildcat, he is comfortable around people and even Tadakichi-san, and even lets Sakaki bathe him. Chiyo speculates that he imprinted on Sakaki as a surrogate mother. He once scratched Tomo because she was taunting him, but Sakaki tapped him on the head and told him not to scratch people.

[edit] Notable objects

[edit] Necoconeco

Necoconeco - a popular stuffed animal franchise that appears frequently in the series. Necoconeco appears to be based on 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. During the class trip to Okinawa, Sakaki buys an Iriomote Cat version of Necoconeco. Conventional romanization spelling of the pronunciation yields "nekokoneko" ("neko" Japanese for cat + "koneko" Japanese for "kitten"); however "Neco Coneco" is often used and creates another joke in itself, Connected Cat.
In addition, Necoconecoos are heroes (or heroines?) of "Journeys of Neco Coneco" (ねここねこのたび "Neko Koneko no Tabi"?), a series of photographs formerly on Azuma's website.[3] A nekokoneko doll also appeared as a festival booth prize in Yotsuba&!.

[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. ^ Neko koneko no Tabi, archived by the Internet Archive on 3 June 2002. (Japanese)
Languages