Azumanga Daioh!

Introduction: Azumanga Daioh is a slice of life anime that follows six friends throughout their three years of high school. There is no overarching plot other than following the experiences of these six characters through high school; however Azumanga Daioh still succeeds on its strong cast of characters and their interactions. CHARACTERS: Mihama Chiyo Chiyo-chan is only 10 years old. She is a genius who transferred to high school because she was too smart for elementary school. Chiyo is also pretty rich - she has a huge house and a summer home! Chiyo is totally adorable and sincere, so no one resents her for her intelligence and wealth. However, she often has a hard time getting people to take her seriously. Her only other weak spot, it seems, is athleticism. Seiyuu: Kaneda Tomoko Resemblance: ?

Kasuga Ayumu (Osaka) Ayumu, or "Osaka", is a transfer student from Osaka, which is obviously where her nickname comes from. On her very first day of school, Tomo proclaimed that her name would be "Osaka" from then on, and as silly as it was, it stuck. Osaka is a bit, well, spacey. She transferred from her old school in Osaka because she felt she needed a new start, but it didn't really help. She still manages to focus her attention on floating dust particles rather than school work. Not the brightest of the bunch, Osaka is still a sweet girl. Seiyuu: Matsuoka Yuki Resemblance: Mutsumi from Love Hina

Takino Tomo Tomo is loud, hyper, and well, insane. She's extremely outgoing, but half of the things that come out of her mouth don't make sense. The trouble-maker of the bunch, Tomo often ignores school rules (at one point she eats lunch an hour early just because she's not supposed to). She's also very competitive, and will challenge anyone to anything, no matter how bizarre it seems. She usually ends up losing though. Seiyuu: Higuchi Chieko Resemblance: Sana from Kodomo no Omocha

Sakaki Sakaki is the "coolest" member of the group. She is rather quiet and serious, and projects an air of mystery about her. However, underneath her cool exterior, Sakaki secretly loves cute things, especially cats. Unfortunately, they do not like her very much. Sakaki always goes to school in bandages because of cat bites, though everyone else thinks she has been in a fight. Sakaki is also extremely athletic and every club at school wants her to join. Seiyuu: Asakawa Yuu Resemblance: Motoko from Love Hina

Mizuhara Koyomi (Yomi) Yomi is has a fairly laid back attitude, though she's not as distant as Sakaki is. She is by far the most mature of the group and the most "normal". She had Tomo are childhood friends, so they know all of eachother's secrets. The only time Yomi gets a little crazy is when she's fighting with Tomo, then she's not afraid to let loose. Her only insecurity seems to be her weight. She is constantly starting strange new diets. Seiyuu: Tanaka Rie Resemblance: Aya from Karekano

Kagura Kagura is your typical athletic anime girl. She declares that she's Sakaki's rival, but Sakaki really doesn't seem to care. She's very competitive (like Tomo), and not too bright when it comes to school work. However, she's extremely good at sports and all things physical. She belongs to many athletic clubs at school. Seiyuu: Kuwashima Houko Resemblance: Tsubaki from Karekano

Kaorin Kaorin adores Sakaki and thinks she's the coolest girl in the school. She is constantly day-dreaming about Sakaki, and even the slightest bit of contact makes her ecstatic. Sakaki, however, remains oblivious to Kaorin's affections. Later on, poor Kaorin ends up by herself in Kimura's class, and appears to be the object of his affections. Seiyuu: Nogawa Sakura Resemblance: Shinobu from Love Hina Tanizaki Yukari Yukari is an extremely competitive high school English teacher. She wants to win at everything and is constantly goading her friend and fellow teacher Nyamo into competing with her. Of course, Yukari almost always loses. She also seems to have a bit of a gambling problem, because most of her competitions with Nyamo have a bet involved (which Yukari inevitably loses). Yukari's favourite past-times are drinking and sleeping (and mooching if you want to count that). Seiyuu: Hiramatsu Akiko Resemblance: Excel from Excel Saga Kurosawa Minamo (Nyamo) Nyamo (as Yukari likes to call her) teaches physical education at the high school. She went to high school with Yukari, and unforunately that means Yukari knows all of her secrets. Nyamo is fairly easy going and all of the students like her, much to Yukari's dismay. She is sort of like a grown up version of Yomi. The only person who can really get her going is her friend Yukari. Seiyuu: Hisakawa Aya Resemblance: Sakuya from Shin Tenchi Muyo Kimura Kimura is a perverted teacher who will admit that the only reason he became a teacher is because he likes young girls. He often goes to watch the girls swim team practice and believes that they should wear their swim suits all of the time. Later on in the series he becomes smitten with poor Kaorin. Surprisingly enough, he actually has a wife and daughter. Kimura is the only recurring male character in the series. Seiyuu: Ishii Kouji Resemblance: ? Kamineko Kamineko is a seemingly harmless cat that Sakaki encounters every morning on her way to school. However, Kamineko is not as harmless as he looks because every single time Sakaki tries to pet him, he bites her. He seems to hold a real grudge against Sakaki, because at one point he gathers all of the cats in the neighbourhood to attack her. Tadakichi-san Tadakichi-san is Chiyo's dog. Apparently he is a French breed. He's very docile and gentle, which is good for Chiyo, because he's about the same size that she is. Chiyo walks him nightly as part of her routine. Sakaki adores him too (probably because he doesn't try to bite her), and is always eager to walk and pet him. Chiyo ChiChi (Chiyo's dad) Chiyo ChiChi is obviously not actually Chiyo's dad. It's a weird cat thing that appears in Sakaki's dreams, proclaiming to be Chiyo's father. It speaks, it flies, and it has tea with Chiyo. Even though it only appears in Sakaki's dreams, she tends to think of it as real, and mentions it many times throughout the series. Yamamaya (Maya) Maya (short for Yamamaya) is a mountain cat from Okinawa. The girls meet him on their class trip and *gasp* he actually likes Sakaki. Later on when Maya's mother dies, he makes his way to Tokyo and finds Sakaki again. Since Sakaki can't have pets at home, Chiyo offers to keep Maya until Sakaki moves out. Finally, poor Sakaki gets a cat of her very own!