Azumanga Daioh manga vol-1. US-release

[treatment]

review:

Well, I bought the manga today. It's $9.99 for about 160+- pages. Manga's not cheap, no?

Anyway, I'm just halfway thru reading it.

The translation starts off a bit slow and quite dry. Yukari's teaching Spanish language for some reason. She's an english-teacher in the anime.

And Osaka was presented as having a nu-yohkah akcent:

fuhgeddaboutit??? yo, how _you_ doin'? ????

WTF?!

Geezus friggin krizt on a bike! That's the most horrible representation of Osaka's character. Osaka would've been better accepted/translated as having a Georgia or Tennessee twang, rather than a weird Bronx or Brooklyn that they wrote in on the manga.

Other than those above, it's ok. The manga humor was a bit slow on the start. Then it gets better about 20 or so pages into it. If you'd seen the anime, that is.

Verdict:

-- is it worth it? ---

[*] Only if you're a manga-fan/manga-collector or a casual Azu-fan.

[*]Otherwise, it's a maybe. It might entertain you while you wait for the Azudai anime release slated for early next year.

----

I have no idea why the average price of manga (not just AzuDai, but the rest of US-released manga) is at $10. They should be priced at $8 or even $5.

Calvin and Hobbes books are still a better buy.

edit: seems like invision screwed up the format of non-alphanumeric characters. weird.

Edited September 19, 2003 by treatment

[areaseven]

From reading your review, treatment, I'm already having second thoughts about buying ADV's version. I mean, come on! Osaka-san speaking in a Brooklyn accent? That's not close to describing a Kansai dialect. As a matter of fact, Osaka-san doesn't even have an accent. And Yukari-chan being a Spanish teacher? What a load of crap. They should've just made her a Japanese teacher instead (yeah, I know that most US high schools don't teach Japanese, but it would make more sense with this manga).

Well, at least it isn't TOKYOPOP releasing this manga.

BTW, is there an age rating given by ADV?

[treatment]

Yup. It's rated T 13+. Whatever that rating means.

Anyway, I really suggest checking it out from your local barnes-n-noble (or any bookstore that allows in-store reading in your area) before making a decision to purchase.

Imho, Osaka's humor was basically ruinned with that stupid establishment of the Bronx/Brooklyn shenanigan of a localization in this initial volume. I'm now alot more scared of ADV's upcoming english-dub of the AzuDai anime.

The only consolation of this manga was that the rest of the characters were pretty much similar to the anime.

[DestroidsRage]

This is what happens with this kind of thing...

Some of you people are actually considering watching Azumanga Daoih /dubbed/???

What a freaking crime.

-BEN-MAN-

[uminoken]

Yukari's teaching Spanish language for some reason. She's an english-teacher in the anime.

My friend has this, I wouldn't pay for this thing....kinda funny cause later in the book they make a comment to her being an English teacher

[JELEINEN]

Here's a thought: why not make her an English teacher and keep the setting in Japan? I guess this didn't occur to the mouth breathers at ADV. And yeah, Osaka doesn't have an accent. That's part of her weirdness.

[Mislovrit]

Anyone else remembers the last time ADV tried doing mangas?

[areaseven]

Anyone else remembers the last time ADV tried doing mangas?

I remember the time ADV released a local manga adaptation of Burn Up! (at least a year before Burn Up W was released), and it flopped big-time.

[drifand]

The HK pirated edition of the Azumanga series is sooo sweet, almost all the jokes came thru w/o a hitch in the English subs. I gave my set to a cousin and now I can't buy it anywhere in Singapore :-P Hopefully, the ADV release will "reference" the pirated discs for the subs and go one up on the few glitches in translation... might lessen the potential for fan disappointment.