Azumanga Daioh (あずまんが大王, Azumanga Daiō?) is a comedy manga written and illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma, originally published in the magazine Dengeki Daioh[2] from 1999 to 2002. It was drawn as a series of vertical four-panel comic strips called yonkoma and depicts the lives of a group of high-school girls during their three years as classmates.

The series title has no particular significance to the story. “Azumanga” is a portmanteau of “Azuma” (the author’s name) and “manga”, while “Daioh” comes from the magazine in which it was originally published, Dengeki Daioh.[2] In the anime, “Daioh” is mentioned during the next episode previews, in context meaning “great king”.

The name “Azumanga” also used as a general term for Kiyohiko Azuma’s other works (illustrations and comics).[6] The titles of two collections published in 1998 and 2001 containing official comics of Pioneer animations[7] were Azumanga and Azumanga 2.[8] Azumanga was later republished in a reduced-size edition called Azumanga Recycle.[9]
[edit] Synopsis
Azumanga Daioh chronicles everyday life in an unnamed Japanese high school in Tokyo,[10] following the trials and triumphs of six girls: reserved Sakaki’s obsession with cute animals, Chiyo’s struggle to fit in with girls five years older, Osaka’s skewed perspective on the world, Yomi’s aggravation at an annoying best friend, Tomo, whose energy is rivaled only by her lack of sense, and Kagura’s efforts in sports and school. The story covers three years of tests, culture festivals, and athletic events at school, after-school life at the nearby shopping district, at Chiyo’s large house, vacations spent at Chiyo’s summer home on the beach and at Magic Land, a theme park. It is generally realistic in tone, marked by occasional bursts of surrealism and absurdity, such as Osaka’s bizarre imaginings and an episode featuring the characters’ New Year’s dreams.

My fave characters are: Sakaki, Yukari-sensei and Minamo-sensei

Densha Otoko (電車男, Densha Otoko? translated as Train Man) is a Japanese movie, television series, manga, novel, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23 year old otaku (Japanese geek) who intervened when a drunk man was harassing several women on a train. The otaku ultimately begins dating one of the women.

The event, and the man’s subsequent dates with the woman, who became known as Hermès (エルメス, Erumesu?), was chronicled on the Japanese mega-BBS 2channel. This led to the compilation of the relevant threads in a book, followed by several manga versions, a movie released in June 2005, a theatrical play later released as a DVD, and finally a TV series that aired on Fuji TV from July 7 to September 22, 2005 (with a special episode on October 6, 2005). The series originally aired on Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.

A two hour long TV special, Densha Otoko Deluxe, aired on September 23, 2006.

Captions from the movie - scenes that I love ^_~

I’ve always wanted to watch Densha Otoko since I’ve heard good reviews about it. The 1st one I’ve watched was the movie though I’ve only watched a part of it in Youtube (it was month end and I was doing a lot of work).Ok enough introductions, I am watching the movie today (as in right now as I was typing this). Densha otoko here is an otaku, otakus are prevalent in Japan and I’m wondering why they treat them in a bad way? Maybe because they are weird? Maybe because they dress in an unfashionable way in a land of fashionable people? Hello, otakus originated in Japan! Is that the way they treat their fellow countrymen?

Densha otoko here played by Takayuki Yamada has better looks compared to the one in J-dorama. But Hermes in the j-dorama looks better (come to think of it she’s like Jun Matsumoyo’s female version). I just like how the story progress in this movie and how everyone in the net reacts. And how each of them reminisce and learns from the deeds of densha otoko. I like the scene where he admitted his feelings to Hermes-san. It’s so romantic but cheesy and he did that part well. He looked like a child crying but he’s still cute.

Scenes that I love from the series - spotted 2 ikemen!!!

After watching the 1st episode of the dorama, now I know why some japanese don’t like otakus - they are the weirdest of all the weirds! Hahaha! I still don’t think they deserve a harsh treatment. Also, I don’t think the 1st densha otoko was portrayed like that. Here’a a funny scene - densha otoko-san just wanted to buy a battery charger but ended up in the middle of a raid of SAT (special assault team, think something like SWAT)! There’s also a special episode - densha otoko another ending that shows densha’s otaku friend falling in love for yuko-san. It’s really funny haha.

One day, a student named Hoshino comes up to another student named Negishi and announces that he likes her and wants to go out with her. The story follows their developing relationship without resorting to cheesy melodrama, harems, or any of the usual manga plot devices. The stories are about fairly  mundane events — first date, first kiss, first fight, etc., but the mangaka is very skillful at making these seem interesting (or perhaps the mudane aumatically seems interesting because it’s different from what we usually expect out of this kind of story.

The art is drawn a bit odd, but it works - I mean it somehow goes with the story. Ther are also some side tracks or bonus stories. Overall it is really good - highly recommended!

Five waiters - Kurihira Tarou (leader), Ichinomiya Jun(part-timer), Tokumi Shuuta (part-timer), Minagawa and Ookubo Maki (contractor) are working in a cafe in Kisshouji. It’s actually disaster more than hillarious if you put them all together! I really like all of them esp Minagawa even if he’s strange but he is good in making cakes!!! Jun, with his abnormal strength, Tarou with the way he pisses off Maki and Toku  arOriginally from the cd drama, this manga is more than worth-reading. Each chapter ends up with a really cute “chibby chapter”. There are 3 volumes of this but I’ve only managed to read ch. 1-9! Waaaah! I wanna read this till the end!!!

Story revolves around Miwa and her family. Her mom is about to get married and that means moving in with his professional photographer dad and her step-bro riku. As time passed by, she seems to be getting attracted to riku - he’s nice but seems to act tough and rude to Miwa at times. Then there’s Itou Wataru, Miwa’s childhood friend who’s in love with her. Who will Miwa choose eventually?

I think this manga is nice, it’s worth reading and also funny. I’m actually left hanging because I’ve only read volume 1. riku is nice but I’d like Itou more although he’s only nice to Miwa and he’s a snob to other girls. Waaah!I wanted to read more.

After reading the 1st chapter, I can say that it’s not bad but it’s not that good either. It’s like another Fushigi Yuugi with diff characters and they still was transported into another time in the past. The illustrations are pretty nice but I think, this will be better of as an anime.

I really like this message of Takahashi-sensei

I like this manga postscript from Takahashi-sensei