Fluff: Azumanga Daioh done by different people

These were taken from a thread that I started on the newsgroup rec.arts.anime.misc in the first days of January 2005, reprising the BGC done by different people thread theme of 2003. The idea was to take the anime Azumanga Daioh, a relatively famous anime director or manga creator that didn't work on the anime, and describe how it would have been different. Author credit is given at the end of each description.

Hideki Anno's Azumanga Daioh

A group of girls are identified after Second Impact as being ideal candidates for humanity's last hope: the Evangelions.
The Pilots:

NERV: Anno's brilliant direction highlighted this series, especially in the 2nd Season Cultural Festival. But the final 2 episodes about graduation and final exams are the most controversial. Anno himself, after suffering a nervous breakdown during the animation of the graduation & instrumentation scenes, felt unsatisfied and create End of Azumanga Daioh which raises even more questions than it answers. Of course, everyone agrees the scene when a giant Osaka emerges from the Geofront was unforgettable, especially as the giant Osaka tilts her head mysteriously to the side chasing something with her eyes. (Travers Naran)

Shoji Kawamori's Enviromanga Daioh

(Arjuna, Macross Zero, Macross Plus, Escaflowne, many more)
With music from Yoko Kanno. As the show opens, two new students transfer to Miss Yukari's homeroom: the child prodigy Chiyo, who seems to know secrets that nobody else knows, and a spacey girl from Osaka who always seems to be looking at images nobody else can see. Across from the school is Kanto OmniChemical Industries, and as the series progresses plants and animals in the area will begin to sicken and die. Will Chiyo be able to understand that Kanto Omnichemical's manufacturing processes are all based on using and discarding vast amounts of dioxin? Will Osaka learn to speak to the Spirits of Gaia that float in her eyeballs and are willing to guide the girls to an ecologically balanced, sustainable commune in the mountains while Tokyo's ecomony comes crashing down? (D B Malmquist)

Leiji Matsumoto's Azumanga Daioh 999.9999

A sweeping, operatic series centered around a rebellious young genius, Chiyo Mihama, in the days following her high school's surrender to the Machine Empire. As Machine People come to dominate the remnants of scholastic civilization, Chiyo embarks on an epic journey of self-discovery and adventure aboard the battered old pirate car known as the Yukarimobile, accompanied by the enigmatic and cat-bite-prone wanderer Sakakitel. Led to far and exotic destinations by Captain Yukarlock, they encounter such characters as: Kimureldas the Pervert King, who forever roams in search of memories of his lost love, Tokaorin; Yukarlock's angst-ridden yet honorable friend and rival, the pirate-hunter Warrius Nyamo; Tomoshi Daiba, the Yukarimobile's hotheaded and blockheaded junior officer; Kei Yomi, Yukarlock's intelligent and weight-conscious second officer (also Daiba's love interest); Yukarlock's minstrel, Ayumeemay, last of the Osakans, whose alien viewpoints sometimes enlighten and often confuse the others; and Kagurina, whose mysterious physical prowess seems to point to her being a Machine Person, yet who clearly has a human or almost-human soul.
Memorable moments:

(BKWillis)

Hayao Miyazaki's Azumanga Daioh

Miss Sakaki is a teenager who loves cats, and one night, she enters a magical dreamworld, and travels with several different beings. She meets Tomo-ro the cat, who happens to be her next door neighbor, Yukari the catbus with horrible driving, Osaka-ru the flying dragon, Chiyo-hiro the little girl, and Kimura-baba the giant-headed bath-house owner. After befriending a striped cat in her dream, she wakes up. She decides to use her magic to bring the striped cat to reality, and uses it as the mascot for her business, Sakaki's Delivery Service. (Bill Martin)

Go Nagai's Azumanga Daioh

[deleted to keep the original post hentai-free; let's just say that Kaorin and Sakaki get a lot of screen time together] (Rob Kelk)

Katsuhiko Nishijima's Pantsumanga Daioh

(Agent Aika, Labyrinth of Flames, Najika Blitz Tactics)
Pretty much the same as Azumanga Daioh, only every shot will be looking up the skirt of one or more characters, Osaka will be a spy for an international biotech cartel looking to corner the market on cloned Iriamote Mountain Cats, and Nyamo will be a gymnastics teacher who always leads her students in high-kick exercises and splits. (D B Malmquist)

Masami Obari's Kaminekorobo Azumangon

Everyone except Osaka and Chiyo grow at least 2 cupsizes.
The year is now 2041 AD. A new teacher named Yukari suddenly appears in the school, destroying every classroom she comes across. However, a Physical Education teacher named Minamo Kurosawa is already aware of this planned invasion and had been secretly preparing her army for battle. Her trump card is Azumangon, a giant cat robot with a ferocious hand biting attack. Meanwhile a young girl named Kagura secretly enters Kurosawa's class in search of her missing rival, Sakaki. It is there that she meets another young woman by the name of Chiyo Mihama... These two must now fight together with four other classmates aboard the Kaminekorobo, Azumangon to fend off the Yukari threat.
Memorable moments:

(Abraham Evangelista)

Mamoru Oshii's Azumanga Daioh

A school with dark corridors. There are many secrets and hidden agenda: what is the dark secret of Nyamo and Yuakri's past? Do the students Yomi and Tomo also share that same dark secret; have they been inducted into the secret cabal that one day aims to take over the school board and gian revenge for their slights? Is the dark figure of Kimura on their side, or does he have a motive all of his own? And who is the figure stalking Sakaki? The quiet student, if she knows, isn't saying anything... What makes us truly human? This question particularly applies to the new student Osaka. Surely no normal human behvaes like that - perhaps she's a secret AI experiment gone slightly wrong? Into this brooding mix arrives "Red Riding Hood"; Chiyo-chan. Riding her basset hound, she start appearing in everyone's dreams and makes them wonder if they aren't all part of some political game - possibly involving Japan's powerful agricultural lobby. Tomato farmers are suspected. (Chris Kuan)

Akiyuki Shinbo's Gothomanga Daioh

(Soul Taker, Petit Cossette, Tsukuyomi ~Moon Phase~)
As the show opens, two new students transfer into Miss Yukari's homeroom: the child prodigy Chiyo, who seems to know secrets that nobody else knows, and a spacey girl from Osaka who always seems to be looking at images nobody else can see. Shortly after they arrive, girls in the class begin to change in personality: they start to dress in frilly victorian clothing, wear black lipstick - and their eyes change color from black to grey. Who or what is responsible for their mysterious change? Why is the classroom always lit with weird orange and purple lighting? Will the spirit of the Yamapika be able to dispel the incipient darkness? (D B Malmquist)

Masumune Shirow's Azumanga Daioh

In a world suffering from massive environmental collapse, a young girl named Chiyo is admitted into the Mecha-Police academy, where she meets her future teammates: upcoming squad leader and gung-ho cop-to-be Tomo, top-notch technician Yomi, tough-cop-to-be-with-a-heart-of-gold Sakaki, and the enigmatic girl (who might not even be human) known only as "Osaka". All seems idyllic on the surface, but the students start noticing clues that the top brass has some sort of secret agenda. The only chance that Chiyo and her classmates have to survive the conspiracy is to find out which of the instructors is behind it, but all they have to go on is a code name that Chiyo once overheard: "Nyamo"... (Rob Kelk)

Tetsuya Yanagisawa presents Kaishaku's Azumanga no Miko

The highborn Himemiya Sakaki is cool and aloof, the perfect young lady of good breeding. Kurusegawa Kaorin is devoted to her, and secretly her friend. Their lives are undisturbed in their school, until an ancient evil suddenly rears its head. To combat it, Kaorin and Sakaki must take on the roles of shrine maidens of the Moon and Sun.
Memorable Moments:

(Abraham Evangelista)

Ken Akamatsu's Azumanga Daioh

Indistinguishable from Negima! (Rob Kelk)


Last update: 4 January 2005

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