Customer Reviews

Azumanga Daioh 1

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Watching anything from a given genre for the first time is kind of like getting your first kiss. Part of what made Azumanga Daioh one of my favourite anime series was the score of cutesy pop, which reflected the comical life of the high school girls in the adaptation of Kiyohiko Azuma's funny four-panel comics starring ten-year old prodigy Chiyo, the tall closet romantic Sakaki, serious Yomi, spacey Ayumu, aka Osaka, and energetic goofball Tomo. Naturally, the opening and closing theme songs by Oranges & Lemons, "Soramimi Cake" and the heartwarming "Raspberry Heaven" are there, albeit in TV-size versions. The rest are bite-sized offerings by the Kuri Coder Pops Orchestra, and involve strings. Many of them were used over and over in the series, so the title doesn't matter at times.

"Let's Begin" features the melody used in the preview segments, but with the pronounced drums introducing the segment, is recognizable as the music used when Tomo and Chiyo are doing jump-roping, before giving way to the montage of Osaka tripping, and Sakaki and Chiyo's dog silently watching.

"Of All Circumstances" is another repeatedly recognizable tune used throughout the series. This version is more uptempo, with soft keyboards, poppy surf guitar, and a Jew's harp. It's the same music used in the main menu for the DVDs.

The brisk "You Mean During the Break?" with its cutesy flute and synths, is another repeated theme, often during some activity, such as the brief volleyball tournament where poor Chiyo gets beaned on the head by an overenthusiastic Tomo. "Bonkura-zu" is named after what Yomi calls Tomo, Kagura, and Osaka after the lazy trio beg her to tell her what's on the final, but it's also used when Chiyo complains to Sakaki about being stereotyped as being cute.

Variations on "New School Term" abound-there are six here, but they are all used in the TV series. No. 4 features a leisurely accordion and plays like French café music-used when Ayumu Kasuga is reflecting at the crosslight at what happened at her new high school the other day. No. 5 is the skippiest, featuring a fast-paced piccolo and a ukulele, and is my favourite. Used in some classroom scenes, it's also used when a frantic Chiyo-chan, being the last one left, tries to avoid being hit by the dodgeball. A melancholy cello is used in No. 6, and is the one used during the production sketches on the bonus material for the DVDs.

Others have a gentle but reflective nature. "See You Tomorrow" with its somber cello, is the tune used when the friends see the sunset in the park on Chiyo-chan's birthday. A harmonica piece with the same motif is "Like This Sky," when Chiyo, Tomo, Yomi, and Osaka, do their victory parade after their culture festival project, their shadows silhouetted against a glowing sunset. "What Do You Mean?" has a lilting Stan Getz-type samba sound and was used in more leisure moments.

"Good Scenery" is a melancholy piano piece used in Sakaki's dream, when she spends time with the orange cat in the wheatfields, watching the snow fall, and finally bidding him an agonized goodbye when the cat floats away in the sky.

"It's A Stroll" is used in a couple places, strings offering a gentle cantering pace with a flute accompaniment. The tall Sakaki enjoys her school morning before being bitten by the Kamineko (biting cat). It's also used when Chiyo-chan gets up in the morning in the skit on a day in her life. Used only once, "Good Night" is a nice lullaby-like flute piece used in the same episode, when contrasting what everyone does at night, be it doing homework, taking a hot bath, watching TV, or playing PS2 games, and in Chiyo's case, going to bed early.

The fast-paced "Hang On" has an accordion, and some silly noisemakers, and was used when Sakaki was racing on her bike to get to where the alley of cats gather, surprising Chiyo and amazing the jock Kagura by her speed.

A harmonica is featured in "It's All Right," which was used when Osaka, after being warned not to sleep during class, slowly succumbs back to sleep before being scolded by her teacher, Yukari sensei.

A list of the instruments used reveals the inventory Kuri Coder is: mellotron, jew's harp, glockenspiel, marimba, baritone sax, bongo, slide whistle, bodhran, and pianica, to name just a few! My favourite anime soundtrack of all time

If you like the show you will love the music all the songs are great to get your spirit up and you can get enoughf of them if you like the show so pick up the CD its uh realmood lift'er :D :D :D :D

This CD will remind you of the great time you had watching this wonderful show. Of course, this is meaningless to you unless you are actually a fan of the show.

The CD contains a couple of vocal pieces as well as background music. If you want just vocal pieces, there is another CD containing just vocal pieces.

When I first bought this CD Amazon did not have preview tracks for it like it does now, so I was a little dissapointed when I got the CD. Like you probably noticed, the only vocal tracks on this CD are Soramimi Cake and Raspberry Heaven. Good songs, no doubt, but my favorites weren't included, like Moi Moi or Lazy Crazy Bonkurazu. Instead, the CD includes a majority of BGM. While it's amusing during the show, the harsh overly used recorder wears on the ears after a while. Soramimi and Raspberry make the CD a worthy purchase, but the other 36 tracks get old fast. Hopefully volume 2 will include the vocal pieces I crave, till then unless you're really devoted to Azumanga, steer clear.

If you like Azumanga Daioh, You'll love this albun. Has a bunch of our favoritte tunnes of AD, except some included in the vol. 2. Just get over and Buy it, ok?

I really LUV this music! Soramimi Cake is, as always, what really makes this CD. But the BGM is neato, too! I mean, I could really use it for something, like the "Miss Yukari Goes Wild!-part one" for an action clip, or the otherwise stated "harshly used recorder"songs for a skippy like cartoon...well, hey! Ya never know!!! I'm hopeless when it comes to most video games...and computers...so this CD is great for me! All of you technology-flunkies out there, this is 4u!!! *cheers!* KIYOHIKO AZUMA ROXXXXX!!!