Cheap Azumanga Daioh - Rivals (Vol. 3) (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Azumanga Daioh - Rivals (Vol. 3)

The first two episodes are really about the arrival of a new student in the girls homeroom. Her name is Kagura (she was introduced in an earlier episode competing against Miss Yukari's homeroom). Supposedly, she is the best all around athlete at the school and Miss Yukari has transferred her into class just to beat her friend Miss Kurosawa in the coming athletic contest. Unfortunately, the tall, beautiful, and shy Sakaki also has a reputation for being above average in sports. Kagura instantly sees any interaction with Sakaki as a contest that she must try to win. For example, when Kagura and her sit down to eat lunch, Kagura bets she eat faster than Sakaki, then she vows to beat her in softball, etc. She also gets some insight into Sakaki's victimization by cats and tries to help out. When Sakaki learns about a street on TV which happens to be the home of hundreds of cats, she can't hold back and has to travel there on her bike. She might not make it out alive.

Episode 12 is called "Chiyo-Chan's Day" and it is exactly that. The entire episode is seen from her viewpoint, which is a somewhat strange position. Most of the school besides her friends see her as a cute curiosity and don't realize that she is one of the smartest students at the high school. When she runs into some of her former elementary school friends, we realize that maybe she misses being a kid and playing games or simple things like jumping rope. The episode ends with her in a very nice moment nostalgically jumping a rope with Sakaki and her beloved dog. Well, that is, until Tomo shows up!

Episode 13 is about the desperate situation that Kagura, Tomo, and the ever lost Osaka find themselves in. As final exams are coming up, they ask Yomi to help them out. When she refuses, they band together, calling themselves the 3 knuckleheads, and vow to pass the tests without her help. The problem is they are all dumb! Well, I don't know about dumb. Kagura is. Tomo is just to hyper to pay attention, and Osaka's brain is out in space somewhere, telling her to get it together or sleeping.

The last episode deals with the girl's summer vacation. Once again Chiyo-Chan has invited the girls to spend it with her at her beach house. Once again, Miss Yukari and Kurosawa invite themselves along too, even though Yukari left Chiyo-Chan psychologically scarred with her life-threatening driving abilities. This time Chiyo rents a van and doesn't let her drive. In preperation for the trip, Osaka and Chiyo go shopping and there is a funny skit where Osaka gets confused by the difference between escalators and elevators.

Azumanga Daioh is probably one of my favorite animes. It just makes you feel good watching it. The characters are so vibrant and funny, they seem like people you wish you had known. Friendship is the most important thing to these girls. It's not just a girl anime. To me, it speaks to universal jokes and truths that go beyond gender. It also has little absurd surreal twists which never become predictable. I guess the closest American equivalent to me would be if Charles Schulz had set the Peanuts characters in high school. I highly recommend this awesome series that will make a dark day bright for anyone.

The dvd includes a reversible cover and a 12-page booklet with translator notes, Japanese staff comments, and artwork of Sakaki in different clothes. It also comes with a cloisonne pin of Neco Coneco, Sakaki's favorite cat and kitten doll. The dvd itself has production sketches, clean open/close.

This anime was based on a manga by Kiyohiko Azuma which is just as funny as the anime. There are 4 volumes currently available in English.

Vol. 3 released early by Best Buy
My wife and I love this series and were planning to pick up Vol. 3 on July 20th. But we were in Best Buy yesterday (July 15th) (...). This series is so funny and sweet and the theme songs are very catchy. Poor Sakaki is so pitiful though!