Huge huge HUGE thanks to Yen Press for sending me this to review!!
About the Mangaka
Azuma Kiyohiko is the creator of Azumanga Daioh as well as Yotsuba&!, as well as other hentai manga as well. Due to the way he writes his name there has been debate over whether he was a guy or gal.
He has several websites, the first, is the website of studio. The second, is his personal website. Both are in japanese.
About the Manga
Totally outstanding, one of the best manga I’ve read this year, and that’s saying something!!
When I first heard of Yen releasing this I wasn’t overly enthused about it. 4Koma are ‘nice’ but I’d yet to read one that got to me as well as some normal titles. Also, I wasn’t expecting much content wise. All the 4Koma I’d read had been skinny little things, so I was expecting Azumanga to be at most, the size of Yen’s manhwa; maybe a bit more. However what we get is a BEAST in every sense of the word!!
Just look at the cover for this volume, it’s freaking awesome, though it does get spoiled by being spread over the front, spine and back covers, but it’s still awesome IMO.
The colour pages through out this volume are awesome as well, but also serve another purpose, they show off how well Azuma improves throughout the volume.
If like me you’re first glance at Azuma’s art was in Yotsuba&! you’re in for a surprise. The art of this series is really rough by comparison, and at first I almost gave up on it it’s so bad. However Azuma comes along in leaps and bounds and by the end the art is pretty decent, though never spectacular.
The character designs are where I felt this series was really off, a lot of them just didn’t look right, and several of them just looked total crap. Over the series though they grow sharper and more defined, while keeping their original look.
I also found the lack of backgrounds a bit disappointing. Sure 4koma frequently have panels with nothing but the characters in them, but I felt this series takes that to far, and it feels empty at times.
So what makes this series so damn good? Several things in truth, firstly this series takes cuteness to the max. Chiyo is the obvious choice when it comes to cuteness, and while it’s true that she has a lot of cute moments, she loses out to Sakaki who makes the cute aspects all the more cute because she doesn’t look the type.
The way she’s perceived and the way she is constantly clash and result in minor moments of cuteness that are just done amazingly. Her character design is rough at first, but gets more definition as the series continues.
Chiyo has a lot of cute moments, as well, and while I felt some of them were forced, most were handled well, especially the teasing she gets, which at times was bloody funny.
And that’s where this series really comes into it’s own. The story that Azuma has created is amazing and flows really well. It’s the funnies that make this series worth reading. I spent almost all of the time reading this laughing because the interactions between the teachers and students was just so damned funny
Yen Press really went to town on this volume, and when I called it a beast I meant it. This is bigger than even the With the Light volumes and bloody heavy, definitely not one you’re going to just carry around 
I loved how they handled the translation notes, rather than having them in a big lump at the end of the volume they split it up into the individual volumes and the notes are placed there. This makes for an easier read, and definitely makes it easier to find things. The notes themselves are comprehensive, and are definitely needed as there are a lot of cultural references to be explained.
However I do have a few complaints. Firstly, they used both the word dude and golly, taboo words IMO. They should only be used if they were in the original japanese, otherwise pick a more modern and better sounding word. Also I hated Osaka. I love the character, and think she would be an awesome character, however I couldn’t get used to Yen’s handling of her speech. Sure she’s going to have a weird accent since she’s from Osaka, however the way they translated it just makes her out to be more of an idiot than she really is.
I will give bonus points for a small minor thing, leaving in the “¥” in rather than replacing it for the “$” sign like a lot of publishers would have. I was also impressed with them giving a rough conversion rate to the $.
Overall I have to admit I love this series and can finally understand why people would get excited over it. It’s definitely up there as one of the best volumes I’ve read this year, and highly recommend it.
Before you ask me how it compares to the ADV release, I can’t say as I’ve never read the ADV release sorry
Where to Buy
