Azumanga Daioh: V.1 Entrance! (ep.1-5)

No one, and I mean no entity in all the planes of existence, does cartoon insanity the way our friends in Nippon do cartoon insanity.
I have friends who generaly prefer mixes of the bizare and childlike...and they ended up as puddles.
Buy this demonically cute and singularly surreal work, buy it and be afraid to say 'what the HELL!' for fear that HELL may actually have something to do with it.

And trust me
you'll want to say:

WHAT.
THE.
HELL?!

I had been wanting to see Azumanga Daioh for a while when I managed to get my hands on the first episode. It is HILARIOUS. I know there were some jokes I must have missed due to cultural differences, but it was still funny, so that says something, I guess. Also, the first volume (included in this purchase), at least, has a booklet included that explains some of the cultural references and puns that might be over most non-Japanese people's heads.

I also want to add to the reviewer who complained about the dubbing, I really don't know what that's all about. All the voices in English are comparable to the ones in Japanese--I was amazed at how well they matched. I would actually recommend watching it in English, because there are times when the dialogue moves fast, or the timing of something is more important than the words themselves. So unless you're a sub elitist, English is the way to go (not that the Japanese is bad; I don't speak Japanese and therefore have no real right to judge it, but the English is excellent on its own).

All in all, very funny and entertaining. Perfect if you've got ten or twenty minutes to kill, but also if you want something fun to watch for a longer period of time.

Azumanga Daioh is really funny from time to time. As the other reviewers have said, nothing much really happens; it's just everyday Japanese high school. Everything is either leading up to a big humorous event, or IS the event. There's pretty much no emotion between the characters beyond simple friendship or enthusiastic, passing rivalry. It Is fun at first, but it gets tedious. It uses a lot of empty space (ex: "Did it cure your hiccups??" *long pause..."Hic!"*), which builds things up for a good laugh, but doesn't leave much room for other events. If you think you're okay with an anime that looks pretty good, has all the old cliches (sweat drops, jests about (...) size, a cat that appears now and again, the "impossibly good student", the cute girl, the quiet one), and is really hilarious once or twice an episode, then go ahead and get this one. Me personally, I'd prefer it if some sort of plot would develop.
It's been compared to Seinfeld...close, but not quite. Seinfeld has a lot of overlapping events and deals with an immense amount of situations, tying it all together at the end. Azumanga Daioh only covers that high school scene and goes in a straight line, with No Other Purpose but to make jokes. Sometimes, even humor gets old, when there's nothing else to back it up.
Put simply: there are (basically) no males, there is no main character, there is no point. A few good laughs, is that worth $27.00? I guess that's for you to decide.