LogFAQs > #901945231

Azumanga Daioh, Vol. 4 (of 4)
https://imgur.com/a/F7dy66B

I opened up the book and a Borders bookmark fell out so I am already sad.

This one has the school trip to Okinawa! I will never forget what a Shiisaa is, but more importantly, Sakaki gets to bond with a cat! In probably the closest thing to a serious arc Azumanga has, Sakaki befriends a rare Iriomote cat in Okinawa, and is on cloud nine finally getting to pet and hold one. We have to leave the cat behind...but her mom gets hit by a car, so she tracks Sakaki back home, showing up just in time to make the save from a literal gang of cats. The cat is named Maya, and will live with Chiyo until Sakaki graduates and moves to college. (away from her cat-allergic mom)

It's also time for graduation, so we get lots of exams and cramming and college plans. Kinda weird that my students are graduating next week, so that kinda hits close to home! Everybody goes to the theme park together as they close out. Not much more to say about this'un.

Last couple character profiles

Yukari: The gang's homeroom teacher. Now that I'm in her age bracket (and field!) rather than the kids, I relate much better to her than expected. She's self-centered and lazy and just pretty funny in general. She has almost as much capacity for derp as Tomo and Osaka, but does show some book smarts once in a while.

Nyamo: Teaches PE, and friends (frenemies?) with Yukari. While she's more well-grounded than most of the cast and serves primarily as a straight man to Yukari, Yukari does somehow get the better of her a lot of the time.

Kimura: Pervy teacher, and the only real stain on the series for me. He spends most of his screentime being as creepy as possible (he is a particular fan of gym uniforms) but then also has a surprising charitable side, and a perfect wife.

My rating: 10/10
Solid close with some more meat to it than previous books. A lot of the more memorable moments for me, too. (I STILL pull apart chopsticks very carefully)

Overall rating: 10/10
....And STILLLLL champion! I can't deny that it's partially running on nostalgia with me, but it's just a nice, feel-good time, and I think a lot of the humor and characters actually connect with me MORE now than they did back in the day.

Discussion question: It is too early in the topic for this but heck. What's your favorite manga?
Hint for next: Most popular one so far. Off the top of my head, might actually be the most popular in the whole library! We're weeb hipsters.
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Look at all those chickens
There's a hunger in the land, there's a reckoning still to be reckoned