1 I told him, "Steven, you'll love this show," and he was all like "Kimura blah blah blah," and I'm like "believe me, you'll love this show despite him."   For months.   So I'm getting a real kick out of the fact that he does, in fact, seem to be loving Azumanga Daioh.   Color me proud.

2 Well, I was hopeful too, but apparently Steven wasn't enlightened yet. Osaka grates? Please. But I remember seeing a review once for some manga.ru place or such, where the reviewer yawned on the job until episode 23 where he saw the light. So it may yet click. Or not. I was going to wait a few more days for the summary, and then a few more days for history_xxx.html file to appear.

3 I don't disagree with Steven at all about Osaka and Tomo.  They're easily my least favorite of the bunch. "Oh, but Osaka's so spacy and funny and..." She's not funny.  She's dumb. "Oh, but Osaka's..." She's dull.  There are two or three bits of her that I like: the soap gag, the 'magic talisman' gag, and the ponytail gag.  Everything else, I can take a miss on.   And Tomo is just annoying.

4 I suppose I have to explain the Zen here, as much as it can be explained.

Tomo is my least favourte character, because she is obnoxious, good for nothing, loud, tactless, stupid, selfish jerk. I can't stand people like that and the type is sadly far from rare.

However, in the anime, she is a part of the carefuly crafted ensemble and has to be taken as such. Ditto Osaka, who may be more sympathetic to some or many viewers. It is not a question of her being dull (in your deeply personal opinion, anyway).

The cast is designed with many considerations. In particular, I noticed that every viewer picks a favourite for their special reasons, the one who speaks to them in an intimate way. Steven zoomed onto Sakaki very quickly, and why? Because she's the only character who transforms (or "develops"). A reason not worse any other. My favourite is Yomi, because she's sane (and a host of other secret reasons which I'm not going to commit to blog comments).

But conversely, someone has to fall out the bottom. It's just the way it is.

5 I agree, it's an ensemble show that should be taken as a whole.  Please note, Azumanga Daioh is my favorite anime of recent vintage, and might be my favorite of all-time.  But I could still do with much less Osaka and Tomo, ensemble or no.  And, for what it's worth, Yomi is #2 on my favorites list, just behind Kagura.

6 Needs more Kaorin.

7 Osaka forever!  Her attempt to wake up Yukari on the last trip - perfect!

Sakaki, Osaka, Chiyo, and Yomi for me.

But rather than conduct the intra-factional squabbles here about what is best in AD (A:to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women... wait.  No.) let us celebrate the convert of another to our (sometimes) ecumenical cult.  There is room for Osakites, Yomites, and even Tomites here.

And Wonderduck, boy howdy do I know how you feel. 

Months.

8 I think we ought to be cautious with the triumphalism, for several reasons.
#1. It seems to me that Steven is not ready to accept the gospel, or whatever is the appropriate religious metaphor is. Even if he does, it's going to be victory of Messiers Azuma, Wada, and Nishikiori and not ours.
#2. He visits these pages as well and his contrarian spirit may be reawaken. I certainly start biting on the bridle when I see every blogger praising Haruhi Suzumiya - and their posts aren't even directed at me personally.
#3. People gloating now are going to look very silly when things do not turn out as they expect and the 4.5 stars aren't assigned.

9 I quite liked Haruhi Suzumiya.  But if someone doesn't like it, I can understand that; it's quite possible for two intelligent, decent people to have differing opinions on the subject.

But if they don't like Kamichu!, it's war.

10 My Kamichu! credentials are impeccable. I watch it on R2 DVDs.

11 http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/reviews/Kamichu.shtml

So, the review is up. Is this war?

12 WAR!!!

Well, he didn't say he didn't like it. In fact, he said the first three episodes are "superb" and "amazingly good".  Episode four is weird.  And I've only seen up to episode six, so I can't really address whether the rest of it is disappointing.

One thing - Steven was expecting (or at least hoping for) a strong overall plot; I wasn't.  I assumed it was a slice-of-life story, so I might not be disappointed the way he was.

13 The bad news is, Fuujin Monogatari pulls exactly the same stunt. They start with a story and then just switch tracks into the slice thing completely. However, they left no hooks, the show actually ends.