To all of you who may have looked at the title of this latest entry in my Journal an thought "What the...?", don't worry - you are not alone. Myself, I thought the same thing when I saw the name of a curious little song that opened up the first episode of a weird cartoon show known as Azu Manga Daioh.

(Everyone who hasn't heard of this one before? Put up your hands. *pause* Erm, maybe everyone who has heard of this show - you put up your hands instead. Ah, much easier to count. :))

I was first introduced to Azu Manga Daioh several years ago, by a friend of mine in St. John. He is a massive fan of Manga in general, but thought I might enjoy a look at this show. I vaguely recall him lending me a DVD with the first episode on it, but I must admit I didn't really watch it at the time. Not much of a first exposure, really. It was a long time before I saw that episode properly, when my best mate Stan told me about a weird cartoon that his brother had lent him, and he thought I would get a chuckle out of it.

So began my journey, and several hours later - having watched the entire first DVD - I was hooked. So what's it about, you may ask? Well, that's actually a difficult question to answer. In simple terms, it's about the day to day lives of a group of school girls, and the weird and wonderful things that happen to them and their teachers. Doesn't sound like much, does it? But it's actually quite hilarious in it's weirdness.

With such characters as Miss Sakaki - a somewhat reclusive lady who loves cats (although they don't seem to like her much) - to Chiyo-Chan - the cute 10-year old prodigy - to Osaka - the somewhat slow and naieve space cadet - all the characters are interesting and amusing. Each episode is broken into four smaller stories, so the overall feel of each episode can vary quite wildly.

Being originally a Japanese cartoon, each episode has been dubbed into English. Things that are more written than verbal tend to have subtitles - including the soundtrack. "Fancy Hearing Cake" is the credited name of the opening song, which is weird enough. But when you read through the translation of what you are hearing, it gets weirder. Check out one translation here. (It's a teensy bit different from the subtitles, but it's weird enough)

All in all, it's a great show, and well worth checking out if you're looking for a laugh. I've been collecting the series for a little while now, and only have two more DVDs to track down before I'll have them all. Oh, and don't forget the little badges you get with the Collector's Editions, and the booklet that comes with each DVD detailing some of the translation issues, staff comments and various other things.

Any else out there in Gamespot-Land a fan of Azu Manga Daioh? Who is your favourite character? Feel free to drop by and make some noises about it. (Does anyone know if there's an Azu Manga Daioh Union out there? :))

Game on, people! :D