History YMMV / AzumangaDaioh

** It's a common headcanon among the fanbase that Tomo has hyperactive-impulsive type ADHD, based on her manic GenkiGirl behavior. She's hyperactive, impatient, and impulsive; she often does things solely because she feels like it, or to gain attention, without regard for consequences. She also struggles to pick up on nonverbal social cues and tends to speak her mind regardless of whether it's appropriate or not.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Mr. Kimura had been a BaseBreakingCharacter outside of Japan from the get-go as a result of his characterization as an over-the-top {{ephebophile}} who openly creeps on the female student body (both figuratively and literally). However, during the anime's heyday in the west, his reception skewed mostly in the direction of "he's a creep, but an entertaining creep," being played up as a MemeticMolester and being the source of the term "waifu," one of the most enduring pieces of fandom jargon to this day. However, once the series' popularity dwindled into cult status, his reputation became much more divisive as a result of changing times that brought greater awareness to real-world sexual misconduct in school settings, making characters like him seem overly-flippant and insensitive. Nowadays, while some still hold onto his MemeticMolester image, a significant chunk of readers/viewers see Mr. Kimura as an off-putting relic of the early 2000s' emphasis on bawdy comedy at best.

** While much of her characterization is emblematic of the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} trope, Osaka is commonly headcanoned by fans as autistic and/or having ADD as a result of how many traits of hers parallel the condition. Among other things, she tends to space out and get lost in odd trains of thought, displays sensory sensitivities (both seeking out and avoiding various stimuli), repeats phrases she likes, infodumps without regard for appropriateness, has odd but deep interests, and displays an unconventional perception of language (shown by her knack with wordplay and subtleties in kanji, as well as her occasional struggles with distinguishing similar verbal concepts). She also tends to catastrophize about herself and her peers and approaches basic tasks in out-of-the-box and oftentimes counterintuitive ways.
** Sakaki is another character popularly considered autistic by the manga's neurodivergent fanbase. Much of it revolves around her obsessive interest with animals, which can be easily interpreted as a special interest: it forms a large part of her daily life, tends to define her leftfield trains of thought, and ties into her tendency to worldbuild on the spot, whether it be for stuffed animals or real creatures that she encounters. Outside her interest in animals, she displays difficulty with socializing, which her peers initially misconstrue as being aloof and prickly, yet counters this with an unusually strong sense of empathy, even if it's for a cat that actively antagonizes her.
** It's a common headcanon among the fanbase that Tomo has ADHD, based on her manic GenkiGirl behavior. She's hyperactive, impatient, and impulsive; she often does things solely because she feels like it, or to gain attention, without regard for consequences. She also struggles to pick up on nonverbal social cues and tends to speak her mind regardless of whether it's appropriate or not.

** While much of her characterization is emblematic of the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} trope, Osaka is commonly headcanoned by fans as autistic and/or having ADHD as a result of how many traits of hers parallel the condition. Among other things, she tends to space out and get lost in odd trains of thought, displays sensory sensitivities (both seeking out and avoiding various stimuli), repeats phrases she likes, infodumps without regard for appropriateness, has odd but deep interests, and displays an unconventional perception of language (shown by her knack with wordplay and subtleties in kanji, as well as her occasional struggles with distinguishing similar verbal concepts). She also tends to catastrophize about herself and her peers and approaches basic tasks in out-of-the-box and oftentimes counterintuitive ways.

** It's a common headcanon among the fanbase that Tomo has ADHD, based on her behavior. She's hyperactive, impatient, and impulsive; she often does things solely because she feels like it, or to gain attention, without regard for consequences. She also struggles to pick up on nonverbal social cues and tends to speak her mind regardless of whether it's appropriate or not.

** While much of her characterization is emblematic of the {{cloudcuckoolander}} trope, Osaka is commonly headcanoned by fans as autistic and/or having ADHD as a result of how many traits of hers parallel the condition. Among other things, she tends to space out and get lost in odd trains of thought, displays sensory sensitivities (both seeking out and avoiding various stimuli), repeats phrases she likes, infodumps without regard for appropriateness, has odd but deep interests, and displays an unconventional perception of language (shown by her knack with wordplay & subtleties in Kanji, as well as her occasional struggles with distinguishing similar verbal concepts). She also tends to catastrophize about herself and her peers and approaches basic tasks in out-of-the-box and oftentimes counterintuitive ways.

** While much of her characterization is emblematic of the {{cloudcuckoolander}} trope, Osaka is commonly headcanoned by fans as autistic and/or having ADHD as a result of how many traits of hers parallel the condition. Among other things, she displays sensory sensitivities (both seeking out and avoiding various stimuli), repeats phrases she likes, infodumps without regard for appropriateness, has odd but deep interests, and displays an unconventional perception of language (shown by her knack with wordplay & subtleties in Kanji, as well as her occasional struggles with distinguishing similar verbal concepts). She also tends to catastrophize about herself and her peers and approaches basic tasks in out-of-the-box and oftentimes counterintuitive ways.

** While much of her characterization is emblematic of the {{cloudcuckoolander}} trope, Osaka is commonly headcanoned by fans as autistic as a result of how many traits of hers parallel the condition. Among other things, she displays sensory sensitivities (both seeking out and avoiding various stimuli), repeats phrases she likes, infodumps without regard for appropriateness, has odd but deep interests, and displays an unconventional perception of language (shown by her knack with wordplay & subtleties in Kanji, as well as her occasional struggles with distinguishing similar verbal concepts). She also tends to catastrophize about herself and her peers and approaches basic tasks in out-of-the-box and oftentimes counterintuitive ways.

** It's a common headcanon among the fanbase that Tomo has ADHD, based on her behavior. She's hyperactive, impatient, and impulsive; she often doing things solely because she feels like it, or to gain attention, without regard for consequences. She also struggles to pick up on nonverbal social cues and tends to speak her mind regardless of whether it's appropriate or not.

** It's a common assumption among the fanbase that Tomo has some form of ADHD based on her behavior. She's hyperactive, impatient, and impulsive; she often doing things solely because she feels like it, or to gain attention, without regard for consequences. She also struggles to pick up on nonverbal social cues and tends to speak her mind regardless of whether it's appropriate or not.

** Episode 2 has Osaka deliver a pun: "That's not bean knowledge (a Japanese idiom meaning "trivia"), it's knowledge about beans." In the dub, it's changed to "That ain't no grain of truth, that's the truth about grain." The English translation by Creator/YenPress changes the subject to be about mushrooms, and makes the pun "That's not a fun fact, that's a fungus fact."

* {{Moe}}: The series itself is something you can curl up with, but Chiyo-chan is Moe to the ''n''th degree (''[[ExaggeratedTrope especially]]'' [[ExaggeratedTrope when she's in the penguin suit]]), and Osaka and Kaorin are also incredibly cute. Osaka may actually be at least partially responsible for the popularization of the concept, placing second in the 2002 Saimoe Tournament. This series is sort of [[UrExample proto-moe]] itself, as it [[TropeCodifier codified]] a lot of tropes related to the "genre" ([[UnbuiltTrope even though the series focuses more on humor and Chiyo is really the only character whose cuteness is emphasized]]).

* PopularityPolynomial: While not quite at the same heights as it was in the early-to-mid-2000s, the series picked up a greater following on social media at the start of the 2020s after undergoing a slump in the 2010s due to SeinfeldIsUnfunny. In particular, a [=TikTok=] account dedicated to the series, azumemes, quickly became popular and gained over ten thousand followers. This can partially be attributed to nostalgia, but many of the series' new fans are people too young to have experienced its heyday, who instead appreciate how relaxed and refreshingly low-key the series is compared to its modern day contemporaries.

* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: In one manga strip set during the sports festival, Yukari slides up to Kagura (who, at this point, is still in Nyamo's class) and offers her a loaf of bread. Nyamo stops her before she can reveal what her intention is. Fans are split on whether the joke is supposed to be that Yukari's [[FoodAsBribe bribing her with food]], or if she's [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink laced it with something]].

* TheScrappy: Kimura, post-CharacterPerceptionEvolution, is widely seen as the one blemish on a series that's otherwise stood the test of time. His entire joke is that he's an {{ephebophile}} who regularly harasses and makes the main cast uncomfortable, something which is harder to see as harmless comedy two decades later.

* TheScrappy: Kimura, post-AudiencePerceptionEvolution, is very widely seen as the one blemish on a series that's otherwise stood the test of time. His entire joke is that he's an {{ephebophile}} who regularly harasses and makes the main cast uncomfortable, something which is harder to see as harmless comedy two decades later.

** Kimura is either hilarious and over the top, or creepy and unsettling. Differing values come into play here: Japanese audiences generally see him as a harmless buffoon, while western audiences are more likely to see him as a creep who overstays his welcome.

** Everything about [[DirtyOldMan Kimura]]. His [[{{Ephebophile}} self-proclaimed love for high school girls]] is rightfully considered creepy and weird by the other characters and the narrative, but he's still largely portrayed as harmless since he never actually does anything beyond staring and making off-putting comments. Nowadays, jokes about sexual attraction to minors are generally not looked on as kindly, so his behavior wouldn't be as PlayedForLaughs in manga and anime from later decades. It seems that Azuma himself was aware of this, since Kimura was outright [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome omitted]] from the "Supplementary Lesson" chapters written for the 10th anniversary.

* {{Moe}}: The series itself is something you can curl up with, but Chiyo-chan is Moe to the ''n''th degree (''[[UpToEleven especially]]'' [[UpToEleven when she's in the penguin suit]]), and Osaka and Kaorin are also incredibly cute. Osaka may actually be at least partially responsible for the popularization of the concept, placing second in the 2002 Saimoe Tournament. This series is sort of [[UrExample proto-moe]] itself, as it [[TropeCodifier codified]] a lot of tropes related to the "genre" ([[UnbuiltTrope even though the series focuses more on humor and Chiyo is really the only character whose cuteness is emphasized]]).

* {{Moe}}: The series itself is something you can curl up with, but Chiyo-chan is Moe to the ''n''th degree (''[[UpToEleven especially]]'' [[UpToEleven when she's in the penguin suit]]), and Osaka and Kaorin are also incredibly cute. Osaka may actually be at least partially responsible for the popularization of the concept, placing second in the 2002 Saimoe Tournament. This series is sort of [[UrExample proto-moe]] itself, as it [[TropeCodifier codified]] a lot of tropes related to the "genre" (even though the series focuses more on humor and Chiyo is really the only character whose cuteness is emphasized).

* VanillaProtagonist: Out of the cast, Sakaki and Nyamo are probably the least funny and entertaining, given one is a HugeSchoolgirl ShrinkingViolet whose insecurities are there to make you feel sympathetic as opposed to PlayedForLaughs, while Nyamo is basically the StraightMan to Yukari with few quirks of her own, barring her [[ChristmasCake insecurities about being single]] and the time she drinks way too much beer specifically to stop Yukari from getting drunk.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The opening and closing themes, as well as many of the image songs. In particular, Kagura's "Ashita wa Makenai! GO! FRIEND!" and Sakaki's "Kokoro wa Shoujo de PARACHUTE".

** "Soramimi Cake" parodies [[labelnote:Explanation]]Parodies, mashups, and remixes of the opening theme are popular on the Japanese web, especially on Website/NicoNicoDouga.[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMolester: Kimura, due to his insane obsession with high school girls, his generally creepy behavior, and his status as the character who coined the phrase "waifu".

* MemeticPsychopath
** Osaka after the "Wake Up Frying Pan Fiasco", has convinced some fans that she's a cold-blooded killer when she sleepwalks into Yukari's bedroom ''[[SurpriseCreepy with a knife]].''
** Yomi, for similar reasons as Osaka's knife moment, mainly when it relates to having her attack furries.

* NeverLiveItDown: Osaka almost stabbing Yukari; Yukari almost didn't live it down either. Which is why, among a few other moments, [[RonTheDeathEater Osaka is frequently portrayed as a cold-blooded killer in some fanworks]]. In canon, she's probably the sweetest and most harmless.

* OneSceneWonder: [[MegaNeko Chiyo's dad]] shows up in maybe five skits total. Nonetheless, everyone that knows this show will remember him without fail.

** One aspect that's meant to indicate Yukari's [[{{Manchild}} lack of maturity]] is the fact that she still lives with her mother. In 1999, this would be an obvious flaw from a Japanese perspective, as well as several western countries. After global recession and changing societal standards, it's become increasingly common and acceptable for millennials to keep living with their parents well into adulthood, thus making Yukari's situation more understandable.

* VanillaProtagonist: Out of the cast, Sakaki and Nyamo are probably the least funny and entertaining, given one is a HugeSchoolgirl ShrinkingViolet whose insecurities are there to make you feel sympathetic as opposed to PlayedForLaughs, while Nyamo is basically the StraightMan to Yukari with few quirks of her own, barring the time she drinks way too much beer specifically to stop Yukari from getting drunk.

** It's fairly common for fan works to depict this series as sharing the same universe as ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'', despite nothing in the latter directly hinting at this.

** Everything about [[DirtyOldMan Kimura]]. His [[{{Ephebophile}} self-proclaimed love for high school girls]] is rightfully considered creepy and weird by the other characters and the narrative, but he's still largely portrayed as harmless since he never actually does anything beyond making off-putting comments. Nowadays, jokes about sexual attraction to minors are generally not looked on as kindly, so his behavior wouldn't be as PlayedForLaughs in manga and anime from later decades. It seems that Azuma himself was aware of this, since Kimura was outright [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome omitted]] from the "Supplementary Lesson" chapters written for the 10th anniversary.