Azumanga Daioh (TV)

Tomo's hairstyle is inspired by Fujiko Mine of the classic anime series Lupin III. Later in the series, she has her hair shortened to look like J-Pop idol Ayumi Hamasaki.

"Pero-pero-pero" is the Japanese equivalent of "Blah-blah-blah." In other words, the conversation between Yukari-sensei and the American on episode 2 is just gibberish.

Chiyo-chan's tongue twister is "Basu-gasu-bakuhatsu," which translates to "Bus-gas-explosion."

In the 5th episode of Japanese dub, Yukari's words with low tone voice "Niba-i, Niba-i (Twice, Twice : It's now twice the fan service!)" is from Takamiyama's words of Maruhachi Mawata's TV CM in 1983. Takamiyama (Now Azumazeki-oyakata) is the first professional Sumo wrestler from U.S.

In the 4th episode of Japanese dub, Kimura's bell "Ding-dong, ding-dong..." is from NHK's amateur singing TV and AM radio program NHK Nodojiman. The challengers of about 20 groups participates every week. Each challenger sings a song for about 1 minute until the bell rings. It is failure when the bell rings only 1 time or twice (twice is better). It is "passed" when the bell rings 11 times.

The title "Azumanga Daioh" has no significance within the series itself. It's a combination of "Azuma" (Kiyohiko Azuma, the creator of the series), "manga" (the Japanese word for comics), and "Daioh" (Dengeki Daioh, the magazine in which the AzuDai manga ran).

Azumanga Daioh was originally aired in 4-minute segments every weekday on TV Tokyo's satellite channel. Each week's daily segments were then shown as a single 24 minute episode every Saturday. The episodes on Saturday had additional footage, an extended opening and ending sequence, preview of the next episode and in some cases a short prologue or epilogue. This explains the slightly longer runtime of the Saturday compliation.

Osaka's seiyuu, Yuki Matsuoka, is herself from Osaka.

Episode 19, "One Spring Night", is made up of jokes and scenes not found in the original manga.

Lost in translation: In episode 1, when Tomo loses to Sakaki in the 100-meter dash, she proclaims herself "semi-victorious" (instead of "runner-up" or "second place", as mentioned in ADV Films' translation).

In episode 10, in the segment titled "Marco," Yukari-sensei brings a lost kitten into the classroom and asks anyone in class to take care of it. Sakaki looks at the cat and thinks of calling it "Marco" (a reference to the main character of the classic anime Haha wo Tazunete Sanzen-ri).

In episode 12, Chiyo-chan's former grade school classmates Miruchi and Yuka look like younger versions of Nyamo-sensei and Yukari-sensei.

In episode 13, Osaka makes a cryptic joke about Bruce Lee. Here's a short explanation: many Japanese people have difficulty pronouncing foreign names. At the same time, they have trouble pronouncing 'r' and 'l', as they use the same katakana or hiragana character. In addition, 'th' is pronounced 's', as they use the same character as well. As a result, Bruce Lee (ブルース・リー) can be mistakenly pronounced as "Blue Three" (ブルー・スリー).

In episode 15, the cheerleader outfit suggested by Kimura-sensei is very similar to the costume worn by Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, in the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki spinoff of the same name.

In episode 17, the girls do karaoke. Each of them performs an image song. Osaka sings Time Pavement, her own second image song, Sakaki sings Shin wa Shoujo Parashuuto, her own first image song, and Yomi sings Sara Bai! Happi Hen, Chiyo's second image song.

In episode 18, segment 4, Tomo's cell phone ringtone is "Poi Poi Peace," one of her image songs from the series.

In episode 19, in Yomi's bedroom, Sakaki's image song Shin wa Shoujo Parashuuto plays on the radio.

In episode 25, Chiyochichi (Chiyo's Father, the big yellow cat) says 吾輩は猫である (wagahai wa neko de aru = "I am a cat"). This exact wording is the title (and opening line) of the famous satirical novel by Natsume Souseki.